STAR WARS AND YOGA YODA YOGA

To celebrate the release of the new stars wars movie trailer here's some very interesting reading about the relationship it has with Yoga. Enjoy :)

Star Wars The Force Awakens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCc2v7izk8w&sns=em

Star Wars and yoga yoda yoga

Here's something that can keep you interested in learning more about yoga in places you may not have necessarily thought of before. Interesting way to look at something you may have seen a hundred times before in a different way. Its like what yoga does for you in all areas of life it gives you the ability to gain a new perspective. And when you are learning and teaching yoga you will learn to find inspiration everywhere even in stars at war.

Anyway next time you watch Star Wars pay attention and see if you can spot all the references to Yoga in it. There are a lot! 'Meditating on it' , being mindful of your thoughts, doing your duty, non-attachment, compassion, letting go, being in the moment, breathing, training your mind and body, trusting your feelings, using The Force ( prana, chi, ki, energy) , balance . See if you can identify any more.

“You will know (the good from the bad) when you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi(Yogi/Yogini) uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.” - Yoda

“Always pass on what you have learned" Yoda “Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is.” - Yoda

“Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” - Yoda

Yoda: You must unlearn what you have learned.

Anakin: Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is essential to a Jedi's(yogi/yoginis) life. So you might say, that we are encouraged to love.

George Lucas himself was reported as saying "the Force is like yoga ... everybody can do it. If you want to take the time to do it, you can do it" and he even describes Grand Master Yoda as "a guru" and it is thought that Star Wars was highly influenced by Hinduism and the ancient texts.

An essay by Rajan Rajbhandari which explains more:

It is a very little known fact that George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars world, has strong Hindu beliefs. Just as Hinduism affects our lives, so has it affected his, which can be shown by the fact that he has incorporated Hindu themes throughout the Star Wars trilogy.

This essay will touch, through various examples, the way Lucas has weaved Hinduism into his movies. Of the trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back seems to portray Hinduism in the fullest sense. Specifically, the part when Luke Skywalker goes to find Yoda. When he first arrives, Luke finds himself in a forest, looking for the old, wise Yoda to learn the ways of the Jedi. This is very like Hindu's Janoi (Gujarati), where young males run to the forest in search of the old, wise yogi, who would provide great knowledge. Just as a yogi "tests" potential students on their patience to enter into the arduous task of learning, so does Yoda "test" Luke by not telling him who he is. His purpose, of course, was seeing if Luke had patience or not.

As the training progresses, Luke learns to control what is called "the Force." Yoda explains that everything is part of the Force, such as the "...the tree, the rock..." etc. This Force is very similar to the Hindu concept of the One or the Universe (in essence Om). In Hinduism it is said that we are all part of the One, just like what Yoda said about the Force. Simply put, it is concluded that Yoda was referring to "the Force" as the Force of the One. Luke also learns about illusion. In one scene, he tries to pickup his X-wing with the Force, but fails. Yoda explains that one should not judge anything by it's size (in essence, what we see is an illusion). He calls all material items "crude matter" and that these are the not the things to judge with. This scene illustrates the Hindu concept that life is an illusion (or Maya). During the same training scenes, Luke gets a vision of his friends in trouble. Luke then prepares to leave to save his friends. Yoda persuades him not to go by saying that he must finish his training because it is more important. This exemplifies the Hindu concept of duty over family.

The duty over family lesson can be seen in stories like the Bhagavad-Gita, where Lord Krishna tells Arjun to fight his cousins, despite his feelings for them, because it is his duty. At then end of the training scenes, as Luke is leaving, Ben Kenobi warns Luke to never "give into anger and hate." This lesson of benevolence is also taught by Mohandas Gandhi, which he derived from Hinduism. Besides the training scenes, there are other areas of Star Wars that portray Hinduism. For example, the concept of destiny. In Star Wars, the word "destiny" is used many times in the context of fulfilling one's destiny. This is very similar to duty. Another example is the father-son relationship between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. This parallels with Krishna and his uncle who are both related and nemesis. Finally, one last example, Luke, being the only son, cremates Darth Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi. Though I have heard of other religions cremating, it is a predominantly Hindu ritual.

In the above examples I have suggested a few connections between Hinduism and Star Wars. Of course, these are arguable, but they are a starting point in which to provoke thought. -Rajan Rajbhandari, 1994

When the film star wars opens- a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away- young Luke Skywalker is living with his aunt and uncle on an obscure windswept planet. An apparently ordinary young man, Luke has no special sense of destiny or calling. Except for one small whim. Through the years he has heard rumours of a reclusive friend of his long-dead father, a stranger named Obewan Kenobe. For reasons he does not understand, the thought of this stranger intrigues him. "A crazy old man," Luke's uncle assures him. "I don't think he exists anymore." "Did Obewan know my father?" Luke asks. His uncles answer is evasive, and Luke begins to sense that his destiny is somehow intertwined with this phantom presence. He yearns to meet him.

