In the recent Bhagavad-gītā retreat, Ācārya shared a story about his Great Teacher Śri Raṅga who had visited a famous temple outside of Mysore together with a group of his disciples. Having entered the temple and gained sight of the deity being worshipped in the inner chamber, the presiding priest offered the group an explanation regarding the significance of the location of this temple and the deity Narasiṃha.
Afterwards, Śri Raṅga sat nearby with his disciples and revealed to them several truths unbeknown to the priest about the temple and the deity . One of these focused on the significance of a small bean being held by the deity between thumb and forefinger in Chin mudra.
The priest had explained that this bean was traditionally used in India as a tiny unit of measure when working with scales and that its presence in the deity´s hand signified that the location of this temple (at the confluence of three rivers) was to be considered fractionally more auspicious than Varanassi – by this tiny unit of measure.
Śri Raṅga explained that the real significance of this bean, in this mudra, was that this life can be viewed as a set of scales moving towards Yoga and Bhoga respectively, and all that is needed to achieve Samadhi, is to tip the scales by ONLY ONE bean towards the scale of Yoga!
Always eager to hear stories and anecdotes about Ācārya´s great teacher, this encouraging message was impressed on all of our minds and hearts. Later, after the retreat, the idea arose to visit this temple and walk in the footsteps of this Great Teacher and his disciples. We asked Ācārya if he would join us and help us to relive this event in some way. Gracious and generous as always, without hesitation, Ācārya agreed.
This temple tour took place, the presiding priest provided the same explanation about the bean, the Teacher nourished the disciples with original Teachings and later back at the land delicious food.
Just one bean towards Yoga!
Post by Jonathan & Stacey ~