SAUNDARANANDA 16.89: Kshema to Meghika

kShem"-aajito nandaka-nanda-maataav
upaali-vaagisha-yasho-yashodaaH
mahaahvayo valkali-raaShTrapaalau
sudarshana-svaagata-meghikaash ca

16.89
Kshema, Ajita, the mothers of Nandaka and Nanda,

Upali, Vagisha, Yashas, Yashoda,

Mahahvaya, Valkalin, Rashtra-pala,

Sudarshana, Svagata and Meghika,

COMMENT:
These 14 individuals are the 28th through 41st names on the list of 60-odd true individuals who made into their own possession those four noble truths that begin with suffering.

Better known names on this list include Ajita and Upali, one of the ten major disciples of the Buddha.

Apropos the present themes of true individuality and unshakeable confidence, here are two quotes about teaching the FM Alexander Technique, taken from Forward and Away, the recently published memoirs of Alexander teacher Elisabeth Walker.

First a piece of advice to Alexander teachers:
"Collect the truth into yourselves. Don't try and be like anyone else, or like F.M. Be yourself as a teacher."

Second an affirmation of true life after death, which has got nothing at all to do with optimism. It is a wonderful and exceptionally strong life-affirming last word from a 93-year old widow who early in life suffered the devastating loss of her first child, due to a tonsillectomy that went wrong:
"Teaching has been a most extraordinarily rewarding experience. Communication by touch is probably the most basic form of communication. And what is one communicating? The answer very simply is 'life.' This sounds a rather grand claim, but every teacher will bear me out. The pupil becomes 'alive' no matter whether he is stuck in a state of collapse or stuck in a condition of over-tension. But whether the pupil is aware of this greater aliveness or not, the teacher is, and this is what is most rewarding. Because one knows with absolute certainty that what one is communicating is good."

EH Johnston:
Ksema, Ajita, the mothers of Nandaka and Nanda, Upali, Vagisa, Yasas and Yasoda, Mahahvaya, Valkalin and Rastrapala, Sudarsana, Svagata and Meghika,

Linda Covill:
Kshema, Ajita, the mothers of Nandaka and Nanda, Upali, Vagisha, Yashas and Yashoda, Mahahvaya, Valkalin and Rashtra-pala, Sudarshana, Svagata and Meghika,