கிளம்பியது வாதம் கலங்கியது சித்தம்

கிளம்பியது வாதம் கலங்கியது சித்தம்
விளங்கியது சுவாத்மாராமாவின் கூற்று
Vaata stirred, Chitta shaken
Svatmarama's song makes sense!

Ref: चले वाते चलं चित्तं निश्चले निश्चलं भवेत् - Hata Yoga Pradipika by Svatmaarama

சொல்லும் பொருளும்

சொல்லிற்கும் பொருளிற்கும் நடுவே ஒளிந்திருக்கும்
சித்த விகார கலக்கங்கள்

Self exploration via mythology

I have been reading a very interesting book. It seems to be generally regarded as a seminal work of comparative mythology. Its called 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces' by Joseph Campbell. A sample extract from this book is given below:

The story is of a caravan leader from Benares, who made bold to conduct his richly loaded expedition of five hundred carts into a waterless demon wilderness. Forewarned of dangers, he had taken the precaution to set huge chatties filled with water in the carts, so that, rationally considered, his prospect of making the passage of not more than sixty desert leagues was of the best. But when he had reached the middle of the crossing, the ogre who inhabited that wilderness thought, "I will make these men throw away the water they took." So he created a cart to delight the heart, drawn by pure white young oxen, the wheels smeared with mud, and came down the road from the opposite direction. Both before him and behind marched the demons who formed his retinue, heads wet, garments wet, decked with garlands of water lilies both blue and white, carrying in their hands clusters of lotus flowers both red and white, chewing the fibrous stalks of water lilies, streaming with drops of water and mud. And when the caravan and the demon company drew aside to let each other pass, the ogre greeted the leader in a friendly manner. "Where are you going?" he politely asked. To which the caravan leader replied: "We, sir, are coming from Benares. But you are approaching decked with water lilies both blue and white, with lotus flowers both red and white in your hands, chewing the fibrous stalks of water lilies, smeared with mud, with drops of water streaming from you. Is it raining along the road by which you came? Are the lakes completely covered with water lilies both blue and white, and lotus flowers both red and white?"

The ogre: "Do you see that dark green streak of woods? Beyond that point the entire forest is one mass of water; it rains all the time; the hollows are full of water; everywhere are lakes completely covered with lotus flowers both red and white." And then, as the carts passed one after another, he inquired: "What goods do you have in this cart—and in that? The last moves very heavily; what goods do you have in that?" "We have water in that," the leader answered. "You have acted wisely, of course, in bringing water thus far; but beyond this point you have no occasion to burden yourself. Break the chatties to pieces, throw away the water, travel at ease.11 The ogre went his way, and when out of sight, returned again to his own city of ogres. Now that foolish caravan leader, out of his own foolishness, took the advice of the ogre, broke the chatties, and caused the carts to move forward. Ahead there was not the slightest particle of water. For lack of water to drink the men grew weary. They traveled until sundown, and then unharnessed the carts, drew them up in a contracted circle, and tied the oxen to the wheels. There was neither water for the oxen nor gruel and boiled rice for the men. The weakened men lay down here and there and went to sleep. At midnight the ogres approached from the city of ogres, slew the oxen and men, every one, devoured their flesh, leaving only the bare bones, and, having so done, departed. The bones of their hands and all their other bones lay scattered about in the four directions and the four intermediate directions; five hundred carts stood as full as ever.

This is a lovely story. A story that repeats itself again and again and again and again in our lives endlessly. While we all have our journeys to make, there are countless such ogres waiting within us and trying their level best to distract us from the journey to be made. The journey is worth its name only if there are many such ogres within that threaten it. Stories such as the above have dramatic scenes and endings and it is easy to spot the ogres there. But, in real life it requires a dedicated yogic practice to identify them.

The average human being has many competing dimensions within. The comparative strengths of these dimensions are mostly chosen by genetic and social factors. Amidst all these dimensions, the yogic tradition (most other spiritual traditions too) value one particular dimension immensely. It is the dimension of us that exhibits the ability to unconditionally observe everything with perfect equanimity, that is always in the present moment, that is untouched by impurities etc.

