YOGALife Winter 2000 - Sivananda Yoga
YOGALife Winter 2000 - Sivananda Yoga
YOGALife Winter 2000 - Sivananda Yoga
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S I V A N A N D A<br />
INTO THE<br />
21ST INTO THE<br />
21 CENTURY<br />
ST CENTURY<br />
PEACE PEACE FESTIVAL FESTIVAL<br />
QUEBEC QUEBEC<br />
CANADA CANADA<br />
WINTER<br />
<strong>2000</strong>
2<br />
WORDS OF PEACE 4<br />
Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong> speaks on this very simple, straightforward,<br />
yet difficult-to-obtain quality.<br />
”INTO THE 21ST CENTURY” 10<br />
Elizabeth Nathaniels summarises the multi-faith, multi-cultural,<br />
multi-national event which emphasised practical peace on an<br />
individual level, rather than merely an absence of war.<br />
MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH 12<br />
Masami Kondo of the World Peace Prayer Society speaks on the<br />
power of positive thought.<br />
SIVANANDA SONGBOOK 15<br />
“If You Want to Have Peace in the World” –words and the song<br />
that was especially written for “Into the 21st Century.”<br />
PEACE CHILD 16<br />
Miranda Warner interviews Eirwen Harbottle regarding her<br />
extraordinary efforts with children, on behalf of peace.<br />
DEVELOPING OUR SPIRITUAL EYES 18<br />
Rabbi Joseph Gelberman on transforming grief, terror and<br />
horror into goodness and joy in life.<br />
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI:<br />
SAINT OF PEACE AND TOLERANCE 20<br />
by Rolph Fernandes<br />
SIVANANDA ASHRAM PRISON PROJECT UPDATE 29<br />
MOUNT RUSHMORE SYNDROME 37<br />
Eco-psychologist Allen D. Kanner discusses the modern outlook<br />
- when Narcissism rules the earth.<br />
SANTOSH 40<br />
Contentment, the most misunderstood niyama of Raja <strong>Yoga</strong> is<br />
analysed by Swami Saradananda.<br />
SHAPING YOGA TEACHERS THE SIVANANDA WAY 42<br />
Jody Tyler gives an amusing insight into the Teachers’<br />
Training Course.<br />
Published by<br />
The <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Centre<br />
51 Felsham Road,<br />
London, SW15 1AZ<br />
England. Tel: 0181 780 0160<br />
e-mail: <strong>Yoga</strong>Life@sivananda.org<br />
Headquarters<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp<br />
Eighth Avenue, Val Morin, Quebec,<br />
Canada, JOT 2RO. Tel: 819-322-3226<br />
e-mail: hq@sivananda.org<br />
S I V A N A N D A<br />
A QUESTION OF SUFFERING 6<br />
Swami Vishnu-devananda examines the cause of suffering,<br />
with some pragmatic suggestions.<br />
”INTO THE 21ST CENTURY” PEACE FESTIVAL<br />
1957<br />
WINTER <strong>2000</strong><br />
THE NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE 22<br />
Regent Garihwa Sioui, Secretary General of the Northern<br />
American-Indian nations on a wider definition of peace<br />
– not just among humanity. “We can’t have global peace<br />
if we are abusing another part of creation.”<br />
BEARING WITNESS FOR PEACE 24<br />
Roshi Bernie Glassman, co-founder of the Zen Peacemaker<br />
Order, on the need for healing and experience of unity.<br />
AMERICAN PEACE PILGRIMAGE<br />
IN A MOBILE ASHRAM 30<br />
A modern journey, but the goal is the same since time<br />
immemorial – to see “God” to find inner peace.<br />
PLANET EARTH PASSPORT<br />
Excerpts from Swami Vishnu-devananda’s boundary-breaking<br />
document, that has recently been re-issued. 32<br />
SIVANANDA WORLD MILLENNIUM PEACE PILGRIMAGE 33<br />
Photo highlights of “Into the 21st Century” Peace Festival ... and<br />
schedule for the year <strong>2000</strong>, as the “mission continues”.<br />
MAKING THE BODY ALL EYES 45<br />
Phillip B. Zarrilli on kalarippayatu, the martial/meditation<br />
art of Kerala.<br />
THOUGHTS ON A YOGIC LIFE 47<br />
by Swami Durgananda<br />
The International <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Centre, founded by Swami Vishnu-devananda is<br />
a non-profit organization whose purpose is to propagate the teachings of <strong>Yoga</strong> and Vedanta<br />
as a means of achieving physical, mental and spiritual well-being and Self-realization.<br />
The International <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Centres has its Headquarters in Val Morin, Quebec, Canada,<br />
with centres and ashrams located around the world (see page 58/59 for addresses).
3<br />
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti<br />
Om Peace Paz Paix<br />
Om Shalom Salam Frieden<br />
Blessed Self,<br />
The eternal prayer of humanity is: “Lord grant us peace.” Yet, as much as we pray and talk about it, peace continues to elude most of<br />
us. Of course, peace means different things to different people. To some peace means nuclear disarmament, to others it is an end to<br />
hostilities in any of the many other troubled spots of the world. Still others are sure that peace would come if government budgets<br />
were sufficient to provide proper schools, hospitals, programs for the aged and handicapped. For some peace means financial security.<br />
The first week of August presented an extraordinary experience. Peace advocates and spiritual aspirants from many traditions gathered<br />
at the <strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp in Quebec. They lived together in peace, acknowledging their differences, but trying to find<br />
solutions that they could carry home with them and share with their communities and friends. Yet even while this enthusiastic group<br />
of citizens of the world were happily waving flags, praying for peace, and basking in the sunlight of Canada’s beautiful Laurentian<br />
Mountains, what were their fellow citizens doing? Even within a few miles, how many people were being robbed, humiliated,<br />
murdered? How many children abused and beaten by frustrated parents? How many people were dealing with the pain of facing<br />
their own minds by dulling them with drugs and alcohol? Was hatred not rampant in the world during that week? Where were anger<br />
and greed? For there to be peace in the world, each person must go within to find that “peace that passeth all understanding.” Lust,<br />
anger, greed, hatred, jealousy, envy and fear cannot be banished by public declaration, laws or treaties.<br />
As long as we hate and fear each other there can be no peace. To abolish these negative qualities, which are part of all of us, the<br />
teachings of <strong>Yoga</strong> can be of great value to the modern world. Through the scientifically designed techniques of <strong>Yoga</strong>, one learns to<br />
watch, control, and be able to deal with his/her own mind. Negative emotions and energies are channeled into positive directions.<br />
One learns to identify with the divine nature rather than with the apparent, emotional qualities.<br />
Peace is not an accident. It can only be accomplished by working at it on a daily basis. This was the message of ‘Into the 21st Century’<br />
Peace Festival. We have dedicated this issue of <strong>Yoga</strong> Life to giving a report of that event.<br />
Yours,<br />
Swami Saradananda, Editor<br />
MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH<br />
L ETTER FROM THE E DITOR<br />
OM Namah Sivaya<br />
Dear Friends,<br />
This past summer, I attended ‘Into the 21st Century’, a moving and impressive Festival for<br />
World Peace hosted by the <strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp. African drum and Andian flute<br />
music moved the spirit. Interesting and informative talks moved the mind. Hindu homas and<br />
native American sunrise rites opened the heart.<br />
I had the karma yoga of setting up and taking down the translation equipment; this had the very<br />
pleasant result of enabling me to attend all of the programs. I must admit that I initially approached<br />
the Festival with some trepidation as I did not want to be bombarded with activist cant targeting<br />
this or that global hot spot and urging us to write our Member of Parliament and to donate<br />
generously to the committee to free some unfortunate people from tyranny. The unspoken theme of<br />
‘Into the 21st Century’ was in fact the opposite: “Reform yourself and let the rest of the world reform<br />
itself”, one of my favourite of all of Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong>’s injunctions. The underlying message was that<br />
you can’t create peace in the world or any part of it unless you have peace in yourself.<br />
Much of the Festival was devoted to giving people the incentive and a variety of tools with which to<br />
develop inner peace, each in their own way and each according to their ability and their need.<br />
Another re-occurring theme was that a person could best contribute to world peace not by becoming<br />
a political activist but by becoming personally involved in resolving a local need, providing his or her<br />
own labor rather than making political demands that merely urge someone else to fix the problem.<br />
Yes, there were presentations and references to global peace issues but they too promoted the<br />
application of one’s skills and interests to long-term, low-key and interactive projects. Projects that<br />
could change perceptions so that there would be less need to make the type of political changes that<br />
usually result in deaths, injuries, dislocation and alienation.<br />
The Festival fully reflected the teachings of Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong> and Swami Vishnu-devananda and<br />
showed how those teachings had direct application to issues of personal and international<br />
significance. Swamiji’s teachings elevate the consciousness, open new perspectives on situations of<br />
concern and point to new and more useful approaches to resolving those situations.<br />
Many participants commented on the overall good feeling that the Festival engendered. My own<br />
perspective on the Festival is that it was a five-star success. The speakers were professional in approach<br />
and personal in their message. From the exuberance of Rabbi Gelberman to the disciplined compassion<br />
of Zen Roshi Bernie Glassman and the sophistication of Mrs. Eirwen Harbottle representing the Centre<br />
of International Peacekeeping. Their messages inspired all who attended and helped to focus our<br />
energies.<br />
All the speakers were approachable throughout the week of the Festival with meal times being a<br />
particularly good time for speaking with them at length. Organizationally, everything seemed smooth;<br />
this was due to the constant attention of Shambhavi of the <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp and Jyoti from Montreal. Staff<br />
were open, approachable and enthusiastic. The food was excellent, the grounds were well maintained<br />
and even the weather cooperated. All in all, one of the most outstanding events that I’ve attended in<br />
years. - Sankara, Ottawa<br />
L ETTER TO THE E DITOR
4<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong>:<br />
Words of PEACE<br />
Many people are working<br />
today for the promotion of<br />
world peace without<br />
having peace in<br />
themselves. Their loud propaganda, big<br />
talk and lectures cause more confusion,<br />
conflict and discord. If you want to<br />
have peace in the world, you must first<br />
find the peace within your own heart.<br />
A proper understanding of the<br />
essential unity of religions is the most<br />
effective and powerful factor in<br />
bringing about peace in this world. It<br />
will remove all superficial differences<br />
and conflicts, which create<br />
restlessness, discord and quarrels.<br />
If everyone turns to the Supreme Peace<br />
within, there will be peace everywhere.<br />
A glorious new era of peace, amity, love<br />
and prosperity can be ushered in , only<br />
if the youth of the day is educated in<br />
the methods of self-culture. Educate<br />
the moral conscience of the public. This<br />
will bring lasting world-peace.<br />
You can elevate others only if you<br />
have elevated yourself. This world can<br />
be saved only by those who have<br />
already saved themselves. A prisoner<br />
cannot liberate other prisoners. One<br />
realised sage can do more for the<br />
promotion of peace than a thousand<br />
missionaries preaching and disputing,<br />
day in and day out.<br />
“There will be not war,<br />
if all people practice<br />
truthfulness, universal<br />
love, purity, mercy,<br />
contentment, selfsacrifice,<br />
self-restraint<br />
and tolerance. Nonviolence<br />
is the key to<br />
peace.”<br />
Peace is the happy, natural state of<br />
humanity. It is our birthright. War is<br />
our disgrace.<br />
Peace is a state of quiet. It is freedom<br />
from disturbance, anxiety, agitation,<br />
riot or violence. It is harmony, silence,<br />
calm, repose, rest. Specifically, it is the<br />
absence or cessation of war.<br />
All over the world, great conferences<br />
are held for bringing about universal<br />
peace, universal brotherhood and<br />
universal religion. It is the vanity of<br />
humanity that goads us to reform<br />
society without first reforming ourself.<br />
Vanity rules the world. When two<br />
vain people meet, there is friction and<br />
quarrel. In the case of social reform,<br />
self-styled enlightened people started<br />
interfering with the customs and<br />
manners of others, in an effort to<br />
civilise them. Society lost its<br />
moorings, and the reformers could not<br />
offer new, sound ones. Masses of<br />
people drifted away into chaos. How<br />
can blind people lead other blind<br />
people?
5<br />
No piece of paper called a treaty can<br />
establish peace in this world. The way<br />
of peace is very simple and straight; it<br />
is the way of Love and Truth.<br />
Money cannot give you peace. You<br />
can purchase many things, but you<br />
cannot purchase peace. You can buy<br />
soft beds, but you cannot buy sleep.<br />
You can buy good foods, but you<br />
cannot buy good appetite. You can<br />
buy good tonics, but you cannot buy<br />
good health. You can buy good books,<br />
but you cannot buy wisdom.<br />
Perfect peace cannot be promoted by<br />
anybody who does not have perfect<br />
peace in himself. No political ‘ism’ can<br />
ever solve the problem and bring<br />
about real peace. Each new ‘ism’<br />
creates only more problems and more<br />
quarrels.<br />
Ethics should be put into practice by<br />
all. This alone will contribute to peace,<br />
universal love, unity, proper<br />
understanding and world harmony.<br />
Everlasting peace can be found only<br />
within your own Atman or Self, or<br />
God.<br />
World-peace is possible when all the<br />
people of the world wake up to the<br />
facts governing universal life and<br />
when there is a heart-to-heart feeling<br />
of goodness, love and oneness among<br />
the inhabitants of the world.<br />
Peace, to be lasting and constructive,<br />
must be achieved through God. There<br />
can be no peace without God. God is<br />
Peace. Root yourself in peace or God.<br />
Now you are fit to radiate peace.<br />
S IVANANDA: WORDS OF P EACE<br />
“Love alone can bring peace to<br />
the world. Therefore love all.<br />
Only if everyone practices the<br />
religion of love, can there be<br />
peace in the world.”
6<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
S WAMI V ISHNU- DEVANANDA S PEAKS<br />
A Question of<br />
Suffering<br />
As long as you identify with the body there<br />
is a karma reaction... This law applies<br />
everywhere. Nothing happens without a<br />
cause. Look at this plant. It came from a<br />
cause. There are two things: a cause and<br />
effect. Sometimes we cannot see the cause,<br />
but we can always see the effect. Here the<br />
effect is this beautiful plant and these<br />
flowers. But we do not know who planted<br />
the cause, though we know somebody must<br />
have done that. Cause and effect are one<br />
and the same.<br />
Many religions incorporate the<br />
idea that a person must suffer<br />
and be punished. For example<br />
there is the idea of hell and<br />
purgatory in the Catholic faith. <strong>Yoga</strong><br />
philosophy teaches the law of karma,<br />
whereby each person suffers as a result of his<br />
own bad actions. However, people truly<br />
suffer by virtue of their own ignorance, their<br />
inability to understand who they are and<br />
why they exist. It seems that a person’s bad<br />
actions result from this ignorance. Each<br />
person appears to have come into existence<br />
from a state of total ignorance and must<br />
suffer. We suffer until we find the truth. Why<br />
is this?<br />
Swami Vishnu-devananda: Ignorance is<br />
itself an illusion. Pain itself is an illusion. There<br />
is neither ignorance nor pain. A simple<br />
example: you went to bed last night and had<br />
a nice sleep. Before sleep, you had a dream. Let<br />
us assume you dreamt of a tiger attacking you<br />
in the forest. So what did you say? Oh, it’s a<br />
dream. I can sleep, I can forget about this. You<br />
didn’t do this, did you? No, in the dream you<br />
started running for your life. And how long<br />
did you run? Until you woke from the dream.<br />
When you woke up what happened? The tiger<br />
was gone, the pain was gone. Ah, it’s an<br />
illusion. Now you can laugh, but not during<br />
the dream. Well, we’re all dreaming - a cosmic<br />
dream. She’s my wife. He’s my husband. It’s a<br />
dream. Who’s the wife? Who’s the husband?<br />
Everyday you walk on the street; you see<br />
hundreds of thousands of people. One person<br />
you meet like in a dream. Oh, it’s the dream<br />
girl you’ve been looking for. Ah, this is the<br />
person I must have. From that moment<br />
something has changed. From that moment<br />
onwards he has to bring flowers: “I love you<br />
honey” and bow to her and laugh when she<br />
laughs. She has to cry when he cries, and he<br />
is repeating the mantra “I love you honey, I<br />
love you honey” - how many times he has to<br />
repeat this mantra?<br />
It’s just a dream, a cosmic play, you know.<br />
Then next day your wife runs away with<br />
another man and you start crying. And<br />
suppose she ran off with some money, lots of
7<br />
money, you’ll cry more, not for her, for the<br />
money. Then, just suppose she had an<br />
accident and her lover is killed. Before you<br />
used to cry when she had suffering, now<br />
when she is suffering you laugh. The person is<br />
the same. Your dream has changed. Now the<br />
mantra has changed from “I love you honey”<br />
to “Go to hell honey”. This is also a dream.<br />
From the cosmic point there is no suffering,<br />
no pain, only illusion. You identify with this<br />
perishable body; that is the ignorance which<br />
you mentioned.<br />
As long as you identify with the body there<br />
is a karma reaction. Just as in physics, every<br />
action has an equal and opposite reaction.<br />
This law applies everywhere. A rocket goes up<br />
because it has an opposite thrust. If I throw a<br />
ball, the ball will bounce on me. If I give a glass<br />
of water to some one who is dying, sacrifice<br />
my comfort, then I will get water when I am<br />
in the most difficult situation. Or suppose I<br />
stole water from some one who needs water.<br />
I drank, made him suffer, then sometime I<br />
won’t be able to drink, even if the water is in<br />
my hand. Nothing happens without a cause.<br />
Look at this plant. It came from a cause. There<br />
are two things: a cause and effect. Sometimes<br />
w e<br />
cannot see<br />
the cause, but we can always see the effect.<br />
Here the effect is this beautiful plant and<br />
these flowers. But we do not know who<br />
planted the cause, though we know<br />
somebody must have done that.<br />
Cause and effect are one and the same.<br />
Depends upon which point you are starting<br />
from. Take an example. This glass is round.<br />
Now tell me, which is the beginning of this<br />
round glass? Let us assume there must be<br />
some beginning. So I say, this is the beginning,<br />
then where is the end? The beginning and end<br />
are the same spot? Depending on how you are<br />
looking. If you look clockwise the beginning<br />
becomes the end, and if you’re looking<br />
counter-clockwise the end becomes the<br />
beginning. So what is called cause and effect<br />
is only a matter of which came first,<br />
depending on how you are interpreting it.<br />
Cause contains effect, and effect contains<br />
cause. The seed contains the tree. And the tree<br />
contains the seed. The tree’s the future cause.<br />
It is all how you look at it, you know. That’s<br />
why we can never solve the problem of this<br />
universe by merely asking questions. Why God<br />
created this world? If He created it, when did<br />
He create it? Then what was He doing before<br />
He created it? The questions can go on and on.<br />
The important thing is to understand that<br />
nothing comes without a cause. The seed of<br />
your existence, there must be a cause. Why are<br />
you all born in the country where everything<br />
is in plenty? Why were you not born in<br />
Bangladesh or Rwanda or Ethiopia? Where<br />
millions and millions of babies are starving<br />
and dying.<br />
The parents cannot even cry for their dying<br />
babies. They know their babies are going to die<br />
in a few days or few weeks. They’re all like<br />
skeletons. I’ve seen it in Bangladesh. India<br />
refused to give food to these people - about<br />
10 million refugees in a small area. There is no<br />
water, no electricity, no food. Children are<br />
dead and dying, their bodies are lying with<br />
filth and flies everywhere. Some are dead,<br />
some are just dying, and their parents around<br />
them are not crying. There are no tears<br />
Suffering is just another illusion like a dream. This is<br />
called maya in Sanskrit, but your real nature is sat,<br />
chit and ananda, existence absolute, knowledge<br />
absolute and bliss absolute. There is no ignorance in<br />
you because you are knowledge – each person is an<br />
image of God. But you have forgotten this image and<br />
you start identifying with the dream.<br />
because there’s no<br />
water to bring them even tears. But here the<br />
baby gets all the attention, why? God is<br />
interested?<br />
If God created, why did God create so<br />
many millions of souls to suffer while some<br />
children are born in a castle with a silver<br />
spoon in the mouth? What is the cause<br />
behind it? If God is the cause then we have to<br />
blame God for everything. But God is<br />
impartial, like the sun. The sun shines equally<br />
in all conditions. The sun shines on the rich<br />
man’s swimming pool and in a gutter full of<br />
filth. It makes no difference between the<br />
swimming pool and the gutter water. It shines<br />
equally. It is the same with Supreme Grace;<br />
the grace is everywhere. It is shining in all of<br />
our hearts. But we close our eyes and pretend<br />
we haven’t seen Him. Not only pretending, we<br />
believe He is not even in us. We believe that<br />
God is somewhere else punishing you and<br />
rewarding you. That cannot be a God who<br />
just punishes us because we don’t praise Him.<br />
He is a super dictator then! Read the<br />
question again.<br />
“Many religions incorporate the idea that<br />
people must suffer, be punished e.g. the idea<br />
of hell, purgatory in the Catholic faith.”<br />
Swamiji: Okay, stop there. Many religions<br />
believe in hell and heaven. The question is:<br />
who is responsible for the hell and heaven?<br />
Suppose I create a robot, Mr. Roboti. Who do<br />
you blame if the robot killed someone? The<br />
creator is it not? And suppose the robot<br />
continues going around killing everybody<br />
then you think that the man who created this<br />
must be a monster. So, God created Hitler. God<br />
created Jesus also. What is the difference<br />
between one creation and another? So does<br />
the blame go to God? And suppose you’re not<br />
able to behave properly and you’re sent to hell<br />
forever! Forever means how long? Infinite<br />
future you’re going to suffer because you live<br />
for one hundred years. Of the hundred years,<br />
fifty years you spend in sleeping. Childhood is<br />
gone like a dream. And then old age comes,<br />
sitting in the wheelchair with intravenous<br />
feeding and senility, you can’t even say your<br />
own name. In between a few years called<br />
youthful life the hormones are very high, the<br />
blood pressure shoots up, that’s called life.<br />
Because, in this short life span you can’t be<br />
very good and learn all of these ethical and<br />
moral lessons, so you’re punished forever? Is it<br />
fair that God should do that? Then, if I don’t<br />
worship Him, he’s going to send me to hell.<br />
That’s like a dictator. He has every power in His<br />
hand. So that’s not the right answer. God did<br />
not create anything. He Himself manifests,<br />
that is the difference. Now, the conclusion of<br />
this. Why people suffer. Suffering is just<br />
another illusion like a dream. This is called<br />
maya in Sanskrit, but your real nature is sat,<br />
chit and ananda, existence absolute,<br />
knowledge absolute and bliss absolute. There is<br />
no ignorance in you because you are<br />
knowledge – each person is an image of God.<br />
But you have forgotten this image and you<br />
start identifying with the dream.<br />
I’ll give a simple example for you to<br />
understand how this illusion works. I’m sure<br />
all of you have seen at least one movie in your<br />
life. Some movies are frightening. For example<br />
several years ago I was in London. At that time<br />
“The Exorcist” was playing. I wanted to see<br />
how they make these films because when I<br />
was young my uncle was a mantravadi, a real<br />
exorcist. In my home every new moon night
8<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
my uncle chanted various mantras; he himself<br />
had control over various spirits. Suddenly an<br />
ordinary housewife becomes wild; it takes 5 to<br />
10 people to hold her. She becomes so hungry<br />
that she eats 12-15 people’s food in a few<br />
minutes. I couldn’t understand all these<br />
things; I was young. I knew that food only<br />
goes in one direction - through the mouth<br />
and into the stomach, then through the small<br />
intestine, colon etc. When she comes back, she<br />
becomes a normal housewife. And after 15<br />
minutes she will go and eat her normal dinner.<br />
That’s the thing that puzzled me. What<br />
happened to the food? Where did it disappear<br />
to? Lots of times I saw these things in my<br />
childhood. There’s no way to explain it<br />
scientifically or logically.<br />
When I heard that this film is creating a<br />
sensation, I just wanted to know how do they<br />
do it. So we all jumped into a taxi and went to<br />
see it. One girl, she’s from California, she said<br />
Swamiji I would like to come only if you’re<br />
going. I don’t want to see that alone. I asked<br />
her: what are you afraid of that. You’re not a<br />
hillbilly, you know films are made in<br />
Hollywood studios. The film is all light and<br />
shadow, you know that it’s an illusion. So she<br />
said, “Yes Swamiji it’s an<br />
illusion”. When we got into<br />
the theatre she sat next<br />
to me. The light went off<br />
and suddenly the<br />
screen becomes alive,<br />
people are throwing<br />
up pea soup, the<br />
bed starts rocking<br />
and so forth.<br />
And this girl<br />
starts screaming. So I hit her with my<br />
elbow. She closed her eyes and said “It’s an<br />
illusion, it’s an illusion.” Then she opened her<br />
eyes and screamed again. She is an educated<br />
person. She knows everything intellectually<br />
but still she cannot disassociate from the<br />
illusion. She becomes part of the illusion.<br />
So also this universe is an illusion! We are<br />
playing this part. We are part of the cosmic<br />
illusion called maya. If an ordinary movie can<br />
create so much problem, how much illusion<br />
the cosmic maya can create. That’s why<br />
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita: “Oh Arjuna,<br />
this cosmic illusion, is very difficult to conquer.<br />
Only he who surrenders to me, I will take him<br />
across.” You’ve got no power. Just like a person<br />
who’s crying in the dream. Only one way you<br />
can make him happy is by waking him up.<br />
Only God can wake us up from this cosmic<br />
dream. Our mind is also the maya, the<br />
individual maya and Siva is the Self. And so<br />
the mind plays every day, projecting different<br />
things. You project a girl and you say she is<br />
your wife. You play with that thought and you<br />
play the husband. And the children come and<br />
you say oh, these are my children and you play<br />
with that thought. And so we just continue<br />
playing, never trying to identify with the Self.<br />
That is the difference between a God-realized<br />
soul and an ordinary person. That is all; there<br />
is nothing else. A God-realized person can also<br />
have this dream, but he is not participating; he<br />
is witnessing it, watching everything.<br />
