Statue of Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras

On Equanimity, Dispassion and Empathy:
Everyday we experience ups and downs, things that bring a smile to our face or a knot to our hearts. For some the trials and suffering others, homeless in the streets, a child crying, an argument between lovers and so on will elicit an emotional response. Even those apparently numb who can look straight ahead when walking by a sick or homeless person, even they will likely experience some form of anger or ill will when desires are thwarted, or may reserve their empathy for those they choose to be close to, even though blocking out others. What is your experience? How do you integrate these teachings of yoga in daily life? Have you encountered puzzling or incongruent teachings that are hard to wrestle with?

So many of us will find ways in our day to soothe our hearts, in community, in entertainment, in substances, in sense pleasures, either seeking more empathy for our new sorrow, or seeking an up, an elated moment “to get my mind off of what I felt.”

Recently I was teaching the Yoga Sutras for a Yoga Teacher Training Program, and a participant spoke with passion how this point of view seems to be an excuse to turn a blind eye to the suffering in the world, to not care for human life; and how this teaching was puzzling, creating what I would call a healthy caution, a watchful curiosity about the teachings, a distance. This person values compassion, and saw, possibly in the teachings a rationale for staying in one’s own selfish place, ignoring the sufferings of others. How then to integrate the teachings personally, not see them at a distance, a way to judge others?

This is potent stuff. And I’m sure many yoga students who have heard this have asked themselves the same thing, had a similar response. How can I be “dispassionate” or “detached” while cultivating empathy and compassion? Seems to make no sense, nonsense! So what is one to do?

There are two key teachings that surface here:

1. That what we call “I”, the self, is not that which is born and dies, hence nothing lost, nothing to grieve in death of the body. That while indeed this body is born and will die, “I” am the awareness, the conscious perception experiencing the body through the senses and the mind. The fact that I can witness my own thoughts makes me the subject, and the thoughts the object; and the object of awareness is always separate from the one aware. “Idam sarira kaunteya ksetram ityabidhyate…” Baghavad Gita 13:1 a verse that opens up discussion on the nature of the perceiver and the perceived, the subject and the object of perception; “This body, this assembly, is the field known, the knower is the one who knows the field.” Thus When Krsna teaches there is no reason for grief, it is a misunderstanding to say this condones killing, rather it is a call to understand that which is never born and never dies, the nature of Being, of “I”. This understanding is not matter of belief or faith. This takes exploration with an accomplished teacher, and cannot be unfolded adequately here.
2. “… Samatvam yoga ucyate.” – This evenness of heart/mind is yoga.
   ~ Bhagavad Gita II-48
   On the teachings of Karma Yoga and Bhakti (Understanding the nature of actions and results is Karma Yoga, and Bhakti is a devotional attitude towards actions and results.
   This verse opens up discussion about our responses to our own likes and dislikes, ragas and dvesas, attractions and aversions, in relation to results of our actions, and the desires themselves at the heart of every action. The verses do not say that we should not have desires, which is non-sense, but rather if results of action do not go according my desires, why should I feel less than? Why extreme elation when I get what I want and sorrow when I do not? How can sense pleasures attained, or objects aquired, or perceived success and failure, improve or diminish the nature of Being, the very nature of changeless conscious wholeness?

Those of us who pursue yoga as a personal practice hear of non-attachment, or dispassion, vairagya, or equanimity in the teachings of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and the Bhagavad Gita, and may wonder how to reconcile this with compassion and empathy.

I propose there is a flaw in the language used, and the methods of teaching that lead to the above conclusion. The teachings in the Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita are full of references to values of compassion, kindness, empathy and non-violence and we know the texts will brook no internal contradiction, so we have to explore the meaning of “samatva” “sameness of heart/mind” of “vairagya” often translated as “dispassion” which is a problem, like a game of telephone, misunderstandings get passed on from book to book over time.

