yogaNexus - Karl Erb » Vedanta

Happy New…

Karl — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:15:43 +0000

For many this is the time of year when we look forward and look back, wish a “Happy New Year” upon others and ourselves, and reflect upon changes, what we’d like to change in ourselves, or “resolve to improve,” all dipping into the sense of renewal, of fresh start-ness, of a cycle beginning anew. Which is interesting as a cycle has no beginning…

This time of year is rich in intentions to leave behind what no longer serves us and to grow towards what nurtures and sustains us. Sometimes looking forward with hopeful anticipation, or looking back thinking next year can only be better… All over the globe, the drive and intentions are similar though the time of year may vary, indicating there is no intrinsic “right” time for this renewal, simply that it occurs.

Happy New.

All the diverse views, intentions, and sentiments around this annual renewal share two things:

- The seemingly innate drive towards contentment, towards feeling whole.
- The perception of time passing, of time being a factor towards that wholeness.

Embedded in the greetings of the period is the conclusion that everyone wants to be happy. There is no hesitation in offering this salutation, nor any resistance in its reception, across cultures. The resolve to better one’s self is also linked to the desire to be happy, content, whole… accepting of one’s self.

Happy New.

Implied in the desire to better one’s self, to improve upon oneself, is the sense that some action, some external source, internal thought, or behavior, can improve upon my self, and my happiness. Implied in a desire to change is the belief that “I” can be changed, and that the current state is somehow not acceptable to me. Likewise implied in the seeking is the fact that finding myself to be whole and acceptable to me is a reasonable, natural end. We do not seek to be sorrowful, or incomplete, so there is something in happiness and fullness that must be intrinsic to my nature.

The new year, new resolve will bring me closer, over time, to that desirable, happy self I long to be. Associating with desired ends, and disassociating with undesirable ends, dropping past patterns, stories, and habits all reveal my relationship to time. The change will occur over the new year, in a series of tomorrows unfolding one after the other. Such efforts are certainly healthy for sustaining the psyche and body, which undergo constant change, but happiness, knowing myself to be acceptable to me, is something altogether different.

What is changing? What simply “is”?
If we are to exercise choice and will to bring change, it is important to know what changes and what does not. While the the mind, body, senses, emotions and so forth are subject to constant change, to infer that such change can improve upon the “I” that experiences the mind/body/senses is worth exploring. Through chosen actions and thoughts we can bring change to the mind and body, affecting various levels of balance and healing in our physiology, psychology and so forth. I, the subject, am effecting change on the body and heart/mind, both objects of my perception.

Being conscious of my body, my thoughts, feelings, body and thoughts become evident to me through senses and perception, thus “I” am the subject, and all that becomes evident to me are objects of perception. There is only one subject, I. What I perceive cannot be “I”, what I perceive is by definition not the subject. The eyeball does not see itself. To attribute the change undergone by the object, the body/mind, to the subject perceiving the change, “I,” is a flawed inference. If I see a house being painted, I am clear that I am not being painted, and yet with the body/mind/senses we are not so clear. Human tend to attach change of the body (object) to our very sense of self (Subject): The body ages, we say “I am old, I am aging,” the body is female, we say “I am female,” and so on.

Once I know that no external object can alter my essential nature, the challenges, wants and needs of the body/heart/mind are handled in a practical way from a more stable, consistent, steadfast center.

So as we renew commitments to practices that are healthy and sustaining, we do it not from a place of feeling less than, or inadequate, or vain but rather because we seek practices that uncover our essence, our whole, adequate self, practices that disassociate us from identifying with the the body and heart/mind and all their changes.

Now New Happy You.
So we set out in the new year to effect change, to drop certain things, leave behind certain things, and move towards certain things, to improve “ourselves.” And yet memory, habit, nostalgia, sentiment, and comfort in the familiar seem to keep the past affecting us, and the resolve seems to thin, spread out across so many tomorrows. In fact tomorrow never comes, the choice for change can only be today, now, moment to moment. There is only now, perpetually new.