So God has got two aspects: static and<br />
kinetic. Siva and Shakti are God in<br />
manifestation and its inherent nature. You<br />
can’t say why God creates or illusion exists,<br />
because that ‘why’ question exists only in your<br />
mind. When you wake up from the dream<br />
there is no question. So when you wake up to<br />
the fourth state, your dream vanishes, your<br />
pain disappears. You realise, “I was never born,<br />
never created, I never existed. I’m always in the<br />
transcendental state. I’m always in that<br />
supreme state”.<br />
So there is no ignorance nor hell nor<br />
heaven. Hell and heaven are only in your<br />
understanding.<br />
Another simple example, I’ll just tell you<br />
our story. Bren and I both flew from Tel Aviv<br />
to Cairo over the Suez Canal. I had lots of<br />
ammunition with me – that’s called marigold<br />
flowers. We filed a flight plan to Nicosia.<br />
When we had gone 50 miles off, suddenly we<br />
Our real nature is sat, chit and ananda, existence absolute,<br />
knowledge absolute and bliss absolute. There is no<br />
ignorance in you because you are knowledge – each person<br />
is an image of God. But you have forgotten this image and<br />
you start identifying with the dream.<br />
changed course. Suddenly the voice came,<br />
“please turn back onto your original course,<br />
you’re in danger of being shot.” And I said,<br />
“Please make for us a new flight plan to Egypt<br />
via Suez Canal. The Israelis said, “you can’t fly<br />
there directly, you’ll be shot.” So I said, “Many<br />
people died in the name of war, we two people<br />
are prepared to die in the name of peace.”<br />
Then I turned my radio off. So they send up<br />
a small jet which flew very close to our plane<br />
so that we could see the pilot. It was the<br />
closest that I have ever flown with another<br />
plane. I can see this Israeli military plane<br />
telling me, “Turn back, turn back.”<br />
By that time we were close to the Suez<br />
Canal. Then there was a sudden explosion and<br />
the plane started going up and down and I<br />
lost control, “Oh my God, we have been shot,<br />
Bren let us meditate.” I thought the plane was<br />
going to disintegrate, but after a few minutes<br />
it steadied. The pilot gave us a jet blast, then<br />
he was gone.<br />
We were over the Suez Canal. We dropped<br />
leaflets and flowers. We ‘bombed’ them and<br />
then crossed to the other side. We saw the<br />
soldiers on both sides living in the desert, in<br />
foxholes. It’s so boring, and suddenly a<br />
beautiful colored plane came and started<br />
throwing leaflets and they ran to pick them up.<br />
Then we crossed into Egypt. They could<br />
have shot us; flights would not have been<br />
allowed over the Suez Canal. We had about<br />
100 miles to reach Cairo, and when we were<br />
50 or 60 miles from Cairo we called in the<br />
usual pattern. “Please give us landing<br />
instructions”. There was an uproar. “Who gave<br />
you per mission, you’re not allowed to come<br />
here”. Then there were 3 or 4 jets, circling<br />
around like in an old movie, like the wagon<br />
train with the Indians riding around. We told<br />
them, “Please call your jets back; please give us<br />
permission.” At last they agreed. As soon as we<br />
landed we gave them flowers and tried to give<br />
them the peace leaflets. But they wouldn’t<br />
take anything. They immediately brought a<br />
jeep, asked us to get in. There were soldiers<br />
standing at attention everywhere. My God,<br />
what a reception we got!<br />
Then we saw pictures of Gadafi and Assad<br />
of Syria. What happened is that we came at<br />
the wrong time, literally. Assad’s and Gadafi’s<br />
planes both were coming - and Sadat from<br />
Egypt was there to meet them. So the<br />
reception was not for us.<br />
We were blindfolded and<br />
driven somewhere for about<br />
one hour. They brought us<br />
into a small reception<br />
room and removed the<br />
blindfolds. Then they<br />
separated the two of us<br />
and started the<br />
interrogation. The first<br />
question was: “Where were you in Israel,<br />
whom did you see?” I said I met many people.<br />
The night before we had about 400 people<br />
coming for the lecture.<br />
“Who did you meet?” Officials he means.<br />
“I tried to meet Golda Meir; she was the<br />
premier, but she was busy. At the time, the defence<br />
minister was Moshe Dayan, but he was busy too.”<br />
Then he said, “We told you not to come here.”<br />
“Yes, you told us, but I got another<br />
command from another dimension.” And of<br />
course they’re all taking notes and he is writing<br />
every bit of who I met - everything. And they<br />
asked a question about Bren Jacobson.<br />
“Do you trust him?”<br />
“Sure I trust him.”<br />
“Do you know that he is a Jew.”<br />
“Yes, I know.”<br />
In the Planet Earth Passport there are<br />
symbols of all religions including a cross and<br />
the Star of David. The symbol of Islam was also<br />
there. They asked me why and I said, “I believe<br />
in all religions; everything is the same.”<br />
It took 2-3 hours. Then he asked me to<br />
sign at the bottom. And I just signed it without<br />
reading.<br />
“Don’t you want to read it? Because you<br />
will be prosecuted tomorrow. Please read
9<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
everything.”<br />
I said, “I said the truth; whatever you feel is<br />
your problem.” And then they took me back to<br />
my cell. I was there by myself and they put a<br />
bright light in the room and they brought<br />
food. After another 2 or 3 hours, Bren came.<br />
Again they blindfolded us and they brought us<br />
to another room.<br />
All the windows were closed. We did not<br />
know how long we are going to be there in<br />
this Egyptian jail. But for us it’s not a problem,<br />
we are Yogis you know. They are bringing<br />
vegetarian food; we can meditate and do our<br />
asanas and pranayama. Bren started to do his<br />
Surya Namaskar and I began reading my<br />
books etc. I knew the place must be bugged,<br />
so I started quoting from the Koran.<br />
The next day they took our photographs<br />
and fingerprints. Then told us, “We found that<br />
you have come for a peace mission and for 3<br />
days you will be guest of the Egyptian<br />
government. And after 3 days you can go.” So<br />
they took us to the Nile Valley and the Hilton.<br />
We had a nice lunch on the boat. They arranged<br />
everything specially in the officer’s club. First<br />
time they took a Jew to the officer’s club.<br />
Then they took us to the Pyramids and we<br />
had a camel ride. We got the official treatment<br />
with big limousines and escort, but in the<br />
evening they brought us back to our jail. We<br />
had the time to meditate and do sadhana. We<br />
were very happy. On the last day they came to<br />
take us on a museum trip. Very beautiful<br />
ancient treasures are stored there and after<br />
seeing the museum they said, “Swamiji, since<br />
you are leaving tomorrow we want you to see<br />
our Egyptian culture. We want to take you to<br />
a nightclub.<br />
I said, “I’m a Swami I don’t go to<br />
nightclubs.” But he insisted. So we got into the<br />
limousine and they brought us to the best<br />
nightclub. I had never seen a nightclub before.<br />
They gave us the best seats and the menu.<br />
“Please order anything you want.” For<br />
vegetarians there was orange juice only. And<br />
they ordered everything at the government’s<br />
expense. By the time the show came my eyes<br />
were filled with smoke and I couldn’t breathe.<br />
I preferred to go back to my jail. There I have<br />
fresh air and I can do whatever I want. Here<br />
the air is killing us, it’s hell for us. But, they’re<br />
enjoying; they’re getting everything free.<br />
Reluctantly they took us back<br />
about 3<br />
o’clock.<br />
In the Planet Earth Passport there are symbols of<br />
all religions including a cross and the Star of David. The symbol<br />
of Islam was also there. They asked me why and I said,<br />
“I believe in all religions; everything is the same.”<br />
The next day they tried to test us again,<br />
whether we are spies or not. They took us out<br />
for shopping and gave us fresh mango juice.<br />
They brought us to one place and we saw<br />
some Americans who had been at the night<br />
club the previous night. Naturally Bren was<br />
happy to see other Americans. So he started<br />
talking and I knew, this is a setup. They want<br />
to see if we are going to pass any message to<br />
them. So many times they tested us.<br />
Finally they brought us to our airplane. It<br />
was fueled and everyone came to see the<br />
peace plane including military officials. Before<br />
that they took us to a place where they were<br />
making military vehicles. No Jew had ever<br />
been allowed to a military guarded place. But<br />
Bren and I went without fear. What I’m trying<br />
to say is two things. Pleasure becomes pain;<br />
that nightclub was the most painful place I’ve<br />
ever been. But for the jailers and others the<br />
nightclub was heaven. So one person’s heaven<br />
is another one’s prison, and vice versa.<br />
The second is that we went to Egypt with<br />
love without visas or passports. They treated<br />
even a Jew like an honored guest. He was<br />
shown everywhere including that military<br />
armory. This happened actually. Now do you<br />
understand?<br />
There is no one who can hate you if you go<br />
with love. Wherever I go with love and flowers<br />
I get the same in return. But how can you stop<br />
the problem in Ireland? By killing each other<br />
you’ll never stop the problem. Only by love.<br />
Love thy neighbor as thyself.<br />
So we can make peace in the universe. Before<br />
that we must make peace within us. That’s the<br />
purpose of this visit. Religion says hell and<br />
heaven exist. The same hell is another’s heaven.<br />
I’ll tell you a small story and conclude. The story<br />
is about some people who went to see how<br />
people are living in heaven and<br />
hell. They went to hell first.<br />
People were sitting at a table<br />
and food is served. But their<br />
hands are tied to long<br />
wooden spoons so they can’t<br />
bend their arms. They are<br />
struggling to feed<br />
themselves and keep spilling<br />
the food on the floor; before<br />
long all the food is gone, and<br />
they are all starving and<br />
suffering. So they went to<br />
heaven to see how they live<br />
there. There they have<br />
golden tables and golden<br />
chairs and they have<br />
golden spoons tied to their<br />
arms just like in hell. Oh my<br />
God, how are they going to eat? But they<br />
are enjoying the food. How? They are feeding<br />
each other.<br />
When you think of others’ happiness then<br />
that’s heaven. But if you think of yourself - my<br />
happiness, my power, my this thing - that’s called<br />
hell. There’s no hell or heaven - you create that, you<br />
see. When there is love you can feed each other. So<br />
let’s feed each other. “Love Thy Neighbor as<br />
Thyself” and I conclude with that
10<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
How can we change into a more<br />
peaceful society, prevent the<br />
violence of war, or begin to tackle<br />
some of the acute local and<br />
global social problems of today?<br />
Sceptics might smile at the idea of a group<br />
of well-meaning people concentrating on<br />
such awesome questions at a <strong>Yoga</strong> Peace<br />
Festival. However, the <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> org -<br />
anisation may well have embraced an idea<br />
whose time has come. At the end of the 21st<br />
century, there is a great deal of focus on<br />
world peace - from the United Nations’<br />
designation of the year <strong>2000</strong> as the International<br />
Year for a Culture of Peace to the convening of<br />
the largest ever international gathering on the<br />
causes and solutions to war held at the Hague<br />
earlier this year. For the <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong><br />
organisation, it is significant that l999 saw the<br />
graduation of the ten thousandth yoga teacher<br />
from the Teachers’ Training Course which Swami<br />
Vishnu-devananda established as his fund -<br />
amental building block for peace, exactly thirty<br />
years ago, in 1969.<br />
Perhaps we should also remind our sceptics<br />
that praying for peace is not a useless activity.<br />
Modern scientific experiments are now proving<br />
the existence of many aspects of ancient<br />
spiritual knowledge. These range from demon -<br />
strations of the power of thought on plants and<br />
people, to the healing effect of certain sounds<br />
and music.<br />
‘Physician heal thyself’ became the dominant<br />
response of the week-long investigation into<br />
these issues. Attended by nearly two hundred<br />
part icipants from all over the world, this was the<br />
central tenet of invited speakers, from Roshe<br />
Bernie Glassman of the New York Zen<br />
Community to Franciscan Rolph Fernandes of<br />
Montreal. Other speakers included Palestinian<br />
UN meditator, Mohammed Ramadan, Rabbi<br />
Joseph Gelberman of New York; Masami Kondo<br />
Into The 21 st Century<br />
Peace Festival<br />
- a summing up, by Elizabeth Nathaniels<br />
Swami Vishnu-devananda would have loved it - this summer’s Peace Festival.<br />
Held at the <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp in Val Morin, outside Montreal, the Festival carried<br />
forward his vision with aplomb, a sense of abundance, loving welcome and joy. It was<br />
a feast of ceremonies from different faiths, of multinational goodwill, a renewal of<br />
good yoga practice, a stimulus to the mind and re-awakening of the spirit.<br />
“There was a feeling of oneness.”<br />
- Kathleen Regan, New York<br />
Panel discussion with invited guest speakers and workshop leaders.<br />
of the World Peace Prayer Society, Japan, Eirwen<br />
Harbottle representing the Generals for Peace<br />
from Britain, Soeur Nicole Fournier of<br />
L’Accueil Bonneau, Montreal and French-born<br />
natural health author, Daniele Starenkyj.<br />
Most maintained that tools for world peace<br />
could only be developed by building<br />
individual, inner peace first.<br />
Swami Vishnu-devananda’s favourite<br />
analogy used to be that<br />
of trying to change<br />
fabric from cotton to silk.<br />
You have to do so by<br />
changing it thread by<br />
thread until the whole<br />
piece has been trans -<br />
formed. So the fabric of<br />
society could be changed by individuals<br />
developing their own inner peace until the<br />
whole of society is changed. Certainly, Swamiji’s<br />
life’s work for peace was enlivened by<br />
imaginative public demon strations, ranging from<br />
flying over the Berlin Wall in l983 to ‘bombing’<br />
Elizabeth Nathaniels<br />
Northern Ireland with flowers in l971 –<br />
along with Peter Sellers in a Peter Maxpainted<br />
Piper Apache plane.<br />
The Festival began with a beautiful<br />
Native American sunrise ceremony and<br />
ended with a memorable, relaxed and<br />
diverse multifaith ceremony in which the<br />
children won the day. Indeed, in the<br />
tradition of Gandhi, and of yoga, the whole<br />
event was multifaith<br />
– an element which<br />
provided a sharp and<br />
poignant edge and<br />
gave much food for<br />
thought. For instance,<br />
contrasting to our<br />
western Christian idea of<br />
Paradise Lost was the all-pervading Native<br />
American sense that paradise was found - it is<br />
here and now. This is the paradise of our earth,<br />
our matrix of being, whose fecundity and beauty<br />
are to be enjoyed, protected and revered. By<br />
contrast, Rolph Fernandes with his com -<br />
“The conference speakers represented a<br />
good cross-section of life experience and<br />
spiritual disciplines.”<br />
- Benoit Gauthier, Quebec<br />
Bob Bourdon Roshe Bernie Glassman Bren Jacobson Sant Venugopal Harlina Churn Dia
11<br />
Jorge Alfano<br />
“INTO T HE 21ST C ENTURY” PEACE F ESTIVAL<br />
Masami Kondo<br />
“The speakers emphasized practical<br />
peace on an individual level instead of<br />
talking about the absence of war.”<br />
- Narayani, New Mexico<br />
passionate poem: “How Can I Speak of Peace”<br />
expressed the lost paradise of a war-scarred child<br />
in Sarajevo. Participants were reminded and<br />
stimulated by the playful,<br />
yet underlying seriousness<br />
of the religious stories told<br />
by the swamis and the voluptuous riot of colour<br />
and form in the South Indian sculpture in the<br />
newly-built Subramanya/Ayyappa temple. Senior<br />
acharyas moderated the programme. Among<br />
some of the difficulties faced was the very real<br />
clash between two groups whose members had<br />
suffered grievously. The underlying question<br />
was there: did different religions cause<br />
conflict? Not so, it was claimed. It was rather<br />
that people used diverse beliefs as an excuse<br />
for violence.<br />
Representing<br />
the victims of<br />
in justice and<br />
war were both<br />
Jewish and Arab<br />
participants. Palestinian Mohammed<br />
Ramadan who shared his people’s<br />
agony in the Middle East, made a<br />
strong case for forgiveness. This, he<br />
claimed, is an important, if not essential<br />
element for attaining inner peace. He<br />
pointed out that true forgiveness is not<br />
“I like the international<br />
atmosphere and getting to meet<br />
people from different countries”<br />
- Claude, New York<br />
Daniele Starenkyj Mohammed Ramadan Yolanda Rivera Ramadan<br />
Left: Meditative Ragas<br />
by G.S. Sachdev<br />
Above: African Music and<br />
Dance by YaYa Diallo and<br />
Harlina Churn Diallo<br />
to do with repentance or forgetting, but should<br />
be experienced as a deep and profound spiritual<br />
‘letting go’ of the hurt.<br />
As for peacemaking in everyday life, the<br />
quietly charismatic New York Zen master, Bernie<br />
Glassman advocated starting simply with<br />
whatever ingredients there were to hand.<br />
Becoming over -<br />
whelmed was not<br />
helpful but rather<br />
simply starting from<br />
where we are, with<br />
whatever we have was his advice – a<br />
central theme of his best-selling book:<br />
Zen: Instructions to the Cook.<br />
Cultivate joy, rather than dwelling on anguish<br />
suggested the ebullient 88-year old, broadminded<br />
Rabbi Joseph Gelberman. Although<br />
remembering tragedies from the Holocaust to<br />
Kosovo was a part of our humanity, nevertheless,<br />
“to forgive the past and look forward toward the<br />
future with joy and excitement” was more<br />
important. In fact, Rabbi Gelberman claimed that<br />
the proper exercise of religion and of peace was<br />
attained by seeking joy, rather than happiness.<br />
Happiness involved outside material things. Joy<br />
meant the development of inner peace, which for<br />
him – the personification of benevolence –<br />
exploded daily into a gratitude for life. He ended<br />
his presentation by leading participants in a<br />
stately song and dance to Shalom.<br />
There was much to feed the mind. And as for<br />
body and spirit there were walks, canoe trips,<br />
yoga asanas, delicious feasts as well as the many<br />
forms of worship, meditation, music and dance.<br />
Indeed, dance and music were integral to the<br />
event. Mali-born drummer YaYa Diallo author of<br />
The Healing Drum vividly demonstrated a more<br />
in-depth understanding of African music than<br />
Rolph Fernandes Swami Chaitanyananda Eirwen Harbottle Rabbi Joseph Gelberman<br />
“I came for a <strong>Yoga</strong> vacation -<br />
asanas and satsang. The speakers<br />
brought home the theme of the<br />
Festival - that peace starts within<br />
yourself. All this was a bonus to my<br />
stay at the Ashram.”<br />
- Damian, London, England<br />
that of pure entertainment. His wife,<br />
founder/director of the Imani Dance Company,<br />
Harlina Churn Diallo also demonstrated the<br />
way in which she is encouraging Afro-<br />
American children to take pride in the culture<br />
of their ancestors.<br />
The poignant and innocent tones of ancient<br />
South American pipes<br />
played by Jorge Alfano of the<br />
Sacred Sounds Institute, the<br />
sonorous meditative ragas of<br />
the renowned Indian flautist,<br />
Sachdev and ‘spiritual pop’<br />
music of the newly-formed<br />
London <strong>Sivananda</strong> Centre’s Prem<br />
group all played their part in<br />
enlivening the event.<br />
The warm and generous welcome we<br />
received will long remain with us. The<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Centres continue to emanate<br />
an affection, a sense of family and the<br />
satisfaction of Satsang – keeping company<br />
with the wise, or at least, fellow-travellers, on<br />
the spiritual path. Furthermore, we were<br />
welcomed to a warm, light and plant-filled<br />
lodge, all gleaming wood and white-plastered<br />
straw bales, with grass on the roof – very<br />
ecologically correct. We were given magnificent<br />
vegetarian feasts. We were treated to the stage<br />
set – designed by the London Centre – all large<br />
fat peace doves and gargantuan daisies, not to<br />
mention a cut-out of Swamiji’s peace plane. The<br />
London Centre provided their own peace music<br />
for the festival (now on CD and Tape), with the<br />
words largely of Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong> himself.<br />
Participants certainly left the Ashram with a<br />
feeling of joy. The experience of the week-long<br />
festival was perhaps best expressed in the words<br />
and music of one of Prem’s songs “If you want to<br />
have peace in the world, you must have peace in<br />
your heart.” As for the power of positive thinking<br />
and meditation, perhaps Masami Kondo should<br />
have the last word when she asks: “Do you know<br />
what links us closest and fastest?” And the<br />
answer: “Thought waves. Thought waves are<br />
faster than sound or light. What we emit as<br />
thought instantly reaches everybody around the<br />
globe. To know this really helps us to understand<br />
the significance of praying for world peace.”<br />
“The highlight for me was the reunion<br />
with people that I’ve known over the<br />
years and met in various <strong>Sivananda</strong><br />
<strong>Yoga</strong> Centers and Ashrams.”<br />
- Bhavani, New York
12<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
First of all I would like to thank everybody<br />
here at the <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp for<br />
inviting us. As I heard the wonderful<br />
stories about your teacher, Swami<br />
Vishnu-devananda, I recognized his joyful,<br />
happy spirit. It is easy to imagine him sitting<br />
here, because what the teacher transmits is<br />
carried on by the disciples. As soon as I came<br />
here I really felt like a part of the family, so<br />
thank you very much.<br />
Of all the hospitalities I have experienced,<br />
this is one of the most exciting. It is a great joy<br />
to be able to sit here above the message ‘May<br />
Peace Prevail on Earth.’ The mission of our<br />
organization is to spread this simple message<br />
and prayer around the world. As an<br />
organization we are not very big. We have<br />
members and supporters around the world<br />
from all nationalities, religions and different<br />
backgrounds who simply incorporate this<br />
message into their own traditions.<br />
This was the idea of the founder of the<br />
World Peace Prayer Society, Japanese poet and<br />
philosopher Masahisa Goi. After the Second<br />
World War he witnessed the devastation and<br />
wanted to turn that mood around. Because the<br />
Japanese people had experienced the tragedy of<br />
the nuclear bomb he felt he had the mission to<br />
turn this tragedy into a positive message and<br />
advocate world peace.<br />
That is how it started, and now this message<br />
is spread through our Peace Pole Project.<br />
Now there are 100,000 or more peace poles<br />
around the world in almost every country. It is<br />
not that our staff go around the world and<br />
plant them everywhere. But those who see it<br />
and feel it is a good idea will take it back to their<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
May Peace<br />
Prevail On Earth<br />
The keynote address of the “Into the 21 st Century” Peace Festival<br />
at the <strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp in August,1999 was given<br />
by Masami Kondo of the World Peace Prayer Society.<br />
Masami Kondo with the newly planted Peace Pole at the <strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong><br />
Camp. The pole was lovingly carved in three pieces by Native American craftsmen<br />
Roger Echaquan and Bob Bourdon. The pole itself represents the connection<br />
between heaven and earth. The larger ‘puzzle piece’ represents the five continents.<br />
The top (miniature) puzzle represents the future generations. All parts were ritually<br />
assembled during the Peace Pole dedication. (see <strong>Winter</strong> ‘99 issue of <strong>Yoga</strong>Life for<br />
the description of how the tree itself was chosen and cut.)<br />
community and incorporate it into their own<br />
activities. As I said during the dedication<br />
ceremony, that was a most beautiful and<br />
original peace pole that we planted today on<br />
the peace trail.<br />
Another main activity that we do is the<br />
World Peace Prayer Ceremony. I hope that<br />
everybody had a chance to participate in that<br />
ceremony this afternoon. It was rather long but<br />
if you think that we could visit all the countries<br />
one by one and connect with the people there<br />
in just one hour it is not so bad.<br />
Personally I have had many wonderful<br />
experiences through this World Peace Prayer<br />
Ceremony and I would like to share a few of<br />
them with you. Once, when we were doing this<br />
ceremony in Central Park, an Israeli mother and<br />
son came. The mother insisted that her son<br />
carry the flag of Israel. So we fetched it, gave it<br />
to him and he proudly raised it. We all prayed,<br />
and the mother was happy. When we went into<br />
the circle, as we did today, you never know<br />
which flag you will carry because it just comes<br />
around. Coincidentally, or not, the mother was<br />
given the Palestinian flag. She raised it, but I<br />
could see in her face that she was a bit stiff and<br />
didn’t know how to feel or say the prayer. I was<br />
wondering how she was feeling. Anyway she<br />
did it. What was most moving was that a few<br />
days later the mother called me and asked “did<br />
you notice that I carried the Palestinian flag”. I<br />
said “yes I noticed”. She said that it really<br />
changed something. She felt it was a very<br />
important thing that she had done this with her<br />
son. I was very happy to hear this.<br />
A similar story involved an Iranian<br />
gentleman. He came up to me in tears after a<br />
ceremony and said that at first there were<br />
some countries that he hated. But as he<br />
prayed something started to change and<br />
he really felt he could make friends with<br />
these countries. So the ceremony is all<br />
about touching the heart and really sharing<br />
this love for peace. It is awakening what is<br />
already within us; it is just a matter of
13<br />
“INTO T HE 21ST C ENTURY” PEACE F ESTIVAL<br />
awakening that peace consciousness, and I<br />
was very happy to be able to share that with<br />
you today.<br />
We also have activities for children. I feel<br />
it is very important that we reach the<br />
children with the idea of peace and praying<br />
for world peace and oneness of humanity.<br />
But I want to go a little further to describe to<br />
you a deeper spiritual meaning behind our<br />
movement because I think it is very similar to<br />
yours and I want to share it.<br />
The idea of world peace is easier to think<br />
of nowadays because of advanced<br />
technology. We see what is happening in<br />
other parts of the world instantly by TV or<br />
satellite. On the Internet you get information<br />
from all over the world with just the touch of<br />
a key. The world is getting smaller and we all<br />
know that what is happening in another part<br />
of the world is effecting us and everybody<br />
else. But do you know what it is that links us<br />
closest and fastest?<br />
Thought waves. Thought waves are faster<br />
than sound or light. What we<br />
emit as thought instantly reaches<br />
everybody around the globe. To<br />
know this really helps us to<br />
understand the significance of<br />
praying for world peace.<br />
When you turn on the switch,<br />
there is light. And when you turn<br />
on the radio you get the sound.<br />
Likewise although thought<br />
waves are invisible, they are<br />
around us. They are encircling<br />
the globe constantly. They are affecting us<br />
and actually penetrating us through our<br />
