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My goal was to provide an introduction to some of the spiritual and religious aspects of yoga. Most people coming from a physical practice would find a great divide between what the fitness world calls yoga, and what many from traditional schools would see as a whole package for spiritual advancement. As I have moved through this blog I myself have changed drastically. By maintaining my daily practice over the last three months I have seen a change to my outlook on life, my approach to difficulties, my appreciation of what I have, and my devotion to leading a life to benefit others.

This blog I feel fell short, not reaching an intended audience, or any audience. I believe with the vast amounts of varying information on yoga and Hinduism on the internet makes it hard to pull people in when the author doesn't have a yoga teacher certification or the tittle of guru, swami, or sri in front of their name. People are still searching for the metaphorical wise man on the mountain. Though they most often search for him literally instead. Ram Dass a pioneer in bringing yoga to the west once said: "If you know how to listen, everyone is a guru." People go running looking for others to fix them, not realizing all along they have to fix themselves. Even if they meet a saint who agrees to mentor them, the person is still the one doing all the work.

It is this struggle that most are searching for outside fixes and not guidance and advice on how to turn in to help themselves that keeps them from looking for this kind of information. People want the Star Wars experience, or maybe Eat, Pray, Love; they want to be swept away from their miserable lives and into fantastic experiences. The thing people don't want to hear is this right here, right now isn't their miserable lives, it's their lives. It's their doing, from their choices, and theirs to change. Just stop and look at the life being lived, at the habits kept, at the state of mind maintained. If these are changed step by step over time, anyone can achieve lasting peace. This may bring about change in their physical world or they will just be at peace in what many would call difficult situations. This is why the lotus is a sign of spirituality, because out of the muddy waters of life it grows out, to bloom pure white.

NDSU.edu

The no god experiment

In my previous posts Yoga Madness, and Round and Round I mention god or the concept of god. I believe some people have applied the Judaic concept of god when they hear the word mentioned. For this reason many people from the yoga or Hindu community will refrain from saying god, and instead say Brahma, Shiva, or Krishna. Though the concept of god is thrown around, it isn't necessarily understood correctly, or needed to practice yoga. One could apply all of the yogic ideals without the belief in god.

The term god causes most to think of a guy, sitting in the clouds with white robes on, usually a beard which is also white. This idea draws back to the archetype of Zeus is an anthropomorphic concept of god. What if god was just the term for the energy of the universe? From energy comes matter, and from that life. If we view to whole universe as god we are all made of "it". As Carl Sagan said on his TV series Cosmos "We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff".

He refers to the fact that all the elements were created from hydrogen in the hearts of stars which died long ago. I think that subtle connecting as Sagan stated is there in us, and is why most people who are in-touch with themselves find such peace in nature. There is a sense a returning back to where we came from. People desire to feel connected to this world, and to one another. This connection to the world is a major aspect of yoga.

In yoga there are two guidelines which tend to stop people in their tracks or send them running. In my post Origins of it all I mentioned yamas and niyamas being the first two limbs of the eight limbed yoga path. They lay out five characteristics to have, and five observances. The first of the two is the yama Brahmacharya which is commonly translated to celibacy, though it is better defined as energy moderation. It is believed that sex does drain a person of much energy be it physical or psychic. Any act or situation, pleasurable or not pleasurable can drain a person. If we repeat these actions or stay in these situations we will run ourselves dry.  Most of us do not practice this in our fast paced society, driving ourselves to sickness from our excess.

The second is Ishvara Pranidhana which most often translated as surrender to god. In actuality it can be applied to mean surrendering to something greater than the person. The idea of surrender to something greater than a single person is not supposed to be an out for their actions taken. It is supposed to give a person the sense that their actions matter, and are part of a greater whole working together towards happiness for all. This interconnectedness into a whole does not negate the value of the individual, as modern society does. It is then a person's actions and intentions which become of the highest importance. Not their: looks, faith, age, gender, or sexuality, anyone anywhere is of importance.

