Today I woke up at 6:30 to move across town to Gokulam, a section of town in the Northwest of Mysore. It was an easy move and the place where I am staying is only about $100 a month. Pretty sweet deal, but no internet or TV. So I will be spending most of my time out in the local town and in the city.
I practiced after I moved in, at about 9, though I just found out that Shala time is 20 minutes ahead. So I was the last one out of the studio, since I forgot the order of the postures, specifically the side angle poses. Saraswathi made me do them again, it was really testing of my stamina. But I am teaching my body the series, which is necessary for me at this point because I have to think about every posture before I do it. Obviously, I was thinking about the wrong things. It will just take some time.
So it was a tough practice, I always stay a little extra in Savasana, past where I want to get up, because it feels amazing and honestly its pretty easy to just stay for 15-20 minutes. I am working on resetting all of my internal clocks, if that makes sense.
Afterwards, I wanted to find somewhere new for lunch, I spend a lot of my time at the Sri Chakra Yoga house because they have free wi-fi and good food. But I took a little walk around town and found out that Osho’s method has teachers at the Mystic Yoga Shala, which is known as the second best shala around (According to an Ayurvedic oil distributor that I met. Osho died about a year after I was born, but his tradition and meditation practice was so powerful that it continues internationally, even today. I didn’t even realize he was dead because I have watched his YouTube videos and they are so powerful and current that I assumed he must have just made them in the last few years.
I signed a contract yesterday when I signed up with Saraswathi that I would only practice pranayama and asana with her. Osho teachers use meditation, so I am really hoping I can study at both because I won’t be working on pranayama at all. I ate at the Osho shala for lunch and it was one of the most relaxing places I have ever been. It had a nice little pool, a sauna, and of course, a hammock on a rooftop cafe. The Osho teacher comes back in March, so I can practice meditation with him. But I am going to make sure its cool with Saraswathi, I really don’t want to offend her or get kicked out of the shala.
I took a class on the yoga sutras of Patanjali. I got pretty lucky by bringing Iyengar’s ‘Light on the Yoga Sutras’, which has the original sutra texts.
It was a great day even though I didn’t learn new asanas.
I went to sleep around 9 for my 4am practice, staying in my new place. check out the pictures:
Brahmacharya means to follow Brahman. To seek supreme reality, self, and god. In this aspect, Brahmacharya is inherently Hindu. It also represents fidelity when married, simple living, and celibacy when unmarried. Brahmacharya is also taken more seriously by many ascetics, including being complete celibate and emphasizing chastity for obtaining moksha.
However, Brahmacharya is a concept that exists in Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism for monastic life that includes complete celibacy and no marriage.
Brahman is the universal spirit of Hinduism, the “divinity” that is at the core of each being, but also represents absolute reality and the universal-self.
Charya is a word that means following conduct, following, engaging, and is usually translated as virtuous.
Together, these words form the concept of following dharma towards moksha, or liberation. This concepts form the 4th Yama in the Hindu tradition and one of Mahavira’s eight teachings. It is a concept that follows alongside dharma, providing guidelines to act upon.
Okay, so let’s adapt this concept to modern life. If you are acting in a divine way, you aren’t doing anything that doesn’t feel great to you, this can include whatever you want it to include. You avoid pain and suffering. Other people’s judgement of the lifestyle that you choose is irrelevant to your own happiness, so forget about what people think about how you live. You can do whatever you want or need to do to make yourself happy, as long as it doesn’t intrude upon the divinity of other people. Understanding that each being is divine and contains this magic spark of life and that they are free to express that in whatever that being chooses to is important to being able to express your divinity.
Obviously this can apply to a wide variety of things. Suburbs made of concrete and tar do not respect the divinity of the land they are on. The trees around the developments have to be implemented and instead of cultivating and terraforming in congruence with the growth of the land, it is chopped away and replaced and completely controlled. We are not respecting the divine nature of the self-sustaining natural ecosystem by replacing it with our structures and squares that aren’t made in conjunction with prosperity for the land that it is on.
