I have said on numerous occasions that one vegan saves about one hundred animals a year. This is not quite accurate. It would be hopeful but unrealistic to think that for every year that I am vegan, one hundred animals have been mysteriously rescued from slaughterhouses and moved to sanctuaries to retire. This is far from the truth. What our veganism does is reduce demand. It does not translate to saving the lives of animals who currently exist. Given that we technically do not save animals with our vegan choices, what is the importance of being vegan, not only in reducing overall suffering in the world, not only the environmental, health, human rights, and animal rights impact, but to the individual animals who may otherwise have been born because our appetites demanded it? The individual animal who is not born obviously does not suffer. Therefore, we have prevented injustice, abuse, rape, and murder. To understand the full impact of this, imagine that you found out someone is planning to rape a child. You take action to prevent this from happening. You are successful. The child is spared. Our vegan choices are like that. We prevent the suffering of individuals before they happen. We save animals in the sense that we disallow the circumstances to even take place. In another scenario, you found out someone has been continuously raping a child. You take action and report the crime. You are again successful. The child is spared from future rape by that person. You saved the child. This is the role that animal sanctuaries play. They rescue individuals to whom the injustice had already been inflicted. Being vegan, by virtue of just choosing to forego animal products and byproducts, does not necessarily save the animals who already exist. However, given a choice, wouldn't we rather spare the suffering of an animal completely than save an animal after the use and abuse have already been done? Using the child rape analogy, wouldn't we rather prevent the rape in the first place than report the crime after the fact? Veganism does not save animals. What it does is prevent the suffering of individual animals by disallowing more animals to be born and bred for slaughter. It strikes at the roots. It is us cornering the hypothetical rapist and saying, "Don't even think about it."
2 Comments
We have got it all wrong. We misunderstand what happiness is about. We think it's about having great abs or accumulating a lot of money in the bank or getting a new toy or gadget or car or property etc. But those sense gratifications are temporary and speak nothing of the happiness we are truly capable of. And because we think happiness comes from the external material world and the resources of the material world have a limit, we think we have to compete. We are deluded in thinking it's either you or me and I choose me. We have got it all wrong. This grave misunderstanding of what happiness is makes us falsely believe that we do not want others to be happy. Then we harm others by eating animals or gossiping about acquaintances or engaging in office politics or judging the actions of others. And we steal from others, not just things that belong to them but also their time, their freedom, their trust, their dignity. And we tell lies or omit the truth or bury the truth or sugarcoat the truth until it is no longer recognizable. Then we sexually misuse others by objectifying them, we use their sexuality for our gain and our ego and even our appetite for dairy products. Then we want more and more and more of what does not belong to us because greed is fear unaddressed and that greed is bottomless. We have got it all wrong. Happiness is not an object, not a goal, not a destination, not an expensive pair of shoes, not showing off to make others envious. It is not dependent on the ebb and flow of this temporary life. It is not dependent on the attention or approval or admiration or recognition of another. It does not stand still because of a crutch, however elaborate or reliable that crutch may appear to be. We have got it all wrong. Happiness does not make a fuss. True happiness is quiet. It does not have to draw attention to itself. It is content to be what it is, and only those who seek true happiness could recognize it. True happiness is connecting to the source of who we are. When we buy a pair of shoes we like or a lover pays us a flattering compliment or we achieve a milestone in our asana practice, those are external conditions that point to our own capacity to feel joy. Those emotions belong to us, not to the object. Those emotions are temporary until it becomes the natural state of who we are, until we choose to take the journey of happiness inwards instead of outwards. We have got it all wrong. But we can make it right. When the light turns on and illuminates where our happiness comes from, when we become genuinely or even desperately invested in that kind of happiness, interesting things begin to happen. We lose our motivation to hurt others. With the slow and steady growth of true happiness, we become acquainted with compassion for others. To those who are harmed and hurt, we feel. To those who harm and hurt others, we forgive. Because in a state of happiness, it becomes clear to us that there are no others. Whom we label as the saint and the sinner, the good