The yogic (and all other spiritual traditions IMO) contend that a life rooted on this dimension is a wholesome healthy life. Such a life can deal with these and countless other such ogres within skilfully and appropriately. Without us consciously identifying and cultivating this dimension in life, ones life tends to fritter away. We can all see families where spouses do not talk to each for decades or relentlessly fight with each other for decades, where siblings do not talk to each other etc etc. This could happen to any one of use. Real yogis consciously chose to cultivate the aforementioned dimension and thereby preclude these things from happening in their lives by systematically and optimally dealing with all distractions. But for the rest, if such a catastrophic life has not descended upon them, then it can only be considered to be a mere stroke of luck. These things are just waiting to happen. The ogres within are waiting to strike. Traditionally (in the yoga parampara) asana / pranayama is practised to cultivate this dimension and make it the strongest within. Other traditions too aim at the same thing but have different practices (pooja / silent sitting etc). It has to be made strong by regular daily practice. Then, they become the strongest dimension within and ones life is inseparably rooted to it. Using that as the centre, all the ogres within are captured and many an interesting journey can be realised. 

This same idea is expressed again and again through various mythological stories! Unless one explores the contents of ones mind, the human condition etc, all these myths will remain in our lives as children's fables (which is how most western educated people see them these days). It is a sad reality today that even those for whom these stories are part of family tradition, do not value them and disregard them.

But, when one really gets in touch with ones psyches contents and tries to shape it, these myths come alive in spectacular multicolor!

I offer my salutations

सर्वेन्द्रियैरपि विना सर्वं सर्वत्र सर्वदा।
यो जानाति नमाम्याद्यं तमहं सर्वतोमुखम्

Sarvendriyairapi vinaa sarvam sarvatra sarvadaa
yojaanaati namaamyaadyam tamaham SARVATOMUKHAM
 
He who knows everything, all the time, and at all places, without the help of the senses, to such primal person who has faces in all directions, I offer my salutations.
 
-- SRI MANTRARAJAPADA STOTRAM

Was the Buddha a beggar?

In my class in IIT this term, the first 10-15 minutes are being used to briefly explain some of the principles of practice in yoga as I have learnt and as I practice. These discussions sometimes continue after class and with other people too. Here is one such discussion.

The main theme of one such discussion was the final phrase (भोगापवर्गार्थं दृश्यम्) from a yoga sutra

प्रकाशक्रियास्थितिशीलं भूतेन्द्रियात्मकं भोगापवर्गार्थं दृश्यम्
prakāśa-kriyā-sthiti-śīlaṁ bhūtendriya-ātmakaṁ bhoga-apavarga-arthaṁ dṛśyam ||2.18||

The three underlying functions of the observable world are 'Light', 'Stability' and 'Action'. The two emergent functions from these for human beings (and possibly other living beings) are 'bhoga' (enjoyment) and 'apavarga' (movement towards freedom).

We only looked at the final phrase and for this we started with the 'form vs function' way of understanding. Normally, a laymans (with respect to yoga practice) understanding of an asana comes from the images that they have seen of that asana - an image of a well trained person doing the same. So, they assume that such a posture is the correct way of doing asana. This is the understanding of form. Any serious yoga teacher would know 90% of practitioners cannot get that form. But, that is not a big issue as the aim of doing the posture can be achieved by suitably modifying the posture based on the needs of the practitioner. This comes from the knowledge of function.


Now, to understand this further, lets ask the question, 'who is a batsman in a game of cricket?'.

When I posed this question to people, one of most common answer is, 'One who faces the cricket ball in a game of cricket'. But, at least one other person answered, 'One who scores runs'. Clearly, the first one can be said to be a description of form and the other is said to be a description arrived at from function. Furthermore, captains would prefer batsmen who fit the latter definition.


Likewise, who is a beggar? 