It also applies to relationships. How often do you feel great after a one night stand? What kind of bonds do you want with the romances in your life? How is it that we always remember our freaking roommates?!? How can you possibly be happy living with another person? I think a lot of relationship things come down to compatibility. Can the two people stand each other while they change over time? Do they explore together, or drive around in circles separately? What do they want out of life? What are their values, or what do they consider important? All of these things have to be compatible, not necessarily the same. When you find someone who has values, habits, beliefs, etc. that are compatible with your own, you can feel a sense of overwhelming calm, as if it was meant to be. Sometimes you can forget what it was like before you knew that person. I think this is all a side-effect of the human condition, of our own divinity, if you will.
But anyways, what does that mean, compatibility? Hell if I know, but I think it means that you don’t over-react to each other, that you live in somewhat similar circumstances. Tolerance is key, but honestly, it sucks. Shared passions I think make the greatest compatibility.
Find someone else that is compatible really comes down to the search. How you go about looking for love. Friends can become great lovers. So can expedited friendships that immediately turn into relationships. No need to rush things, everyone is already thinking about sex way too much in this country. People tend to find each other when they are following their passions. A lot of times, this is at work. I think that understanding that the other being is divine is key to the core respect of the relationship, or at least understanding that they are the same as you in so many ways. Even if you don’t use the word divine, instead maybe “hypercomplex”, “ultrasmart”, “understanding”, etc. I think divine is a great word to describe human capacity and potential. It is the only word that really encapsulates the tremendous power of it all, of human existence.
After all, we are closer to the size of mountains than the size of atoms. We are not insignificant cosmically, especially the complex molecules of our bodies regulatory systems. Whether you believe in divinity, or nothing, I believe we are talking about the same thing.
You see, to believe there is nothing is to deny the sense and all prior experience. To believe in something is order with the way of the cosmos. So if we make the assumption that the cosmos is, then the next question, inevitably, is what is the source of the cosmos. The only possible answer to this, is the cosmos itself. So the universe is its own source. To believe that a god created this source is to lack accounting for the source of god. So Hindus believe that Brahmacharya is to act in accordance with the universal laws of dharma, or the universe. Celibacy is definitely not necessary to truly be immersed in Brahmacharya.
Mahavira or Varhamana was the 24th and last Tirthankara (person who has conquered Samsara) of Jainism, therefore the founder, or reformer of the Jain religion. Mahavira, like the legends of the
Mahavira
buddha, was born into a royal family in Bihar, India. The name Mahavira means great warrior, though in youth Mahavira received what he desired, his father being the king. Some traditions state that he was celibate, some that he married, but most agree that he was born in 599 BCE achieved moksha in 527.
Mahavira spent 30 years traveling through India to teach his philosophy with eight cardinal laws. Mahavira abandoned his royal life at the age of thirty. Over the next twelve years, Mahavira honed his senses and killed his desires so that he became all-knowing and all-seeing in the eyes of his disciples. He taught that pursuit of pleasure is endless, equanimity of mind, and self-restraint as a means to obtain enlightenment of the greater population. At the age of 72, in 527 BCE Mahavira died and is said to have obtained nirvana.
Mahavira to the right
Mahavira taught 8 core tenets, which correspond to other teachings you are likely familiar with in the aim to increase quality of life. The eight teachings are: ahimsa (giving the highest respect and most possible kindness to each being), Satya (truthfulness, which leads to confidence), Asteya (non-stealing, one should not take anything if not properly given), Bramacharya (control over sexual pleasure), and Aparigraha (non-attachment). Sound familiar? These are the 5 yamas, or the first limb of yoga. It’s interesting to think that the two religions overlapped, but in truth, all religions do in one way or another.
Mahavira was intensely intellectual and even the Buddha is argued to be one of his mentors. He paved the way for all of Jainism and for the religions of India to flourish during the next hundreds of years. He taught a philosophy of enlightened society that was influential and coincided with traditions that would last India until the modern-day.
