And when you reach 50, boy have you had challenges! lol
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;37881]Hmm, you brought up this topic of IT in India based on cheap labour. I responded to it. I am starting to think I should ignore you. You are disrespectful to me, you never actually respond to anything with a coherent response that I can engage with and seem to speak in riddles. In fact I am going to ignore you now.[/QUOTE]
Hmmm actually no I didn?t? and this one will be hard for even you to deny since the proof is in the numbers 
And you still have not answered my questions:rolleyes:
This is post #64
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;37864]I think one thing we should learn from the Indians and that is how succesful they are in the fields of IT, business and science today, even taking leading positions. Their secret? Go to India and you will find just how much the value of education is drilled into them and how they work their ass off studying. Sure, a lot of it is rote learning, but in the end they get what they want a lucrative job with a massive salary.
The real learning does not take place at school it takes place when you begin your spiritual jouney. Modern schools are nothing more than training grounds to place yourself in the work world and keep this oppressive system of capitalism running. A lot of what you are taught in school is substandard.[/QUOTE]
I did not mention IT in India until post #70 and since 64 does come before 70 and I said then if you want a post about IT in India make one but don?t do it here
And here is a direct statement for you sonny, answer the questions that I asked and maybe just maybe I will take you seriously, until then you get what you play for and respect is earned my friend and you have not earned it. Arrogance, narcissism, denial and prejudice do not deserve respect.
But please by all means ignore me, becaue you will save me time and because all that says to me is you can?t win and you can?t surrender so you do the next best thing? run away.
Well I can see forty approaching although i’ve actually stopped counting.When you’re 20 that seems like ancient,like an old duffer.Strange.And i now see myself as relatively young.You are what you think.Or you will feel whatever you think.l.There are some benefits to getting older.I do think you calm down alot by thirty and sort out some of your angst, or maybe not. I probably was able to process some of my anger when i found yoga 5 years ago. Hehehhe.
On the ageing business I think yoga can reverse and slow it down. So you get really sprightly 70 year old that can place leg around neck. I’m actually picturing this really youthful ,perhaps older than she looks, fit & healthy and ,no doubt, good-looking woman in yourself LG.
I find it amazing that as I got older everyone older than me got younger.
Now that I am pushing 50 I am amazed at how young 60 got but back when I was 20 it was ancient. And back when I was 20 I was a mature adult and now at 20 I was just a kid 
Each day I get closer and closer just like many.
Getting closer and closer to the infinite has a snag. You are always just as far from the infinite
Spirituality is never a gradual edging forward. Edging forward in what? All your life you have been edging forward in another sphere altogether. Developing social skills, coping skills, work skills and intellectual skills. This is not spirituality.
Spirituality is something that the world readies you for. How? When you develop distate for it. This is the beginning of most spiritual journeys, such as Buddhas. The other realisation is an intellectual realization when you realise what the goal of life is. I am somewhere in between these. I developed a distaste for the world during my nihilism phase, but not strong enough to renounce it and through studying Indian Philosophy(Vedanta-Samkhya-Yoga-Nyaya) I realised what the truth is now about my existence. I am a spiritual being and my goal in life is to realise my own divinity and incarnate the divine and manifest the divine qualities. I and the divine are one. I continue to incarnate over and over again in order to make this realization. I also realise that I do not have a lot of time on this planet and that I must begin the journey now. The journey of a thousand miles.
The truth is neither you or I have taken the first step on that journey yet. The first step is renunication. The second step is surrender to the guru. The third step is practice, practice and practice. Then enlightenment soon comes.
I will succeed in my mission to reach enlightenment. When I come back I will shine a light on this world in the same way Buddha did. This world needs enlightened masters of that caliber today.
Oh so true, both of you!
I really stopped caring about age a while back. What is age anyway? Just a #. Inside I am still that young blonde in my 20’s. Now I’m just a bit older blonde of 52! I still feel 20 though!
Never mastered getting the leg around the neck quite well, but I do a mean Upavistha Konasana…totally flat! Who hoo!
The first step is renunication.
Of your smaller self ,old way of life or what do you think?
I think the ego can often be an issue.It often does not feel so hot about all this spiritual stuff.I personaly think you just get on better terms with it.You see that the ego is not conquered but merely subdued and kept in check.Meditation can provide us with the luxury of observation. However i also feel ego can be driving us to practice. I was once introduced to the novel idea then of positive ego(rather than negative ego) which i think i get now.
