The story of matsyendranath begins with Lord Shiva coming out of a deep and long meditation, one wherein he discovered yoga. He was so enamored by all that he now knows about yoga, that he excitedly shared them with his companion Parvati. Parvati already knew about yoga, though, but as Shiva continued to talk, there was one person listening who is only hearing about yoga for the first time! It was a fish named Matsya swimming by a nearby river. By the end of Shiva's discourse, Matsya embodied the teachings that came from Shiva and became enlightened.
This is one of the stories, or mythologies as we call them, that lend life to the yoga poses we now know. When you heard this story, can you think of a detail that could be true, and even proven? Or do you dismiss the whole story without finding the nugget of truth or wisdom? One thing is true-- and has been proven-- that is fish can hear. In mid 1930s, an Austrian biologist named Karl von Frisch conducted a study with a blind catfish named Xaverl. He would put food at a certain spot in Xaverl's clay shelter, and because Xaverl can smell it, he would soon swim over and eat his food. After a few days of establishing this routine, the biologist began to whistle before putting the food down. On the sixth day of this new routine, the biologist whistled, and even before putting the food down, Xaverl was already at the designated spot, proving that fish can hear sounds. There is truth everywhere, whether it is that fish can hear, or animals can feel, or dairy is bad for our health, etc. But we must be sharp enough to pick up the truth, open enough to listen so we do not allow our prejudices to dismiss what could be important information, and humble enough to change our hearts and minds so that like Matsya, our listening could also lead us to enlightenment.
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Imagine what it's like to have eyes that have independent fields of vision, such that one eye may be looking at your hands as you set up your down dog, and the other eye is gazing out the window. Imagine what it's like to be pregnant for three whole years, though those who have been pregnant for 9 months more or less might not want to entertain that idea. Imagine what it's like to have fins so enlarged it allows you to fly. These are not scenarios from a strange science fiction movie. These represent just a few of what other beings experience in ocean life. Sea horses and flounders have the independent fields of vision for each eye; frilled sharks carry their baby in their womb for 3 years; flying fishes are able to glide and fly.
And yet, many human beings have deduced animals to be inferior. We project our standards based on our senses and experiences, and demand that these are the baselines of intelligence and sentience. It is a kind of prejudice to say that animals are inferior because they do not communicate in languages that we know, because the way they feel their emotions is different from ours, because the way they navigate the world is unfamiliar to us. And because of this discrimination, we end up using other beings as if they were mere things, and this is what has caused and is still causing grave environmental destruction. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras chapter 4 verse 28 goes: Hanam esam klesavad uktam. In English, it means: The greatest obstacle to the practice is one's own prejudices based on one's own preferences. We are reminded that our prejudice does not do us any favors. What we can do, even if we are unable to experience what it is like to be other beings, is to tap into the gift of imagination endowed upon us. To use our imagination to feel as others feel, to be as others are. And then, we can look at those same differences, and instead of creating more separation and hierarchy and prejudice, we look at those differences with a sense of awe and wonder and curiosity. Through our imagination we can bridge the gap between self and others, and we can cultivate love and unconditional acceptance of others. And when we love all beings, we are bound to protect them; and when we protect all beings, we are bound to thrive all together. When we let go of our prejudice towards others, the first person that we free is ourselves. Often, it's nice to be around young children because their honesty and innocence are quite refreshing. They speak their truth without shame or guilt or doubt. They don't have the prejudices that we have because at that point, they haven't picked those up yet.
When my niece was a small child, she cried the first time she saw a fish cooked on a plate. Her young heart was full of compassion and she didn't understand why a once living being now lay lifeless. That's the kind of empathy that most if not all children innately possess; they see every being as a friend, not as an enemy; an equal, not as a resource; a person, not as a thing. These days, the personhood of fish is ignored. We think nothing of eating fish or fishing as a sport, because it is accepted as "normal", and yet all fish feel. When they are out of the water, it is a similar feeling to us drowning. When their flesh is hooked in the mouth, they experience pain. It's not a matter of opinion. Researchers were able to map out more than 20 pain receptors located in the mouth and head areas of fish. They, like us, wish to avoid pain, but our prejudices prevent us from seeing that clearly, or prevent us from feeling that their pain too is important. Perhaps it's time that we see the world through the compassionate eyes of a child, so we can remember what it is like to a be a friend of the universe. PYS IV.28 Hanam esam klesavad uktam
The greatest obstacle to the practice is one's own prejudices based on one's own preferences. There is a riddle that goes like this: A father and son got into a serious car accident and were taken to the hospital. The father got operated on right away. The surgeon took one look at the son and said "I cannot operate on him. He's my son." What's the story? Out of the 8 classes that I taught this week, only one person in one class was able to solve the riddle. The surgeon is a woman and she is the mother of the son in the car accident. It's interesting how our prejudices can be very subtle and well-hidden. Most of us don't genuinely believe that women are not capable to be surgeons, and yet it doesn't immediately occur to us either that the surgeon in the riddle is a woman, or that she could be a mother. Our prejudices can be very casual and deep-seated, such that it does not immediately surface unless examined. All of us are products of our society. What we see, what we hear, what we experience influence the way in which we perceive the world. Today, the world is plagued with prejudices ranging from sexism to heterosexism to classism to racism to speciesism. In all of these prejudices, the mistaken notion is that one group of beings is superior to another group of beings. This thinking is an obstacle to our yoga practice in that if we believe others to be "less", we cannot truly feel they are a part of us, and as long as we create this divide, this separation will hold us back from a state of yoga. To let go of our prejudices, we do not necessarily have to become experts in knowing the "others" inside out. We can simply begin by wishing for their happiness. When we offer our actions with the intent of bringing happiness to others, we understand that their happiness does not take away from our happiness. The opposite is in fact true. When our intent and actions bring happiness to others, we get that happiness in return, and we are freed by it. Hanam esam klesavad uktam. Any being, regardless of form or shape, religion or belief, race or species, deserve to be happy and free. May we have the courage to confront our prejudices so that we can free others from the bondage of our limited perception, and we can then free ourselves from the burden of separation. |
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