I used language like “leave behind,” “move towards,” intentionally to show that in our perception time is a factor in this newness, and in this happiness, or “becoming” the acceptable self. Change, desire for change, happens in memory of past, or in imagination of future. Yet neither the past nor future exist in any real sense, and are rather constructs in our awareness. An event, person or object of the past is not currently affecting me, rather the thought of the event, person or object affects me, and can color my emotions in the present. The same can be said about events, people and objects of the future. These attractions and aversions in memory and imagination are what fills our heart/mind, our thought-life. Now is seldom in our attention.

Tomorrow never comes, there is only today, new each time. Within today, there is only each moment, now, and in that moment choices are made, not tomorrow. This perpetually new now is here all year round, every day, always new. And if I say I am present in this moment, how long is the moment? Each second can be broken down to a millisecond and so on… So even “now” happens as moments in time, until reduced to simply motion in our thought/perception of time, thus in our awareness. Time becomes evident to me… Century consciousness, year consciousness, minute consciousness… all segments of time are objects of perception, occur in consciousness, in fact are consciousness. “Century” consciousness does not take a century, nor does “second” take a second. “Century” consciousness IS, second consciousness IS and so on…

And if we think of “Now” consciousness, where is the object?
Now is simply consciousness. Consciousness is always now.

So if we reduce “now” to its smallest part, past the milliseconds, we end up simply in awareness, that which makes me, the subject, aware of “now” as an object of my perception. And further still, truly awareness itself is the only and ultimate subject, the only “I,” not the mind aware of time, not the “aware-er,” not the one who is aware. And Awareness is always now, neither young nor old… a “new” with no opposite, no polarity. Now is consciousness.

Happy New.

The non-wanting now self.
Wants and needs, desires and distastes, attractions and aversions all happen in memory or imagination, not in “now.” Free of memory and imagination, all wants, likes and dislikes fall away, our non-wanting self is revealed in “now:” Free of want, free of lack, intrinsically whole, full, not subject to improvement nor to demise. There is no change, no becoming. Always new, in fact outside of new and old, intrinsically happy. Or rather, since “happy” is an adverb qualifying the one who is happy, more accurate to say “intrinsic happiness” that which lights up the one experiencing happiness. Now awareness is happiness itself.

So really all we are dropping is the false inference that anything sticks to “I.”
No amount of changing behaviors, people, situations will bring wholeness to “I.”
There is no “moving towards” where I am.
Happy. New.

The sun needs no light to illuminate its presence, to verify its presence. It is self-illuminating.
All attractions and aversions, likes and dislikes, become evident to me, are objects of my perception or inference.

That “I am” is the only thing self-evident to “I,” the subject who is awareness itself.
Mind, thoughts, emotions, pain, all bodily, sensory, psychological, physiological experience become evident to “I,” and thus cannot be I.
We mistake the field of the known, for the knower; we confuse objects of perception for the subject who perceives, in whose presence all becomes evident, who is self-evident.

Awareness, Beingness itself is free of want.
Now occurs within “I”.
Consciousness is only Now.
Now is Consciousness.
Now is happiness.
I am happiness, the intrinsic non-wanting-ness.

And since there is only now in awareness, awareness is outside of time, not continuous, but timeless, no beginning, no end, like a cycle, always new.

So, Happy New to you.
Happy New is you.
“I am happiness.”
New. Now.

Again and again.
Now.
That’s all there is.

Sat – existence, never negated.
Cit – awareness, basis of all that is known.
Ananda – fullness, outside of time, without limit.

Your thoughts?

* Much of the inspiration here comes from meditation, climbing trees, bird watching, from study of the Bhagavad Gita and the knowledge that colors my experiences from that study. I am grateful to Swami Dayananda Saraswati and others at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam for being the inspiration and illumination behind my understanding. Much of the language is inspired by their talks, writings, meditations, my notes from studying, my experiences in guided meditations and so on.

Yoga & Healing: An ongoing discussion

Karl — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:17:21 +0000

Karl Erb at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, 11/11

We held an event Sunday Dec 4th to reconnect, celebrate life and gather as a community of like minds seeking to learn about ourselves and this life through yoga. See below for comments and discussion, feel free to share your thoughts. If you went please comment here on your experience and insights, if not, feel free to contribute to the discussion.

