Rama Bolo

It's Sunday. It's a Rama day. So what the heck does that mean you ask? I thought that today would be a good one for a little Vedic lesson. Basics in understanding what is being referred to when we speak of Rama, Siva, Ganesha..."who/what ARE these?"

I have been loving my new "epiphany" (it's not that ground-breaking because it's not that I didn't KNOW this before-but I am working now to actually LIVE this): that we are human BEings. Not human doings, not human havings. What we do and have will never determine how we BE; but conversely how we BE will determine what we have and do. And within the context of human BEings we hear a lot of "just be" talk. Well yes, it's wonderful to "just be" but there are some other really brilliant ways of "being" that we are guided to through Vedanta Philosophy with the three natures/aspects of "God". (I am going to use the term God in this post and you can take that or leave that or replace with whatever works for you. This is simply an exploration, not a postulation.)

So back to Sunday. I teach a Yoga class on Sunday mornings called Sunday Sadhana. Sadhana means spiritual practice. It's really lovely because I am able to delve into the more esoteric aspects of Yoga since it takes place at a studio as opposed to the more sanitized versions of the class I teach at the health club. We do some kirtan and talk about the aspects of the Sun and Rama. And so comes the background: there are 3 aspects or natures of God. I am going to explain each in its masculine/femine form (yin/yang, ha/tha), the nature and what it teaches us about being human:

1. Brahma/Saraswati: the creator. Here God creates all. In masculine it's the spider, in feminine, it's the web. The manifestor and the manifestation. In this we learn, that as divine beings, we are creators of our world. Our thoughts, words and actions create the life we live. We are divine authors. Here, we are humans being: CREATIVE.

2. Vishnu/Lakshmi: the preserver. Here God is in the act of living on earth. Vishnu/Lakshmi is abundance and how we live here in peace, in power, in surrender. It is the belief that Vishnu comes into the world in the form of an avatar (Rama/Sita, Krishna/Rhada, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed ect.). in order to remind humans that they are divine and of how to BE on earth. There is also Rama's faithful servant Hanuman. He is present to teach us that humans are servants, here to serve one another. In this we serve God. Here we are humans being: GRATEFUL, ABUNDANT, COMPASSIONATE, KIND, OF SERVICE.

3. Siva/Parvati (she is also known as Durga and Sivakami): the destroyer/transformer. Here we find the power of transformation. As all things are created, there is a natural cycle and what comes in this life, also goes. It is our duty to transform our lower natures (lust, anger, greed, hatred, jealousy ect) into divine natures (empathy, gratitude, love, compassion ect). Here we are humans being: TRANSFORMATIVE

In simple summary, humans are meant to BE: creating, serving, and transforming.

And so on Sunday, we sing "Rama Bolo!" where we are proclaiming "How grateful we are, how abundant is life, how kind is God, how can I serve my fellow man?"

Om tat sat.

Yoga Say What? Learn. Forget. Remember.

The true definition of Yoga might very well be different dependant upon whom you ask. While I was studying at the Yoga Farm we in fact learned that there are many translations regarding the meaning of Yoga. Today, I will share those meanings and how I see them pertinent in today's world.

A little background on the source and history of Yoga before we delve into WHAT exactly it is. Yoga Philosophy comes from The Vedas. The Vedas, translating to "knowledge" are writings transmitted to the world via sages/saints over three thousand years ago. So like with the prophets of the Bible and other spiritual texts, these people sat quietly, at times for years at a time, in order to receive these Truths to assist humanity in achieving its purpose. For those of us with a sense that we ARE indeed born with purpose, these texts become something to be examined and considered. With Vedanta Philisophy (this is the philopophy of the Vedas, also known as Yoga philosophy) being "the end of knowledge", Vedanta implies that once you truly understand the message, there is simply nothing left to know.

I had a moment of intense clarity the other day (LOVE those right?) where three words came to me: Learn. Forget. Remember. In these three words I relate to the Vedas & Yoga.

• In LEARNING: we are born and we learn so much about the world around us-right and wrong. For example, we learn that we eat fruits and vegetables not rocks and dirt. This is 'right'. We also "learn" that perhaps we are not talented enough, smart enough, or attractive enough. This is "wrong". So we learn and learn and learn until one day we say, "HEY-I don't think I have this all RIGHT. I don't believe what this and that person said and I want to get back to the way I was before I believed that!".

• And so we have to work hard to FORGET. This is what a lot of the Yoga practice is meant for. To release us from the false perceptions we have of ourselves and the world around us.

• Once we do this work, we can REMEMBER. We can remember who we are, why we came into this life, and the all important work we are supposed to do. We remember our purpose. THIS, is life.

Now back to the meanings of YOGA in order to apply them to LIFE:

Yoga is:

#1. A level of bliss, maintained. In this I see that it's something that is meant to be constant.

#2. Evenness of the mind. Here is the view that it is when we have enough control over our own thoughts to not get overly excited about things. While that may sound like a downer at first, when we think about that what goes up must come down (physics), we can understand that for every super-excited thought or reaction, we level it out with an equally depressed or lethargic state of being. So the more we can keep our minds steady, the less we suffer.

#3. Skill in action. This is where we delve into what is commonly called Karma Yoga or Seva. Here we participate in our duty; whether it be as a parent, janitor, banker ect., we do our work without expectation regarding the outcome. When we can do this, we cannot be let down as we never had expectations to begin with. In this we can approach #2 much easier!

#4. A scientific method to find truth. Indeed. It is written, it is proven, it's been done for thousands of years. It is NOT a religion, it does NOT ask for any steadfast belief or surrender, it only provides a method to LEARN. FORGET. REMEMBER.

#5. Union with the Divine. This is perhaps the most popularized definition, often referring to a translation of 'yoke'. In this we can say that here is the REMEMBERING that we are no different from any other person nor from whatever That is Who created all of this!

#6. The severance from the union with pain. As is #3, when we aren't expecting things to turn out a certain way, when we simply try our best and offer the results to the world rather than laying claim to them...we don't hurt. We don't identify with 'losing' because we had never intended to put our Self out for gain. Pretty. Darn. Cool!!!!

I hope you have enjoyed this little lesson in Vedanta and that you have seen that while indeed esoteric (no matter how I could try, I could never not be spiritual...if that makes any sense!), there is a lot of meaty, relevant and useful information in all of this.

Om Tat Sat.