There comes a time in the life of an adult where one questions what it is that we think about the "God" business.
I used to think God was this beneficial energy that looked after me, protected me, guided me. I guess I was projecting a paternal/maternal vision into it.
Then I noticed how the yogis of old times, the sages and rishis, went about trying different things to find the bliss of liberation, the extasis that is more than you could ever imagine, the type that makes someone like Ramana Maharshi sit outdoors among snakes, be bitten, and not even notice, only these masters went about trying to find this trasncendental (for lack of a better word) experience, leaving any idea of God out of the equation.
Take for example Mr. Sinha, who in the book "The Gita as It Was", says that Patanjali never mentioned anything about Ishvara (God) in the Yoga Sutras. He says the concept was not even around at that time! and concludes it was "interpolated" (loving that new word) centuries after in order to what? Suit the temperament of the devotion-ally inclined?
Of the authors that think that Patanjali did mentioned Ishvara, one of them, Mircea Eliade (Yoga Immortality and Freedom) gives me a more reassuring way of looking at it. Reassuring that is as I step into the territory of not-knowing and letting go of my own, childish perhaps, ideas of what God was:
"God does not submit to being summoned by rituals of devotion or faith in his mercy, but his essence instinctively "collaborates" as it were, with the Self that seeks emancipation through Yoga." [my bold]
Aha! so maybe there is a energy that is protective, perhaps I don't quite have to let go of that cozy feeling after all. I want to believe there is an energetic pattern that collaborates in helping us yogis find our way towards eternal peace and discrimination, to be Ramana Maharshis, Patanjalis, Buddhas.
Swamiji (commenting on Yoga Sutra 2.45) says that God has been personified and put on a pedestal due to our lack of direct experience [my bold again]. But all it takes is for us to expand our consciousness to realize the universal self. What I used to think of as God.
So we just projected into this God idea whatever we may have out of not being able to directly experience the bliss that is already within us. Hm.
I first had this terrifying glimpse that God was just like Santa Clause while reading Goenka's 1992 very long speech (which was pointed to me by Tom, thank you). [Goenka is the man behind free meditation Vipassana retreats around the world today]
It took place at the Kayvalya institute out of all places, and I say out of all places because in the speech he refutes and criticizes yoga systems for turning Patanjali into a "clown" and making people do asanas and breathing retention that he [Patnajali] never talked about. He said this while at the institute that probably has the most research on pranayama in the globe and a world authority in residency, O.P. Tiwariji. But I digress.
He also makes fun of any God inclusion in the Yoga Sutras and emphasizes how the system of Patanjali, which in his eyes is exactly what Vipassana is, there is none of it! Just sitting, just watching. Nothing else.
He is right. Patanjali and Vipassana (which means seeing things as they are) do propose the exact same thing.
I have my theory about it, as usual, I do not think one can shockingly just go ahead and sit 10 hours expecting the mind to be quiet if one is sick. I have been to retreats and seen the people in the back unable to sit straight, propped with so many pillows, sometimes with two chairs, you can barely see them. When it comes to sited meditation, if there is not proper preparation things can get ugly.
And so I prefer Patanjali's approach as developed by lineages coming after him (Krishnamacharya Kuvalyananda and all the rest of them) which do include asana and pranayama. Although I confess that I love the quiet and focused time of Vipassana retreats, but that is because I go prepared, with a body that actually CAN sit steady and comfortably and breathe relatively well. At least some of the time.
Anyways. All of this had me thinking about the no-God business. Just practice.
Strange note to end 2011 on. Or, maybe that is what the Mayans meant? Finally realizing that Santa isn't Santa, it was ourselves all along, all we have to do is inquire within.
We must just focus and keep trying to focus (six limb) till we fall into meditation (seventh limb) and our attention flows into just one object like oil pouring from a pipe, intensely and steadily.
Then bliss. (Eight limb)
Wish you bliss for 2012
RELATED:
Shocking! The Gita Is Not What We Thought It Was!
I used to think God was this beneficial energy that looked after me, protected me, guided me. I guess I was projecting a paternal/maternal vision into it.
 |
| But I thought... |
 |
| Rishis trying their things to find bliss |
Of the authors that think that Patanjali did mentioned Ishvara, one of them, Mircea Eliade (Yoga Immortality and Freedom) gives me a more reassuring way of looking at it. Reassuring that is as I step into the territory of not-knowing and letting go of my own, childish perhaps, ideas of what God was:
"God does not submit to being summoned by rituals of devotion or faith in his mercy, but his essence instinctively "collaborates" as it were, with the Self that seeks emancipation through Yoga." [my bold]
 |
| Ramana Maharshi |
So we just projected into this God idea whatever we may have out of not being able to directly experience the bliss that is already within us. Hm.
