Vyaadhi Sthyaana Samsaya et al

I was having a discussion with some of my students at IIT on the deeper meanings of yoga, my motivations to take up yoga seriously etc. In the course of conversation I was talking about some of my findings about the state of our society and humanity at large across various dimensions. Here are some documentaries that highlights most ugly and dark side of our societies. Exposure to these things really did shake me up and sent me on the discovery of Yoga. 

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1. Globalizing inequality - P.Sainath

Sainath, an award winning and widely respected journalist talks about globalization and the dark side of it which we rarely get to hear of in our educational institutes and at out work places. Remember the discussion on duality we all had. This is the other side that we are all directly responsible for the creation of.

2. Walmart - High cost of low price
This documentary talks about how big money is made by corporations like walmart. All our education system does is to prepare us for this.Is this really needed? Of course, walmart cannot be singled out. They are the leaders of the pack. There are countless other organizations in the race. We also willingly or unwillingly participate. What is our response?

3. The Corporation
Lays out threadbare the great catastrophe that unbridled capitalism has unleashed upon. Again, very rarely discussed in B-schools. Why have we been kept in the blind?

4. Mindwalk
A very nice documentary on some of the issues and the philosophical aspects of the root cause of these issues.

5. Slow poisoning of india
A documentary on the use of Endosulphan in Kasargod, kerala, And we all still have not become primarily organic food eaters!

6. Earthlings
A documentary on the gruesome vioence humanity has unleashed on fellow living beings on earth! Extraordinarily gruesome but real footage.

7. The Empire in Africa
The violence greed for diamonds has unleashed on some poor and innocent people in Sierra Leone. 

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------------------ BOOKS ------------------

1. Legacy of Luna - Julia Hill
2. Elephant Whisperer - Anthony Lawrence
3. Silent Spring - Rachel Carson
4. Gorillas in the mist - Dian Fossey
5. Case against the global economy and for a turn towards the local - edited by Jerry Mander
6. Everyone loves a good drought - P. Sainath
7. Confronting Consumption - MIT Press
8. Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh - Helena Norberg Hodge
9. Economy of permanence - J.C. Kumarappa
10. Small is beautiful - E.F. Schumacher
11. Left to Tell - Immaculee Ilibagiza

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As one reads these books and watches these documentaries, one comes to grip over the state of the world on many dimensions. To be honest, there is shit all around. We are all neck deep in a very serious crisis of the proportion that humanity has never seen before.

But, sadly, most peoples bodies and minds are so diseased that they cant even appreciate this state of affairs. Their own immediate concerns are far too overwhelming. The sanskrit word for this is vyaadhi. For some others, who are not diseased, the mind is comfortably numb, likes this numbness and does not even want to attempt to change this. The sanskrit word for this is sthyaana. Finally, when it wakes up to all this even a little bit, there is doubt. There is doubt whether these things are real. There is doubt if anything can be done about it at all. There is doubt if one is really the person to doubt this. There is doubt about all of this and more. This is samsaya. That most individuals seems to ignore this adds to the doubt. Not only do they ignore, they actively take the opposite stand. In particular, they encourage to ignore this and take the opposite stand.

Very few individuals cross this point of response to the madness all around. But, sadly, even those who cross this tend to be careless often. They do not take this response as seriously as they should be. The childish frivolousness has not left them. This is pramaada. They try to response a few times but nothing changes. The enthusiasm drops and they become careless. Then there are those who can be serious but are lazy about the whole thing. Their minds are dull and become insensitive over a period of time. This is alasya. For those who cross this, there is yet another stumbling block that even many of the wise fall for. This is inability to restrain sensual habit patterns. Lost in these, they waste energy. And then, they are impatient about getting to the target. Obviously, with all energy lost in sensual habit patterns, the target will always be far away. This is avirati.

Only those who have crossed all of the above can actually do something about the issues all around us. All the rest are lost in dealing with their own problems. But, there are issues to be dealt with still. Though there is energy now, clear vision is lacking. Such individuals go behind many mirages. They have illusions about the problems, possible solutions and most of all about themselves. Some of them consider themselves to be great heroes ala neo from The Matrix. This, obviously, is a recipe for disaster. This is called branthi darsana.