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;37891]Getting closer and closer to the infinite has a snag. You are always just as far from the infinite
Spirituality is never a gradual edging forward. Edging forward in what? All your life you have been edging forward in another sphere altogether. Developing social skills, coping skills, work skills and intellectual skills. This is not spirituality.
Spirituality is something that the world readies you for. How? When you develop distate for it. This is the beginning of most spiritual journeys, such as Buddhas. The other realisation is an intellectual realization when you realise what the goal of life is. I am somewhere in between these. I developed a distaste for the world during my nihilism phase, but not strong enough to renounce it and through studying Indian Philosophy(Vedanta-Samkhya-Yoga-Nyaya) I realised what the truth is now about my existence. I am a spiritual being and my goal in life is to realise my own divinity and incarnate the divine and manifest the divine qualities. I and the divine are one. I continue to incarnate over and over again in order to make this realization. I also realise that I do not have a lot of time on this planet and that I must begin the journey now. The journey of a thousand miles.
The truth is neither you or I have taken the first step on that journey yet. The first step is renunication. The second step is surrender to the guru. The third step is practice, practice and practice. Then enlightenment soon comes.
I will succeed in my mission to reach enlightenment. When I come back I will shine a light on this world in the same way Buddha did. This world needs enlightened masters of that caliber today.[/QUOTE]
The Short Staff
Shuzan held out his short staff and said, “If you call this a short staff, you oppose its reality. If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact. Now what do you wish to call this?”
Of your smaller self ,old way of life or what do you think?
I have realised recently that when we say “my ego” it is really the ego saying “my ego” There is no such thing as “my ego” We are the ego. So whatever we think, whatever we do is all egoic. Fortunately, because the ego is creature of logic(the logic of thought patterns) it also ends up destroying itself by its own logic by realising it is a construction and the true “I” or Self is something else. So the ego decides to destroy itself through the act of meditation by suspending itself in a state of not thinking and doing, as a result the true “I” starts to emerge.
So renunication literally means giving up absolutely everything. All your possessions, your relationships, assets. It literally means to completely withdraw from the world. This is one of the few things I agree with on Jesus, when he told his followers to give up everything. So few were prepared to make that sacrifice. In general so few in the world can make that sacrifice. But that is the sacrifice that is required.
You must be born again. Die to yourself so you can be reborn in the spirit.
A MASTER who lived as a hermit on a mountain was asked by a monk,
“What is the Way?”
“What a fine mountain this is,” the master said in reply.
“I am not asking you about the mountain, but about the Way.”
“So long as you cannot go beyond the mountain, my son, you cannot
reach the Way,” replied the master.
[quote=lotusgirl;37893]Oh so true, both of you!
I really stopped caring about age a while back. What is age anyway? Just a #. Inside I am still that young blonde in my 20's. Now I'm just a bit older blonde of 52! I still feel 20 though!
Never mastered getting the leg around the neck quite well, but I do a mean Upavistha Konasana....totally flat! Who hoo![/quote]
You appear like you have this youthful perspective on life.And that may well be down to your yoga practice.I think alot of people think themselves into old-age.Because you see folk that are of similar age but quite different level of health and fitness.Sometimes it's reflected in the way they dress.You might also see it in women that start wearing granny clothes without realising.This can be a big give-away sometimes.So in that sense thiscan reflect how they see themself.See yourself old or young and you are more likely to feel it.
Aging is inevitable but i think sometimes we build mythology around it,partly driven by expectation. So folk that say they are too old for much exercise don't or leave their house don't really help themselves.Indeed some retire from a life of active work from their job and dies fairly soon after or if their spouse dies.We need things to keep us occupied, plans and a sense of a future.There was a guy called Thomas Hanna that talked about the myth of aging. The sum of all our life traumas and conditionings can pile up so we become more cycnical and grumpy and have less joy in our lives, and so on. Alot of it is stress l, which translates as tension,mental and physical. I think it's the silent killer, possibly No.1.
Hubert Benson who wrote 'The Stress Response',I think, a much respected researcher and M.D at Harvard, i think he set up some institute there('the mind-body iinstitue ' perhaps(?)which is still going strong). He made this idea more popular amongst the medical profession in the sixites with his books.
I think it's also might have something to do with your handle 'lotusgirl' and you mentioning your age.
You must have flexible hips then.I bet you're real fit.
Giving birth to 3 children might have something to do with my flexible hips! But you know what initially got me into yoga? My hips. They were so sore I could barely walk. At the time I was around 39. I had practices yoga in my 20’s but stopped for many years. I still don’t know why! But what started as something to help with physical pain, has developed into so much more. And I feel so blessed! Lotuslady or Lotuswoman just didn’t sound right! I actually picked Lotus because I got a tattoo when I turned 50. It’s a beautiful lotus flower with the Om symbol inside.
