From the Archive of Gitananda Yoga Gesellschaft Deutschland
e. V.
6. December 2010
BHAVANA:
THE YOGIC ART OF BEING
Kalaimamani, Yogacharini Smt.
MEENAKSHI DEVI BHAVANANI
The rishis have
taught us that not only we are what we think, but also, the world is as we think
it to be! Attitude is all! An essential skill in the art of yoga is the ability
to create the appropriate bhavana, state of mind, towards everything, that happens
to us. I myself learned an important lesson in the science of constructing positive
attitudes from a very lowly creature - a fly!
While drinking a glass of fresh
orange juice, something small and black swimming in the bright yellow juice caught
my eye. It was a fly! I threw the juice quickly to the ground, spitting the rest
out in horror. How close I had come to swallowing a fly! Then, I mused. What if
I had not noticed that fly in time? What if I had indeed simply drunk it down,
never knowing that I had consumed the insect? It wouldn't have made a bit of difference
to my body. My digestive juices would have taken care of it, along with the orange
juice, and I would not have been the wiser! Yet, what horror and revulsion I suffered
when I saw it! This ordinary incident was a major realization for me. I became
fully aware of the incredible power our thoughts and consequent attitudes (bhavanas)
have to alter and affect our conscious reality: the awful difference between the
objective event and what we think of the event, or our reaction to that event.
Dr. Victor Frankel, an Austrian psychoanalyst, discovered his famous psychiatric
treatment now known as logotherapy while interred in a German concentration camp
during World War II. It was there, in a place where most lived in despair and
suffering, that he underwent a spiritual transformation which illuminated his
inner life. Deprived of all that he owned, separated from his loved ones, imprisoned,
he discovered a freedom which none, not even the worst dictator could take away.
He discovered that "the only ultimate freedom" that any human being could possess
was "the freedom to choose their own attitude". This discovery, which preserved
his physical and emotional health during a time of great stress, later became
the corner-stone of his famous psychological therapy.
Adi
vyadhi: mind over matter: Like most Western so-called
"modern discoveries", this philosophical and psychological fact had been known
and utilized for untold millennia by Hindu thinkers. Adi vyadhi, the principle
of the power of mind over the material reality, was taught by the rishi Vashista
to his young disciple, the yuvaraja, Lord Rama, and has since been extolled by
enlightened men through generations to their disciples in India.
In my own
case, the near swallowing of the fly brought me to the same realizations as Dr.
Victor Frankel, rishi Vashista and lord Rama, though in a much more humble and
mundane way. I fully and clearly realised at that moment that what happens to
us is not so important as what we "think" of what happens to us! In other words,
our attitude towards the event is the determining factor of our karma. Sub-consciously,
this realization had been brewing for a long time. My mother was my first object
lesson. Her joy at picking and eating the first redripe tomato of her garden each
season could not have been greater had my father presented her with a diamond
ring or gold necklace! She took such delight in the changing seasons, the coloured
leaves of autumn or the first snow-flake of the winter. The objects which gave
her intense joy were small and common, but her delight was great. I realised then,
partially, that living in a palace, wearing silks and jewels, even being 'queen
of the world', could not have produced a greater joy in her consciousness, than
the first snowflake, or the taste of that first red-ripe tomato. It was the internal
state itself that was important, not that which produced it!
All
events are multi-dimensional: In that same line of thought, I realised that
every event is multi-dimensional in this interrelated world of phenomena. A man
walks along a jungle path. A tiger eats him up. Good karma for the tiger, but
bad karma for the man! In the universal scheme, one being's pleasure often produces
another being's pain. One being's life may demand another being's death. We cannot
change the universal scheme of things, but we can change our attitude towards
it. It is told in the Jataka Tales that the Buddha in one incarnation, while walking
through a forest, came upon a mother tiger starving with her two cubs. In a gesture
of divine compassion, he sat in padma asana, and offered his body to the tigress
as food for her and her cubs, which she accepted. What a difference between the
Buddha's attitude and the ordinary man who is eaten by a tiger!
It is taught
by our yogarishis that one can change one's karma by one's own reaction, one's
attitude or bhavana to it. Witness the story of the devotee who approached the
guru and asked him how many rebirths he would have to suffer before he would be
free of the samsaric cycle. The guru said, "You have only ten re-births left,
my son". The man walked away dejected that he would have to go through so many
more bodies. Soon another man came. "Beloved teacher", he said, "Please tell me
how many births I will have before attaining moksha". "My son", said the guru,
"You will have to be born 10,000 more times". "Only 10,000 more births!" The man
replied in ecstasy. He danced and shouted for joy. "Only 10,000 more births!"
And at that very moment he became enlightened! All true spiritual freedom lies
in one's attitude towards the event, the position that the mind takes. Perhaps
the event cannot be changed but one's attitude can be changed. The attitude, the
bhavana, is surely under the control of the conscious will. And circular that
karma be, sometimes that very attitude has the power to alter the event.
