There was a man who once called himself the anarchist yogi. His name was Swami Nirmalananda, and he lived in a forest in India. He spent his days in conscious silence, the practice is called mauna. And instead of speaking, he used his days writing letters to world leaders and organizations, urging everyone to take on the path of peace. He himself lived peacefully, being in commune with nature and all animals, being vegan, caring about world politics.
He once wrote to the Libertarian Book Club in New York, and it was through this letter that my teachers Sharon Gannon and David Life got in touch with him in 1984. In the letters they sent back and forth, Swami Nirmalananda shared his ideas about anarchy. While the word typically refers to self-rule, not following what is imposed upon us by governments or corporations, Swami Nirmalananda had a more advanced interpretation of anarchy, that is Self-rule, to be ruled by the enlightened self. In 1986, Sharon Gannon and David Life went to visit him, and stayed with him for one week of intense study. It was then that my teachers were taught the mantra that we recite today: Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu. To him, the spiritual practice does not mean we stay away from politics. It means that because we are spiritual, we are urged even more to care about what happens to others. And so it is, that Swami Nirmalananda changed many lives, including mine even though I never met him, because he lived as an example. And his choice to be the change he wishes to see in the world created a ripple effect that led Jivamukti Yoga to be born, and countless number of people worldwide to be inspired by the teachings of yoga beyond asana. The life he lived still reverberates to us until this day.
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A few years ago, I had to fix my registration with BIR. After all, it's the ethical thing to do as a law-abiding citizen to pay the correct taxes. So I was there, at the RDO of my previously registered address, early and ready to do whatever needs to be done. I had all the necessary documents, and I thought it would be a straightforward process. Of course, I was wrong. I had to line up for one counter only to be told I have to go somewhere else, after which I was told I had to go to a completely different place. So after the shuffling around and being passed around back and forth, I started to get really annoyed. I was agitated, frustrated, and quite frankly getting mad. By the time I talked to someone who could actually help me, my tone was stern and angry and unforgiving. The person didn't flinch, probably used to people like me who have little patience, so he just asked what my profession is, to see if I have the right documents. And then I realized before saying "yoga teacher", that it wasn't my finest moment, that I wasn't practicing what I preached, that I was not being calm or collected or even kind. That was a lightbulb moment.
You see, when I teach yoga classes, it is easy to exercise patience. Students are amazing and respectful and enthusiastic. But when I'm out there in the real world, and I have to deal with day-to-day inconveniences, whether with strangers or people who are close to me, that is the real test. Do I truly practice what I preach? Am I a good example of a yogi? Am I the change that I wish to see in the world? If lining up at the BIR is enough to let my blood boil, perhaps there's more work I need to do. Of course, it doesn't mean that we are perfect and we don't break down or have moments of weakness and all of that. But it means we become aware of our actions, and we start to consider that if our single action is multiplied by 7 billion times, what kind of a world would it be? The focus of the month is "Be the change". It's a reminder that beyond what we talk about, what we teach and preach and pontificate, what we tell others they should do, the true example starts with our own actions. It is through our actions, not when things are easy but when things are challenging, that our character is tested, and we can practice being the change we wish to see in the world. It is true that it feels like our emotions and our thoughts get ahead of us. So think about it for a moment. When we say "our emotions and thoughts get ahead of us", we are acknowledging that they are not one and the same, that this "us" is separate from the thought and the emotion. And so on a practical level, if we wish to change the world, what we need to get in touch with is the self, that is separate and a witness to the thought and the emotion. That then, will be our practice, to observe the self separate from the thoughts and emotions, and see what internal changes happen, and what external changes turn out to be a result of that. "Be the change" is a tall order. So we break down this huge expectation into manageable chunks, into what we can manage asana by asana, moment by moment, breath by breath. When we become proficient with these tools, we'll find it is unnecessary to be unkind, even when things do not go our way. Imagine that you are standing at a crowded open space. Around you, there are countless number of people-- some you know, your partner, family members, friends, acquaintances, while others are complete strangers. In the distance, you start to hear people chanting slogans, and as you look up, you see people holding up signs. You are at a rally, at a peace rally, to be specific. Often, we think of a rally as a protest, we show up to tell the world what we do not want, what we oppose, what we are against. In this rally that you are in, it's different. It is a peace rally, and you are here to promote and advocate the kind of world that you wish to live in. You start to become aware that you too are holding up a sign. You turn the sign towards you. What does this sign say? What kind of world do you wish to live in? What does the world need from all of us?
We do not need to wait a minute longer before we become the change we wish to see in the world. We do not have to wait to have more money, become politicians, sort out our personal relationships, climb up the career ladder etc before we are able to make a difference. The sign that you held in the peace rally of your mind is your intention. It is the message in which you can choose to live your life-- in word, thought, and action. We do not have to count on the world to conform to how we want it to be; we can count on ourselves to be the change. Go back to the peace rally in your mind, take one more look at the sign you were holding up, and start to put it down. It is now time to go home, to come back to this present moment. It is now time to bring this vision to reality, to bring this intention to every cell of our being, to bring this ideal of the world as the work that we need to do. It is said that it's not a question of whether we change the world or not. We ultimately do. The question is, in what way do we change the world? |
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