All right, we’ve hijacked the thread talking about age. I guess it was a nice diversion! Back to the thread!
Nice to hear your story Lg. What i have noticed with a lot of teachers, especially if you read their bios, is that injuryies or poor health or posture etc is what often gets them first drawn to yoga.Some folk have indeed rehabilitate themselves from quite severe injuries like motor-vehicle accidents or sports.There are miracle cures effected through sustained practice.But often those folk had turned to their doc only to be told they would never walk again which is’nt medicinally that helpful or they found what conventional or allopathic medicine had to offer extremely limited. It’s like crisis medicine but surgery or drugs are the main tretament and unfortunately they can sometimes either make things worse or they don’t treat the root of the problem. They don’t treat us as an organism, the whole person, just a coollection of body parts, a lump of meat basically…Not to mention some of their “bed-side manners” sometimes seem atrocious.And they often don’t look too deeply either.Muscoskeletal issues are usually adressed by PT’s and i’m not sure how effective they are.
I do like reading of the manyt times folk,often teachers, have recovered from really quite debilitating conditions,broken backs and so on.It does’nt even bear thinking about. But all power to them.The human will is extraordinary thing. I think if you’re desperate enough and in enough pain but have the means and importantly the will to do something about it then many things are indeed possible. I think mainsrtream medicine may advance further and make inroads once it makes a deeper acknowledgement of the intimacy of mind-body connection(at the moment you’ve got one doc for the mind and another for the body and they both treat you separately; it’s pretty insane is’nt it?) and perhaps the spiritual contributors and dimension behind some illnesses,indeed behind existence…Some even don’t trust docs. But you only tend to see them at the last minute when things have reached crisis point and the body or mind has finally cracked.Yoga can be preventative,although the prescriptions may seem sometimes like common-sense, as well as curative.
[QUOTE=lotusgirl;37910]Giving birth to 3 children might have something to do with my flexible hips![/QUOTE]
So that is what I need to do to get flexible hips!
You are inspirational for your age, good on you!
[QUOTE=omamana;37929]So that is what I need to do to get flexible hips!
You are inspirational for your age, good on you![/QUOTE]
I have 3 kids and now I can move around in full lotus on my knees in my studio (when my teacher isn’t looking). Or, does that only apply to girls? 
@ Fex,
Sure, we’ll let that count! Impressive!
@ Omamana,
Wouldn’t hurt! LOL (actually giving birth does, I must confess)
[QUOTE=Yulaw;37906]A MASTER who lived as a hermit on a mountain was asked by a monk,
“What is the Way?”
“What a fine mountain this is,” the master said in reply.
“I am not asking you about the mountain, but about the Way.”
“So long as you cannot go beyond the mountain, my son, you cannot
reach the Way,” replied the master.[/QUOTE]
Exactly, what is the point of this? Why do these stories always present riddles and never answers? Somebody asks me a simple question, “What is Brahman” I will say Brahman is the infinite universal consciousness. There a direct answer to a direct question. I could say, “What a fine hat you are wearing” and they will ask, “I am not asking about my hat, but Brahman” To which I respond, “So long as you cannot go beyond your hat, you cannot reach Brahman” Did it help? Heck no. My first answer helped, the second was just confusing the poor fellow.
[QUOTE=FlexPenguin;37932]I have 3 kids and now I can move around in full lotus on my knees in my studio (when my teacher isn’t looking). Or, does that only apply to girls? :D[/QUOTE]
Funny
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;37950]Exactly, what is the point of this? Why do these stories always present riddles and never answers? Somebody asks me a simple question, “What is Brahman” I will say Brahman is the infinite universal consciousness. There a direct answer to a direct question. I could say, “What a fine hat you are wearing” and they will ask, “I am not asking about my hat, but Brahman” To which I respond, “So long as you cannot go beyond your hat, you cannot reach Brahman” Did it help? Heck no. My first answer helped, the second was just confusing the poor fellow.[/QUOTE]
And you told me you were done with this thread and that you were going to ignore me… interesting
A monk requested “I have entered the monastery: please give me some guidance"
Master Zhao Zhao replied " Have you eaten breakfast yet?”
“Yes”
“Then go wash your bowl”
It is better to travel well than to arrive.
Buddha
Was looking for a quote on truth to start my class tonight as we are discussing Satya in relation to our practice, and came across this timely quote from the Buddha. Thought it was appropriate to post it here.