"What shall we do? Where shall we go?" a disciple of the guru once complained
to the master. "In summer it is so hot. In winter it is too cold". The guru smiled
and replied, "Go someplace where it is neither hot nor cold". Where can that place
be? Only in the mind, which simply accepts hot as hot, and cold as cold and does
not react to it, calling it pleasure or pain, liking it or disliking it.
Different levels of consciousness: Human beings, like fish in water,
live in different levels of consciousness. Though ten people are outwardly passing
through the same experience, they may in actual fact, be having ten completely
different experiences according to their conditioning and their attitudes! I have
toured south Indian temples thousands of years old, relishing in ecstasy the most
mind-boggling vibrations, viewing the most exquisite sculptures. Traveling with
my students, I marveled at the fabulous temple architecture, the music and the
dance, the lush green rice paddies, the graceful village women carrying brass
pots on their heads which shimmered beautifully in the rays of a rising sun. Yet
I have often found to my dismay that I was on a "solo" tour! My companions had
a completely different experience. They suffered terrible heat, were bitten by
thousands of ferocious South Indian mosquitoes, burnt their tongues with the hot
spiced food and were revolted by the dirt they saw everywhere! They saw little
of what I had seen, had felt little of the emotions which I had felt! Their attitudes
and my attitude were galaxies apart. The external experiences were the same, but
the internal reactions to those experiences were vastly different.
Another
instance of the power of the mental attitude or bhavana comes to mind. In Malaga,
Spain, I went daily to the market for shopping and I passed a short, fat Spanish
girl, who always sat next to a soft ice cream machine. She was there if I passed
at 8 a.m. in the morning, and she was there when I returned at noon. If I happened
to venture out in the late afternoon, I saw her there, talking and joking with
her customers. I marveled at her cheerful disposition in such a boring occupation.
I laughed to myself that she was a "prisoner of that ice cream machine." She couldn't
move from that spot, for a customer might come, wanting ice cream. She might as
well have been chained to it! Indeed, what, I thought, if she had been condemned
as a punishment to sit day after day by that ice cream machine, chained by a leg
to its base. She would have suffered extreme mental torture and after a few weeks,
might even have gone mad. But because she had chosen to do this job, for her livelihood,
day after day, of her own free will, she did it willingly, even cheerfully, laughing
and joking with those who passed by, month after month. Her life was livable because
of her attitude towards her situation.
Living in the present:
The human mind also has a very bad habit of clinging to past experiences and allowing
them to colour its attitude towards the present. The mind, like a hungry dog with
a bone, loves to chew over and over again, the same past experience, suffering
anew if the experience was painful, enjoying afresh if the experience contained
pleasure. A Zen story illustrates well this human tendency. Two monks were walking
down the road when they came to a young girl, standing by the side of a raging
river. The girl was frightened of the river, but had to cross it to reach her
home on the opposite side. The older monk picked the young girl up, hoisted her
on his back, and carried her to the other bank. The two monks then resumed their
walk along the path. After half an hour, the younger monk could contain himself
no longer. "You know that it is forbidden to us to even go near young and beautiful
girls. Yet you picked that one up and took her to the other side". The older monk
laughed and said, "I left that girl at the river side. Are you still carrying
her?"
The great guru Swami Gitananda often told another story that illustrates
the power of bhavana. One morning as he was walking down the street, he met a
friend who was terribly unhappy and depressed. "What's the matter, Ram?" he asked.
The man wept. "My wife has just died. Woe is me! Who will look after me! Who will
cook my dosas and wash my clothes? What shall I ever do! My wife is dead!" Swamiji
consoled the man as best he could and sent him on his way. A little farther down
the street Swamiji met another friend, Krishnamurthi, who was walking with joyful
steps down the road. "Namaskar!" Krishnamurthi greeted him with a smile, "How
are you, Swamiji? I am so happy to see you!" "I am well", Swamiji replied. "And
you look very happy indeed". "I am very happy today, Swamiji. Let me tell you
why. My wife has just died". "Your wife has just died?" Swamiji replied, somewhat
shocked by his friend's behaviour. "Yes", little Krishnamurthi replied. "She has
gone to the Lotus Feet of her Lord at last. She suffered so much these last few
years from incurable disease. She was a good wife. She has served me and the children
well. She has lived a good life, and now she is free". And with these words, he
went on his way. The external event was the same, the death of the wife. But in
that death, one man could only think of himself and his own misery caused by the
loss of his helpmate. The other man, taking a positive attitude, realized the
blessings of death in the circumstances and faced his life cheerfully despite
the tragedy.
Because fasting is an essential part of yoga practice in our
ashram we often go without food for days. In fact, I have many times gone on twenty-one-day
fasts. During those fasts I have experienced the great joy and spiritual exhilaration
brought about by such a Tapas. Yet, daily, beggars approach me on the street with
mournful, hungry and pitiful looks. "Amma, Amma!" they say, "Very hungry! No food
today! I will die! Please give money!" They are miserable if they have to go even
one day without eating! Both the beggar and I go without food, but with what a
difference in our attitudes!