Though they have delusions, such people make some progress. Something is better than nothing. But, still, there is a long way to go. As a result of illusions, one does not understand the target clearly. Unless one does so, one cannot divide the targets into clear steps and go over it one at a time. This is Alabdhabhumikatva. Then, one is not able to even maintain the gains one has mind and slides back into earlier stages of false understanding, doubt, laziness etc. This is Anavasthitatvani. Overall there will be constant distractions of mind and one cannot go about responding to all the mess around with one pointed focus. This is citta viksepa. 

Only when an individual crosses all these levels can he or she clearly respond to this to his/her fullest capabilities. This will take the individual deep into yoga and will produce a deep response to the mess all around. This, in my opinion, is one of the core meanings of the following yoga sutra from samadhi pada of patanjali yoga sutra.

 

Here Patanjali talks about the various stage of half baked responses one gives to the world in the process of ones inner development. Another way of looking at this is the various impediments to growth.

Doing this not an easy task. One needs to work on oneself.

1. One needs to work thoroughly on ones spine and breath using asana and pranayama. A strong and supple spine is the physical foundation on which ones response can be built. A long and subtle breath goes hand in hand with that. One may have to cross many external hurdles in this path. Near and dear ones may be against us. There may be financial difficulties. Unless one has lot of energy within to deal with all of this, the target will remain unattainable. Constant work on the spine and the breadth helps one to build up the requisite amount of energy.
2. Another key area of work is the heart. To work on all dimensions of ones life and cleanse it of impurities is no easy task. It is fraught with lot of heart breaks. Unless one learns to work with ones heart it is not possible to recover from the countless failures one might encounter along the way. A heart deep at peace is absolutely essential. This will help power ones actions through delight. A fully developed heart will keep the individual highly motivated, resilient and most of all in contact with the divine.

Such a person producing such a response (gradually built over many decades of developing self mastery) is worthy of being called a yogi. For, as per Krishnas words 

ya nisha sarva-bhutanam tasyam jagrati samyami
Where all else is asleep, the one who is dissolved in the divine is awake,

There is deep slumber all around. The one who cleanses himself of all impediments like vyaadhi, sthyaana, samsaya et al, can be dissolved in the divine and produces a deep and harmonious response to the situation. That to me is really one of the deepest things in Yoga!

Why do we do what we do?

Firstly, all "why" questions that investigate causality are tricky questions. Here is the reason for the same.

Consider the case of a simple road accident. Why did it happen? The usual answers are one or both parties were driving irresponsibly. This could very well be true. But these are not the only reasons. There could have been some bad roads that just a few seconds back for one party which may have disturbed the driver, causing hir to instantaneously loose concentration. Another possibility could be that one party just had a not very friendly conversation with someone else before starting the ride. All these certainly have contributed towards causing the road accident. So, causality is clearly a causal web of densely interconnected causes and effects. In addition, it is not a finite web. These causes usually extend very far back. So, in reality, causality is an infinitely complex web. Normally, we reduce this complex web to a finite few causes to suit our needs. For example, one driver will reduce the causal web to just the other driver. The onlooker may reduce it to both of them or the government contractors who laid the poor roads.

Now, I am not in any way saying this reduction is wrong or not needed. It is absolutely needed. But, I want to look out how we reduce that infinitely complex web into something more manageable by the intellect. The normal way is through the ego. The ego is in charge of the intellect and hence reduces the infinitely complex web into finite components to suit its need.This is exactly the reason why causality is tricky. If we can look through this and free ourselves from this tendency then we can understand causality better.

This is very important as without this we may be sub-consciously looking for certain answers. We may also interpret answers in ways that suit our needs. This could be dangerous. This is all the more dangerous because we are in the midst of situations that demand us to act and hence if we have trained ourselves to reduce the infinitely complex web based on some other sound dharmic philosophy instead of the unconsciously trained habit patterns of the ego, we can never act consistently and correctly. Thus, it is very important to continuously be aware of ourselves and the patterns of compulsory thinking we fall into to understand things clearly.

Now, lets come back to the original questions. Why do we do what we do? I am assuming you are asking about things we are free (external circumstances wise) to not do but still find an urge from within to do. There are many perspectives from which this question can be analysed. Of course, all of them being models of same reality, they are all connected. Different people resonate to different models.

1.