As this body went through cancer this past year and a half I have had many rich exchanges with fellow yoga teachers, yoga students, wellness practitioners, and several times we have thought it would be nice to have those discussions in a larger group, rather than a random encounter on the street as I took walks when between treatments, or on the phone, or the amazing emails I received.

I became very aware of community as an entity in itself, and how when one of us is tugged, all feel the tug. So getting together to meditate, chat and sing with each other just seems right.

I resumed teaching this past week, and re-entry into life and community is a fresh fullness. In the yoga classes I cannot really answer questions people have about the experience, the nature of the illness and treatments, how yoga, nutrition and meditation are part of integrated healing, and how yoga influenced me through the experience. I find I really only can speak of the whole thing in response to questions, and words find ideas that surface in response to specific comments, insights or questions. Likewise, it’d be great for folks to hear each other’s insights.

My time at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam studying Vedanta and practicing meditation for 4 weeks after treatments has also deeply colored my healing and rebuilding and thoughts on resuming daily life. So getting together is a time to explore those questions, as well as hear from others who have shared their experiences with me along this wild road. Many times I hear someone share their experience with healing, cancer, pregnancy and how yoga is a part of their process, and I wish you could all hear each other . And a partial motivation is also a personal thank you to all whose kindness helped get me through this. The learnings of the experience are an offering.

So that is the intention for the gathering, a discussion, Q&A, a group dialog, less than a formed presentation on Yoga and living with cancer, or healing through cancer.

The Bhagavad Gita, an introduction. Dec. 18 and Jan. 8

Karl — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:40:31 +0000

Introduction to the Bhagavad Gita:
A two part course
Sunday Dec 8th, Sunday January 8th
The Yoga Loft, San Francisco
Register Here
or call 415.626.5638

Why study the Bhagavad Gita?
We move through life with varying degrees of self-acceptance, happiness, sorrow and so on. In essence, discontent arises from finding our self, our current state, lacking or unacceptable in some way. The Bhagavad Gita (hereafter referred to as the Gita) addresses this question of how to find my self acceptable to myself, and provides a reasonable, rational solution for the root of all human sorrow and imbalance. The Gita addresses the truth of our essential nature, and practices for daily life to unlearn our erroneous conclusions about our nature.

As a student of yoga, the Gita must be studied to understand both the goal of yogic practices and the method of pursuing those practices. I recommend studying the Gita, learning a method of study, before pursuing study of the Yoga Sutras. As we study the Gita I will bring in relevant verses from the Sutras to show how key teachings are reinforced in various texts, and why knowing the teachings of the Gita is important before going into the Yoga Sutras. The Gita is both about what we seek and how to seek it, requiring cognitive, rational and deductive inquiry and self reflection, as well as daily tools for practice in both thought and behavior.

The Bhagavad Gita is one of several key source texts on yoga, See David Frawley’s article The Original Teachings of Yoga, for more context relative to the Yoga Sutras and other yogic texts. The Gita comes after the Upanisads and contains a distilling of essential teachings from the various Upanisads, thus studying the Gita is studying the topics of the Upanisads and certain sections of the Vedas.

The Gita gets to the heart of the human condition, exploring suffering, our wants, our needs, our moral codes and our drive for happiness, freedom and self-understanding; we will explore what each of these terms mean, and their sanskrit equivalents. Freedom, or moksha, in particular describes a breadth of concepts, freeing the human heart/mind from suffering, fear, isolation and so on. The Gita is an objective exploration of Creation and our place in it, how to move within its order, not constantly butting up against friction with life around us. The Gita is an understanding of that order, not a matter of belief, but a matter of understanding through inquiry.

The Bhagavad Gita is in essence about:
- Brahma Vidya: Knowledge of the nature of Wholeness, Beingness and my self, or Brahma vidya, knowledge of Brahman, Creator/Creation/myself
- Karma Yoga: Assimilating practices and attitudes to understand and internalize that knowledge, Brahma Vidya. These practices and attitudes are called karma yoga, actions and behaviors reinforcing understanding of the order of Nature, and the nature of Brahman. Karma yoga includes the practice of Bhakti, or devotion, as well as other key pillars of practice.

The Bhagavad Gita as a Practice
While a large part of study must be in discussion of the key concepts, another necessary step towards assimilation, towards moksha, is integration of the teachings through observance and refinement of one’s own thoughts and behaviors.

