The Yoga of Mythology

Long before Netflix, Hollywood, Hulu and IG, yogis looked to myth and story to dramatize the trials of the human heart. And if you think CGI generated content is fantastical, just turn to the deities and the demons, the totem animals and supernatural beings that occupy the landscape of Indian mythology. Myths, like dreams, are revelatory.The characters in myths personify forces operative in the world today. For instance, in myth we encounter characters who act out the three poisons— greed, anger and delusion. You have demons with ten heads and gods with a thousand eyes. There are androgynous figures, half male and half female, and infant children with superhuman strength. We meet serpents who are keepers of the secret yoga teachings buried deep in the mountain lakes. In myths, the extraordinary is concealed in the ordinary, like the way the archetypal yogi, Siva, may appear as a dirty old beggar. Reading a myth always has a double purpose. Myths invite us into the realm of the magical and the make-believe. But at the same time, each battle between the gods and demons, each tale of human frailty, each story of yogic power, reveals a telling truth about the human condition.