Hari-kirtana is an author, mentor, and yoga teacher who shares his knowledge and experience of how the yoga wisdom tradition can guide us toward meaningful and transformative spiritual experiences.
Friends and enemies
|
Greetings Reader - The wisdom texts of bhakti-yoga tell the story of a saintly young boy who was the son of an evil king. The king’s only interest was the acquisition of power. He hoped that his son would be of like mind and, to that end, he instructed his son’s tutors to teach the boy about politics. But the king's saintly son rejected the whole idea of politics, going so far as trying to persuade his megalomaniacal father to renounce its basic tenet: “My dear father, please give up your demonic mentality. Do not discriminate in your heart between enemies and friends; make your mind equipoised toward everyone. Except for the uncontrolled and misguided mind, there is no enemy within this world.” There are many instances where the yoga wisdom tradition characterizes the conception of "friends and enemies" as a duality to be transcended by those who aspire for liberation. But there are times when yoga wisdom throws us a curveball. For example, the pre-eminent yoga wisdom text, Bhagavad Gita, also tells us that an enlightened person sees all beings, including friends and enemies, with equal vision. But the dialogue of the Gita takes place on a battlefield against the backdrop of a political conflict. And throughout the dialogue, Krishna, the speaker of the Gita, is trying to convince his friend, Arjuna, that he will attain glory by conquering his enemies. How can Arjuna fight his “enemies” while simultaneously transcending the whole idea of “enemies?” It sounds like a contradiction, but it’s not: Krishna is teaching Arjuna the art of enlightened political action. By combining the distinction between friends and enemies that defines politics with the spiritual vision that defines yoga, Arjuna can fight his “enemies” while maintaining a higher consciousness that will keep hatred out of his heart. Krishna tells Arjuna to infuse his fighting with yoga, which tells us that it’s possible, and sometimes necessary, for a yogi to fight political battles. When is it necessary? When power-hungry politicians take the friend-enemy distinction to such an extreme that they think cruelty is good and kindness is evil. As Rev. Benjamin Cremer, a Wesleyan pastor, puts it: “To those who worship power, compassion and mercy look like sins. When you worship power, the harsher the treatment towards your “enemies,” the more righteous it will look." It's said that a bhakti-yogi is willing to tolerate all manner of mistreatment . . . until that mistreatment is aimed at someone else. The one thing a bhakti-yogi can't tolerate is the suffering of others. Upon hearing his saintly son's wise words, the evil king was so mad that he tried to kill him. But he couldn't. The little boy didn't put up a fight; he relied on a higher power to protect him, and his faith was rewarded. Arjuna, on the other hand, was not just fighting for himself; he was fighting in defense of moral principles. And the same higher power that protected the evil king's saintly son was instructing Arjuna to breath fire on his foes. For a spiritual warrior like Arjuna, there is no contradiction between seeing friends and enemies with equal vision and fighting the good fight. Similarly, we can cultivate the equal vision of spiritual consciousness within our hearts while simultaneously making political distinctions in order to defend moral principles that guide us in our treatment of people, friends and enemies alike. Wishing you all good fortune, - Hari-k P.S.: My next live online course, Fundamentals of Yoga Philosophy, will be a great way to learn more about how to connect ancient yoga wisdom to life in the here and now. This three-part series that will give you a clear understanding of the basic principles of spiritual knowledge, a solid foundation for sharing that knowledge, and a deeper sense of connection to the heart of yoga's wisdom tradition. The course begins on Sunday, February 9th. CLICK HERE for more information and registration. |
Hari-kirtana das
Hari-kirtana is an author, mentor, and yoga teacher who shares his knowledge and experience of how the yoga wisdom tradition can guide us toward meaningful and transformative spiritual experiences.
Greetings Reader - The 2026 edition of our free monthly series, Community Conversations, kicks off next week. This month, we're going to explore the question of how to reconcile the idea of surrender to "divine will" with the moral imperative to participate in the project of making the world a better place.According to yoga philosophy, everything happens for a reason; there is a cause to every effect. However, the precise cause of any given effect can be hard to ascertain. Yoga philosophy...
Greetings Reader, According to our friends at Merriam-Webster, yesterday’s Word of the Day was “senescence.” Senescence is a word that refers to the state of being old or the process of becoming old. It’s related to words like senior and senile. It's also connected to ancient Rome and the Latin word for the council of elders, the Senatus, which acted as an advisory body on administrative, financial, military, and foreign policy matters of great importance to the Roman Republic. This may...
Greetings Reader, Last week someone told me how much they liked the way I rendered a Sanskrit phrase into English in my book, Journey Into the Bhagavad Gita. It was an especially meaningful compliment because I’d put a lot of thought into how to render this particular phrase. I felt obliged to honor the requirement of matter-of-factness in the delivery of one of the Gita’s heavier reality checks. I also felt the need to convey the message with a level of poetic sensitivity that would honor...