and the bad, the oppressor and the oppressed, they are all of us. All those potentials exist within us. We are no better or no worse than others. We are the same soul walking different paths in this complex labyrinth of human life. We are all in union. In true happiness, there are no others. I am because you are. A yoga class could go on and I could be a yoga teacher because others are here as yoga students. One cannot exist without the other. It is the other that mirrors our sense of self. That is the concept behind the word ubuntu. This African concept cannot be translated to just one English word, but it has been described in many beautiful ways: I am because you are. Humanity is what we owe each other. If my neighbor is hungry, I cannot go to bed with a full stomach. If you're not ok, I cannot be ok. I am me because you are you. We belong to each other. We participate in our creations. Ubuntu is a multi-layered expression of compassion. I cannot think of an English word that is equal to it, but I can think of a Sanskrit word that communicates the same essence. That word is Yoga. When we join a class and practice as a group, it is easy to be so focused that we think all our efforts are individual, when in fact our presence affects others. In Jivamukti yoga open-level classes, we always practice three wheels. We practice opening our heart. And by dedicating our practice to an "other", we practice taking selfless action. We do it not because it is easy, but because we have it in us to push a little a bit more. We have it in us to care about others. Yoga or Ubuntu or Union Through Others speak about the truth of our interconnectedness. Being one among many, like a star in a galaxy, makes us realize how big we are if we allow ourselves to be small in our humility. In this oneness, we understand that in order for me to be happy, others have to be happy. In order for me to be free, others have to be free. We do not limit who these others are. Others include all beings, all whom we love and like, all whom we have difficulties with, all whom we do not think about so much, all who are like us and all who are not like us. Others include all beings- all human beings and all animals and all of the Earth. If all others are happy and free, then I am happy and free. I am because you are. In all of the group classes that I teach, my responsibility is limited to the yoga class itself, giving introductions, addressing questions, assisting in asana or explaining yoga philosophy to the best of my ability. In Jivamukti Yoga School in New York as well as other centers around the world, sometimes yoga teachers have front desk duties and sign people in. I had heard that one time there was a student who was new to Jivamukti, and this student was rude to the person who signed him (or her) in to the class, only to find out after walking into the class that the person he or she was rude to was the yoga teacher. I can imagine the embarrassment. But then, why would it be different if one were rude to a front desk staff or a teaching staff? Why would we treat a CEO differently from a janitor, a doctor differently from a cashier, a businessman differently from a homeless person? Why do we as a society take it for granted that we treat others according to their jobs or the money they have or the money they don't have or what they look like or how they dress or what accent they have or where they went to school? Why all of this distinction and judgment and categorization and segmentation and separation? The Jivamukti focus of the month for June 2014 is Union Through Others. I think the choice of words "union through others" as opposed to "union with others" emphasizes that we want to talk about the path. In what way can we find yoga? Through whom can we find union? The answer is "others". My teacher Sharon Gannon wrote in her essay that "if we want to know who we are, it will have to start with how willing we are to look at the way we are treating others...." Yes we are human and we have good days and bad days. When we have good days, to treat others with warmth and friendliness and courtesy and compassion is easy. When we have bad days, we may find that we are impatient and curt and we snap at people. That is why we have to consider this: Do we really want to act as though we are having a bad day all the time? Do we want to act as though we are having a bad life? Do we want to treat others badly and be that person? We treat others in a negative way when we do not know any better. We mistakenly think that we are competing against each other- for power, for attention, for resources, for countless other reasons. We are immersed in this illusion that we are different, that for me to win you have to lose, for my life to be abundant you have to suffer. We are deeply scarred in insecurity when we think we have to put others down in order to lift ourselves up. Yoga offers a solution. Yoga teaches us to look beyond our perceived differences. When we practice a challenging pose, say an arm balance like flying crow, we may notice that in a group class each individual person is at a different pace. The outside form of the pose looks different person to person. One yoga practitioner may be in preparation, another may be in the fullest expression of the pose, yet another may