brains and the body cells. Whether you<br />
know it or not, we are being activated by<br />
thought waves, our own, and those<br />
circumambulating the globe.<br />
Similar thought waves attract each other.<br />
If you are omitting negative, rough, angry or<br />
sad waves, in effect you are creating a layer<br />
of negative thoughts (heavy and dark). On<br />
the other hand light, bright waves, such as a<br />
prayer for world peace, link with the good<br />
will and happy thoughts of people around<br />
the world. The world is layer over layer of<br />
different types of thoughts. Unfortunately<br />
there are a large amount of negative, dark<br />
thought waves surrounding the world. Once<br />
you are in this whirlpool of dark thoughts it<br />
is very hard to get out of it. For example, you<br />
may know that you are very hot tempered<br />
and you want to change yourself. When you<br />
are feeling calm you say I will never lose my<br />
temper again. But the next minute somebody<br />
says something and you are angry. It is not as<br />
easy as you think to get out of this cycle.<br />
This can also be said for nations. The idea<br />
that peace can only be achieved by balance<br />
of military power, when you really look at it,<br />
is ridiculous. Why doesn’t everybody drop<br />
their weapons and shake hands? But this idea<br />
has already been set in motion. If one country<br />
builds more weapons, so does another. And<br />
Above: The stage, where<br />
the evening programs<br />
took place.<br />
Right: The World Peace<br />
Prayer Ceremony with<br />
the flags symbolising the<br />
nations of the earth.<br />
What is a Peace Pole<br />
Peace Poles are handcrafted<br />
monuments erected the world over<br />
as an international symbol of<br />
peace. Their purpose is to spread<br />
the message and prayer “May<br />
Peace Prevail on Earth” and act as<br />
a constant reminder for us to<br />
visualize and pray for world peace.<br />
To date, more than 100,000 Peace<br />
Poles have been dedicated in more<br />
than 160 countries around the<br />
world. Peace Poles can be found in<br />
town squares, city halls, school,<br />
places of worship, parks and<br />
gardens — any place where the<br />
spirit of peace is embraced by<br />
people of good will. Some of the<br />
extraordinary locations include the<br />
Pyramids in Egypt, the Magnetic<br />
North Pole in Canada, Gorky Park<br />
in Moscow, in front of the Peace<br />
Pagoda in London’s Battersea Park.<br />
They are promoting healing of<br />
conflict in places like Sarajevo,<br />
Hiroshima and on the Allenby<br />
Bridge between Israel and Jordan.<br />
Mayors around the world have<br />
planted Peace Poles to dedicate<br />
their cities and towns to world<br />
peace. Both political leaders, such<br />
as former U.S. President Jimmy<br />
Carter, and religious leaders, such<br />
as Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa<br />
and the Dalai Lama, have dedicated<br />
Peace Poles.<br />
For more information, contact:<br />
The World Peace Prayer Society<br />
800 Third Avenue, 37 th floor<br />
New York, NY 10022<br />
Peacepal@worldpeace.org
14<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
this has been going on<br />
for decades. Although<br />
we know deep inside<br />
that this is not the<br />
way; it is very hard<br />
to get out of it.<br />
The whole idea of<br />
trying to join hearts<br />
with people in the<br />
prayer ‘May Peace<br />
Prevail on Earth’ is to<br />
activate bright<br />
thought waves. In -<br />
volving as many<br />
people as possible<br />
around the globe to<br />
energize this brighter,<br />
lighter wave helps to<br />
purify negative waves.<br />
Unless we thoroughly<br />
purify this negative<br />
layer it is hard to attain<br />
world peace. That is why<br />
we pray daily, not just at<br />
festivities or special occasions. Our<br />
members pray daily for world peace trying to<br />
emit positive energy wherever we are. The<br />
more people join in, the more effective this<br />
movement will be.<br />
Some people may think, “yes I understand<br />
that it is very important. But I have too many<br />
personal matters to worry about. Really world<br />
peace is too broad a matter for me” This is not<br />
true because you can attain world peace and<br />
individual peace at the same time. Actually<br />
you can achieve personal peace faster by<br />
praying for world peace.<br />
If you pray for peace on earth you receive<br />
great benefit from using your own physical<br />
vessel to transmit this large light: ‘May Peace<br />
Prevail on Earth’. So really world peace is not<br />
something that you should leave until later<br />
after you have achieved personal peace<br />
because you do both at the same time.<br />
If you have money to donate or if you are<br />
in a position to influence decisions of the<br />
government that is fine. But prayer is<br />
something that anybody can do - any age,<br />
“If you wish to liberate the<br />
spiritual energy that resides<br />
in your heart and body, so<br />
that you can live in a free<br />
and joyous way at all times,<br />
you must reject thoughts<br />
that tie down your heart —<br />
such as dark depression,<br />
anger, fear and anxiety. To let<br />
spiritual energy grow in your<br />
heart and let it manifest its<br />
power fully, you constantly<br />
need thoughts of gratitude,<br />
admiration and cheerfulness.”<br />
from The Golden Key to<br />
Happiness by Masami Saionji,<br />
chairperson of the World Peace<br />
Prayer Society<br />
any status, what -<br />
ever condition<br />
you are in. In fact<br />
this is the most<br />
wonderful thing<br />
you can do for the<br />
world. Our vision is<br />
to hold hands with<br />
people like your -<br />
selves, with each<br />
one of us playing an<br />
indis pensable part in<br />
world peace.<br />
In closing I want to<br />
read a poem which<br />
was written by one of<br />
the members of the<br />
World Peace Prayer<br />
Society. He was very<br />
young but he had<br />
muscular dystrophy. With<br />
this disease after a while<br />
you cannot write and<br />
eventually you die. This<br />
young boy passed at the age of<br />
14, but he was a firm believer that whatever<br />
condition he was in he was part icipating in the<br />
creation of world peace by praying.<br />
He wrote peace messages every day. When<br />
his hand no longer worked he prayed in his<br />
mind until the last minute. So this was a poem<br />
that this boy wrote, and I would like to share<br />
it with you:<br />
A burning candle, just one candle<br />
lives more majestically than a human being.<br />
A burning candle gives all of itself<br />
to everyone. It works, sweats and melts its<br />
own body, drop by drop. Though its life is<br />
short, though its body will finally disappear,<br />
a candle never worries, never gets angry,<br />
never complains. It only continues<br />
to give light to everyone.<br />
Oh candle I want to live like you!<br />
I like the way you live. I long to be a candle.<br />
So let us all be a candle for world peace<br />
and create a wonderful world in the new<br />
millennium<br />
May Peace<br />
Prevail on Earth<br />
Available on CD and tape<br />
A wonderful musical<br />
message of peace<br />
CD: £8.95<br />
Tape: £6.95<br />
With a strong base of<br />
melody, it combines guitars,<br />
percussion and harmonic<br />
vocals with lyrics taken from<br />
Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong>’s book<br />
Bliss Divine, creating a<br />
magical and inspiring<br />
listening experience<br />
For further details please contact:<br />
The <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Centre<br />
51 Felsham Rd, London SW15 1AZ<br />
Tel: 0181-780 0160 Fax: 0181-780 0128<br />
E-mail: siva@dial.pipex.com<br />
Website: www.sivananda.org/boutique.htm<br />
Prem: Divine Love
15<br />
If you want to have peace in the world<br />
You have to have peace in your heart<br />
If you want to feel love in your life<br />
You have to feel love in your heart<br />
If we all try to love one another<br />
There won’t be any reason for war<br />
See the goodness and light in each other<br />
See the beauty of life in us all<br />
It is hatred that separates man from man,<br />
Nation from nation<br />
All of life is the family of God<br />
So love all God’s creation<br />
There’s no religion higher than love<br />
To bring us all together<br />
Embrace all in the warmth of your heart,<br />
With a love, a love that lasts forever<br />
S IVANANDA S ONGBOOK<br />
Peace in<br />
the World<br />
From “May Peace Prevail on Earth” album by Prem<br />
To have peace in the world<br />
There must be peace in your heart<br />
It’s hard to find peace in the world<br />
When we have no peace in our hearts<br />
We feel that we are different to all<br />
We feel that we are apart<br />
But if you look within yourself now<br />
And feel this peace from within<br />
You will rise above all these boundaries<br />
And let the whole world in<br />
It is hatred that separates man.....<br />
To have peace in the world<br />
There must be peace in your heart<br />
} x2<br />
} x4
16<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
Peace Child<br />
By Eirwen Harbottle<br />
Eirwen Harbottle is the inspirer and promoter of Peace Child. With her husband, the late Brigadier<br />
Michael Harbottle, she was associated with the formation of the International Peace Academy. Together<br />
they worked for the British Council for Aid to Refugees and the World Disarmament Campaign (U.K.).<br />
In 1983 they founded the Centre for International Peace Building, of which she is now director.<br />
Eirwen also acts as co-ordinator of the worldwide Consultative Association of Retired Generals<br />
and Admirals – a group created by her husband.<br />
As a speaker at the recent “Into the 21st Century” Peace Festival in Val Morin, Quebec,<br />
Eirwen Harbottle was interviewed by Miranda Warner for <strong>YOGALife</strong>.<br />
Miranda: What exactly is ‘Peace Child’?<br />
Eirwen Harbottle: ‘Peace Child’ started off as<br />
a musical. In the 70s, there was a great gulf<br />
between the ‘Peaceniks’ on one side and the<br />
‘Establishment’ on the other. A lot of young<br />
people wanted to talk about the nuclear<br />
issue; they were frightened. Psychological<br />
research had found that young people<br />
around the world did not believe that they<br />
were going to die naturally in their beds.<br />
Many thought they were going to be blown<br />
up in some huge nuclear explosion.<br />
My husband and I wanted to look at this<br />
whole matter of disarmament, and arms in<br />
particular. We had read a story about how<br />
children brought peace to the world, and<br />
we had seen a most beautiful oratorio in<br />
Coventry Cathedral. To cut a long story<br />
short, we suggested that it should come<br />
together as a kids’ musical, and my son-inlaw<br />
and daughter David and Rose<br />
(Wilcomb) should actually do the work.<br />
And so ‘Peace Child’ began.<br />
A lot of what young people said was<br />
incorporated into the play. The script was<br />
always being altered. After a rehearsal,<br />
David would drive kids home and they’d say:<br />
“You know, we wouldn’t say that! We’d say<br />
this!” And he would alter the script.<br />
The first production of ‘Peace Child’ was<br />
in London’s Albert Hall in 1981. The second<br />
was in Washington DC at the Kennedy<br />
Center; ‘Peace Child’ worked with the Duke<br />
Ellington School for the Arts. It was a<br />
phenomenal success; there wasn’t a single<br />
seat available. The Russian ambassador was<br />
there; it was absolutely incredible. Then<br />
‘Peace Child’ continued with different<br />
groups, different cities, different peace<br />
Eirwen Harbottle<br />
“Soon the kids were talking, singing<br />
and dancing together about peace<br />
and how they could bring peace to<br />
the world. How could they live in<br />
harmony, in joy, with mutual respect?<br />
It was an extra ordinary event.”<br />
Miranda Warner<br />
groups. Rather like a bush fire, it went<br />
straight across the United States from east<br />
to west.<br />
David and Rosie lived in the States for<br />
over eight years doing this, mostly in<br />
Washington. They also spent a lot of time in<br />
California. In the Year of Youth, 1985, David<br />
took a group of American kids to Moscow<br />
where he had organized a joint production<br />
of ‘Peace Child’ with Russian kids. This was<br />
during the Cold War when people in<br />
America were encouraged to think that this<br />
was the “evil empire” on the other side of<br />
the world. Anyone found talking to the<br />
Russians was<br />
thought to be a<br />
communist, and<br />
must be a spy and<br />
a traitor. For the<br />
Russians, it was<br />
absolutely<br />
incredible to see a<br />
group of Am erican<br />
children, from the<br />
‘evil side’, because<br />
they thought the<br />
same as Americ ans<br />
thought about
17<br />
“INTO T HE 21ST C ENTURY” PEACE F ESTIVAL<br />
them. Soon the kids were talking, singing and dancing together<br />
about peace and how they could bring peace to the world, how they<br />
could live in harmony, in joy, with mutual respect. It was an extra -<br />
ordinary event. There was a black singer from Washington. She<br />
wasn’t professional, but she had a sweet, sweet voice. She sang with<br />
one of the ballad singers from a pop group.They sang a number<br />
which had especially been written for ‘Peace Child.’ It was “I have a<br />
Vision, I have a Dream.” It was about Martin Luther King Jnr’s vision<br />
for peace. This went out over the television; 120 million Russian people<br />
heard this song by a black American and a young Russian singer.<br />
Incredible effect it had on them!<br />
Then David got the pop singers to go to the United States with a<br />
group of kids from Russia to take part in ‘Peace Child’. The band<br />
played the music and the singer’s wife was the storyteller. They<br />
started in Vancouver; then they went down to California and worked<br />
their way across to the East Coast. In time the story switched from<br />
concentrating on disarmament to looking at the state of the planet,<br />
which of course included disarmament.<br />
David sent out a letter through the international network, asking,<br />
“What do you think about the state of the planet, the environment?”<br />
He got two thousand letters back from young people saying, “Where<br />
have the birds gone? Why can’t we swim in the river?”<br />
Sometimes even, “Where has the river gone? It’s dried up. What’s<br />
happening?” And he got an editorial team of young people together<br />
and they extracted the main<br />
points from those two<br />
thousand letters. Using<br />
poetry, pictures and all the<br />
things that came out of those<br />
two-thousand letters they put<br />
together a gorgeous book<br />
called, ‘The Children’s State of<br />
the Planet Handbook.’ This was<br />
ready for the Rio Conference in<br />
1995. David took these books to<br />
Rio and Dr Noel Brown, Head of<br />
the UN Environment Program,<br />
said, “ My gosh! This is a beautiful<br />
book. You know, we’ve got Agenda<br />
21. It’s forty chapters, six hundred<br />
pages and who on earth is going<br />
to read all that? Could you get<br />
your children to do the same<br />
thing for Agenda 21?”<br />
There were four UN Agencies:<br />
UNESCA, UNICEF, UNDP and<br />
UNEP who asked the world’s<br />
children to reinterpret Agenda<br />
21. Ten thousand kids were in -<br />
volved; it was an extraord -<br />
inary ach ievement. Two<br />
hundred schools and youth<br />
groups were given<br />
chapters and asked: “What<br />
does it say? What’s really<br />
im portant?” And back<br />
came a lot of stuff, poetry,<br />
pictures and all the rest<br />
of it, looking at the state<br />
of the rainforests, the<br />
climate, everything that<br />
is mentioned in<br />
Agenda 21. Then<br />
began a huge editorial process by young people between 13 and 23.<br />
They extracted what they felt was the best of what had been submitted.<br />
Then they arranged it under a different groupings like: The Human<br />
Condition, The Natural Condition, things like that. They rearranged the<br />
material in a way that was attractive, logical and very understandable.<br />
Then they sent the draft to all the groups who had been working on it.<br />
Of course, a lot of comments came back saying we’d like it this way or<br />
that way. Then the UN Agencies came in and said “Don’t forget this or<br />
that,” or, “That’s not quite correct.” Eventually it was finalized, published<br />
and it has sold over 300,000 copies and been translated into 18<br />
different languages. During the recent Peace Festival, YaYa Diallo was<br />
talking about the absence of fish, how we are killing the planet and how<br />
we’re cutting down all the trees; this is what the children are talking<br />
about.<br />
So that’s how ‘Peace Child’ has grown. From a stage production to<br />
writing books. If anyone wants to do it, the play is there to be done. It’s<br />
an inspiration to gather young people and perform it. People ask, “When<br />
is Peace Child coming to my city?” And we say: “It’s not coming to your<br />
city unless you want to perform it! It’s YOUR tool. YOU get YOUR kids to<br />
show their vision of how they want to see their lives in twenty-five<br />
years”. Every time it’s put on a different way because each group has<br />
different dreams, a different way of thinking how to go about achieving<br />
their dreams. The basic story is about getting from now to then (in the<br />
future).<br />
There’s quite a large selection of songs and<br />
music now that are applicable to anyone<br />
anywhere. We don’t say: “Oh, you can only<br />
use these songs.” If you want to write another<br />
song yourself, do so. It’s your vision; that’s the<br />
message we want to put across. So we don’t<br />
charge royalties for putting this on, like an<br />
ordinary play. It’s a tool, that anyone can<br />
use. I think that’s the best way of<br />
describing it.<br />
It’s the most exciting thing I could<br />
dream of being involved with<br />
because we have young people<br />
from all over the world who come<br />
to England, to the headquarters of<br />
Peace Child. They come from<br />
Africa, Asia, Europe, America,<br />
Japan – you name the country,<br />
there’s likely to be a young<br />
repre sentative. It’s rather like<br />
the dancing that Harlina<br />
and Ya Ya have been<br />
teaching us. To throw<br />
your whole body and<br />
soul into what you are<br />
doing is an amazing<br />
discipline, isn’t it? To get<br />
your feet, your heart and<br />
your chest doing<br />
different things at the<br />
same time is an enormous<br />
discipline. But once you’ve<br />
done it, you’re so pleased<br />
with the freedom that you<br />
have to reach out to<br />
others
18<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
Developing Our<br />
Spiritual Eyes<br />
By Rabbi Joseph Gelberman<br />
Everyone knows about the Ten<br />
Commandments. In these ten<br />
passages God is saying to us,<br />
in effect, “You are all my<br />
children, and this is how I would like<br />
you to behave toward me and toward<br />
each other. These aren’t difficult<br />
rules... If you think about each of<br />
them, you’ll see that they make a lot<br />
of sense.”<br />
This is God’s message, given at<br />
Sinai: You are my children, and I love<br />
you. And I am waiting to hear the<br />
same from you.”<br />
Everything is possible when you<br />
are in God-consciousness. To achieve<br />
this consciousness we must move<br />
toward true vision, a concept which<br />
forms the basic philosophy of<br />
Kabbalah.<br />
Contrary to popular belief, there is<br />
nothing in Kabbalah that is so<br />
mystical that no one can understand<br />
it. As Isaac said, what we seek is<br />
merely hidden from our physical eyes.<br />
We need the third eye, the eye of<br />
spirit, to see it. With these eyes, Kabbalah is<br />
crystal clear. For example, suppose you’ve lost<br />
a diamond in a dark room. You know it’s<br />
there, but you can’t see it. Now suppose<br />
someone hands you a bright flashlight. With<br />
its intense light you can easily see the<br />
diamond, for it was there all along.<br />
To study Kabbalistic principles isn’t hard.<br />
You can begin to grasp the Kabbalistic mental<br />
makeup, which is visible to the eye of spirit.<br />
This mental makeup can be expressed as the<br />
practice of these nine rungs leading upward<br />
toward God-consciousness:<br />
1 To be one with the Self and the spirit,<br />
the Shekinah within.<br />
2 To forgive the past and look forward to -<br />
ward the future with joy and excitement.<br />
3 To open the mind, letting the soul fly<br />
into unknown space.<br />
Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, speaking at<br />
‘Into the 21st Century’ Peace Festival<br />
in Quebec<br />
4 To be aware of the emanations of God;<br />
“the Tree of Life” interacting within<br />
each of us.<br />
5 To consider our true mission in life and<br />
to be totally alive in that mission.<br />
6 To be ready once again to hear the<br />
message given at Sinai.<br />
7 To learn the art and science of living<br />
spiritually – healthy in body, mind<br />
and soul.<br />
8 To experience genuine love and know<br />
the differences between pleasure,<br />
happiness and joy.<br />
9 To reunite the divided self in order to<br />
know the glory of the oneness of spirit.<br />
There is a song from the Broadway<br />
musical ‘Godspell’ that says we pray<br />
daily for three things: “To see Thee<br />
more clearly; to love Thee more<br />
dearly; and to follow Thee more<br />
nearly, day by day.” This prayer is<br />
100% Kabbalah.<br />
In Hebrew, the first part of this<br />
prayer – to see Thee more clearly - is<br />
called hozeh (vision). The second<br />
part – to love Thee more dearly – is<br />
called ahava ( to love God). To follow<br />
Thee more nearly is a beautiful<br />
mystical concept called dveikut,<br />
which means to cleave unto the Lord,<br />
to become one with God. Let’s<br />
examine these three concepts in<br />
greater depth.<br />
At one time or another, all clearthinking<br />
people have had a direct<br />
experience of God in their lives.<br />
They have to; whether it is in<br />
contem plating how trees and<br />
flowers grow or in holding a<br />
newborn baby, there comes a moment when<br />
we just know God is there, right in front of us.<br />
We each experience this moment, because it<br />
is true all the time. The trick is holding onto<br />
that vision all the time, seeing God in front of<br />
us all the time. That is hozeh.<br />
There is a beautiful story in the Midrash liter -<br />
ature that illustrates the second principle, ahava.<br />
There were two brothers, both farmers,<br />
who lived in the Holy Land. They worked at<br />
tilling the soil together. One brother was<br />
married and had a large family. The other<br />
brother was single. Every year, they would<br />
divide the harvest equally between them.<br />
One year, after dividing the harvest, the<br />
bachelor brother said to himself, “Something<br />
is wrong here. I have taken exactly half of the<br />
harvest and I don’t need that much. I have no
19<br />
“INTO T HE 21ST C ENTURY” PEACE F ESTIVAL<br />
“But knowing that God said “It is<br />
Good!” helps me to transform my<br />
grief to purpose. For the sake of<br />
God, for the sake of humanity, and<br />
for my own sake. My soul still has<br />
things to do in this life.”<br />
wife or children. My brother needs more<br />
than I do.” That night he couldn’t sleep. He<br />
got up in the middle of the night, loaded his<br />
wagon and drove to the other side of the<br />
mountain to where his brother lived. He<br />
quietly left a portion of the harvest there and<br />
returned home.<br />
The married brother couldn’t sleep that<br />
night either. He said to himself, “Sure I have a<br />
family and I need more now, but my brother<br />
is alone. When he gets old, who will take care<br />
of him? When my children grow up they can<br />
work and help their parents, but my brother<br />
will have no one to help. He needs protection<br />
for his old age”.<br />
So he got up in the middle of the night,<br />
loaded his wagon and drove to his brother’s<br />
house. He quietly left a portion of the harvest<br />
and returned home.<br />
The next morning each brother awoke and<br />
found that he still had his half of the harvest.<br />
Puzzled, they again loaded their wagons and<br />
secretly left part of their harvest in each<br />
other’s granaries on the second night.<br />
They again awoke to find the same<br />
amount of harvest in their granaries. So they<br />
again loaded their wagons and left a portion<br />
of their harvests. Again the amount of grain<br />
was unchanged.<br />
Then, on the fourth night, the two<br />
brothers met on the road in the middle of the<br />
mountain. As they saw each other they<br />
understood what had happened. They got off<br />
their wagons and embraced and kissed each<br />
other. According to the Midrashic sages, God<br />
saw this genuine love between brothers and<br />
said, “This is the place where I want my<br />
temple to be built.”<br />
To love Thee more dearly<br />
means exactly<br />
that: to care. To<br />
love means to<br />
care, not only<br />
here and now<br />
but with eyes<br />
toward the<br />
future.<br />
The third concept,<br />
dveikut, is at once<br />
the most simple<br />
and the most<br />
complex. To<br />
become one with<br />
God means simply to be at peace within, as is<br />
achieved through such practices as<br />
meditation, where we become quiet and<br />
listen to what God wants us to do.<br />
Yet there is more to it than that. Kabbalah<br />
teaches us to have the courage to leave the<br />
known security and move into the unknown.<br />
It is with such courage that we learn to truly<br />
“cleave unto the Lord.”<br />
Before we move on I should like to say a<br />
word about reincarnation. The great<br />
Kabbalists believed in reincarnation. They<br />
were careful not to fall into the same traps<br />
they had known in previous lifetimes.<br />
I sometimes wonder why my modern<br />
colleagues have such a hard time accepting<br />
this concept. Go to any funeral today, Jewish<br />
or non-Jewish, and you will hear the same<br />
thing: the body is laid to rest but the soul<br />
goes up. Goes up to where? Does it simply<br />
disappear? Why? Can one learn all one needs<br />
to learn in order to cleave unto the Lord in<br />
just one lifetime? I don’t think so.<br />
It makes a certain kind of sense that the<br />
soul continues and returns to live another<br />
lifetime, perhaps countless lifetimes. Into<br />
each earth-life we are born once, but this<br />
birth is repeated again and again. To grow in<br />
spiritual understanding through each<br />
lifetime is the voyage and purpose of life. The<br />
purpose of this cycle is purification and<br />
perfection, the growing nearer to God with<br />
each turn of the upward spiral. Reincarnation<br />
is one of the basic teachings of Kabbalah.<br />
In the book of Genesis, each day as God<br />
created the universe He said, “Kitov” (it is<br />
good). The Kabbalist sees God’s repeated<br />
pronouncement as proof that the universe<br />
is good.<br />
These lessons proved immensely valuable<br />
to me as a young immigrant in America. I had<br />
left my wife and child in Hungary, expecting<br />
they would join me later in this country. I<br />
later learned they were killed in the<br />
Holocaust, along with my parents, most of<br />
my brothers and sisters, my uncles and aunts,<br />
most of the people I had known as a child. At<br />
that time I couldn’t see how anyone could<br />
say, “It is good.”<br />
Yet meditation brought me an answer. I<br />
heard God say, “I still insist, Kitov. The overall<br />
picture of life is good. There is enough beauty,<br />
goodness and joy in life. Now it’s up to you<br />
to concentrate on it.”<br />
This Kabbalistic teaching helped me<br />
overcome the terror, the horror, the pain of<br />
the Holocaust. I still feel my grief. On Yom<br />
Kippur, I practically fall apart during the<br />
memorial service. But knowing that God said<br />
“Ki Tov!” helps me to transform that grief to<br />
purpose. For the sake of God, for the sake of<br />
humanity, and for my own sake. My soul still<br />
has things to do in this life<br />
ABOUT RABBI JOSEPH GELBERMAN<br />
Rabbi Joseph Gelberman was born and educated as a rabbi in<br />
Hungary. A graduate of the City University of New York and<br />
Yeshiva University, he presently serves as rabbi of The New<br />
Synagogue and is president of The New<br />
Seminary in New York City. Through his<br />
teachings and ministry, Rabbi Gelberman<br />
has dedicated his life to furthering<br />
understanding and co-operation among the<br />
world’s faiths. He is a long-time friend and<br />
colleague of Swami Vishnu-devananda.<br />
This article an excerpt from Rabbi<br />
Gelberman’s book Kabbalah As I See It.
