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Food for
Thought
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Topical Index |
Disclaimer: If you don’t like it, spit it out. Then try it again later. Any dog will tell you so. Before
discussing dogma in yoga, it is worth stepping back to create a level of
abstraction that allows us to view the yoga community in the context of
social organizations. We note that
every “successful” religion or social organization is defined by indisputable
rules, or dogma. For the purpose of
this discussion we will use evolution for the model of success, i.e., an
organization that has survived the test of time likely is defined by rules
that aided in its endurance. Note
also, that frequently, those who dispute the indisputable rules end up
leaving the organization to define a new one complete with its own rules
& customs. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…” If
we look at the rules familiar to us from our own social context, we note that
they can be classified into the following categories: (I)
Health & Sanitation: bathing & washing, dietary rules and those for
food preparation and storage (e.g., the Kosher & Hallal rules of Judaism
and Islam, respectively. (II)
Behavior between family members: care for parents, child rearing, marriage,
the relationship between men and women that are not married. (III)
Behavior among members of the community: property ownership, taxation and
laws for helping the poor, education, definition of casts or classes,
holidays & events to celebrate, death & burial. (IV)
Behavior towards members of other communities: Rules governing marriage
outside the community, and war. (V)
Laws that govern the relationship between the individual and God. A
set of well-defined and known rules ensures that members of a community
behave in a similar way. It breeds
familiarity, and common expectations.
Note that full compliance with rigid rules creates uniformity reduces
creativity and flexibility, and eventually leads to stagnation and
obsolescence. It
is important to note, that for the most part rules are pragmatic and useful if
understood within the historical and cultural context within which they were
created. If the logic behind the
rules is not understood, it is difficult to gage their relevance. In
today’s Western society our lives are governed by several sets of rules. First, there are the laws of the community
within which we live: everything from traffic laws, to taxes, and non-harm to
others. Then there are the laws of
the religion within which we were raised.
And finally, there are cultural rules of behavior that may not be hard
coded anywhere, but nonetheless are well understood. So
when we as western adults embrace yoga as a way of life, or as a component of
our spiritual practice, we are taking on a new set of rules. We quickly find that there are several
sets of rules: The Eight Limbs, the rules for Hatha Yoga, and the rules
associated with our particular brand of yoga. If the rules were simple and few, we could all follow them
without a second thought. But this is
not the case, and so it behooves us to examine the rules carefully, attempt
to understand their origin & purpose, and then decide which rules to
implement in our own lives. This is
not heresy, the Buddha is famously quoted as saying: “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it,
no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your
own common sense.” When
examining the rules of yoga, it is important to remember the context within which
they were created and for whom they were intended. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a Hindu text written by Swami
Swatmarama in the 15th century CE, i.e., about 600 years ago. This is before modern science and
medicine, before viruses and bacteria were understood, before electricity,
plumbing, and refrigeration. These
rules were defined for a select & secretive group of reclusive men. These facts do not diminish the value of
this text, rather they emphasize that careful examination rather than blind
adoption are prudent. You likely
wouldn’t adopt a text written for 15th century Catholic monks
without deliberation, or would you? The quest for a guru has all but become a fad. By appointing
ourselves a guru we instantly become part of a community and acquire an
identity. We follow the instructions
attributed to the guru, and marvel at their wisdom. If we’re lucky, we may have the opportunity to embrace them or
kiss their feet, thus allowing some of the dust that has accumulated on their
feet from the path of wisdom to rub onto us.
Yes? No? Maybe? Perhaps we imagine the guru as a father figure. Someone who will embrace us as a child,
and teach us everything we need to know about yoga in particular and life in
general. Our only requirement is to
surrender: suspend our disbelief, and follow instructions faithfully. Perhaps such a scenario occurs, as some
have related, but other scenarios are more common. A guru is someone who is able to relate a life principal in a
manner that can be understood personally and experientially. This is different from the type of
intellectual understanding that can be gained from reading books or studying
philosophy. There is no requirement
that the guru be a teacher, and certainly, not every teacher is a guru. Your guru may be someone you met briefly,
unintentionally; someone whose name you can’t recall, but they forever
changed your perception of life. My
father-in-law says Jesus is his guru. A guru may elicit anger or disappointment in you. A friend once described to me how he had
just spent an hour sharing his personal anguish with his teacher. When he finished, the teacher replied, “I
don’t care about any of that stuff, and neither should you.” A tough lesson
to swallow, but an unforgettable one. The classical theme of the guru-student relationship is that the
guru says something brief and ambiguous, almost non-sensical, and the student
is required to ponder for months or years determine its meaning. Some noted examples are: “Take your reason
and look”, or “Whatever happens has its meaning”. But the right question to the right student will bring the
attention to the key point. The
indirectness of this approach forces the student to work at uncovering the
meaning, and hence makes it both real and personal. There is no substitute for the teacher within. Our own teacher is capable of guiding us
most of the way, provided we cultivate an ability to listen. We may come across problems that we think
we can’t solve, or obstacles that we think we are unable to overcome. With such a difficulty well defined we can
then seek the messenger who will deliver to us the answer. The messenger may be a teacher, a
stranger, one sentence in an 8 hour recorded lecture, or whatever. Since we are honed on finding the answer,
it is instantly clear when we get it.
Your yoga teacher is a person just like you. This is true even if they’ve been
practicing for 35 years, have written 14 books, have been on the cover of
Yoga Journal 5 times, and exude confidence and accomplishment that you only
wish you could mimic. If you put your
teacher on a pedestal and worship them, you are cheating yourself out of a
healthy student-teacher relationship.
Sooner or later, they will fall off the pedestal, and you will be left
disappointed. Teachers are not meant
to be worshipped. You may be grateful
that a teacher is sharing their wisdom and experience with you. Indeed, this is their greatest gift. In return, you will share your knowledge
and experience with others, so that the tradition may perpetuate. |
