Introducing My Ignorance

The first Yoga Sutra class hadn't even begun, and already my ignorance had exposed itself in its full glory.

The 6-day workshop was to be conducted by Swami Chaitanya from Rishikesh. What immediately struck me upon meeting him was the spiralling lock of hair at the back of his head, neatly twisted at the end and barely grazing his saffron-coloured collar.

(Now I will explain the reason behind my ignorance in an attempt to salvage a smidgen of my dignity which will no doubt suffer after this confession.)

All the swamis who have crossed my path so far have had either full heads of hair or none at all. This solitary lock was a new phenomenon to me. So I concluded that it signified a subtle dig at religion's stiff upper lip. And for that, I liked him instantly.

The Seer couldn't decide whether I was moronic or merely naive when I told her this. Giving me the benefit of the doubt, she kindly explained (between rolled eyes and snorts of laughter) that that was ABSOLUTELY NOT what it represented. I was a little disappointed, but as the classes progressed I found more reasons to like him. So apart from a flash of sheepishness and a slight dent in my intellectual pride, all's well that ends well. Athough Swami Svaswaroopananda and Swami Parameswariananda would have probably sighed deeply and said, "Perhaps we made a mistake in bestowing the name Vidya (meaning knowledge) on her." *grin*

Oh well, every bit of ignorance uncovered is one step closer to enlightenment.

Or is that my ignorance talking again?

Note: I will blog about the Yoga Sutra classes in upcoming posts. Just give me a little time to do justice to Swami Chaitanya's teachings!