Sages (I): Agastya

Stories of Saints are wound through the Ramayana. They teach us lessons, sometimes through direct revelation to the characters themselves, sometimes as examples of how to act.  They are considered to have actually existed (and the events in the Ramayana are considered to have actually taken place 80 Kalpas [80,000,000 years] ago). I cannot say that I favor one story over another, so for no other reason than this is the first one I am writing, I give you the story of Agastya Rishi.

Once upon a time, in India…well above India, atop Mount Kailash, Lord Shiva prepared to give a discourse on the Holy Vedas.  Gods, celestial beings, rakshasas, and sages made a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash for the opportunity to learn directly from Shiva himself. Since this gathering was to take place on an Earthly realm, Earthly physics and metaphysics became an issue. The combined weight of the spiritual merit  possessed by the attendees pushed the Earth off balance. To avoid disrupting the Earthly realm, Lord Shiva asked the Rishi Agastya, who carried within himself more power and merit than the whole assembly combined, to travel southward in order to re-balance the Earth. Lord Shiva sought to compensate Agastya for this service, and for missing his teaching. Shiva decreed that while residing in the South, Agastya will have the opportunity to directly serve Vishnu in his human incarnation as Rama. This service would once again bring balance to the world and save the human race from destruction.

Agastya agreed without question.

As he traveled southward, Agastya was stopped by Surya, the sun.  Surya begged Agastya for help.  Vindhya Hill, jealous of Mount Meru, the center of the universe in the Himalaya, decided to grow larger and more magnificent than its cousin. Vindhya grew to an enormous size, dwarfing Meru and blocking the path of the sun. Vindhya’s ego grew in proportion to its physical size.  He demanded that the sun revolve around him rather than revolving around Meru.  The sun refused.  Vindhya would not let Surya pass, plunging everything West of the mountain into perpetual night.

Agastya agreed without question.

Agastya came to Vindhya mountain.  The mountain was indeed impressive.  Sheer cliffs rose above the clouds and extended into the horizon.  There was no way around. 

Standing in front of the mountain with palms folded, Agastya addressed Vindhya with reverence.

“Oh mighty Vindhya, I am blessed to be in your presence. Your size and grandeur make even the mighty Himalaya appear as small and as uninteresting as a mere pebble.  I have been sent by Lord Shiva himself to travel South. I must obey the Lord, but due to your enormous size, I am unable to continue my journey. Indeed, how can a poor traveler traverse your great self when even the sun cannot pass.Please allow me passage so that I may keep my promise to the Lord.”

Vindhya could see Agastya blazing with spiritual merit and knew he spoke the truth.  Out of respect for Agastya and his mission, the mountain returned to its normal size. It spoke to Agastya:

“Great sage, I gladly allow you passage so that you may continue to do the Lord’s work.”

“I give you thanks.  Please remain this size so that I may return to the Lord when my mission has been completed.”

“So be it,” replied the mountain.

Agastya continued his journey southward. He did not return to the North, and to this day Vindhya remains bowed, awaiting Agastya's return.

In the South, Agastya came to a forest which was plagued by two rakshasa brothers, Ilval and Vapti, who were systematically killing every Brahmin (holy man).  Their method was always the same:  Ilval took the form of a Brahmin.  He approached other Brahmins, speaking in holy Sanskrit, and offer to cook a meal. The Brahmins could not refuse—it is against scripture to refuse an offering.  At Ilval’s cottage, he would cook a freshly slaughtered ram (Brahmins were not yet forbidden from eating meat at this time), who was actually Vapti in disguise.  Once the Brahmin finished his meal, Ilval called to his brother: “Vapti come out!” Resuming his natural form, Vapti tore his way out of the Brahmin, killing him.

Vapti approached Agastya with his usual ruse.  Having accepted the offer of a meal, Agastya quickly cleaned his plate. He asked for seconds, and upon finishing that plate, asked for thirds. He kept eating until nothing was left of the ram save the bones. Agastya wiped his mouth after finishing the last morsel. Ilval grinned and shouted “Vapti come out!”

Nothing happened.

He called again: “Vapti, come out!”

“Beware the strong stomach of Dharma,” said Agastaya, and he burped.

Enraged, Ilval assumed his rakshasa form and lunged at Agastya.  The sage slightly glanced at Ilval. The rakshasa burst into flames and was reduced to ashes. 

