The other monks saw Siddhartha partaking in rice and milk and thought him to be weak. If he was going to indulge in food, how could he reach enlightenment? Many spiritual seekers pair down their daily intake to minimal food, trying to reach spiritual bliss through meditation, forgoing the pleasures of the world. His monk friends felt his actions were a betrayal of his decision for spiritual advancement. Needless to say, they left him.
How often do we place labels on people believing that they can only be "this" if they are "that" way? In our minds, we design elaborate stories of how people or groups of people should be. A yoga teacher should be the healthiest person we know, doing yoga even in their sleep. A Nutritionist should never indulge in a piece of chocolate or sugary drink. A monk should not have a cell phone. A runner shouldn't smoke. A doctor should eat healthier foods. A teenage singer should be pure and modest. A chef should be the cook at home. Labels.
Instead of realizing the labels we place on people, when we discover something
that was not part of our imaginary way of life someone should live, we judge. In our minds, they have fallen from a pedestal they did not know they were on, perhaps the same one we put our parents on when we were children. As we grew older, we saw our parents as people with flaws, issues we didn't see when we were young thinking of them as omnipotent demi gods. As we get older, we may finally see them as human beings. Human beings are what we are.
Thousands of years ago, yogis believed you could only achieve bliss by letting go of the body. They body had a host of it's own issues and was not important as you left it here on earth when you died.
Eventually through the Hatha Yoga Pradipka, asanas were said to be as important as the mind exercises. Having human bodies, we must eat. We must exercise. We must take care of this vehicle we are given. Sometimes it seems, we take better care of our cars than we do our bodies. We take better care of our homes than we do our planet.
When someone judges us for a certain behaviour or action, we may instantly get defensive. We think How dare that person accuse me or judge me? We don't want to be labeled or judged, no more than anyone else.
Maybe part of our suffering can be lifted if we only start to drop our labels - for ourselves, for others, for the world around us. Perhaps if we let go of expectations, thus not having the let down of them not being fulfilled, we may find a little more happiness. From letting go, we may see with our heart instead, finding that compassion that everyone seems to need.
