Autobiography of a Yogi

I had just completed reading Autobiography of a Yogi. Its a fascinating read, packed with abundant learnings, so much so that you'll have to re-read it many times over to absorb it all.

Swami Yogananda has truly established a bridge not just between East and West which is the stated overarching purpose, but the book transcends several dual worlds with ease - yogic mysticism vs science, ancient vs modern worlds, ascetic life vs materialistic pleasures. The writing style alternates between light stories, spiritual messages & heavy stuff on self-realization. As with most philosophical stuff, one can conveniently absorb whatever they can at the moment and skip onto other portions.

The book chronicles the life of 4 yogis at available levels of detail, and also talks briefly about several other saints. Interestingly, you get to hear not just a capsule of their teachings, but also get a first hand account of their lives, including their innate flaws in formative years and how they were reformed by their gurus. Understanding the human compulsions of yogis, their emotions and attachments to loved ones (though subtle and fleeting), makes this all the more relatable to rest of us, ordinary mortals.

This book fills an important void, because the real yogis have always been mystic, secretive and hence their ideals and life accounts have been largely lost on the general population. In an age where there is rampant misinformation & misuse of spirituality with an overflow of charlatans, its truly a remarkable attempt that someone has gone into great detail to demystify, explain the science behind what is perceived as magic and make it all relatable.

Some important takeaways for me from the book were:

• Influence of a guru in shaping one's life
• Importance of yoga - that magic can happen through simple control & regulation of one's breath
• Listening to our inner call by understanding the higher purpose - and that you don't have to necessarily give it all up and live in a Himalayan cave (though thats an attractive proposition!)

No wonder the book is listed amongst the 100 best spiritual books of the 20th century, and is highly treasured by several renown individuals, including Steve Jobs.

Failing spectacularly to overcome your primal fears

Fear of rejection and fear of failure are two stumbling blocks that hold one back from experimentation or even linear progression. While the fear of failure is more to do with low self-confidence and self-perceived inability, the fear of rejection is a bigger worry about the outcomes - how people might ridicule one for even making an attempt at something.

While self-help books try and coach you to improve self-esteem as a possible remedy, there are better seemingly solutions. As with most things in life, doing something repeatedly makes it look less alien and 'difficult'. Extending this further, failing sorely time and again could make you numb to these negative feelings of failure & rejection. However, wouldn't it be wise to create smaller opportunities where you could fail with impunity, rather than exhausting costlier options from your career and life events?

I recently came across this excellent Ted Talk on this topic. What better person to learn this from, than one who has systematically set himself up for failure 100 times, and has eventually made a successful career out of it!

Video URL: https://www.ted.com/talks/jia_jiang_what_i_learned_from_100_days_of_rejection

Jiang also writes about the 'Spotlight effect', which basically is a misconception that one is the centre of the universe and that everything we say and do is noticed in vivid detail by others around us. 'These fears force us to conform to others expectations, live mediocre lives and have forgettable careers.' In reality, no one has as much time, or to put it bluntly, no one really cares. Jiang also has a practical therapy of singing in the public to get over such fears!

Each person has their own set of fears, and some quirky ones at that. So, this is definitely worth taking a look at.

Making most of your Best-before-Date

For a moment picture yourself living in this world about 50 years ago, in an age where automobiles were relatively fewer and it was a real luxury to have one in the neighbourhood. Assume you didn't own a car already, and were given one on lease, for a limited period of 30 days along with free fuel. Suppose you were given complete freedom to use it in any way you deemed right, what would you do?

You would use this (relatively rare) mode of transportation to get all your stuff done: for work, personal needs and moving things around. You would use it to the fullest and perhaps flaunt it too. You might also run a few errands for friends and neighbours. You would consider making the best use of this rare commodity available only for a limited period, just so that the benefits stay long after the lease period.

• Would you use your car for just one purpose (only commuting to work) and let it stay idle otherwise?
• Wouldn't you plan that elusive long-drive on a weekend? Plan a vacation driving to that exotic locale, with friends and/or family?
• Wouldn't you do the bare minimum to keep the vehicle in a running state by refilling fuel, checking tyre pressure and doing the needed maintenance? The last thing you'd want is the vehicle to break down and be out of service for 2 of the 30 days.

Now why do we handle our lives any differently? Coming to think of it, there are striking similarities with the above analogy.

• We have limited time in this life (a 'lease' in years as opposed to days for the car). 
• Each person has incredible talents and unique interests, which often get neglected by narrow-minded pursuit of one or a few things (bogged down with work / too internally focused to look outside / not taking time to appreciate and contribute to the good things in this world). 
• And, its a criminal negligence to neglect our body without the needed 'maintenance' that is essential to ensure good health. The quote by Jim Rohn nails it - "Take care of your body, its the only place you have to live".

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