This course is not an academic study, nor a study of history, but an integrated practice in the lineage of the method used in traditional ashrams, in the lineage of Sankara’s missions.

While talking with a teacher and peers is essential for understanding and realization, that alone is not enough; tools for daily thoughts, actions, and behaviors are also essential. Hence taking on the study of the Gita is seen as taking on an exploration and commitment to practice, something relevant to my daily life.

In the upcoming two part course I am offering at the Yoga Loft in San Francisco on Sunday December 18th and Sunday January 8th, we will use Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s, of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, materials and methods of study. I have been studying with him since 1997, and have found him to be the most thorough, insightful and accessible teacher on yogic texts and the body of knowledge called Vedanta, or the gestalt of the Vedas, the key teachings and key texts.

In this course you will learn both key teachings and verses from the Gita as well as a method of study to serve you for years to come, including meditation practices. Each session will include a meditation, and you will be given audio to use in your own practice going forward. We will use two of Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s books, as well as a translation of the whole text of your choice.

Required Reading:
NOTE: We will have copies of the Yoga Loft on the first day if you are unable to order ahead of time
*Amazon.com may be out of stock
Order from Arsha Vidya Gurukulam:
Call: 570-992-2339 ext. 1567
Or, you can order online,
http://books.arshavidya.org/ : search for “Value of Values” and “Eight Significant Verses”

- The Value of Values, by Swami Dayananda Saraswati
Specifically about the 13th chapter of the Gita and why the values and behaviors are necessary for understanding. This book gives us tools for daily behavior, making study relevant to daily life.
** Please purchase ahead of time from Amazon.com or ArshaVidya.org Try to start reading before the Dec 18th session.

- Eight Significant Verses of the Bhagavad Gita, by Swami Dayananda Saraswati
Key verses and commentary on eight verses that embody the heart of the teachings.
** Please purchase ahead of time from ArshaVidya.org. Try to start reading before the Dec 18th session.

You can order online, or call: 570-992-2339 ext. 1567
http://books.arshavidya.org/

- A copy of the full text of the Bhagavad Gita of your choice.

Recommended Reading:
- The Teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, by Swami Dayananda Saraswati
available at Amazon.com or ArshaVidya.org
–> Buy Books HERE from Amazon.com
You can order online, or call: 570-992-2339 ext. 1567
http://books.arshavidya.org/

Why Meditate? Part 2 … thoughts on intention and effects.

Karl — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:10:39 +0000

New FREE Meditation practice
Sundays, 8:20 am – 8:50am, Yoga Tree Valencia
San Francisco

Yoga is first and foremost a practice, a means, of purifying the heart/mind. The yoga sastra, or source texts, the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita, tell us this. Asana, or the posture practice is but a small part of the many practices to focus the mind. So when I say Yoga, I am not referring to the practice of postures, which is more accurately called asana. Then follows the question, purification of mind towards what end? With the mind purified, the Yoga Sutras tell us “The self abides in its own true nature.” (I:3) Ok, so what is that intrinsic nature, that essence? How is it different from what I see, from who I take myself to be? Why is understanding that essential nature a desirable end? Yoga sastra go on to answer these questions. Meditation prepares the heart/mind for that dialogue.

Yoga is first and foremost a practice, a means, of purifying the heart/mind.

The ultimate end is to inquire into, and understand, the essence of our very being, and thus the essence of Nature or Creation itself. The yoga sastra conclude that all human suffering stems from an initial erroneous conclusion about the essence of our being; namely that we are limited in space and time, are born and will die; that we are defined by the limitations of our form, the mind, body and senses, that ego equals ‘I am.’ Thus much of life is spent seeking to acquire what we conclude we do not have, and to retain what we conclude we have. Our thought-life and actions are consumed, defined and limited by these conclusions and pursuits, these likes and dislikes. Noting that suffering is undesirable to humans, the yoga sastra and Upanisads offer a solution to negate suffering: knowing who you are. The sastra reveal that our perceptions and conclusions regarding identity are not accurate; and then offer practices to understand our essential nature, thus resolving all causes of internal conflict, suffering, fear, isolation, unease, insecurity and so on. That is the end, the top of the ladder. Pretty radical proposition, no? So how can this help me today? What does this have to do with meditation?

