More Photos of the Palace

The Palace of the Shah

I must say that the palace of the Shah though furnished with elegant furnitures from Europe but does not justify the revolution against him. The palace was quite humble for a king, it is more like a mansion to a nobleman.

I was still a child at the time of his exile and was too young to understand what were going on during his reign.

Me in Iran

This is photo of me at the compound of the palace of the Shah of Iran, the former monarch of Iran. You can see me with a headscarf, which is made compulsory by the present regime.

Yoga

Yoga first fascinated me when I heard Madonna's interview on television. It seemed that by doing Astanga Yoga, she could lose weight. At that time I was a gym freak. Well, in fact I always have problems with my weight.

So within the same week, I went to the local public library to find a book on Yoga. I found a book on yoga called "Power Yoga" co-written by Beryl Bender Birch and her husband. I was amazed to see her youthful body. But the story on how she discover yoga and India amazed me as well. I memorized the Surya Namaskar poses. I practised yoga for a while. I was more into the asanas (poses) not the philosophy of yoga. I began to discover other books by other authors of yoga. One of my favourite is the one published by Sivananda Centre. I love the photos. Then I bought a yoga manual by B.K.S. Iyengar.

The process of my yoga discovery is very slow. One day I found a small booklet, "Yoga Sutras of Patanjali", a book on yoga philosophy. I could not believe that it was written long before the Common Era. Indian psychology already evolved long before Freud or Jung. Indian discovery of human consciousness amazed me.

The asanas or poses is only a small part of yoga. There are many paths of yoga. There are Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga.

Jnana Yoga is path to wisdom. In life, we have to continuously seek knowledge and wisdom. The knowledge that we seek for must benefit ourself and mankind as a whole. Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion to God. We must devoted ourself to God. Each of our breath and thought must be devoted to God. Karma Yoga is the path to good deeds. Our behaviour and thoughts must be guided by good intention. We must be kind to other people. Hatha Yoga, in the modern understanding will be understood as exercise and stress management. Hatha Yoga consists of asanas, pranayama, dharana and dhyana. Asana is the yogic pose. Pranayama is yogic breathing. Dharana is concentration while dhyana is meditation. In another word, Hatha Yoga is a self-reflection programme. Raja Yoga is a path to good ethics. The good ethics are mentioned in the Yoga Sutra and they are universal in its spirits. I also recommend the book, "The Lights on Yoga Sutras" by B.K.S. Iyengar for anyone who wants to have a deeper understanding of yoga philosophy. Since yoga is a tool for journey to self-discovery, I am not gullible enough to force myself to digest the inner message of the Yoga Sutras at once. I will re-read it from time to time. Each time I read it, my understanding will differ. As we grow older, we become wiser and we understand things differently.

Unfortunately I have abandoned yoga asanas for quite some times now. I want to be a yoga enthusiast again.

Since I never have any formal yoga guru as my guide except for the books I have read, so I welcome yoga practitioners to comment or to correct my understanding of yoga.

Be Yourself

I believe each person has his (her) own concept of God inside him (her). Some people worship a draconian, merciless, patriachal God, some worship a compassionate Mother Goddess, some even pray to pantheon of gods. Some people choose not to pray to God but to worship other beings. I also heard of people who worship the devil.

I guess the concept of deity you have inside you is very important. The attributes that we believe God possesses will be an important determinant of our path in life. If we worship to a power that possesses purity, it will make us seeking for purity in life. You and I may share the same religion but the concept of God that we have inside us will lead us to a different path and results. Putting the wrong attributes to God may make us choose evil. I believe God is not about favouritism. Sometimes our prayers are not answered because we believe in the wrong things. God is about the truth. If you choose some lies, some falsity, truth will be far-reached.

Many people in this modern era thought that religions are old-fashioned and act as skeptics. But rather than seeking for the truth and purity, they believe in pseudo-science. They want quick-fix to things. They want to be powerful, they want more money, they want positions etc. I must say that I am one of the people who read those new age, pseudo-science books; about how to achieve success fast. Reading one of the book is enough to make a good guess of what is the content of the next one. They are all the same. They are written by gullible people who wants to make money fast. Those books are about them, about what they think.

The most important thing in life is to understand yourself. You do not need any mahaguru or a sheikh to tell who you are or how to behave. Only you will know who you are. We read about people who left their small hometown to make it big. How can they be so sure of what they are doing? It's because they know their own innate talent and potential. Each people know what are their strengths and their weaknesses. People who hone their strengths will find peace with themselves and success in life. You do not have to concentrate on your weaknesses and weep about them. You do not have to comply to ideals which are far from your true self or your true nature. People who try so much to comply to these benchmark or ideals do not end up as ideal people but end up as hypocrites.

Our inherent strength is a gift from God. It is the tool that God equipped us with to survive and succeed. Use your strengths for the benefit of mankind as that is your mission in this life.