So the teaching is not to lack passion for non-egoic, sattvica, values. Nor is the teaching about being cold emotionally, rather it is about knowing my Essential Nature, my Ground of Being to be unswayable, unassailable whatever the external circumstance, experience of others, discomforts of the body, heart or mind.

I witness success and failure, likes and dislikes, attractions and aversions, ragas and dvesas, my own sadness and happiness; knowing Being, the witnessing awareness, is no less than in sadness than in “happiness.” Then in fact Inner Joy for no reason is present much more often, without seeking the next “up.” Then in the face of things beyond my control, I am no less than. We should not confuse extreme emotional reaction with caring, nor confuse equanimity, peace of mind, with non-caring.

The teachings are first about my own emotional state, my understanding of self, my sense of security and adequacy, and developing a discerning understanding that my wholeness and contentment is not truly subject to what are perceived as external forces: someone else’s sorrow, catastrophe, bad weather, success and failure, and so on through the many dualities and polarities we perceive in this world. Knowing myself to be a whole conscious Being (satcitananda atma) what can diminish wholeness? Whatever happens to the body, Being is never diminished. It is only my misunderstanding of my own nature that would allow “external” occurrences to yank me like a yo-yo through elation and depression, up then down then seeking an up again. Usually seeking the “up” from an external source, other person or sense pleasure or bodily comfort. See my piece on “Happiness, Now and Thou” for more on this seeking.

Pain is fact of life, my own and others, it is my thought about the pain that causes suffering. The decline of the body is a fact, helplessness and despair come from non-acceptance of what is. Discomfort is merely sensation met with mental resistance. This is no ordinary thing, and takes rigorous mental training and understanding of the nature of “I” to assimilate.

If I understand the nature of Being, how can sense discomfort diminish my knowledge of wholeness, and pervasive Inner Joy, joy for no reason? From that place I act with compassion when I can, and acceptance when I cannot, not judging others actions or deciding what they may or may not be feeling. People will do many bizarre things for many motivations, why should I guess what motivates them, or talk about my perception of their selfishness? Yoga teaches us to work on our own behaviors and attitude. Through acceptance of the results of actions regardless of like or dislike the heart/mind is purified; this is karma yoga. Then that mind may be better able to process and understand the nature of consciousness, the nature of “I.” The the world around us, our perceptions of others behaviors changes as well. This is yoga.

Special thanks to Swami Dayanda Saraswati, Swami Tattvavidananda Saraswati and Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati for the teachings that illumine my understanding. Any errors or limitations are my own, and are evolving.

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"Emerson and the Dream of America: Finding our Way in a New and Exceptional Age" by Richard Geldard

Emerson on Consciousness:
“We are in it. It is not in us.”

Truth is not subjective. Modern science seeks to observe and understand our world and it’s truths, investigating our perceptions, inferences and assumptions about the world. Truth is not culturally specific, nor time dependent; laws of nature are not cultural, nor subjective. We don’t talk about French gravity, Venezuelan gravity, American gravity and so on. And whether or not I understand gravity, or choose to not believe in gravity, I am still subject to it’s laws; as we are all subject to laws in Nature, laws not of our creation, laws beyond our control. Ecological order, biological order, psychological order, order in chemistry and physics and so on are all pervasive truth, no matter the label, our model or degree of understanding; in essence the nature of creation.

Truth is perennial, cuts across time and culture, and the thinkers and systems of knowledge that reveal truth are perennial. Vedanta is such a system; Emerson is such a thinker; and as a practitioner of yoga and Vedanta I see Emerson’s language and conclusions as a rich means to understand the relevance of Vedanta across time and culture, and want to share that with you.

In “Emerson & the Dream of America: Finding our Way to a New and Exceptional Age” (2010) Richard Geldard is responding to recent trends in American values made manifest in electing President Obama in 2008. Geldard’s book is a compelling, hopeful and urgent call to bring Emerson’s thread of uniquely American, and perennial, thinking into contemporary American values, social fabric, personal growth and politics.

