YOGA
or
How I met myself in the middle of
the great cosmic bubble |
In India the path has been known as "Yoga" for thousands of years. In view of
such persistence we ask, Why yoga? Could it be that the "royal path" of yoga
(Raja Yoga) teaches the student how to "be"; how to expand individual
consciousness and become one with the ultimate reality? Yeah, sure, but what does that
really mean? |
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The word "yoga" itself means "yoke", with the special sense of mystic
union between the individual self and the supreme universal joke. Yoga teaches that our
identification with the sense-world of matter blinds us to the essential nature of the
self (that little shameless smile on the four-year old next door, the disorienting baby
that makes you forget what you were trying to do.). |
Discern two realities.
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One known as Purusha (cosmic consciousness - the "you" that is so much bigger
than you think you are) |
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And one known as Prakriti (matter - the you
that you stare at in the mirror, the you that bumps its knee against the coffee table
every time you watch Seinfeld.). |
These may become distinguishable as you, the Yoga student, progress in the training (then
again there are no real guarantees in this game, you may spend your whole life staring at
your navel to no avail, imagine that!) |
Yoga has many faces.
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Hatha Yoga, which deals mainly with body and breath |
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Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion |
Mantra Yoga, a yoga of sound |
Jnana Yoga, the yoga of knowledge |
| Karma Yoga, the yoga of action |
Kundalini Yoga for awakening the vital force of transformation |
These different paths appeal to different types of people but ultimately reach the same
far-off destination. |
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Yoga is one reflection of a teaching that is everywhere. From Wall Street, to sales
workshops, to music conservatories. Focused efforts toward an unknown goal. A
"teacher" passing on the teaching to a student... direct transmission going back
beyond the farthest reaches of human memory ("I am old..."). |
We only understand when the teaching meets our own experiences, when it becomes part of
our own flesh. It's not enough to just read or talk about it ("it don't mean a thing
if it ain't got that swing"). |
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Real experience gives one the taste of an awakened machine and provides a foundation for
practical work on self. With the help of a teacher and disciplined effort the center of
awareness may change, allowing the union of the essential self with the transformational
apparatus of the human biological machine. |
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This practice uses the awakened machine to
grow a new vehicle of consciousness, one that may support us after our body expires, thus
transcending space, time, and matter. This new consciousness Works, every day, in every
thing, for the benefit of all Beings everywhere. This new being of ours, cultivated with
discipline, love and understanding performs according to the laws of the universe,
invisible to the eye of sleeping, earth-bound humanity. |
Real Yoga training (which may not involve the lotus position, breathing techniques, or
strange words in Sanskrit) makes clear what very few students of traditional teachers ever
learn: Nothing we can do alone will result in any evolutionary gain whatsoever. All the
powers one might attain in this life are insignificant, useless, and meaningless. They
merely enhance one's everyday primate life and are useless once this primate is dead.. |
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We are warned that if we are not willing to sacrifice forever our chance for union with
the Absolute in order to help the Absolute from this side of the veil, then we must run
from the School, because that is its only goal. CAVEAT EMPTOR |