Comparing two religions in their similarities, differences, and the in-between
“Can you do a simple comparison of Hindu versus Buddhism at some time in the future?” -Inga D
This article comes from a request from my good friend Inga, thanks for the great idea!
Most of my experience with these two religions is based upon my knowledge of their holy texts and the philosophy I have gained through school and yoga. I am extremely excited to experience these religions more fully in about 3 weeks when I leave for India. Kathmandu is supposedly a fusion of Hindu and Buddhist traditions and I will be there from April 3rd to the 17th.
Hinduism and Buddhism seem to come from a shared ancestry, both place an enormous amount of emphasis on non-violence amongst other core tenets. Both are more lifestyle oriented ways of life rather than simply belief systems and have origins in Ganges culture of northern India during about 500 BCE.
Buddhism supposedly focuses on the teachings of a single teacher while Hinduism’s teachings are from scattered sources, but there are many influences that are shared, or responded to in the Buddhist religion. For instance, the Upanishads seemed to be responded to by many Buddhist tenets and in fact, most Hindus consider Buddhism to be an offshoot of their religion, considering the Buddha to be an avatar of Vishnu.
Even the meditational 7th and 8th limbs of yoga, Dharana and Samadhi and shared as meditation foundations in Buddhism. Both religions believe that life is full of suffering based on your prior karma and that it is your purpose to follow Dharma, or your righteous path which leads to enlightenment, or freedom from suffering. Both religions reject the idea of angels (protective spirits), or prophets, tend to be extremely open to female ascetics (more so in Buddhism), and both are open to atheists. Click for more information on Hinduism or Buddhism.
Now onto major differences in the religions, we’ll start with what could be the basis of all religions: god and creation. Hinduism believes that god is in everything, that all beings are a part of the Brahman, or eternal energy source of the universe. Therefore, there are a handful of primary deities and many accessory deities in the Hindu pantheon of gods. Buddhism, on the other hand, believes that there is no creator god and that at the core of the human, there is nothing. They explicitly reject a creator god and do not pay heed to any delusions of god that other religions may have, though they respect the beliefs of other religions. Jainism, which has many shared roots with both religions, teaches a sustaining god at the source of the universe who has always been and always will be. This seems to the biggest difference in religions.
The second, and arguably most important difference in the two religions are the tenets of enlightenment. Hindus believe enlightenment is liberation from Samsara to be one with god while Buddhists believe that Nirvana is truly realization of the nothing within, giving freedom from suffering by realizing the freedom of nothingness.
The third major difference is within the meditation practices of each religion, most likely because of the different ways liberation is obtained. Buddhists practice meditation with liberating cognition, or thought patterns, while Hindus practice to slow the mind and to cease thought. Because god is at the source of nothing, focusing on nothing is focusing on god, opposed to Buddhism in which focusing on nothing would not be liberating. The Buddha was the one to express a constant mindfulness, rather than one that would be turned on to practice yoga and meditation, then off during the rest of the day which was a big leap from the philosophy of the Upanishads.
Both religions believe in miscellaneous deities, though Hinduism is the only one to accept them as more than illusion. Hinduism can even have personal gods, as well as personal pantheons of gods. Many Hindu believers belief in thousands, if not millions of different gods, depending on their tradition. Neither puts an intense focus on these devas, or illusory gods, but both are reverent towards the beliefs of the individual.
Hinduism tends to be stricter in practice, at least from the original tenets of Buddhism. Hindus will be extremely mindful while during their rituals, exacting, meticulous, and during yoga you can see that there is a flexion of focus and mindfulness. Buddhists take this concept and apply it constantly, always striving for greater mindfulness, even during things like defecation and chores. Buddhists use the mind as a tool for exploration, while Hindus generally think of the mind as a hinderance from enjoying the pleasures of god.
The most impactful religious knowledge is made more powerful in conjunction with knowledge from different religious traditions and with global perspective on humanity. In other words, combining multiple religions to take the best aspects of each can lead to the most powerful realizations about our shared existence as humans and can help us to unveil our nature and hopefully, to find freedom from the sufferings of this world, in one way or another.