I recently interviewed Dr. Richard Geldard, on 4/30/2012, the interview is 24 minutes, on Youtube, see below.

Emerson and Vedanta share a foundational approach in seeking to understand and observe the world as it is and ourselves in it, beyond unverifiable subjective views, beyond unverifiable belief. And they each include the nature of my Self, of “I” in the study of world, or universe, and its perennial, universal laws. Both use methods of negation to understand that which is not accessible to sense perception; meaning we can prove what pervasive Beingness and Truth are not in order to grasp the essence. Many systems of philosophy assert that we cannot name truth; Vedanta concludes the only thing that holds up to scrutiny is that which is true, persistent, perennial, sat; or that whose existence does not depend on any thing else for being. All else in the realm of name and form falls apart under scrutiny, resolving to its component parts or mithya, that whose existence is dependent on something other than itself.

“Inquiry into the nature of the world and the Creator without the inquiry into the nature of yourself may produce various philosophical systems (speculative, theoretical, explanations for the creation and creator). Only a discriminative inquiry that takes oneself into account prepares oneself to inquire into the essential nature of the world and the Creator. 

Thus Vedanta starts like this: arrive at yourself, at what you are: then when you inquire into the world and it’s creator, you will understand better what you discover.” Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Arsha Vidya Gurukulam.

Swami Dayananda Saraswati, on “Why Study Vedanta?”
3.5 minutes.

Vedanta is the body of knowledge in the Vedas, Upanisads and encapsulated in the Bhagavad Gita, specifically the body of knowledge, and means of knowledge, pertaining to inquiry into the nature of “I” and creation.

I recently read Richard Geldard’s book “Emerson & the Dream of America: Finding our Way to a New and Exceptional Age” (2010), and last year I read Geldard’s “God in Concord,” also about Emerson; and I see the thread of truth from Vedanta through to Emerson’s insights (see more on Richard Geldard’s books). Geldard is writing about Emerson and America today, not Vedanta, I am bringing in this comparison. As a student of yoga and Vedanta, largely with Swami Dayananda Saraswati since 1997, I am writing (I assume) largely for others integrating Yoga into daily life. I am invigorated and inspired to see the shared understanding in Emerson and Vedanta because this universality reveals the perennial nature of the knowledge and truth in both. We can then see that the knowledge in Vedanta is pertinent to America and Americans today, cutting across culture and time to reveal not only our own essential nature, but truths about the world in which we live, and how we are to live in this world, and this country – now, today.

Sadly, Emerson’s rich and thorough thinking is often reduced to superficial truncated quotable snippets popping up on Facebook with no context and thus subject to personal interpretations largely missing the heart of his message, so smooth even in its grandiose language, and yet so elusive in its forthrightness, often radical and challenging.

Swami Dayananda Saraswati points out that Vedanta is a matter of understanding, not unverifiable belief or blind faith. Nor is Vedanta a religion as we see religion manifest throughout the world, the method of study, the means of knowledge is more akin to science and philosophy, meaning methods of inquiry, observation and deduction. However, this study of self and Nature is distinct from science and philosophy in that the topic of study is not an object available for observation, inference and study; the topic is the study of the subject itself… the “I” who is conscious of the world and who is self-aware. That I am is the only thing self-evident to me, all else in world of name and form becomes evident to me and is available for study as an object of perception or inference. That is why we need our own internal assumptions challenged by external teachings and teachers; such is the method of Vedanta.

In “Emerson & the Dream of America” Richard Geldard eloquently delves into the richness of Emerson’s thinking on how we see our selves in the world, in concert with creation, and how that thinking is pertinent and indeed crucial for the health and vitality of our social fabric, body politic, individual freedom and happiness in America today. Because Emerson’s understanding of self, creation and creator illuminate the same truths illuminated in the body of knowledge that is Vedanta, Emerson’s insights serve as a bridge drawing the teachings of Yoga and Vedanta into relevance for modern Americans of all stripes, faiths, and tribes. Geldard places Emerson in context of the thinkers and theologians of his time and philosophers from previous centuries, showing us Emerson’s many inspirations, among the Greeks and Europeans, and also the Bhagavad Gita and other “eastern” texts.

