Yoga and Revolution

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I just had a great talk with a friend of mine and I thought I would share some of it.

We were discussing yoga and politics and this is what I said:

"Yoga, truly teaching Yoga in the deepest sense of the word, requires a deeply political decision. It requires this because there are tremendous pressures to teach pseudo Yoga. There are tremendous pressures to teach a superficial version of Yoga with little attention paid to meditation or to the Yamas.

There are tremendous pressures in a capitalist society to teach yoga to make a decent living or to even make a lot of money.

All of these pressures must be confronted and overcome so that one can teach with considerable integrity.

And so it is necessary to identify the ways in which capitalism impacts ones life and ones teachings and understandings and to also think and act in defiance of these pressures.

The stance of defiance is a revolutionary one and a Yogic one.

Yoga is not what it appears to be. It is not a path to happiness. It is the transcendence of that. It is not a path to peace of mind, whatever that means.

The fundamental questions that need to be asked are not postural. More often then not those become distractions.

I think yoga is the practice of learning how to die. And it is the profound increase in ones sense of love to all sentient beings…it is the deep feeling of tenderness that one feels by the countless deaths one must participate in…that is really the ultimate province of the Yogi and of the Revolutionary.

It was in Che’s heart and it was in Buddhas.

#2

[QUOTE=neti-x-neti;23760]I just had a great talk with a friend of mine and I thought I would share some of it.
…
It was in Che’s heart and it was in Buddhas.[/QUOTE]

Very good point! I’m glad a can see somebody asking these questions I
have done myself so many times.
I couldn’t find anyone that had already associated such themes…

Well, in the first place, yoga practice brings radical and revolutionary changes in our culture and personal perspectives. As well, it brings really reavolutionary outcomes.

The practice of the yamas and niyamas are also revolutionary from the point of view of our society. Can you ever imagine our society, based on ignorace and war, dealing with satya and ahimsa? Too much for our political and economical system to bear…

Of course these aspects are related to cultural, ethical and moral values also. And that is the very reason why my perception tells me that we are talking about revolution when we talk about yoga.
It is revolutionary because it is complete, deep, and reaches every and each one of our personal and social paradigms… That is the definition of an activity that may be called revolutionary. An activity that opens possibilities that otherwise would be closed and denied by the dominant forces.

Fidel Castro says that revolution is to challenge theses forces that maintain the world as it is. To challenge ourselves, the power of our own mind, is the way of yoga. In these sense we can reborn to the new, that is present but not fulfilled in the normal stages of our evolutionary process…

Definitely I see that yoga is revolution.
And revolution is changing what is not in accordance with our needs at a given time and space in the nature of the processes we are.

#3

Lucas,

I shortened your name…I hope that is ok.

I am very glad that my perspective seems relevant to you. It is pretty much my obsession these days…the relationship between yoga and revolution is just so clear to me and yet it seems to be almost invisible if one looks at the broad yoga community and the discussions that take place.

I walk around with two books these days…one is Freire?s Pedagogy of The Oppressed and the other is Light On Life by Iyengar.

They are two central revolutionaries…my what it would be like if they had met.

I also could not fail to notice that you are in South America and I in Guatemala.

To those with a class consciousness many things are obvious. To those without it many things are invisible.

I write this from San Marcos and outside a barking dog is chased by a dozen school children down a ancient stone road as the rain falls. The man here at this internet cafe sings a beautiful Hispanic song softly.

Tomorrow I start a month long meditation intensive.

Right now life seems quite good.

#4

[quote=neti-x-neti;23760]I just had a great talk with a friend of mine and I thought I would share some of it.

We were discussing yoga and politics and this is what I said:

"Yoga, truly teaching Yoga in the deepest sense of the word, requires a deeply political decision. It requires this because there are tremendous pressures to teach pseudo Yoga. There are tremendous pressures to teach a superficial version of Yoga with little attention paid to meditation or to the Yamas.

There are tremendous pressures in a capitalist society to teach yoga to make a decent living or to even make a lot of money.

All of these pressures must be confronted and overcome so that one can teach with considerable integrity.

And so it is necessary to identify the ways in which capitalism impacts ones life and ones teachings and understandings and to also think and act in defiance of these pressures.

The stance of defiance is a revolutionary one and a Yogic one.

Yoga is not what it appears to be. It is not a path to happiness. It is the transcendence of that. It is not a path to peace of mind, whatever that means.

The fundamental questions that need to be asked are not postural. More often then not those become distractions.

I think yoga is the practice of learning how to die. And it is the profound increase in ones sense of love to all sentient beings…it is the deep feeling of tenderness that one feels by the countless deaths one must participate in…that is really the ultimate province of the Yogi and of the Revolutionary.

It was in Che’s heart and it was in Buddhas.[/quote]

Look ! A fellow anarchist and luciferic spirit ! :slight_smile:

I agree. But you must also give credit to the devil. He does what he does because there is the need for it. Yep, we must admit that often we learn the good by expereincing the bad. And how could we expereince the bad, if there was no trustworthy, selfish, relentless, never learning good old devil with his temptations, manipulations, superhuman wisdom and ability to sell dirt as gold, and crucify the truth ?

Now, careful with revolutions … most of the times, one can smell sulphur to linger there.