We live in a world that is highly evolved and diversified; yoga is no exception. Yoga has evolved rather quickly, since Krishnamacharya trained Iyegnar and Jois in the 1930s and 40s. With the astounding rise of the popularity of yoga, combined with the lack of organization, clear history, and methodologies, many individuals and groups of people have developed methods for specific purposes, or to target certain systems in the body.
Patthabi Jois and Iyengar were two students of Krishnamacharya that developed their own specific styles. Jois developed a gymnastic, cardiovascular and demanding practice with strict guidelines called Ashtanga; Iyengar deviated from his teacher, Krishnamacharya’s demanding practice and developed a softer, knowledge and alignment based style of yoga named after him. Ashtanga, in particular, is the building block for all vinyasa yoga in the west; but Hatha yoga shares many of Ashtanga’s principles and esoteric philosophy. There is even more overlap as the yoga becomes more diversified and dispersed throughout the globe.
This list is very short compared to the amount of styles that have been developed to practice yoga. Yoga is something that is personal, so multiple interpretations of the same truths was inevitable. There is no one style that is better than another, though there are definitely discrepancies in difficulty, objectives, anatomical focuses, and mental effects. The things to remember is that yoga is not dogmatic, or canonical; there are only guidelines and yoga is a technology for unlocking the mind and body through control of the nervous system with breath and respiratory manipulation and it should be personalized.
I think this is the biggest reason why yoga is so challenging for many people to wrap their heads around. 30 million in the US people practice yoga now, but that is only 10% of the total population and in reality, everyone can benefit from meditation, stretching, and movement based breathing exercises. I am absolutely missing some styles (let me know in the comments!), but these are the styles of yoga that are most popular and used in the US right now.
Ashtanga vinyasa yoga is the system of yoga developed by Pattabhi Jois that is thought of as a lineage of classical indian yoga. The eight limbs refer to Patanjali and the 8 limbs of yoga which are spiritual yogic practices. There are six sequences designed to be practiced over 6 days, with Saturday off and a day off for the full moon. This is a controversial form of yoga that tends to have high injury rates, but also many highly dedicated yogis. Kino MacGregor is a modern teacher of the system with more of a inspirational view on her own practice to emphasize the incredible intensity and reward of the daily Ashtanga practice.
Hatha
Supposedly founded by Shiva, the Hatha yoga asanas are the basis for yoga in the world today. Usually, it refers to the text written by Yogi Swatmarama written in the 15th century that expounds details of yoga philosophy and physical aspects of the postures. Hatha yoga is often used to mean physically oriented and static yoga postures. Hatha tends to be a broad category and oriented towards mostly physically oriented asana.
Yin yoga has an extremely interesting lineage, grounded in Taoism and founded by Paulie Zink, but is popularized because of Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley. Yin yoga emphasizes longer stretching and the connections of joints through ligaments and tendons and a more passive side of yoga. The flow of qi through the meridian centers is increased according to the Chinese philosophy of the practice and the practice is more focused on regeneration and acceptance into the union of the universe. Yin yoga is traditionally meant to compliment traditional yang yoga, though there is a lot of work being done to widen the spectrum between the extreme lows of 15 minute stretches and then adding more and more movement. Bernie Clark is an excellent propagator of the practice and I highly recommend his videos for beginning a Yin oriented practice. It is a great way to wake up and fall asleep.
This style is named after Bikram Choudhury and 26 poses that he developed at the yoga college of India, where he was also the world champion for 3 straight years. Bikram yoga has concepts taken from Hatha yoga, which Bikram used as an influence to create his 26 postures. One of the great additions Bikram has made to the yoga community is the heat of the room; this heat can help to remove toxins from the body and the increase the metabolic speed and rate at which the body replenished tissue. The Bikram practice is powerful, each posture is done twice and there are two great breathing exercises as well as a lot of balancing work. However, you won’t find many arm balances, or inversions, which are a cornerstone of many of the more traditional systems of yoga. Tony Sanchez is a teacher to pay attention to, though I don’t have any personal experiences with his asana practice, though he trained with Bikram for 20+ years.
