To: K-list
Recieved: 2000/01/30 16:11
Subject: [K-list] Patanjali & evil
From: Mhortling
On 2000/01/30 16:11, Mhortling posted thus to the K-list:
From: MHortlingATnospamaol.com
Hello list, Sasse, Tony !
When referring to Patanjali and the eight-fold path or Ashtanga Yoga, I
believe it can be useful to see the teaching and method in a manner more
closely related to the inner experience of the person practicing meditation
and following the raja-yoga rules.
The basic idea of Patanjali's approach to yoga is to acknowledge and live
the union of the self and the divine through control and stilling of the
mind. In order to access that elevated plane of being (which is already there
within consciousness in a dormant state), Patanjali listed a number of
necessary conditions - non-violence (ahimsa), chastity (brahmacharya) or
contentedness (santosha) for instance.
Now, trying to understand Patanjali, it's important for me to see that these
rules and conditions weren't moral imperatives, i.e, it's not "evil" or "bad"
not to be chaste, but rather that the mind, when occupied with chasing
women/men can't settle into the state of stillness coming before samadhi.
This applies to all the rules: non-violence isn't required as the "right"
attitude to have if one wants to be a yogi (or reach heaven, or avoid hell or
whatever...), but rather because agressive emotions cloud the mind and veil
the inner reality.
The innermost reality being that there is no "other" to be agressive towards,
there is no woman (or man) to be chased, there is no outer object to be
desired. Seen from the ultimate vantage point (everybody's innermost state),
all the emotions, objects, thoughts, people, take place as an ongoing stream
of vibrations or waves within the universal mind of the non-dual Self.
There's not really even an individual Sai Baba that behaves or misbehaves...
So, according to raja-yoga, NOT following the rules of Patanjali actually
keeps us in a state of unknowing because our minds remain veiled . Looking at
everything from this angle, the issue of "right" or"wrong" conduct isn't
really relevant. There's only either unity and samadhi or unknowing and
delusion.
Of course this doesn't mean one shouldn't be a nice person doing nice things
-
I guess that suffering and the "friction" involved in just living eventually
opens the hearts and fosters compassion. Then ideally, maybe one doesn't even
have to think about whether acts or attitudes are morally right or wrong -
compassion and goodness and right action just happen ?
Yes, there are certain paradoxes hidden within all of this...
Regards,
Michael
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