20<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
St. Francis of Assisi<br />
Saint of<br />
Peace and<br />
Tolerance<br />
By Rolph Fernandes<br />
Because of my training and life as a<br />
Franciscan friar for forty two years, I<br />
cannot think of inter-faith activities<br />
without my reference to this great<br />
saint of all times – St. Francis of Assisi. St.<br />
Francis lived during the time of the terrible<br />
war which we refer to as the ‘Crusades’. He<br />
was a man of non-violence and so naturally,<br />
did not agree with the way in which things<br />
had turned. He was no journalist nor TV star,<br />
as those things did not exist, but he could not<br />
see the situation continue as it was and so he<br />
took it upon himself to do something.<br />
At a time when the war was raging, Francis<br />
took the occasion of a few days’ truce and,<br />
with a companion, crossed the borders from<br />
the ‘Christian’ side over to the Muslims. This<br />
was in the year 1219 in Damietta near the<br />
Nile River (some 350 miles from where the U.N.<br />
troops were stationed in the Gulf War).<br />
Crossing of borders during a war, was this<br />
not the same thing that Swami Vishnudevananda<br />
did? St. Francis’ meeting with the<br />
Sultan, in spite of often having been beaten<br />
up by soldiers, changed something in the soul<br />
of the Sultan. These two men became friends.<br />
Francis wrote in his instructions to the friars,<br />
the way in which the friar who ‘inspired by<br />
the Holy Spirit’ should live among Muslims<br />
and people of other faiths. He advocates<br />
When the war was raging, Francis took the<br />
occasion of a few days’ truce and crossed the<br />
borders from the ‘Christian’ side over to the<br />
Muslims. Crossing of borders during a war,<br />
was this not the same thing that Swami<br />
Vishnu-devananda did?<br />
St Francis preaching to<br />
the birds: a detail from<br />
a 14th century stained<br />
glass window.<br />
service and humility and of course, love and<br />
respect. He never mentioned that the friars<br />
should try to convert anyone.<br />
For these reasons we look to St. Francis as a<br />
model of dialogue for all Christians. Francis<br />
had a brotherly affection for all of God’s<br />
creations. He considered not only the<br />
humans and the animals as sisters and<br />
brothers but also the elements, the sun and<br />
the wind as brothers, the moon and stars and
21<br />
St. Francis<br />
of Assisi<br />
“INTO T HE 21ST C ENTURY” PEACE F ESTIVAL<br />
water as sisters. He had a special love for brother Sun and also for ‘our<br />
Sister, Mother Earth’ because the Sun, he considered as a symbol,<br />
image of God and the Earth because she not only supports us, but she<br />
sustains us by the food and the medicine, plants, flowers etc.<br />
When we consider life on earth, and the perspective of St. Francis, we<br />
see that there is so much for us to learn from his spirituality in our<br />
work towards peace. As part of the living creatures on this planet, so<br />
much of our very existence depends on things we take for granted.<br />
Making peace is essential to our existence and also we owe this to the<br />
children for the millennium to come. Each human being has the duty<br />
to perform some small action to link and bridge<br />
gaps for peace. The earth and the elements<br />
have for too long been witnesses to human<br />
violence. We can by our peace allow the<br />
earth, the fire, air and water to be<br />
witnesses to our comings, our gathering<br />
for peace.<br />
Swami Vishnu-devananda’s ashram,<br />
thanks to the efforts of Swamiji, has<br />
been a meeting place for peace<br />
gatherings. It has set an example for<br />
North America. I hope and pray that<br />
these efforts began here may spread<br />
all over the continent. One of the<br />
most important human values is<br />
that of respect. To enter into dialogue with people of other cultures<br />
and religions, demands that we can be able to give the ‘other’ a chance<br />
to express while we respectfully listen. This aspect is elementary in<br />
sincere dialogue and is an essential step in building understanding,<br />
acceptance, which leads to peace. During the Peace Assembly<br />
organized by the Ashram in Val Morin, we were able to witness and<br />
to take part in this process. I<br />
must extend my gratitude to<br />
the organizers for this oppor -<br />
tunity which was given to us. I<br />
must also express how we<br />
appreciated the efforts which<br />
were used to create this week<br />
of peace.<br />
Coming together for an evening of<br />
prayers offered for peace by people<br />
of different traditions is wonderful.<br />
Coming to gether to even sit in<br />
silence may also be excellent, but<br />
there is yet another store-house of<br />
grace to be able to take the time to<br />
live, work, eat and sleep under the<br />
same roof for a longer period of<br />
days and for even a week. There<br />
was a tradition held by the Native<br />
Americans of the past. It was the<br />
‘meeting place’. In those days<br />
Indians of different tribes came<br />
together in a neutral territory and<br />
spent time sharing in peace. This<br />
was of vital importance for the<br />
mutual understanding, for sharing<br />
and celebration of life. In modern<br />
terms, we may say that they took<br />
the time to ‘hang out together’.<br />
‘Hanging out’ may seen at first to<br />
be just a waste of time but for<br />
many it is a means of ‘being with’<br />
“The Children of Peace”<br />
How can I talk about peace when I remember the boy<br />
crying in Sarajevo. His eyes filled with hate<br />
“The soldiers” he said, “killed my father.<br />
And my mother: they raped”<br />
“How can you talk about peace when the marks<br />
of their guns are still on my feet?”<br />
How can I, when we have taken away peace<br />
from the children?<br />
How can I talk of peace when an African child dies<br />
for she has no food to eat.<br />
How can I talk of peace?<br />
How can I when in China a child of nine is in prison....<br />
his only ‘crime’ is because of his Buddhism<br />
How can I talk about peace when in New York a child with AIDS<br />
is thrown out in the streets.<br />
How can I when we have taken away the peace of the children?<br />
How can I talk about peace?<br />
Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Oh Shanti, Om<br />
the other to express, to share friendship and it may also be an essential<br />
part of growth. We may ask ourselves, ‘who do we ‘hang out’ or<br />
associate with the most and why?’<br />
Is it possible then in this world where people of a variety of races and<br />
religions live and work in such close city areas (like they were in<br />
Sarajevo) that in spite of their proximity, they are still strangers? For<br />
this to change, I wonder if coming together in a space like an ashram<br />
is not an essential factor contributing to peace and growth and mutual<br />
understanding between peoples.<br />
St. Francis said that we are all brothers and sisters. Vedanta tells us that<br />
we are all One. I pray for the day when both the readers and writers<br />
can live this eternally! In the meantime we must do as in the beautiful<br />
song which was composed and sung during the festival:<br />
‘Pray for the world. Pray for our lives. Pray for the children.<br />
Pray for Peace, Love and Harmony’.<br />
From the song ‘Pray’, written and sung by Shakti Ray on the album ‘May Peace Prevail on Earth’.<br />
“I wonder if coming<br />
together in a space like an<br />
ashram is not an essential<br />
factor con tributing to<br />
peace and growth and<br />
mutual understanding<br />
between peoples.”<br />
I was asked to say a few words of peace and while<br />
reflecting on it, an image, a memory came back to<br />
me. I was in Sarajevo a few years ago attending an<br />
International Congress for Peace, when a child of<br />
about 12 years old asked (with his eyes filled with<br />
hate) “why do you want to make peace?” I wrote<br />
this for today:<br />
– Rolph Fernandes, Val Morin, 8th August 1999<br />
Rolph Fernandes<br />
is a native of Trinidad who<br />
migrated to Montreal in<br />
1956, joined the Franciscans<br />
in 1957 and was appointed as<br />
the Inter-faith officer of the<br />
Order. He initiated the Interfaith<br />
Peace Prayer in the Spirit<br />
of Assisi in Montreal in 1987.<br />
A member of the Montreal<br />
Inter-Faith Council, Rolph<br />
visited India on several<br />
occasions and spent a year in<br />
Shantivanam Ashram with<br />
Fr. Bede Griffiths.<br />
A participant of many Interfaith<br />
conferences, he con -<br />
tinues to work in Interfaith<br />
dialogue. Rolph has retired<br />
from the Franciscan<br />
community for health reasons
22<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
The Great Circle of Peace<br />
Talk by Regent Garihwa Sioui, meaning Good Captain or The Captain of Noble Affairs,<br />
Secretary General of the Northern American-Indian nations.<br />
Garihwa began with a Mi’kmag song to thank the Great<br />
Spirit in the four directions and inviting the<br />
grandparents from the four directions to come and<br />
join the occasion. Thanks is given to them for allowing<br />
us to live our role, and to have such an important place like all<br />
the other creatures in the great circle of life. The Native<br />
American nations do not have a book or written religion;<br />
everything has been learned from the Great Spirit and passed<br />
down from generation to generation. They believe that the<br />
creator has placed them in an ecological zone and a cultural<br />
area, providing everything needed to survive and to be happy.<br />
In the beginning there was no earth – only an ocean and a<br />
world of celestial people living in the sky. One day a woman who<br />
was pregnant was looking for medicine. She was distracted by a bear which<br />
had made a hole at the foot of the tree to eat some roots, causing her to fall<br />
out of the sky towards the ocean. As she fell she was caught by a flock of<br />
geese who put her on the back of a giant turtle who was coming out of the<br />
water. On seeing the pregnant woman, the animals convened their first<br />
counsel to decide what to do with this celestial creature that was before<br />
them. The counsel lasted a very, very long time after which they decided that<br />
someone must dive into the water and bring back earth from the very bottom<br />
of the sea. The best divers tried, the otter, the beaver, the seals, but none of<br />
them were successful.<br />
All of a sudden a tiny voice was heard, a voice that had never expressed<br />
itself before – the toad. The animals told the toad “Don’t even<br />
think about it, you can’t do this”. But he answered,<br />
“You’ve all tried and nobody was successful so<br />
don’t laugh at me; I am the last one to<br />
try”. The toad jumped in the water<br />
and sank like a rock. Every body<br />
waited and waited. Then<br />
they saw bubbles, “That’s<br />
it, he died, we should<br />
not have let him go”.<br />
All of a sudden, he<br />
came up and<br />
spat out a bit of<br />
earth that he<br />
Regent Garihwa<br />
Sioui of the<br />
Wendat/Wyandot<br />
Nation<br />
had taken from the bottom of the ocean. All the animals were<br />
happy and applauded. They had learned a good lesson - never tell<br />
anybody that he wasn’t important - everyone is important. The<br />
animals started spreading the earth on the back of the turtle, so<br />
that the straw and the sweet-grass would start to grow. So the<br />
pregnant woman was able to give birth in acceptable conditions,<br />
giving birth to twins. One of the twins came out through the<br />
natural channel, but the other came out under the armpit and the<br />
mother died. However the twins‚ grandmother took them and<br />
taught them to organize the world as we know it today. One made<br />
rivers going one way, taking all the sense of gravity from the earth.<br />
The other made waterfalls in very violent rivers that had gravity.<br />
One made maple syrup that came directly from the tree; the other<br />
one just did with maple water. One put all the wild animals in grottoes; the<br />
other left them free. The twins would fight but grandmother was always<br />
there to break them up. She directed them on how to create the world. One<br />
of the brothers wanted it to be difficult, and one wanted it to be simple. That’s<br />
why today we say that we were placed here by the creator and we received<br />
everything that we need to be happy and to survive. That is the creation<br />
story from the Huron nation, but the story is the same in all our nations.<br />
There is a story about the Great Lakes areas - Erie, Huron and Ontario, the<br />
St. Lawrence River and the Rockies. We say the Rocky Mountains are the<br />
spine of mother earth, and the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River are the<br />
heart and the arteries of mother earth. It is the richest region and the most<br />
diversified area in the world. That’s where America takes its<br />
wealth from. We had a prophet whose name was<br />
the Great Pacifier. He came to teach us<br />
how humans could live in<br />
harmonious confe deration.<br />
When the first Europeans<br />
arrived in America, they<br />
found that the native<br />
people had sys -<br />
tems of govern -<br />
ing that re -<br />
quired con -<br />
sensus in<br />
order to
23<br />
“INTO T HE 21ST C ENTURY” PEACE F ESTIVAL<br />
resolve problems about humans, animals and the environment. There was no<br />
chief to whom a mandate was given. The women had the function of teaching<br />
health, agriculture, and were also responsible for all the departments that<br />
would affect the life of the community. Men were responsible for hunting,<br />
international relations and diplomacy, and war. The wars we inherited –<br />
mostly those being fought in Europe that were trans ported to the new world.<br />
Nations became allied with the French or the English. Since we had never<br />
developed arms of mass destruction and did not have an immune system<br />
that was strong enough to resist the sicknesses that came from other<br />
continents, our people became martyrs for peace on this continent.<br />
Our history as peace-makers dates from 1701 when Kondiaronk, of the<br />
same heritage as the Great Pacifier, made peace in Montreal for all the North<br />
American Indian nations. Others included Pontiac, who fought and gave his<br />
life for his people, and Tecumseh a Shawnee who was allied with the English<br />
against the Americans trying to expand further north in 1812. After that there<br />
were the Metis, composed of the Europeans and the Indian nations, many of<br />
whom died or were deported to the west side of the Mississippi in an exodus<br />
called the Trail of Tears. That’s why we have families from Illinois who are in<br />
Oklahoma. Oklahoma became the dumping ground of all Indian nations –<br />
they were marched through the winter, into the Oklahoma state. The arms<br />
that were used for mass destruction in the First World War were tested on<br />
the Indian nations there. That’s why that we like to think that we helped save<br />
the world a second time. The first time was when we shared our joy, our food,<br />
our medicine, with the first Europeans; the second time was the First World<br />
War. The third time was at the beginning of the Second World War, because<br />
it was here that the world learnt the democratic principles that they now<br />
know. That is why we Indians are not bitter; we know the contributions that<br />
our peoples have given to the world. There is also another episode in our<br />
contribution to world peace. There was an old man from this area who with<br />
many other natives created the North American-Indian<br />
nation government. In 1947-48, this man, Jules Sioui,<br />
secretary of the nation at that time, presented the<br />
secret of world peace to the General Assembly of the<br />
United Nations. At that time the only intervention a<br />
country could do to another sovereign state, was to<br />
declare war. That was an international right. We<br />
proposed that states<br />
should abdicate a<br />
certain amount of<br />
sovereignity to the profit of<br />
a world-wide organisation,<br />
which would be the mandate to<br />
establish peace and regional conflicts. It<br />
was too early at that time but we are living it<br />
at the present time.<br />
As nations who have always been orientated or driven by<br />
peace, we have developed peace instruments. For us peace is something that<br />
we cherish but something that we must also nourish. It’s very hard to talk<br />
about peace and to understand peace without invoking its contrary, which is<br />
war. Peace is health, war is sickness. In our belief we don’t have a word for<br />
the devil or hell. If we had to describe something terrible like hell, it would be<br />
to describe war. That’s why our shamans, our prophets and our elders, always<br />
taught us in healing. Earlier we offered tobacco. We learnt from the creator<br />
that tobacco was given to us not to smoke as a cigarette, but for transporting<br />
our wishes, our intentions, our prayers, up towards the Great Spirit. And we<br />
can purify ourselves with those herbs. We purify ourselves with sweet-grass<br />
and sage. We even ask the wind to smoke when it’s a storm. We say to the<br />
wind, “sit down, smoke with us and rest”. When we completed a treaty, since<br />
we had no writing, we would write literally in the sky, by smoking it and<br />
conclude the peace. We have many peace objects: the eagle feather, in which<br />
there is great importance and truth; the talking stick, which ensures peace in<br />
a counsel, ensuring that everyone will have their turn, their right to speak,<br />
and also the power of being heard. It’s a great power to have words and to<br />
say them, but the talking stick is the one that gives it to us. We have the drum;<br />
and we have the wampum. (Holding up a strand of shells): This is the first<br />
wampum and it’s called the path, a three-strand wampum. This comes from<br />
the secret society of priests or initiates that has preserved and kept rituals<br />
that would have been lost if they hadn’t been there. These were things that<br />
were unknown to the white people, that are starting to come to light today.<br />
This wampum is from a shell that comes from the Atlantic ocean; it’s a small<br />
shell that has turned. This type of wampum is the oldest wampum in<br />
existence; this one is an exact replica of the original, made under the<br />
supervision of the elders. It’s a wampum that was used in the counsels.<br />
We have the teachings of the creator: the different ceremonies (such as<br />
the sweat-lodge), how to use tobacco, the drum, medicinal plants, how to say<br />
thank you for the creation of the world. Everything that we have learnt from<br />
the Great Spirit is in this three-strand wampum. The small strand represents<br />
the children: all the children in a family, but also all the children of the world.<br />
The middle strand is women: grandmothers, cousins, aunts, sisters. And that<br />
last one is men - and we are all bound together spiritually and equally. The<br />
wampum invokes a social and a moral code; we learn how to respect<br />
children, so that they are not abused. It also teaches us how to respect<br />
women, women’s role, the role and responsibilities of men and also the<br />
respect for other humans. It also teaches us our spiritual place in the great<br />
circle of life; that if we abuse one element of creation, we break the circle.<br />
And if we break the circle it is guaranteed that we will abuse our brothers,<br />
sisters, children and wives. It also teaches us that in countries where there is<br />
pollution there is abuse, and where there is abuse there will always be war. In<br />
a country where there are no more wolves and no more bears, there will be<br />
war. And in countries where there are no free rivers, there will be war. And the<br />
elders also teach us that once the earth cannot support the pollution<br />
anymore, there will be great ecological disasters - and we are almost there.<br />
That is why we must return to the old teachings of the creator. Because the<br />
creator never gave anything explicitly to one human. It’s like tobacco, it was<br />
given to us here in North America but it was given to us so we would share<br />
it. Tobacco abuse is not<br />
good. If we learnt how<br />
to res pect these<br />
sacred things, we<br />
could learn how<br />
to take care of<br />
peace and to<br />
conserve it.<br />
We always pray to<br />
the four directions. The<br />
east is vision, represented<br />
by the colour red. Vision is an ideal; it’s a primary objective - it is like<br />
a direction guide. We thank the spirit of the east for giving us our<br />
vision every morning. And we thank the south for<br />
giving us heat, clearness, the colour yellow,<br />
comprehension and intellig ence. We thank the<br />
spirit of the west, which is represented by the<br />
colour black or dark blue. That is the direction of<br />
expression: maturity, beauty and truth. We thank the north for giving us<br />
purity, force and spiritual guidance. And we thank our grandparents who are<br />
at the north. The four grandparents that are there are the common ancestors<br />
of all of humanity. We thank the Great Spirit, our grandmother, and the earth.<br />
Those are the four directions. The elders also teach us the four qualities we<br />
must develop: respect, honesty, love and sharing. The elders tell us that<br />
love is the base of everything – especially in troubled times when respect<br />
is not enough.<br />
The use of the eagle feather was given to us by the creator. When we have<br />
the eagle feather we are forced to tell the truth. Not only do we have to tell<br />
the truth; we are not allowed to lie. And we must have the courage to speak<br />
for those that are voiceless: the animals, the trees, the mountains, the rivers.<br />
That’s why not only should we tell the truth and not tell lies, but have the<br />
courage to speak the truth.<br />
When we talk about peace we have to have a wider definition of peace,<br />
it’s not just peace amongst humanity. In the word peace there is respect. In<br />
the great circle of peace is everything that surrounds us. We can’t have global<br />
peace if we are abusing another part of creation. And the fate of the world<br />
will be decided in the next little while<br />
When we talk about peace we have to have a<br />
wider definition of peace, it’s not just peace<br />
amongst humanity. In the word peace there is<br />
respect. In the great circle of peace is<br />
everything that surrounds us.
