Some call him Ishwar, some call him Allah, some simply God, but we all have to acknowledge that it is He who made us for greater things: to love and be loved.  What mattes is that we love.  We cannot love without prayer, and so whatever religion we are we must pray together.

-Mother Teresa

It is easy to love the people far away.  It is not always easy to love those close to us.  It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home.  Bring love into your own home for this is where our love for each other must start.

-Mother Teresa

Karma

Karma
It is the cause and effect of our actions.  Any action is understood as creating "seeds" in the mind that will sprout into the appropriate result when met with the right conditions. Most karmic results will keep you in the wheel of samsara (continuous movement through the cycle of birth, life, and death, in which all beings of the universe participate), while others will lead to nirvana (enlightenment, perfect peace).

Christian concept:  You reap what you sow.  “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:8-9
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When things become our masters we are very poor.  -Mother Teresa

Everything starts from prayer. Without asking God for love and still less are we able to give it to others. Just as people today are speaking so much about the poor but they do not know the poor, we too cannot talk so much about prayer and yet not know how to pray.

-Mother Teresa

People throughout the world may look different or have a different religion, education, or position, but they are all the same. They are the people to be loved. They are all hungry for love.

-Mother Teresa

The Philosophy of Yoga

The Philosophy of Yoga
Yoga originates from the sanskrit word "yuj" to "yoke" or join together, to unite, or to connect.  The implication is bringing ourselves back to balance.
The word "yuj" can also be translated as "to center one's thoughts," to concentrate on oneself or to "meditate deeply."
While yoga unites the mind, body, breath, and spirit in harmony, it can also disunite.  Polarities (yin/yang) are always apparent.  The disunion is when the spirit seeks to separate from the physical body, temporarily, to seek knowledge, growth, and bliss.  The yogic practice of cleansing, physical exercise, meditation, and concentration all yoke the mind, body, and spirit.  With persistence, "self-realization" is achieved.
Yoga awakens the connection to our source, while seeking balance and a deeper sense of self.  We become aware of our raw goodness and raw purity.  Self-awareness and self-love is key.  We cannot love others nor spread love into the world without a deep veneration for the self.  We must love ourselves for who we are and who we are meant to be.  From there, we shed our separateness and become ONE with all beings. Yoga loves and includes all beings regardless of size, color, class, religion, nationality, political outlooks, etc.  Our connectedness reveals our authentic selves.
In stillness, we are able to trust our intuition, our inner guidance.
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HISTORY OF YOGA | Part One

HISTORY OF YOGA | Part One
Yoga originated in India 5,000 years ago.  It has spread from the East to the West and now 20 million people practice yoga.
Indus Valley 3,000 B.C.
British colonization & archaeology discovered the beginnings of yoga.  Excavations unearthed ancient Indian civilization including remnants of yogic practice etched in stone.  Asanas can be seen in terra cotta figurines.  They traded resources with Mesopotamia and gained prosperity and wealth.  Sitting on the floor for long periods of time is ingrained in Indian culture.
Vedic Period 2,500 B.C.

• Sanskrit was their means of expression.  Veda means knowledge; the Hindu's sacred text.  Early yoga had a strong ritual component.  Sacrifice by fire.  Techniques to still the mind. 
• Rigvedic- earliest of Vedic texts.  Contains religious hymns, and allusions to myths and stories.
• Mantra Language- both mantra and prose language including 75 mantras not in the Rigveda
• Samhita prose- beginnings of Vedic canon. The Brahmana part is commentary on mantras and ritual
• Brahmana prose- the 4 Vedas belong to this period including Aranyakas, the oldest of the Upanishads, and the oldest Shrautasutras.
• Sutra language- This is the last stratum of Vedic Sanskrit leading up to 500 B.C.  All but the 5 prose Upanishads are post-Buddhist. 
• Epic and Paninian Sanskrit- language of the Mahabharata and Ramayana epics, and the Classical Sanskrit considered post-Vedic after 500 B.C.

Wisdom of Upanishads 1000 - 500 B.C.

• New channels of analysis and critique.
• Texts written in the forest of clear, explicit signs of yoga.
• Bhagavad Gita- most beloved yogi text.

Period of Sutras 500 - 100 B.C.

• 6 systems of Indian thought.  Yoga is one of the orthodox systems of thought.  Buddhism and Jainism were considered unorthodox.
• Yoga was incorporated into Buddhism for the first time.
• Sutras- brought together from sporadic places throughout the Vedas.  It outlines the classical understanding of the mind.
• Most famous definition:  "Of minimal syllabary, unambiguous, pithy, comprehensive, continuous, and without flaw: who knows the sutra knows it to be thus.
• Canonical scriptures, many of which are regarded as records of the oral teachings of Buddha.

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