What did you forget?

Keys, sunglasses or turning off the iron?

Humans as whole, it’s said, have forgotten more than they currently know. I remember hearing this statement many years ago and it’s something that has stuck with me. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself why we don’t know what Stonehenge is for? Why don’t we know how the pyramids were made? Crossbow bolts coated in chromium-saline oxide solution have been found in tombs from the Qin Dynasty, how is this possible? Nan Madol is an immense ancient city built on coral reef from huge blocks of basalt rock, some around 50 ton. To put this into context the blocks used to create the pyramids are 3 ton. Testing dates this city back to 200BC, where did the basalt come from, how they get these blocks there and by whom was it created? What civilization was this? There are many such examples of forgotten knowledge which could point to our ancestors having fantastic knowledge equalling or maybe even beyond what we know today. Puts those missing keys into perpective - doesn't it?

What has all this got to do with yoga?

As part of our yoga teacher training course and in our quest to become yoga instructors, we have been learning about the Vedas. Simply put these are a collection of learnings passed down through generations via the perfect learning of Sanskrit chants, a bit like an oral encyclopedia. This knowledge was delivered to the seers whilst meditating. There are four ‘categories’ of Vedas, one of which, called Upanishad, pertains to ‘yoga’. It is believed that there were once 1180 Upanishads and now only 110 remain. When you consider that contained within the Vedas are some advanced scientific thinking on subjects like natural selection, atomic polarity and evolution. What a vast knowledge that has been lost!

Isn’t it just possible then that what at first seems somewhat fanciful might actually have taken place….Maybe the gurus discussed in Yoganandas story really could levitate, produce perfumes and fruit, be in two places at once, heal the sick and much more of that story that has maybe been forgotten too….

I wonder if, maybe, we have forgotten how to turn water into wine?

Tragic ;-)

#thoughts