Maybe you've already heard about this, but I thought I'd share with you it anyway.
When a young man in the States named Aaron Collins passed away three weeks ago, he left his family with a mission to change the life of someone he didn't even know.
He asked them to go for pizza and leave the waiter or waitress a HUGE tip.
Although he didn't leave them the money, they quickly raised it through a website called http://aaroncollins.org/ and made good on his request.
I bring this to your attention because in my eyes, it is a beautiful story of Karma Yoga.
Their gift did not depend on the level of service they received. It didn't require any payback. Aaron will never know, as it is put in the Bhagavad Gita, the "fruits of his actions".
His story inspires us to be generous and kind in our own ways and to create a life and legacy of Love.
Be in Peace, Aaron.
May your Soul find bliss, and your family find comfort in their memories of you and the new ones you are creating together in the lives and hearts you are championing from Beyond.
Kind of reminds me of "staff night" in the Bahamas at the Sivananda Ashram which happens only ever so rarely.
The staff (all karma yogis/volunteers) almost never take a day or a night or even a moment off.
As Swami Brahmananda says when someone asks for one, "Does your karma take a day off?"
"No, Swamiji... sigh...", is always the answer. :-D
But once in a while in low season, someone takes the guests for evening satsang on the beach and the staff indulge like sixth graders at a sleepover, with chai and lemonade and chips and popcorn and whatever sweet treat someone can concoct in the kitchen in addition to their "real" karma yoga.
Sometimes... oh dare I say it... we even have ice creammmmmmmm.... and hang out all together and giggle and eat, enjoy a movie and a well deserved change of pace.
Less favorite films but great memories: Oh, God! (my favorite part being Swami Brahmananda's boyish guffaws), Brother Sun, Sister Moon (it seems Brahmachari Shankar knows every song and line as well as he knows The Princess Bride) and Avatar (which I would have just walked out of, but the tahini cookies Mahadevi made were sooooooo good...)
There we're immersed in yoga 25/7. Here, yoga movies are the only ones I make time for.
So starting tonight, watch for Sattvic Movie Saturday posts and we can discuss or review the films here.
I came home on Sunday to discover my neighbors in my yard with machinery "stealing" my Saskatoons! It turns out they were making pies to sell at the local diner to raise money for homeless seniors downtown.
The very next day as I was out walking, another neighbor offered me bowls and bowls full of berries from her bush. Big wheel keep on turnin', karma keep on burnin'!
For me, Saskatoons = Summer. Since my childhood I remember scouting for wild berries each year and struggling with bowl and bent tree limb, or just picking and eating right off the branch. I've always loved the sweet taste of the berries, warm in the sunshine, unwashed and unprocessed but they are equally delicious in jams and pies, on french toast and cereal.
No doubt in addition to their Karma Yoga, my neighbors were picking for the same reasons I do, to share the sweetness of nature's candy in the brutally short northern growing season. But these precious prairie treats also have an esteemed history as a staple food for the native population and pioneers in this area because of their outstanding nutritional value and versatility.
Modern nutritionists call them a "superfruit", they are so loaded with antioxidants that they are even better for us than blueberries!
In the Yoga Sutras, the author Patanjali mentions very little about the asanas or poses which we are so familiar with in Yoga today. What he does say, is this:
Sthirasukhamasanam (Yoga Sutra 2:46), or in other words, the poses should be sthira (steady) and sukha. Now most often this word sukha is translated as comfortable, so that the translation usually comes out something like, "The postures should be steady and comfortable".
But I'd like to add a little to that definition of asana, on the topic of sweetness.
"According to Monier-Williams (1964), the etymology of sukha is "said to be su ["good"] + kha ["aperture"] and to mean originally 'having a good axle-hole'...." Thus, for instance, in the Rig Vedasukha denotes "running swiftly or easily" (applied, e.g., to chariots). Sukha is juxtaposed with duḥkha (Sanskrit; Pali: dukkha; often translated as "suffering"), the elimination of which is the raison d'être of early Buddhism.[3][4]|" from Wikipedia
In other words, there should be an element of a "good ride" inherent in the asana.
But also, etymologically speaking, some say there is a connection between the Sanskrit word sukha, and our modern words sucre (French), Zucker (German) and sugar (English)!
To me, this suggests that the definition of asana by Patanjali must include this element of sweetness. It seems to imply a joy or succulence in the stillness of the posture.
I won't deny, I had some pretty choice non-Yogic thoughts about the position I found myself in when I saw my neighbors raiding my stash... but it reminded me that nearly every position we find ourselves in is akward... at first. If instead of reacting to our discomfort, we can be still with the akwardness, we often find it shifts and we are able to identify with the sweetness or ease in the posture or in the situation instead.
In this situation, what could be sweeter than neighbors who care about and act for the sukha; for the comfort, ease and enjoyment, the "good-ride" of others?
I will end this post with a beautiful Sanskrit mantra which includes this same sweet word:
Loka samasta sukhino bhavantu. "May all beings be happy. May all worlds attain peace and harmony."
Or from this perspective, "May all your worlds be as sweet as warm ripe Saskatoons."