The emancipated people of today of course will say: what nonsense ! The devil ? Hahaha. But this is his greatest achievement, that we think he does not even exist. And so useful ! Now, you can’t blame the devil if some poor fella’ does something wrong. Does anyone question what he went through, what led him there, what temptations he faced, and why he failed ? No. He is a bad person, a deranged mind, a criminal, someone to blame and punish. Yes, this is the devil’s geratest achievment, that we do not recognize him in the wrongdoer. And so we are left without compassion, emapthy, and understanding, and become judges and law enforcers in the same time.

When I hear revolution, I hear shooting, killing, extatic talking and shouting without any meaning. Yep, I lived one, so I know how it goes. It is usually result of manipulation or too long opression (what is the work of Satan, not good old Lucifer responsible for pseudo-humanist revolutions, nationalist warmongery). Evere witnessed how a revolutionary talks himself and others into reckles, blood hazed mind ? Nay. Nothing comes through violence, nothing ever good.

The greatest evolution in human history happened without notice, and there is no hystorical evidence for it whatsoever. It did happen in some remote place in a barn among cows and sheep. Some say it never really happened … what kind of makes my point stronger. Credo quia absurdum est.

#5

Two big differences between Yoga and Revolution are scope and locus. Yoga seeks freedom from samskaras, and this seeking must be genuine for each seeker; political and military revolution seek a change that others cannot ignore (except at their peril), whether they sought it or not.
neti-x-neti, may your meditation be fruitful.

#6

Well…the meditation intensive did not work out. Was not sure it would. Tried it and am clearer about what I want and dont want.

Anyway…as far as yoga and revolution goes.

I agree that the term revolution brings up a whole bunch of extreme visions, ideas, historical events, rigid ideologies.

But it also brings to mind Nelson Mandela, Che, Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Rosa Luxemborg, Emma Goldman…it brings to mind the countless women who have made huge sacrifices to move womens liberation forward and to oppose sexism. It brings to mind the gays that were injured horribly in Stone Wall. It brings to mind the man who stood in front of a tank in Tenaman Square.

I know there are serious problems with many passionate political actions and theories. They often cause enormous pain and suffering.

But I am also rather aghast at the responses here. I mean yes there are serious problems with revolution. But keep in mind there are serious problems with poverty, starvation, prostitution, slavery, homelessness, incarceration as well.

The undeniable reality is that in the US the yoga culture-community is white and middle class. Ladies and gentlemen this is not a small problem. It is an absolute crisis.

And as a result of the class and race dynamics of yoga in the US the yoga becomes a white middle class practice. The ideologies of those who practice it the most have a huge impact on how it is taught and how it is understood.

It becomes a path to comfort instead of a path to freedom. They are not the same.

Yes, there are problems with the use of force. Yes, revolutionaries usually feel as if they are entittled to use force to pursue their objectives. And yes, this can be a problem for many yogis.

But you know, I see no evidence that there are a large number of yogis deeply concerned about all force. I see no evidence that the huge number of people practicing asanas has resulted in an equally large number of people deeply concerned about all misuses of power.

In fact, to a blatant degree, the yogic community has gotten into bed with capitalism and become a passionate lover.

It is late late late in the day to discuss revolution for the simple reason that the yogi-capitalism love fest needs to be eliminated as soon as possible.

Funny that few see yogas collusion with capitalism as violence. No. The violence is always the radical and their critique.

#7

Yes! Whippersnappers unite! This is a good one.

I might suggest that perhaps what you seek is not revolution, but rather devolution, meaning get back to basics. Just follow the yoga as it’s laid out for us and the fundamentals of the guru kula, the number-one most essential and fundamental aspect being that success comes only to that student who has sought and followed the teacher and not visa versa. In other words, by being part of a “market,” hanging out the shingle so to speak, the yoga and the process of learning becomes inherently flawed.

These are good questions, but not the battle a yogi should fight. Rather be an example.

peace and love,
siva

#8

hanging out the shingle so to speak, … the process of learning becomes inherently flawed.

I must wholeheartedly agree. I’ve worked in higher education for a while now, and the tension between “the student is the customer; we should provide what the student will pay for” and “the student hasn’t thought yet about what’s worth paying for – that’s why they need us” is huge.

So I’m grateful for every story of a yoga teacher bringing lessons into a prison or offering a free class (ps – world yoga day coming up).

#9

Letter to a Hindu

Tolstoy had correspondence with Gandhi.

The letter I have tried to attach (Correspondence with Gandhi.pdf) is enormously interesting. Gandhi learned from Tolstoy the non-violence.

One point from the letter: How could 30,000 English people subjugate 200
million Indians ? It is that the Indians enslaved themselves. Gandhi agreed.

#10

One point here: right on the first page of the letter of Tolstoy you can read that he feared “the greatest calamities for Japan”…

Everybody knows what happened in Japan.

#11

It is interesting that a shy American intellectual was instrumental in toppling the dictators, by writing a book with practical methods on how to do it:

#12

Here it is a report from the main newspaper in Canada, The Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/the-incredible-power-of-civil-disobedience/article1921343/

The report is about the non-violence in social movements, and it is based on the ideas
of a French philosopher, Etienne Boetie:

#13

Gandhi learned from Tolstoy the non-violence.

Really, and I could have sworn it was from his fav book the Bhagvad Gita which mentions the doctrine of ahimsa in quite some detail. He was also familiar with Jain and Buddhist tradition, in fact his interpretation of ahimsa was more Jain than Hindu.

#14

[QUOTE=siva;23815]Yes! Whippersnappers unite! This is a good one.

I might suggest that perhaps what you seek is not revolution, but rather devolution, meaning get back to basics. [/QUOTE]

Maybe the word you were looking for was renaissance.