Encounters with Yoga

Yoga and meditation have now become an integral part of our society. They have steadily been growing in popularity since the 1960’s when they were brought to the public attention by such public figures as the Beatles and others. But the teachings of yoga had been encountered by western civilisation many centuries before.

The earliest record of people of the west encountering and appreciating yoga is in the writings of the ancient Greek historian, Plutarch. He writes of the meeting of Alexander the Great with 10 Indian yogis who were renowned for their wisdom and who had been instrumental in persuading a certain Sabbas to revolt against him. Alexander captured them and had them brought before him, he then put difficult questions to them declaring that he would put to death the first one to make an incorrect answer.

The first one he asked, “Who are more numerous, the living or the dead?” to which the yogi answered that the living were more numerous because the dead no longer count.
The second, upon being asked whether the earth or the sea produced larger animals said the earth did, since the sea was but a part of the earth.
The third, being asked what animal was the most cunning, said: “That which up to this time man has not discovered.”
The fourth, when asked why he had induced Sabbas to revolt, replied, “Because I wished him to either live nobly or die nobly.”
The fifth being asked which, in his opinion, was older, day or night, replied, “Day, by one day,” and he added, upon the king expressing amazement, that silly questions must have silly answers.
Passing on, then, to the sixth, Alexander asked how a man could be most loved; "If," said the philosopher, "he is most powerful, and yet does not inspire fear."
Of the three remaining, he who was asked how one might become a god instead of man, replied: "By doing something which a man cannot do"; the one who was asked which was the stronger, life or death, answered: "Life, since it supports so many ills." And the last, asked how long it were well for a man to live, answered: “Until it seems better to die.”

So, then, turning to the judge, Alexander bade him give his opinion. The judge declared that each one had answered worse than the other. "Well, then," said Alexander, "you shall die first for giving such a verdict."
"That cannot be, O King," said the judge, "Unless you falsely said that you would put to death first him who answered worst."
Alexander reputedly was so appreciative of the yogis’ answers that he set them all free and asked the one who had been the judge to accompany him in his travels.

Real Strength and Resilience Comes from Flexibility

There is an old Chinese tale of a proud oak tree and a humble bamboo plant. The oak tree was very, very big and strong and being proud of his strength and grandeur would deride the bamboo plant calling it a weak spindly thing.

One day there was a terrible storm with unbelievably strong winds that whipped and thrashed the whole land. The grand oak put up a valiant fight but eventually the mighty storm ripped it out and smashed it to the ground. The bamboo however was left standing; as the storm had battered it, it had swayed and bent, sometimes bending right down to the ground. It had not tried to resist, not feeling strong and great, it had simply moved with the forces of nature, and with its light flexible stems had resisted the storm by surrendering to it.

Attitude

The longer I live,
the more I realize
the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude to me
is more important
than the past,
than education,
than money,
than circumstances,
than failures,
than success,
than what other people think, or say, or do.

It is more important
than appearance,
giftedness,
or skill.

It will make or break
an organization,
a school,
a home.

The remarkable thing is
we have a choice everyday
regarding the attitude
we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past.
We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do
is play on the one string we have,
and that is our attitude.

I am convinced
that life is 10% what happens to me
and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you.

~ Charles Swindoll

The Mind of the Saintly Person

There are three kinds of people in the world. The first are those who are like letters carved in rock; they easily give way to anger and retain their angry thoughts for a long time. The second are like letters written in sand; they give way to anger also, but their angry thoughts quickly pass away. The third is those who are like letters written in running water; they do not retain their passing thoughts; they let abuse and uncomfortable gossip pass by unnoticed; their minds are always pure and undisturbed.

From the teachings of Buddha