From: "Richard" (rcarlson@olympus.net)
Date: July 14, 2005 3:49:08 PM PDT
To: rjon@vzavenue.net
Subject: yoga, culture, choice (post 1973)

“ He who controlling the senses by the mind O Arjuna, without attachment engages with the organs of action, he excels.

Do thou, do controlled action, for action is greater than in action: even maintenance of the physical life cannot be effected without action.”

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3, verse 7 & 8 (EOGp31)


The Mother's statement that it is a vain chimera to believe that one can
change the world without first transforming ones inner self is
certainly a pre-assumption of this list. That Sri Aurobindo’s yoga is a
yoga for all ages to come is also certainly an axiom to which we all
assent, as we would attest to the fact that practice of the yoga itself
is not dependent upon external circumstances. Everyone would also by in
large agree that science as well as industry can be a tool of both
tremendous good can be employed in the service of the vile. That the
world would certainly be best served by science which is designed by
the yogic consciousness is also a pre-given.

Where there may be
some divergence of views on integral yoga as it asserts itself to be a
yoga of the world, would concern how one embodies the yoga in ones
actions in the world, and how one informs ones action. Are we forced to
act in the world? Of course! Are we forced to choose which actions we
will take in the world? Yes, we do in fact have a choice as to how we
should act Does practice of a spiritual discipline necessarily imply
that we will take appropriate actions in the world? There would
probably be some differences of opinions here as well. Because some may
argue that this is all we can really do and appropriate actions will
follow from our realizations in the practice. Others however, would be
quick to point out that over the centuries many people who have adhered
to certain spiritual practices have created all sorts of blunders by
which humanity has greatly suffered, and this is why a secular society
is still valued in our countries.

Does change in the world ever
necessitate change in our spiritual practice? Well after Sri Aurobindo
obtained inner confirmation that with the passage of time, that India
would be free, he certainly decided to formally give up the outward
political struggle and enter into the period of his most intense
sadhana. (Although he never failed to follow the course of events as
they unfolded in history) So was there in this instance a
correspondence between the outer circumstances of the world and the
inner practice? It would appear so.

Now have events after 1973
any meaning to our practice of the yoga in the world, even if the
practice of yoga is in a sense timeless? Well as for individual
aspiration and meditation, which is a timeless practice, the answer is:
perhaps not. But what about the other half of the equation namely, how
we take action in the world and how is our action best informed? For
the integral yoga is a yoga to be carried out in the world, is it not?

Although at a higher level of reality both culture and individual as is everything else in essence: One, and the true purpose of the individual in the multiplicity is to differentiate itself from the collectivity and through its individual realization to lead the collectivity in the evolution (LD692)

But none of us live in isolation from the
world. We are all situated within a culture, within a civilization,
within a world, at a specific point in history. And in fact in a
certain way our being in the world can be defined as “intersubjective.”

Indeed, in a certain way the very phenomena of mind itself, is
constructed according to one’s social circumstances. In fact, in many
respects we can safely say that at least on the plane of this earthly
reality there is no speaking of mind apart from the cultural
environment out of which it emerges. This statement is not radical at
all but simply means that when we are infants we gather language from
our mother, and as we grow we come to acquire the values and worldviews
which are given to us by culture. Our heads are then stuffed with facts
and theories given to us by our education from major institutions which
exist within a particular historic period of time. The very phenomena
of the wolf child, raised not by animals but by wolves has shown these
children to be by in large canine like themselves. In other words
without culture there is no soil to cultivate mind. So in a certain way
it becomes difficult to study society and the individual with inquiring
into the way the individual comes to know society:

Here is a more precise explication of this theme:

Since
knower and known are connected , it would be a distortion to study the
social world and knowledge in the social world separately There is no
world in itself, without reference to type of knowledge available to
its inhabitants. Together the world and its available knowledge
constitute a whole. The human beings in a world undertake their living
on the basis of knowledge available in the world. However the world is
not a collection of human beings and their knowledge . It is an
intersubjective structure, in the sense that the inhabitants of the
world are already organized into a structure of hopes and expectations.
They then maintain and transform that structure by their action and
counter action. ….. "Men make their own history but they do not make it
just as they please they do not make it under circumstances chosen by
themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered given and
transmitted from the past. Knowledge is the means by which social
action is undertaken, in turn social action transform knowledge. Such
knowledge not objective but instrumental is at the center of the world
and provides it with possibilities. the interaction has been aptly
called the social construction of reality." (Lowe 1982)

If one
participates in the society or culture - and is in a certain way
intrinsically connected to his/her culture - then one must be cognizant
of the values, rules, and laws which govern that culture. In other
words in a certain way, within this certain dimension of reality both
individual and culture are co-dependent phenomena. To understand this
co- dependence and how it affects us as individuals, one then must
acquire the necessary education to navigate the complexity of one’s
society and the system of governance that rules over that society. And
it is just here where individual meditation may not be enough to
navigate this intersubjective reality, and provide the spark by which
the unique individual can lead and help transform the collective.