A long time scholar of Emerson, Richard Geldard has mined Emerson’s writings over the years and can artfully weave threads of his thinking, showing us, with hope and urgency, how this uniquely American philosopher can be a beacon in these times:

“Today this struggle (for the soul of America, for values, science and faith – for truth) has once again emerged for a nation in crisis, with religious belief a major combatant in a struggle for the soul of the nation. This struggle is more than conflict over cultural values, about the content of entertainment, about lifestyles, and about instruction in our schools. It is ultimately about the nature of truth itself, and about the means of perceiving that truth.”

Geldard writes after Obama’s win in 2008, and saw in that win a sea change in the American social fabric, a backlash to the loss of credibility and integrity in the Bush administration. Geldard writes before the groundswell that is Occupy Wall Street, an affirmation of his prescient pulse on the body politic. “Emerson and the Dream of America” is a must read for anyone inspired to bring values of honest inquiry, collaboration, mutual respect, and conscious inquiry into social change and personal growth and understanding.

Truth and laws not of our own making, laws of nature, are recurring themes in both Emerson and Vedanta. How we see our Self, our human consciousness, in context in Nature and Creation, are also recurring themes. Vedanta understands laws of nature not as being of divine making, not made by something somehow outside of creation, but rather laws of nature are understood as the whole, as the essence of the Divine itself made manifest.  Laws of nature are Isvara, or that which sustains all and is self-sustaining, what we name Divine. I say this because the use of the term divine then is not at all the common interpretation. This is true also of Emerson’s understanding and in his writing. Swami Dayananda Saraswati says that Vedanta does not say there is one “god”, rather there is only Brahman, Atma; what is, is Brahman, Atma – terms which require unfolding and which have no translation and so must be understood in context of an unfolding proof. For Brahman or Atma read pervasive consciousness, or Conscious Beingness. Vedanta is not a matter of unverifiable belief or blind faith, but a matter for understanding through inquiry and deduction, through teachings that challenge our assumptions gained through inference and sense perceptions.

Yoga teaches us to settle accounts with our own self, as that will settle understanding of life the universe and everything. In understanding that the essential nature of our beingness is of that same whole, that same order, those same laws, not subject to the perceived attributes or limitations of the mind, body and sense perception, something fundamental changes about our self-image, our pursuit of happiness and how we rub up against the world, people, elements and law; how those rub us, and how we receive that constant interplay. Both Emerson and Vedanta have a radical conclusion about our very nature, a conclusion that is at odds with our perception, inference and experience, hence the need for inquiry and study – to challenge and seek to validate or disprove our inference and perception; a process of study and questioning, a task not for this article, a task to pursue with a sound, trained teacher like Swami Dayananda Saraswati.

By including our own nature in our pursuit for knowledge of the world, we can better see our place in society, in relationships and in our own works. Emerson uses the term “virtue” to open up our understanding in that “he asserts that it is virtue that subordinates the phenomenal world to the mind” (Geldard). In his “Divinity School Address” Emerson defines virtue not as behavior but as “a reverence and delight in the presence of certain divine laws.” Geldard writes: “Therefore, virtue is not a “good behavior” as much as it is a living relationship to certain divine laws.” Vedanta teaches us that when we experience feeling whole, compassionate and content we are experiencing our own essential nature, our essential beingness; thus morality, values and right action are not external impositions, but rather a gateway to our essence, or to the Ground of Being, as Emerson says.