24<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
BearingWitness<br />
forPeace<br />
by Bernie Glassman<br />
My name is Bernie. I was born in<br />
Brooklyn, New York, a little over sixty<br />
years ago, into a Jewish tradition - but<br />
my parents and family were quite left<br />
wing, socialists, so religion wasn’t a strong part of<br />
my upbringing. At the age of ten, something<br />
compelled me to look for God, so I started to read<br />
and explore. Then when I was at college, I read<br />
about Buddhism, in particular Zen Buddhism. There<br />
was one page on Zen Buddhism and it felt like my<br />
life so I started to meditate and practice on my<br />
own. A few years later I went to Israel to experience<br />
living there, but came back. That’s when I met my<br />
Zen teacher who was at that time a young monk.<br />
That was 1963. By 1970 I had ordained into the Zen<br />
tradition. My root teaching is in the Japanese Soto-<br />
Zen tradition, which emphasizes daily life as the<br />
learning place.<br />
In 1980 I went back to New York to start a Zen<br />
community there. I’d had an experience in which I<br />
felt the hungry spirits of the earth and I had made<br />
a vow to feed them. I think that was one of the<br />
most important moments of my life because it put<br />
me on a track of wanting to work with people in all<br />
aspects of life and to learn how to make the meal<br />
that’s appropriate in each of those aspects of life,<br />
using the ingredients that are present now, instead<br />
of waiting for future ingredients to come. So using<br />
the ingredients that I had, I tried to find a way to<br />
feed all these hungry spirits of which there are so<br />
many. When I moved to New York I decided to work<br />
in different areas. I made my center an interfaith<br />
center; we had a Rabbi, a Catholic priest, Buddhist<br />
services, Jewish services, and Christian services – I<br />
was hoping to build a mystical city of practice. It<br />
didn’t quite work. I also wanted to work in areas of<br />
right-livelihood and social action so we formed a<br />
broad base, a Mandala, in the area that we were<br />
living. We worked with people who were homeless<br />
– there was inadequate housing, childcare, jobs –<br />
and we helped to bring those who wanted to, out<br />
of homelessness. I liked that life, but most don’t.<br />
Then AIDS became a major issue, so we built<br />
housing and a clinic for people with HIV. That was<br />
in a place called Yonkers, which at that time had<br />
Bernie Glassman<br />
the highest rate of homelessness and of AIDS in the<br />
United States. Someone else is now in charge of<br />
that centre and it has about a hundred and fifty<br />
people working in connection with it.<br />
After that was established I felt that I needed to do<br />
something else in my life. I needed to take another<br />
step. Before this I had a practice of bringing people<br />
who were going to work in homelessness to live on<br />
the streets, so that they could taste the experience<br />
of living on the streets first-hand, though not of<br />
homelessness as they knew they would go back<br />
home. This way they could learn from the people<br />
that they were going to work for and to serve. That<br />
was very important. For me it was a combination of<br />
the two methods in which I was trained: the Rinsi<br />
method of having stories where you could bite into<br />
what you were trying to understand, (who am I?<br />
what is life? stories you can’t study, but only<br />
experience) and the Soto tradition of using daily life<br />
as the training vessel for the monks.<br />
I called it ‘plunges‚’ using the word plunge to<br />
mean putting ourselves into a situation where our<br />
intellect is of no value. We are thrown into<br />
something that we don’t understand and the only<br />
way is to experience it. I think meditation is a<br />
plunge into the wholeness of life. When we try to<br />
understand it, it is not a plunge, but to do it, is. To<br />
live on the streets is a plunge.<br />
I wanted to know what to do next and I decided<br />
to do a week-long retreat – I felt the place I wanted<br />
to go would be the center of the United States in<br />
some sense so I chose the White House. I did it as<br />
a birthday present to myself and I invited some<br />
people to join me for my party – we just sat there.<br />
I was born on 18th January and if you look at the<br />
papers from this day in 1994, you’ll see that it was<br />
the coldest day in Washington for fifty years! We<br />
sat outside in a circle covered in snow, but at night<br />
we slept indoors in a homeless shelter that’s only a<br />
few blocks from the White House. It is the largest<br />
shelter in the United States; it has one to two<br />
thousand beds. It was run by a friend of mine,<br />
Mitch Snider, who actually committed suicide<br />
there. We slept in this dining hall which is about
25<br />
“INTO T HE 21ST C ENTURY” PEACE F ESTIVAL<br />
twice<br />
the size<br />
of this<br />
room and we<br />
went out at<br />
nights to bring<br />
blankets to people<br />
who were outside.<br />
Many people used to die in<br />
Washington from the cold,<br />
but the shelter eliminated this<br />
by taking care. Though there are<br />
people who still want to live outside<br />
despite it being so cold, because our<br />
shelter system is so bad. I asked the people<br />
who were with me, as something to think about<br />
as we sat, about what they personally were going<br />
to do to work towards eliminating rejection, AIDS,<br />
homelessness and other issues. That was what I<br />
was asking myself, so twice a day we would sit in a<br />
circle and share our feelings about this. At the end<br />
of the retreat I felt I should start a Zen Peacemaker<br />
Order. The Zen tradition in the United States had no<br />
place for people who wanted to do social action.<br />
There wasn’t a container and those who were<br />
doing it were looked at as strange – why are you<br />
doing such a thing? When I came home and spoke<br />
with my wife, we decided to co-found it as<br />
partners, and it expanded to become a peacemaker<br />
community with a few different families. This is<br />
happening around the world. There are religious<br />
leaders getting together and talking about who<br />
would like to have a container that includes many<br />
traditions. Not something that excludes or replaces,<br />
but a place where people from different spiritual<br />
traditions who are interested in social action can<br />
have pure relationships, discussions and work<br />
The first thing that happens when you come to<br />
Auschwitz is that you do get plunged into not<br />
knowing. Whatever you thought you knew, or<br />
whatever you thought you would feel – believe me it<br />
is more overwhelming than that. It is a place that is<br />
beyond what you can fathom; you can’t believe that<br />
such a thing could happen.<br />
together.<br />
There are so<br />
many places all<br />
around the world like<br />
the group I had formed in<br />
Yonkers – social action groups that<br />
have a spiritual base – and many are not<br />
speaking to other groups and are therefore<br />
feeling quite isolated. We thought that we would<br />
like to build a network between these groups, so<br />
that we could meet together, learn from each other,<br />
honor each other and empower each other, and<br />
that is happening.<br />
We also decided to start a school. Since there<br />
were all of these beautiful villages and training<br />
centers in the Zen Peacemaker Order, we realized<br />
we could create a curriculum where people could<br />
do internships in the places that already exist. So if<br />
you want to work in the area of homelessness,<br />
hospice work, contemplative care, prison work,<br />
conflict resolution, mental illness, or drug addiction<br />
we have so many groups already doing this work<br />
around the world. We were able create a program<br />
where one could do a plunge into the different<br />
works and see how the work is done differently in<br />
different places: hospice work here, in Poland, in<br />
Russia, in Africa, in Asia - then one would come<br />
back and share one’s experience. The emphasis is<br />
on the experience, learning from what’s been done<br />
and what new ideas came to you out of the<br />
experience. The thing that ties us together are three<br />
tenets that we feel were very important for the<br />
work we are doing.<br />
Basically the first one is a willingness to plunge<br />
into the unknown. So in doing work you don’t say<br />
“know the answer to your problem” but you start<br />
off by saying “don’t know”.<br />
The second is bearing witness, being ready to<br />
bear witness to the joys and sufferings of the<br />
world, to be there; so when you see a homeless<br />
person you don’t walk to the other side of the<br />
street. There is nobody that goes on the streets with<br />
me that can pass a homeless person and not look<br />
at them, because one of the first things that you<br />
find when you live on the streets is that people<br />
don’t look at you – they turn away. You can’t live<br />
through that experience and then turn your eyes<br />
away yourself. Just last week, my wife and I were<br />
in San Francisco.<br />
There was a homeless<br />
woman and we stopped –<br />
my wife gave her a dollar and<br />
asked her name and how are you<br />
doing? And she said “you know,<br />
nobody has ever asked me my name”. I<br />
never pass a homeless person without<br />
asking these questions. This little acknowledge -<br />
ment and love is more than money.<br />
The third tenet is doing something about it –<br />
we call that healing. Healing of oneself and of the<br />
world. These are the three guiding principles and<br />
we use them even in our meetings. We may think<br />
we have things all worked out beforehand but<br />
when we have a meeting the first thing we start<br />
with is not knowing. We forget all of our rules and<br />
everything we’ve said; we bear witness to what is<br />
happening. And for the healing, if it means<br />
changing our rules, then we do it.<br />
The retreat we do in Auschwitz-Birkenau is the<br />
best example I can give of these tenets. The first<br />
time we did this, seven years ago, I was<br />
overwhelmed by the souls and the place – it is<br />
beyond description. I felt I had to bear witness and<br />
do a retreat. It ended up being about 150 people<br />
from many countries and traditions. I wanted this<br />
variety of life: people in Germany whose parents<br />
had been SS and had run the camps, survivors of<br />
the camps. The first thing that happens when you<br />
come to Auschwitz is that you do get plunged into<br />
not knowing. Whatever you thought you knew, or<br />
whatever you thought you would feel – believe me<br />
it is more overwhelming than that. It is a place that<br />
is beyond what you can fathom; you can’t believe<br />
that such a thing could happen. Of course because<br />
there were so many different types of people,<br />
almost anything that anybody did was an affront<br />
to somebody else. During the day we would sit on<br />
the selection site, which is where people were<br />
chosen to go either into slave labor or to the gas<br />
chambers. Children and the elderly usually went<br />
directly to the gas chambers, but if they looked like<br />
they could work they would go into slave labor.<br />
While we sat we chanted the names of people who<br />
had died there. In between sittings we would do<br />
services at the crematorium and at the gas<br />
chambers. To begin with, each tradition would have<br />
its own service and people would join the one they<br />
wanted, then once a day we would have an<br />
interfaith service. Early in the morning we would<br />
meet in small groups of eight to ten, to share what<br />
was going on.<br />
There was a rabbi, who is also a Buddhist, who<br />
comes every year and whose type of teaching<br />
involves dance and song from the Jewish tradition.<br />
One evening when we met, the rabbi started to sing<br />
and to dance. People knew I had organised the<br />
retreat and from the beginning people had come to<br />
me to complain about what other people were<br />
doing – laughing, crying – whatever somebody was
26<br />
doing it was an affront to somebody else. So when<br />
the rabbi started to dance it was an affront to so<br />
many people. Some Orthodox people were there<br />
and said but this is what we do. But not everybody<br />
does that. What I said to the people was that this<br />
place, Auschwitz-Birkenau, is the place that was<br />
meant to get rid of differences. This place was built<br />
to kill all of those who weren’t Aryans, who weren’t<br />
of that one type. To kill the Jews, Catholics, gypsies,<br />
gays – to kill everybody who was different.<br />
Whereas our retreat was to recognise the diversity<br />
of each of us, and we bore witness to that for five<br />
days, with the million souls, remembering them.<br />
What happened in that retreat, which was a<br />
surprise for all of us, was that a healing arose and<br />
we became one people. So we would like the<br />
interfaith peace order to be houses of one<br />
people – places where there is some<br />
thought given, where as a result of what<br />
we are doing, we become one people<br />
without differences. So those three tenets<br />
were really very alive at Auschwitz.<br />
During the first year I felt I had to do<br />
this and we didn’t know whether we<br />
would continue. I’d like to share some of<br />
the issues that came up because it<br />
demonstrates what can happen when one<br />
does something like this, not just in<br />
Auschwitz but anywhere. We have a list of<br />
twenty or thirty places where we’ve been<br />
asked to do these retreats now: in Ireland,<br />
Israel, the United States, Japanese camps.<br />
In putting the retreat together we worked<br />
for two years involving local groups. On the first<br />
day of that first year there were about thirty people<br />
from Poland who had really wanted to come, but<br />
during the first couple of nights they were up all<br />
night talking, saying why are we here, this is not<br />
our business? This is for the Jews and the Germans,<br />
we have nothing to do with this – they just came<br />
into our country. But by the third or fourth day they<br />
were saying, this is about us. By the end of the<br />
retreat people were asking whether we would do<br />
the retreat again next year, so I said only if the Poles<br />
became the host. We’d help them to organize it but<br />
they would have to host it. As a result they became<br />
involved in a lot of social action programs and<br />
various other things, whereas until that time they<br />
had always complained that they could not do<br />
anything because the Germans and the Russians<br />
were in charge. The second year the big issue came<br />
from the Germans – they felt so guilty. We had<br />
name-tags with our name and country on and the<br />
Germans all took them off. They were ashamed and<br />
embarrassed to say that they came from Germany.<br />
There were a lot of tears and they couldn’t really<br />
talk to us. So, the third year I asked the Germans<br />
and the Poles to host the retreat together. So each<br />
year a new issue arises and we’ll keep moving with<br />
the ingredients, looking at how to heal ourselves<br />
and then others. That’s a little overview but what I<br />
really wanted to do was to get questions from you,<br />
because we’ve never met each other. I have no idea<br />
what you are interested in, and I would love to<br />
speak to you about your issues. But I felt I had to<br />
give you a little taste of who I am.<br />
Questions:<br />
Q: You mentioned that in the concentration camps<br />
you have created a healing process amongst those<br />
who have been either victimised or presented<br />
themselves in shame of what has been done. Is the<br />
sort of healing procedure you are talking about<br />
indigenous healing? Is it people on the same level<br />
healing each other?<br />
Bernie: I don’t think so. That is certainly part of it,<br />
but I really don’t know where this healing is coming<br />
from. I feel it is different in different places. I hate<br />
to say it’s just this and here is the method. When<br />
we go to Auschwitz-Birkenhau I feel that the<br />
healing is coming from the place itself. There are<br />
places that have energy that heal, and I know it’s<br />
Our retreat was to<br />
recognise the diversity of each of us,<br />
and we bore witness to that for five<br />
days, with the million souls,<br />
remembering them.<br />
funny to say that Auschwitz could be such a place,<br />
but my own personal feeling is that it is, because<br />
I’m sure that for all of us involved it had a healing<br />
effect. The word for peace in Hebrew is shalom and<br />
the root is shalem, which means to make whole. I<br />
think remembering is making whole. To re-member<br />
means to take the members of the body and put<br />
them back together again. At Auschwitz we did a<br />
lot of making whole again so the remembering was<br />
a big part of the healing process, as was the bearing<br />
witness, the needing to stay together with all these<br />
differences. When people go there, it is so<br />
horrendous that they don’t want to stay. But we<br />
have to stay for five days, which is bad enough, and<br />
we have to sit there with people that we don’t like.<br />
But for me the strongest healing aspect is the place<br />
itself. What I feel is that if we start with not<br />
knowing and bear witness then the healing will<br />
arise. It’s almost our job to look at it and say how<br />
did it arise this time? And not to necessarily try to<br />
bring that to the next place. That’s the principle that<br />
I use in my social action work.<br />
Q: What would you say is the fine line that gets one<br />
to go from the fear of the plunge to taking the<br />
plunge? Where does courage come from? Are we<br />
born with it, is it experience, is it achieved by<br />
developmental needs?<br />
Bernie: I ask myself that each time I look at a pool<br />
and I ask myself am I going to jump in or not? I<br />
don’t care how you prepare for it, but there will be<br />
a plunge with that thin line again. You are going to<br />
face that question over and over – you may answer<br />
it this time but the next time you walk past<br />
someone with cholera you are going to be at that<br />
thin line again. I don’t know the answer. I think we<br />
can keep expanding our boundaries but we are<br />
always going to be at some boundary. I think that<br />
if you practice, whatever practice you are doing, it’s<br />
going to open up. I’m a funny person – I look for<br />
those places, that’s how I try to grow. What parts of<br />
me am I afraid of? I feel that the part of myself that<br />
I am rejecting is the part of society that I am<br />
rejecting. I try to find out how to go past that. I had<br />
an experience in Switzerland. There’s an<br />
area in Zurich called the Letten – it was an<br />
experiment by the government, it’s been<br />
shut down now – it was the largest<br />
gathering place for addicts. There is a river<br />
that feeds into Lake Zurich and the Letten is<br />
on the banks of this river, two blocks away<br />
from one of the richest areas in the world –<br />
the banks of Zurich. Before they shut it<br />
down they were giving out 16,000 needles<br />
each day. Can you imagine that?<br />
I went there once. A friend asked my wife<br />
and I if we would like to see the area. You<br />
have to walk down to the river and along<br />
the river bank. Up above – two blocks away<br />
from where the world banks are, which are<br />
laundering addict money – were Swiss<br />
police. The police were keeping the addicts<br />
down below almost like shepherds with<br />
their sheep. It was an area about the size of<br />
a football field, packed with people<br />
shooting up. We had to force our way<br />
through people. As we walked, there were<br />
people stoned out, in drug ecstasies, people<br />
swimming in the river. And the dealers selling the<br />
drugs had knives, guns and money – they were<br />
angry with strangers walking through. For me, this<br />
was such a metaphor for our society. The dealers<br />
were making money from the addicts, but so were<br />
the banks two blocks away. The banks were actually<br />
making more money. Dealers from all around the<br />
world came. They actually closed it because it was<br />
getting bigger and bigger and out-of-hand.<br />
A lot of the messengers didn’t even know where<br />
they were. They’d been sent from all parts of the<br />
world, from places where the drugs come from,<br />
given tickets, flew, were picked up by a limousine,<br />
driven to the Letten to sell their stuff and then<br />
limousined back home. They had to build extra<br />
prisons when they closed the area, because all of<br />
these people. My wife was petrified. The man we<br />
were with said would you like to walk back through<br />
it, or another way to the car and she said, “No, let’s<br />
not walk back through it” It was one of those thin<br />
lines and I felt I had to sit there to find out what<br />
was going on, to bear witness to it. I knew if I could<br />
do this, something would arise and I would have a<br />
better understanding of what to do. Or not a better<br />
understanding, but I would do something that<br />
made more sense. So I’m not looking for
27<br />
understandings, but I’m looking to plunge into<br />
experience and I know from my previous<br />
experiences that this forces me into directions that<br />
are healthier for myself and for others.<br />
Q: I was wondering whether you would share with us<br />
some of the methods or practices used during the<br />
retreat at Auschwitz, that were successful at dealing<br />
with the very sensitive conflicts between the<br />
polarised groups of people that were present at the<br />
retreat? Or put more simply how did you get these<br />
groups who were having conflicts with each other, to<br />
feel love towards each other by the end of the retreat?<br />
Bernie: Again, I don’t know if I did anything. I think<br />
the biggest thing was that we bore witness to each<br />
other. We stayed in that conflict; we sat together in<br />
a circle; we didn’t run from each other; we lived<br />
with each other for those five days – that was the<br />
biggest part. Each morning we had small groups<br />
and did counsel work. In this each person talks, you<br />
can’t do cross-talking, you’re not answering<br />
somebody; and each person is speaking from their<br />
heart, and we are all supposed to listen from our<br />
heart. When we talk we talk from our heart about<br />
what we feel; we’re not responding to what<br />
somebody else has said – that’s the basic principle<br />
of the counsel. We do this each morning and we’ve<br />
found over the years that this is very important. In<br />
the evening we have a big group like this, and that<br />
was also very important, more the first year than<br />
last year – the dynamics are changing, and we are<br />
looking at how to do things differently. First is to<br />
bring the differences into the same mandala.<br />
Normally we don’t do that. It’s not that we think,<br />
and say we’re not going to bring differences in, but<br />
because of the very nature of how we set things up,<br />
it excludes so many. We put a lot of energy into<br />
thinking about how we can bring people of<br />
different persuasions together. First it’s to bring<br />
them to the same place, and second it’s to bear<br />
witness to the differences, and to share them. To<br />
hear somebody say “I can’t stand the fact that<br />
somebody is laughing here on these grounds – this<br />
is not a place to laugh”. And to just listen, not<br />
answer it – just to hear that this person is in pain<br />
because somebody is laughing. Another person is<br />
in pain because nobody is laughing. We heard all of<br />
these things and we stayed together. I think that<br />
those are the things that we did that are not always<br />
done: bringing so many differences together,<br />
sitting with them for so long, and then sharing our<br />
feelings about our pain and suffering, what was<br />
hurting or disturbing us, getting us angry, and just<br />
listening to it all.<br />
Q: I loved your book Instructions to the Cook. It’s<br />
one of the best things I’ve ever read – a kind of guide<br />
for everyday living and right livelihood. Are you<br />
going to be developing any ideas from that at all,<br />
tomorrow perhaps, or whenever?<br />
Bernie: Yes, I guess in the workshop. We’ll make<br />
some meals. As it says in the title it’s not the giving<br />
of recipes, but learning how to be a cook. Then each<br />
of us can make our own meals with our own<br />
recipes with our own ingredients, because we all<br />
have our own ingredients. It is a cook book – it’s<br />
cooking the supreme meal, which is your life.<br />
Swami Mahedevananda: In the beginning you<br />
mentioned that when you first went to Auschwitz,<br />
you were overwhelmed by a feeling of the hunger of<br />
the souls. I was intrigued by that and was wondering<br />
if that was the initiative that led to your compassion.<br />
Could you say something about that?<br />
Bernie: The experience I had of the hungry spirits<br />
was way before that, in the years before I was a<br />
teacher, and that formed this direction of my life. At<br />
Auschwitz certainly I could also feel all the souls. It<br />
was an immediate feeling – I don’t think anyone<br />
can walk on Birkenau and not feel those souls –<br />
crying to be remembered, so that they could go<br />
home. As you read Holocaust literature, the theme<br />
is to remember the story, don’t forget me. There<br />
was one man who was very young, and whose<br />
father was very old, and he wanted to give his food<br />
to his father, but his father said “No, you have to<br />
eat it, because somebody has to live, to tell our<br />
story”. That’s in a book by Berta Lome – one of the<br />
survivors. You could feel all that, before I read all<br />
these books, just walking in Birkenau. I went there<br />
by accident about seven years ago. A student of<br />
mine, who was a disaster of the Vietnam War,<br />
becoming homeless after the war and an addict for<br />
many years, now looks after casualties of war,<br />
though he’ll never be fully healed and he still can’t<br />
sleep at night. He was going on a walk organized by<br />
a Japanese-Buddhist group that walks for peace. It<br />
was a nine-month walk from Auschwitz to<br />
Hiroshima and they were going to walk through<br />
Vietnam. So I went to Auschwitz to do a lay<br />
ordination for him and we did it at a crematorium.<br />
I was so overwhelmed that all this work followed.<br />
Swami Mahadevananda: We had a similar<br />
experience when Swamiji flew over the Berlin Wall.<br />
We went to an area just on the American/English<br />
side of the wall, a place called Templedrome, and<br />
there we celebrated puja because both Swamiji and<br />
Marilyn Rossner, who is a reputed clairvoyant from<br />
Montreal, said that there were people still fighting<br />
against each other there from the Second World<br />
War. It was in the heart of Berlin. One side was the<br />
bunker where Hitler took his life. The whole area was<br />
flattened during the war. Swamiji said we had to<br />
pray. So possibly when there are good people with<br />
good hearts they can go to a place where people<br />
have suffered, and pass positive energy that helps<br />
the spirits to leave the place. I heard about a similar<br />
incident in the <strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram in Rishikesh. One<br />
night, as Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong> started to chant Jaya<br />
Ganesha, he came to the point of Hare Rama and<br />
went on, chanting Hare Rama Hare Rama Hare<br />
Rama, for five minutes, ten minutes, one hour, two<br />
hours, then all night. Everybody was saying what is<br />
going on? In the morning he said thank God, the air<br />
is very clear. Everybody laughed, everybody was very<br />
happy. Highly spiritual people feel a certain<br />
presence and due to their own personality, their own<br />
saintliness, their own positive approach, they are<br />
able to change and release positive energy that will<br />
overcome negative energy. In the end, positive<br />
B EARING W ITNESS FOR P EACE<br />
overcomes negative. So bearing witness means<br />
being there as a human being, in a positive way, and<br />
praying with one’s own being – trying to release the<br />
suffering that is still there - that takes a lot of<br />
courage. Because it’s not a place that you can joke<br />
about: there was death, millions of people died,<br />
suffered and were tortured – it is still there. That can<br />
be released with powerful positive energy. But this is<br />
not easy – it takes a lot of energy from positive<br />
people. That’s what we felt in west Berlin, next to the<br />
Wall. We could touch the Wall. What Swami<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> said on that particular night, was that a<br />
lot of souls were released. An Ashram is a place<br />
where the earthbound spirits or suffering souls<br />
come – the chanting, prayers and positive vibrations<br />
are like fresh water in the desert for them. When you<br />
really concentrate hard some of them are released<br />
from their suffering. In a place like Auschwitz there’s<br />
a very negative energy, but the positive energy can<br />
be released.<br />
Bernie: Coming back to my student, in former<br />
Yugoslavia, as he and some friends were walking,<br />
together with a lot of anti-war people, they walked<br />
by a group of soldiers. There was a man on guard<br />
with his bicycle; everyone wanted to walk the other<br />
way. But Claude went up, introduced himself and<br />
said “how are you? How are you sleeping at night?”,<br />
and then the man knew that Claude was also a<br />
soldier. He said “I’m not sleeping so well.” Claude<br />
was a gunner on a helicopter; by his eighteenth<br />
birthday he had killed 200 men, women and<br />
children – they took body counts in Vietnam. Not<br />
only that, but when they went out in the morning<br />
they would do lotteries on who would kill the most.<br />
He had a nervous breakdown, then wound up on<br />
the streets doing drugs. When I did the lay<br />
ordination I gave Claude a mala. The soldier saw the<br />
mala and said “what is that?” Claude explained, and<br />
he said “I’ll trade it for your rifle”. The soldier said “I<br />
can’t do that”. Claude said “I’ll trade it for the bullet<br />
in the chamber”, and he said “I can do that”. So for<br />
the rest of his walk Claude had a bullet in his pocket<br />
and the soldier had a mala. That’s what can happen.<br />
Q: When talking about this man who was in<br />
Vietnam and who couldn’t sleep at night, you chose<br />
the words “he will never be healed”. I thought that<br />
was very interesting and it made me think about<br />
the limitations of people to heal themselves,<br />
especially if they’ve been in horrific circumstances.<br />
I’m sure you think about this as well when you deal<br />
with the homeless. At what point do you say I can’t<br />
do any more? Or better yet, how do you come to<br />
terms with that?<br />
Bernie: I never say I can’t do, any more. You can<br />
always do more. I don’t have any expectations of<br />
what will happen, but I always do my best. That’s<br />
one of the principles in that book Instructions to<br />
the Cook: use the ingredients you have and make<br />
the best meal you can. And if it’s not so tasty, it’s<br />
not so tasty. Make another meal, use the<br />
ingredients you have, make the best meal you can,<br />
and serve it. If you don’t make the meal, nobody is<br />
going to come and eat. So make the meal. If you<br />
look in the refrigerator and say oh I don’t have the
28<br />
right ingredients, so I’m not going to make the<br />
meal, it’s of no value. See what you have and make<br />
