The following question from Deepak R is very valid : who is saying it (yoga) is higher? does the one who says it has a higher goal experience life from a lower place? is such a higher goal which draws compassion from us momentarily the one to chase? do we chase another fleeting experience in an attempt to freeze it forever? did you meet the one who experienced and reported this?did you find the yogi?
Fascinating question you are asking Deepak R. In fact you are questioning whether any spiritual goal is just another addiction and an illusion in itself. Another manifestation of fear of ageing and dying. And I really love to way you put it – “do we chase another fleeting experience in an attempt to freeze it ?”
I can only answer for me. First I agree. Lets assume there is nothing about us that is higher, and that what we aspire to is nothing but an illusion/desire for some form of immortality. Of course there is nothing higher. But nor lower for for the lower to be perceived as real there must be a ‘higher’ ? The descriptions can only exist in context of each other. So nothing lower and nothing higher. Everything just is. Nothing immortal, but then nothing mortal either. In fact a vast nothingness. No individuality, no time, no distance. Nothing measurable except in out own imagination. No beginings and no ends.
Now to Yoga. What I was trying to say is that Yoga is greater if one aspires to do just that. To lose ones individuality. To pass into a vast nothingness. And to be in harmony with the vibrations of the Universe. To do any form of Yoga for mere benefits to health is to lose the essence of it. Health is a side benefit.
Like how children play games. The focus is play. the side benefits are learning social role playing skill sets and physical excersise.
Your last question : “did I find the Yogi ?” I am not sure I have the tools yet to do so. How would I recognize one ? I may pass a Yogi that sits on the streets of Mumbai in the form of a beggar – how would I know ? And I ask myself, if I really had the tools to find a Yogi, why can’t I search for one within myself ?
In whose presence, your mind becomes still, your questions dry up and when you feel there is no need for any answer, he is your Yogi/Guru. He can be found even in your Self, if you go deep enough.
*thoughtful*
too much of analysis…dunno why but after reading all this I am just laughing
From my ‘Inbox’…
“A giant ship engine failed. The Ship’s owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure out how to fix the engine.
Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work.
He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom. Two of the ship’s owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do.
After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away.
The engine was fixed! A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars. “What?!” the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything!”
So they wrote the old man a note saying “Please send us an itemized bill”
The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a Hammer – – – – $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap – – – – $ 9,998.00
TOTAL $ 10,000.00
Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort in your life makes all the difference.”
~ Unknown Source
Question:
Assuming we all have the ‘tools’, is how to use the tools, and where to do the ‘gentle tap’ something that can be taught? or something that can be learnt only through experience?
no one is great and we are all great…together we are nothing and everything…
yoga is like a map to lead us to places we probably have not come across before…
Why every thing has to be so complex to understand,why can’t we just live , just live as simple as that??????
dear shekhar, the intention with ‘did you find the yogi’- was, did you find the one within you who experiences all this. Including being convinced of being the ‘doer’ of yoga. Is there a yogi? really?
We do not need to go outside or see anyone else. Check within to see, the person we take ourselves to be, the one to whom all experiencing seems to happen , where is this person – we never seem to question that. Is the person the one whose story seems to be written everyday within some constraints of an invisible script bound by memories and experiences? If you are asking these questions you are already intuitively convinced this person is not your body or any form that can be physically touched.
Did the practise of yoga allow for you to meet with this yogi in you, the one who seems to see himself separate from what all that is happening.The one who reports back the expression of compassion being drawn out. Can you see the person in you who reports this dialogue?
Can this seer be seen?
What happens if you allow for this question to stay with you. With no need to ‘mentally’ answer it. But to allow for it to stay on.
shekhar, if I may suggest so, the pointers to self-inquiry that brahmastra has given in one of your previous posts (‘India’s shameful legacy’, ironically;-)),are supremely valuable. This spiritual questioning which draws so much attention for you will find its home there. Beyond any experiencing. This unsettling urge for homecoming , for permanency, will reveal itself. If you have already done so in past, then please ignore this.
Master finds the disciple
But disciple never finds The Master
Strange unconscious mind thinks otherwise.
ruchi,
i don’t think everything has to be complex, its just that way we see it or make it.
thanks for asking the question, i needed to answer it to satisfy my own questioning…:)
not that i feel any better, but i at least now i have the answer.
cinda
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
what is the answer Cinda::)))
Hello
I think there is no need to find any yogi.Just do yoga ourself is the best thing for us.Meditation is really good thing to do in yoga.Thank you very much for sharing this topic with us.
:)good question Ruchi:)
~~~
Hi Russia…from Canada!
Knowing a Yogi ! This is high science and has been kept secret for ages .
Truth be spoken : Only a Yogi and recognise a another Yogi.
Why ?
Because Yoga is an internal state of being. A Yogi need not just be a beggar on the streets of Mumbai – he/she could be a wall street merchant , a politician , an engineer ,a homemaker,a butcher, a silent monk or a violent despot even – and we wouldn’t know.
Yogis act out their parts in this cosmic stage – usually working out their residual Karma.
Without Karma , there is no Janma ( birth ). Some Yogis may create Karma just to remain in the body – usually sustained only with Kama ( desire ).
The desire could be social good – or just something more personal.
It all starts with ‘ I dont know , and I cannot tell ‘. This is a good starting point.
The next step is usually trying to find light – wither through Bhakti or Gnana or Karma Yoga paths and hopefully it will help clear the vision.
Dear Shekarji,
never spend time in searching a guru…
he is in you within….it’s you yourself..
think free…..calibre not to be succumbed..
If we realize our dreams and work towards being a good person – who does good to the world he/she lives within in any small or large measure- finds the yogi.
You call it the yogi, someone else may call it “the path” or “the calling” someone else may say – me reason to exist…all of it culminates in us returning/ giving back/ helping others around us/ without any motives
Remember it: if you can’t recognize enlightened people when you come across them, don’t throw the responsibility on them. Watch inside — are you ready yet? It has happened that people who were not enlightened have sometimes helped people to become enlightened. If the desire of the seeker is tremendous, then even an unenlightened Master is enough. _ OSHO