MyLifeYoga

This has been written by Elizabeth Lok, an American Devotee of the saint known as Ramana Maharshi. She refers to him by the title “Bhagavan” here:

When did I first hear of Bhagavan? It is difficult to imagine a time when one had not. Yet I think it was from Brunton’s book Message from Arunachala (first read in the late 40’s), and many good talks with a friend of Brunton’s. Then in 1950 there was the article in an American magazine describing Bhagavan’s last days.

These sources gave no more than an elusive awareness of something I wanted avidly to learn more about. A pilgrimage to Arunachala became-and remains-an unfaltering and deep desire. Imagine my feelings around ten years later when my beloved sister De Lancey Kapleau was able to do just that! And was good enough to write fully about it and send me Osborne’s book on Bhagavan’s life!

I read through her description of her stay at the Ashram with mounting excitement; read and reread it. Then devoured the book. The last chapters were read late at night when the children and my husband were all asleep, and my heart nearly burst for joy, while grateful tears sprang from my eyes. When I closed the book I sat still for some time, then quite spontaneously prostrated myself in gratitude. Later, in bed, thinking of my sister’s letter, I felt an earthy pang of envy that she, not I, had reached the Ashram. You know the sort of thing: “Oh how wonderful-just imagine-I wish it had been I.” The jealousy surprised me, a little, but when I recognized and acknowledged it I had to laugh at the jealous one, and said to myself: “But you fool, if your sister went there of course this was part of her karmic pattern. For you, and for anybody, if Arunachala exists anywhere it must exist most truly in the hearts of those who are open to it. So the significance is always within oneself.”

At this the field of my vision was lit by a great glow of golden light, and my heart expanded in almost unbelievable joy. The joy deepened and glowed into an incredible depth of peace, which wells up again as I write this.
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What does it mean to be human? Ze Frank suggests a series of simple questions. What starts as funny ends bittersweet pointing to the fragility of our humaneness.

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This is a continuation of Bob Weisenberg’s essay: Six Big Ideas Of Yoga. This is the fifth of the Six Big Ideas:

Experiencing our wondrous self leads to an abundance of joy and goodness.

“What did the Yoga Guru say to the hot dog vendor?”

Answer: “Make me one with everything.”

Good joke. But this is, in fact, kind of the way we feel when we’re most happy–one with everything.

The great gurus of Yoga and other Eastern traditions achieve inner peace and experience the ultimate joy in life by cultivating the boundless wonder of a child. For them every moment is the occasion for innocent amazement, even in the middle of the most trying circumstances. They still experience all the ordinary pain and difficulty of being human. They just process it differently.
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