We had a special event at the studio last Saturday with Swami Ramananda and Mirabai offering beautiful Yoga philosophy plus Kirtan (call and response chanting) and puja (offering to the Light). It’s been long in coming to invite them and make a more conscious connection with Integral Yoga SF. Thank you to all who joined that day.
The Integral Yoga teachings have provided and continue to provide great insight and practical philosophy for thousands of people since the mid-1960’s. Swami Satchidananda, founder of Integral Yoga and a disciple of Master Sivananda came to the US on the direction of Sivananda and at the urging of Conrad Rooks and artist Peter Max, “‘Swami, America needs you desperately to come there.’ All the hippies were running around, experimenting, trying to become sort of enlightened.” (latimes.com) Swami Satchidananda was one of the first to help create an accessible, integral approach to the Yogic path. Swami Vivekananda is given credit to making the very first public presentation on Yoga in 1893 at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Indra Devi, BKS Iyengar and others are also recognized as early messengers of the teachings around the 60’s and 70’s. That time period seemed to welcome space for a spiritual revolution! I always like to remind myself and others that these teachings exist beyond the hands of those who share it – this is ancient wisdom! And for the ones who can share it skillfully, directly, and practically as Swami Ramananda has, the ability to interpret it is key.
Since I first welcomed Integral Yoga as my teacher training path in 2009, I’ve been aware of the sexual allegations against Swami Satchidananda who left his body in 2002. His cases never went to the court rooms and he himself is said to have denied all accusations. After having inappropriate teachers in grade school, high school and college, I was well aware of the abuse of power that exists on many levels and in nearly every sector. By this point in life, it comes as no surprise that our most holy of places have had the most egregious perpetrators. So learning of Satchidananda’s allegations hasn’t been a shock for me like it has been for many others. For me to initiate a path with Integral Yoga, it was important to me that he had left his body and that his teachings could be carried forward by people who lived the teachings. Since after all, Satchidananda was an interpreter of the teachings, not the originator. And I met many Integral Yoga Swamis that lived the teachings and Swami Ramananda has been a very visible role model of the Integral Yoga teachings.
What’s also valuable to me is that I have found these teachings to hold up extremely well over time. That’s an important distinction when honoring ancient texts – how well do they hold up against the passage of time, as in centuries? Are they asking you to do things in order to exist which cause harm or has reasons for harm in order to further a narrative of supremacist power? Do the teachings and sacred texts become strategically excerpted to favor certain actions while ignoring others? Do they vilify others, their religion, their humanity because yours is more important ie the Chosen People? What good can come from dividing people with caste, constructed racial difference or religion? Yoga’s message is non-religious and offers a path of union. And that union must begin with the self as a body/mind/spirit in order to recognize the union with all life.
Corrupt powers use the “word of G-d” as an undebatable standard in order to make a point. What I appreciate about Yoga is that the practice asks us to look within to connect with the Divine rather than listen to any person of this material plane. We seek the Light of Truth as a resource which, well, certainly can be twisted any way someone would want. So the only reliable journey is one that you choose to take yourself and amongst a trusted community. This will require endurance for the long haul since the structures and systems we’re working with have been in place and designed with great intention, to favor a format of dominance and subservience. There’s nothing wrong with that when you know you’re just playing roles. But when there’s no “getting out of character” and you stay in these roles, power becomes corrupt.
It will certainly continue to be a rough year concerning our headline news. It’s horrific that more deaths have to come to innocent people while many blame someone else for their deaths – a convenient way to twist the inconvenient truth of being an apartheid state. In order to keep going, we must call upon whatever resources we have to help maintain steadiness of mind versus taking power from an agitated, bewildered, perplexed mind. Being resilient is the way of evolution and the way of understanding how a darkened path can become illuminated. There is hope and a great potential for us to initiate change when we can recognize the many sneaky distractions that keep making us think that’s all there is to life.
Let’s stay connected,
Marc
