This article is based on our observations of modern Western society and a desire to expand the understanding of how the philosophical nature of Eastern thought can help the pragmatic Western mind understand itself.
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift".
Einstein
Another excellent treatise on this from a logical basis is found in the Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-devananda in Chapter 10, The Origin and Evolution of Prakriti.


We post this knowing full well that even in those feeling separated according to this below text are actually not separated in any way, except in their own perception, and therefore the perception of others around them. The kind of Vedanta that is the most holistic is called Advaita Vedanta- literally, “Not Two” and the main proponent of this historically was Adi Sankara. Again, meaning ‘one without a second’. This is the philosophical underpinning we espouse on this website.

The following seven steps can be applied to any undertaking where one finds ego. Ego, using willpower from a narrow focused mechanistic manner of thinking pushes us along this path of separation through misunderstanding. Here is a funny example of this:


This is a description of the ‘process’ of ego manifestation. One finds this in all walks of life, including, sadly religions. This is so prevalent now that many Westerners have come to believe that religion is synonymous with control, and reject it on the basis of that reactively. Silent Motion Yoga teachers and practitioners always are seekers of the middle way between such polarizations and it is in this spirit we present you with this.

1) God-understanding (Self-realization, Samadhi, Nirvana, etc.)

One with everything, lacks separateness or identification with body, mind, etc., holistic in nature, compassion, kindness, and love are  present. Internal focus sees all external things as mere reflections of internal reality.
Right brained, as in infants, or God-realized people (although Self-realization give one the capacity to think fully on both sides of the brain, while maintaining a root in the right brain). Varying degrees of capability regarding left brain function ranging from genius level intelligence (for example, Swami Sivananda could keep 16 minds busy at one time transcribing his thoughts) to unconscious switching into Samadhi, to the point of needing constant caretaking (for example, Sri Ramakrishna).

2) Misidentification As Separate From God


"God is dead."- Nietzsche
The main misidentification being the feeling/thought/idea that one is separate from God, Nature, other people and things, etc.; focus and energy changes from identifying with internal to the external now being considered real; left brained, still can maintain some varied periods of balanced internal/external understanding.
Ego becomes present, which is structurally contained in the left side of the brain. The need to be different than one is in the face of parents or social stresses tends to exacerbate this problem. Ego then drives all remaining distinctions hereafter, perpetually arrogating it's left-brained, or separatist, agenda. This is usually based on inherited shame from parental figures and a growing body awareness, reinforced by society, friends, and excess of media input and advertising.

3) Attachment

Narrowed EXTERNAL focus onto few objects or one as "mine", like the body or possessions, left brained, begins a denial of one's internal reality of Self, or interconnectedness with others. Shame inherited becomes more deeply and unconsciously rooted. What becomes important now is "my land", "my wife", even "my guru" or "my God".
Clearly, battles among religions, or even within religions(!) are found here. Battling nation-states and patriotism are also found at this level and are carried forward into the idealism stage, when one "identifies" with some religion.

I must note here that even gangs use this attachment or "brotherhood" feeling of belonging to carry out their agendas, later found to be a patho-ideal.

What I am pointing out here is not a value judgement, but rather a statement of observation of the reality of the human mind's journey, that later must be reversed.

4) Idealism
Creation of personal or group "rules" for maintaining attachment/ external focus in a personal or external mythology. This patho-myth tends to lack the recognition of how the external focus is changing the internal landscape of one's thoughts, leading to almost exclusive focus on left-brain, facts, details about facts, etc.
Because these rules never meet with reality and one's focus has previously been narrowed unnecessarily, one can strive harder to meet the constraints of this idealism, ironically motivated by the stress of further separation from one's True Self.
Our Western culture is chock FULL of examples of this. It is our single prevalent influence now. Everything from Apple Computer's computer cult to people pledging allegiance to certain brands of clothing falls into this.
It's the driving force behind advertising and people's difficulty with religion, corporate structures and the general malaise of meaning we find ourselves in today. NO IDEALOGY FITS YOU. So one feels left out by a constant stream of idealisms to choose from and nothing seems to just allow you to be yourself.
Ideals never fully meet the reality of this illusory and phenomenal life that has many gray areas and is constantly in flux and changing.
Even where some things do not change, it can be argued that our current culture very rarely recognizes such lasting things. Especially in view of the constant bombardment with factual information. One's reality can be skewed to think that all information is of equal value, thereby lessening the value of any unchanging experiences one might have, even where that experience is satisfying and relevant.
Even where one is apparently seeing the world in a specific way and this is socially acceptable, there tends to be a continuous and outsized reinforcement mentally and socially of one's identification in a narrow area (being Catholic or other religion, gay, feminist, left-ist, Mac user, PC user, etc.). These influences, by their heavy-handed (and to my view unneeded) reinforcement they tend to produce control behaviors.

The real problem here is one of mixing up weakly expressed versions of personal internal ideals or ways of behaving with "similar" (but not the identically same) external strategies employed by others, some of which may be strongly (i.e. healthily) expressed.

5) Control
Idealism breaks one's ground floor of compassion and seeing one's self as the other, one gains an ability to de-humanize others now. From there, it's possible subject them to your personal expression of the Control Disease formed by idealisms (perfectionism, fanaticism, etc.) as a way of maintaining stability for what you have identified as yourself, which is essentially as a messenger of the Idealism you imagine.
The deeper one aligns with idealism, the more one must re-inforce the narrow view presented by the chosen idealism; excluding, ridiculing and eventually punishing those whose ideas are outside this view.

A very common symptom of cult activity (and just listen to your evening news to see how prevalent this is in our Western news media) is to imagine the horrible fate of the "fallen" former believers and talk amongst the "still faithful" about how terrible it must be to behave in such a way. This is a re-expression of control that implies going beyond the mere personal relationship one might have had with the formerly upright member. Now the "fallen" former member assumes a sort of 'cosmic inhuman' quality, where not even God could love this fallen personage.
I expressly don't want to confuse here positive control with negative control. Negative control is seen here as one where the rajasic nature of the mind projects one's ideals onto others, or even everyone. This can include languages or behaviors.

