This
yoga story is continuation from the long overdue Yoga Story series that was
last left at June 2011. I won’t give any
excuses for the disruption, but, just let me continue…
The
hanuman pose, or Leg-split, is one of the most difficult yoga poses to
master. The hamstring muscles attached
at the back of thighs are like the most stubborn bull. It won’t budge one bit no matter how hard you
try to pull it. Attached like layered thick
bands, hamstrings also work much the same way.
Even you succeed to stretch it a bit today, it goes right back to where
it was yesterday when you wake up next morning.
The hamstring muscles are also the dumbest ones, because unlike other
muscles in the body it doesn’t remember what it did before. Every day is a new day, so you just have to
stretch it every day for some years if you want to split beautifully. That is with faith and courage like the Hanuman in the story of Ramayan.
Hanuman
who is the son of Vayu (the Wind God) and the mortal woman Anjana, forgot his
divine origin while leaving with the monkeys in the mountain, after the curse
of the Sun God Surya. As the son of the wind, Hanuman could do
anything. He could grow very large or
very small, move mountains, and even change his shape all together. But he was constantly forgetting his
divinity. The curse was to be relieved
when he meets King Ram (the cosmic Lord Vishunu incarnate) to serve him as the
main warrior in the war between Ravana (the bad guy who abducted Ram’s wife Sita)
and Ram. Sita was hidden in a secluded
place of the island kingdom of Ravana. While
Ram was building bridge with his army to cross over the ocean, Hanuman was to
jump over the ocean to confirm the safety of Sita, at the same time, to inform
her Ram’s rescue is being on the way.
However in front of this important task, Hanuman again forgot his orgin. So he turned to his faith, shraddha in Sanskrit, to give him the
confidence to do what he knew mush accomplish.
With prayers, he was able to remember his powers and grew very large instantly. As he flew over the ocean toward his destiny,
one of Hanuman’s feet reached forward and one foot reached back like the
Leg-split, hanumanasana.
Many of
us shrink before impossible tasks, even tasks that are just a bit hard, because
we are just like hanuman. We easily
forget that there is a part of us that is also divine and can accomplish the
impossible. And we forget about the
element of shraddha, which is
ingrained in every human heart, just as it was within Hanuman’s.
Throughout
human history, there has always been some form of prayer to give human beings
the space and time to grow that element of faith within their hearts. It is with faith and hope that we can go
forth with confidence and leap across oceans, change the world, or simply fall
back in love.
This
story was somehow difficult for me to write…maybe I too wanted to forget for a
while of writing too holly-molly God’s story only. Instead, I turned to write a Korean book
about Malaysia. After devoting for solid
6 months to write, publishing it becoming another mountainous task…with high
costs and work it needs…so I am turning to my prayer, shraddha…hoping Him to show me the way…for it to find its way to
the deserved readers…
