MyLifeYoga

Once there lived a big poisonous snake in a field near a village. It used to bite anybody who dared enter the field and so nobody went there.

One day a Saint came to the village. Villagers told him not to go to the field where the snake lived. But since the detour would cost him a lot of time the Saint decided to go through the field anyway. Soon the snake approached him with the intention to bite, but as he neared he was overpowered by the spiritual energy of the Saint. When the Saint saw him he advised the snake not to bite anybody and the snake agreed.

After a few months the Saint was on his way back and he decided to check on the snake. When he found him he was shocked to see his state. He was all beaten up and nearly dead. Since the snake had stopped biting, the village boys had thrown stones at it and nearly killed him.

The Saint told the snake, “Look, I told you not to bite, but who told you not to hiss?”

The moral of the story for us is that as we progress into our spiritual journey we will find that our ego shrinks. But let us never forget that we are surrounded by egos and though we should give up biting let us not stop hissing. The ego is a great servant but a bad master. As we grow out of our ego we should learn to use it as a tool without allowing it to control our lives.

“How to get rid of ego as dictator and turn it into messenger and servant and scout, to be in your service, is the trick.” – Joseph Campbell

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Credits:This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah. The inspiration is a parable first told by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

Happiness: This is what we all pursue. And how we go about doing it? We believe that we have to work hard and be successful and when we are successful we will be happy. Most of us just clamber on this treadmill towards success in the hope that the inevitable by-product of success will be happiness. Unfortunately success is a moving target. Once we achieve something it automatically leads us to chase after newer goals. Happiness and success forever remain on opposite sides of the fence and just as a “final” success never materializes nor does the promised happiness.

Psychologist Shawn Achor argues, in this fast moving and entertaining Ted talk, that we have got the equation backwards. We need to be happy to be successful and not the other way round. Every single business outcome improves when a brain is happy. Sales and productivity improve more than 30% when we are happy as opposed to being neutral or stressed. Our brains learning centers are activated when we are happy. Our ability to learn, our creativity, our intelligence, and our energy levels rise when we are happy. Happiness leads to success, not the other way round.

In his talk Shawn Achor provides immediate steps that we can take to increase happiness:

1. Spending 2 minutes every day for 21 days thinking of three new things that we can be grateful about can lead to a improvement in our happiness levels.
2. Taking 10 minutes every day to journal one positive experience in the past 24 hours can lead to improved levels of happiness.
3. One positive e-mail every day to one person in our social network can improve happiness levels.
4. Regular exercise and/or daily 20 minutes of meditation are also known to improve happiness levels

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Nobel prize winner Mohammad Yunus once said, “Once poverty is gone, we’ll need to build museums to display its horrors to future generations. They’ll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society – how a few people could live in luxury while billions dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair.”

With quotes like these many of us despair about thinking of our own situation, and we feel guilty about not doing enough to help others. But George Gissing words should put caution into such thinking. He said, “That is one of the bitter curses of poverty; it leaves no right to be generous.”

A drowning man cannot save others who are drowning. First we have to learn to swim only then can we help others who are drowning. This is why nobody should feel guilty of first taking care of his or her emotional, financial, spiritual, and physical needs. Self-care is like a force-multiplier. It allows us to be more effective in what we do. Without self-care we will end up spinning our wheels and then finally end in a ditch waiting to be rescued ourselves.

The beauty of modern society is that it is structured in a way that when we do regular jobs honestly and effeciently, we are already contributing to the common good. Rather than doing charity some of us can spend time putting our energy in shaping social structures so that charity itself can become redundant.

The key for both society and individuals is to learn to stay away from greed and excess. Patanjali’s yoga system is specifically designed for just that. It helps build a sound society from the inside out. As the mind-body system calms down and the ego comes in check, greed and selfishness are replaced with love. Self-care is an essential part of the system. You start with yourself first by following the eight limbs of yoga. Then as love blooms in your life the rest follows in a natural process of unfolding.

It would be appropriate to end this post with the following two quotes:

“The most treasured and sacred moments of our lives are those filled with the spirit of love. The greater the measure of our love, the greater is our joy. In the end, the development of such love is the true measure of success in life.” ― Joseph B Wirthlin

“Love is not patronizing and charity isn’t about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same — with charity you give love, so don’t just give money but reach out your hand instead.” ― Mother Teresa

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