If you’re ready to apply yoga philosophy to your own life—or teach it with clarity and feeling—my classes and workshops create space to sharpen your thinking, steady your inner life, and connect your practice to what matters now.
Seeing is believing
|
Hi Reader, One of the central ideas in the Yoga Sutras is that the root cause of suffering is ignorance of the true nature of the self. According to the Sutras, our true nature is one of eternally joyful existence. What's keeping us from seeing ourselves that way? The Sutras tell us that there are five obstacles, the first and foremost of which is ignorance. When we’re trapped in a state of ignorance, we can’t see our own true nature. What we can see is our material minds and bodies, which are temporary and subject to all manner of misfortune and suffering. So, we believe what we see: we think that we are our minds and bodies — the not-self — and not the pure, eternal, joyful beings that ignorance keeps us from seeing. The dictionary definition of “ignorance” is “lack of knowledge, education, or awareness.” But the Sanskrit word that’s usually translated as “ignorance” is avidyā. And there’s more to avidyā than what the dictionary tells us about ignorance. We can get deeper understanding of avidyā — and the Yoga Sutras as a whole — if we consider that the first “a” in avidyā is a negating prefix, just as in the first of the yamās: ahimsā: non-harming. So we can think of avidyā as not . . . knowing? The usual translation of vidyā is “knowledge,” but if we listen to the sound of the word, it sounds a lot like the English word, “video.” And “video” is a projection of light. And the problem is that we can’t see our true nature. Why can’t we see? avidyā: No light! The Yoga Sutras are a set of instructions for how to turn on the lights. And, with any luck, my upcoming course on the Yoga Sutras will shine a light on the text that will help you see the deeper meanings and enduring relevance of this ancient book of spiritual illumination. I hope you’ll join me this weekend for The Yoga Sutras Saturdays and Sundays, February 14-15 / February 21-22 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST Each class will be recorded: replay links will be emailed to all registrants. Participants can receive 6 hours of CE credit with Yoga Alliance. Tuition: $108 This course is for yoga teachers and serious practitioners. Together, we'll explore this foundational text of yoga wisdom in theory and practice. This course makes the meaning of the Sutras accessible without over-simplification, explores the deep conceptual landscape of the Sutras without getting lost in abstract ideas, and offers practical applications for a modern practice without compromising the traditional understanding of the text. Each session is live, conversational, and grounded in the text itself — with time for questions and discussion. And all of the live online sessions will be recorded in case you can’t attend every class. If this feels like the kind of inquiry you’re ready for, please join us. Hoping you're having a great week, - Hari-k BTW: In case you're wondering, I'm not making it up: the Sanskrit word vidyā really is the etymological root of the Latin verb videre, meaning "to see,” and, by extension, the origin of the English word "video." Proof once again that linguistics makes philosophy fun! |
Hari-kirtana das
If you’re ready to apply yoga philosophy to your own life—or teach it with clarity and feeling—my classes and workshops create space to sharpen your thinking, steady your inner life, and connect your practice to what matters now.
Greetings Reader, Last summer, I posted an Instagram reel about how the principle spiritual equality provides a rational basis for social justice. How so? Materially, none of us are equal. We all have a little more of this or a little less of that and when we add it all up, no one is materially equal to anyone else. Spiritually, however, the yoga wisdom tradition tells us that we are all equal; that we’re all made of the same spiritual stuff and that we are all equally infinitesimal parts of...
Greetings Reader, My latest rationalization for not pulling my phone away from my nose? Watching reels of musicians explaining the brilliance of the Beatles. It’s fun to learn what makes their songs so great. And it’s nice to see that these reels are coming from relatively young musicians, not my antediluvian contemporaries with memories of Beatlemania. One of the many ways that the Beatles upended the rules of pop songwriting was by opening songs with the chorus instead of a verse. The most...
Greetings Reader, Did I ever tell you that I used to be a soda pop salesman? It’s true. Back in 1981, I got a job as a sales rep for a very small company with a tiny office in lower Manhattan. Their flagship product was the first all-natural soda pop to hit the health food market. My job was to sell soda pop to independent grocery stores around the city and health food stores around the country. There were only five people working out of that office. Of those five, I was the only man. I was...