-------

After leaving Chitrakuta, Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana traveled southward. They were directed to visit Agastya’s hermitage near modern day Nashik. The sage, understanding Rama’s true identity, welcomed the trio and prepared a feast stating “The host who does not feed his guests is destined to eat his own flesh in the next life.”  Rama sought the sage’s counsel on how to lead the life of a Brahmin.  Rama was a Kshatriya, a warrior king.  He was honoring his promise to his father to live in the forest for 14 years, yet he did not quite know how to live the life of the Brahmin class.

Agastya replied: “The duty of a Brahmin is the search for Truth.  The search for Truth is nothing more than the search for the Self. Know yourself and you have found Truth.  You already possess this knowledge, you have only forgotten it.  I cannot teach you how to find it, but I can give you the tools to find it for yourself.”  Agastya presented Rama with a bow and an inexhaustible quiver, and to Lakshmana he presented a sword.  Both weapons had been used by Vishnu in a previous battle with the rakshasas.  Tools used by warrior kings, not Brahmins.

“Perform your duty and you will find Truth.”

------
Rama engaged Ravana in battle on the Island of Lanka.  Rama's arrows quickly cut down Ravana's 10 heads and 20 arms. Victory was short-lived, as the heads and arms immediately grew back.  Rama's arrows continued to be true.  Arms and heads off.  Arms and heads grew back.  This fierce play repeated until both sides retired (war, although still brutal, observed strict rules 80,000,000 million years ago when this story took place).

The next morning, Rama awoke and conducted his obeisances.  Agastya appeared before Rama as he engaged in prayer.

"Rama, know that Ravana's heads and arms are extensions of his ego and greed, both of which are limitless. They cannot be defeated by brute force. The only way to conquer the darkness of ego and greed, which live in and cloud the heart, is through the light of Truth. Repeat this mantra to call upon the infinite light of the sun:

Aaditya hridaayam punyamsarva shaatru binaashanam

[For the one who keeps the Sun in the Heart, all enemies are destroyed.]

Endow your arrow with the Brahmastra, take aim at Ravana's heart of darkness, and free him from the chains of ego and greed."
-----
Agastya's words proved true.  Ravana was defeated. Dying a warrior's death with his thoughts fully fixed on Rama, Ravana attained the highest reaches of Heaven. Brahma's boon that Ravana could not be killed by any god or celestial being held true--although not quite as he had expected.  Ravana's earthly form was destroyed, but not his spirit, which is infinite and pure.

Everything That You Need

Here is everything that you need. There is something in here that you can do everyday (and it does not have to be asana!)

Scripture:

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika(+/- 1350 CE): “Hatha Yoga shines forth as a stairway for those who wish to ascend to the highest stage of yoga: Raja (Patañjali) Yoga” I.1[Hatha Yoga is nothing but a steppingstone. It is not the end goal]

The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali: “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.” I.2

The Bhagavad Gita: “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you give, whatever you offer in sacrifice,  whatever austerities you perform, do so as an offering…” IX.27

The Isha Upanishad: “The Supreme is enshrined in the hearts of all. The Supreme is the ultimate Reality. Rejoice in It through renunciation (of separate existence). Covet nothing. All belongs to The Supreme” 1 ["If all of the Upanishads and all the other scriptures happened all of a sudden to be reduced to ashes, and if only the first verse of the Ishopanishad were left in the memory of the Hindus, Hinduism would live forever." M.K. Gandhi]

The Ramayana: RAMA

Asana (Postures/Physical Practice. Observe this order):

         Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation): 6/10/12 rounds as fast as you can

         Sirshasana (Headstand), or variation

         Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand), or variation

         Matsyasana (Fish)

         Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend, lit. “Intense stretch of the West side of the body”)

         Bhujangasana (Cobra), or Dhanurasana (Bow)

         Ardha Matsyendrasana (Spinal Twist, lit. “Half Lord of the Fishes Twist”)

         Savasana (Corpse pose)

Kriya (Cleansing Actions):

         Agnisara: Abdominal pumping

         Nauli: Abdominal churning (substitute Uddiyana bandha)

Pranayama (Breath Control):

         Nadi Shodhana: Alternate nostril breathing. Using right hand, close right nostril with thumb. Inhale (puraka) thru left, close both and retain (kumbhaka), exhale (rechaka) through right. Inhale right, close both/retain, exhale left.  This is 1 round. Complete 6-12 rounds. Eventual ratio is 1:4:2 (puraka:kumbhaka:rechaka).