6) Addiction
Addiction comes as a last resort to failed or imperfect Control Behaviors, a lack of integrating and accepting choices or resistance from those being controlled (including one's self). One then goes back and re-affirms and re-establishes another or several other attachments to the tenets of the chosen Idealism. A total lack of understanding of the motivations of those who would not feel or subscribe to the same narrow viewpoint is had and repetitions of such behaviors begins.
Even where the person sees that this or that former idealism (such as drug, sex, or alcohol addictions) didn't serve them, they tend to assign the problem to the idealism chosen rather than the choice of idealism and then the control behaviors that follow it in a general sense.

7) Destruction
The essential result of this addiction, which is fed by addictions in various guises, be it drugs, war, profit or anything else. Often, this destruction can come in the form of destruction of one's relationships or one's own self physically, materially; or they can be "externalized" into the environment in the form of companions personally or in political terms. It can also happen in terms of one’s own destruction and death. One can dig one’s self into a hole that one cannot escape, like this man:


Expansion and Contraction
Throughout modern life, we will move in cycles between all these states. The cycle of separation can never sustain itself infinitely or it leads to a destructive impulse to the world around (like in the case of a Hitler or a Pol Pot) or one's self. Still, given the nature of our underlying spiritual lives, we can often learn enough to reverse this process again and head back up the ladder. The systematic process of undoing these phases of separation is called Yoga, and it has eight states or maturities.

With Yoga, these phases can begin to happen in the reverse order from what I have described and in a more effective manner; gradually undoing the negative direction this article has described as time goes on. Maturity sets in. When enough time has progressed to begin to see the madness and insanity of what these phases are doing we have realizations that lead to greater understanding of ourselves personally.
In a larger impersonal and political sense of the world, it appears that we operate in general in these cycles of expansion and contraction, influencing each other, learning as we go along, and developing ourselves toward a greater understanding even as we apparently destroy ourselves and others.
It is the hope of Yoga and my teachers before me, that we can, one person at a time, undo these cycles of separation so long understood by the ancient Yogis and spiritual aspirants across the globe.

Om Shanti,
DurgaDas

Tags: ego, Separation, Control, Control behaviors, Addiction, war, Destruction, Attachment

Western Aspirants in Eastern Spiritual Practice; How Cultural Conditioning Affects Our Practice

"When we fall into another day
hiding the things we've lost
the secrets to gather
nothing's forever
miles under frozen dust
a diamond vein don't know what it is
and this is the main reason for the victim of the circumstance
can we decide to shine down the light
inside all the darkness out what we are"
song: Garden of Stones by Vanden Plas, album: The God Thing

The Question
I was asked to answer the question "If I could help one person........" what would their attributes be? What is an apt description of them?

To Be Free of Conditioning
As I thought about this question, I saw that my own conditioning, and the arising desire to be free of that same conditioning, was at the root of my own spiritual practice that began many years ago as a child before I even became aware of "spiritual practice" as a term or endeavor. I decided when I was ten years old that I would go about this goal, and have pursued it ever since. The key that unlocked the door of spiritual practice for me is found in The Answer at the bottom of this article in the voice of Richard Harris with the words of Kahlil Gibran.

Root Causes of Spiritual Stress
In so doing, I have attempted to understand some root causes of difficulty for Westerners in Eastern modes of spiritual practice, and I have discovered some key aspects to our Western cultural conditioning that seems to impede us. Swami Sivananda offers many key understandings of these kinds of impediments to spiritual practce, and you can learn this is you take the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course about the 8 Impediments to Spiritual Practice and I would refer you to his words on this subject. Still, he was a Swami in a very traditional Indian culture at a time in history when that culture was more traditional than now.

You may want to take a look at my article on The Seven Phases of Separation to grasp what is behind what I have written here.

Key Aspects of Western Conditioning
A key attribute of people I would assist in spiritual practice or improving their lives are born and conditioned culturally in a Western manner. There are many things one might imply when one says this; such as overriding belief in science, fractured religious history, the belief that life and philosophy of the world began in Greece, proceeded through Rome and then spread to the rest of world from there, with the odd and apparently unrelated trip to Egypt for some pyramids!

It is as though Eastern culture and Native cultures didn't exist at all, according to the general sense of things, even though the philosophy of Native American cultures had a great impact upon the writing of our U.S. Constitution. Most people don't know this.
For a great book about our educational system, I recommend "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by Dr. James W. Loewen. In general, there is a real arrogance and entitlement to our Western cultures that doesn't exist culturally nearly as much as it does in Eastern cultures, and even more so in America, where I live.

Much of our Western culture is predicated on "being an individual", and in America we seem to have a need to pretend we are "pioneers" of some sort, still out riding the range on horseback! The reality is that we have a fairly narrow range of choices, and even our counter-culture movements are all co-opted and promoted on television. Everyone has a uniform, and when you where that uniform, you belong, so the theory goes. In this rather ill culture, you hear about co-dependency, counter-dependency, addictions and control behaviors far more than in Eastern cultures.

“There is a prejudice against the spoken lie, but none against any other, and by examination and mathematical computation I find that the proportion of the spoken lie to the other varieties is 1 to 22,894. Therefore the spoken lie is of no consequence, and it is not worth while to go around fussing about it and trying to make believe that it is an important matter. The silent colossal National Lie that is the support and confederate of all the tyrannies and shams and inequalities and unfairnesses that afflict the peoples - that is the one to throw bricks and sermons at.” - Mark Twain

Cultural Relativity
Much of my statements are a valid observations, and yet many valid cultural observations are much MORE valid depending on the which culture one is referring to. For example, almost all Indian culture is based in family. All one needs to do is travel there to be convinced that the entire country of India is fundamentally, irrevocably co-dependent, yet remarkably lacking in the sort of addictions we observe here, on the whole. This is their social norm. This changes the perspective on making value judgements based on such observations. As cultures around the world become "Westernized" there is a tendency toward control behaviors, which are at the root of addiction.

