Yogi Stories and Others

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Krishna as a Pig

Krishna as a Pig

THEY SAY god Visnu appears on earth from time to time, and that Krishna was one of his incarnations (body expressions). Here is an old story of Krishna and how he loved being a sow. One day he was walking with one of his disciples near a little village, and notices a sow suckling her piglets. The mother pig talked to her babies, and they were squeaking contentedly. He noticed normal mother love in this, and entered the body of the sow to have that experience for a while. Carefully he dissolved his own figure into the mother pig.

Krishna felt cuter and better for the experience. Months went by, and the disciple began to worry about Krishna and his piglets. He had to ask: "Lord, what are you doing?"
Krishna said, "This is such a sweet experience for someone like me! I don't want to leave."
The disciple, "You can't remain bound like this."
"All right. Grab a spear and drive it right through me, then."
There and then the animal was slaughtered. [Based on On 204-5].
• A matter may drag on for a long time, till nobody around sees the essential meaning involved.

Another version as told by Ramakrishna

VISHNU incarnated Himself as a sow in order to kill the demon Hiranyaksha. After killing the demon, the sow remained quite happy with her young ones. Forgetting her real nature, she was suckling them very contentedly. The gods in heaven could not persuade Vishnu to relinquish his sow's body and return to the celestial regions. He was absorbed in the happiness of his beast form. After consulting among themselves, the gods sent Siva to the sow.
Siva asked the sow, "Why have you forgotten yourself?"
Vishnu replied through the sow's body, "Why, I am quite happy here."
Thereupon with a stroke of his trident Siva destroyed the sow's body and Vishnu went back to heaven. [Tas 47]

Back Matter

Rubens detail

Proper assertiveness is to be fought for in real life too.
A number of anecdotes and brief tales come in bundles in this collection.
A swami who teaches kriya yoga outside of SRF (Self-Realization Fellowship) comments:

"Brillia[n]tly—You sound as though you have a real story ... I would love to hear it ..." - Swami Harinanda

Many good tales serve beginners too

If you think it wise to avoid judicious study, maybe you are warm and very tender-hearted or perhaps somebody plotted against your delicate sides when you were at a tender age.
Good tales sustain beginners toward maturer, braver coping over time. And good study ought to be welcome.

Literature
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Bag: Erikson, Erik. Barndommen og samfunnet (Childhood and Society). Oslo: Gyldendal, 1968.
Bhb: Buzan, Tony. Bruk hodet bedre. Oslo: Hjemmet-Fagpresse, 1977.
Bob: James, Muriel and Jongeward, Dorothy. Born to Win: Transactional Analysis with Gestalt Experiments. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley, 1971.
Cs: Aesop. The Complete Fables. Translated by Olivia and Robert Temple. London: Penguin, 1998.
Dp: Fergusson, Rosalind. The Penguin Dictionary of Proverbs. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983.
Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007.
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Gyl: Berne, Eric. Games People Play. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1967.
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Hu: Read, Donald and Sidney Simon, eds. Humanistic Education Sourcebook. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1975.
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Lin: Erikson, Erik. Livsringen sluttet. Copenhagen: Reitzel, 1983.
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Net: Lamsa, George tr. The New Testament. Philadelphia: Holman Bible Publishers, 1968.
Olk: Jacobi, Jolande. Jungs psykologi. Oslo: Gyldendal, 1968.
Pa: Yogananda, Parahamsansa.Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), 1971.
Pa: Yogananda, Parahamsansa.Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Los Angeles:Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF). 1971
Pao: Allport, Gordon. Pattern and Growth in Personality. New York: Holt, 1961.
Pap: Warnche, Carsten-Peter. Pablo Picasso 1881-1973. Edited by Ingo Walther. Vols 1-2. Köln: Benedikt Taschen, 1995.
Pe: Allport, Gordon. Personligheten - hvordan formes den? (Becoming) Oslo: Dreyer, nd.
Pseb: Cronbach, Lee. Educational Psychology. 2nd ed. London: Hart-Davis, 1963.
Pum: Kirkpatrick, A. L. The Complete Public Speaker's Manual. New ed. Wellingborough: Thorsons, 1986.
Puse: Maslow, Abraham. Motivation and Personality. 2nd ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.
Ropp: Rogers, Carl. On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1961.
Say: Yogananda, Parahamsansa.Sayings of Yogananda. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1958.
Say: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Sayings of Yogananda. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1958.
Tas: Ramakrishna. Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna. 5th ed. Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 1974.
Tcrr: Kirschenbaum, Howard and Valerie Henderson, eds. The Carl Rogers Reader. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989.
Thd: Zukav, Gary. The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics. London: Rider, 1979.
Til: Evans-Wentz, W. ed. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup's English Rendering. London: Oxford University Press, 1927.
Toh: Sirnes, Tollak. - at vi skal elske hverandre. Oslo: Gyldendal, 1968.
Tor: Buzan, Tony. Speed Reading. Rev ed. London: David and Charles, 1988.
Wic: Yutang, Lin. The Wisdom of China. London: New English Library, 1963.
Wo: Chatterjee, Satischandra and Dhirendramohan Datta. An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. 7th ed. Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1968.
Yy: Goleman, David. The Varieties of the Meditative Experience. London: Rider, 1975.
Zf: Reps, Paul. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971, updated 1997.

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