At the same time, Luke has no reason to think he has any type of destiny at all. He is, after all, just a normal young man. No one special. "Looks like I'm going nowhere," Luke tells himself, agreeing to stay at home as his uncle insists, feeling the same overburdening sense of stagnation that many of us do as our lives turn in circles. Symbolically speaking, Luke's aunt and uncle represent our own prosaic inner voices that urge us to follow the safe and easy road, and that discourage all thought of a spiritual destiny: "I need you here," his uncle tells him; just as the world tells us we have an obligation to our civic responsibilities; and that we are, after all, too busy running the company or taking care of the children to search beyond life's established perimeters. As with all great myths, Star Wars speaks on several levels at once and to several generations, both as a tale of youthful idealism and as an allegory of lifelong spiritual evolution.

Time passes. Then comes the miracle, a Call from heaven in the form of a satellite plunging to the ground from outer space. On this heavenly missile ride R2D2 and C3P0, two mechanical angels bearing a coded message from Princess Lea, who is imprisoned, like our own souls, by alien powers on a distant planet. The situation is grave and time is running out. But like many of us, Luke does not fully comprehend the message at first. It's meaning is garbled and he needs help to decipher it. So he leaves home in search of the mysterious Obewan, instinctively sensing that his father's old friend can help. "Obewan?" the stranger says quizzically when Luke tracks him down. "That's a name I haven't heard in a long time." Ironically, the old man has almost forgotten his warrior's name and his life's mission, just as young Luke is searching for his. Both champions need each other, just as we need our youthful dreams and our grown-up wisdom before we are complete enough to hear the call.

What Star Wars evokes so vividly in this meeting is the reciprocal relationship between youthful vision and mature experience; between the adventurous dreams within us that remain forever young and the sure footed acumen that develops with age and self-mastery. And so Obewan helps Luke decipher the heavenly message, and in the process launches him on his fate. At the same time, Luke's arrival rouses Obewan to his destiny, not only as a Jedi Knight but as a teacher and guide to successive generations. Thus, Obewan evokes the Call in Luke; but just as importantly, Luke rekindles the Call in his mentor, and allows him to close the circle of his own fate.

"You must learn the ways of the Force," the old Jedi tells his young pupil after they have become friends. But Luke shrinks back. He ignores the Call, replying, "I can't get involved. I've got work to do." So he returns home to his familiar world only to find his house a smoking ruin. Luke's old life is over now, just as the first half of our lives is inexorably separated from the second. He has no choice but to go forward, to embark on the hero's journey under the guidance of Ancient Wisdom. "There's nothing for me here now," he declares. "I want to learn the ways of the Force."

Luke's challenge, the Star Wars myth seems to be saying, is our own challenge too. Can we summon the vision and the warrior's spirit to answer our own Call? Will we have the fearlessness to leave what is familiar and secure? Will we finally set out on a venture of the heart that will change us to our very roots? Will we, like Luke remember the mission entrusted to us so far and long ago? And where does this mission finally take us? Where does this story of the warrior with all its false starts, blunders, and final triumph ultimately lead? What does this story, and all other stories of the Call like it, ultimately tell us? Simply this: that you, I, we, all of us, are a great deal more than we think we are.

It tells us that a deep-seated inertia and doubt is holding us back from following the Call; but that at the same time something within us is urging us on. Also that a wonderful treasure trove of possibilities awaits us once we set out on this journey. These treasures include peace of mind, deeper understanding of ourselves and others, higher consciousness at times, and a return to the spiritual land from which we have so long been exiled.

Finally, it tells us that in answering the Call and following the golden thread of spirituality, we fulfil a mission that we may not fully understand at first; but that we are inexplicably drawn toward, and that we know in our hearts is necessary. "We have not even to risk the adventure alone," writes Joseph Campbell, " for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outwards, we shall come to the centre of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world."

Excerpt from 'The Five Stages of the Soul' by Harry R. Moody & David Carroll

Read more http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Movies/2005/05/Yoda-And-Yoga.aspx http://news.iskcon.com/node/3305/2010-12-04/could_star_wars_be_based_on_vedic_literature The Jedi in the Lotus: Star Wars and the Hindu Tradition (Paperback) Steven J. Rosen, Jonathan Young

Love, Love, Love

Namaste

Compiled by Rogieyogibear