Today, in honor of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I encourage everyone to make an effort to live a life in which your actions are non-violent, & motivated my love rather than hatred. In yoga, this yama (or universal ethical principle) is called Ahimsa, which means non-harming. Living a yogic lifestyle encourages yogis/yoginis to live by thoughts & actions that cause the least amount of harm to themselves & to all beings. Through the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali teaches us that, "non-harming is essential to the yogi because it creates good karma -- not only for the person or animal that is not harmed, but for the yogi who has refrained from causing harm. Good karma leads to eternal joy & happiness."
People look at the actions of individuals like Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, Ghandi and think, I'll never be capable of making as significant a difference in the world as they did. This is not true. Your actions don't have to be grand. Simple, small-scale efforts to decrease the suffering & increase the happiness in even ONE person's life matter just as much as an extremely generous gesture such as Bono donating a few million to bring aid to Africa. Each action, the seemingly insignificant & the impressive, bring good karma & make the world a better place. So, do something today to make a difference. Find a few articles of clothing in your closet that you haven't worn in the past year & donate them to a homeless shelter or a battered women's shelter. If you're not ready to commit to vegetarianism yet, just avoid eating meat for ONE meal -- "Producing a single hambuger patty uses enough fossil fuel to drive a small car twenty miles & enough water for seventeen showers." (Jivamukti Yoga -- Sharon Gannon & David Life, pg. 60-61). Or simply, bite your tongue before saying something negative or hateful about another being.
"I've decided to stick with love; hate's too heavy a burden to bear." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment