This is a very interesting story from David Life book
Ones there was a great yogi who lived in a small town. All day long he meditate, chanted, and worshiped, practiced asanas and pranyamas. One day a prostitute moved in to a house across the street. All day long men came in and out. The yogi would see that and think: “what is going on over there? This is really horrible, I’m a holy man and should not live near that kind of evil woman. This is not good, I do not deserve it!” The prostitute was very busy, but ones in a while she would get a break and look out of her window and see the yogi. When she did, her heart filled with love and admiration for him. “Oh, what a wonderful man he is! All day long he is so holy, thinking of God, worshiping, what a great soul! Look how peaceful he is!” When yogi and prostitute died they met at the gate of heaven. The angels and saints at the gate looked at the prostitute and said, “Oh, how wonderful to have you, we’ve waiting for you. Please come in.” And they said to the yogi, “you back down you go!” Yogi was very upset and protested, “This is unfair! All my life I had been meditation and worshiping God!” The gatekeeper said, “No, all day long you have been thinking about what could be doing the prostitute int he house, while all day long the prostitute was thinking of God. Even while looking at you, her mind was on God.”
Very interesting for sure!! Thanks for posting!!
Very nice CityMonk!
Here’s a famous version of the same idea from the Buddhist tradition:
[U]Carrying and Leaving[/U]
Once upon a time, there were two monks who went on a pilgrimage across the country together. One day, they came to a river bank and saw a beautiful girl who was unable to cross the river.
Seeing her difficulty, the elder monk volunteered to carry her across the river on his back while the younger one looked on in consternation.
When the sun went down, the monks came upon a dilapidated shack and decided to stay there for the night. The elder monk quickly fell asleep while the younger one tossed and turned for hours, unable to calm his mind. Finally, he woke up the elder monk and reprimanded him for what happened during the day, saying “As monks, we are supposed to keep away from women. I am very troubled by what you did today!”
The elder monk looked at his friend and a big smile came over his face. “Oh, so that’s what has been bothering you! Brother, I have left the girl behind by the river bank. Why are you still carrying her around?”
^^^ Thats PeAcE!
How easily we are distracted when we think we aren’t…
that’s not very fair… at least the yogi was trying
The monk story I had heard before, but slightly different, it is still nice to hear it though. The first one I haven’t heard before, but it did make me think of the book Siddartha by Herman Hesse - it’s a wonderful read and im sure all those who apreciate the stories told so far will like it 
Here’s another version of the story in the opening post:
Two twin boys were born and raised in a small mountain village. One of the twins grew up to become a clergyman and served as the pastor of the local church for many years time. He wasn’t a very good pastor, however, as he was generally impatient and harsh in dealing with his congregation, and literally put people to sleep in the church when he preached on Sunday morning.
The other twin grew up to become the local village drunk, and the regular driver of the only bus which everyone depended upon to travel from village to village. As a result, he often drove the bus while totally inebriated, much to the dismay of his passengers, occasionally running the bus off the road while weaving his way through the steep passes along the narrow, winding mountain roads. Eventually, on one such occasion, he and his twin brother, the pastor, died in the crash along with several other passengers on the bus.
Upon reaching the Gates of Heaven, the pastor was shocked and amazed to see that his brother was also there, and that all the angels and saints rushed out to greet his brother and welcome him to heaven, leaving the pastor standing alone at the gate. He approached St. Peter and said “How can this be that I am left standing here while my brother receives such a warm welcome? I was a faithful clergyman all of my adult life, and served as the pastor of our local church for many years time. My brother was the village drunk, a shameless sinner in many ways, and personally responsible for our untimely deaths.”
St. Peter said: "Yes, I know, but you weren’t a very good clergyman, and didn’t really do anything to bring people closer to God, but when your twin brother drove that bus…people REALLY REALLY PRAYED! :lol:
Moral of the story: [U][B]Divine Providence moves in mysterious ways[/B][/U]!
[QUOTE=adityananda;28638]Here’s another version of the story in the opening post:
Two twin boys were born and raised in a small mountain village. One of the twins grew up to become a clergyman and served as the pastor of the local church for many years time. He wasn’t a very good pastor, however, as he was generally impatient and harsh in dealing with his congregation, and literally put people to sleep in the church when he preached on Sunday morning.
The other twin grew up to become the local village drunk, and the regular driver of the only bus which everyone depended upon to travel from village to village. As a result, he often drove the bus while totally inebriated, much to the dismay of his passengers, occasionally running the bus off the road while weaving his way through the steep passes along the narrow, winding mountain roads. Eventually, on one such occasion, he and his twin brother, the pastor, died in the crash along with several other passengers on the bus.
