
Excepting a few books in the image, most of the others have been on my shelves for a few years, including a couple of the yoga books. I’ve read them, left them alone and come back to them again and again. The first reading would always be a mad devouring, wanting to greedily lap everything the pages held. Subsequent readings were usually piecemeal, sometimes a line or two, sometimes a page, sometimes 20. Every single time, the words have revealed something new, more a little uncovering rather than discovery.
I’ve been graced with a sense of deep gratitude as I practise living in accordance with the principles of Yog to the best of my ability. Perhaps this fervent belief has led to a different response to whatever I read. The response is less intellectual and more devotional, although it seems strange to use the word in connection with myself.
Sometimes a commentary on one of the Sutras prods me to pick up The Gita. This in turn pushes me to open the translation of the Upanishads. At times something reminds me of a line I read a while ago and I go searching for it. Yet other times, it is getting carried a way with the Puranas and the epics as they paint the gamut of human and divine life. There is literature available to satisfy every kind of reader. The sheer range is staggering.
The project to memorise the Yog Sutras resulted in a certain familiarity with Sanskrit words. It has brought in its wake a new slow savouring of the timeless texts in this studentship. Today’s trigger was a brainstorming session with a friend as we explored the concept of zero waste. It reminded me of the lines from ‘The Wasteland’ and what could I do but hear what the Thunder said…
Hari Om
So cool to see your book titles! I’m currently rereading Menon’s Ramayana and noticed here that he also has written about Krishna. Is it in the same sort of style of his Ramayana?
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It’s even better! I think the one on Krishna is his best.
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It’s actually a duet (if I could use the word in the context of a book) of the Bhagvatam and the Gita.
Prakriti and Purusha.
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Is your title, da..da..da… from the story about the guru who taught the angels, demons, and mankind?
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Yes. It’s from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. T.S. Eliot used it in his ‘The Wasteland’.
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I just read that little story for the first time yesterday in my Sanskrit text book! (Yogāvataranam – Ponté-Slatoff : ) So when I first read your post I didn’t understand the title, or the T.S. Eliot reference. You are very deep, Soniaji!
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Reading and memory have been an intertwined experience lately throwing up new connections.
My little girl must have been 3 or 4 when she asked me what makes our eyes see and all I could do was stare into her brown eyes. It’s the same source that makes her see and makes me see.
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Thanks, I was just listening to Prashantji’s lecture during Guru Poornima a few years back and he told this story. He said that Guruji taught in a similar manner where he would give one instruction, but it would heard differently according to the calibre of the student. Fascinating concept!
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That’s so beautiful…you and Little K’s inquiring brown eyes…
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