Sound Familiar?

I just read the following in Yoga Journal's August 2009 issue:

In 2:15 of the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali teaches that suffering is caused by change, unfulfilled longing, habits, and fluctuations in energy. Not even the the most enlightened among us is immune. But in the next sutra, Patanjali offers some hope when he says that we can "prevent the suffering that is yet to come."

Patanjali teaches that we can have pain, yet not suffer. If we accept the inevitability of life's twists and turns and find the opportunity for growth in the struggles we face, we can prevent the unnecesssary, self-inflicted suffering that comes from such feelings as guilt, blame, and regret. We can't avoid hardship in life, but through the practice of the eight limbs of yoga, we can learn to see that our true Self remains unchanged, and so we find peace and ease, even in the midst of difficulty.

Hmmmmm...

Suffering is inevitable?

Life is beyond our complete control?

And setbacks are opportunities for or lessons in personal growth?

If this all sounds eerily familiar...

That's because it may have well been stripped straight from the Bible!

Now I know that yoga is an ancient practice; and that this Patanjali dude predates Christ by a 100 years or so.

But still, people today indulge in a medley of self-fulfilling, nouveau-chic behavior be it *greening* their lives, traipsing around barefoot, or taking up yoga...

And yet many of them haven't the slightest idea that the ultimate goals in these practices have all already been addressed and prescribed for in Scripture.

It'd be sort of like me predicting an iPhone fad because I just tried one out last week!

See also - Ring Any Bells?.