Guest guest Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Namaste Ryan and welcome to the group, Thanks for sharing this incident with us... When I read your post, I could only be grateful for my own teachers and the sensitivity they have displayed towards me and towards many of their sometimes wayward children. Particularly, it brings to my mind the countless questions that I have personally asked Swamiji, the many that I have forwarded him from this group, and the endless patience he has had in repeating his answers over and over to new people. And thats only about 30 mins of work... He still has a full day in his "office", chanting in the temple, taking care of the needs of the residents and all his spiritual children, writing books, and so many different things he does .... Somewhere I read that "the highest form of spirituality is kindness" ..... I really believe that if the teacher doesnt embody kindness, then it would be best for the student to keep looking elsewhere ... We have Swamiji ! Jai Guru Nanda , "grajft" <ryangra wrote: > > I have a question that has been bothering me. I once attended a > Bhagavat Gita class in my area. It was more of a guided group > discussion. During that class we were discussing a certain passage > (the passage escapes me at the moment) and I offered my interpretation > of it. Now mind you I was very nervous about speaking in front of a > group and my words didn't exactly match what I was thinking about. > After I finished there was a moment of silence then the person leading > the group abruptly told me I was wrong and moved on to someone else. I > was embarrassed and offended by his actions. Which leads me to my > question: Is it my role as a student to humble myself and not to take > such actions to heart, or should I look elsewhere for a more sensitive > teacher? Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. > Jai Maa, > Ryan > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Thank you for getting back to me with such kind words. It amazes me how Swamiji finds the drive and time to do all he does. I couldn't even imagine what such motivation feels like. , "Nanda" <chandimaakijai wrote: > > Namaste Ryan and welcome to the group, > Thanks for sharing this incident with us... > > When I read your post, I could only be grateful for my own teachers and > the sensitivity they have displayed towards me and towards many of their > sometimes wayward children. > > Particularly, it brings to my mind the countless questions that I have > personally asked Swamiji, the many that I have forwarded him from this > group, and the endless patience he has had in repeating his answers over > and over to new people. And thats only about 30 mins of work... He > still has a full day in his "office", chanting in the temple, taking > care of the needs of the residents and all his spiritual children, > writing books, and so many different things he does .... > > Somewhere I read that "the highest form of spirituality is kindness" > .... I really believe that if the teacher doesnt embody kindness, then > it would be best for the student to keep looking elsewhere ... > > We have Swamiji ! > > Jai Guru > Nanda > > > > > > > > > , "grajft" <ryangra@> wrote: > > > > I have a question that has been bothering me. I once attended a > > Bhagavat Gita class in my area. It was more of a guided group > > discussion. During that class we were discussing a certain passage > > (the passage escapes me at the moment) and I offered my interpretation > > of it. Now mind you I was very nervous about speaking in front of a > > group and my words didn't exactly match what I was thinking about. > > After I finished there was a moment of silence then the person leading > > the group abruptly told me I was wrong and moved on to someone else. I > > was embarrassed and offended by his actions. Which leads me to my > > question: Is it my role as a student to humble myself and not to take > > such actions to heart, or should I look elsewhere for a more sensitive > > teacher? Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. > > Jai Maa, > > Ryan > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Dear Ryan: I have some comments since I have been around many yoga organizations and seen how they are composed of people with all the usual issues, desire for power, arrogance, etc.. We all fail to be as kind and considerate as we would like. I try to look on all yogis as works in progress in a sort of school of love. We should just try and not hold onto our resentments and try not to take offense. Humility is a slippery subtle thing. The mind can use false notions of it to deceive us...."oh, I do not deserve to have that sort of spirituality. I cannot do that sort of effort" and so on. Do not fall for it reason to stop trying let the mind convince you to give up. I think it is better to give up on the whole notion of working on humility as it just comes as we replace the ego with spirit. All the daily negativity that comes and challenges us, presents opportunity to shed our own crap. It is how we respond to it that matters. If our response if....how offensive that statement!, it comes from a misplaced notion of who we are, what we are. How can we take umbrage when the stuff presented by others present is just stuff, and not even our little self stuff? One of the hardest tasks is to ask ourself why we do not like some situation. For me, it comes back to MY issues, and the need to grow out of the positions I hold to. Better to give up on trying to process all the crap involved. I suggest you just be OPEN. Do not resist or react. Just BE. Let them bring what they may. See how you respond...and try to just be open. Let the parts of you that want to react just fall away...shed them like old parts of a plant and grow bigger. Take in more and more of the energy around you. Sometimes it is tied to our misconception of what we think of as God and guru. If we see them as persons, peace, light and in a philosophical framework, we miss much. Try taking the widest view of God. He is all your good. He is the presence/presents of meditation. He is the dawn. He is holy places. He is those who teach us, He is the saints who came before. He is all the diverse things that come ...all come from Him. He is not a narrow concept. Lala, the Kashmiri female saint went naked. She wore only the sky and in her poetry stated no clothes could be more sacred than the sky she wore. The point I am trying to make is that what comes to us is not isolated and negative. All we can do is our best. Russell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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