Meditating upon the meditator
We need to explore the first steps of the ladder; we cannot start at the top, thereby skipping the first rungs. Start far, we will go nowhere; start near we will go far. Knowledge of oneself does not take time, nor occur in time, the preparation does. Moksha, or liberation from confusion, suffering and misunderstanding of one’s nature, is a cognitive process and has a means, and preparation.

These first rungs of the ladder towards understanding our true nature are:

sravana, study of the teachings, the texts, with teachers,
manana, assimilation of teachings through action, and
nididhyasana, a form of meditation on the self where a cognitive shift occurs through practice of self observation and contemplation upon the teachings.

Nididhyasana is a practice of training the mind to perceive itself and its patterns, thereby revealing an intrinsic, constant sense of self, our indispensable nature, our essence, beyond fluctuations of circumstance, body or mood, beyond likes and dislikes, ups and downs, fears and joys. For this reason, the Yoga Sutras assert that meditation, dhyana, is one of the eight pillars of practice defining yoga, the astanga of yoga. In addition, meditation not only clears the mind, the practice affects our physiology, stress responses, and overall physical health as well, even to a genetic level, recent studies show. Those are the side effects.

A pure heart/mind, antah karana suddhi, is necessary to understand and assimilate the teachings of the sastra into daily life. The knowledge of essential nature, or jnana, resolves the misunderstanding, uncovering the heart; and bhakti, devotion, unclutters the heart, freeing the mind for understanding. The two are not separate and never far from each other. Through meditation, accurate perception is cultivated, old patterns drop, our essence is uncovered; practices such as vairagya, or ‘dispassion’ are demystified, understood and assimilated. Nididhyasana is that cognitive assimilation, which disproves our false conclusions about our nature, dropping old stories that no longer serve us. It is similar in practice, yet not synonymous, with what western psychology calls ‘auto-suggestion.’

Assimilating Knowledge of one’s self
If we are simply told, “Fear not, there is nothing lost in death, no cause for grieving, you were never born and will never die,” our responses range from disbelief, doubt, spiritual romanticism, and the latent desire to want to believe this to be true, but concluding it cannot be so. “Sounds nice, but c’mon… ” And yet Arjuna is told exactly that at the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita. Krsna asserts that Arjuna’s essence is Wholeness itself, satcitananda: persistent existence, conscious, aware and limitless. Simply saying so does not bring understanding. The whole dialog between Arjuna and Krsna is the challenging and unfolding of this conclusion. The conclusion has little to do with belief, more to do with understanding. The conclusion cannot be stated, it has to be unfolded through dialog, and assimilated. That you are liberated is to be known; the belief in, or mis-identification with, being limited refuted. Thus abiding in your true nature simply is – in the rich, complete, adequate glory of ‘I am.’ In addition to inquiry and dialog, a clear heart/mind is necessary for assimilating the understanding. Meditation is part of that preparation. In silence is knowledge, in silence is love.

Your thoughts? Comments? questions? Is this relevant and accessible?
Any feedback on the Sunday morning meditation if you have attended?

We will explore this practice of nididhyasana, as well as japa, or mantra meditation, imbued
week to week with the key teachings from the yoga sastra in the new Sunday morning
meditation practice at 8:30am in the Valencia studio, then bring the experience into the 9:00
am asana class.

SEE a collection of videos in an ABC News story on new research on certain effects of meditation
Notice how the article and video address chemical and behavioral effects, but not so much cognitive effects. The sense of self still remains in mind/body/senses and the ego throughout the interpretation of these studies.

Healing & Rebuilding, round two

Karl — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:48:14 +0000

I am currently at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Pennsylvania, studying Vedanta, meditation, walking, rebuilding. I began study of Vedanta with Swami Dayananda Saraswati here in 1996, coming every year for over for over ten years, so it has had a big influence on me and the place is a familiar, comfortable refuge full of rich intense study. I am doing relatively well and the prognosis is good for survival. I am slowly getting stronger, though still often tired and weak. Life is rich and beautiful, and here for me to return to, though different in so many ways.