Meditation

         Posture: Sit with the head, neck, and spine erect (Bhagavad Gita VI.13), equalize the incoming and outgoing breath moving through the nostrils, eyes fixed at the base of the nose (i.e. between the eyebrows). (Bhagavad Gita V.27)  Focus on any of the following (only one focal point per session):

·         Count each exhale from 1-10 (in, one; in two, etc.). If you lose your count, start at 1. Starting at 1 is more important than getting to 10

·         Name the breath SO (inhale) HAM (exhale), or IN / OUT (Soham: I am That)

·         Mentally repeat your mantra. Do not try to time it to the breath. It will find its own rhythm

         USE A TIMER! Begin practicing daily for 5 minutes. Increase slowly and gradually over time.

Most Important of All:

         It is better to do just a little practice everyday than to do a long practice once a week or once in awhile. The only wrong way to practice is to do no practice at all. I believe that you can do it!

This I Believe

The goal of yoga, so the writings of the masters tell us, is to re-discover the one vital truth we have forgotten: there is no separate existence. We are not a small part of something bigger, but the big picture itself. We have all the answers within us already, buried, clouded. Sometimes it takes an outside force to shine a little light into the dark corners, and that light which we think is coming from outside, has also been with us all along.

This I believe.

This belief is the foundation of my practice and my teaching—everything we do helps us to individually uncover that veiled truth. I have sought to share with my students practices that they can take home with them. The real work of my class is not during the 90 minutes per week we are together, it is during the other 9,990 minutes of the week we are apart.  The tools we work on in class are the same ones I practice, and I have faith they will yield the desired result IF practiced consistently over a long time.

I encourage you to continue to practice what you have learned, for my last day of teaching at HRY will be July 15^th.

I have been blessed to serve the HRY community over the last three years, and for some of you a lot longer through other studios or in other capacities (I have worked with Molly since 2008ish through my day job as a Career Advisor). I am thankful for every one of you for graciously welcoming me into your practice and for being a part of mine.

All of my knowledge is yours. I hold nothing back.  To make sure you have everything you need, our last class together on July 15^th will be a bit different.  Consider it a workshop.  Some of the items we will cover:

·         Surya Namaskar and the 6 most important poses

·         2 Kriyas (cleansing practices)

·         Nadi Shodhana Pranayama, with Bandhas

·         Focusing and cleaning the mind through sound

·         Open discussion

·         Recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa

I’m ok with this class going a bit long. Or it can be very short—I have learned there are only two things that you need: “Ra” and “Ma.” Everything else is just a function of these two syllables.

Even though I will not be on the schedule any longer, I am still with you.  Know that I am singing the Chalisa, twirling the beads, and practicing asana as the sun rises so that you are not alone in this practice.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to be a part of this community, and will continue to support Molly and Hudson River Yoga.

Keep practicing!

More Than One Tool

I attended a business analysis workshop yesterday.  The facilitator introduced a topic by saying "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat everything as if it is a nail."

I could not agree more.  In my experience, people (myself included) tend to rely on two tools: the hammer (to smash things into your  opinion of "place") and the machete (to cut things away that do not fit into "place").

Think about it.  How much effort and grief goes into a performance review, which tends only to assess, in numerical form, an individual's worth, or, worse yet, is used to justify a RiF.  Compare to how little time is spent actually assessing and managing talent. How rare is it to hear: "We need a person with x,y,z strengths in this area.  Joe is consistently rating high in these strengths, yet he is not performing well in his current role. Let's bring him over to this area where his documented strengths should equal higher performance and more benefit to the organization."  Usually the opposite happens: can Joe and have two openings negatively effecting business and morale.

Transfer this way of thinking to our yoga practice.  Many of us (to some extent, me included), judge our entire practice solely against  asana.  "Great job, Ron!  You must be practicing because you can get deeper into that pose.  Now try this."

The words we use to describe our yoga practice tend to be compared to asana.  "Advanced" class translates into difficult contortions. "Restorative" and "Basics" classes tend to mean "easy" poses.

If asana is the only litmus test for our practice, what happens when I twist my ankle or hurt my shoulder doing something else and can not do complex contortions?  When I age and my connective tissue does not have the same elasticity, nor my muscles the same strength, nor my matabolism the same ability to burn off cake? If I can't do full Galavasana does that mean I no longer have an advanced practice?