One immediate manner is to try and understand the human nature. What are all the forces that drive the human nature from within. Maslow's hierarchy of needs or the traditional Indian Chakra model of a human being are wonderful starting points. These models do not go into the evolutionary causes of why things are the way they are. They just look at how it is now and that should be fair enough reduction for our purposes.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

In these models, there are different kinds of innate needs in the human system and unless they are satisfied, they keep coming back to poke us to satisfy the need. If they are not recognised correctly and satisfied, they will change their shape and form and come again and again. For example, if the need of physical safety (and its manifestations at many levels due to not being met for many years) is not met, it may come out as constant bad / possessive relationships with people. This metamorphosis of needs makes the a little complicated to handle but if an individual wills, then he/she can certainly clear up all of them.

If all needs below level 'n' are satisfied fully, then one will experience needs only at level 'n' and above. So, this captures the reason why we do what we do. Consciously or unconsciously we are trying to satisfy these hierarchy of needs. If we can clearly observe this hierarchy of needs in us, we can go to them straight and satisfy them instead of letting the metamorphose into unrecognisable forms which make us do all sorts of stupid things. Instead, if we observe ourselves well enough, we will deal with these healthily and operate at the highest need level that one is capable of at a given time.

2.

In another model, all of manifestation we see around us is a play of consciousness. This model is the basic philosophy of Yoga / Samkhya and it has a few basix axioms (meaning, they are assumed to be given). The basic postulate is that there are two entities: a.) Purusha (a singular consciousness; pure awareness as an approximation) and b.) Prakrti (all of manifested nature). The two are continuously interacting with each other for reasons beyond the human intellect. This interaction produce the various elements and all of life. As a consequence, different life forms are born with certain tendencies. 

Samkhya model

Since all forms (including you and me) have come out of the interactions of Purusha and Prakrthi, one must be able to separate them out experientially. But, this is obviously very difficult for most people. Then there comes the third entity these philosophies postulate. c.) Ignorance. Life forms are not aware that they are Purusha within but Prakrti outside. Instead life forms are caught up in the belief that they are only prakrti. Through practices suggested in Yoga the following evolution in our understanding happens:

I am Prakrti -> I am both Purusha and Prakrti -> I am purely Purusha

Samkhya / Yoga clearly state that the purpose of life (including all the urges to act) is so that life can evolve in the above mentioned direction. This is the reason why we act. But, normally we are not aware of this and hence we are all over the place acting in all sorts of directions. But, if we notice the above clearly, we will act in a much more focussed manner.

2.a

This is basically equivalent to the above with minor differences in terminology. In this Purusha and Prakrti are not two different entities. They are a continuum. Or, even better, prakrti is a result of purusha in action. Nataraja for example is Purusha and his dance is Prakrti.

While there may be some minor differences between this and the previous explanation, for most practical purposes, these two are identical. In this the world is the leela or dance of the divine. This of course includes all our urges to act. Hence, all one needs to do is to take care of them dharmically and surrender to the divine.

3.

The last one is the view from modern understanding of evolutionary science. Here every urge is related to some kind of survival instinct (individual or group) in some hoary past. For example, the desire to earn more money is there because in the formative days of social groups, organisms at the top had better chance of reproducing. So, we have the instinct to climb the social ladder. These days, having more money is somehow equated to climb up the social ladder. Hence the instinct to work and earn more money. This is the explanation of modern science.

Of these three, I find the first two deeper than the third. I am not saying the third is wrong. It is simply not deep enough. To me, it is like saying marriage are about having sex. It is of course true that (at least in India), most individuals have sex for the first time after marriage. Hence, an alien who does not look at things deeply, may conclude that people marry to have sex. While the statistic cannot be denied, the explanation is not deep enough.

Understanding oneself through 1 and 2 above is like concentrating "rasa anubhavam". In music / dance (and other art forms) for example, one tries to concentrate naturally occurring human emotions. This way, one experiences the emotion in a more concentrated manner. This is referred to as "rasa anubhavam". Likewise, through 1 and 2 above, we accelerate the naturally occurring process of evolution by understanding the subtlest direction of evolution.

Likewise, biological evolution is quite undeniable but from my experience, it is not deep enough. The first two, in my opinion, are deeper and are not in contradiction with the third option. I suggest you explore yourselves deeply to figure out the truth for yourselves. All the best :) 

PS: This is a mail I wrote to a friend after his question (title of the note). Thought it would be useful to share it here :)