Vinyasa
Vinayasa yoga is oriented around the practice that was propagated by Patthabhi Jois as classical Indian yoga, involving sun salutations, jumping through arms, gymnastic oriented exercises such as handstand, forearm stands, and arm balances. All vinyasa yoga is adapted from his method, because of the foundation of sun salutations in the West, but movement aligned with breath is a far older meditational practice than Jois’ practice based on Krishnamacharya’s teachings. Vinyasa is now a broader category, and emphasizes cardiovascular and single breath movements.
Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar played a huge role in bringing yoga to the West.
This is the man to learn from, he was one of the original students of Krishnamacharya along with Patthabhi Jois. Practiced, knowledgable, but unfortunately, he passed in 2014, right before I was able to make it to India in 2015. However, his source book is incredible and I have used it for literally hundreds of hours of asana. He describes poses with full depictions where he demonstrates the hardest and most dedicated of yoga postures. He is an incredible teacher who split from Patthabhi Jois’ Ashtanga method, instead creating his own style after deciding to go solo when Krishnamacharya would not help him to customize his own practice to suit his body type and needs. His practice is personal, fulfilling, gentle, mentally brutal, and extraordinarily fulfilling. His softer, gentle, and customized approach will continue to spread throughout North American for the next decade.
Anusara is classified as a type of Hatha yoga, originally started by John Friend in 1997 who was heavily influenced by Iyengar. The practice emphasizes universal principles of alignment and is grounded in tantric tradition. Friend explained the name of the practice as “flowing from grace”. John was involved in a scandal in 2012 that led to him stepping down from Anusara after admitting affairs with teachers and allegedly founding a wicca coven where he would engage with the women of the coven sexually. Suffice to say I don’t practice Anusara, but I do take significant influence from Iyengar, who influenced friend. Anusara has some great concepts of alignment, but the practice doesn’t resonate with me personally.
This is a style of yoga developed by David Life and Sharon Gannon in 1984. It combines elements of Hatha, Ashtanga with emphasis on moral alignment in tune with vegetarianism, animal rights, social activism, and adherence to five central tenets: shastra, bhakti, ahimsa, nada, and dhyana. I am not at all familiar with the method, but each month there is a new theme with new chanting and practices, with an emphasis on progression in the yoga practice. This type of yoga tends to be popular among celebrities and can have focuses on having a personal teacher that massages during Savasana and a whole host of other assistant type activities.
Kripalu is a non-profit based retreat center in Massachusetts. The 16,000 square foot building in Stockbridge is the largest holistic center in the country and can hold up to 650 people for a single night. This style of yoga concentrates on inner focus, meditation, breath work, and development of a quiet mind. Amrit Desai is the founder of the method and center and began it to provide yoga classes and teacher trainings. He named the Kripalu system after Swami Kripalvananda whom Desai met in India. However, in 1994 Desai resigned after admitting to sexual intercourse with followers.
Kundalini is based on a 1935 treatise with Sivananda Saraswati and is heavily influenced by tantra and Shakta schools of Hinduism. The practice combines prana-yama, asana, meditation, chanting, and meditation to excite the nervous system to extraordinary levels. This is a type of yoga that you should absolutely try if you are at a good level of health. It is called the yoga of awareness and aims to cultivate the creative and spiritual potential of the yoga by focusing on truth-speaking, karma, and spirituality.
Power yoga is the adapted version of Ashtanga to fit the Western practice of yoga, Bryan Kest is currently advertised as the founder, though I am really not sure who is. I like to think that Kest is, because he practiced with David West in Hawaii and was a student of Patthabhi Jois, which Baptiste was not. Though I honestly have no idea where it came from, but today it is a popular term for intense vinyasa yoga, sometimes occurring in a heated room. The primary propagators of this practice are Bryan Kest, Baron Baptiste, Larry Schultz, though it really refers to the style of yoga propagated by Bryan Kest and Baron Baptiste focusing on Ashtanga based meditational yoga. Bryan Kest is far and away my favorite teacher of this type of yoga, though the practice is certainly rewarding in and of itself.