Teachers Must Teach Based on Types of Conditioning
So considering the type of person I would want to assist in spiritual practice must be considered in the light of the cultural conditioning of the place where they are, my own experience and struggles within the framework of that, and then examine the type of cultural background the spiritual practice was rooted in. Yoga is rooted in an Eastern way of thinking, which has far different assumptions, and in general is more balanced with left and right brained modes of thinking and holds closer one's own personal skepticism.

The famous back and forth "maybe" head nod of Indians is used when they for example don't want to be seen as saying no, but don't want to say yes, either. Saving face is paramount in Eastern cultures, so modes of instruction is also rooted in allowing both teacher and student to save face.
Even Eastern languages are spoken differently depending on the relationship the speaker has with the hearer. In Vietnam for example they need to know how old you are and what your role is to be able to address you properly. I have witnessed Vietnamese people addressing my old spiritual teacher like she was a Buddhist nun, and she herself was Vietnamese, so she would tell me about how she was being spoken to was different depending on her role as a sister, daughter, or what have you.

Even as we understand that the sort of physical problems we in Western culture develop don't manifest in the same patterns (for example, in the West, the implications of sitting in chairs that creates much back and hip tension, shortening of the hamstrings, etc.) in India and Asia because that culture simply moves, and sits very differently as a part of their cultural conditioning. We must understand also that the approach to practice for a teacher of a Western student is far different than that needed to deal with a Taiwanese student, for example; while the physical, mental and spiritual principles underlying the practice remain the same.

The Role of the Teacher
First, I would like to address also my role as a teacher. Neil Postman is a key figure in commentary about our schools, and his perspective- one that I believe in deeply- is that schools should function as a "thermostatic" factor in addressing the cultural stresses found by it's students. If a student is too "hot" or too "cold", so to speak, schools can address this by their curriculum.

Therefore, as a teacher, I think that my role is to teach "thermostatically" with respect to how the student's culture (in most cases in the U.S./Canada, the Western viewpoint) operates and provide a way for the student to achieve a middle ground, physically emotionally and intellectually at the outset and spiritually ultimately.

So in attempting to teach effectively to a Western audience of students Eastern philosophy, we must still address the student with whom FEELS more comfortable with philosophical approaches, yet their entire context of culture is based in pragmatism. This strain by itself will often spin a Western student out of Eastern spiritual practice.

The Western Pragmat-ism
To summarize the key factors I would like to discuss here regarding Western conditioning, I would like to say that North American culture is based fundamentally in pragmatism.

From the dictionary:  Pragmatism:
1  : a practical approach to problems and affairs
2  : an American movement in philosophy founded by C. S. Peirce and William James and marked by the doctrines that the meaning of conceptions is to be sought in their practical bearings, that the function of thought is to guide action, and that truth is preeminently to be tested by the practical consequences of belief  

Much of our pragmatism comes from our curriculum. Curriculum as I mean it here means two things:

1) The First Curriculum: Television and Media (now, including the internet). A wonderful treatise on the effects of the first curriculum (although with statistics from 1979) can be found in one of the best books on teaching: "Teaching as a Conserving Activity" by Neil Postman. This topic is too in depth to cover here.

2) The Second Curriculum- our school system. Much of the structure of our school system comes from the influence of John Dewey, who is considered a key figure of the Pragmatism movement, after Pierce and James mentioned above. Prior to 1950 or so, most of culture was in the hands of public schools. So what was being taught in schools was and is essentially pragmatism, only now often even more narrowly focused. As a result, many other types of holistic schools like Montessori and Waldorf schools have arisen in popularity in recently years.

What Does It Buy Me?
What the pragmatic approach has done is to promote on every level the desire for a result. "What will it DO for ME?" is the key question. This requirement of external things to DO something then means one must require one's self to always also be doing something. Even our downtime, what little of it we give to ourselves is found in movies, television, music, theater and entertainments of every sort. "Work hard and play hard" is the motto. "Just Do It" is a very popular slogan by Nike because it resonates in the heart of this pragmatism.

"patience is just another word
under the old man's tongue" song: Garden of Stones by Vanden Plas, album: The God Thing

Even our Silence is Taken
We then have no silence in our lives. No space where there is a spot in between likes and dislikes where to can rest our weary selves from all the effort we are required to put out. If we don't put out constant efforts, we are lazy, undisciplined or going through a burnout or breakdown. Even burnouts and breakdowns are to be handled as quickly and efficiently as possible! We're busy!

We watch TV to relax, but this merely agitates and reinforces a monkey mind! When we exercise or do any activity, we tend to do it in this gung-ho manner that leaves us so tired we finally can see fit to give ourselves a break, if only for a moment and a protein bar.

Doer-ship
Doer-ship is the law of the land in Western cultures. *I* and doing this and *I* am doing that. ALL Eastern culture's spiritual practices rail against this self-arrogating doer-ship. "Action in inaction and inaction in action" as a concept is found in the Bhagavad Gita. "Action-less action" is in the Tao Te Ching, and so on. The flute of Krishna symbolizes the spiritual aspirant who is being an instrument of God, being transparent. As a teacher, this is always present with me and something I learned at the ashram.

Punishments/Rewards
Additionally, the Western system often uses a punishment/reward stimulus for achievement, in spite of it's clear failure as a method (see Alfie Kohn's book, Punished by Rewards, for a research-supported treatise on this topic). Therefore, the so-called "good" students who adopt this pragmatic approach early on avoid those punishments, and not only reap rewards that are intrinsic to the field of study but also reap the rewards of social acclaim.

I Just Need To Understand!
Required also is understanding before taking a step. It is somehow seen that every action in life is like building a house or assembling a new piece of furniture. The left brain requires this, because it's been trained in this way to respond without any involvement of the person. TV exploits and trains this, as does years of rote memorization of topics throughout school and the requirement of obedience.

