Poison in the pot

Tags

Guru, Poison, Pot, Teachings

A teaching I’ve been given over and over and over and over again from my Guru, is about listening and learning. Its one worth paying attention to.

It says there are five faults in the way we can listen, when we’re not being mindful. As a result, what we learn can be affected, reduced and/or limited.

The analogy is a pot you’re trying to pour water into. The water represents knowledge on offer. For example: a friend telling you something about their life; formal study; or, listening to a yoga teacher.

These are five ways that make it hard to get water into the pot:

1. It’s upside down!
   So, you’re trying to put water in the pot, but you’ve failed to realise its upside down. The opening for the water is just not available.
2. The lid’s on tight!
   Sorta like the first one, although the pot’s the right way up. But the lid has been firmly secured. Nothing can get in or out.
3. Crack in the pot!
   Yep, we can put the water in, but whoops, there’s a crack/hole and its going right out again, not being retained.
4. Already full!
   You wanna put water in, but it’s just spilling over the sides. The pot’s full up and there’s no room for any more water!
5. Poison in the pot
   The pot’s open, there’s no holes in it, it’s the right way up… but a drop of poison found a way in. So no matter what you do, the water is tainted.

Now, I’ve just spent a really lovely evening with a girl I used to work with. We haven’t seen each other since before I went to Thailand in July last year. But we’ve been in touch via email, text etc.

Never mind that we were sitting in a rather lush little wine bar, with delicious and expensive wine on the menu (everything’s good there) and some equally delicious and tasty cheeses to nibble on… we had such a fantastic conversation.

Completely open, say-anything-you-like discussion on life, the universe, everything.

Listening to her story (where she ended up quitting her job after attracting the attention of an aggressive crazy dude in the office and taking off to travel for a month in India), I could see the whole hey I don’t have a job or an income thing, from another angle.

I can choose to be annoyed at losing my job before I was ready, and stressed about getting another one. Or, I can do everything in my power to find work (including setting myself up as a freelancer), and then the rest of the time… enjoy myself! Yeah, why not, eh?

Which brought to mind the plants I’ve been re-potting lately, and thoughts about gardening in general. Y’know, about how you need to replenish nutrients in the soil for healthy plants, ensure they have enough water, light and so on.

And thinking about that brought me back to the story about the pot… and listening and learning, but also, making sure the soil I’m renewing at the moment is fresh and not poisoned. And… giving myself optimal conditions for thriving.

Makes sense, eh?

~Svasti

Wiser words than mine

Tags

Gaps, Guru, Keith Dowman, Moving house, Spiritual work, Teachings, Wisdom, Yeshe Tsogyel

I’m having a few issues right now of the spiritual/non-corporeal kind. Sort of.

On top of a new job, moving home, and generally dealing with lots of stuff, things they are a-changing in ways I can’t put my finger on (see Carbon based lifeform 2.0).

I’m finding when I do have two seconds to rub together, and slow down, life starts to get weird. Well, perhaps not that weird for a practicing yogi. But still, it is weird mostly because I’m not doing a lot of intense sadhana right now. But things are changing anyway and I’m falling into the gaps somewhat…

My Guru lives in Thailand, and right now I only see him once a year (if I’m lucky). To supplement, many students rely on recorded teachings – mostly stuff we were present for (good to get a repeat dose), but also other teachings that were held in San Francisco when we weren’t. He gets back there once or twice a year. Which kind of makes me wonder why the heck I’m not listening to the pleas of my yogi brothers and sisters and moving over there already?!

I digress. So I’ve been listening to recorded teachings, as I do regularly. But I’m especially dependent on them now as it’s kinda tricky to identify where I’m at on the path by myself.  Not that there’s a path. And not that there’s any ‘progression’. Of course.

Because I’ve been putting in all this iPod listening time, I’ve re-discovered some absolute gems in terms of insights and discussions on the human condition. There are plenty of gems, but these ones are striking a chord for me right now. They’re relatively general, yet practical for yogis and non-yogis alike.

And I’ve been transcribing some of it!

So, in addition to my other ramblings here, I’m gonna run a series of posts sharing some of the wisdom I’m lucky enough to have access to.

Not sure if I’ll get time this weekend (what with the move and all), but some time in the next couple of weeks, they should start to appear.

I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do.

Namaste!

~Svasti

P.S. The image above is from a book called “Sky Dancer: The Secret Life & Songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel” by Keith Dowman. Its an incredibly beautiful book that I highly recommend.