DAILY PHOTO: View from the Tabor Monastery of the Transfiguration, Tbilisi
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Author Archives: B Gourley
Silenced by Ice [Haiku]
seedpod rattle
is silenced by ice crust
on Winter branches.
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First Snow [Haiku]
tufts of grass poke
through a dusting of snow;
tomorrow -- mud!
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BOOK: “Four Chapters on Freedom” by Patanjali [Commentaries by Satyananda Saraswati]
Four Chapters on Freedom: Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Satyananda SaraswatiMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher – Yoga Publications Trust
This book holds the Bihar School of Yoga commentaries on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. In addition to providing each Sutra in Sanskrit, a Romanized transliteration, a word-by-word literal translation, and a readable free translation into English, the book offers a commentary for each Sutra. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali consist of just 196 lines of Sanskrit, explaining the nature of yoga and how it is to be practiced. Because the Sutras are so sparse and open to varied interpretations, a commentary is essential and one’s learning experience is only as good as the translation and commentary. There are many English language commentaries on Patanjali’s Sutras available, but I don’t think one can do any better than this one.
In general, I have found the publications put out by the Yoga Publications Trust of the Bihar School to be as useful as they come. Their books are pragmatic, focused, and readable.
This book does, by necessity, use a fair number of Sanskrit terms repeatedly because there are not English words for many of the key concepts and to try to put them into English would be tiresome and confusing. However, there is a glossary at the end of the book (in addition to an index) to help the reader negotiate this Sanskrit terminology. The appendices also include a key to help English language readers with the pronunciation of Sanskrit terms. There are also appendices with the sutras written out in Sanskrit and Romanized transliteration in list form.
This book is well worth reading, whether one has read other commentaries on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or not.
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PROMPT: Dream Job
I’m afraid I’d be damn near unemployable in the world of dreams. If I’m not running from something or falling down, my teeth are falling out. (I certainly couldn’t get anyone to provide decent dental coverage in dream world, and I’d be suspected of Meth addiction.) Unlike the real world, in which I’m hyper-punctual, in dreams I’m always late and I often go out of doors to find myself on the other side of the world. Besides, in dreams I’m usually not lucid more than once a month, at best.
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DAILY PHOTO: Mountains in the Haze
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PROMPT: Leader
If people follow you of their own free volition, you are a good leader. You could also be horrible cult guru or self-serving dictator, but people have multiple facets.
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DAILY PHOTO: Winter in Big Trees Forest Preserve
PROMPT: Uninvent
As nuclear weapons may yet be the death of us all, they would be a sound candidate. But I think it’s utter fantasy to think that a possible technology can be anything more than delayed. Besides, once GAI (general artificial intelligence) starts freeballing it’ll inevitably stumble onto a mode of death that makes the H-bomb look like a caveman’s campfire by comparison.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 