Instructions must be read and understood before any step can be taken. At every step, Western students want to know the "why" behind the experience they have yet to have, without taking the time to experience it more fully and allow the teacher to then explain what they have been going through, so one can come to an understanding.

The famous "wax on, wax off" example in the Karate Kid is a typical response. At every step the ego must have advance knowledge of what is to come next, because the mind has been conditioned to be mild and obedient, even though that SAME mind would bristle at the mere suggestion of such a thing. Maybe yours did too when I mentioned it just now!

The 30 Second Life Change
Even so, we have a mythology about Western students undertaking Eastern training in movies and TV constantly. I have seen many movies where a person undergoes a 20 year process in a week under the tutelage of some Eastern Master and subsequently dispatches the forces of evil with his profound and expanded awareness. This "30 second" solution is another subconscious construct CONSTANTLY re-inforced by commercials that will allow for you to get a gorgeous woman or man through the mere purchase of a certain product. TV shows present moralistic resolutions to life-changing problems every week in 30 minutes or less.

Thus, we have a society that arrogates it's entitlement to a result at every opportunity- even before the process has begun. This is clearly the case in the U.S. This pragmatic approach has left those of a more philosophical mindset to feel left out of the general social educational milieu, especially if one's style of preference is to understand how the context in which one's actions and efforts of learning are to give meaning to one's life.

These contexual questions are answered only the realm of philosophy and experience, and a huge supporting sub-culture of psychologists, coaches, gurus, spiritual teachers, self-help books and so on have grown up to fill the need to address the void left over from the narrow view of pragmatic (in idealistic terms, pragmatism) thinking. We will examine this in the next section.

The Eastern Philosophical Approach
In Eastern cultures, the teacher, and in many cases this means also elder (and the older the more respect is given for one's life experience) holds a singular position of respect. This is the cultural norm. Eastern teaching takes, in general, a philosophical approach. By seeing all the activities of life being taught by the teacher in the context of this general philosophy, the student can integrate emotional development as well as academic scholarship. In the context of a more wholly regarded teacher, student and person, respect is given to the effort to learn and to the experience of the teacher as a means to that end.

For an Eastern student and teacher, it's self-evident what being a good student gives to the person so the entitlement we see in the West is usually not  a factor. The study and discipline of learning contains it's own rewards and these are what is generally accepted as true without a need for punishments and rewards.

In general, this Eastern approach is a more balanced and multi-sided development structure. It is an approach shared amongst most Eastern cultures, except where the influence of British methods of teaching still hold sway.

East Meets West
Many of the difficulties we have seen with the arrival of indian gurus in the West in the 1960's, and Western students (even if high level Swamis) of Indian and other Eastern Masters of Buddhism, Taoism and the like comes from a difficulty of integration in these cultural aspects.

Who Is Meeting Who and Where?
Western students wear their difficulties with schools, teachers and teachings much more "on their sleeve", so to speak. Challenging a teacher is commonplace, and requiring the teacher to meet the student where the student is, is commonplace. An Eastern student would never consider such a thing, however their skepticism about a teacher or teaching is kept much closer to their chest. It's expected that an Eastern student be given only the principles and philosophy behind, and their job as students is to work this out internally for themselves. In other words, to meet the teacher where THEY are at instead. The teacher's role is to put a student through processes that allow for their growth and realization of their own earned experiences.

This is seen to be the role of the student in the first place- to come UP to the level (hopefully) of the teacher. Only by following the instructions and processes of the teacher can this be done. When a student has some difficulty with a subject, then it's meaning to the student is what matters and the student also knows the teacher grasps this. These factors are assumed also by teachers. Therefore, Eastern students develop a healthy discriminatory and questioning method without having a need to challenge a teacher on so many point of discipline or content and they will feel supported in their growth and expanding understanding.

Addicted to Praise
A Western student is often addicted to praise, and so doesn't feel like progress is made without external acknowledgement of performance or achievement. A gold star must be given for all minor progress. An Eastern style teacher often will not give so much of this, except where resoundingly appropriate, with the understanding that too much praise will bring about a mental weakness for students.

This can be a challenge for a Western mind to accept. Western teaching divides the student from the teacher and subsequently the present subject matter at hand. It's all about the content and it's repetition and not it's application or what it means to the student is forgotten. Students often do not feel supported in their learning, nor do they get any sense that how they feel about their learning is of any consequence.

Western students often struggle to apply specifics to the general principles at hand, lack a habit of discriminative inquiry or "trying on the concepts", and as a result can be easily deceived by teachers who ask them to submit to learning in an "Eastern method" but only end up being taken advantage of. For example, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had an airplane with gold fixtures in it. This shows some considerable lack of discrimination on the part of his followers.

Simply listening without the attendant discriminatory, analysis and thinking skills is a recipe for difficulty. It can take up to a year to begin to be comfortable with this way of learning initially, yet it's ultimately rewarding since learning changes for the student and their world opens up to them. 

Since all relationship is a co-creation, one must develop some way of seeing and understanding so one can see the differences between teachers who would lead you to the threshold of your own mind vs. asking you to follow them, or merely accept what they say.

Western students have a need to be in control of their own practice and decisions regarding every item, if it to be accepted. 

The Spiritual Tourist
There is a tendency to exaggerate the misunderstandings found in these cultural disconnects to the end of not wanting to grasp the mechanics of how learning is done in the Eastern way of teaching and thus we have the rise of the "spiritual tourist". This is a person who is interested in Eastern modes of spiritual life, but thinks that the best way to do that is by "shopping around" for spiritual insights. Or, they may take the alternative route into one or another of the Western "workshops" like The Experience or Landmark. 

Surely, so the thinking goes, that if I take a little from each spiritual teacher, then I will get the "best" of each of them. Swami Sivananda described it this way, to paraphrase the story:

"When one is in the desert and one wants to seek for water, if you can find a shady tree and dig a deep hole, you have the best chance of finding water. When one digs many shallow holes, one is not likely to find water."