Bhakti yoga is traditional and devotional by tradition, but is being grown into a specific type of vinyasa (power yoga) by Rusty Wells with a focus on spirituality, love of god, and devotion. It is also described as a path of yoga, different from Raja yoga from which Ashtanga is derived and doesn’t necessarily involved asana, but incredible amounts of time in prayer and meditation. This type of yoga focuses on a personal god and aspires to unify each step along the path of Dharma with the divine. practices include chanting and meditation with an emphasis on love. This is a growing style that I have really only seen on the West coast, but has ancient traditions in Hinduism.
Mysore Style
Mysore style is personal practice of the Ashtanga primary series, with a focus on individual asana performance and the warm-up of the primary series. Daily practice with a day of rest on Saturdays and for the full and new moon. This is the practice I will be learning a lot more about in India when I travel to Mysore, with an emphasis on the Ashtanga method.
It will be interesting to see how this article might change over the next few months and years, I will likely rewrite it later.
Aparigraha is the concept of non-greed, or non-possessiveness from Jainism and the Raja/Ashtanga yoga traditions. This means limiting possessions to what is necessary or important to live. The five yamas are shared with Jainism in their sacred vows and Sadhus traditionally have very few, if any possessions.
The word literally means non-grasping and greedlessness. ‘A’ creates a contradiction or antonym in sanskrit, so parigraha means reaching out to take for one’s self. The idea behind the concept is to take no more than what is necessary. This includes refusing gifts.
Aparigraha creates detachment from material and worldly things. Strict Jains will completely renounce all property and social relations. But these extreme examples might be considered out of natural balance. Human contact and relations are healthy and necessary parts of life.
Renouncing material possessions is impossible in a consumer based society. So we have to work outside of the ideal, in the realities we face as a modern world. But understanding that excess can easily create suffering is an important concept. Acceptance of what you have been given is the most important lesson here.
The key is the amount of energy one expends on the taking, or accumulating possessions. Great examples of this are shoe collections, expensive super cars, and 13,000 square foot houses. The excess literally creates inconvenience, not to mention the attachment to a material and fleeting object. One can understand that these things likely do not contribute to happiness, but can easily take away from contentment; the addiction to needing more is an easy trap to fall into. Detachment from material possessions creates freedom. If you have seen ‘Fight Club’, you can understand how material possessions can slowly begin to take over your life. Take what you need, but understand that the idea of ‘more’ can be toxic.
Social interaction are also important to detach from, another main concept of aparigraha. It allows you to appreciate the intricacies of the interactions and to see the true nature of the relationship. The idea is to live in harmony with the people you are interacting with. Not attaching to particular conversations can be necessary in complex relationships. Being able to separate from others to see the truth in situations is extremely important to friendships, marriages, parenting, etc.
I will conclude that like all other things, aparigraha requires balance and should not be taken on with a full head of steam to lose all possessions and completely detach from the world forever. Instead, work the idea of having less into your life, maybe getting rid of a third car, or not being worried about the size of your television (although, big TVs are pretty awesome!). So take this concept, like all others, in moderation, especially at first.
It can be easier to detach from the world, rather than be accepting of it. This is the final piece of the puzzle, to be accepting of what you truly do need! This will vary from individual to individual, so comparing yourself to others is quite irrelevant for positivity of the concept to have an effect on you.
Uddiyana Bandha is the second yogic muscular lock that occurs at the bottom of the rib cage. Uddyiana bandha is popularized, but largely misunderstood, I believe. Uddiyana means upward flying and bandha means energy seal, so this interlock moves energy up the spine. This opposed the mula bandha (root) lock descending down to the base of the spine. The Uddiyana bandha is important for inversion work, floating into handstand, jump backs from crow, etc. Think of anything where you are moving the trunk large distances as requiring the bandha lock. This is why lots of movements occur at the end of an exhale, because your abdominals are compressed towards your spine making for spinal stability during movement.
