I’ve always had an interest in spirituality but never known it. I’ve been from an early age drawn towards the existential without being able to articulate it. But it wasn’t a scholarly interest – at least not at first - it was only as I got older that I began to explore religion and flirted briefly with Zen and mysticism after taking an International Baccalaureate subsidiary course in World Religions.
After that I realised my interest really lay in activities that put one in a state where a glimpse beyond the automatic pilot of day to day life is possible. I think breakdancing does this and so too do martial arts and in fact any activity coupling whole body movement with mental engagement. Well … for me at any rate!
But I never really stuck with any of these activities except Karate – thinking I suppose that long term practice would eventually lead me to realise “Moving Zen“. Of course nothing of the sort occurred – although I did have some interesting experiences in Karate training and while competing.
Today however, stimulated by a Facebook post linking to a documentary about a Sadhu, I decided to wiki-search Adi Shankaracharya whose philosophy Sri K. Pattabhi Jois was said to follow. And the search led me to his work “Manisha Panchakam” (5 verses). As I read it I felt this was what I’d been looking for. My immediate affinity to Sri Jois’s method made sense in the context of his assertion that if you practice the method you will arrive at a point where you see God in everything.
Perfect sense.
So now I *really* want to learn Sanskrit so I can read the untranslated verses. Shimoga here I come.