The guru or teacher is the shade tree. It is only growing because of the presence of water. The shade tree you see off in the distance is an illusion, and if you attempt to go to it, then often you will never find it and be further still away from your original shade tree.

The Value of One Approach
Because of the nature of television (by this I DON'T mean it's content) the Western mind is conditioned to regard all data as more or less equal. Even where the information might be resonating or relevant, it's often still regarded as "just another piece of information". We have, in Western spiritual culture, literally become spiritual tourists with a large photo collection of gurus and ideas that have no cohesive, living embodiment with with to talk. 

The benefit of the sacrifice of all these ideas and memories from one's 'spiritual vacation' means to sit in front of a single teacher and learn in the way THEY teach you. This provides a fundamental building block of consistence and persistence.

It's the nature of really being a student. It's a simple mechanical thing. Why does all water flow toward the ocean? Because it's the lowest. Simple gravity. To be a student, one must put one's self in the lower position to be able to get the water of knowledge.

Food & Social Activities
We in the West live in fear. We live with a constant lingering feeling of lack that drives us because of the nature of our monetary system and it’s intended consequence which is consumerism. In this constant and unnamed fear, we stuff more and more food (and belongings) into and onto our bodies to drown out the perceived lack. When spiritual practice begins, we struggle to heed the call of the teacher/coach/guide that might give us ways to replace our fears with something more substantial and nourishing, our own and different thoughts. Right thinking can replace this fear of lack.

“And what is fear of need but need itself? Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, thirst that is unquenchable?” -Kahlil Gibran

This ‘unquenchable thirst’ is precisely what almost everyone EXCEPT a spiritual teacher wants for you. Everyone on television, radio and advertising is out to create this lack, which can be overcome by toothpaste, or perfume, or a new car. Our material lives are largely based on making money from someone else’s fear of lack. The “Keeping Up With the Jones’s” mentality recedes further and further into the distance and is replaced by contentment, a natural side-effect of all real spiritual practices, whatever form they might take.

For those in lack, the easiest way to get fulfillment is to go back to the most fundamental nourishing feeling we can get externally and that is the feeling of eating, which triggers your unconscious ‘suckling at the mother’s bosom’ feeling.

The Western aspirant’s first spiritual challenge is related to food. This one topic is a magnet for ALL of the categories of above listed difficulties. All of society points at the need to indulge one’s self in the various veils that cover the understanding of one’s Real Self. We are almost always in some form or another using something we put into our mouths to ‘self-medicate’. In the West, we simply have more of these self-medicating options available to us than in other cultures. This fact has made us mentally, physically and spiritually weak, as a culture.

The nature of these obscuring veils have not changed too much since the dawn of time, yet the average marketer’s/politician’s/television/radio executive’s understanding of the nature of this same mind, and how to manipulate it has increased tremendously, as has the reach of broadcast technologies into our lives. We are marketed almost constantly, even to the point of having an appreciation for commercials as an art form.

In this fearful environment, we gather up all our indulgences into our perception of what goes in our mouths. We often don’t feel good unless we have eaten something to drown out our spiritual stress. Even those who claim to be spiritual struggle with it in this context.

We smoke, we drink, we eat too much food, we endlessly discuss the nuances of food and how it’s cooked, eaten, found, and grown. The cook who feeds people day after day is HIGHLY complimented, even more than is needed. We know more about the specific contents of our food than ever, yet understand less it’s effects on the subtle nature of the mind. Everything points to enjoyment of the sensual nature of food and drink. If we understood these subtle energetic effects, we would have FAR less ADD and so on from eating so much sugar, and less of almost every disease.

As an antidote for this, read about “Proper Diet” from the Sivananda.org site.

“The vast majority of people dig their graves through their teeth.” -Swami Sivananda

I have found it to be the case when teaching or coaching that people will easily speak to me in an unkind fashion if I begin to talk regarding food. Working with athletes for many years I found this to be the case, and it’s also the case as a teacher.

This point is quite interesting because in India, people generally eat together but do not speak. This is especially true in spiritual places like ashrams. I often wondered why this might be, aside from the obvious struggles that I myself have dealt in my mind when restricting rather strongly my own diet. Through this experience I have discovered that food and sexual impulses are very related in the Western mind, and see that when one’s “right” to eat whatever we want, or to enjoy sensual input in that particular manner is inhibited, there come triggers for people. If a spiritual teacher would advocate restricting one’s food for spiritual reasons (a form of tapas or austerity) then people begin to deconstruct my own food choices (vegan, wheat-free, dairy-free).

Usually they want to know my reasons for it, so they can find out whether or not they should judge my reasons strongly or harshly. This pre-condition for “reasons” plays against the above-mentioned “need to understand”. We must grasp that enjoyment is a luxury. We spare very little thought to those who eat simply for nourishment, or have very little food to eat in general.

And we talk. And talk. And talk during the eating of food, disturbing our digestion.

We make decisions as to whether or not to stand on principles like non-injury (ahimsa), the fundamental principle of yoga practice because we might run into social difficulty when ordering food in restaurants! We “eat around” the meat in meat dishes to avoid complicating matters for our friends who aren’t vegetarians, thus robbing them of the our steadfast example of what it might be like to stand on principle without having to make a fuss out of our diet choices.

People everywhere, meat eater, vegetarian, vegan, fruitarian, flexitarian, or whatever they all take pledges of allegiance to being a certain “type” of food consumer. Those who identify with it too much tend to wage little tabletop wars with others not of their ‘faith’ and thus embarrass and create bas social situations for everyone. We live in fear of choosing something different than our so-called friends because of this perception. If one really adheres to the principle of ahimsa, one’s best choice is to be a vegetarian (whatever this means to you) and not make a fuss about it. The best spiritual work is done with ZERO recognition.

I am a vegan, wheat-free, dairy-free eater partly due to allergies (from eating too much sugar as an endurance athlete) and partly because of principle. However, I promise not to make a fuss (unless I am your teacher, and even then not in public situations, except where warranted) by your food choices.

One’s karma is one’s own. I have no need to take on yours or wage a war about food against you or anyone else. I let my example be my best instruction.

