week 5
Day 29!
ZOOM LINK Class 7am Vancouver Time
Sharon Gannon says: “Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state.”
”The normal person wakes up in the morning, perhaps turns on the TV or the computer, reads a newspaper or makes plans for the day. As soon as the day gets going they may feel less than optimistic, feeling small and ineffectual, perhaps overwhelmed or even depressed.
The yogin wakes up in the morning and sits for meditation, allowing [thoughts and emotions] to arise and pass through the body and mind. With each letting go, pure consciousness is allowed to permeate.” Sharon Gannon, co-founder Jivamukti Yoga
“The first thing a yogin does is makes their bed.” - Purportedly said by David Life, co-founder Jivamukti Yoga
Day 30!
“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”
From his song: "Mind Games”
We're playing those mind games together, Pushing the barriers planting seeds
Playing the mind guerrilla, Chanting the Mantra peace on earth
We all been playing those mind games forever, Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil
Doing the mind guerrilla, Some call it magic the search for the grail
Love is the answer and you know that for sure, Love is a flower you got to let it grow
So keep on playing those mind games together, Faith in the future out of the now
You just can't beat on those mind guerrillas, Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind
Yeah we're playing those mind games forever, Projecting our images in space and in time
Yes is the answer and you know that for sure, Yes is surrender you got to let it go
So keep on playing those mind games together, Doing the ritual dance in the sun
Millions of mind guerrillas, Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel
Keep on playing those mind games forever, Raising the spirit of peace and love
(I want you to make love, not war I know you've heard it before)
Day 31!
Vashistasana (Sage Vashista’s posture)
At the moment of Vasistha's creation, Brahma cursed him with temporary ignorance of his true divine nature, in order that Vasistha would experience the suffering of embodiment and then ask Brahma for the remedy. When Vasistha inquired about how he had come to be trapped in a sorrowful and limited physical existence, Brahma taught him: “You are not the body and mind; you are infinite. You are not bound; your true nature is limitless. Thou art That.”
Thus, Vasistha became the first student of what we now call advaita vedanta, or jnana yoga.
Vasistha was also the first teacher of jnana yoga. One of his most famous students was Lord Rama. As an adolescent, Rama went on a tour of his father's kingdom and returned deeply depressed by what he saw of the world. Like the young Buddha in similar circumstances, he encountered people who were sick and suffering, and their misery made him question the meaning of life. He especially doubted his own worth as a future king when he felt powerless to change anyone's circumstances or improve their lot in life. Then, through a series of stories, Vasistha revealed this truth to Rama: The soul (Self) is real, but the world is false, like a dream. We suffer when we identify with the world's circumstances and feel that it is up to us to change them. In reality, we simply have to wake up to the infinite joy and contentment inherent in each present moment. Learning to control the mind leads to liberation and to the realization that we are the Self. All the pleasures that the world holds are nothing compared with the abiding bliss of Self-realization. Rama and Vasistha's conversations about the Self are preserved in a work we know as the Yoga Vasistha.
Day 32!
ZOOM LINK Class 10am Vancouver Time
One day a Canadian man arrived for his first visit with Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji). He didn't know much about Maharaj-ji but had heard about him. Maharaj-ji didn't give lectures or formal teachings; didn't write books; and, as far as I know, didn't formally initiate people. He just kept shining like the sun. Flowers don't need to read a manual on how to bloom in the sunshine. So when Maharaj-ji asked this man why he'd come and what he wanted, he was unsure how to respond. Finally, he replied, 'Can you teach me how to meditate?'
"Maharaj-ji's response was: 'Meditate like Christ. Go. Sit in the back of the temple with the other Westerners.'
"The guy came to the back, and we asked him about his darshan. He told us that Maharaj-ji had said to meditate like Christ. At first we were surprised. 'What! Meditate like Christ! What does that mean?' But then we thought about it. We were always trying to get Maharaj-ji to tell us what practice to do, but he'd never give us any specific instructions about yoga or meditation. Now he'd said this. If he said it, he must know how Jesus meditated. We decided to ask him about it. We were so excited — we were going to get the secret teachings at last!
"Later in the day, when Maharaj-ji came to the back of the temple to hang out with us, [one among us] broached the subject that had us all buzzing. 'You said to meditate like Christ. How DID he meditate?'
"It seemed as if Maharaj-ji was about to answer, but instead his eyes closed and he sat there completely still, completely silent. It felt like he'd totally disappeared. In all the time I'd been with him, I'd only seen him sitting motionless like this a couple of times before. It was extraordinarily powerful, as if the whole universe had become silent. Then a tear came down his cheek. We were in awe. After a couple of minutes, his eyes half opened and, with great emotion, he quietly said, 'He lost himself in love, that's how he meditated. He was one with all beings. He loved everyone, even the people who crucified him. He never died. He is the atman [soul]. He lives in the hearts of all. He lost himself in love.'
Once again, Maharaj-ji had gone right to the heart of it all. I was stunned. There was nothing I wanted more than to be able to lose myself in love, but there was nothing that seemed farther away. As Kabir once said, "It is easy to bear the heat of fire and likewise it is possible to tread the edge of the sword. But to sustain an unchanging love is a most difficult business."
--Krishna Das, in Chants of Lifetime
Question: "How did Christ meditate, Maharaji?"
"He was lost in love. He was one with all beings and he had great love for all in the world. He was crucified so that his spirit could spread throughout the world. He was one with God. He sacrificed his body for the dharma. He never died. He never died. He is atman living in the hearts of all. See all beings as the reflection of Christ."
~Neem Karoli Baba
Day 34!
In book one of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, by Swatmarama states:
66. Whether young, old or too old, sick or lean, one who discards laziness, gets success if he practices Yoga.
67. Success comes to him who is engaged in the practice. How can one get success without practice; for by merely reading books on Yoga, one can never get success.
68. Success cannot be attained by adopting a particular dress. It cannot be gained by telling tales. Practice alone is the means to success. This is true, there is no doubt.
Day 35!
ZOOM LINK Class 7am Vancouver Time
“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.”
Be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you’ve died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.
The speechless full moon
comes out now.
~ Rumi