My Favorite Sutra
Every darn one. Each time that my teacher takes another apart, word by word, translating the Sanskrit, showing us the word roots, putting the meaning into practical terms, I think: I love this sutra! This is my favorite sutra!
Today we chanted up to the 34th sutra of Book I. We would have moved through more, but we had a really good conversation about choices and control and being on the fence about making decisions and trying to let nature or fate or destiny or Something takes its course, without trying to wrestle it to the ground. Or maybe that was me wanting to do the wrestling.
So, then my teacher here (my other teacher lives in San Francisco and another lives in India and another lives also in San Francisco - but I would say that I'm lucky and not over-teachered) said that she likes sutra 1.33, which says that it's good to be happy for others.
"Nah," I said. "I've got bigger fish to fry. The patience thing is what I need to work on." This weekend, I stood in two different airports and had Why Do I Have to Take My Boots and Coat Off Rage and Trying to Pile all my Stuff in a Tiny Bin Rage and Can't Find the Right Gate Rage and Can't Print My Boarding Pass at the Kiosk Rage and Can't Convince my Husband that I Know the Way to the Gate Rage. And this was just traveling between Boston and Chicago. How will I ever deal with international travel if I don't find some Air Travel OM?
Fitting then that when we covered I.23, isvarapranidhanadva, previously understood by me to mean that surrender to a higher power is a sure-fire way to find focus and clarity, that my sutra teacher told me that her teacher used one word to explain this sutra: patience. I now have a new favorite sutra! I love this sutra!
Or, I'm working on it.
Today we chanted up to the 34th sutra of Book I. We would have moved through more, but we had a really good conversation about choices and control and being on the fence about making decisions and trying to let nature or fate or destiny or Something takes its course, without trying to wrestle it to the ground. Or maybe that was me wanting to do the wrestling.
So, then my teacher here (my other teacher lives in San Francisco and another lives in India and another lives also in San Francisco - but I would say that I'm lucky and not over-teachered) said that she likes sutra 1.33, which says that it's good to be happy for others.
"Nah," I said. "I've got bigger fish to fry. The patience thing is what I need to work on." This weekend, I stood in two different airports and had Why Do I Have to Take My Boots and Coat Off Rage and Trying to Pile all my Stuff in a Tiny Bin Rage and Can't Find the Right Gate Rage and Can't Print My Boarding Pass at the Kiosk Rage and Can't Convince my Husband that I Know the Way to the Gate Rage. And this was just traveling between Boston and Chicago. How will I ever deal with international travel if I don't find some Air Travel OM?
Fitting then that when we covered I.23, isvarapranidhanadva, previously understood by me to mean that surrender to a higher power is a sure-fire way to find focus and clarity, that my sutra teacher told me that her teacher used one word to explain this sutra: patience. I now have a new favorite sutra! I love this sutra!
Or, I'm working on it.
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