Stories, yoga, philosophy - Oh what a weekend!

Re: Stories, yoga, philosphy - Oh what a weekend!

Sabitha, just loved the philosophy from the sandalwood and the bamboo trees..and also the way, your teacher and yourself, put forth in here. Attachment, sure is a powerful emotional weapon to out grow...:-(.

Sriniketan

 

Dear Sabitha...
Wonderful illustration of attachment.....Thank You for sharing this ....

 

Dear Sabitha!
Wow! What a weekend indeed! and what a post!
Sandalwood, bamboo, kamandala, attachment, detachment .. so many things all contained in one!

While I agree with you that we should practice detachment, me being me, I am questioning why?
If God intended me to be detached I would hae been created long ago to be a sage. Or God might not have given humans the brains that creates all the material things.

And even if I want to be detached, I am also confused as to where to draw a line on this attachment/detachment point. Isn't it a relative term? As you say the poor man holds on to his hut and the rich to his mansion.

On one side we promote love- which is emotional attachment on the other we chide folks as being "materialistic". Even eating, wearing clothes, living in a house are all attachments, aren't they?

As for the sandalwood-bamboo - again we can take any non-human material and compare its characters to drive a point, any point that suits us.

In your narration the bamboo is described as hollow and non-absorbing of the good things of the sandal wood.

If i were asked to say something about the bamboo - I would say it is the finest example of detachment, self confidence, and compromise.

It is so confident that it does not have to be like the sandalwood, or take the sandalwood's qualities. It is not bothered about what others are- instead it is waht each of us should be- detached about the surroundings and do our deeds for which we are put on this earth.

The bamboo is noursihment to pandas, the sandalwood can be shown as merely cosmetic.

The bamboo, because of its hollow insides, is able to withstand powerful gales. So why should we not be like a bamboo?

The message I would take away from this class is it's a diverse world, some are sandalwoods, some are bamboos, and everyone has something to contribute. So I am I, and as long as I exist without doing harm to others (knowingly), I am fine.

Sorry if I offended you in any way, but this is just a friendly counter-point. If you had been sitting across from me we could analyze these things with garam chai and hot pakodas (I am attached to pakodas Sabitha - what to do? )

 

Kamala..
now this is another way to look at the complete lesson...hmmm.. its like the glass is half empty or half full.. an interesting never ending debate where both sides win!!!
K

 

Hi Sabitha
you seemed to have the most enriching knowledge- full weekend which just left me feeling "what the heck did I do for those 48 hrs??"... your yoga teacher seems to have captured the imagination of her American students..the replies to your post are really interesting &I simply couldn't resist Kamala's FB on the bamboo.. nice to hear another point of view..
all I can say is preaching detachments from all the worldly attachments is the easiest thing to do but to practice is not humanly possible.. I really wonder if the king walked out thinking that the rest of my staff will save my possessions while i should just simply save my life????...
I guess I'm being the cynical me!!
K