As we grow in our practice, it is essential to re-define our relation to the practice.  For me, I no longer practice asana every day, but I do  recite the Hanuman Chalisa every day.  That has become more important to me.  That does not mean I am lazy--unless you are looking only at my asana practice. It has allowed me to stay with the practice rather than saying "I can't do 20+ handstands anymore.  Screw this, I'm taking up running."

Growth in practice includes management of your practice.  Stop, assess, and adjust as needed.

The Beginning of It All

Rama and Ravana from Sanjay Patel's Ramayana: The Divine Loophole

Listen friend:

Once upon a time, in India, there was a great war between the devas (gods) and the rakshasas (demons). The devas prayed to Vishnu, who answered their prayers and entered the fray.  The rakshasas fled Vishnu's wrath and hid in the underworld. All but Sumali.  During his wanderings on earth, he saw Kuvera, the god of wealth, flying in Pushpaka, the chariot-city.  Sumali became jealous of Kuvera. He felt that Kuvera flaunted his wealth, while the rakshasas lived a life of poverty under the Earth.

Sumali came up with a plan--he sent his daughter, Kaikasi, to seduce Kuvera's father, the sage Visrava, so that there may be a raksasa born with the same wealth as Kuvera.

Kaikasi approached Visrava with her request to become his wife.  Visrava granted this request, but since she came to him at an inauspicious time, he proclaimed that the products of their union would be hideous, cruel, flesh-eating night walkers.  Kaikasi begged for mercy.  Visrava, in his kindness, granted that although still a rakshasa, one of the children would be devoted to Dharma, and uphold religious standards.

Some time later, four children were born: Dasagriva, black as coal with ten heads and twenty arms; Kumbhakarna, who rapidly grew into a giant with a giant appetite for flesh; Surpanakha, lustful, cruel, vengeful; and Vibishana, the good demon, always focused on righteousness.

One day Kaikasi played with Dasagriva and his step-brother Kuvera flew overhead in Pushpaka chariot. Kaikasi said "See your brother, how he shows his wealth?  Obtain riches so that you can be like him."

Dasagriva resolved to have more wealth than his brother.  He began a life of strict asceticism: praying, doing penance, reciting mantra for hundreds of years.

Nothing happened.

He resolved to perform harsher penance, cutting off one of his own heads for every 1000 years the gods did not listen to him.

Every 1000 years for 9000 years Dasagriva cut off one of his heads and offered it to the the sacrificial fire. At the end of his 10,000th year of meditation, he prepared to cut off his final head.

Brahma appeared before him and held his sword.

"Your intense single-pointed focus has gained my attention, and I cannot bear the violence you commit against your own body. Ask for a boon and it shall be yours."

Dasagriva needed no time to think.  The boon he would ask for occupied his entire focus for 9000 years:
"No god or celestial being shall be able to kill me."

"It is so," declared Brahma.  "Your brothers have also earned great merit through their co-penance. Ask me for a boon."

Before Kumbakarna, the giant, could speak, the goddess of speech, Saraswati, entered his mouth and spoke for him: "I hate this wretched world.  Let me sleep for 6 months for every day that I am awake."

"It is so," granted Brahma.  Kumbakarna immediately fell asleep.  Saraswati's trick saved all of the living beings in the world from ending up in Kumbakarna's belly.

Brahma turned to Vibishana, the good demon.

"Grandfather, may I always remember the Lord and uphold Dharma."

"It is so."

With Brahma's book, Dasagriva took himself to be invincible. His ten heads held ten inflated egos, and he went on a rampage subjugating all of the gods who were now powerless against him.  The rakshasas, no longer afraid of the gods, returned from the underworld and fought at Dasagriva's side.  Fearless, the night-walkers gorged themselves on flesh.

Dasagriva and his demon army attacked Indra and the gods in the heavens.  With Brahma's boon as his shield and terrible weapons in his twenty hands, Dasagriva easily defeated the gods. For all of the slaughter and cruelty he committed, Dasagriva earned the name Ravana, "He who makes the universe scream."


Satisfied that he now ruled heaven and Earth, Ravana set out to conquer the realm of Death and even Shiva himself.

But that tale is for another night.

