Farewell of a Yogi

                                                                                                                            Ankur Bora

June 6^th, 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