What Students REALLY Want
What Western students of Eastern method REALLY are looking for, in my experience, is a connection with these apparently "lost" parts of themselves, that are not reinforced by the culture in which they were raised.
Specifically:
1) Like Minded People. Company with people who regard each other as whole, wise, capable, and resourceful- FROM THE OUTSET. There is an assumption of wellness and completion. One's internal perspective can be heard externally and thus validated. In Buddhism, this is known as the sanga, one of the "three jewels" of that practice. In Yoga, this is called satsanga, or company with the wise or with truth.
What It Does:
Convinces the mind that other people are doing it, so I can too. There is a reassurance in groups that is a natural consequence of the herd instinct in the mind. One's perspective is shared and through the act of sharing and hearing other people share, one's division from one's Self is lessened.
2) Consistence and Persistence. The key to meditation practice is threefold: time, place and space. These are the key components to any ongoing and sweeping change or practice and the teacher and the student must be given the opportunity to explore the realms of deep understanding and trust between them.
What It Does:
Convinces the mind by overcoming the Wild Horse nature of the mind and allows grooves in the record of the mind to be established by hearing the same thing said from several different people and perspectives.
3) Challenge. A key to growth. Specifically, in a physical sense, a change in the plasticity of the brain is found when going outside on one's established patterns.
What It Does:
Breaks Patterns. Tests willingness. Promotes maturity. Since spiritual practice takes on increasingly transcendent reflection, forms and expression, one always has a place to challenge the conditioning of one's mind. Spiritual practice is one that leads one closer to one's understanding of the internal reality and subsequently the external reality changes as a result. In the West, we are taught that external aspects are more important to put energy into, and so a lasting challenge for a Western student of Eastern teaching is this internal facing energy concentration.
4) Integral Philosophy. A watery approach that gives meaning and emotional reinforcement to their thoughts, deeds and actions, a way to allow to die old, separating thoughts. By watery I mean that it has a depth and percolates into the dry spaces
What It Does:
Convinces the left brain with facts about the structure and function of endeavor undertaken in the emotional realm. Gives the ego something to think about and do while balancing habits are formed that can slowly attenuate it. Provides lifestyle alternatives that support this. Logical conclusions support right thinking about the ultimate nature of the mind, the phenomenal world and can be read about in advance of experiencing it for one's self. Motivates one to continue on the path by providing a road map and context of practical efforts.
5) A Real Teacher. The spiritual energy of someone simply living their high thinking nature is felt by the student, even when the student doesn't "understand" why from a logical perspective. The teacher's words are important, but in the end the teacher's excellent example and internal/external congruency is the foundation of their teaching method. Nothing is so powerful as that singular example.
What It Does:
Provides a template of living conduct, energy, ethics, kindness and loving nature to emulate. This is far more rare in the West than in the East, although poor or charlatan teachers are found everywhere.

The Answer
So all this to answer the question "If I could help one person........" what would their attributes be? What is an apt description of them?

I want to help those who are having any of the difficulties of facing real Eastern spiritual practice as I describe it above and have experienced this struggle myself.  I want to work with people who understand what the below verses by Gibran mean.
I want to work with a person who can see my real faith in the possibility of their progress to whatever end they desire in this context of earnest spiritual practice, and will persist in .
It requires the adoption of a way that goes beyond a call to action. If what you need is a call to action, I am happy to bugle it out for you, yet most people in our society need a context I believe that this is what a teacher is meant to do. I believe also that this is what most Western people are missing in their lives. Without context, lives lose meaning over time. 

I want to work with people in the way Kahlil Gibran describes below, and I think it applies here, for me. To those with whom these things resonate, I am ready to work with you.

On Teaching
"No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise, he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding. The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

On Work
You have been told also life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.

And I say, that life is indeed darkness, save when there is urge, And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge, And all knowledge is vain save when there is work, And all work is empty save when there is love; And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth. It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house. It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit, And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching. Work is love made visible."

Let us work together.

Tags: Pragmatism, John Dewey, Culture, Conditioning, Yoga, Spirituality, Spiritual Practice, Philosophy

Book Version:


The Coming of the Ship

Almustafa, the chosen and the beloved, who was a dawn onto his own day, had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese for his ship that was to return and bear him back to the isle of his birth.

• Like Almustafa here or Swami Sivananda, all those who are enlighted can be considered a sun in this world, providing a dawn of light where there is darkness, which the word ‘guru’ itself literally means- ‘remover of darkness’.
• The ‘twelve years’ he waited in the city is normally the time spent with the guru in India in the gurukula system learning about yoga and spiritual life.
• The gurukula is the beginning of learning spiritual life, and it’s considered without a guru, one cannot begin spiritual life, except for those few like Swami Sivananda, Jesus and the many other remarkable saints and sages throughout time.
• ‘His ship’ and ‘the isle of his birth’ can be considered two ways: 1) to be in fact his own physical death, the “leaving the body” as it’s said about those high souls who can do such a thing. And, 2) Even without physical death, but rather in Self-realization- which Almustafa is on the cusp of now, at the start of this book- one leaves behind one’s previous conceptions of the way to world appears and see everything as God. In so doing, one could say that one is shifting the identification of the mind on a constant basis to the “atman” or the immortal sould, which is said and believed to be the core of our True Self, which is in fact one with, according to Adi Shankara, the all-pervading substratum of all reality, or Brahman.

And in the twelfth year, on the seventh day of Ielool, the month of reaping, he climbed the hill without the city walls and looked seaward; and he beheld the ship coming with the mist.