Ground of Being I associate with the nature of Atma, or indivisible consciousness, in Vedanta or our essential nature, the nature of wholeness, Purnam, and of truth, Satyam, meaning that which is not dependent on anything else for being; as opposed to Mithya, or that which is dependent on something else for it’s being or existence. In seeing that “I,” the self, is not separate from the whole, or as Emerson writes “Part and parcel of God,” all dualities fall away in our understanding. The dualities, the polarities we fabricate are at the heart of our confusion, separation, collective conflict and individual personal suffering. When Geldard gets to this principle toward the end of his book he gets to the crux of the relevance of Emerson, and the knowledge of Vedanta, in American today:

“What is the destiny of a country devoted to the dualism of good and evil, to see operating in every disaster the influence of some consciously malevolent force? Our former president [Bush] saw evil operating in the world, … evil as entity… This was the voice of a deluded fundamentalism.” Geldard covers the nature of various forms of fundamentalism earlier in the book.

Geldard’s book is a beautiful journey through the most glorious aspects of humanity, of the human mind and in turn of all creation, and of Creator. He skillfully takes us into thoughtful exploration of Emerson’s most insightful, misunderstood and significant thinking making it relevant to the present and our perception of terrorism, social responsibility, Fate, Truth, the nature of our subject-object relationship with the world, and ultimately the nature of the subject, of “I.” Enjoy. Read it and pass it on.

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Unfolding of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
& Meditation sessions
for inspired students and Yoga Teacher Trainees:

As part of the Yoga Garden Teacher Training Program I am offering an unfolding of the teachings in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, drawing as well from the Bhagavad Gita to unfold the Yoga Sutras in a way meaningful for daily life. Get at the Heart & Essence of Yoga. Learn this rich method of seeing the world as it is, and our selves in it. Learn key verses and terms, and the essence of Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga and how they are not separate paths as often misunderstood, but are wed as the raindrop is to water. A course personally relevant to your daily life, now.

Philosophy is intellectual speculation. Taught correctly the Yogic texts are a means of knowledge, a pramana, a means of understanding the Essence of Nature, and Essence of Being, of the self; beyond belief or speculation.

You need not be enrolled in the whole program to take the Yoga Sutras and Meditation practices. Participate in a method to understand your own true nature, and the nature of Creation, Creator and Being, not a history or speculative philosophy course, not a belief system, but a means of objectively understanding the world and perennial truths that traverse time and cultures.

–> Click to REGISTER TODAY
or call 415.552.9644
Yoga Garden
286 Divisadero at Page
San Francisco

–> Join the Facebook Event

• Meditation Practices to assimilate teachings on the Self, to awaken cognitive shift in perception of being:
Tuesdays May 1, 8, 15, 22
5-6pm

• Unfolding the Yoga Sutras: Lecture and Discussion
Tuesday May 8th: 3-5pm
Saturday May 19: 3-5pm
Sunday May 20: 12-3pm
Saturday May 26: 3-5pm
- Includes watching a hour video of my teacher & inspiration, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, teach a few verses from the Yoga Sutras.

• Reading:
Required for YTT attendees:

1. Teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, by Swami Dayananda Saraswati
   See Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/J22R5V
   This book will help you understand the discussion on the Yoga Sutras, it is not merely a translation with commentary, but a means of understanding key concepts in the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras.
2. A Yoga Sutras of Patanjali book of your choice.

Recommended:
The Wisdom of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
by Ravi Ravindra
See Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/IzNsVJ

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Come together in song, kirtan, meditation and rest on

Friday April 27, 6pm
Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco.
770 Dolores Street at 21st

Every 3rd Sunday, 7pm
Sunday May 20th
Yoga Tree Telegraph in Berkeley
next: Sunday May 20th

Come together for meditation followed by musical, meditative, devotional call and response song with tidbits from the Narada Bhakti Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita to color our explorations into Consciousness and Being through song in community.

I have been working on new repertoire, and new verses for our favorites.

See the widget to the upper right on this page for audio of past kirtan –>

Integral Yoga Institute
Divisadero at 21st
San Francisco

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An ongoing, roving, FREE, open discussion group in San Francisco on Nature, Being, Consciousness and integrating spiritual practice, meditation, and self-knowledge into daily modern, urban life. Now. Supporting spiritual practice where you live.