(Adapted with devotion and love from William Buck's, Krishna Dharma's, and Sanjay Patel's retellings of Valmiki's Ramayana)

The Other Picture

"The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close-up." ~ Chuck Palahniuk Lullaby

  
We are faced with a Catch-22 in our yoga practice: do we look at the big picture or the little picture?

The goal of our practice is to be able to see all the pictures at once, something that we are not currently equipped to do.  The yogis even tell us so: we can't see everything until we become united with God.  See Arjuna being granted divine sight by Krishna to see His actual form.  Arjuna begged for the vision to stop because he could not handle it.

If we look at the big picture, full-blown enlightenment, joining our small part to the something bigger, realizing that all is one, we face the danger of becoming apathetic.

"It will all work out in the end."

"God will provide."

We can forget that there is actual work to do.  That God created this challenge, this job, penicillin, to provide us with the means to gradually develop the capacity for final union. Being unprepared and trying to plug into God is like plugging our toaster directly into the Hoover Dam.  Your bread will toast alright, into millions of tiny fried atom. Instantly.  Then what good are they?

If we focus on the details, the position and rotation of our spleen in relation to the spiral of our plantar tendon, moving .04 degrees medial, then we run the risk of forgetting why we are doing what we do.

We are kept in the physical realm.

Meat puppets.

Both pictures contain the others. Every strand of our DNA contains the code to the total us.  The total us is the sum total of our building blocks. All too often, we select to focus on one instead of the other.

Luckily, the yogis prescribe a cure for this: Do Something.

Whatever that something is, do a lot of it.

For a long time.

Gradually, like a series of Grandfather clocks placed against the same wall, the big and little pictures will sync up.

Do Warrior 1.  Sing. Breathe. Sit. Forget that there is a picture to look at. Do that thing until you forget that you are doing that thing. Then do it some more.

And someday, like one of those Magic Eye posters from the 90's, clarity will pop out from the clutter.

And we will see both pictures at once, all of the time.

Yoga-gogy / Yoga-cation

Pedagogy is not a word that we associate with yoga classes.  We use the word in higher-ed like the Smurfs use smurf—as the answer to both what we do and the reason we do it. But, like inconceivable, I do not think it means what you think it means.

Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching.  From the Greek pedagogos, slave who takes children to school (Merriam Webster online).  Technically pedagogy refers to teaching children, not adults.  We’ll forgive correct usage in favor of common usage here.

We go to a yoga class, implying there is some sort of education happening. Both students and teachers should know the objective of the class.  Patanjali defines yoga as “The cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.” (PYS I.2)  For a class to be called yoga, it must specifically involve an investigation into:

1.       The mind

2.       Its fluctuations

3.       Methods leading to the cessation of these fluctuations.

A class which does not involve all three of these items can be safely laid aside as choreographed stretching.

Yoga classes are primarily focused on asana, to a much less extent pranayama, to even less of an extent concentration (dharana).  Asana is a great investigative tool when used correctly.  The role of the teacher is to present the physical movements as a microcosm for the movements of the mind. If we can apply attention and focus to make our bodies move in ways we don’t normally move, we can develop the same attention and focus to observe the mind and stem its movements.

The physical movements of the body are the means, not the end. When the teacher teaches asana from this perspective, then they are teaching yoga.

We have the teachings which are valid, and (presumably) a teacher who knows what they are talking about.  The last element needed in the triad which, like the legs of a milk stool, supports education is the student.

The student has a much harder job than the teacher—the teacher presents possibilities, the student must accept, internalize, and apply these possibilities on their own.  

Education in any form is not a concierge service. 

The money paid for a yoga class, like tuition, is not a tip.

Quality educators and quality facilities carry a price tag. As well they should. Do you really want discount teachers and discount facilities?

The teacher can do their best to present the teachings in an engaging manner, but if the student is not ready or willing to receive them, no amount of interaction, attention, bells or whistles is going to make any difference.  As teachers, we should not dumb down the material so everyone can get it.  We need to continue to present the teachings as they are.  When the student is ready to receive, they will.

That logic may not make sense from a business point of view, which screams get as many people through the door as possible.

From my point of view, I would rather provide one willing person with a quality yoga-cation than lead a room full of bodies through some choreographed stretches.

From a pedagogical point of view, we, as teachers, will best serve our students' educations by being diligent students ourselves: increasing our knowledge and implementing the teachings through our own continuing practice.