• Again, the twelve years are now the amount of time he’s spent sowing the seeds and doing the internal work toward enlightenment, and the month of September (Ielool) is the month of reaping the fruits, the shifting, of one’s mind toward God in it’s identification.
• Using September as the month is also a way of alluding in a natural way, according to Gibran’s natural philosphical tone- one which is shared by the yogic philosophy- of the seasons of life. Birth comes just before springtime bursts, then spring so full of life, and the summer in which one lives fully with long days, and for the enlightened, then the harvest has come at last. Astrologically, this is represented often by moving into the Ketu dasha, or time period.
• This is a nice way of showing the way in which enlightenment is said to come, as though one has come over the walls of his own mind (the city of Orphalese, with it’s bustle of people, i.e thoughts) from the mist of mystery, which is only broken by meditation, according to Swami Sivananda. He also comments that meditation is a mysterious ladder to this misty understanding.

Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea. And he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul.

• Of course, being a meditator, he would again meditate upon this shift, having realized it. This is confirmed later by: “a seeker of silences am I and what treasure have I found in silences, that I may dispense with confidence?”

But he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart: How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city.
Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?
Too many fragments of the spirit have I scattered in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without a burden and an ache.
It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.
Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.

• Now we see the remnants of attachment, so often talked about in spiritual circles as the thing which is most difficult to cast off us, that still remains with him, even with his brief enlightened state. It’s said to be this way for all of us, we go through stages of understanding, and Almustafa in this case is standing right on the brink of the largest shift of all, and yet he still feels the pull of attachment.
• He is here remarking, in a beautifully lyrical way, about the choice which encompasses all spiritual effort. I read and cried to this very verse many many times in my difficulties during my spiritual training and understandings. One chooses to tear the skin of the ego and it’s attachments with one’s own hands. Only he can do this for himself, and it is the same with us.
• Yoga is largely about the attenuation of the ego, and so even with a teacher, one must remain centered in the idea that the teacher is encouraging you to tear off your own skin with your own hands. Often, it feels as though they are doing it, without your consent, however!

Yet I cannot tarry longer.
The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.
For to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze and crystallize and be bound in a mould.

• In a sense, being in the body is to be bound in a mould of flesh, blood, and bone. Even the particular structures and ways of seeing things with our type of mind and life experience can be thought of as a mold from which one must rise above. Paramahansa Yogananda has a chapter in his book “Autobiography of a Yogi” which is called “Outiwtting the Stars”, and this is even more remarkable since Yogananda’s guru was a very famous Vedic Astrologer as well as a Swami. Since we are talking about Self-Realization here, it’s clear that this is very understood by Gibran here.

Fain would I take with me all that is here. But how shall I?
A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that give it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.
And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.

• In this verse, he answers himself- as only one who has examined the nature of his own mind so closely can do, the attachments he still recognizes within.
• One might also say this about children, and what an elegant way of releasing one’s own body and mind attachments for the greater ‘sea’ awaiting him!

Now when he reached the foot of the hill, he turned again towards the sea, and he saw his ship approaching the harbour, and upon her prow the mariners, the men of his own land.

And his soul cried out to them, and he said:
Sons of my ancient mother, you riders of the tides, How often have you sailed in my dreams. And now you come in my awakening, which is my deeper dream.

• I always think of this verse as being related thematically to the one in “On Work” where he says: “...and to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching. Work is love made visible.”
• My reasoning is that this harkens the mind to a forgotten time when our elders and those who died for us, and before us, back genetically many many generations were revered. It is simply not the case in our modern society where we worship little but the young, and seek to forever be young. This is to set ourselves against the duality in which we are trapped, and to allow us to be blind in yet another important way to the reality that is around us, yet is also to be transcended.
• A good quote I know on this topic comes to me from the song “Cheyenne” by John Arch, where he samples a quote from Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Native American Tribe: “I have heard talk and talk but nothing is done. Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my country now overrun by white men. They do not protect my father's grave. They do not pay for my horses and cattle. Good words do not give me back my children. Good words will not give my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves. I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises.”
• While the above quote is sad, it shows the priorities faced by natural cultures out of which has grown a natural philosophy untouched by “organizations” in the Western model of religion, i.e. a respect for one’s elders, even their burial grounds and so on. Still, one can see the influence of the English society in speakng about payment, which wasn’t something known to Native American cultures previously. How can one own something far greater than oneself, or even their tribe?
• The statement: “And now you come in my awakening, which is my deeper dream.” is an allusion to an upcoming section “for he himself could not speak his deeper secret”, which is a reference to the unspeakable silence itself in which he has immersed himself, impossible to describe, but also showing his awareness of the threshold upon which he stands now, which is the dawning of Self-Realization.
• Even Einstein, as a scientist, can recognize the importance of this: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”

Ready am I to go, and my eagerness with sails full set awaits the wind.

Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only another loving look cast backward,
Then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers.

And you, vast sea, sleepless mother,
Who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream,
Only another winding will this stream make, only another murmur in this glade,
And then shall I come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean.

And as he walked he saw from afar men and women leaving their fields and their vineyards and hastening towards the city gates.
And he heard their voices calling his name, and shouting from the field to field telling one another of the coming of the ship.

And he said to himself:
Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering?
And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?
And what shall I give unto him who has left his plough in midfurrow, or to him who has stopped the wheel of his winepress?
Shall my heart become a tree heavy-laden with fruit that I may gather and give unto them?
And shall my desires flow like a fountain that I may fill their cups?
Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through me?

A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence?
If this is my day of harvest, in what fields have I sowed the seed, and in what unrembered seasons?
If this indeed be the our in which I lift up my lantern, it is not my flame that shall burn therein.
Empty and dark shall I raise my lantern,
And the guardian of the night shall fill it with oil and he shall light it also.


• These comments are quite excellent examples of a person who considers himself merely an instrument in the hands of God. Even his words at the end allude to the lantern of wisdom he sees himself being asked to raise on behalf of those whom would call upon his wisdom, yet he sees through this illusory conceit that could be had by lesser teachers. When a Yoga teacher teaches, it’s the energy of their own spiritual practice. He says as much explicitly: “A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence?” This is a true teacher of Yoga and spiritual stuff. A practitioner, not a preacher. You will notice that it’s ONLY when he’s called upon to do so does he speak out. There is a Buddhist saying: “Only if you can improve upon silence should you speak.” Naturally, the internet is not a place for silence, rather it’s a place to encourage those who would seek it out for themselves. Many in our culture are inspired by those who seek silence, yet it’s also important to seek it for yourself, as the example is what is important for the best spiritual teachers.