I return to SF on October 8th, and hope to resume teaching in mid October, early November. I will also do an evening of Meditation, Song, Discussion and Questions on ‘Yoga, Cancer, Healing & Community’ when I return to hear any questions about the experience and share what I can put in words about these recent months and what has surfaced. I have been deeply touched by the yoga community during this experience, and feel that as a community we all have an effect on each other, and we have a lot to learn from each other. Being here at the Gurukulam is revealing much perspective on the illness and healing process and life itself, and I look forward to discussing that with the network of students and teachers alike in SF. You can see video and hear audio of some of the teachers from the Gurukulam on the Arsha Vidya Satsang site. Truly one of the best sources and rich traditions of learning on Vedanta, the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and such. We have been studying the Narada Bhakti Sutras, on the nature of love, divine love and love of the divine, and the Brahadaranyaka Upanisad, the Jyotir Brahmana section, a beautiful passage on light as metaphor for Being and Consciousness, and the qualities of this divine light.

As you may know, the cancer came back in March 2011 and I had to go to Indianapolis for two rounds of hi-dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant. I was originally diagnosed in May 2010, and went through treatments in SF last year. Indiana is where the experts are for the bone marrow transplant treatment, so I went for two rounds, with 10 days in SF in between. It was a grueling process, taking this body to the edge of life, killing bone marrow and other vital systems. The treatments ended in June and rebuilding this time has been a slow, arduous challenging process. I cannot thank friends, family and community enough for helping in so many ways through this challenging time.

Beyond Tribal: On Empathy, Wholeness, Yoga & Vedanta [books, J. Rifkin, video]

Karl — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:03:39 +0000

“Somewhere beyond right and wrong there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
~ Rumi

There are no others.
~ Ramana Maharshi

For some years now I have been pondering ‘identity’ as I study and seek to practice Yoga and Vedanta. Identity meaning sense of self – in community, in society, in relation to spirit and divinity, in relation to our apparent tribal nature.

Yoga and Vedanta teach the nature of Wholeness, brahma vidya, knowledge of Brahman, and the practice of karma yoga. Brahman, or the limitless sustainer, and karma yoga (see blog post on Karma Yoga), or action as offering and graceful acceptance of results or our actions are unfolded through dialog, question and answer, and practice. Brahman is that which sustains all and is self-sustaining, that which is our source from whence we come and to which we return; that understanding which helps reveal the nature of Wholeness, of shared source. Seeing and practicing this essential teaching of Yoga and Vedanta can help us cultivate a view beyond I, me, mine, beyond ‘us’ and ‘them’, beyond tribal, beyond modern yoga brands created for business and narcissistic indulgence.

Yoga is for all tribes. Whether you practice Bikram, Iyengar, Anusara, Cowabunga Yoga, Yada Yada yoga, My Special Sauce Yoga… can we not see the shared source, the unifying teachings? Cliques build walls and instill perception of ‘others’, rather than diluting perception of ‘other.’

Recent studies in neuroscience, psychology and behavior point to empathy and compassion being strong biological drivers; the ability to feel what another is feeling, to see ourselves in the reactions of others is a biological experience says Jeremy Rifkin in his new book “Empathetic Civilizations” (video animation and lecture with J. Rifkin and book links below).

I have been a deep student of world mythologies all my life, as a child, in high school, in college and since. I have taught greek mythology and literature to high school, studied Welsh and Celtic mythologies, as well as native and middle eastern texts. So when I came to deep study of Vedanta (knowledge of the Vedas in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita) in 1996 with Swami Dayananda Saraswati, I was steeped in language of archetypes, cosmologies, and mythos, both classical and indigenous. I was a big fan of Jung, Joseph Campbell, William Blake, Jacob Needleman, Parabola Magazine, Emerson, Thoreau, Robert Graves, Norman O. Brown (my teacher at UCSC), Evangeline Walton, Robert Bly, Ovid, Starhawk, Mary Renault, native ceremony and politics and more. Meaning to say I was steeped in our human tribal stories.

