Saturday, March 14, 2009

WOMAN LISTENING
















A wise woman, who was traveling in the mountains, found a precious stone in a stream.

She reverently placed the gem in her bag.

The next day, she met another traveler, who was hungry.

The wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone in the wise woman's bag, admired it, and asked the wise woman to give it to him.

The wise woman did so without hesitation.

The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune.

He knew the jewel was worth enough to give him security for the rest of his life.

But a few days later he came back, searching for the wise woman.

When he found her, he returned the stone and said,

"I have been thinking. I know how valuable this stone is, but I would like to exchange it in the hope that you can give me something much more precious. If you can, teach me the secrets about the power you have within you, the power than enabled you to, without hesitation, give me this precious stone."

(from THE SECRET POWER OF YOGA, by Nischala Joy Devi)

Some years ago, it was suggested to me by a yoga teacher that I study several interpretations of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The above story introduces the only interpretation I have that was done by a woman. Interestingly, her focus is on the first two of the four books, and she suggests, "As your curiosity about Books III and IV develops, I encourage you to read the many translations available."

The other interpretations I have been reading are:

LIGHT ON THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI, by B.K.S Iyengar.

THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI, translation and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda.

THE ESSENCE OF YOGA: REFLECTIONS ON THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI, by Bernard Bouanchaud.

In the last few days, I've also been listening to THE YOGA SUTRA OF PATANJALI TUTORIAL, chanted by T.K.V. Desikachar. Reading one sutra early each morning and discovering how the Sanskrit words are pronounced is becoming part of my yoga practice.

("Woman Listening" was drawn in chalk pastel by Old Girl of the North Country in the early 1980's)

4 comments:

robin andrea said...

A very good story. Is the woman Patanjali? Are the teachings what she tells the man about the power to give away to stone? I will have to google all of this to find my way.

am said...

Who or what Patanjali was is a mystery but generally Patanjali is said to have been half man and half serpent.

The story about the wise woman might be suggesting otherwise, leading to your good questions.

I hadn't thought about it that way but, yes, the Yoga Sutras are very much about the power to give away the stone.

R.L. Bourges said...

beautiful story, am, and the book looks really interesting (read the review on the link, the part about substituting 'awareness of abundance' for the word 'greed' sounds empowering, somehow.

thanks for the story and the link.

best

Anonymous said...

thanks for this. reminds me of Robert Sund's poems from his days on the river, abundance, his sense of the importance of giving.kjm