Ankur Bora
June 6th, 1981 – At the park plaza in the city of
Boston, a nerdy crowd gathered in a ballroom, waiting for a man who at a young
age, had rocketed to international stardom. These young men and women, were
about to witness the unfurling of a technical revolution that would upend the
way our world live and work. The keynote speaker and the man everyone was waiting
to hear was Steve Jobs. There was lot of excitement, however minutes before the
speech, Mr. Jobs was nowhere to be found. The frantic organizer finally spotted
him backstage. In a corner, he was sitting on the floor cross-legged. His
posture erect, he was standstill. At the precipice of one of the biggest events
of his life, Steve Job paused to meditate. Immersed in Dhyana, calm and concentrated amidst the chaos around, at that
instance, Steve became a perfect Yogi!
The literal meaning of Yoga is union – the yoking of bodies,
minds and hearts to a higher power of existence. While physical postures which
is called Asanas prepares us for the
well-being of the body, the pranayama or breathing technique prepares us for
the control of the mind –from stress, anxiety and worry to a steady , focused
and awakened state. It is said that Yoga without pranayama is like a tree that
doesn’t bear fruit. Pranayama helps to keep the mind focused while meditating. That
day, in those moments of Dhyana, Steve
Jobs, in all likelihood was doing what a Yogi is trained to do – to focus and
look at the world from the inside out. Intuition, insight and creativity –are
the hallmarks that set him and his company Apple apart and which, perhaps, made
him the most iconic figure in the twenty-first century. How did Steve Jobs, an
American entrepreneur, get to acquire these qualities? It was a long and
fascinating story – when Steve in his youth and in his quest for higher
conscious visited India and where during his extended stay, he mysteriously uncovered
a treasure.
 |
| Assam Tribune , Horizon June 22nd 2018 |
While Swami Vivekananda is credited with introducing the
ancient tradition of Yoga to the western world, it was another enlightened Swami,
a spiritual teacher and illustrious author who is widely revered as the father
of Yoga in the west. In the year 1920, a young man Paramahansa Yogananda
alighted on American soil. The title Paramahansa, “The Great Wild Swan’ was
bestowed by his Guru – a title given to those rare disciples who had achieved
this state of liberated soul. Like Vivekananda, Yogananda also came to attend a
religious conference but unlike him, Yogananda spent the rest of his life in
the United States. This great saint took upon the mission to reawaken humanity
to the power of Yoga for inner transformation. Over the next three decades, he
brought this message to packed audiences of thousands in all major US cities. In
1927, he was officially received at the White House by then President Calvin
Coolidge. Yogananda used the language of science to teach Yoga uniting science
and religion through realization of the unity of their underlying principles. He
later laid the foundation of an institution, called Self-Realization Fellowship
(SRF) – today there hundreds of SRF meditation groups and centers dedicated to
ignite the inner flame of Yoga in communities worldwide. His singular
contribution, however, is the publication of his autobiography, which is
considered as a seminal work where for the first time, a Yogi tells his
spiritual experience to the western world in the form of a book. He devoted
later part of his life unreservedly on writing this book and in 1952, when Paramahansa
closed his mortal eyes, the ancient science of Yoga was firmly established.
With the passing years, millions of readers embraced “Autobiography of a Yogi”
and among them was a young man who was seeking a spiritual transformation.
Steve Jobs arrived in 1974 on a trip around India. He was,
perhaps, searching for the same thing all of us search for – a quest for
finding the meaning of life, why we live or how can we do anything good in our
life. While staying in a village rented room where a family helped him to
recuperate by feeding him vegetarian meals, he found a copy of Autobiography of
a Yogi. Yogananda’s teaching of self-realization, an inner journey to transcend
individual self (ego) and realizing and reclaiming the universal self (soul), strongly
appealed to Steve. The India trip and Autobiography had a deep and lasting
impact on him- “Your mind just slows down
and you see a tremendous expense in that moment. You see so much more than you
could see before”. The book, most likely, taught him how to actualize the
infinite possibilities within and with a clear vision and purpose, he went on to
invent products no one had ever dreamed of. The Autobiography of a Yogi was the
only book Jobs downloaded on his iPad, and after first encountering the book as
a teenager, he would go back and reread once every year until the end of his
life.
The teaching of Yogananda resonated throughout his life and
even in his death. At his memorial service, held at Stanford University in
October 2011, all attendees were handed a brown box. Inside was not any of the
dazzling products he created, the box inside carried this very book! The farewell gift of Steve Jobs to the world was a little book of
Yoga and it was the last thing he wanted us all to think about and live by.
ankurbora@hotmail.com
Feedbacks
Thank you for sending the article. This is one of the
book I read long time back when I came in contact to Vedanta literature in my
early life - almost fifty years back. It is timely, as we are celebrating the
International Yoga Day. I was out of town, though I noticed your mail on my
cell phone, I could read the article only today. That is the reason of my late
response. Thank you again for sharing your writing.
Kalyan
Basu , Dallas Texas
Ankur, Jai Guru
Dev,
Appreciate you sharing the enthusiasm. Yes, let us all
stand together with the broader vision of a better and peaceful world. As
usual, I enjoyed reading ankurbora.blogspot.com You sure have a way with words and noble
ideals. Best wishes to you and your
family
Nick
Shroff
HiFu
Urology Ctr of TX, PLLC
Dear Ankur:
Thank you very much for sharing the excellent article.
We have been traveling around many places around US for the last two months to
see our Grand Children. Will contact soon to bring you up date on Core
Professional Group for the Brahmaputra (CPGB). With best wishes to you and
family
Arvind
Phukan , USA
Dear Ankur da,
It was a nice read in Assam Tribune today. I've
forwarded your article to my brother in Guwahati who is actively involved in
the Guwahati chapter of Yogada Satsang Society.
Thanks,
Protim
Sharma, Assam
Ankur,
Thanks for the timely contribution and always bringing
out the salient points on every worthy occasion.
Really appreciated, Keep it up
Nripen Barua
469 James Way
Wyckoff, NJ 07481 USA
