ENVY

A story is told of ancient Greece where athletes were given high status and respect. One such athlete had for many years outperformed all his peers, his prowess was known far and wide and so the municipality being very proud of him erected a statue in the town centre to commemorate his talents. There was another athlete who was almost as good and who felt that he also deserved a statue to be made of him. Every time this athlete saw the statue of his rival his hatred and envy grew until one night he decided to go there and pull the statue down and smash it to pieces. The statue was made of stone and very heavy, the man pulled and pushed with all his might, finally it moved a little, the man pulled some more and the statue toppled over and landed right on top of him, crushing his whole body. This man’s envy had destroyed him.

In the Bible it says,
‘Envy and anger shorten one’s life!”

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates said,
“Envy is the ulcer of the soul.’

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote
“To be rich in admiration and free from envy
To rejoice greatly in the good of others
To love with such generosity of heart that your love
Is still a dear possession in absence or unkindness –
These are the gifts which money cannot buy.”

How to Know the Truth

A king was constantly asking the sage questions. He asked what the term spiritual meant, he asked what the meaning of self realisation was, he asked how does it feel to be a self realised soul, he ask what does transcendence mean. He enquired again and again and each time the sage patiently answered him according to the yoga scriptures.

Finally one day after another barrage of questions the sage pointed to a mango, "How would you convey the taste of this mango to someone who had never eaten anything sweet?" he asked.

No matter how hard the king tried, he could not adequately describe the flavour of the fruit, and, in frustration, he demanded of the sage "Tell me then, how would you describe it?"
The sage picked up the mango and handed it to the king saying, "This is very sweet, try it! "

When we have tasted spiritual truth then we will understand it.

Alexander the Great and the Sage Dandini

Here is an interesting encounter which Alexander the Great had with a yogi by the name of Dandini. Shortly after Alexander arrived in India, tales of the great forest-dwelling yogi reached him and desiring an audience with the sage he sent his messenger to fetch him.

"Praise be to you O, learned teacher of Brahmins. The son of the mighty God Zeus, Alexander, sovereign of the World, commands you to go to him.” The yogi however remained in deep meditation and did not reply. Whereupon the messenger said, “ The mighty warrior Alexander does not take kindly to refusals, if you comply, you will be richly rewarded if not, your head will be cut off."

The Yogi was neither amused nor intimidated by this rather threatening invitation. He looked up from his couch of grass and leaves and said: "You may tell your master the mighty son of Zeus that firstly all sons of Zeus are my brothers and we are all equal in the eyes of our father. Secondly that I am content with what I have so I do not need any gifts and thirdly he may be able to cut off my head, but will never be able to disturb the peace of my soul, something which clearly Alexander does not have in spite of all his conquests.”

When Alexander received the message, he was seized by the greatest desire to meet such a fearless and wise yogi, and came to him willingly to learn the wisdom of yoga.

Thus Alexander was taking the first step in his spiritual life. This all-important step is mentioned in the yogic scripture - the Bhagavad-gita, which was spoken over 5 000 years ago:

“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a self-realised soul,

enquire from him submissively and render service unto him.

The self realised soul can impart knowledge unto you

because he has seen the truth.” Bg 4.34

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