Recently
the Dalai Lama stated that to do meditation was not enough to change
the world, one must in fact take action in the world. Of course that
action should be grounded in ones meditation practice, (as it thereupon
can become detached or self-less action) but there are certainly other
factors at play which must be considered before we can truly navigate
the vicissitudes of this world. Foremost above these factors is perhaps
the ability to become cognizant of the forces which are driving our
social reality. Now perhaps the best way to do this is by a sadhana
which opens us to higher ranges of consciousness from which we can
gather a perspective on the universal forces and beings shaping worldly
events. And this should certainly be the first course of action for one
practicing yoga.

The caveat here is that not too many of us can
really say we have integrated these perspectives which radiate from
these higher planes of consciousness into our being, and moreover it is
especially difficult to validate these inner experiences of higher
consciousness without a Guru, who has already negotiated this sublime
terrain, to guide us. But even if we can internally validate these
experiences, in our post-metaphysical secular societies it is difficult
to share such realizations, because without empirical verification they
will find no audience to help initiate action.

So if the yoga is
timeless but after 1973 the guide by whom we could place full faith in
matters, not only of the soul but of the world itself is no longer
present, then we all must assume responsibility for all those aspects
of the sadhana which not only open to us to the a luminous subjective
reality, but will also allows us to shed light upon the intersubjective
reality as well.

Once again we live and must make choices to
initiate action in the world. We are intrinsically part of civil
societies where we are bound to make choices. (In a very real sense in
this world we are condemned to choose) If we are responsible to the
principles of the societies of which we are part, then we participate
in referendum and in electing representatives who will initiate and
modify laws which will shape the future of our society and perhaps may
play a small role in the course the evolution of consciousness takes.
In addition we are also the targets of marketing ploys whose intent is
to sell us a myriad of products derived from all sorts of labor
(independent, union, sweatshop, child) which in some way or other we
all consume.

So how are our choices shaped after 1973?

How
do we choose the proper action when it comes to supporting issues of
the world which have changed since 1973 ranging from human cloning, to
displacing masses of the people so dams can be built, to globalized
labor conditions, to geo-political strategy in the Middle East and
South Asia?

In short, it can be said that in no way does
educating oneself to these contraversial issues of culture by means
other than meditation or yogic epistemology - such as science,
philosophy, psychology, poetry ?" imply that one necessarily follows a
dangerous or forked path! It would surely be absurd to ignore these
important aspects of human knowledge and experience, especially if we
purport to be doing yoga in the world!

In fact, the process of
educating oneself to make choices, which perhaps are alternatives to
the norms of social practice, is in itself part and parcel of the
evolution of consciousness, it is part of differentiating oneself from
the collectivity, and I would go out on a limb to argue are proper to
the integral yoga as well! This is due to the fact that the ability to
make such choices begins to free the individual subject from what can
be categorized the tyranny of the majority or authority; this ability
can also illuminate our action in the world. To discard such paths of
inquiry into the proper course of action in the world in favor of some
romanticized mysticism which eschews engagement with the world is to
risk submitting oneself to the hierarchy of authorities who have their
own agendas to play out. This subjugation to false gurus and prophets
is an age old problem. It is one both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother warn
us against when they encourage us to find the true guru in our own
hearts and to not neglect our responsibility for acting within the world

So
the world does change and I would argue that although we must go into
our sadhana to try and find inspiration for action, that given, the
absence of the Maha-Guru our personal limitations and levels of
realization, that when engaging in an intersubjective reality of the
culture - where others may disagree with our opinions and
interpretations - that by all means we must gather enough knowledge
both sacred and secular and couple this with the proper conscious
intention and sincerest of aspirations to be able to make intelligible
decisions which can be effectively communicated to the society in which
we reside.

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother were both keen observers
and commentators or culture and at times took direct action in that
culture. e.g. Sri Aurobindo urging Congress to accept the Cripps
proposal or both He and Mother raising funds for the war effort.

I
will also add that in some significant areas of world affairs both Sri
Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s ideas about the proper course of action to
take in the world also evolved as circumstances changed. One of these
changes was mentioned earlier, in which he decided to actively withdraw
from the Indian independence struggle. So if the world is constantly
evolving and we must act in accordance with it’s changes, and to do
this we must gather knowledge to illuminate the actions we take, to
gather such knowledge in both its sacred and secular dimensions is not
to turn our backs on the yoga, but is indeed to help facilitate its
highest aspirations.

Rich

Works cites: Essay’s on the Gita, Sri Aurobindo The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo
The History of Bourgeois Perception, Donald Lowe

Note:
this email was sent by a member of the post-Aum 2005 ignoramus club
anyone of higher intelligence attempting to discern meaning from the
contents herein maybe sorely disappointed. Its unauthorized
reproduction is permitted as long as you take its message both explicit
and implicit with a grain of salt.