Now and then, there is a little uprising by some folks or others, saying that yoga is against their religion, or claiming that yoga is a religion and should be avoided by those who belong to their faith. As if yoga is something to fear. If we look at the definition of yoga in BKS Iyengar's Light On Yoga, it says, “the system of yoga (yug=to yoke) is so called because it teaches the means by which the jivatma (individual human spirit or soul) can be united (or “yoked”) to, or be in communion with, the Paramatma (Supreme Universal Spirit).” The means is the eight fold path of yoga which trains the whole being to look within, not to an outer authority, for its grounding in unlimited, loving consciousness. Thus, yoga could enhance ones practice of their chosen religion, yet is not limited to those who do.
The best definition of the Soul that I have come across recently is from a book entitled, The Intuitive Way, by Penny Pierce. In it she says, “the soul is a function of consciousness that interconnects the individual with the universal.” Yoga establishes one in that function of consciousness called the soul.
And the soul is without fear.
Every so often, I have a dream of being in the middle of a natural disaster, usually a flood. But, sometime during the dream, I realize that I am not at all afraid, its just an experience and I begin to enjoy it. When I think of the great spiritual masters of history, who faced tremendous resistance, obstacles, and violence and yet carried on without any compromise of their love for humanity, I think, perhaps, they lived life in the realization of the soul, fearless. They seem to have enjoyed the experience. They seem not to have been attached to expectations and outcomes so were not driven to distractions that compromised their inner peace and purpose. The obstacles brought out their skillfulness and enhanced their self-empowerment rather than self-defeat.
In the Athabascan folklore, Raven represents the creator of the universe. In Anne Hanley’s delightful play, “The Winter Bear”(at Cyrano's through 11/14), Raven conjures up a snow storm just as a search team is looking for a missing woman in the wilderness. Wolf, a member of the team, says to Raven, “This is NOT fun and games”, to which Raven replies, “Cosmically, Everything is fun and games.” The universal message appears to be, enjoy the obstacle course, enhance your skills, don’t take things so seriously. Stay on purpose and have fun with it!
Namaste,
Lynne
