Lord Buddha teaches Ahimsa

Once as Lord Buddha was traversing the countryside he came across some sheep being driven to a place where a sacrifice was to be held by the local ruler of the district. Amongst the sheep was one lamb, Lord Buddha tenderly picked up the lamb and carried it, following the sheep to their destination. When he heard that the slaughter of the sheep was a sacrifice which would invoke great good fortune upon the ruler and the state, Lord Buddha said to the local ruler, “Certainly the life of an insignificant lamb will produce much good to yourself and the country but think how much more benefit would come from the life of a man who is both a prince and a monk. Therefore kill me and you will benefit a hundred times more.” When everyone became aghast at such a thought Lord Buddha then informed them that to kill others for one’s own benefit so that they may live longer with fuller joy was a reprehensible act and that rather than sacrifice a bleating sheep we should instead sacrifice our own inner weaknesses and vices and earn the heaven of unflinching peace.

The Lady and the Beautiful Bird

Once there was an incredibly wealthy lady who had a great liking for beautiful things. She had exquisite taste and searched the whole world for the best of everything that she could find. Her home was an ornate collection of the most beautiful furniture the world could supply all tastefully arranged and displayed. Her gardens carried many a plant bought back from countries far and wide and arranged in a colourful display that bloomed through every season. The lady had expert gardeners to tend her grounds, French chefs who presented her table with the finest cuisine possible, housekeepers to clean and polish and even an zoo keeper to look after the small menagerie of animals she had acquired on her travels. This lady however kept one beautiful large South African parrot that she alone was responsible for.
As soon as she had seen this parrot she immediately fell in love with it and just had to have it. And who wouldn’t! It was so beautiful with its long red tail feathers, yellow breast and blue and golden wings. It could even talk and before long delighted the lady by learning to say her name. What a spacious and ornate cage this lady so proudly kept her parrot in. Daily she would clean and polish the cage until it shone like gold and sparkled like jewels and almost every day she would purchase some new toy or accessory for the bird and it’s cage but as time went on there was just one little thing she often forgot to do. She was so enthralled with her beautiful bird, grooming it and looking after its glossy cage that she forgot to feed it. Naturally the neglected bird was very unhappy. All the care of the cage and even the grooming of it’s feathers and beak could not make up for the lack of sustenance so gradually much to the astonishment of the wealthy lady the poor bird stopped talking, lost his zest for life and was slowly fading away. Of course the lady brought in experts to cure her bird who simply told her, ‘Your bird is starving, you need to feed it!’


Yoga Message
Similarly we need to nourish ourself, the divine individual soul within each of our bodies. We need to not only look after our body and our possessions but also to spend time developing our spiritual life.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Once there were six blind men who had never ever been in contact with an elephant, they had no idea what an elephant was. So when they heard that the head man of the village had acquired an elephant they all went to investigate what it was like. The first man felt the elephant’s ear and said, “Elephants are flat and flappy like a fan.” The second man felt the elephant’s tusk and said, “No you are wrong elephants are strong and sharp like spears.” The third man felt the elephant’s trunk and said, “No you are both wrong, an elephant is long and round like a snake.” The fourth man felt the elephant’s leg and said, “Clearly the elephant is strong and stout like a tree.” The fifth man felt the elephant’s tail and argued that elephants were like rope and the sixth man felt the side of the elephant and was convinced that elephants were like a wall. They were very puzzled as to why none of them agreed as to what an elephant was really like.

They submitted their quandary to the head man of the village who said kindly, “My dear friends you each felt a different part of the elephant so if you put all those parts together you would get a feeling for what an elephant is really like, their sides are big and flat like a wall, their trunk is long and thin like a snake, their ears are big and flappy like a fan, their tusks are long and sharp like a spear, their tail is thin like a rope and their legs are as stout and strong as tree trunks.” The six blind men thanked the head man and happily went back to their homes now knowing what an elephant was like.

Yoga Message

In the Vedas, the teachings of yoga, three kinds of evidences are described: pratyaksa, anumana and sabda. Pratyaksa means direct evidence gained through sense perception. Direct evidence is limited because our senses are not perfect. Then there is inductive knowledge or hypothesis, anumana. But such hypotheses are restricted by the limitations of our minds. Vedic knowledge is called sabda-pramana. The Vedas instruct that in order to understand transcendental knowledge we have to hear from an authority. Transcendental knowledge is knowledge from beyond this universe. Within this universe is material knowledge, and beyond this universe is transcendental knowledge.

Every Sunday at Burleigh Heads during the Sunday Spiritual Gathering we offer an inspiring talk exploring the spiritual essence of yoga. Yoga wisdom has been studied and praised for thousands of years for its clarity, insight and wealth of spiritual knowledge. The Sunday Spiritual Gathering is the chance to tap into this most ancient of sciences that has been handed down from self realised spiritual teachers since time immemorial. If you would like to learn more about your eternal spiritual nature, meditation, real happiness and life’s ultimate purpose, then this is for you.