have come to rest because of an injury, so on and so forth. The external shape looks different, but everyone is trying his or her best to get there. In the same manner, we may look different to each other in our choice of religion or politics or ethics or any affinity, but ultimately we are just trying to live our lives and be as comfortable as we could be. We understand through the experience of our own body and our own practice that everyone struggles and everyone faces challenges, and that everyone desires to be happy, and everyone desires to be free. The differences that we may see are only superficial layers that we can easily get past if we choose to look deeper into ourselves and into others. As a jiva or a soul within a physical body, we are bound to experience many emotions and moods and struggles and difficulties. We may have a tendency to react without thinking. That is why we practice. Next time someone says something we do not like or does something we do not agree with, instead of resorting to our knee-jerk reaction of judging negatively, pause and consider how you would treat this other person if this other person were your yoga teacher. After all, all others are our yoga teachers. All others are here to give us the opportunity to find our path through others. All others are here to teach us about yoga or union. When I was in college, we had to take a lot of units in Philosophy and Theology because that was supposed to make us well-rounded. I remember that in one of the classes, we discussed morality- will you save your child or a train full of strangers- and other such hypothetical questions. I wondered why we never spoke of situations that are real, ethics that are relevant and practical, ethics that are not about what is interesting to debate but about what kind of world we want to create. I read a book about practical ethics called "The Life You Can Save" by Peter Singer. I have to warn you that what he suggests is a radical idea. The premise is this: helping others is not charity, it is not kindness; it is an obligation. The book started with a hypothetical question not very different from those posed in ethics classes. Suppose you see a small child drowning in a pond and you're the only person who could save him. Would you save the child? Most of us would say yes, of course. He then presents another condition. Suppose you were wearing your favorite pair of expensive shoes. Would you save the child? Most of us would say yes, of course. We would even find the question ridiculous. How can we even think of the shoes when the life of a child is at stake? We think of the act of saving the child not as kindness, but as an obligation. Saving the child does not make us a good Samaritan. It makes us a decent human being. Here is the difficult part. Many are currently drowning. They drown in poverty, violence, abuse, lack of health care etc. And we are attached to our metaphorical pair of shoes. We want to keep our luxury homes and cars and travels. And so in this big scheme of things, we are so attached to our expensive pair of shoes to be bothered reaching out to the drowning child. The book is suggesting that we open our eyes to the many ways that we can save someone. Because it is our moral obligation. In this same book, the author spoke about these amazing people who chose to donate half their income month after month after month, as a continuing commitment to help others. They are not famous. They are not extremely rich. They are ordinary people. One family moved to a house half the size of their original home so they can give away that excess. Others looked through their expenses to see which luxuries they can cut and give that money to charity instead. I am amazed at these people who give away 50%. That is simply inspiring. Whether or not they practice yoga asana, in my book they are yogis at heart. Yoga means union, and the path to yoga is through our relationship with others- all others. These people take that concept into practice in their everyday lives. Neither the author nor I am suggesting that everyone should give away 50%. For some of us, it is not possible with our income brackets. What he is suggesting, and which I agree with, is that we can all do something. As yogis, we can start to think about how we can best reach out to others. We can start with what speaks to us. Although others mean all others, we can start with a cause that resonates with us- be it the elderly, the homeless, women victims of abuse, those with special needs, or animals. Then we can consider what we are already in a position to offer- be it money, resources, time, our words, our advocacy, our own way of bringing awareness to these causes and issues. Nothing is too small and nothing is too ambitious. We offer what we can. We yogis are familiar with how we break things down in asana. If a pose seems overwhelming, we do not sit and watch and do nothing. We break down the pose into smaller steps, and we take it one step at a time. We are grateful to be working on a component of the pose even as it is unclear to us how or when we can get to the full expression of it. In the same way, when we look into the world and see so many problems and we may be swayed to believe that everything is hopeless, we draw strength from being able to do something