When I travel in India with Arvind Singh as our guide, I am amazed at how he can rattle off mind boggling numbers.  With complete confidence and not a moment’s hesitation, he could say,  “There are 10-15 million Sadhus ‘Holy Men’ in India.”

So I thought about some figures that I would like to know, numbers I would like to confidently toss your way when we are engaged in a conversation.  Here are some figures I thought I should like to commit to memory:

  • US Population: 314,135,437  (don’t you wonder about the accuracy of any census?)
  • World Population: Over 7 Billion  (in my own lifetime I may see this number reach 9 Billion.  9 Billion is the projected world population figure for 2043)
  • Circumference of the Earth: 24,901 miles (40,075 km)
  • Number of Miles from the US Coast to Coast: 3050 miles
  • Number of words in the English language:  over a Million! (So then I think, well, how many adjectives are there and what small % of these words do I use?)
  • Number of Yoga Postures (Asanas):  I had fun looking this one up. The shastras tell us the number of asanas is 84 lakhs. One lakh is 100,000 so we are talking 8,400,000 asanas.  A more conservative number is 908 asanas as has been cataloged and photographed in a Master Yoga Chart.    I guess the idea is that the asanas are forever evolving and there are numerous modifications and variations to make the number seem almost infinite.
  • The average lifespan of a yogi/yogini:  As I looked on line, I came across some very interesting answers! One source said, “Yogis never die!” Ha! Another spoke of Devraha Baba who lived to be 250 years old.  That sounds like a claim from the Bible!  Remember how, according to the Bible,  Abraham lived to be 175 years old?    My guess is that the average lifespan of a yogi/yogini is similar to the average life expectancy one sees in the charts for all people (according to gender, year born, country).  I believe the one big difference is a better quality of life for the yoga practitioners where one experiences more peace, less conflict, more days being joyful, and fewer days complaining of ill health.
  • Number of  vegetarians in the USA: 3.2% of the  population
  • Number of  vegetarians in India: 40% of the population