These things he said in words. But much in his heart remained unsaid. For he himself could not speak his deeper secret.
And when he entered into the city all the people came to meet him, and they were crying out to him as with one voice.
And the elders of the city stood forth and said:

Go not yet away from us.

A noontide have you been in our twilight, and your youth has given us dreams to dream.
No stranger are you among us, nor a guest, but our son and our dearly beloved.
Suffer not yet our eyes to hunger for your face.
And the priests and the priestesses said unto him:
Let not the waves of the sea separate us now, and the years you have spent in our midst become a memory.
You have walked among us a spirit, and your shadow has been a light upon our facs.
Much have we loved you. But speechless was our love, and with veils has it been veiled.
Yet now it cries aloud unto you, and would stand revealed before you.
And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.
And others came also and entreated him.
But he answered them not. He only bent his head; and those who stood near saw his tears falling upon his breast.

And he and the people proceeded towards the great square before the temple.
And there came out of the sanctuary a woman whose name was Almitra. And she was a seeress.
And he looked upon her with exceeding tenderness, for it was she who had first sought and believed in him when he had been but a day in their city.

And she hailed him, saying:
Prophet of God, in quest for the uttermost, long have you searched the distances for your ship.
And now your ship has come, and you must needs go.
Deep is your longing for the land of your memories and the dwelling place of your greater desires; and our love would not bind you nor our needs hold you.
Yet this we ask ere you leave us, that you speak to us and give us of your truth.
And we will give it unto our children, and they unto their children, and it shall not perish.
In your aloneness you have watched with our days, and in your wakefulness you have listened to the weeping and the laughter of our sleep.
Now therefore disclose us to ourselves, and tell us all that has been shown you of that which is between birth and death.

And he answered,
People of Orphalese, of what can I speak save of that which is even now moving your souls?

(The words for this were taken from a website which had previously published the entire work. I am reproducing it here in the spirit of Fair Use. Kindly email me if this creates a problem for you. )

Tags: Gibran, Kahlil Gibran, Yoga, Ielool, Almustafa, Almustapha, Osho, Shree Bhagawan Rajneesh, Richard Harris, Arif Mardin

This article is the first of a series of articles planned about classic works of literature and poetry; how the practice of classical yoga explains the fundamental human experience in relationship to how we can further our spiritual growth, recognize patterns that have existed in the minds of all humans throughout time, not just in India. It is the hope that by explaining works like The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Battlestar Galactica and others, I can highlight the underlying patterns prevalent and hopefully make Classical Yoga easier to understand and relate to.

In this edition: The Prophet.
This series of article posts focus on “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran and it’s relationship to the practice of real Classical Yoga. In successive posts, I will draw parallels between this classic work and the classical yogic practices, and link to some further explanations of how those work as well.

My focus here in the introduction is to talk about my experiences in learning this monumental and well-known and -loved work.

I recommend you purchase the cd version of this work in order to really understand what I am talking about. here by Bhagawan Shree Rajneesh, later known as Osho, in XML. His comments I am sure will be more enlightening than mine.

Note: this link’s text is hard to read in my web browser, but it might be just me. Click here for the cleaner, but much, much shorter HTML version.

NOTE: I will put in the complete work from the book, bullet point the parts which are my comments, and italicize the parts that are in the music.

How I Came To Spiritual Life- Through the Eyes of Almustafa, The Chosen and the Beloved
When I was 10 years old, my mother one day walked into my room and handed me a vinyl record with a spooky and serious looking man on the front cover surrounded by a yellowed-parchment colored background.

She said “I think you’ll like it” and left. Little did I know that in the subsequent few years, this small interaction (and so MANY repeated listens) would forever change the face of my understanding of the world, spirituality in general, and my future yoga experience waiting for me 20 years later.

Throughout my time spent living (from August 2005 to January 2008) at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm, part of the worldwide International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, the Teacher Training Course there, and all of my subsequent research into Classical Yoga, I have been gradually relying on this musical rendition of the book for my sense of correctness of spirituality and using it as a sort of ‘Oracle’ toward making decisions in life and learning.

Richard Harris (the original Dumbledore in the first Harry Potter film, by the way), I have heard, had a personal mission to turn this classic book (I didn’t know it was a book until I was 30) into a musical work. He enlisted the legendary Arif Mardin (who died on June 25, 2006) to produce this work with him. Tony Levin, in one of his first professional gigs, was playing bass guitar.

I emailed Tony Levin years ago asking why there was no cd version of the record I had long since worn out (but still carried from move to move, the album cover). Very soon after this, my mom sent me the cd version, re-awakening my delight and reminded me that I had memorized the entire musical version as a child. To this day, I can still hear

Richard Harris reputedly had to personally track down more than 90 of the heirs to the legacy of Kahlil Gibran throughout the world, and get them ALL to unanimously authorize such a musical rendition of the book. He did so, and the world is a better place for it. I am very saddened that I will never get now to thank personally either Arif Mardin or Richard Harris himself for the gift they gave me in my life. I have, however, thanked my mother numerous times!

Like 2112 by Rush before it (in my discovery), it has a sweeping and epic flavor to it, although both works are markedly different in philosophy. Mostly spoken word, this Irish Elizabethan-trained actor’s inflections and dramatic flair added so much to my pre-teen life that I wasn’t able to fully appreciate until I began studying Classical Yoga as taught in the Saraswati lineage from Swami Sivananda and his disciples.

I have since branched out to understand Classical Yoga as a immense, indeed the largest, body of spiritual work available to mankind, but it is largely summarized by ‘The Prophet’ in Kahlil Gibran’s poetic words. To this end, we proceed...

Tags: Gibran, Kahlil Gibran, Yoga, Ielool, Almustafa, Almustapha, Osho, Shree Bhagawan Rajneesh, Richard Harris, Arif Mardin