As I mentioned in Yoga madness Bhakti yoga is a form of yoga that emphasis devotion to god, it also talks of serving god. With this model of god being energy how does a person serve god? They serve by serving others, by serving this planet, and by serving the other creatures on it.

This is also karma yoga, the yoga of action. By creating positive actions the person is liberated from their previous poor choices and actions. By surrendering into helping others the person is freed of the karma that comes from any action. This cannot be a logical rationalization such as "I am lying for Johnny to Suzy", that is still lying. It has to be for the benefit of a person, and from the heart. As more positive choices are made it becomes habitual.

Why would a person do any of this; if there is no heaven, no hell, no judgment, only an endless procession of life? For me I look around, I see me, me from the past, and me from the future. Different lives that all could have or may one day be me. All trying to live and find happiness, why not open a hand to help myself. The more I let love for others flow the greater my own happiness is. If a person wants to be happy all they have to do is bring it to others. As the Buddha said:

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

Round and round

I am a lover of ted talks, for those not familiar with whom ted is they are a nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting "ideas worth spreading". The company holds conferences where pioneers come to speak; on breakthroughs, new perspectives or their hopes for the future. These ted talks are available for free to the public and can be found on ted.com. Devdutt Pattanaik's lecture below highlights the difference between western and eastern perspectives on life, death, afterlife, and god. Devdutt describes himself as someone who "writes and lectures extensively on the relevance of mythology in matters related to leadership, entrepreneurship, branding, management and governance." He highlights the main difference in beliefs between the two: reincarnation, and that of multiple god forms.

With the belief of one birth, one life, and one death the mindset is to act now. Achieve all in this life, because after this life a person is either: judged by god or becomes nothing depending on that person's religious belief. This leads most people to lives of searching for joy and pleasure. The flip side of this is people being the "good child" by following their religion in hopes of an everlasting happiness after death. Even in there temporary states of happiness there is always the silent fear hanging over people's heads, the inevitability of death. Unacknowledged by most people this hides in the backs of their heads, only to be brought forward by the death of those close.

In contrast a belief in reincarnation means the soul is bound by the actions of its past. We are forced to repeat lessons of life until the correct action is taken. Sort of how some a person continue to attract trouble. They are not unlucky, they simply haven't learned from the trouble the correct lesson. The soul is working over lifetimes towards higher levels of consciousness. Life becomes sacred  especially in human form, which is considered a gift. Humans unlike other animals have the ability to contemplate themselves, the outside world, and conceptualize god.

In India there are thousands of gods. Some people have heard of a few; Ganesha the elephant headed man, Shiva with his trident, Vishnu who is depicted blue usually with four arms, and Brahma with his many heads. They all are aspect of one entity, the source of this entire universe. This leads to the idea of many paths to one god. Many Hindus believe all the religions of the world are all the "correct path" but only for the people on them. The idea being that god understood how people of different temperaments need different faiths.

Time is also viewed differently. This is not the first or that last universe to exist. The universe is believed to go through cycles of one night and day, being destroyed and recreated each lasting 4.32 billion years. A day and night together making up one brahma day, it is also said this will go on for 100 brahma years. These time frames where written into the Puranas in the first century BCE. (Sushama)

By contemplating these vast time spans; thinking of how many lifetimes which come and go. A person then sees why all these pursuits of excess is irrelevant. The search for peace instead of happiness becomes more important. Karma will always be acting, time will continue moving. Everything changes but nothing is destroyed only returned in a new form; from nothing to something and back to nothing.

I myself find the most peace with this idea. It is my path; it has taken me some time being used to accepting that I believe in this new religion I knew nothing of growing up. To me I always thought of religion as a concept that was inherited. I know only a fraction of this vast religion with its many facets, sects, and movements but I hope I have encapsulated a major concept in this post. To me in this elegant dance of all things large and small moving unison over the vastness of time I see the awe inspiring peace and beauty of the world.

Work cited
Londhe, Sushama. "Hindu Cosmology." Hindu Wisdom. 28 Oct. 2008. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.