Buddha's begging bowl

The most common answer is one who expects material gifts from others in return for no other tangible service. This is not a bad description as this is how most city bred people encounter beggars. But, if we were to explore this a bit more, then immediately it would be clear that the Buddha can also be called a beggar by that definition. So would be Mahavira or Adi Sankara.

Clearly, most Indians (at least those who have not been completely bought out by pseudo rationalism) would not categorise the Buddha as a beggar though the form based definition given above does so. This leads us to the question of who a beggar is based on the function that this individual is performing in the society.

To me, a beggar is someone who does not contribute to the society and who is purely intimately concerned with his / her own benefit. This is not a negative judgement because a beggar cannot do otherwise. Given the dire state of poverty / ill-health / structural violence that a beggar has to face, it is inevitable that he/she put in all of hir effort in taking care of oneself.

The moment I say this, astute city based listeners smile for most heart of hearts know that is how city bred people live. City life is structured such that every individual has to relentlessly fend for themselves - maximise personal gains and minimise contribution back to the society. The tax they pay is usually used as their contribution back to the world. To some extent this is true. But, most try to avoid this at all cost. Even if one pays all of ones taxes correctly, the share of common resources city people consume (especially the economically well off) is much more than the average distribution would offer. In my opinion, cities tend to make most people direct their lives towards a life whose function tends towards being a beggar. This is just an interesting side note to the main topic of discussion here (while it in itself is a significant topic to be covered on another occasion).

Now, coming back to the yoga sutra discussed at the top, it states that the function of world around us is enjoyment or movement towards freedom. When we eat food, we can either eat to satiate cravings and psychological black holes within or eat to nourish the system so that the beauty within can manifest itself or some ratio of the two. The former is bhoga / roga (disease) and the latter is apavarga.

The same applies to relationships - relationships with other human beings, relationships with research, relationships with career, relationship with the earth. The list is endless. Normally we all use it for our own entertainment (bhoga) in various ways (self-aggrandisement / wealth / power etc). The fully awakened ones though use it purely for freedom. The yoga sadhaks (practitioners), understand that the movement from the former state to the latter is effected by steady practice over long periods of time. In the mean time both will be found in various ratios and through sincere determined effort, one moves the balance more in favour of apavarga than bhoga.

This movement in changing the ratio of bhoga and apavarga to be more in favour of apavarga can be assisted greatly by correct asana practice. The desire to enjoy or accomplish freedom is a rajasic quality (tendency that has action potential). Normally the quality is not fine tuned (or the rajas is impure). But, by correct practice of asana, one can purify this rajasic quality and resolve it into prana (the source from which all three gunas emerge). This in my opinion is nicely captured by this sutra

प्रयत्नशैथिल्यानन्तसमापत्तिभ्याम्
prayatna-śaithilya-ananta-samāpatti-bhyām ||2.47||

Right effort eases when the tendency that makes the effort (or the tendency on which the effort acts) resolves itself into the endless source (prana) from which the tendency arose.

At that point, one is freed from the cycle of going behind enjoyment, tasting some success (and getting motivate further) / tasting some failure (and long for more). This is nicely captured by the next sutra

ततो द्वङ्द्वानभिघातः
tato dvaṅdva-an-abhighātaḥ ||2-48||

Then, the duality that the individual experiences which motivated him/her towards bhoga would have ceased to trouble that individual any more.

In my opinion, whole of creation is gradually moving in the direction of apavarga. In other words evolution increasingly produces organisms that desire more and more degrees of freedom. Therefore, individuals who attempt apavarga themselves will synch themselves with this larger flow of things and hence will find that creation with assist them in their journey. This, imo, is a better explanation than survival of the fittest for evolution. in other words, the long term direction in which evolution proceeds is not 'survival of the fittest' but 'survival of the most conscious'. IMO, the following kural (number 3) also states 'survival of the most conscious'.

மலர்மிசை ஏகினான் மாணடி சேர்ந்தார்
நிலமிசை நீடுவாழ் வார்

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