Upon reaching the Gates of Heaven, the pastor was shocked and amazed to see that his brother was also there, and that all the angels and saints rushed out to greet his brother and welcome him to heaven, leaving the pastor standing alone at the gate. He approached St. Peter and said “How can this be that I am left standing here while my brother receives such a warm welcome? I was a faithful clergyman all of my adult life, and served as the pastor of our local church for many years time. My brother was the village drunk, a shameless sinner in many ways, and personally responsible for our untimely deaths.”
St. Peter said: "Yes, I know, but you weren’t a very good clergyman, and didn’t really do anything to bring people closer to God, but when your twin brother drove that bus…people REALLY REALLY PRAYED! :lol:
Moral of the story: [U][B]Divine Providence moves in mysterious ways[/B][/U]![/QUOTE]
LOL:))) let’s continue!
The forms are cognized or not cognized according to the qualities latent in the level of awareness of the perceiver (Sūtra IV-17). ?We see what we are ourselves.?
OK, the last is a good one.
In continuation of it, the best joke in Scotland:
“I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.”
To the first, agree with princesspiscean.
Looks like the prostitute already was a Bhakta, while yogi was doing his first steps.
It is known how important in yoga to control your thoughts. E. g. in meditation many
people have difficulties coping with unwanted thoughts.
There is no unique trick to solve it. You have to know the laws of thought and the methods to control them.
The book Power of Thought by Swami Sivananda is an invaluable help.
[QUOTE=CityMonk;28560]This is a very interesting story from David Life book
Ones there was a great yogi who lived in a small town. All day long he meditate, chanted, and worshiped, practiced asanas and pranyamas. One day a prostitute moved in to a house across the street. All day long men came in and out. The yogi would see that and think: “what is going on over there? This is really horrible, I’m a holy man and should not live near that kind of evil woman. This is not good, I do not deserve it!” The prostitute was very busy, but ones in a while she would get a break and look out of her window and see the yogi. When she did, her heart filled with love and admiration for him. “Oh, what a wonderful man he is! All day long he is so holy, thinking of God, worshiping, what a great soul! Look how peaceful he is!” When yogi and prostitute died they met at the gate of heaven. The angels and saints at the gate looked at the prostitute and said, “Oh, how wonderful to have you, we’ve waiting for you. Please come in.” And they said to the yogi, “you back down you go!” Yogi was very upset and protested, “This is unfair! All my life I had been meditation and worshiping God!” The gatekeeper said, “No, all day long you have been thinking about what could be doing the prostitute int he house, while all day long the prostitute was thinking of God. Even while looking at you, her mind was on God.”[/QUOTE]
This is EXACTLY what I don’t like about religion and ‘holy’ people. They are self-righteous, self-centered, egotistical, hypocrites, who use their imaginary friend, they call god, to justify looking down on others. The prostitute was being herself, while the Yogi was trying to be something different, something special. I can’t believe the irony of wanting to be one with the universe, and then completely isolation yourself and seperating yourself from the rest of society. It’s like, if you want to be one with the universe, take you fourteenth century robe off and get a job like everyone else. Good story.
First there is a notion of there being something divine, something greater than yourself
Then one finds a belief, an organization with a set of rules to practice and adhere to
Then one starts to walk with the spirit of the divine, adhering to the rules
Then one experiences the divine
If one cannot find the discipline to adhere to the rules…one is stuck in just the belief,
becoming a fundamentalist and eventually perhaps an atheist because of the lack of divine experience.
The divine, when experienced, is so profoundly beautiful it produces nothing but all encompassing love for all living beings and creatures for all of your life here on earth…nothing self centered, no anger…no egotistical hypocrisy and any other negatives imaginable sir.
Kind Regards Kareng
[QUOTE=YogiAdam;38451] take you fourteenth century robe off and get a job…[/QUOTE] … of a prostitute. 
Seriosly, those “holy” people are not holy, they are just starting to learn.
Real ones are simple to communicate, taking life easy, letting everybody around to be themselves.
[QUOTE=Sasha;38481]… of a prostitute.
Seriosly, those “holy” people are not holy, they are just starting to learn.
Real ones are simple to communicate, taking life easy, letting everybody around to be themselves.[/QUOTE]
So basically lazy?
How it`s related?
A spiritual path is a very simple path…therefore it is narrow
Kind Regards Kareng
My god!
Will I incarnate in the Matrix, as a kind of yogi Neo?
I say this because i’m a programmer, all day long i think about the code i write…
Sometimes i even dream about code…