Uddiyana bandha is not a hollowing of the stomach! For some reason, people think that caving your stomach in supports your spine, but this is not true. Uddiyana bandha is far more of an engagement of the abdomen through breathe. Uddiyana bandha can be practiced in a wide variety of positions and the only time the stomach should be caved is after an exhale while doing prana-yama. Otherwise, Uddiyana bandha is simply the upward abdominal engagement of the obliques.
Most people will refer to the abdominal lock by hollowing the stomach in breathing exercises, but in truth, the muscular lock is a complex anatomical binding that allows for inversion and stabilized trunk movement in space.
The term Uddiyana bandha refers to the following muscles: the illiopsoas (hip flexor, walking muscle), the obliques, and the diaphragm. Together, these muscles are what allows you to walk, run, and move in space. This is why you will find so much yoga focusing on the psoas: think crescent lunge, low lunge, backbends, and hamsting lengthening in pyramid or ardha hanumanasana. a lot of yoga is geared towards making the psoas more malleable and flexible so that the body has more freedom for movement.
Patthabi Jois knew the importance of the bandhas, which is why the ashtanga system makes such heavy use of them. These interlocks can be attended to in each pose to allow for alignment, energetically and physically, of the spine. But to be honest, I’m fairly disappointed at the lacking of knowledge in this area. The uddiyana bandha is one of the more important muscle groups in the body and will take your practice to the next level will mindful work. Yes, even if you are already jumping into handstands.
This concludes part 2 of the bandha series. Check back soon for the Jalandhara bandha, part 3!
If you haven’t gotten a chance, check out part 1 here
Asteya is a Sanskrit word; it means non-stealing, non-coveting, and not entering into debt. Asteya is a yama, meaning it is a traditional Yama, as well as a part of the 8 limbs of the Ashtanga philosophical tradition.
But Asteya means more than non-stealing money, possessions, or ideas; it is about the flow of energy in your life. Putting more in that you get out. Giving rather than taking. Being of service, rather than taking advantage to further your self.
I think that the idea of selflessness is important to this concept, the idea that the world does not revolve around you. You are a part of something larger than yourself merely by the fact that you exist. So having awareness of your effects on the environment and outside world is probably the most important aspect of Asteya. Once you have awareness of your environment, you can start to understand how you interact with it.
So intrinsically, Asteya requires awareness and as the awareness elevates, so does the need for giving back to the world around you. Joy is said to be greatest when help others, so living your life in service to the health and prosperity of others is really what Asteya is trying to get at. Stop thinking of your self and start thinking about everything that is intertwined with your self; the sun, the cycles of the moon, the plants and animals that are living around you, etc. These things have far more of an effect on us than I think we truly realize, so living in harmony with the world will lead to harmony inside of you.
I think that the general concept of Asteya has been completely lost; it is not so different from Dharma in that you allow for life to occur while you enjoy it, rather than trying to determine outcomes. Knowing how the energy in your world is flowing is intrinsic to understand what you are giving back and taking from the world.
The easiest example to understand is food, especially animal products. Humans can only eat as much meat as there are animals in the world. Therefore, in order for the system to be sustainable, you must give back more than you take, or at least have the equation be balanced. Ideally, you give extra so that there is abundance.
Our world is full of takers, people taking and using more than they need. It isn’t our fault; we want to live life the easiest and most convenient way possible, as any animal should, but we are slowly learning that convenience is actually not fulfilling. It is empty. This is how taking things that you didn’t earn is; they are empty, full of lacking. But the lacking is inside of you; it is the lacking of integrity that makes you feel empty.
Try to give back more than you take. This is something our ancestors have really sucked at. We have been taking from the planet since the birth of our race; we just continue to get more efficient at it. One day, we will either understand that the Earth exists for us to nourish and feed as much as it exists to feed and nourish us. It’s a relationship, a two-way street.