from our own will and intention. And no matter how small our action may seem at that time, we trust that this action is a seed that will grow in its own time. For many if not all of us, when we first started our yoga practice, we had a lot of doubts. We did not know if we were cut out for it. We did not know what the point was. We did not know where we were going with it. And yet we committed to it, and somehow we find ourselves back on the mat again for another day of practicing yoga. The offering we make will also face the same doubts and fears and insecurities. Does it even matter what I do? Does it make a difference? Does it even help? What we can choose to do is put one foot in front of the other, not because we do not doubt, but we do it despite that doubt, because with every step of the way, we also start to trust ourselves. Union through others is the path to enlightenment. And while we see others as others, we work on this union by offering our intentions, thoughts, words, and concrete actions to others. The path to yoga is not an isolated one. It is not about strengthening the small egoic self. It is seeing how big we truly are, that we are so big we start to dissolve separation, so much so that when we see others, we no longer see others. We see our Selves. I really like the mantra Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu. The meaning of this chant is just beautiful. In Jivamukti, we translate it as: May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all. Many students of yoga like myself agree wholeheartedly with this intention. It's very simple and very direct and very easy to understand. What is not to love? Has anyone let you in yet on the secret that yoga is hard? Not so much because of the twisting and the binding and the balancing and the turning upside down. Those things are challenging for sure, but what I am referring to is the difficulty in staying consistent with what we say we believe in. Yes, we say we believe that all beings deserve to be happy and free. Well, the last time you were standing in line somewhere and someone cut in front of you, did you think "may this person be happy and free"? How about when a business partner disagreed with you about something? Or how about a conversation you have with someone you care about that escalated into an argument? In the heat of that argument, did you think "may my mother/father/partner/friend etc be happy and free"? Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj which means to yolk. The state of yoga is the state of oneness, of letting go of the illusion of separation. And this is hard. When people cut in line or try to take disadvantage of us or argue with us or even just disagree with us, we often turn to our knee-jerk reaction of me-versus-you. We forget that we say we believe and wish for all beings to be happy and free. During those moments, we only care about being right or being justified. The things that we think, say, and do are not consistent with what we say we believe in. In yoga asana, we often bring our hands in prayer position in front of our heart center. My teacher Sharon Gannon in her essay for June 2014 focus of the month says, "The simple but powerful gesture of placing our two hands together in front of our hearts when we greet or acknowledge others (namaste mudra) speaks without words of the magic of union. Two hands coming together: the left and the right, the sun and the moon, the ha and the tha, the self and the other. This is the gesture that describes yoga: union, the ultimate truth." Think of a person whom you may percieve as your opposite, maybe because you have opposing views, or maybe you are in conflict with each other about something. Dedicate your practice today to this person. It is not an easy task, but you may find that your heart is bigger than you think. While we practice, we find that we sometimes struggle and fall out of alignment. Perhaps our disagreements with this person are also like that, us being out of alignment, or them being out of alignment, maybe both. There is no reason to judge or condemn. Whatever struggles we have, they have them too in some way and in some form. Whatever desires we have, they have them too in some way and in some form. This person whom we perceive as difficult can test us. Quoting my teacher Sharon-ji again, "Often we think, if only the others (meaning problematic people) are out of my way, I would be so happy, could be in a state of Yoga. But actually, these 'others' are the way". We practice yoga by extending our love to them. It does not mean we will agree with them or condone their hurtful actions. It just means that we love them despite those hurtful actions, because we still wish for their happiness and freedom. Our condemnation may not help them get there, but maybe our love will. Yoga is hard and the path of compassion is a path of persistent and unrelenting practice. Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu. May all beings everywhere be happy and free. We know all the words that make this promise. The words are simple and the practice is hard. May we all stay on path. May we be open enough to join the left and the right, courageous enough to join the sun and the moon, compassionate enough to join the self and the other. |
Archives
March 2020
|