Remembering the Gurus

 

source: www.kpjayi.org

 

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (July 26, 1915 – May 18, 2009)

And I ask for blessings for my teachers, and their teachers, and all those who come before them….

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“Dedication to the guru is dedication to the practice,” so the Ashtangis said during a sangha, referring to their traditional guru system. That brought me memories of my different gurus.

I equate “guru” with spiritual leaders, although today people loosely use the term to mean someone with authority thus one can hear it even in business schools. I had “gurus” in the (distant) past, although we did not call them that way, who taught me submission to authority and obedience, among other things. Except for one who has become like a family to us, my experience with the gurus I had had for 11 years was unpleasant, to say the least.  My usual reaction hence was, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Sure, gurus are just human. In fact Sharon Gannon and David Life in their book Jivamukti Yoga classified gurus into sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic. Rajasic teachers do not want self-disciplined students but instead want followers on whom they depend financially, emotionally, and spiritually; while tamasic teachers manipulate others to enhance their ego-selves. On the other hand, sattvic teachers are interested only in serving the students. But “if you are a student, it won’t matter what kind of teacher you have if your intentions are pure.” (84)

And as I have written before, you may not always have the teacher that you want but the universe will always give you the teacher that you need.

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BG 4.34 Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.

Annotation: A bona fide spiritual master is by nature very kind toward the disciple. Therefore when the student is submissive and is always ready to render service, the reciprocation of knowledge and inquiries becomes perfect.

I met my life coach three years ago. I call him such because he does not want to be called a guru although he is very much like one to me. Back then he was my sounding board about what was to become a burnout a year later or so. And in countless instances he tried to shield me from all sorts of things (and people) that could have aggravated my situation. And yes, he was instrumental in finding that place where I was meant to be…and all he said was “wait.” Indeed, there is so much wisdom in that single word. Today, although we communicate on a need basis, we remain connected.

As the Indian proverb goes: the devotee’s job is to find the guru, love the guru, and finally leave the guru. (Jivamukti Yoga, 84)

*****

Today is teacher Jon’s birthday!

 

And I ask for blessings for my teachers, and their teachers, and all those who come before them….

Jivamukti Yoga: Practices for Liberating Body and Soul

by Sharon Gannon and David Life

I started reading books on yoga just around the same time I started practicing it. My primary motivation then was to learn more poses and to learn to do the poses I already knew better. In short, I was just looking at the physical dimension of yoga. As I continued my practice, I began looking for something more. Probably what I saw in my yoga teacher Pio Baquiran but did not see in other instructors I had had was the same thing that made this book very appealing to me: the element of spirituality.

The introduction swept me off my feet right away. The authors said (and I paraphrase) that when yoga reached the West, the Westerners dissected it into its many parts and called each by a name—which is the present days’ different types of yoga. The book, they said, attempted to pull all these parts together and present yoga in its original form as it was in the East.The authors were successful in writing their book in a non-academic, non-technical manner such that even an amateur yogini like me could appreciate the ideas they presented yet without losing their depth.

Four main points struck me in this book:

• The teaching of ahimsa vis-à-vis the advocacy of social involvement—not that these two concepts are exclusive (at least, I don’t think so) but I have not yet read any yogic literature that promotes social activism as much as ahimsa.
• The sequencing of postures—intuitively I knew there is some logic in what we do in class (and occasionally yoga teacher explains why we do certain poses, e.g. to balance the effects the previous pose) but most books simply present the poses as they are, leaving me wondering “am I supposed to follow these asanas from page 1 to 100?” Especially to Vinyasa practitioners like me, the chapter on sequencing makes a lot of sense.
• The whole chapter on guru made me think of the kind of yoga teacher I want to have and the kind I want to be.
• The authors’ journey and transformation inspired me to pursue my own.

Some people find certain ideas in this book a bit “extreme”; I myself do not totally agree to everything the authors said. However, who could argue with their experience? At the end of the day, the responsibility of discovering the truth, following our own path, and uniting with the Self rests on our shoulders.

Side story: I lent my copy to Teacher Pio. He said that the authors are bhakti yogis whose practice (beliefs and lifestyle?) is very similar to his and that their (the authors’ and teacher’s) neck beads indicate the lines of masters they have come from. Hmmm, interesting.