Our Yardsticks
Sage Patanjali ( author of Yoga Sutras) demonstrated the worth of his_yardsticks, when he valued the ‘time’ of his readers, belonging to posterity 🙏. The two opening verses are the evidence. First one defines the concept and purpose of the book ( just 2 words😂, and interpretation by later Giants, runs into pages!). Second one provides a litmus test. It decides whether to continue reading or to trash it🙏
We as ordinary people do not think of evaluating our Yardsticks ( parameters) while using it to evaluate, measure and judge others, things and situations. ( I tried to visualise a funny situation, where I am asked to judge a vocalist of classical music, without realising that I am stone deaf😂. The deception about my deafness might have been due my dexterity at lip_reading🙏. Now, my yardstick is lip movement. And when that vocalist touches the peak of high_pitch of a note(aalaap), I would write down “that speaker struggles to utter even a mono syllable 😓”
The famous novel ‘Hotel’ by Arthur Hailey ( if I remember right), highlights the Yardsticks used by ‘staff’ when a rich man, tried to search for a proper fellow to head that huge hotel, by evaluating the Yardsticks possessed by staff, to judge their customers. He dresses himself poorly, feigns sickness, etc. Staff try to ‘avoid’ giving service, apprehending the inability of that ‘poor’ to pay the bill. Hero, takes risk, but with prudence and caution. Hero is a junior staff. The poor+sick visitor buys the hotel and appoints this hero as the boss.
Japan, I heard, uses “empty mind” as a crucial parameter to appoint a very high profile business head for its global corporates!
Trust and perception LEVELS decides the level of ability to discriminate and thus the FINE_ness of our Yardsticks. ( A vernier caliper can measure a fraction of one tenth of an inch or centimetre. But mind trying to ‘measure’ abstract values, concepts, trust, love, affection, reliability, in others, things or our own potential…. the Yardsticks aren't always ‘steady’ 😂😜
Spiritual Yardsticks???
Damn simple ( ofcourse not at all easy).
Just the intensity & focus of ‘life energy’ in us at any given point of time.
Immeasurably yours,
psn(9 Nov 2025)
