What's On The Other Side?

Those who want comfort in life have to seek conformity.

The result is false compromise and hypocrisy.

And the life without integrity becomes a patchwork.

{Swami Avyaktananda}

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~ Love & Integrity from Yoga Gypsy ~

Making Mistakes

There are only two mistakes one can make

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along the road to truth.

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Not going all the way.

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And not starting.
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{Siddhārtha Gautama}

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~ Love & Journeys from Yoga Gypsy ~

The Inconvenient Truth

People seldom do what they believe in.

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They do what is convenient, then repent.

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{Bob Dylan}

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~ Love & Inconvenient Truth from Yoga Gypsy ~

The Emperor & The Seed

An emperor was growing old, and knew it was time to choose his successor.

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Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided upon something different. He called young people in the kingdom together.

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He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."

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The emperor continued, "I am going to give each one of you a seed today.

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One very special seed.

I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed.

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I will then judge the plants that you bring, and choose the next emperor!"

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One boy named Ling was there and he, like the others, received a seed.

He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully.

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Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.

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After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

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Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.

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Another three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing.

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By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

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A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection.

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Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach; he took his empty pot to the palace.

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When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes.

Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him.

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A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

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When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people.

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Ling just tried to hide in the back.

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"What great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor.

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"Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

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The emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified.

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"The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

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When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name.

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"My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him.

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The emperor asked everyone to quiet down and then announced to the crowd,

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"Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!"

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Ling couldn't believe it.

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Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

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Then the emperor explained, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a SEED.

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I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today.

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But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would NOT grow.

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All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers.

When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you.

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Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it.

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Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

Story transmitted through Sabby.

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~ Love & Seeds of Love from Yoga Gypsy ~

Nutritional Yoga

Instead of eating carelessly and hurriedly

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- in the midst of noise, agitation and arguments -

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and then going off to do yoga exercises...

Wouldn't it be much better to understand that

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meals give you the perfect opportunity every day,

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two or three times a day, to practise

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relaxation, concentration and the harmonisation

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of all the cells of your body?

{Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov}

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~ Love & Understanding from Yoga Gypsy ~