the sage and the king

Verse 2.61: One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control, and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence.

Once there was a great sage by the name of Durvasa. He was a great lover of God and would travel near and far visiting various kingdoms and cities. In his travels, he once visited a king by the name of Ambarish. Ambarish was not only a great king who was beloved by his people, but an incredible role model. He exemplified what it meant to lead by example and although having all riches and opulence at his disposal, his greatest source of joy was in practicing bhakti yoga.

Ambarish would observe all festivals and auspicious occurrences which sometimes consisted of fasting. The purpose behind such fasting was to utilize that time, which was normally spent in eating, in increasing one's spiritual practices. Those practices that remind one of their spiritual connection with the Supreme such as mantra meditation, reading bhakti texts and hearing from advanced bhakti practitioners. Just when the time came to break the fast, the sage Durvasa came to visit.

Ambarish received Durvasa and his students with great happiness. With sincere hospitality, the king offered the sage and his students food which had been cooked and offered to the Supreme with great love and affection (in sanskirt this is known as prasadam). Durvasa accepted but expressed the desire to bathe first since he was coming from travelling. When Durvasa left, the king was informed by his ministers that the time to break the fasting period had come. Ambarish, being the best of hosts, expressed his discomfort and stated that, "It is the duty of the host to ensure that their guest has eaten to their full satisfaction before entertaining any thought of eating themselves."

His learned bhakti ministers, understanding that it was important for the King to break fast, suggested that he take a drop of water. This would count as breaking the fast, but at the same time since it was not a foodstuff, would technically mean that the king was still honouring the etiquette of serving his guest first. On the suggestion of his elders, Ambarish took a drop of water and waited patiently to personally serve the sage his meal.

Durvasa, who was in possession of great mystical power, immediately realized what the King had done and took offense. Hurtling insults at the king and saying that the Ambarish had no sense control, the sage invoked a great demon by the power of mantras to kill the king. All the while, Ambarish simply remained calm. Remaining composed, he prayed to the Supreme, "If you want to kill me or protect me, please do so as your will is my will."

This demonstrates such a valuable and important lesson for all of us - aspiring to become a true practitioner of yoga and learning how to accept any situation with gratitude and dependence on the Supreme is not restricted to a select few. It wouldn't be surprising for one to normally consider a sage to be a greater bhakti yogi than a king, but here we observe an example of what could arguably be the opposite.

Practicing the principles of yoga have nothing to do with power, prestige, position, background, Country or religion. It has everything to do with heart and consciousness. The yogi demonstrates that their heart and consciousness is filled with gratitude not by artificially controlling their senses, but reposing them in the service of the Divine.

As has been mentioned several times - it's about a transformation of consciousness, not an artificial repression of the senses. When one's consciousness is filled with gratitude and longing to reconnect with the Supreme, who has given us all individual and special gifts, then the natural inclination is to utilize all we have (i.e. our senses) in bringing pleasure to the Supreme.

Interested to know how the story ends? Let me know in the comments!

true yoga

Verse 2.41: Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.

There are many conceptions and ideas about yoga floating around the world today. As yoga becomes increasingly popular, it seems as though it's also becoming increasingly difficult to understand what true yoga is all about.

It's simple really. Yoga is a way of life. It's not something you "do", it's how you live. Since yoga is spiritual in its essence, the ultimate result of living a yogic lifestyle is to reconnect ourselves with the spiritual. What is that spiritual? It is to realize that we ourselves are eternal spirit souls, that all other living entities are also eternal spirit souls and that we are all connected by a common relationship. That relationship is with the Divine, the Supreme, who different people call by various names.

However, for many, that is a lot to take in at once and so the yoga texts take it step by step. First, the yoga texts start with the body, since it is what we mistakenly identify ourselves with. Yoga asanas, or postures, are there to help us experience the body. Think about it. How often during the day do you think about blinking, breathing or even walking? We tend not notice any particular part of our body unless we experience pain there. Through performing various postures, we get to "experience" the body as well as keep it healthy.

For many, that's enough and they are happy to think that is complete yoga. This is, however, just the beginning. Once the body is regulated, it only makes sense that we try to control the wild and turbulent mind. One of the most effective ways of taming the mind is through the practice of mantra meditation. In contrast to trying to empty the mind of all thoughts, which is near impossible to do, mantra meditation engages all the senses. Instead of trying to fight the senses to control the mind, the bhakti yogi uses them as tools.

Now we come to the main point of today's verse, which speaks of the intelligent. Did you know that the bhakti texts categorize the mind and intelligence as being different? In fact, there is a hierarchy. The intelligence is higher than the mind which is higher than the senses. Higher than the intelligence is the soul. Are you noticing a pattern here? The first two steps began with first understanding the nature of the senses and the mind and then regulating them. Now we move on to the intelligence...which begs the question: what does one do with the it?

One purifies the it by hearing from advanced bhakti practitioners and reading the bhakti texts. Here, Krsna the ultimate yogi, is giving the characteristics of a person who has purified intelligence- they are resolute in purpose and their aim is one (i.e. they are focused). In addition, to help us diagnose ourselves, he also gives a description of those persons whose intelligence is not purified - they are irresolute and scattered. But that isn't all. The aim and the purpose of such intelligent persons is also given. It's not that one can be resolute about anything and that should be the benchmark by which we assess purified intelligence. Purified intelligence means one's aim is on living a bhakti lifestyle, a yogic lifestyle. That lifestyle in no way discounts achieving success or aspiring for greatness, it just means that it is done so in a spirit of gratitude (i.e. karma free).

The crux, or most important step for all those aspiring to live a yogic lifestyle really centres on understanding and controlling the mind. That's exactly what Krsna will speak of in the verses to come. So stay tuned! It could change your life and turn you into a focused and empowered individual.