the best meal you can. I don’t think about an end.<br />
Q: In your work with the Auschwitz counsels did<br />
you ever have to deal with people who denied the<br />
holocaust or who minimised it saying not so<br />
many people?<br />
Bernie: Yes. We had principles of no cross-talk. We<br />
listened to everyone and we listened from the<br />
heart. The issue was more that we had children<br />
whose parents were saying “It doesn’t exist”. We<br />
had people who came, from Germany generally,<br />
whose parents had told them “What are you doing<br />
going there? That’s all a lie. It was built after the<br />
war, nothing ever happened there”. They shared this<br />
with us. Then they went home and talked with their<br />
parents about what they saw. The other kind of<br />
denial that is very common is that people would<br />
come and talk about their work somewhere else –<br />
they couldn’t talk about what was happening to<br />
them there. In this situation we do try to insist that<br />
you talk about what’s happening here. There are<br />
some documentaries, made by Polish, English,<br />
Germans, in which a lot of these people are talking,<br />
some for the very first time, about what had<br />
happened to them. There was a woman who came<br />
from Holland and she talked for the first time about<br />
her experience when she was a little child. Her<br />
parents told her that they were going to leave and<br />
that she was going to go with some friends – her<br />
father told her that they couldn’t go together,<br />
because Germans were going to be coming. They<br />
thought of hiding and the father told his daughter,<br />
aged about eight, “we can’t hide because you’ll be<br />
too loud – we’ll be back soon”. The SS came and she<br />
never saw her parents again, so she was left with<br />
her father saying “you can’t be with me because<br />
you are too loud”. The Auschwitz retreat was the<br />
first time she had ever talked about it, and it was so<br />
important for her. So almost everybody that comes<br />
has some kind of denial – then the place opens you<br />
up. Only if you stay there – I don’t think that<br />
happens if you just visit and run. That’s why<br />
bearing witness is so important, it’s our meditation.<br />
You can’t just sit for a second and say oh I’ve tasted<br />
it – you’ve got to sit.<br />
Q: Thinking “love thy neighbor as thyself” what do<br />
you do about friends, relatives, associates who either<br />
irk you, bother you or take your energy away when<br />
they are around you – how do you deal with this?<br />
Bernie: I just accept it. I don’t expect everybody to<br />
love me. Again, those are ingredients and I try to do<br />
my best meal. I don’t have any pat answers as to<br />
what to do. There’s a practice in Japan in which<br />
every morning the monks in the monastery go out<br />
with big bowls and people put things into the<br />
bowls. The practice is one of accepting what is<br />
given and you wear a hat so you can’t see who is<br />
giving it to you. The bigger practice is when people<br />
give you anger or throw water on you. You have to<br />
accept everything; it doesn’t mean to just ignore<br />
them – you can’t do that. You have to say, what do<br />
I do with this? You’ve got new ingredients to make<br />
new meals. Use them, change your menu. I’m not<br />
saying it’s not difficult to have people not loving<br />
you or showing anger to you, it is difficult.<br />
Q: After the Vietnam War, there was a lot of talk<br />
about how to heal veterans who felt they were to<br />
blame and out of that came a lot of healing for<br />
victims and survivors of abuse. One of the very first<br />
principles of that is that blaming the victim is a way<br />
to keep people in their suffering situation and in<br />
their exploited situation. Have you been able to work<br />
with that?<br />
Bernie: I would say that most of us are involved in<br />
this blaming issue. I think that the society we are in<br />
creates oppressors and creates victims. It’s like<br />
Claude walking down and seeing a soldier, and<br />
everybody else leaving and blaming that soldier.<br />
Claude killed two hundred people and he really<br />
thought he was doing it for his country and for<br />
democracy, and then he was torn apart by what he<br />
had done. So now he goes and talks with people –<br />
he does as much work with oppressors as with<br />
victims – because it’s the whole system that has to<br />
change. How are we creating these oppressors? I’m<br />
not trying to say one work is better than another –<br />
you have to work with it and blaming is one of the<br />
big issues. For many people in the second year of<br />
Auschwitz, the big issue that came up for them was<br />
“the other” and how everybody creates an “other”<br />
and blames that. I certainly agree with you, we<br />
can’t be blaming.<br />
Swami Saradananda: When you were speaking I<br />
was thinking of an experience that we had, just<br />
after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Our own<br />
teacher Swami Vishnu-devananda had to go to<br />
East Germany; after that he took us to Tel-Aviv. He<br />
was giving some programs in Tel-Aviv and one day<br />
he said we are going to Calcillia. There was one<br />
village on the West Bank, where the Interfada was<br />
going on. We all got in the car and Swamiji took<br />
books and flowers and we drove there. He said we<br />
are going to go there and chant for peace. When we<br />
got out of the car, everyone was shaking. I remember<br />
Swamiji just walking down the street and people<br />
just looking at us in amazement. One by one they<br />
started coming up to us and asking us questions.<br />
Swamiji sent me back to the car to get some<br />
magazines. I was walking, thinking any minute<br />
someone is going to shoot me in the back. As I was<br />
walking some Palestinian women came up to me.<br />
They said they were afraid to walk up to the group,<br />
but since I was a woman alone they felt that they<br />
could approach me. They said they just wanted<br />
someone to talk to them, to hear about what was<br />
happening and so I took them to Swamiji. They just<br />
sat there and talked for a long time. It was a really<br />
beautiful experience for all of us just being there<br />
with Swamiji. At one point he started talking to one<br />
man – he didn’t speak any English – it was just<br />
talking by eyes. I think that everyone who was there,<br />
thirty or forty people, will never forget it. It was such<br />
a heart-opening experience, and it’s only a person<br />
who really has no fear for himself, who really sees<br />
the oneness in all, who is able to do something like<br />
that. I think that is what we are really trying for,<br />
through all of our practice, to experience that<br />
oneness. It was a very beautiful practical<br />
experience.<br />
Bernie: It seems to me a natural unfolding as you<br />
practice, if you really see the oneness of all. If my<br />
hand bleeds I can’t just sit and watch it bleed – I do<br />
something. I can’t say I don’t have the right things,<br />
the right band-aids. I have what I have, so I could<br />
take out my handkerchief, or take off my shirt, or<br />
hold it in my mouth – but I do something because<br />
it is me. So as our practice unfolds, and everything<br />
is me, it’s natural and we don’t have to think about<br />
it. If there’s something bleeding we take care of it,<br />
if there’s something hurting I don’t just ignore it. I<br />
may not have the proper things to take care of the<br />
hurt; I may not understand why I am hurting, but I<br />
do something about it with whatever I have – it just<br />
seems very natural
29<br />
Prison Project Update...<br />
We are well passed<br />
the 1,000 mark in<br />
letters received.<br />
Our Prison Web<br />
page has been extended and<br />
includes many inspiring letters.<br />
The rate of incoming mail has<br />
increased dramatically and<br />
more help is needed to deal with this. If<br />
you would like to share in this work, we<br />
would be glad to hear from you. Below is<br />
an account of a visit I made to one of our<br />
prisoners and samples of some of the<br />
many letters we have received from<br />
inmates touched by the project.<br />
In the spring I had opportunity to visit a<br />
few of the prisoners involved in the Prison<br />
Project in Virginia. This prison is the last<br />
prison stop for these inmates before<br />
release. Nothing may be brought inside;<br />
after much persuasion the guard agreed<br />
to pass on a folder containing photo -<br />
copies of some of Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong>’s<br />
essays.<br />
After being frisked we were led into a<br />
large room dotted with tables and chairs,<br />
filled with a deafening din. We spent two<br />
hours with Emilio, one of the most serious<br />
people in the Prison Project. Since Emilio<br />
Letters from Prisoners<br />
Hello!<br />
I have received “The Complete<br />
Illustrated Book of <strong>Yoga</strong>” that you<br />
people were so generous in sending<br />
to me. I am very grateful and wish to<br />
convey my heartfelt thanks.<br />
I was amazed when I started reading<br />
the book and discovered that I am<br />
48 years old and have been<br />
breathing incorrectly all my life. I<br />
smoked for 33 years and have not<br />
smoked for 2 years. I was concerned<br />
because I couldn’t seem to really see<br />
any improvement in the amount of<br />
air I inhaled and exhaled. Then I read<br />
about using the diaphragm to fill the<br />
lungs and empty them. ... I am just<br />
at the beginning of an interesting<br />
journey, which is where I know that<br />
reading your book and applying what<br />
fits to my life is going to take me.<br />
– F.R., Florence, Arizona<br />
Swami Padma padananda<br />
rarely has visitors, he was as<br />
excited as a child. This meeting<br />
was extremely important for<br />
both of us. Over the years, he<br />
had written over 1,000 letters to<br />
various organizations, including<br />
Bharat Gajjar in Delaware, who<br />
introduced him to the<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> teachings. When we<br />
mentioned the din, he replied that was<br />
only one quarter of the noise in his<br />
dormitory! To overcome this dis -<br />
advantage, he rises at 4am for sadhana.<br />
When the weather permits, he does<br />
asanas outside on the courtyard track,<br />
under menacing guns pointed from<br />
watchtowers. Beside his bed Emilio has an<br />
altar with pictures of Master, Swamiji and<br />
Krishna. Since our visit Emilio has<br />
intensified his sadhana ardently studying<br />
Bliss Divine, Bhagavad Gita and <strong>YOGALife</strong>.<br />
He writes to me weekly. He is hoping to be<br />
paroled this fall and I ask anyone reading<br />
this to please say a prayer for him. When<br />
released, he is planning to spend some<br />
time at the <strong>Yoga</strong> Ranch.<br />
– Swami Padmapadananda<br />
Coordinator, <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Prison Project<br />
To Whom It May Concern,<br />
My name is L.C. I am presently<br />
incarcerated for drug abuse. I practice<br />
my sadhana daily but need more<br />
information about yoga. It is my belief<br />
that yoga will help me win my struggle<br />
over my inner demons. Thank you for<br />
time and help. - Golden State<br />
Correctional Facility, California Blessed<br />
Self On Friday Bliss Divine arrived, it is<br />
a treasure of heaven. I do not think I<br />
have ever recognized anything written<br />
with such urgency and love before. In<br />
my first reading from the book directly<br />
I was given the most loving reintroduction<br />
to Jesus. This has filled<br />
me with joy.<br />
– E.A.R., Rustburg, Virginia<br />
P RISON P ROJECT<br />
Any donations towards the prison<br />
project are gratefully received. Please<br />
send them to: <strong>Sivananda</strong> Prison Project<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Ranch<br />
P.O. Box 195, Budd Road,<br />
Woodbourne, NY 12788<br />
Right now, I am<br />
an assistant<br />
instructor for<br />
two ‘<strong>Yoga</strong>’<br />
classes per week.<br />
The source for my class is “The<br />
Complete Illustrated Book of<br />
<strong>Yoga</strong>”. I find it very useful and the<br />
students do seem to really enjoy the<br />
exercises as well. I have an Activities<br />
Specialist who oversees the class. She<br />
too enjoys how well the class is being<br />
run and is more of a participant!! I have<br />
one dilemma at hand! Perhaps you may<br />
be able to assist me in some way! My<br />
dilemma is this: each class has 25<br />
participants and our only available<br />
space is on the hardwood floor in the<br />
gym ... all I hear are the sounds of<br />
moans and grunts and groans...<br />
- M. T. Reid Jr., Chester, PA<br />
I am currently being housed in<br />
the Special Management Unit<br />
of the Arizona State Prison. My<br />
world has been reduced to a<br />
room the size of a large<br />
bathroom. I believe that, at any<br />
given time, one is where one<br />
should be and embrace all that<br />
comes their way with open<br />
arms. I would be grateful for any<br />
books you would be willing to<br />
share with me on both <strong>Yoga</strong> and<br />
Meditation. Thank you and may<br />
the blessings be.<br />
– M.E.H, Florence, Arizona
30<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
American Peace Pilgrimage<br />
From time immemorial<br />
pilgrims have made journeys to<br />
places that carry holy vibrations.<br />
Nicknamed ‘the flying swami’, Swami Vishnudevananda<br />
was a tireless peace missionary<br />
and pilgrim. For an ordinary mind, continuous<br />
traveling could be the result of restlessness or<br />
an incapacity to commit to one thing. For a<br />
yogi, pilgrimage involves an inner spiritual<br />
seeking an attempt to see God, not mere<br />
sightseeing or vacationing. Those dedicated to<br />
uplifting humanity and bringing peace to the<br />
world, have a completely different reason for<br />
traveling: Swamiji went on pilgrimages to bless<br />
the places where he went, not resting even<br />
when his body was wearing out.<br />
Pilgrimage<br />
A pilgrimage involves challenges. It can be physically<br />
demanding, logistically difficult, materially challenging, and<br />
psychologically annihilating. One must let go of<br />
expectations and comfort zones, learning to journey in<br />
the moment and respond appropriately when<br />
everything around is changing. Pilgrimage is an intricate<br />
business of receiving and giving. Receiving blessings from<br />
Mother Nature, earth, air, sun, water, atmosphere, local<br />
people, and other travellers. A pilgrim who is open and<br />
ready, is nourished abundantly by all encounters, gaining<br />
the chance to commune with God, through the<br />
medium of a beautiful landscape, a chance encounter<br />
or a perfect moment when there is no thought. The<br />
idea behind the Mobile Ashram was to go on a Peace<br />
Pilgrimage through America with a spiritual destination<br />
and routine. Following is an account of an idea that<br />
turned into a 10,000 mile odyssey, beginning with a<br />
donated 1987 RV (mobile home).<br />
Preparations<br />
The vehicle carried a 100 gallon diesel tank, large water<br />
tank, generator, kitchen, and an airplane-size bathroom.<br />
It was self contained. Every little space in the RV was<br />
The Shanti Bus ‘Pilgrims’<br />
used, in tune with the yogic principles of ‘simple living<br />
and high thinking’ ‘adapt, adjust, accommodate’ Bunk<br />
beds were installed to sleep eight adults – plenty of<br />
opportunities to practice tapas (austerities performed<br />
in order to control the mind and senses ). From the<br />
tiny kitchen we produced wonderful ayurvedic meals<br />
twice a day – important for creating good energy and<br />
keeping the mind positive. This trip was about peace –<br />
including peace of body and mind. We attempted to<br />
maintain a sattvic, yogic lifestyle. A long trip can cause<br />
ungroundedness, anxiety, instability, and separation with<br />
reality. We could not afford to have this happen. We<br />
were dealing not only with motion, but our emotions<br />
as well. Living in close quarters all day long with a group<br />
of people is challenging. Each pilgrim was asked to have<br />
a topic of study, maintain a general attitude of<br />
friendship, avoid personal conflicts and tune to a<br />
common wavelength. The Shanti Bus was to be a<br />
model community, traveling through the world, bringing<br />
light and love – exposed and yet shielded from<br />
negative influences. Painted beige, the Shanti Bus bore<br />
the words, in royal blue, ”<strong>Yoga</strong> for Peace – Health is<br />
wealth, Peace of mind is happiness, <strong>Yoga</strong> shows the way.<br />
– Swami Vishnu-devananda.”<br />
The Itinerary<br />
The pilgrimage began at the <strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong><br />
Farm in Grass Valley, California. Our idea was to retrace<br />
Swami Vishnu-devananda’s footsteps in North America,<br />
visit <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Centers, past and present, and<br />
integrate other spiritual places including Yellowstone<br />
National Park, The Black Hills and Mount Rushmore;<br />
Val Morin, Quebec (Into the 21st Century. Peace<br />
Festival), a Benedictine Monastery in Denver, Colorado;<br />
Canyon lands in Utah; and the Grand Canyon. In total,<br />
we covered almost 10,000 miles in five weeks.<br />
A challenging trip, it offered plenty of opportunities for<br />
tapas, was inspiring, eye-opening and purifying. All feel<br />
acutely that the Peace Pilgrimage continues. In the<br />
words of Master <strong>Sivananda</strong>, We are here as passing<br />
pilgrims. Our destination is God. Our quest is for the<br />
lost inheritance, the forgotten heritage. Our central aim<br />
in life is the coming into a conscious realization of our<br />
oneness with God. Life has no meaning as a separate<br />
life. It has meaning only when it becomes full or whole.<br />
Life is a voyage in the infinite ocean of time where<br />
scenes are perpetually changing. Life is a journey from<br />
impurity to purity, from hatred to cosmic love.
31<br />
“INTO T HE 21ST C ENTURY” PEACE F ESTIVAL<br />
inaMobile Ashram<br />
July 16<br />
We are getting used to the logistics of living in a small<br />
space, cooking, satsangs, asanas and pranayama. On the<br />
first day, traveling through the beautiful landscape of<br />
Oregon, we discover the RV world - so many people<br />
touring America by RV, many from Europe. On the second<br />
day, we cross ‘the bridge of the Gods’‚ and come to<br />
Washington state. We have a mineral hot spring bath, pass<br />
Mount Saint Helens (volcano), have a mystical view of<br />
Mount Rainier and end with a satsang organized by Kathy,<br />
a graduate of the <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Teachers’‚ Training<br />
Course.<br />
July 18<br />
We tour Seattle, driving our big RV through the downtown<br />
streets - nerve wracking - then on to Vancouver. We sleep<br />
well, but get up with the RV floor soaking wet because of<br />
a broken pipe. This morning instead of Vancouver<br />
sightseeing, we are here doing asanas, laundry and fixing<br />
the pipes with the help of a good neighbor. Very often,<br />
when we are driving, people show the ‘sign for Peace’ and<br />
pump horns at us. Tonight there is satsang at Janaki’s<br />
house, a devotee who hosted both Swami Vishnudevananda<br />
and Swami Venkatesananda.<br />
The Journey<br />
July 20th<br />
We skip Glacier National Park and cut down to<br />
Yellowstone National Park; it is magnificent. We spend two<br />
days in this immense park visiting various formations of<br />
terrain, white crust terraces, vast blue and orange fields<br />
of living bacteria surviving in waters of different<br />
temperatures, mud volcano, geysers of different sizes<br />
especially the huge Old Faithful, a variety of hot springs,<br />
bubbling pools, rivers and forests, canyons and cascades,<br />
and a huge lake. We see elk and bison, and hear a bear<br />
near to our RV at night. This pilgrimage allows us to see<br />
the marvels of the many names and forms of nature. We<br />
realize how immense this country is, and how beautiful.<br />
July 24<br />
We arrive in Chicago after an incredible visit to the Black<br />
Hills of South Dakota, sacred to Native Americans. After<br />
the Jewel Cave, incredibly deep and mysterious, more than<br />
100 miles long, filled with crystal formations, we visit a huge<br />
Native American memorial to Chief Crazy Horse. Killed in battle<br />
long ago, he represents the invincible native spirit. About<br />
500 ft high, it is sculpted directly on the mountain rock, as<br />
large as the presidents’ heads of Mount Rushmore, which<br />
we also visit. Everyone gets a Native American name: Windcave,<br />
Fireworks, Dreamvision, Peacekeeper and Snakepower.<br />
July 26<br />
Chicago: we visit the Hindu temple, Vedanta Society, Bahai<br />
temple, Sears Tower and the Art Institute where Swami<br />
Vivekananda gave his lecture to the Parliament of Religions<br />
in 1893. Nice satsang at Chicago <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Center.<br />
July 29<br />
The RV breaks down 2 hours outside of New York City, so<br />
it stays over at a garage. We rent a little car, and all 7 of<br />
us pack in. In New York, we visit the United Nations. Evening<br />
in the New York <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Center - inspiring puja for<br />
Guru Purnima. We squeeze back into the rental car, pick up<br />
our RV and drive to the <strong>Yoga</strong> Ranch for a half day break.<br />
July 30 - August 9<br />
A warm welcome at the <strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp - a<br />
wonderful week at “Into the 21st Century” Peace Festival..<br />
Re-inspired by the ideal of living in peace by following the<br />
teachings of <strong>Yoga</strong> and Vedanta, we renew our connection<br />
with the spirit of our teacher, Swami Vishnu-devananda, and<br />
his instruction to chant Om Namo Narayanaya for World<br />
Peace. The week is intense, with generous day-long<br />
programs of lectures, rituals of different nations and<br />
religions, and uplifting musical programs. It is colorful, rich,<br />
positive, light and deep at the same time.<br />
For program and dates of other <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Center Peace Pilgrimages for <strong>2000</strong>, see pp<br />
29/32 and www.sivananda.org/peace.htm or write to: peace@sivananda.org<br />
Journal 1999<br />
August 9<br />
On the return trip, Bren Jacobson, who flew with Swamiji in<br />
his Peace Plane in 1970, is with us. Now, almost 30 years<br />
later, he and son Jess are helping to pilot the Shanti Bus. In<br />
Toronto we visit a powerful Ganesha Hindu temple outside<br />
of the city, established by the Sankaracharya of Kanchi.<br />
The shrines are beautiful, and we are immersed in the<br />
vibrations of Holy India.<br />
August 10<br />
An intense day with the contemplation of one of the jewels<br />
of the world, Niagara Falls, followed by a twelve-hour<br />
drive to the Vivekananda Monastery in Ganges, Michigan.<br />
We spend the day in sadhana during the solar eclipse.<br />
August 15<br />
In Colorado‚s Rocky Mountains, our host at the<br />
Snowmass Benedictine Trappist Monastery is Father<br />
Thephane. His 49 years as a monk has given him a shining<br />
spirit. Next to the monastery is the world famous ski<br />
resort and new age town, Aspen, where we witness the<br />
making of a sand mandala by three Tibetan monks – an<br />
exquisite work. After Colorado, comes marvelous Utah,<br />
land of canyons - Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Glenn<br />
Canyon with its special formations of red rocks, and<br />
finally the Grand Canyon itself. The Shanti Bus is starting<br />
to feel fatigued.... maintaining a moving Ashram amongst<br />
the distractions of the world is a difficult task. At<br />
satsang we are inspired by the simple words of “Peace<br />
Pilgrim” the American woman who walked 25,000 miles<br />
across the country seven times.<br />
August 18<br />
Our last night in a RV campground in a little desert town in<br />
Arizona is hot and humid.<br />
August 19<br />
We planned to be in Los Angeles around 2pm but fifteen<br />
minutes after leaving the camp ground, the transmission<br />
goes out. This trip is possible by the grace of God; if we<br />
lose that awareness, we are tested.<br />
August 21<br />
Finally the Shanti Bus reaches home (<strong>Yoga</strong> Farm) safely, one<br />
day late. The journey was extraordinary and full of<br />
grace. Participants had good darshan of God and the<br />
Divine Mother in Her countless beautiful manifestations.
32<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
Control your Thoughts<br />
through Meditation<br />
Meditation is really thought control. It is an<br />
indescribable experience which removes all pains,<br />
sufferings and sorrow. Meditation destroys the causes<br />
of all sorrow. It gives a vision of unity and induces a<br />
sense of oneness. Meditation helps the aspirant to soar<br />
high into the realm of eternal bliss, everlasting peace<br />
and undying joy. Just as you grow jasmine and roses,<br />
so also you should cultivate thoughts of love, mercy,<br />
kindness, purity, and other virtues in the vast garden of<br />
your heart through meditation.<br />
Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position. Repeat 'OM'<br />
mentally. Quieten the mind and withdraw it from<br />
worldly objects. Relax the muscles and nerves. Ease the<br />
brain. Still the bubbling mind. Silence the thoughts.<br />
Plunge deep into the innermost recess of your heart<br />
and enjoy the great Silence. Mysterious is this Silence.<br />
Enter into it. Know that Silence. Become that Silence.<br />
Hear the sound of soundless OM in Silence and attain<br />
peace. This is the "Peace that Passeth all<br />
Understanding".<br />
P LANET E ARTH P ASSPORT E XCERPTS<br />
Thought Power<br />
for Inner Peace - World Peace<br />
Thought is a living force. Caused by the vibration of<br />
psychic vital energy on the mental substance it is the<br />
most subtle and irresistible power that exists in the<br />
universe.<br />
The stronger the thought, the more effective it is in<br />
accomplishing its work. You can move the world through<br />
thought-force. The powerful thoughts of great sages and<br />
rishis of yore are still recorded in the Akasic records.<br />
As you think, so you become. Be careful of your thoughts.<br />
Whatever you send out of your mind, comes back to you.<br />
If your mind is full of hatred for another, hate will come<br />
back to you. If you love others, love will come back to<br />
you.<br />
A negative thought harms the thinker by doing injury to<br />
his mental body. Secondly, it attacks the person or<br />
persons against whom it is directed. And lastly, it radiates<br />
out, poisons the general mental environment, and<br />
promotes negativity in the world.<br />
Thought can be used for positive or negative purposes.<br />
Promote your own inner peace, as well as world peace,<br />
by radiating out loving thoughts.<br />
Guide to Meditation<br />
1. Regularity of time, place and practice are most important. Regularity<br />
conditions the mind to slow down its activities with a minimum of<br />
delay.<br />
2. The most effective times are dawn and dusk, when the atmosphere is<br />
charged with special spiritual force. In these quiet hours, the mind is clear<br />
and unruffled by activities of the day.<br />
3. Have a place for meditation, free from other vibrations and<br />
associations. Powerful vibrations will be lodged in the room and, in<br />
times of stress, you can sit and experience comfort and relief.<br />
4. Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position, with spine and neck held<br />
erect but not tense. This helps to steady the mind, and encourages<br />
concentration.<br />
5. Before beginning, command the mind to be quiet for a specific<br />
length of time. Forget the past, present and future. Begin with a<br />
prayer.<br />
6. Consciously regulate the breath. Begin with five minutes of deep<br />
abdominal breathing to bring oxygen to the brain. Then slow the breath<br />
down to an imperceptible rate.<br />
7. Focus on an uplifting object or symbol. If using a Mantra, repeat it<br />
mentally, and co-ordinate it with the breath. If you do not have a<br />
personal Mantra, OM may be used.<br />
8. Begin the practice of meditation with twenty minute periods;<br />
gradually increase to one hour.<br />
If you meditate daily, you will be able to face life with peace and spiritual<br />
strength. Meditation is the most powerful mental and nerve<br />
tonic. It opens the door to intuitive knowledge and<br />
realms of eternal bliss. The mind becomes calm<br />
and steady.
33<br />
Humanity is potentially on the brink of a<br />
great catastrophe. Yet Israelis and<br />
Palestinians are fighting, Catholics and<br />
Protestants continue to fight. Hindus<br />
and Muslims. Serbs and Albanians.<br />
Russians and Chechens are fighting.<br />
All think that they are right and that<br />
their way is the only answer.<br />
The International <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong><br />
Vedanta Centres has organized a<br />
Millenium World Peace Pilgrimage to<br />
attract the attention of all those who<br />
want to follow dharma, who want to live<br />
in peace.<br />
It began in August, 1999 with ‘Into the<br />
21st Century’ Peace Festival. The<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> World Millennium Peace<br />
Pilgrimage is a series of pragmatic<br />
events designed to give participants the<br />
inner tools for realizing the freedom of<br />
the limitless sky above and the good<br />
earth below. Events are designed to help<br />
the individual realize the true fellowship<br />
of humanity.<br />
S I V A N A N D A<br />
MILLENNIUM<br />
WORLD PEACE<br />
P I L G R I M A G E<br />
The International <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Centres<br />
In 1969 Swami Vishnudevananda<br />
had a vision of the<br />
world being destroyed by fire.<br />
People were running in all directions<br />
trying to get shelter. He ‘saw’ that<br />
national boundaries, such as those of<br />
France-Spain-Germany, USA-Canada,<br />
India-Pakistan are only mental<br />
creations. Birds fly over without a<br />
passport and human beings should be as free. Realizing that<br />
humanity must learn to live together, Swamiji embarked on ‘peace missions’ around the<br />
world. He flew over such trouble spots as the Suez Canal and Belfast, dropping flowers and<br />
leaflets calling for peace. In the 21st century, with our increased nuclear potential there will<br />
be no victor, no vanquished.<br />
...and Swami Vishnu-devananda’s Peace Mission continues....<br />
P E A C E P R O G R A M S W O R L D W I D E<br />
January 1<br />
Sri Ganesha Homam and<br />
Interfaith Activities<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Centre,<br />
Blue Mountains, Australia<br />
Sri Hrishikesha Bhattar, highly respected<br />
priest from the Sri Venkateswara Temple in<br />
Tirupati, South India, will conduct a Ganesha<br />
Homam at 6 a.m. on New Year’s morning.<br />
The worship of Sri Ganesha, the remover of<br />
obstacles will precede a series of Interfaith<br />
activities reminding us that “the Paths are<br />
Many, but Truth is One”.<br />
February 6-12<br />
<strong>Yoga</strong>-Peace Symposium<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Dhanwanthari<br />
Ashram, Neyyar Dam, Kerala,<br />
South India<br />
A symposium accompanied by a <strong>Yoga</strong><br />
Teachers’ Sadhana week. Graduates of all<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> Teachers’ Training Courses<br />
world-wide are invited to attend.<br />
Speakers will include:<br />
Dr. Amit Goswami<br />
Dr. Uma Krishnamurthi<br />
Lakshmi Shankar<br />
Sachdev and others<br />
Into the<br />
21st Century<br />
The Peace Mission continues...
