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“The Yoga That Destroys Sorrow”

ByElizabeth

“For him who is moderate in food and play, moderate in performing actons, moderate in sleep and waking, for him is the yoga which destroys sorrow.”  Bhagavad Gita, 6.18 (trans. Gitartha Samgraha, in Abhinavagupta’s Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita).

Food here, of course, is more than what we put into our mouth.  It is everything that comes in through the senses.  Play, too, is beyond what we do for “fun” in this society.  How much these words have kept their truth since written; what different meanings they carry in our time of technological marvels.  What does “moderation” mean to us?  Does moderation have an implicit relativeness?

Since I first read the Gita in high school, I have been contemplating this sloka and resonating with it.  Now, I come back to it over and over again, as my understanding of the rest of the text deepens and my practice grows.  It is still giving me food for thought. (Pun intended).

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    Another Blink of Siva’s Eye

    ByElizabeth

    woods 1aAnother blink of Siva’s eye, another,

    As a friend has been saying, trip

    Around the sun.  Decades from now,

    A parent walking in the woods with a child,

    Or one lover to another, or a forest guide

    Might point out the signs from the

    Big hurricane of 2012. I expect 2013 will

    Be momentous and full of joy, ephemeral,

    Another trip around the sun.

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    Hanuman Was Around

    ByElizabeth

    There were lots of images of Hanuman around where we were in the hills. I come home after this long break–far enough away and for a long enough time to be able to gain perspective–and think, given that I have dedicated most of my career to public service, about how the myth of Hanuman may inform my ongoing contemplation at this time in my life and in this socio-political climate of how I can best contribute and participate.

    Hanuman is the faithful servant; I think that one aspect of his story is that in being true to Rama, he is being true to dharma, to law and culture. In loving and protecting Sita, he is recognizing nature. Only when he is acting in service to them and others can he access his true powers (siddhis).


    Inside the Durga store, Nainital, India, October 2017

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    Yoga for Householders

    ByElizabeth

    Paul Muller-Ortega, who teaches philosophy and meditation from similar roots to those that inform Anusara yoga, spoke yesterday of the differences between the path of the renunciate and the path of the householder.  He strongly stated that neither path was better.  What he suggested, though, was that a householder will better flourish practicing yoga designed for the householder rather than attempting to practice renunciate techniques, while still staying in the householder path.

    What does this mean?  I think it means that we become unhappy and conflicted if we try attempt the practices of the path of complete non-attachment and transcendence of body and mind while we are still very much staying in society and responsible for family, work, and citizenship.  The tantric, householder path, including that of the Shaivite tradition of Kashmir and Abhinavagupta, offers practices that enable one to live liberated in society, instead of suggesting that the only way to true liberation is to reject and transcend work, family, and community.  In yoga terms, the householder path is one that realizes moksha (liberation), through ardha (physical and material well-being), kama (love/relationship), and dharma (right work/path) rather than by transcending them.

    Taking the householder path does not mean just indulging.  It still requires sensitivity, dedication, discrimination, and alignment.  I think it may be even harder than renunciation.  I know it is easier for me to just stay alone and practice, for example, than to bring yoga off my mat to how I work, consume, relate to others, and participate in society.  The householder path, though, is the one for me.

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    The Capitoline Venus (and Sruti)

    ByElizabeth

    The Capitoline Venus arrived in DC last week from Rome–the first time this circa 200 CE sculpture has been out of Rome in nearly 200 years. What makes it especially beautiful is the apparent softness of flesh of the cool, carved marble, the seeming etherealness of the ancient solid stone.

    Looking at the Venus made me think about how carving in stone can help us understand the concept of sruti. The hindu scriptures generally are classified as either sruti (revealed) or smriti (remembered) and until recent centuries were passed on through oral tradition. Those scriptures that are sruti are said to have been revealed by a divine source to the original listener. They were already there as part of the wholeness of the universe and then manifested to a particular enlightened being in a way that could be witnessed and passed on. The essence of the text was always already present, but not tangible, until it was revealed in the mind of a listener, who then passed it on.

    Carving in marble takes both the emergence of idea and form in the mind/imagination of the artist and the revealing of that idea from the original stone by the craft of the artist. The sculptor has studied and practiced art and is always open to the emerging into consciousness of a particular image or idea, just as the great yogis continuously meditated and studied, open to what might be revealed.

    As the sculptor may find the block of marble first or have the idea and then go looking for the right stone to express the idea, the yogi pulses between experiencing spirit and enhancing the experience through practice. It is not just an act of imagination that builds and creates something out of nothing. To some extent, the form of the final sculpture is already there in the stone. The work of the artist is to remove that part of the stone that is obscuring the witnessing and expression of the exquisite shape revealed from within by the educated and painstaking act of making art.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Morning Fog

    ByElizabeth

    I was greeted this morning by a gentle fog. It is the softness of fog that I love. Sometimes perfect acuity glares, just as technicolor was louder than reality and disturbed perception. A good fog lets one slip into an appreciation of the essence of form without having to get absorbed in the details. If clarity is required, consciously moving closer to the goal will dissipate the clouding by the fog, and the details will emerge.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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