The Six vital functions... (story)
- Tauqeer Ahmed

- Jun 9, 2021
- 2 min read
There's this story I remember while I was reading a book on yoga. Here's how it goes...and *excuse me being potentially insensitive*.
The six vital functions(of the body) —the life breath, the faculty of speech, the eye, the ear, the mind, and the semen—were disputing among themselves about which was most excellent. They brought their dispute to Brahma, who told them, “One of you is most excellent after whose departure the body is thought to be worse off.”
The organ of speech departed and, having remained absent for a year, came back and said, “How have you been able to live without me?” They said, “As the dumb, not speaking with speech but breathing with the breath, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, knowing with the mind, procreating with the semen. Thus we have lived.”
The eye departed and, having remained absent for a year, came back and said, “How have you been able to live without me?” They said, “As the blind, not seeing with the eye, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the speech, hearing with the ear, knowing with the mind, procreating with the semen. Thus we have lived.”
The ear departed and, having remained absent for a year, came back and said, “How have you been able to live without me?” They said, “As the deaf, not hearing with the ear, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the speech, seeing with the eye, knowing with the mind, procreating with the semen. Thus we have lived.”
The mind departed and, having remained absent for a year, came back and said, “How have you been able to live without me?” They said, “As the stupid, not knowing with the mind, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the speech, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, procreating with the semen. Thus we have lived.”
Then semen departed and, having remained absent for a year, came back and said, “How have you been able to live without me?” They said, “As the impotent, not procreating with the semen, but breathing with the breath, speaking with the speech, seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, knowing with the mind. Thus we have lived.”
Then as the life breath was about to depart, even as a large and spirited horse might pull up the pegs to which his feet are tied, even so did it pull up those other vital functions together. They gathered around him and said, “Venerable Sir, do not depart, verily, we shall not be able to live without you. You are the most excellent among us.”
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That's a cool story right. It's from the book 📗 'Yoga for wellness' by Gary Kraftsow. In his book, Gary describes Yoga poses as not fixed but what you feel most comfortable with. Most of the yoga poses are very dictating to others, I gathered reading his book. I'm yet to read it through... Ey! Book review coming on site!!
See you ina few, world👋
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