Hatha yoga and bhavana: Hatha yoga
provides an important method for cultivating a personality capable of choosing
the right attitude to take in any given situation. How can this be so? Let me
explain! The English word "attitude" according to the dictionary, means "the position
of the body" or "state of mind .... regarding some matter". Funk and Wagnall's Standard
College Dictionary further explains: "attitude... is a synonym of "position"... which
means location or orientation in space.... It also means a chosen point of view
or opinion." Attitude is thus closely related to "position of the body", for the
way we hold our body also indicates our attitude or state of mind. In Sanskrit,
the word "asana" springs from the root "asi" or "to be". "Asana" then reflects
also a "state of being". "Asana" in modern yogic context has come to indicate
merely a gymnastic contortion of the body. But, in essence, "asana" also means
"attitude" or "bhavana" or "state of being". "Asana" reflects the "bhavana", and
also can produce the "bhavana". Thus, it logically follows that we may use asanas
consciously to help construct positive attitudes or bhavanas. The "asana" helps
us to "choose" the "correct point of view or position of both mind and body" towards
every situation in our life. In hatha yoga, every possible position of which the
human body is capable is explored: the body is turned upside down, bent forward,
bent backward, balanced on one leg, on the hands, on the tail bone etc. The body
poses are numerous and the body is made flexible, capable of assuming any position
the mind requires. Since body positions reflect attitude or bhavana, a flexible
body will aid in cultivating a flexible mind, one which is capable of seeing a
situation from all possible angles, and then, consciously choosing the best possible
position to take in regards to it! Thus bhavana, attitude and asana are intimately
related, each dramatically affecting the other!
The freedom only
to choose one's attitude: Westerners critical of the Hindu cultural pattern
and its rigid system of expectations and roles lose sight of the importance of
one's mental attitude in bringing about spiritual peace and joy. The Western mind
constantly seeks an external paradise (either here or in the hereafter) wherein
it can be happy, whereas the Eastern mind, blessed by a wiser tradition, knows
that paradise lies solely within the mind. In fact, the very rigidity of the Hindu
system fosters positive attitudes. For example, the Hindu attitude towards marriage
has produced strong family stability. Marriages are forever in traditional Hindu
culture, literally "till death do the couple part." If one knows that one must
live with one's spouse the rest of one's life and that there is no alternative,
certainly one's attitude towards him or her will be much different, than if one
knows that one can easily leave him or her any moment for any reason whatsoever!
If one exists in a structure which cannot be changed, even if the resultant
situation is intolerable, then one must either change one's attitude or die or
go insane or run away. There is a beautiful prayer to this effect: "Lord, grant
me the strength to change that which can be changed, the patience to accept that
which cannot be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference"! This was the
great prayer which Victor Frankel learned during his years in a concentration
camp. This, of course, also requires great faith in the Universe and wisdom enough
to perceive the situation accurately. One must believe, or know, that every situation
into which one is placed is exactly the situation needed for one's growth, for
one's further evolution. In Patanjali's system of yoga, this bhavana or attitude
is the fifth niyama and is called ishwar pranidhana, or submission to the will
of the Lord, accepting all conditions as a prasadam from God. That is the essence
of the yogic attitude towards life. That is also the essence of Christ's "be-attitude",
or the correct attitude towards being. Every event, every relationship, every
situation, pleasant or unpleasant, becomes a means through which one can evolve,
through which one can grow spiritually. When one is over the "hump" of seeking
for external paradises, of seeking a place to rest which is neither too hot nor
too cold, when one realizes that that ideal place exists only in his own mind
and in a positive attitude towards the Universe, then one is walking firmly on
the spiritual path. One understands that heaven (or hell) lies within our own
minds.
Goldie Meier, the former Prime Minister of Israel, was once asked
the secret of the immense power of her small nation's survival under such hostile
conditions. She thought for a few moments and then said simply, "Our strength
stems from the fact that we have no alternative". Indeed, when one has no alternative,
anything is possible. When one allows oneself no excuses, one can achieve the
impossible. When in an impossible situation, when in a corner backed to the wall,
when there is no escape, it is then and there that the positive attitude can change
a coward to a hero, a weakling to a man of strength, and failure to success.
I am always grateful that on that day I didn't swallow that fly. Not that it would
have made any difference to my vegetarian body. Surely that little insect could
have been easily digested and I, none the wiser. But that incident with the little
fly became the culmination point in a chain of thinking that had begun long before
in childhood musings. It was the straw that broke the back of a false conditioning
and in a single stroke, I found myself freed into a realm of consciousness in
which every experience was welcomed as another opportunity for evolution. Cold
or hot, pleasant or unpleasant, success or failure - all this became totally irrelevant.
It was that lowly fly which taught me the true meaning of the beatitude and gave
me the correct bhavana, the yogic attitude, towards 'being'.
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