Thursday, August 1, 2013

Yoga's View of Creation & The Meaning of Life

Yoga's View of Creation & The Meaning of Life



In Chapter four of Namit's book, he explains how this person Jake comes across a yogi supporting himself on his forearms, with his legs swinging around towards his head or an asana known as scorpion. As he sees this yogi he wonders about how the world was made.

The next day Jake meets up with the yogi again and begins small talk. He goes on to ask the yogi what the yogic philosophy is when it comes to the creation of the world. The yogi explains that in the beginning there was something called chaos. Good and evil, light and dark were all mixed together. But the light wanted to exist, it wanted to be free from the darkness. It wanted its own independence, its own life. It was kind of like a spirit that wanted the separation of good from evil, dark from light, happiness from sadness.

Jake, curious about the light, asks the yogi what this light was. The yogi responds this light was us - Human Beings. It is us who have the desire to live. The world we know, that we live in has slowly been moving from darkness towards the light. Jake responds to the yogi asking if we are all turning into nicer human beings. 
The yogi replies to Jake by telling him we all have good and bad in us. But the good is becoming stronger than the bad as time is going on.

 Jake unsure of the yogi's response asks him to explain this concept further. The yogi asks Jake to use science to explain what emotions are. A scientific explanation for feelings, happiness, sadness, excitement, etc. Jake thinks long and hard about the yogi's question and has no answer. 

The yogi explains to Jake that your feelings come from your spirit not your body. The body is made up of matter and therefore can be scientifically explained but the spirit is not and that is what carries your feelings. Jake being perplexed asks the yogi to further explain the difference between the body and spirit. The yogi replies that albeit the spirit and body are two separate points they are linked. We are both body and spirit and it is the spirit or soul that is the feelings. You are actually your feelings.

The yogi goes on to explain to Jake that matter can be very beautiful and there are many beautiful things in this world. And there is an attraction that each one of us have to these beautiful things.This beauty makes us feel happy. The problem is that we can develop too much of an attraction to beauiful things to a point we want to own them completely and take the beauty for ourselves. We want to own things. Being too attracted to these things brings out the dark side. We are actually happy when we just sit back and enjoy the beautiful things in this world and move back to the light.

Jake understands now and makes reference to how he enjoys just sitting in nature and admiring all the beauty it holds. Exactly says the yogi. You are not trying to own the lake or stop other people from enjoying it. You are understanding that the best things in life are free and not just for you but for everyone to enjoy. As the expression says..."The best things in life are free."

Jake still wants to understand the yogi's point about the good and bad in all of us. The yogi replies how the darkness is the greed towards material things. It causes jealousy and distances us from other human beings. The light is when you enjoy the beauty of this world and want to share it with others. This is the light - happiness and joy. Understanding that liking beautiful things is not bad but wanting them so badly brings out the dark side or greed and separates you from others. That is directly against yoga which means "union."

We are all part of the light that wants to admire all that is beautiful including ourselves but there is this greed towards material beauty that which we must overcome in order to a live a life that brings out our true nature of happiness and sharing. We are put on this earth to share and live in harmony with one another. 

Jake now understanding the yogi sat back to enjoy the peaceful lake and thought about how there was always corruption in this world from our ancestors being ruled by the Romans and others. There is still corruption in the world but much less than there was. Jake realized we are all made up of feelings, and that we come from a place not of physical things but a place of feelings.

Jake sat down for dinner that night and felt the way he saw the world had been rearranged.

Om Shant~
Mary Jane Kasliner - Feng Shui Master & Yogi
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Always happy to hear your comments...

Cultivate Clarity and Soothe Your Nerves

How we breathe provides a window into your current energetic state. Simple breathing (Pranayama) practices can function as tonics to invit...