When i registered myself for the Yoga teaching program, i was given two books---basic philosophy of yoga.
I went blank when i started flipping through the pages. What! How could i possibly understand all these stuff?
When i read upon one of the practice is--- svadhyaya. I googled it and it explains: study of the Vedic scriptures. All my excitement of going to the program zoomed straight down the drain. Scripture.. sounds tough!
Do all Buddhists read the traditional scripture?
Do all Christians flip through the bibles?
Do all Muslim understood the Koran?
I don't know.
I can share with you my own little library of "scriptures study"...
It can run from Yoga Sutra by TKV Desikchar and Bhagavad Geeta by Ekanath Easwaran ( introduced by my teacher), to random pages and lines from the Bible, to articles in the Yoga Journal from teachers all over the globe, to eye-opening readers' digest, to beautiful true reflection by Mitch Albom, to the tasty novels by Paulo Coelho, to the ever- inspiring quotes by Robin Sharma.
"Scripture reading" is like zooming in an area on a map we're going to explore. It may not be a substitute in self- exploration, but it helps in familiarise the area we want to travel into--- by reading others' experiences.
Sometimes, i find myself flipping the same books or reading them repeatedly-- each time i learn new things from the same old lines. That i allow it to sit deeper in my heart, to share it with others and enact it in my life.
Scriptures can be any good read that matches our path and direction--- and able to lead and bring us to where we want to go. Reading those works that speak to our true nature.
Often we find that statements or concepts that we couldn't understand, or had no use for when we first read them, may come alive days or months or even years later, as the circumstances of our lives confirm their messages.
* with reference from Meditation from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison
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