Yogi Learns from Two Vicious Businessmen

Meditationtime Forum Post

Date:  Posted 5 years before Apr 28, 2017

MiBeloved 5 years ago

The night was quiet and mostly uneventful which is really great for a yogi. It is a very good result of practice if one finds that during the night one does not have much social involvement with people whose primary interest is not yoga practice.

I got to doing breath infusion just after 4 am. At first no one was present astrally but then Swami Muktananda appeared as an astral body. I was focusing down in the trunk of the body, trying to infuse energy into the thighs, when he appeared. He made this remark:

“Those who are unable to keep the attention in the psyche during asanas and pranaiama practice are never able to reach the heights of Patanjali yogi. Subsequently they go about speaking of things which they have no knowledge of. Baba used to whack us if at any time during practice, our attention strayed outside of the psyche. In the subtle body, you would get this stinging whack on your back and then you realized that your attention had strayed. It is nice that you are keeping your attention inside even though there is no one here to inflict some pain on you for violating that.”

By Baba he meant Siddha Swami Nityananda.

During breath infusion, the air was rather cold but I persisted. Presently my circumstance does not allow me to practice the breath infusion indoors. Sometimes circumstances are not ideal but a yogi should not allow that to deter practice nor distract one from the real issue which is to take any opportunity and make do with it.

For breath infusion one should never use polluted indoor air. There must be ventilation so that fresh air reaches the nostrils.

If one lives in the Northern Hemisphere, one should when the weather is cold, do the breath infusion indoors with windows opened partially so as to warm the fresh air but if that is not practical, then one should practice anyway. What I do is dress warm and goes outdoors. People make many sacrifices and go through many loops of hardship and austerity for materialistic aims, so there is no reason why a yogi cannot take their example and apply their persistence and sacrifice to spiritual practice. There is much to learn from dedicated persistent materialistic people.

Yesterday I was with a few businessmen. They went to a wholesaler to purchase some items for retail sale. It was interesting how they badgered and whittled-down the wholesaler on prices. They were persistent and stripped the man to the bare bones to get the cheapest prices so that on the retail side they would make the highest profits. And there was no shame on their part in this. It was all about their profit, not the profit of the wholesaler. As far as they were concerned he should be making no gains from the purchase. He should just give it to them at the price at which he bought it or less even. They were vicious like efficient predator species like eagles and lions, which strip everything to the bone and crack the bone and take the marrow within it if that is necessary.

So there is something to learn from these people about how efficient to be in spiritual practice. These people are great gurus to a yogi, regarding their efficient, lack of conscience and total efficiency. After they completed the transaction, I interviewed the two men about it, asking them if there was some satisfaction in getting the best prices from the wholesaler.

They explained to me that of course there was and that if they did not do that, the whole thing would be spoilt for them. “We must get that price down to the bare bones,” they said, “and then we are satisfied. The pleasure is in getting the best prices so that we can make the highest possible profit.”

I was struck with wonder because I was never able to see life in that way. These fellas had some circuits which were missing in my psyche. But still it was an important lesson how to deal with life and get from it what you must to fulfill your nature. So if these materialistic persons can do this, when why should yogi sit back and get nothing out of spiritual practice.