Not taking more than you need is difficult. It’s like asking someone who has had one cookie in a jar to stop eating them. But understanding the importance of that first cookie is what is truly important; it is important to appreciate every aspect of the first cookie so that you don’t have to look for more. You understood how awesome the cookie was when you first ate it.
This is especially prevalent in the United States, where we do things simply because we can. Consumerism is teaching us that life is not about the amount that you consume, but it’s about the way that you interact with the things that you consume. Appreciation is probably the most important aspect of this.
The final piece to the puzzle is knowing that you don’t need more. You could probably survive for two weeks without food. Try fasting for a day; it will really help you to appreciate how much you eat!
There are Buddhist monks that don’t eat unless they are given food. This is the ultimate form of Asteya; only taking what the universe offers to you. I don’t know if such extreme measures are needed to understand the concept (they are possibly necessary to completely appreciate it), but it helps to understand that you should be content with where you are in the universe. It’s no better or worse than anywhere else, all of that judgement only exists in your thoughts. Allowing yourself to receive what the universe provides is a practice and a balance; don’t expect the universe to put grains of rice into your mouth from the sky!
Try to integrate this concept of giving as much as you take into your life; driving is huge for this, we expend such massive amounts of energy for no reason! Try to drive less, remember you are taking from inside of the Earth so you can travel its surface.
Satya is the Hindu concept of absolute truth and ultimate reality. In the Matrix, the real world covered in clouds and barren from war would be considered the reality, or Satya of that plane of existence. Satya is a deep underlying concept that spans across the Indian religions and has influenced the cultural practices of the East tremendously.
Satya is a complex sanskrit word, derived from the root word “sat” which is equivalent to the english verb “to be”. This is the most fundamental western verb (based in latin) and at least in French, it is used more than 50% of the time. Sat literally means ideal, pure, and true and refers to Brahman, the universal spirit of the Hindu religion. Satya has several translation because of its complexity:
unchangable
undistortable
beyond distinctions of the space-time continuum
pervades the universe in all of its consistency
absolute truth
reality
Oftentimes, Satya will be compounded with another sanskrit word to mean ultimate, ultra, highest, purest, truest, or highest. Satyaloka means the highest heaven. Satya is a gateway to acknowledgement of the illusion of Moksha, and the enlightened one, or Bodhi, becomes aware of the true nature of Satya. Satya also has a connotation of benevolence, giving it another meaning of love and goodness. As an example, the body is not considered Satya, because it changes with time. Patanjali said that “when one is established in speaking truth, the fruits of karma become available to them”. Samadhi is the gateway to Satya, and is the realization of what is truly immutable in this world through oneness with the divine.
Satya is love and absolute truth compounded to form the reality that we live in. It is the immutable, absolute, and unchanging. The Jain idea of an eternal universe becomes very useful for understanding how the Hindus view Satya; the universe has truths that transcend the space-time continuum. Many people consider god and the universe to be interchangeable words, but almost every religion in the world recognizes god as love. So these concepts come together in the archetype of Satya, one that doesn’t exist as prominently in the western world.
From here, there is one more point to clarify about truth; is it subjective or objective. I believe that there is objective truth, but that humans can only experience it subjectively because of our consciousness. This means that for us humans, objective truth is not a part of reality, because everything is relative to our own consciousness. It is very hard to know that something will be true in 5,000 years, but this is the essential quality of Satya; it is unchanging.
I would love to hear about what you think of truth, I’m working on a short story now on the topic of truth, check back tomorrow and it will hopefully be finished! (I’m about halfway done now :))
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of my time at the Sri Chakra Yoga house because they have free wi-fi and good food. But I took a little walk around town and found out that Osho’s method has teachers at the Mystic Yoga Shala, which is known as the second best shala around (According to an Ayurvedic oil distributor that I met. Osho died about a year after I was born, but his tradition and meditation practice was so powerful that it continues internationally, even today. I didn’t even realize he was dead because I have watched his YouTube videos and they are so powerful and current that I assumed he must have just made them in the last few years.
