The Yoga Master

Once there lived a yoga master. He lived in the woods of central India and was practicing yoga day and night. Many years ago when he was still young and wasn’t a yoga master yet he had a dream. In that dream an old man appeared in front of him.
“Hello, yoga master!” the old man said.
“Hello, but I am not a yoga master”, the young man replied because at the time he was not a yoga master.
“Don’t worry, you will be one,” the old man said, “when you discover the Sacred Pose.”
“The Sacred Pose? What is it?”
“I can’t tell you, young man,” the old man replied, “but I can tell you a story that you can use as a hint.” And the old man told the young man the story.

The Sun Beads

Once there lived a small boy, the old man started the story. The boy was so small that he could ride dogs in his village on their backs. At twelve years old the boy looked like he was four. He was a nice boy and other kids liked him and didn’t make fun of him despite his height.
One early morning, when it was still dark outside, the boy got on a dog and rode into the woods where he had a secret place. His dog knew very well where that place was, so the boy didn’t even need to guide it. The secret place in the woods was a small opening all covered in yellow flowers. In the center of the open space there was a statue of a man, made of wood. If a stranger saw that statue he would be surprised, but still he wouldn’t know the main secret of that statue. Only the boy knew. When his dog brought him to the secret place, the boy got off the dog, came to the statue and put his palms around the wooden hand of the statue. The statue opened its eyes, saw the boy and smiled.
“You are here!” the statue said, “Finally, you are here! While you were not here I thought about a lot of things and I think I know how you can make the sun beads!”
“Oh really?!” the boy jumped with excitement “Tell me, please, tell me!”
“Not so fast, my boy. First, you need to show me what you’ve learnt so far.”
“Of course!” The boy took a few steps back, took a deep breath and put his body in the Sacred Pose.
“Not bad! Don’t forget to breathe! One, two, three… and… Now!” the statue screamed.
The boy released his pose with a loud cry and collapsed on the bed of yellow flowers, breathing heavily.
“Not bad at all, my boy!”, the statue said. “I think you are ready to make the Sun Beads. Sit close, I’ll tell you how to do it.”
The boy sat in front of the statue, looking at it eagerly.
“You need to use the tears of the Giving Tree. You know how to find one, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course. There are a few of them right next to my village.”
“Good. You stab a knife in a trunk and you collect the tears, a couple of grams, enough for two beads. You also would need to carve two sphere holes in a piece of wood, to put the tears of the Giving Tree there. After that you wait a couple of days till the tears become solid, and come back here, I’ll tell you what to do next.”
“Thank you, statue!” the boy got up and hugged the statue.
“Good bye my boy!”
“Good bye!” the boy took the wooden hand in his hands and the statue closed its eyes.

It didn’t take long to make the bead placeholders and to find the Giving Tree.
“Thank you for your sacrifice, the Giving Tree,” the boy whispered and stuck a knife in its soft trunk. The shiny translucent tears appeared on its bark. The boy put them in the holes of his wood and carefully carried it away.

After three days the beads were ready. They were round, hard as glass and sparkled in the sun. The next morning, while it was still dark outside, the boy got up, carefully put the beads in his pocket, got on the back of his dog and rode to the secret place.

“...It’s very simple,” the statue was explaining, “One bead goes on your forehead, the other is on your chest. You will need to find such a place for your Sacred Pose that a ray of sun goes from one bead to the other. Then the beads activate and free you from the limitations of space and time. You will have only a few seconds then. You need to find the yoga master. Focus all your mental energy on finding the yoga master. That’s all you need to do. The yoga master will see you and that’s all.”
“Why does the yoga master need to see me?”
“Because he will see the Sacred Pose when he sees you. Right now only you and me know the Sacred Pose and its healing power. The yoga master will be able to understand it and pass this knowledge to other people.
“I understand,” the boy said, “I’ll go look for the place for the Sacred Pose”
It took some time to find the right place. It happened to be right next to the statue on the bed of yellow flowers. The boy checked carefully that if a sun ray goes along his forehead it will go straight to his chest.
“I am ready,” the boy said.
“Good. Make sure to keep the balance so the beads don’t fall”
The boy carefully put one bead on his forehead and the other one on his chest and stood in a Sacred Pose, adjusting his position slightly so that the ray of sun touches the bead on his forehead.

It all happened very fast. First the boy felt the immense heat on his forehead, then on his chest. Then the ray of sun became as thick as a trunk of a tree and took the boy away from his secret place, away from the statue, into the vast darkness of the Universe.

“The yoga master!” the boy screamed silently, pushing his fear away. And suddenly, there he was, a skinny man with a long beard, sitting under a tree in a lotus pose, meditating.

“The yoga master!” the boy screamed, now for real.

The man startled and opened his eyes.

“The boy on a beam of light in a Sacred Pose,” the yoga master thought in utter disbelief. “How many years I’ve been waiting for this moment! How many years since an old man in my dream told me about this little boy! And finally I see him, and I understand the Sacred Pose! And the strangest thing of all, it all feels like it’s been just one moment since I had this dream, it feels like I still haven’t woken up from it!”