A sanyasi is a recluse who is supposed to keep aloof from worldly matters. He is not supposed to have any processions of his own, nor he is supposed to entertain any desires for pleasures.
But come on, he is also a human being!
Once there was a sanyasi who had a desire to drink soup! But he has no resources. Nor he can ask anyone to make some soup for him.
But our sanyasi was a smart guy.
He managed to find a discarded pot somewhere. He filled the pot with water and placed the pot on fire to boil the water. More importantly, he put a big stone into the pot.
The water started boiling. Occasionally, the sanyasi would take some water from the pot and sip it. He would then exclaim aloud “Wah! What a tasty soup!”.
The passersby, who observed this crazy act of the Sanyasi were quite amused. Some even went near the sanyasi and asked him why he is doing such a crazy thing.
Sanyasi replied that he is making a stone soup. He continued by saying that the soup is as it is great! If only he had some vegetables, the soup would taste much better.
One curious onlooker immediately ran home and brought some chopped vegetables. Sanyasi put those vegetables into the pot and kept it boiling. He continued to taste the water in the pot and occasionally would exclaim “wonderful. If only I add some spices, it would taste fantastic”.
Someone fetched the spices as well.
In this way, the sanyasi kept adding more and more ingredients and finally the soup was ready. He shared the soup with everyone and all of them relished it.
What a miracle! A stone soup that tastes so great!
When I read research reports about the efficacy of Yoga, I get reminded by this story of Sanyasi’s stone soup. Each researcher claims that his version of Yoga is great because it produces such and such wonderful results.
But while saying that, he highlights only the body posture part of it and implies that the result is because of body postures. But in reality, what the subjects in the experiment were made to undergo, was whole lot of things and not just body postures.
This gives a wrong conclusion that body postures are the real Yoga. And body postures are health enhancers. Just like the Sanyasi’s stone soup!
Unfortunately, masses believe that.
This belief is so deep rooted that anyone who gives a different opinion, is generally frowned upon!
I remember the speech of Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi on the first international Yoga day. I had mentioned about it in one of my earlier blog posts.Apparently, Mr. Modi is an adept Yoga practitioner.
In that speech, Mr. Modi almost ridiculed the idea that body postures are the real Yoga.
I am sure, that speech of his did not go well with the masses. And in subsequent Yoga day speeches, Mr. Modi changed the track! Afterall, a politician cannot afford to displease the masses!
What if, we wrongly understand the importance of various ingredients of Yoga? Afterall, what is important is whether it is effective! This is the kind of argument I have seen some people make.
But the problem is the focus has shifted from the other ingredients and stone has taken its place. People have started debating on which stone is better, heavy one or a light one, big one or a small one, granite or marble!
Instead of understanding the place of postures in Yoga, Gurus after Gurus are inventing more and more such exercises with no attention paid to what actually makes them work! This not only dilutes the soup and gives a bad taste, but retards the progress.
The real problem with these Yoga exercises is that many Gurus teach them as if they are some sort of gymnastics.
After some initial practice, our bodies get so used to them that the entire exercise becomes automatic. Once that happens, we can do them without paying any attention. That defeats the very purpose of these exercises.
I have also seen some Gurus claiming that faster is better. They jump around like circus clowns exhibiting their prowess in body contortions! That may burn some calories. But does it calm the mind at all?
On the contrary, that will make you more restless!
So, we need to stop making Yoga literally a stone soup!
Let us continue our discussions in the next episode.
A series revolving around Mind – Science of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Notions of reality, Mind modulation, Domains beyond Mind, and so on. © Dr. King 2019
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