I first had this terrifying glimpse that God was just like Santa Clause while reading Goenka's 1992 very long speech (which was pointed to me by Tom, thank you). [Goenka is the man behind free meditation Vipassana retreats around the world today]
It took place at the Kayvalya institute out of all places, and I say out of all places because in the speech he refutes and criticizes yoga systems for turning Patanjali into a "clown" and making people do asanas and breathing retention that he [Patnajali] never talked about. He said this while at the institute that probably has the most research on pranayama in the globe and a world authority in residency, O.P. Tiwariji. But I digress.
He also makes fun of any God inclusion in the Yoga Sutras and emphasizes how the system of Patanjali, which in his eyes is exactly what Vipassana is, there is none of it! Just sitting, just watching. Nothing else.
 |
| Just sit! |
I have my theory about it, as usual, I do not think one can shockingly just go ahead and sit 10 hours expecting the mind to be quiet if one is sick. I have been to retreats and seen the people in the back unable to sit straight, propped with so many pillows, sometimes with two chairs, you can barely see them. When it comes to sited meditation, if there is not proper preparation things can get ugly.
And so I prefer Patanjali's approach as developed by lineages coming after him (Krishnamacharya Kuvalyananda and all the rest of them) which do include asana and pranayama. Although I confess that I love the quiet and focused time of Vipassana retreats, but that is because I go prepared, with a body that actually CAN sit steady and comfortably and breathe relatively well. At least some of the time.
Anyways. All of this had me thinking about the no-God business. Just practice.
Strange note to end 2011 on. Or, maybe that is what the Mayans meant? Finally realizing that Santa isn't Santa, it was ourselves all along, all we have to do is inquire within.
We must just focus and keep trying to focus (six limb) till we fall into meditation (seventh limb) and our attention flows into just one object like oil pouring from a pipe, intensely and steadily.
Then bliss. (Eight limb)
Wish you bliss for 2012
RELATED:
Shocking! The Gita Is Not What We Thought It Was!
Wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Claudia!
:-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your posts about the true meaning of Ishvara. I also discovered through an inquiry of advaita vedanta that God, at least the word, has no business in a yoga practice.
ReplyDeleteThe yoga sutras are a brilliant outline of how to reach this state of samadhi. Whether you sit and do vipassana, asana, or pranayama, it doesn't really matter. You can even practice yoga while rock climbing or knitting. It's all about the mindset. The physical practice is just the vehicle for focusing the mind.
I also think Western yoga more closely represents Pantanjali's 3rd chapter. Where it was once thought that western yoga focuses mostly on asana because we need physical therapy from sitting at our desks or on a couch all day. Really the focus is to teach us collectively about non-attachment. In western thought, Asana is regarded more as a power than a preparation for the higher limbs. Practice and get the power of health, the power of a nice body, the power of being a yoga teacher. The 3rd chapter is all about samyama. Samyama can give you the power to walk on water, become invisible, etc. How would a faithful student react to a teacher when samyama faithfully executed over time yields no such results? These are there to teach the student non-attachment.
Does Pantanjali ever say meditation is just sitting? Ishvara is not God and meditation is not just sitting. What if we got the definition of dhyana wrong too?
3.2 The repeated continuation, or uninterrupted stream of that one point of focus is called absorption in meditation (dhyana), and is the seventh of the eight steps.
(tatra pratyaya ekatanata dhyanam)
Thanks anon, I think we are saying the same thing. The purpose is freedom, how we get there is by following the ones who have done it successfully...
ReplyDeleteYou do have an interesting point in the dangers of asana becoming a means to the superpower of health. Good point.
Hope you and James have a blissful 2012, Claudia. I don't know if we will ever find contentment being bitten among snakes, but baby steps, lol.
ReplyDeleteThat was a long speach/article, wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteDo you like Swami J's translation? I love the transliteration and the lack of commentary.
Something from the yoga sutras that really resonates with me is how it delineates a variety of techniques that can get us to the same place. Goenka is not so forgiving, he has his way. Not sure what i think of that - I think his method is effective though.
Happy New Year Claudia!
Ari, thank you, and me neither! no snakes!
ReplyDeleteTom, yes, long is putting it mildly, yet interesting. I do believe his method works, even though more strict. One time I heard them say that they did not allow people to do yoga cause they did not have the room, not that they were opposed to it.. maybe things will change and there will be designated spaces at some point, I hope so! = happy new year to you too!
Interesting post, I thought for sure you would end it by saying of course there's a god.
ReplyDeleteI never knew there was no god in yoga. Makes me enjoy my yoga practice even more.
I am 64. The older I get, the more I understand we are part of the universe
and not special and separate from it.
We are born from it and to it we will return.
Life comes from dying stars, not some
Santa Claus in the sky.
Thank you for a wonderful web site.
- Greg S.
Async, Greg, that comment made me feel pretty good, thanks. I also question things more and more as the years go by and Santa Claus has definitely come under the microscope ;-) I also think it is great that yoga has no concept of God but just plain and simple reality, very concrete, very real...
ReplyDelete