The message in Vedanta, the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, is ‘you are the whole, and this is to be understood, not believed.’ Meaning we are manifestations of, made of, our source – whatever language in which one describes our source. The Maker and the material are the same. Wholeness is Wholeness, there is no American Wholeness and European Wholeness. We don’t speak of ‘American gravity’ or ‘Spanish thermodynamics.’ Infinity is infinity. Language can help us as we seek to understand what we cannot experience, but language does not change the nature of the force being studied. Vedanta shows us an understanding beyond me and you, beyond us and them, beyond tribal. Just as with gravity, thermodynamics and other truths, the truths in Vedanta are not culturally specific or time dependent. We explore which verses bring this understanding to the surface in our Gita study groups .

A common misunderstanding is that such a conclusion must mean that at the same time Vedanta, or statements emphasizing shared values, diminish diversity or individualism. Rather there is a recognition of a partial truth, a dependent truth in our tribalism, or in our individualism. The part is dependent or more accurately defined by the Whole, or Source. A pot is both a form or shape and clay. If I say “Here take the pot, I will keep the clay” what do you have? The truth of the pot is dependent on the deeper truth of the clay. The pot is mithya in sanskrit, or a ‘dependent reality.’ The clay is akin to sarvam or ‘truth’ in this metaphor. Meaning I can see me and you, and I can see ‘Us’ without creating a ‘Them.’ Most times when we create ‘us’ we create ‘them.’ A community creates outsiders, those who don’t belong. The story of religious and then national wars through the ages, true? There was no ‘white’ race until there was a desire to distinguish from a ‘red’ or ‘black’ race; before that there was a multitude of nationalities, English, Saxon, German, Celt, French and so on…There was no ‘black’ race until the meeting of a ‘white’ race, and so on. Identity can be made up of multiple inclusive tribes and identity shifts or is redefined when encountering one perceived as ‘other’.

If, when we see others, we see ourselves, what happens? If ‘I’, the pot, see clay rather than another pot when I see others, what happens?

10 Minute Animation of Jeremy Rikfin’s lecture

In fact, as Jeremy Rifkin goes into quite some depth in his new book “Empathetic Civilizations”, we are biologically wired to see our feelings in feelings of others, to empathize with their response. When we do not respond empathetically, meaning from competition or aggression, it is because sense of self is threatened in some form and thus sees ‘other.’ Books like “How Yoga Works” (HYW) (see blog entry on HYW) show how empathy is intrinsic and central to yogic teachings, and that personal practice means by definition consciously cultivating compassion, accomodation, acceptance and selflessness in relation to likes and dislikes. Rifkin claim it is recent research that shows humans are biologically wired for empathy, and does an amazing sweeping view of psycho-analytic, behavioral and socio-biological research over the last 75 years or more to refute claims of innate aggression, competition and sexualization of everything.

I see Jeremy Rifkin’s book, the recent neurological and behavioral research, and the rising popularity of communities of yoga as signs that he has his pulse on current trends in human development. Rifkin’s conclusions raise the importance of making conscious and willful the movements towards shared values, caring for each other, sustainable interdependence (urban gardens, local economies), and collaboration in business rather than competition and domination.

Tribalism has served humanity for millenia. I believe in our times of global crisis and global communication that is no longer the case; and in fact, our tribal nature leads to as much conflict and separatism as it does inclusion and community. This is not to say we need or will lose our local, cultural and spiritual affinities and identities – rather that if you belong to another we don’t have to start a war, or I don’t have to take what you have. Think ‘Beyond Tribal,’ what do you see?

Somewhere beyond ‘us’ and ‘them’ there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

Empathy ~ Interdependence ~ Collaboration. It’s time.

Jeremy Rifkin on KQED’s Forum

Jeremy Rifkin speaking at Google. Good context on social technologies. 50 minutes or so.

Beyond Belief: Yoga & Vedanta are for Understanding

Karl — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:23:00 +0000

It really struck me one year at Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s place when he said “Vedanta is not a matter of blind faith or unverifiable belief, but a matter of understanding.” It hit me then why his teachings sat so well with me. The primary message is listen, inquire, question, discuss and if you disagree speak up and explore or decide it is not for you. Never a matter of ‘take my word for it’ or ‘I believe this is the way it is.’ Devotion or Bhakti too comes from understanding, or Jnana, there is no separation.