Introducing:
Citta Chats ™
Ashram without Walls
Discussions, Meditations and more in coffee-houses, parks and community spaces.
FREE, donations welcome.

*”Citta”: sanskrit for consciousness, awareness that is aware of the world, and self-aware, as in Sat-Cit-Ananda (Being/Consciousness/Limitlessness) the essence, or svarupa, of Atma, Beingness/Self.

Thursdays 7:00pm, ongoing til we switch it up, see below for curriculum, dates and topics.
FREE, donations welcome. Starts Thu. March 22nd, 2012
Om ShanTea, tea house
233 14th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Five Elements Meditation in the Park
Saturday 3/24, 9am, FREE
Spring Equinox Five Elements meditation (Pancha Bhuta) meditation practice.
Botanical Gardens, in front of the fountain, as you enter.

Also
Weekly Meditation: Sunday mornings, 8:30 am
Yoga Tree Valencia, FREE

We will meet in public or community spaces to discuss, to meditate and celebrate the nature of Being. Karl will draw on yogic and vedantic texts to weave a thread through modern philosophers and scientists, drawing on the perennial nature of true knowledge, beyond culture and time. While sanskrit and the teaching tradition of Vedanta will inform the discussion, teachings will be made accessible for no knowledge of sanskrit and traditional texts. This is an exploration into who you are, and how we move through the world, not an academic study of a field of knowledge, nor a historical study. So do let me know what you are reading, what you want to read, what challenges in your daily life need support and comfort?

Thursdays at Om ShanTea, 7pm:
FORMAT: Informal Q&A, satsang, and text based teachings. Come with questions meaningful to you, or just to listen and explore. While some sessions will have themes, the conversation will always be grounded in dialog and interests of those attending.

3/22 - General Q&A, set up.
What brought you here? What are your interests? Based on the interests of those who show up, Karl will weave a meaningful conversation based on teachings of the Upanisads, the Bhagavad Gita, Emerson, the Greeks as well modern thinkers and methods to uncover perennial truths. Key sanskrit terms will be taught, with follow up online.

3/29 – The Essence of Nature and Nature of Essence
Unfolding Sat-Cit-Ananda, Being-Consciousness-Limitless Bliss
Unfolding Wholeness, Purnam, an introduction to two key foundational vedic terms and verses.

4/5 – On Desire and Happiness
What is Desire? Why do we desire? Who is the desirer?
What is happiness? What part of ourselves is or is not happy?
What are tools to bring balance and happiness on a daily basis?

4/12 – Tools for Awakening
An emphasis on techniques, tactics, daily actions and behaviors
Learn a well rounded toolkit for practice. Knowledge, grace, devotion, behaviors and attitude are all woven into a fabric. To separate any one for the other is imbalance and misunderstanding. Learn how bhakti (devotion), jnana (assimilating knowledge), and karma yoga (action and attitude) are not separate, cannot be separated and are parts of an integrated whole for each person.

4/19 – The Value of Values
Practices for daily life, tools for behavior and relating
A deeper discussion into the 13th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, and concrete tools for daily thoughts and behaviors. Part four will integrate teachings from earlier sessions and bring us down to earth into tangible, accessible behaviors that we can use today and every day. The teachings show us that with certain values and behaviors present, understanding and self-realization and contentment may come. Without the appropriate values and behaviors present, understanding and assimilation cannot come.

4/26 ??? Your thoughts?

Citta Chats(tm): Ashram without Walls offers text based discussion, meditation, kirtan and tools for integrating teachings into daily life ( See manana, sravana, nidhidyasana). Watch for upcoming meditation locations. Meditation alone cannot reveal fallacies in our perception of self and Nature, discussion alone cannot assimilate what has been understood; the combination of dialog, inquiry and self-study in meditation is the full toolkit.

