[Buddha-l] Yogi with a cell phone

[jkirk]

Amused by this account, I wondered if Buddhist monks in Thailand are allowed 
to have cell phones. Anybody know? I feel pretty sure they are allowed them 
in China, land of hi-tech and rage for gadgetry.
Joanna
============================================

The mobile yogi

Sometimes one has to reach the peripheries, move out of the cities to 
comprehend "change" as we speak of it in India. On one hand are the people, 
unaffected by the economic boom, carrying on their daily toil, pretty much 
in similar fashion from their granddad's time, and on the other, everything 
has changed.
On our drive from Bangalore to Pondicherry we passed by a very old temple 
town of Tiruvannamalai. It is a pilgrim town in Tamil Nadu and home to the 
famous Arunachaleswara Temple. It has long been associated with many yogis 
and siddhars (saints). Siddhars profess and practiced an unorthodox type of 
Sadhana, or spiritual practice, to attain liberation.
As we drove past this town, my interest in matters spiritual being scant at 
best, I saw a group of yogis sitting outside a small temple. One of them 
suddenly reached into his bag and pulled out a mobile phone. I slammed the 
brakes in my car and watched him as he had a leisurely chat on his gadget.
So this is the extent of our mobile revolution where a yogi who has 
renounced the world can be sucked right back into it, if the attractions are 
big enough.