[The image is of Shankara, a teacher who developed the lineage and method and approach to Vedanta that has inspired many and been carried through the ages in ashrams and people like Swami Dayananda Saraswati. I will include more of Shankara's teachings over time.]

So much of how we create ‘other,’ or a sense of ‘other’ is through our preferences, likes, dislikes and beliefs. We see separation, separateness when we perceive a belief that is different than our own, often without really verifying nor seeking to understand the difference. Underlying most differences are shared values, perhaps articulated differently. The human mind has a tendency to cling to a story, often in spite of evidence or logical arguments to the contrary.

Daniel Kahneman has been working on applying psychology to behavior and economic decisions, behavioral economics. Through various studies they came to what they call the “Illusion of Validity”.

It’s a problem that afflicts us all, says Kahneman, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics for his work on this subject. From stockbrokers to baseball scouts, people have a huge amount of confidence in their own judgment, even in the face of evidence that their judgment is wrong.

But that mistake is just one of many cognitive errors identified by Kahneman and his frequent collaborator, psychologist Amos Tversky. For more than a decade, the two worked together cataloging the ways the human mind systematically misjudges the world around it.

[In the studies] Kahneman was surprised by the pure visceral power of his own certainty. He eventually coined a phrase for it: “illusion of validity.” ~ Using Psychology to Save Yourself (NPR Story).

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali start with the same premise:
Sutra I.2 “Yogah citta vritti nirodha”

In How Yoga Works there is a beautiful twist on the Yoga Sutra I.2:

Yogah citta vrtti nirodha –
Common translation:
Yoga is the stilling, or quieting, of movements, or fluctuations, of the mind.

How Yoga Works:
Yoga is learning to stop
How the mind
Turns things around.”
~ Yoga Sutra I.2, How Yoga Works, page 109
See blog book review on How Yoga Works

So we do with each other, our own perceptions about ourselves and our perception of the very world and creation of which we are a part. So we do with notions of God and sin and those who believe differently, thereby perpetuating erroneous sense of other through belief – not observation and deduction. So we do with perceptions of Earth, Nature and ideas of whether She is alive or not, and we can and cannot control or manipulate.

Vedanta is taught in a method to clear the fog of belief and unfold understanding through questioning, inquiry, dialog and daily retraining of the mind. Many modern methods, like Marshal Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication books or “Compassionate Communication” are based on similar principles and reveal daily practices to catch mechanical illusory thinking and shift towards conscious perception, subject to proof and disproof.

Knowledge, or Jnana, and truth or Satya is that which is no longer subject to correction nor can it be disproved. Since the core problem is perception, is cognitive, solving through action or doing will not work. Correction must come through cognitive solutions, or knowing.

Beyond Belief: A Matter of Knowing
In teaching Swami Dayananda Saraswati asks: “If I ask you if I have a grandfather, you say yes. Is it a matter of belief?” We accept as a material fact that for a human to exist there had to be a grandfather, it is not a matter of belief, of faith. If I show you a watch, is it a matter of belief that there is or was a watchmaker? We accept there has to be a maker.

So it is with the world and universe, whether we attribute the making to the Big Bang or Divinity, we must recognize a source. Vedanta then goes through many well developed explorations in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita revealing how that maker must in essence be Awareness, or Consciousness, called Brahman, to imply its limitless aspect, beyond name and form or time and space. To go further we would have to anchor our conversation in the verses, the teachings, the method, the practices and the etymology and meaning of words like Brahman and Isvara and Purnam, or fullness, or the Whole. And so we come to understanding, beyond belief. We must shed much of what we unknowingly cling to, we must question, not believe.

If we seek to understand, we would never feel threatened by the beliefs of another, nor would we seek to convince someone of an unverifiable belief. The need to convert or kill heathens dissolves, replaced by empathy and interdependence. Other disappears when we understand Wholeness. The NPR story mentioned above takes the Illusion of Validity into policy and programs, daily life.

I do 6 week courses on the Gita to explore these principles and teachings and bring them down to earth inout our daily choices, relationships, actions. Yoga is Whole Person Wellness Coaching, we will explore this further. We can do online discussions in the forum here, or telephone or webinar based teachings. Let me know if you have an interest, or disagree, do feel free to comment.