34<br />
...and Swami Vishnu-devananda’s Peace Mission continues....<br />
April 16-29<br />
Easter Peace Symposium<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Retreat,<br />
Nassau, Bahamas<br />
Speakers include:<br />
Dr. Yvonne Kason: How extraordinary<br />
experiences change ordinary life, Dr. James<br />
Mullaney: Search for Intelligent Life in the<br />
Universe, Synn Kune Luh: Awakening of<br />
Consciousness, David Oates: Revelation in<br />
Reverse Speech Research<br />
April 20-30<br />
Peace Festival/Easter Retreat<br />
at Gaunts House, Dorset<br />
Organised by <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong><br />
Centre, London<br />
<strong>Yoga</strong> and Meditation, International Interfaith<br />
Multicultural Programmes<br />
Gospel Choir, Dr Robert Svoboda, Sunrise at<br />
Stonehenge, Tibetan Peace Choir, Native<br />
American Traditions, Celtic Music, Vandana<br />
Shiva, Ranchor Prime, African Dance and<br />
Drumming with YaYa and Harlina Diallo,<br />
Classical Indian Dance with Uma Sharma,<br />
Druid Traditions, Nigel Shaw, Sant Venugopalji,<br />
P. Unnikrishnan, Sivashakti, Caroline Arewa<br />
April 28-May 8<br />
Pilgrimage to Machu Pichu<br />
Experience the magnificence of South<br />
America’s Andean Mountains – trek to the<br />
‘Lost City’ via the ancient Inca Trail. Silence<br />
and the beauty of nature will be our<br />
excellent companions. The walk takes 4-5<br />
days. Travel light of luggage and full of<br />
enthusiasm to experience the sacred. Native<br />
guides and an anthropologist will<br />
accompany us. The walk will be combined<br />
with our yoga practice: meditation, mantra<br />
repetition and kirtan.<br />
Organised by Montevideo <strong>Sivananda</strong> Center<br />
May 1-7<br />
Peace Retreats in Eastern<br />
Europe<br />
Krakow, Poland and Dresden, Germany.<br />
Classical <strong>Yoga</strong> Teachings for Inner Peace.<br />
The yogic message of Universal Peace.<br />
Spiritual music; prayers for World Peace.<br />
May 24-30<br />
Unity in Diversity Festival<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Farm,<br />
Grass Valley, California<br />
Speakers include Eric Weiss, cosmologist;<br />
Dr Amit Goswami, quantum physicist;<br />
Fernandes Rolph, Franciscan monk;<br />
Ligia Dantes, Zen teacher; John Dobson,<br />
astronomer and vedantin.<br />
May 26-29<br />
Peace Camp<br />
Just outside of Kathmandu, Nepal<br />
June 1-28<br />
Kailas /Mansrovar Yatra<br />
A pilgrimage to the centre of the earth.<br />
Mount Kailas (Lord of the Snows) abode of<br />
the gods, the world’s most sacred mountain,<br />
the ultimate place of spiritual power. One<br />
who circumnambulates the abode of Lord<br />
Siva with perfect devotion and concentrated<br />
mind finds all prayers for world peace<br />
magnified.<br />
June 4-25<br />
West Coast USA Peace<br />
Pilgrimage in a Mobile<br />
Ashram<br />
Itinarary includes Lake Tahoe and the Sierra<br />
Nevada, the National Parks of Yosemite,<br />
Sequoia and Death Valley, the Arizona Grand<br />
Canyon and the <strong>Sivananda</strong> Centres and<br />
Ashrams of California. Starting immediately<br />
after the Teachers’ Training Course, the<br />
American Pilgrimage continues (see report<br />
on pp 26). Open to all, places limited.<br />
Contact <strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Farm.<br />
July 30 - August 6<br />
Sowing Seeds for the<br />
Future:<br />
Making Peace for the<br />
Children of the World<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp<br />
Val Morin, Quebec, Canada<br />
Ceremonies, music, talks and workshops to<br />
celebrate the Spirit of Peace in the World for<br />
future generations. Speakers from diverse<br />
spiritual and cultural traditions will share<br />
their insight and enlightenment with the<br />
aim of developing greater understanding,<br />
love, and respect for one another as we<br />
work towards a peaceful future.<br />
August 24-27<br />
<strong>Yoga</strong>, Music and<br />
Peace Festival<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> Seminarhaus<br />
– Tyrol, Austria<br />
Four exceptional days<br />
-Talks on religion, spirituality and holistic<br />
health methods<br />
-Introduction to yoga and vedanta: open to<br />
beginners<br />
-Concert and workshops with world<br />
renowned Indian artists.<br />
September 8-10<br />
Peace Pilgrimage of Delhi<br />
Participants will offer prayers for peace at<br />
the Ayyappa Temple, Bahai Lotus Shrine,<br />
Buddhist Vihara, Christian Sacred Heart<br />
Cathedral, Digambar Jain Temple, Hanuman<br />
Mandir, Moslem Jamma Masid (opposite<br />
Red Fort), Lakshmi-Narayan Temple, Sikh<br />
Gurudwara Sisgani, Sufi shrine of Nizamud-in<br />
Ankias, Parsi (Zoroastrian) Anjuman<br />
Dharmasala, Raj Ghat (cremation site of<br />
Mahatma Gandhi), Jewish Synagogue and<br />
Catturpur Temple.<br />
Oct 9-15<br />
Gangotri Peace Camp<br />
Meditations for Peace in Swamiji’s cave:<br />
hear the Silence: see the Silence: smell taste<br />
and touch the Silence. That Silence is God.<br />
That Silence is the Peace that passeth all<br />
understanding. Close your eyes and become<br />
One with that Silence.<br />
November 9-11<br />
Samadhi Celebrations<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> Kutir, Uttarkashi<br />
To mark the seventh anniversary of the<br />
maha-samadhi of Swami Vishnudevananda,<br />
special pujas and bandara for<br />
local sadhus will be attended by all<br />
Executive Board Members of the <strong>Sivananda</strong><br />
<strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Centres.<br />
December 15-January 14,<br />
2001<br />
Sadhana Camp<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp, Val<br />
Morin, Quebec, Canada<br />
Finale of the <strong>Sivananda</strong> World Millennium<br />
Peace Pilgrimage – celebrate Christmas, the<br />
New Year and the anniversary of Swamiji’s<br />
birth. You are invited to join for a week, a<br />
weekend or a month of meditation,<br />
chanting and prayers for world peace.
35<br />
YaYa Diallo and his wife<br />
Harlina Churn Diallo,<br />
electrified participants with<br />
powerful vibrant drumming<br />
and dance performances.<br />
”I come from a culture that<br />
works, worships, lives and<br />
breathes to the beat of a<br />
drum”— the Festival vibrated<br />
to the rhythms and sounds<br />
of Africa<br />
The Peace Pole, carried in<br />
procession, embodying a<br />
lasting symbol for peace<br />
Exhilarating moments in the World Peace Prayer ceremony,<br />
when the group of 200 flag-bearing participants gathered<br />
around the ‘earth’ flag, calling upon every nation of the world to<br />
find peace (below and right)<br />
Images of the ‘Into the<br />
21st Century’ Peace Festival<br />
held this summer at Sivanan<br />
Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp, Quebec<br />
The highly charged and inspiring ‘planting’ of the Pe<br />
by its creators Bob Bourdon of the Mi’kmag and<br />
Metis/Illinois Nations and Roger Echacuan of the At<br />
Nation
a<br />
36<br />
ce Pole<br />
amekw<br />
Representatives of various spiritual traditions offer<br />
prayers and messages in a moving and spiritually<br />
uplifting closing ceremony<br />
Rolph Fernandes, an embodiment of<br />
peace and compassion, talking of his<br />
own spirit ual journey during one of the<br />
afternoon workshops<br />
Jorge Alfano, conducting the Inca<br />
Spiritual Wheel ceremony, a stunning<br />
and powerful sunrise ritual, awaken -<br />
ing the connection with Mother<br />
Earth, Father Sun and the Four Winds
37<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
Mount Rushmore<br />
Syndrome<br />
When Narcissism Rules the Earth<br />
by Allen D. Kanner, Ph.D.<br />
Allen D. Kanner proposes a theory in which the urban-industrial<br />
society’s stance towards the natural world is likened to the mythical<br />
Narcissus who became so absorbed by his reflection in a pool of water<br />
that he fell in love with himself and, forgetting the greater universe<br />
around him, pined away. Kanner draws a parallel between the myth<br />
and the western attitude that humans are superior to nature, destined<br />
to dominate it, and entitled to exploit its resources. Kanner terms this<br />
the ‘Mount Rushmore Syndrome’. An impressive monument, Mount<br />
Rushmore features the heads of four American presidents carved out<br />
of the South Dakota hills - a symbol of human domination over<br />
nature. As with Narcissus there is the danger that one can become so<br />
absorbed by the sculpture that the trees, the hills, the cliffs and even<br />
the surrounding sky are all reduced to a backdrop for human grandeur<br />
without thought for the social and ecological disintegration of the<br />
society that such self-absorption may cause.<br />
The following discussion of Mount Rushmore Syndrome emerges<br />
from a new field, ecopsychology, that is concerned with the<br />
psychological processes that bring people closer to, or alienate them<br />
from, the natural world. Although there are many historical, political,<br />
and economic trends that contribute to this global tragedy, a<br />
narcissistic thread runs through them all.<br />
Domination of nature<br />
At the core of Mount Rushmore Syndrome is the belief that<br />
humanity is superior to all else on the planet. This notion is so deeply<br />
ingrained in the Western psyche that for many it is self-evident and<br />
irrefutable. Yet it is worth recalling that thousands of indigenous<br />
cultures, both past and present, have not held this view. It is not ‘natural’<br />
for human societies to assume they are above nature. Even within the<br />
Judeo-Christian tradition, as many environmentalists have pointed out,<br />
a hierarchy has existed consisting of God, angels, humans, animals,<br />
plants, and inanimate objects. Modern science has continued this<br />
tradition, but with God and the angels removed.<br />
The obsession with human superiority is reflected in a common<br />
discussion found in scientific textbooks and the popular media, a<br />
discussion that has become a kind of short story or parable. The story<br />
begins with the<br />
identification of a<br />
characteristic that<br />
qualitatively dist -<br />
inguishes homosapiens<br />
from all<br />
Students of the <strong>Sivananda</strong><br />
<strong>Yoga</strong> Centres pose in front<br />
of Mount Rushmore<br />
during the recent Shanti<br />
Bus Peace Pilgrimage<br />
other species. Common candidates include intelligence, creativity,<br />
culture, self-awareness, technology, and adaptive flexibility. The<br />
significance of this characteristic is then traced throughout human prehistory<br />
and history, with an emphasis on how it has been responsible for<br />
human ascendancy on the planet. By the end of the story, the impression<br />
is given that this feature confers far more than an adaptive advantage.<br />
It makes human beings more worthwhile, more intrinsically valuable,
38<br />
than all other forms of life. The parable concludes that as the only species<br />
with high intelligence, self-awareness or advanced culture and<br />
technology, in its own unbiased opinion humanity is inherently superior<br />
to all the rest.<br />
The grandiosity does not stop here. Implicit, and sometimes explicit,<br />
in these stories is the sense that the purpose of the planet, the apex of<br />
four and a half billion years of evolution, has been the creation of the<br />
human race. The destinies of the Earth and of the human species have<br />
converged and are now one and the same.<br />
Of course, this is bad evolutionary theory. Every species that now<br />
exists is the current endpoint of its own evolutionary path; there is no<br />
“crown of creation.” Scientists do not believe that evolution has a<br />
purpose or goal.<br />
Denial of responsibility<br />
Other forms of grandiosity are evident in Mount Rushmore Syndrome.<br />
There is the tendency among narcissistic individuals to deny their<br />
responsibility when things go awry and instead to<br />
blame others. In these instances they can become<br />
paranoid and accuse other<br />
people<br />
The destinies of the Earth and of the human<br />
species have converged and are now one<br />
and the same.<br />
Of course, this is bad evolutionary theory. Every<br />
species that now exists is the current endpoint<br />
of its own evolutionary path; there is no<br />
“crown of creation.” Scientists do not believe<br />
that evolution has a purpose or goal.<br />
of intentionally harming them or their projects. In the<br />
San Francisco Bay Area where I live, in the last fifteen<br />
years we have experienced an earthquake, a major<br />
fire, and several winters of flooding. Before these<br />
catastrophes occurred, people knowingly built homes<br />
and communities on fault lines and in the middle of<br />
fire zones and flood plains. When the inevitable<br />
disasters happened, the media reported on the<br />
“cruelty and wrath of nature” and bemoaned “its<br />
imperviousness to human concerns”.<br />
True to narcissistic form, there was little media<br />
discussion of whether people ought not live in certain<br />
areas, thereby respecting the land and its concerns.<br />
Earthquakes, fires, and floods all contribute to the<br />
overall ecological health of the region. Instead, people<br />
feel victimized and angry, and redouble their efforts to construct homes<br />
that will withstand future ‘attacks’ from the natural world.<br />
Ecophilosopher Karen Warren has described the fallacious reasoning,<br />
or ‘logic of domination’, that is characteristic of narcissistic thinking.<br />
According to this logic, superiority justifies domination. If humans deem<br />
themselves to be more intelligent or creative or self-aware than the rest<br />
of nature, they are justified in mastering it. In the logic of domination,<br />
superiority does not imply responsibility, compassion or appreciation of<br />
the other.<br />
Following the logic of domination, humanity’s ability to create<br />
M OUNT R USHMORE S YNDROME<br />
powerful technology is often used as proof of its innate superiority,<br />
which in turn justifies its attempts to conquer the world. In fact, a whole<br />
philosophy or Utopian vision has emerged based on the belief that<br />
paradise can be constructed through the proper application of science<br />
and engineering, an ideal that flies under the banner of ‘technological<br />
progress’.<br />
The narcissistic mind-set that underlies technological progress spawns<br />
a type of technology that upsets the ecological balance of the planet. It is<br />
no coincidence that the more powerful the inventions of urban-industrial<br />
society, the more pollution and environmental damage they generate.<br />
These inventions are based on the premise that nature can be fully<br />
controlled and tamed. Each time such technology backfires, modern<br />
science and industry propose even more drastic attempts at control. Now<br />
we have bioengineeering as the next miraculous ‘solution’ to world<br />
hunger, even though this gene-altering technology could reek far more<br />
environmental havoc than the chemical pollutants that are its<br />
predecessor. This is akin to a dictator approaching every national problem<br />
by further subjugating the populace.<br />
Elsewhere, I have discussed an alternative called technological<br />
wisdom, that is based on co-operation with the natural world.<br />
Technological wisdom recognizes that people are always in a<br />
two-way relationship with their inventions that they can<br />
neither fully control nor predict. It includes a healthy<br />
respect for technology’s ability to remodel its creators<br />
in directions the creators did not intend. The<br />
contrasting idea that technology is neutral, that<br />
its effect is entirely a consequence of the manner<br />
in which people use it, is an example of human<br />
hubris.<br />
When guided by technological wisdom, each major<br />
invention is introduced slowly, on a modest scale, to<br />
determine its spiritual, psychological, political, and<br />
environmental effects. Such an approach would<br />
certainly lead to creative new technologies, but ones<br />
different from those that emerge from an urgent desire<br />
to conquer the cosmos.<br />
Alienation and entitlement<br />
Mount Rushmore Syndrome involves another hallmark of narcissism,<br />
which is an emotional distance or cool detachment from others that is<br />
often hidden by a charming or polite exterior. Such distance is the<br />
inevitable result of a need to feel superior and to dominate. It is difficult<br />
to feel close to those whom one disdains and wishes to manipulate.<br />
Similarly, the alienation from nature that Westerners so often report<br />
is a direct result of narcissistic arrogance. It is challenging to feel<br />
simultaneously superior and in charge of the natural world yet<br />
connected and ‘at one’ with it. In other words, narcissism breeds<br />
alienation.<br />
Human beings are totally dependent on the Earth. If you doubt this,<br />
try holding your breath for twenty minutes. Complete autonomy and<br />
self sufficiency is an illusion, but one of great import to the false self.<br />
There are many ways to engulf the Earth and deny any dependency<br />
on it. One way is to turn land into property and then ‘take credit’ for its<br />
beauty and bounty. The natural world is thus subsumed through the act<br />
of ownership. Another is to remake nature through technology and,<br />
forgetting for the moment where the ‘raw materials’ came from,<br />
pretend that the built environment has freed one from dependency on<br />
the Earth. Living in a city with relatively little direct contact with the<br />
natural world helps to maintain this illusion of autonomy.<br />
When people subsume their environment, they reduce it to<br />
something less than they are (resources, property, etc.) and<br />
therefore become less identified with it. Ironically, the act of<br />
engulfment leads to further distance and alienation.
39<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> Summer ‘99<br />
Narcissistic individuals are well-known for their sense of<br />
entitlement, their belief that the universe owes them pleasure and<br />
gratification with little effort put forth on their part. We can certainly<br />
see from the previous discussion that most Westerners feel entitled to<br />
exploit the natural world as fully as possible. Now I would like to focus<br />
on an aspect of modern life that has a huge impact developmentally<br />
and emotionally, yet receives scant attention in mainstream<br />
psychology: corporate advertising.<br />
Corporate advertising and consumption<br />
First World consumer habits are responsible for vast amounts of<br />
environmental destruction. These habits are generated in large part by<br />
the enormous amount of advertising produced by corporate marketing<br />
departments, with most of us being exposed to up to 3,000 ads a day.<br />
Commercials are psychologically quite sophisticated, manipulating<br />
human desire, weakness, need, and fantasy all in the direction of greater<br />
consumption.<br />
Advertisers narcissistically wound their audiences by convincing<br />
them that they are inadequate or inferior if they do not purchase an<br />
unending array of new products. The typical consumer alternates<br />
between feeling momentarily satisfied when a purchase is made and<br />
used, but relatively quickly slipping back to a state of dissatisfaction and<br />
material want as new products are advertised and the novelty of the old<br />
wears off. This state of dissatisfaction is absolutely necessary if<br />
corporations are to keep people in a buying state of mind.<br />
Since love, companionship, esteem, peace of mind, spiritual<br />
equanimity, and other non-materialistic requirements of the psyche<br />
and soul cannot be met exclusively through consuming, the return to<br />
consumerism is thus guaranteed.<br />
Advertising encourages people from a very young age to neglect<br />
and even disdain those parts of themselves that require nonmaterialistic<br />
nourishment. When advertisers claim that people’s<br />
greatest needs can be fully met by purchasing the right products, they<br />
convince people to misinterpret the more subtle stirrings of the psyche<br />
as an urge to go to the mall.<br />
Beyond Rushmore<br />
Mount Rushmore Syndrome is<br />
especially toxic for the planet when it<br />
occurs among the rich, for on a per<br />
capita basis their consumer habits lead<br />
them to use up the Earth’s resources far<br />
more extensively than their poorer counterparts. The wealthiest people<br />
in the world, the corporate elite, pose the greatest threat to the Earth’s<br />
viability. These individuals are acting very much like that avaricious<br />
narcissist of old, King Midas, who turned everything he touched into<br />
gold (or in today’s language, into marketable products). Soon his entire<br />
environment was valuable beyond belief and completely unlivable.<br />
Moving beyond the Mount Rushmore Syndrome means tearing our<br />
gaze away from the image carved on the rocks and paying attention to<br />
the trees, the hills, the cliffs and the sky that surrounds us. Perhaps what<br />
we encounter may be painful and may make it more difficult to<br />
participate in mainstream society. To deepen our connection to nature in<br />
this day and age is to share in both its beauty and tragedy. Encounters<br />
with the natural world often promote feelings of interconnection and<br />
belonging that soften narcissistic defenses.<br />
Ecopsychology proposes a broad but humble picture of the human<br />
condition, one in which the planet has provided our species a home but<br />
not a throne. When we see past our own reflection, we realize we are not<br />
alone. The mountain is still there<br />
A longer version of this article first appeared the The Humanistic<br />
Psychologist, 1999, volume 26, nos. 1 and 2.<br />
Alan Kanner is a practicing ecopsychologist in Berkeley, California and<br />
co-author, with Theodore Roszak and Mary Gomer, of Ecopsychology:<br />
Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind.<br />
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40<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
The Most Misunderstood Niyama of Raja <strong>Yoga</strong><br />
SANTOSH<br />
Contentment<br />
By Swami Saradananda<br />
When I was a child, my mother would often<br />
admonish me to try to find contentment in<br />
my life. As I grew older, the word<br />
‘contentment’ itself began to repel me,<br />
bringing to mind the image of fat cows lazily chewing<br />
their grass in a sun-drenched field, with nothing else in<br />
the world to do and nothing to think about. It was<br />
difficult for me to understand why my otherwise<br />
energetic mother would want to encourage me to give<br />
up all my driving ambitions to ‘make something’ of<br />
myself. My mind equated the words ‘fat,’ ‘lazy’ and<br />
‘contented’; I couldn’t understand her wishing me to be<br />
any of these things.<br />
I felt a burning desire to see everything and do<br />
everything and learn as much as I could. Even when I<br />
started practicing yoga seriously, when I was around 21<br />
years old, I saw it as an energetic means to know the<br />
world as well as all that is beyond it. For me the goal<br />
was to reach that state of Satchidananda<br />
(existence, knowledge, bliss absolute). It seemed<br />
some high and distant goal that I must exert<br />
very hard to achieve.<br />
Then I embarked on a diligent study of Raja<br />
<strong>Yoga</strong>. To my surprise I found right there in the<br />
second of the eight limbs, under niyamas,<br />
the contentment (Santosh) that my<br />
mother had been telling me about. How<br />
was I to reconcile this with my ideal of<br />
constant and energetic striving? After<br />
much deliberation the real meaning<br />
and spiritual value of Santosh started<br />
to clarify itself in my mind.<br />
I came to understand that my mind<br />
was always restless on account of<br />
greed: greed for new
41<br />
experiences, new tastes in food or new acquisitions that I didn’t<br />
really need. On account of this, I could feel myself being burned<br />
by an internal fire that was consuming my prana slowly but<br />
surely. Although I was diligently doing my yoga practice, I<br />
frequently found myself exhausted without knowing why. Often<br />
I found that that I put out more energy into obtaining things<br />
than I received in return. It was not unusual to find myself<br />
dissatisfied with my own behavior and that of others. The relish<br />
with which I surrounded myself with things didn’t seem to last.<br />
Santosh came as a powerful antidote for the poison of greed. It<br />
seemed like I had been for a long, hard walk in the hot sun and was<br />
suddenly refreshed by a delicious plunge<br />
in the Ganga. Then I read in a book by<br />
Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong> that ‘There are<br />
four sentinels who guard the<br />
domain of Moksha (liberation).<br />
They are Shanti (peace), Santosha,<br />
Satsanga (company of the wise)<br />
and Vichara (right inquiry). By<br />
encouraging myself to befriend one<br />
of these guards, I found myself in<br />
the company of his colleagues. My life<br />
and sadhana took an upward turn.<br />
The wonder is that although we all know that contentment is a<br />
virtue that gives peace of mind, few of us try to develop it. It seems<br />
that the increasing speed of modern life has caused many of us to<br />
lose our powers of discrimination. Our understanding gets clouded,<br />
intellect perverted and memory gets confused by greed, as well as<br />
its accompanying passion. On account of this we find it increasingly<br />
difficult to develop the basic virtue of contentment - or even<br />
understand it.<br />
As a yoga teacher, I have found that many people actually fear<br />
contentment, as I did. They worry that it will make them lethargic and<br />
lazy. Without it they see themselves as exerting and energetic.<br />
However, contentment can never make anyone idle. It is a sattvic<br />
virtue that propels the individual towards peace. It gives strength of<br />
mind and checks unnecessary and selfish exertions. It calms the mind<br />
and opens the inner eye of intuition. The contented person is able to<br />
work energetically and peacefully, with a one-pointed mind. All the<br />
dissipated rays of the mind are collected and available for use.<br />
S ANTOSH<br />
Santosh means never looking back, being content in the present<br />
and striving to improve the future. As I began to develop this<br />
virtue, I realised how much time and energy I had wasted in<br />
reprimanding myself for mistakes that I had made last year, last<br />
week or yesterday. Some days a vast portion of my energy would<br />
be consumed by the thought that I shouldn’t have done<br />
something, or I should have done it in a different way. It seemed<br />
that I regretted so much and, instead of learning from my mistakes<br />
and moving on, I was letting them devour me.<br />
Through my daily meditation and introspection, I began to<br />
intuitively understand that past is past; no one can change it. Even<br />
one split second after an action has taken place, it cannot be<br />
undone. Once something is said,<br />
it can never be unsaid.<br />
Even the present, that<br />
fleeting instant when the<br />
future becomes the past,<br />
cannot be changed. By the<br />
time you realise what is<br />
happening, it has happened<br />
and is in the past. But I found<br />
that this was not a depressing<br />
train of thought. In fact the understanding and<br />
practice of Santosh was quite a liberating experience. It helped me to<br />
learn the true meaning of contentment. It showed me a practical<br />
method to stop wasting precious energy on which I could not<br />
change. It enabled me to focus on positive improvements in my life,<br />
on how I could best use my energies.<br />
More and more I began to realise that by my present effort, I could<br />
change the future. I could do so with increased vigour because my<br />
energy was not being drained.<br />
This is, of course, an understanding and acceptance of the law of<br />
Karma. The knowledge that I myself was the author and creator of<br />
my present situation taught me how I could guide my future. It gave<br />
me solace, peace and strength. It helped me to solve my own<br />
difficulties and problems in life. I began to understand that Santosh<br />
is bliss, the divine nectar that brings peace and happiness in life.<br />
“Past is past; no one can change it. Even one<br />
split second after an action has taken place,<br />
it cannot be undone. Once something is said,<br />
it can never be unsaid.”<br />
A senior disciple of Swami<br />
Vishnu-devananda, Swami<br />
Saradananda is a member of the<br />
executive board of the <strong>Sivananda</strong><br />
<strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Centres. She<br />
supervises the centres in London<br />
and north India – and is the<br />
editor of <strong>Yoga</strong>Life magazine.<br />
Loka Somasta Sukhino Bhavantu<br />
May the Whole World Attain Peace and Happiness
42<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
Siromani<br />
The early morning sounds of<br />
nature are interrupted by the<br />
resonating church-like bell<br />
signalling to the yoga camp<br />
guests, staff and one hundred and<br />
forty plus teacher training students<br />
that 5.30am has come and it is<br />
time to get up. The moon is still<br />
visible, the dew caresses the<br />
ground, and the sun peeks over the<br />
tip of a far-off peak of the<br />
Laurentian Mountains. Many greet<br />
the day from tent openings<br />
situated within the six hundred<br />
acres of forest, lush gardens and<br />
community gathering spots.<br />
Others merge from rooms in the<br />
dormitory and lodge. Laurie, an<br />
elementary school teacher from<br />
Vancouver enrolled in the month<br />
long Teachers’ Training Course<br />
(TTC), rings the bell again at<br />
5.45am. Gradually the rugged<br />
barn-like yoga hall silently fills. By<br />
6.00am the morning meditation<br />
has begun. The orange-draped<br />
swamis are seated on the platform<br />
facing students, guests and staff. A<br />
gentle breeze dances its way<br />
through the window into the<br />
awareness of some, while others<br />
notice the chickadees’ serenade.<br />
Like passing clouds, a steady<br />
stream of thoughts waltzes through each<br />
mind – I’m tired. Where’s Martha? I’m<br />
starved. Twenty two days left. In moments<br />
of awareness, the mind is brought back to<br />
one’s breath and to a mantra. Individuals<br />
slip into their own realities while diving<br />
deeper into the Self. The meditation falls<br />
gently into chanting in Sanskrit and the<br />
chanting flows into readings written by<br />
Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong> and Swami Vishnudevananda.<br />
The time passes quickly,<br />
announcements are made, and shared<br />
tribute is offered to Jesus, Moses, Buddha,<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong>, Vishnu-devananda, and other<br />
universal teachers. At 7.45am, Laurie rings<br />
the bell indicating it is almost time for<br />
asanas. The English, French, German and<br />
Shaping <strong>Yoga</strong> Teachers<br />
the <strong>Sivananda</strong> Way<br />
By Jody Tyler<br />
Awareness of the body<br />
disappears along with<br />
all sense of time and<br />
space. One’s heightened<br />
involvement becomes a<br />
communion with that<br />
which never changes<br />
- the soul.<br />
Spanish classes are held outdoors in various<br />
locations throughout the Camp. The air is<br />
crisp and fresh, the flowers are vibrantly<br />
colorful, and a huge cumulus cloud makes<br />
the shape of a grizzly bear standing on his<br />
hind legs. The translators, each with radiant<br />
smiles, orchestrate the familiar sequence of<br />
movement – pranayama (breathing<br />
exercises), sun salute, asanas, and final<br />
relaxation. The sun blasts down, an<br />
adjustment is offered, a demonstration is<br />
shared. The inner body is nurtured and<br />
awakened. Asanas are a love affair with the<br />
movement of energy, the movement of the<br />
body, the connection with a creator and the
43<br />
stilling of the mind. It is the ultimate in holy<br />
retreat. Awareness of the body disappears<br />
along with all sense of time and space. One’s<br />
heightened involvement becomes a<br />
communion with that which never changes<br />
-the soul. As the mind begins to reconnect<br />
with its body and the eyes slowly open, the<br />
air smells sweeter, colors are even more<br />
vibrant, and appreciation prevails - for the<br />
class, for the transformed sensations, and<br />
for brunch. Soups, salads, rice, casseroles,<br />
tea and cookies. All vegetarian, all organic<br />
and mostly all delicious. Enough, always, for<br />
an army of seekers. The food is fresh and<br />
prepared in selfless service by the loving<br />
hands of guests, students, staff and culinary<br />
guru, Ben. While Laurie’s ‘karma’ yoga is bell<br />
ringing, others are assigned work in the<br />
kitchen, chopping, serving, or washing<br />
dishes. An enormous circle is formed around<br />
the dining room, hands are held, and a<br />
blessing of the food is enthusiastically sung.<br />
The view from the large picnic tables is<br />
panoramic. The mountains and everrevealing<br />
sky provide an inspiring backdrop.<br />
Friendships are sealed through lively<br />
conversation - laughter, tears, hearty<br />
hugs. For many the bonds become<br />
rooted, tested and strengthened<br />
during meals and karma yoga. At<br />
11.00am sharp, a crew of twenty<br />
pile into a pickup truck headed<br />
for the mountain top to help<br />
complete a timber staircase that<br />
winds its way back down to main Camp.<br />
Some scrub floors, windows and toilets.<br />
Others tend to gardens, work in reception or<br />
complete a variety of other chores. Karma<br />
yoga is at the heart of the Camp and a<br />
foundation of the <strong>Sivananda</strong> philosophy. By<br />
offering selfless service one discovers<br />
limitless opportunities to learn a skill while<br />
observing and tweaking one’s own<br />
attitudes. Chris, a TTC student from London<br />
says, “The real challenge for me is to<br />
maintain a positive attitude - to stay open<br />
and connected to what I’m doing and to the<br />
people I’m with. For me, an hour of hard<br />
work everyday is a real test because every<br />
button gets pushed.” Laurie rings the bell<br />
at 11.45am. Time to take a quick refreshing<br />
swim, fill the water jug and get back to the<br />
yoga hall for lessons from the Bhagavad<br />
Gita. Swami Durgananda has a mischievous<br />
smile and a twinkle in her eyes. The scholarturned-comedienne<br />
pokes fun at our<br />
intense and full schedule, comparing it to a<br />
spa and assuring us that we’ll be missing it<br />
when we get home. Obviously sensitive to<br />
the energy level of her audience, she fills the<br />
room with fun, laughter and sincerity. It is a<br />
much-recognized and appreciated break<br />
from the fierce note-taking of previous<br />
S HAPING YOGA T EACHERS THE S IVANANDA W AY<br />
days. With the timing of a pro, she<br />
communicates the lessons to be learned.<br />
She shares a bit of herself and why she loves<br />
the Gita so much. “It’s about a war that<br />
every person alive fights at one time or<br />
another. It is the dynamic tension between<br />
the higher self and the lower self. The<br />
answers are all in this book.” A quick<br />
shower, a nap and a trip to the laundry<br />
room. Hassles, joys, sorrows, frustration, all<br />
there for the taking. At 1.45pm Laurie rings<br />
the bell. The hour break leads into the<br />
2.00pm lecture given by Swami<br />
Swaroopananda. “Today we are going to talk<br />
about the three Gunas. Rajas consists of<br />
restless creative energy. Sattva consists of<br />
invigorated yet peaceful energy. Tamas is<br />
lazy and resistant to change and is attached<br />
to illusion. We all bring to any situation all<br />
three of these qualities in varying degrees.<br />
Each veils the truth. Are you with me?” His<br />
lecture is dense and intellectual. He wastes<br />
no time. His love for learning and<br />
knowledge is profound and his standard, as<br />
a teacher, is inspiring and demanding. Most<br />
Hassles, joys, sorrows, frustration,<br />
all there for the taking.<br />
realize that he teaches the Advanced<br />
Teachers’ Training Course and is a key<br />
motivator for taking the additional monthlong<br />
program. “The rajasic student is willing<br />
to discuss any subject without personal<br />
experience. Rajasic religions claim “My God<br />
is best, my religion is best, and my belief is<br />
best”; much like believing the tulips to be<br />
supreme over all other flowers in the<br />
garden. The sattvic student wants spiritual<br />
experience, not only theories. The sattvic<br />
religions appreciate beauty in all religions.<br />
The tamasic student makes the teacher’s life<br />
miserable, loving to argue only for the sake<br />
of argument. The tamasic person’s religious<br />
life is impure and destructive.” Laurie runs to<br />
ring the 3.45pm bell in preparation for the<br />
4.00pm asana class. Today two students in<br />
each group of six teach the class. Some<br />
teach with notes in hand, some with<br />
unusually hushed voices, still others with<br />
long explanations. All are eager to be their<br />
own personal best, which means, in the<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> tradition, consciously putting<br />
one’s ego aside, acknowledging one’s<br />
teachers and serving as their instrument.<br />
This cornerstone creates an environment<br />
free of competition and openness to<br />
feedback, whether from a peer or from<br />
Swami Sivadasananda, the asana teacher<br />
for this TTC. He is extremely focused, yet<br />
childlike and whimsical. He loves to laugh<br />
and enjoys poking fun at himself. He is a<br />
skilled yogi and teacher. “You all are gaining<br />
experience as teachers and are much more<br />
confident today. Can you feel it? The benefit<br />
of yoga comes from breathing, relaxing, and<br />
experiencing the proper position of the<br />
asana. Remember to teach mostly with<br />
words, and make very few adjustments -<br />
especially with beginners. Let me show you.”<br />
He wishes to demonstrate the form of an<br />
advanced position and finds that he is not<br />
able to extend as fully as he would like. He<br />
asks a volunteer to go into the pose. By<br />
permitting himself to be seen as imperfect<br />
in the process, humility, a subtle and<br />
powerful value of the <strong>Sivananda</strong> yoga<br />
practice, is conveyed. The dinner bell has<br />
echoed. Another feast, no doubt. A crowd<br />
gathers around Swami Sivadasananda,<br />
each hoping to have a question answered or<br />
a comment heard. Others make their way<br />
down the path, through the huge<br />
evergreens, into the clearing that leads to<br />
the lodge where dinner is served. The<br />
musicians gather around the piano to sing<br />
Broadway favorites. The food line moves<br />
fast. It is difficult not to overeat. The<br />
boutique is filled with browsers searching<br />
through CDs, spiritual books, clothing from<br />
India and assorted <strong>Sivananda</strong> yoga wear.<br />
The adjacent snack shop has remedies for a<br />
sweet tooth, as well as fruits, chips and<br />
smoothies. The after-dinner line is long and<br />
the two couches are already occupied. An<br />
art portfolio is shared. An original poem is<br />
recited. A tearful teenager is consoled by a<br />
caring friend, a foot is massaged over an<br />
arm of the couch and a carefree child<br />
chants joyfully. The <strong>Sivananda</strong> community<br />
is a collage of people from all over the<br />
world. It is ageless, heart-centered, hard<br />
working and remarkably simple. This<br />
community was the vision of Swami<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong>, an Indian medical doctor who<br />
devoted his life to the teachings of classical<br />
yoga. He established his first Ashram in<br />
Rishikesh, India in 1924. Twenty-five years<br />
later he inspired Swami Vishnu-devananda,<br />
his disciple, to go to the United States and<br />
Canada, exposing the western mind to yoga.<br />
Wasting no time and with no money, Swami<br />
Vishnu-devananda convinced a Canadian<br />
bank to loan him enough to purchase six<br />
hundred acres of land north of Montreal, in<br />
the Laurentian mountains. This is now the<br />
<strong>Sivananda</strong> Ashram <strong>Yoga</strong> Camp at Val Morin.<br />
Swami Vishnu-devananda was the force<br />
behind centers opening in Montreal, New<br />
York, the Bahamas and most major cities<br />
throughout the western world. He was a<br />
holy man, a writer, adventurer, innovator,
44<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
thinker and teacher. He was charismatic, drawing people to him<br />
world wide and from all walks of life. Swamis and yoga<br />
teachers still pay tribute to him daily. Having left his body in<br />
1993, his guiding influence continues through the leadership<br />
of the executive board (consisting of swamis he trained) and<br />
the Teachers’ Training Course, offered annually in India, the<br />
United States (California and New York) Canada, the Bahamas<br />
and Austria. This July’s 1999 graduating class contained the<br />
10,000th student to earn the <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> teaching<br />
certificate, a life affirming<br />
milestone that holds more<br />
personal significance, for<br />
many, than other dis -<br />
tinguished credentials. Laurie<br />
rings the 7.45pm bell.<br />
Tonight has been designated<br />
a silent meditation walk. A<br />
large group gathers at the<br />
entrance to the Camp.<br />
Gayatri announces that she<br />
will be leading the walk and<br />
that all should focus the<br />
mind on the breath and the<br />
mantra during the next hour.<br />
She begins the trek down the<br />
steep road that leads to<br />
the bridge that leads to<br />
the mountain lake. Most<br />
move together and<br />
resist the temptation<br />
to talk. From silence<br />
much is noticed -<br />
crisp fresh air, sweet<br />
fragrant honeysuckle,<br />
blossoms bursting with color, steam rising from the winding river,<br />
the hollow call of a loon perhaps welcoming uninvited guests who<br />
have appeared at her doorstep. The group is seated on the bank of<br />
the lake meditating. Then the chanting begins. The reflection of the<br />
mountains in the water dims as dusk wins. Gayatri leads the group<br />
back to Camp. The pace is slow. People engage in varied discussions.<br />
It’s late and morning comes early. The group winds down their<br />
Swami Vishnu-devananda was a holy man, a<br />
writer, adventurer, innovator, thinker and teacher.<br />
He was charismatic, drawing people to him<br />
world-wide and from all walks of life.<br />
July 1999’s graduating class honored the<br />
10,000th <strong>Sivananda</strong> <strong>Yoga</strong> teacher.<br />
conversation and wanders off<br />
to bed. It has been a full day. Tomorrow will be the same but<br />
different. It holds a promise of more of a good thing, more of a<br />
worthwhile, fun and wise way of life. Except for the croaking frog<br />
and the occasional mosquito buzz, all is quiet. The stars shine bright<br />
which means a sunny day tomorrow. In a flash, the morning bell<br />
rings and it’s time to begin again
45<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
MAKING THE BODY ALL EYES<br />
NN<br />
In the well-known Bhagavad-Gita<br />
section of the Mahabharata, Krishna<br />
elaborates a view of duty and action<br />
intended to convince Arjuna that, as a<br />
member of the warrior caste, he must<br />
overcome all his doubts and take up arms<br />
even against his relatives. As anyone<br />
familiar with India's epics knows, martial<br />
arts have existed on the South Asian<br />
subcontinent since antiquity. Both epics are<br />
filled with scenes describing how the<br />
princely heroes obtain and use their<br />
humanly or divinely acquired skills and<br />
powers to defeat their enemies: by training<br />
in martial techniques under the tutelage of<br />
great gurus like the brahmin master Drona,<br />
by practicing austerities and meditation<br />
techniques which give access to subtle<br />
powers, and/or by receiving a divine gift or<br />
boon. The ideal heroic warrior is the<br />
"unsurpassable" Arjuna. He was trained<br />
both in martial techniques as well as<br />
practicing severe austerities to obtain<br />
access to single-point focus and subtle<br />
powers. Along with Manipuri thang-ta,<br />
Kerala's kalarippayattu is one of two<br />
complete systems of martial practice still<br />
extant and practiced in South Asia today.<br />
For the past twenty three years I have<br />
trained, practiced, and taught this fluid,<br />
dynamic, and powerful form of martial art<br />
which is based on both a yogic<br />
understanding of the body and bodymind,<br />
as well as on Ayurveda's complementary<br />
understanding of them as well. Primarily<br />
under the tutelage of Gurukkal<br />
Govindankutty Nayar of the CVN Kalari,<br />
By Phillip B. Zarrilli<br />
Practicing kalarippayattu,<br />
the martial/meditation art of<br />
Kerala, South India<br />
Thiruvananthapuram, and C.Mohammed<br />
Sherif of Kannur, I have learned and<br />
absorbed a style of traditional<br />
kalarippayattu which emphasizes, like<br />
Arjuna, the active, energetic means of<br />
disciplining and "harnessing" (yuj, the root<br />
of yoga) both one's body and mind, i.e., I<br />
have learned and absorbed kalarippayattu<br />
as a form of moving meditation. As<br />
comparative religions scholar Mircea Eliade<br />
explains, "One always finds a form of yoga<br />
whenever there is a question of<br />
experiencing the sacred or arriving at<br />
complete mastery of oneself..." Drawing on<br />
both the antique systems of Tamil<br />
(Dravidian) martial culture, as well as the<br />
Sanskritic Dhanur Vedic tradition,<br />
kalarippayattu had emerged with its<br />
distinctive basic forms and traditions by<br />
the 12th century A.D. Like the<br />
ancient warriors trained in<br />
Dhanur Veda, the kalarippayattu<br />
practitioner who has mastered<br />
the basic psychophysiological<br />
forms of his discipline thereby<br />
concentrates his "mind,<br />
eyes, and inner vision,"<br />
thereby "conquering<br />
even the god of<br />
death."<br />
Through the psychophysiological forms of<br />
daily practice, the martial artist grad -<br />
ually discovers and controls the inner<br />
energy/breath (prana-vayu), gains mental<br />
power (manasakti), manifests one-point<br />
focus and complete doubtlessness,<br />
discovers and raises the inner<br />
energy/power of kundalini sakti, and is able<br />
to channel and use this energy and power<br />
for healing in massage therapies, or for<br />
harming an opponent in combat. As in<br />
traditional yoga practice, knowledge of the<br />
bodymind begins with the physical or gross<br />
body (sthula-sarira), discovered<br />
through exercises and massage.<br />
The exercises include a vast array
46<br />
of poses, steps, jumps, kicks, and leg movements performed in<br />
increasingly complex combinations back and forth across the floor of<br />
the training space (a kalari or pit dug in the earth). Collectively these<br />
exercises are considered a "body art". Individual body exercise<br />
sequences (meippayattu) are taught one by one, and every student<br />
masters basic forms before moving on to more complex and difficult<br />
sequences. Most important is mastery of the basic poses (vadivu),<br />
named after animals and comparable to basic asanas of yoga, and<br />
mastery of steps (cuvadu) by which one moves into and out of the<br />
poses. The body exercise sequences are linked combinations of basic<br />
body movements including poses, steps, kicks, a variety of jumps and<br />
turns, and coordinated hand/arm movements performed in<br />
increasingly complex and swift succession back and forth across the<br />
kalari. Gurukkal P.K. Balan explained to me the importance of the<br />
animal poses: "When any animal fights, it uses its whole body. This<br />
must also be true in kalarippayattu. For example, the horse is an animal<br />
which concentrates all its powers centrally, and it can run fast by<br />
jumping up. The same pause, preparation for jumping, and forward<br />
movement that are in a horse are in the 'horse pose' in kalarippayattu."<br />
The vigorous practice of basic exercises, combined with the complete<br />
system of full-body massage given with the master's feet as well as<br />
hands, renders the body supple, flexible, balanced, and controlled. In<br />
daily practice, "the sweat of the students are the water to wash the<br />
kalari floor!" Chirakkal T. Balakrishnan describes the results of<br />
practicing one form (pakarcakkal) as "like a bee circling a flower. While<br />
doing this sequence a person first moves forward and back, and then<br />
again forward and back. It should be done like a spider weaving its<br />
NN<br />
Like the ancient warriors trained in Dhanur<br />
Veda, the kalarippayattu practitioner who has<br />
mastered the basic psychophysiological forms of<br />
his discipline thereby concentrates his "mind,<br />
eyes, and inner vision," thereby "conquering<br />
even the god of death."<br />
web!" Repetitious practice<br />
of these outer forms eventually renders<br />
the external body flexible<br />
(meivalakkam), and, as one<br />
master said, "flowing like a<br />
river." As master Achuthan<br />
Gurukkal explained, "onepoint<br />
focus is developed by<br />
constant practice of correct<br />
form in exercises." "Correct<br />
form" includes directing<br />
one's external focus to a specific point at<br />
the opposite end of the training space,<br />
and eventually internalizing that focus<br />
so that it becomes "internal" as well as<br />
external. Once the physical eye is<br />
steadied, the student begins to discover<br />
the "inner eye" of practice, a state of<br />
inner connection to practice. Behind<br />
M AKING THE B ODY A LL E YES<br />
the fluid grace of the gymnastic forms is the strength and power of<br />
movement which can, when necessary, be applied with lightning-fast<br />
speed and precision in potentially deadly attacks, or for healing.<br />
"Hidden" within all the preliminary exercises and basic poses are<br />
complex combinations of offensive and defensive applications which<br />
are eventually learned through constant practice. Students are<br />
eventually introduced to weapons’ training, beginning with the longstaff,<br />
and continuing with a short stick, daggers, swords and shields,<br />
spears, maces, and then empty-hand combat. Eventually a student<br />
should begin to manifest physical, mental, and behavioral signs<br />
resulting from practice. At first the exercises are "that which is<br />
external." But like hatha yoga, daily practice of the forms leads to<br />
extraordinary physical control, and eventually inward – the exercises<br />
become "that which is internal." One master explained that "first are<br />
the outer forms, then the inner secrets." Exercises and weapons’ forms<br />
are repeated until the student sufficiently embodies the "inner life"<br />
(bhava) of the technique, i.e., until the correct form gets "inside" the<br />
student's bodymind. Once the forms are "effortless," one experiences<br />
the "inner action" behind the external form. Even though<br />
kalarippayattu "from the outside" looks very much like a dynamic and<br />
very physically demanding physical form of training/practice, as my<br />
primary teacher, Gurukkal Govindankutty Nayar explained,<br />
"kalarippayattu is 80% mental and only the remainder is physical." The<br />
80% mental is further developed through a variety of forms of<br />
meditation including everything from simple vratam – sitting and<br />
focusing one's mind on a deity, name chanting, or focusing on one's<br />
own breath – to more complex forms of moving or stationary<br />
meditation. Ideally, the practice of kalarippayattu gives physical health<br />
as well as balancing the body's three humors. The mental calm<br />
resulting from practice gives one "mental courage" (manodhairyam),<br />
i.e., the power to face anything that is dangerous to my health or<br />
mind. In Kerala, there is a folk expression which summarizes the<br />
martial art's ideal state of accomplishment – a state where<br />
the "body becomes all eyes." In this state the bodymind<br />
responds intuitively to the sensory environment. It is the<br />
animal-bodymind in which there is unmediated,<br />
uncensored, immediate responsivity to stimuli.<br />
Like Brahma, the "thousand-eyed," the<br />
practitioner who is accomplished can "see"<br />
everywhere around him, and respond. In my own<br />
teaching and practice of kalarippayattu, I emphasize all<br />
of these traditional elements and concepts which inform<br />
this unique, yoga/Ayurveda-based system of bodymind work<br />
from Kerala, India. I invite you to consider taking this training as<br />
a complement to the practice of yoga and Ayurveda either<br />
in one of my intensive workshops or weekly training<br />
(in London or at my West Wales<br />
kalari/studio). As I complete writing this<br />
short essay, I hope to open my own<br />
traditional kalari in Llanarth, West Wales<br />
during this year where traditional<br />
training and massage will take place on<br />
an earth floor<br />
Contact information:<br />
P. Zarrilli<br />
57B Herne Hill Rd., London SE24 0AX<br />
Tel: 0171-326 5196<br />
Tyn-y-parc, Llanarth SA4 70PB<br />
Tel: 01545-580376<br />
email: P.Zarrilli@surrey.ac.uk<br />
N N
47<br />
<strong>YOGALife</strong> <strong>Winter</strong> <strong>2000</strong><br />
Thoughts on a Yogic Life<br />
Swami Durgananda<br />
Detachment - true and false<br />
If we do not practice meditation, no<br />
change will come. We will remain with<br />
our mind, dwelling in the past and in<br />
the future. There will be a lot of<br />
tension because we are not doing<br />
anything about our mind. When we go on<br />
a yoga vacation, we leave our home with<br />
just one suitcase feeling as free as a bird.<br />
When we return, our whole life comes<br />
back to us as soon as we put the key in the<br />
door. We look in our cupboards, at our<br />
ties, shirts and shoes. We decide to put<br />
everything into a big bag and give it to the Red Cross. Then, as soon<br />
as the next pay check comes, we go up and down the shopping mall<br />
with our credit card in hand and come<br />
back home laden with many bags.<br />
Of course, this is not the way to<br />
change. Reduce wants and desires<br />
slowly. If we have twenty shirts, reduce<br />
the number to eighteen, then to sixteen.<br />
Detachment has to go along with our own inner experience. If our<br />
mind and heart are not practicing detachment and dispassion, our<br />
credit card will not be able to handle it. Real detachment is still having<br />
the objects but with a feeling of indifference towards them. We must<br />
not change too much externally. Whatever life presents to us, we<br />
should try to accept. This is real detachment. If we can do something<br />
about it, we should do it; but if nothing can be done, we must accept<br />
what we have. The same applies to our body. If the body does not have<br />
the same curves that we see in the magazines, and we’ve tried all the<br />
diets, then we have to accept it as it is. God wants us to be that way.<br />
We should not be happy about it but then nor should we be unhappy.<br />
We should just feel content. Giving up material things is relatively easy.<br />
But to be natural and free, to be oneself, is the highest detachment.<br />
Swami Vishnu-devananda trained yoga teachers, first in their personal<br />
practice and secondly in sharing yoga with others. When you stand in<br />
front of a yoga class you are really sharing yourself. You worry about<br />
what people will say. It is a very high training in detachment. Maybe<br />
some of you work in companies and have to give talks. But at work,<br />
you can hide behind a role. Just being yourself is more difficult.<br />
Practice with your friends and colleagues, be honest and don’t make<br />
any show. Detach yourself from false identification. If you are<br />
practicing this in your sadhana you will advance well in your evolution.<br />
You will have to reflect daily on your actions. First try to simplify your<br />
life and move towards a purer life style. The next step is to detach<br />
yourself from your ego-identification. This means you continue with<br />
what you are doing, you do your best, but you don’t identify yourself<br />
with the actions. Be yourself, full of love, patience and respect.<br />
Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong> says that viveka (discrimination) and vairagya<br />
(detachment) are the two main sadhanas, those which you will<br />
continue to practice until the end of your life. This is because the<br />
mind is constantly moving, the ego is going through new<br />
experiences and is waiting at every moment to catch you.<br />
Accepting the Teacher<br />
For someone starting on the spiritual path, it is absolutely necessary<br />
to have a teacher, otherwise we will not find our way through the<br />
forest of life. The teacher can come in disguise, he is not always<br />
apparent. When I met Swami Vishnu-devananda, I thought: “well, I<br />
Whatever life presents to us, we should<br />
try to accept. This is real detachment.<br />
have seen better ones”. I was arrogant and ignorant. I had already seen<br />
many teachers. The day I met Swamiji, he was very tired. He had just<br />
returned to California from India, suffering from jetlag. He gave a<br />
lecture that same day which did not impress me. But afterwards, when<br />
I saw how he was dealing with people on a personal level, with such<br />
love, this I will never forget. It was very simple. Swamiji put the<br />
microphone aside and spoke to the students and staff : “How are you<br />
all? You want some pizza and ice-cream?” The way he said it melted<br />
the heart. It was so personal and at the same time not too personal, it<br />
was pure love. There was no barrier in the way Swamiji treated<br />
students. After the pizza and the ice-cream, everyone sat together on<br />
the floor chatting away. It was like a family. It was that love which<br />
really caught me, not the knowledge. That true love, that honesty<br />
without games, that purity, this is what we need in the guru. He gives<br />
you the inspiration and impetus to carry on. The ego is always ready<br />
to come out and grab you. Dishonesty<br />
is waiting at every corner. It is because<br />
of that love that I decided to stay with<br />
Swami Vishnu-devananda. I went to him<br />
and said, “I would like to stay here.” He<br />
looked at me and said, “Welcome to the<br />
family!” He gave me a big hug, like only a<br />
mother or father can give.<br />
Sharing the Experience<br />
Swamiji had a vision in 1969. Such a vision is not a dream, nor is it a<br />
desire. Saints can project their vision into the future. Swamiji was a<br />
visionary. He saw that the whole world was going to be on fire. Now,<br />
there are some parts of this world which are literally on fire. Even if, in<br />
our part of the world, we are all right, it is an illusion to think, “Oh, if<br />
we are OK and not on fire, the rest of the world will not be on fire<br />
either.” Swamiji reflected: “What can I do ? What can one man do ?”<br />
He remembered his guru, Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong> who used to sit by the<br />
River Ganges meditating, doing asanas and pranayama, and radiating<br />
joy. People would say, “How do you create this joy?” Swami <strong>Sivananda</strong><br />
would reply, “Come and stay with me.” Swami Vishnu-devananda also<br />
wanted to know who this man was, this man who said, “An ounce of<br />
practice is better than tons of theory!” He soon saw that the Master<br />
was only teaching what he was practicing. The Master was in effect<br />
teaching what we now call our <strong>Yoga</strong> Teachers’ Training Course, which<br />
at that time Master called the <strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Forest Academy. After<br />
going through this training, one acquired a thorough understanding<br />
of yoga, as one does now in our current four-week course. Swamiji<br />
remembered what his Master did, and this was how the present <strong>Yoga</strong><br />
Teachers’ Training Course started. It has a pure motive: to bring peace<br />
to each individual. Once you are peaceful, your husband or wife is<br />
peaceful, your children are peaceful. When the family is peaceful you<br />
can work peacefully, without greed, anger and jealousy; there will be a<br />
peaceful environment. The peace spreads from person to person, like<br />
cells dividing and multiplying. One person can touch thousands of<br />
people. This was one of Swamiji’s greatest ideas for promoting peace<br />
in the world.<br />
If we teach yoga with this motive, we will carry spirituality within.<br />
Spirituality means we do not think only of ourselves, but of others. This<br />
motive to carry on the peace of the world in the midst of fire is most<br />
important. Nobody will recognize your work. Swamiji used to call it the<br />
highest yoga: ‘Bear insult, bear injury.’ We learn to serve others without<br />
being attached to the fruit of our actions. This way we find peace. The<br />
Peace Movement is to give, purely and simply