Meditation: Sunday mornings, 8:30 am
Yoga Tree Valencia, FREE
Read more on Meditation practice benefits and intention –>

About Karl:
Passionate about the world’s mythologies and the natural sciences from a young age, a student of yoga and “eastern” philosophies since the early 80′s, it was not until meeting Swami Dayananda Saraswati in 1997 that the teachings of Advaita Vedanta unfolded to transform Karl’s very sense of self, and understanding of Self in Nature; a shift from academic study to personal understanding and practice. Karl sees beyond cultural and national identities to the thread of perennial truths in the stories and knowledge of the Earth’s varied peoples, and offers teachings to find home in being. Vedanta is a sound and thorough means of knowledge to unfold these perennial truths.

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I’m pleased to announce new weekday classes.
See my Weekly Schedule for details!

- Tue & Thu morning, 9:00-10:30am Yoga Kula, SF.
Starts April 3rd.
- Wednesday evening, 8:00 pm, YogaGarden, SF.
Starts March 14th.
- Friday evening, 6:15pm, Yoga Tree Hayes, SF. – Now rolling!
- FREE Meditation: Sunday morning practice.

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Introduction to the Bhagavad Gita:
Course coming in April, 2012
Join email list to hear details

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/

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Happiness is universally cherished and sought, and yet so elusive and often associated with experience, rather than our essential nature of Being.

I wrote this originally around New Year’s day, touching on the motivation we often have at that time of year to reaffirm values important to us, to invoke happiness for the year to come
~ Karl

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.

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New FREE Meditation practice
Sundays, 8:20 am – 8:50am
just before 9:00 am yoga class
Yoga Tree Valencia
San Francisco

Meditation may seem like an elusive or esoteric practice, or some woo woo mumbo jumbo that other people do, but “not really for me.” So “Why meditate?” is a reasonable question. Here I offer a few reasons and benefits for humans of all tribes, regardless of experience, denomination and so on. For recent scientific research on meditation see the video segments from ABC News on recent studies on meditation, the link is at the end of this article. Your thoughts? Comments? Questions? Feel free to comment, or share your experience and questions from the practice if you have been coming.

Meditation can:
- Relieve health effects of stress,
- Neutralize emotional suffering,
- Internalize a healthier, whole, self-image and self-esteem.

1. On Stress and Health:
Emotion is the body’s response to thought. Emotions trigger various chemical and physiological reactions, some pleasant and healthy, some unpleasant and harmful to our physiology. By investigating the thoughts, by purifying the mind and becoming more conscious and intentional about our thought-life, we stabilize physiological responses to our perceived unease in daily life. Ill health effects of stress are neutralized.

2. On Suffering:
Pain, aging, illness and and disruptive external factors (people, expectations, situations) are a fact of life; while our suffering is our thought about pain and external forces, or objects of our perception.

Pain is a fact; suffering is our attitude towards pain. Suffering is in fact a choice.

In meditation we learn to observe the thoughts that keep us stuck in unhealthy patterns and false conclusions about physical pain and external factors, people, and situations. Thus the impact of pain and external forces on our intrinsically whole and adequate nature is neutralized.

3. On Identity and Contentment:
We move through each day with varied sense of self-esteem and contentment; we often experience un-ease in our sense of self or in relation to others. We often find our self lacking in some way, whether due to our own understanding of who we are, or influenced by the opinions, judgements and perceptions of others. Ultimately meditation, in the yogic tradition, offers an understanding of our very essence that allows our contented, whole nature to surface by observing and peeling back the layers, roles, stories that we falsely take to be “I”.

These false conclusions cloud our understanding of our own nature: an intrinsically whole, adequate, conscious being – free of lack, free of want, intrinsically secure unassailable contentment. Come home to “I.”

Your thoughts? Comments? Questions? Feel free to comment, or share your experience and questions from the practice if you have been coming.

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. We’ll ignore the silliness in calling it the “new” science of meditation.

Read Next –>  Why Meditate? Part 2 – on the nature of the self, Wholeness, Satcitananda.

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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.

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