Detachment:
Yoga's Key To "Liberation"
Woven throughout
the fabric of yoga -- and its underlying philosophy, Vedanta -- are
several, thread-like themes which consistently repeat themselves. One
of these recurrent spiritual "melodies" is There is only One God,
and you are (I am) It.
Another
such proclamation is: That which is the living part of us is never
born and can never die. In short, we are each eternal, immortal beings.
Not only that: Nothing can actually harm, injure nor even cause the
living part of us pain, unless we allow it.
Each school
or branch of this ancient, spiritual science of yoga holds similar beliefs,
in one form or another. And each can support these contentions with
much scriptural authority ... plus the direct experiences of its teachers
and many of its students.
Often,
these repetitive themes take the form of mahavakyas, or Great Aphorisms,
and are thus relatively well-known ... at least within the elite circle
of seekers who claim yoga-Vedanta as their life's pathway. But a less
well-known, yet equally important theme of yoga-Vedanta relates to its
"goal" -- that mystical and mysterious state known as "liberation" --
which beckons all sincere yogis and yoginis.
This is
the powerful assertion that Detachment is the source of liberation.
We need
to look no further than yoga's premier scripture, The Bhagavad-Gita,
to discover this declaration. Early in that profound discussion between
the Avatar, Krishna, and His heartfelt disciple, Arjuna, the Lord reveals:
Possessing desires, the worldly person never attains peace; but for
that yogi or yogini, into whom all desires enter as the waters enter
into the ocean, which is full to the brim and grounded in stillness,
peace comes. That yogi/ni who lives completely free from desires, without
longing, devoid of that sense of "I" and "mine," attains this blessed
peace. This is the Divine, Ultimate state, Oh Arjuna; attaining it,
the yogi/ni is no longer deluded -- being established therein, even
in the hour of death, this Wise One attains final liberation in God.
(A Yogi
Explains The Bhagavad-Gita: Enlightenment for the New Millennium, 2:70-72;
Michael Blate, commentator -- see details below).
This ideal
of dispassion and detachment is repeated in numerous shlokas (verses)
throughout that text, including 3:37-43; 4:14; 4:18-23;
6:2,3; 7:15; 14:22-27, and others. And it does
not end there; many similar passages are found in each of yoga-Vedanta's
other scriptures, particularly the Yoga Vasistha (Swami Jyotirmyananda,
translator -- Yoga Research Foundation, Coral Gables, FL).
In this
seldom-translated but profoundly enlightening dialogue between the young
prince and Avatar, Lord Rama, and His preceptor, the sage Vasistha,
yoga's Highest Knowledge and Ultimate Secrets are revealed, repeated
and re-examined over more than 1000 pages in five volumes. And the same
theme of detachment being crucial for liberation is restated seemingly
countless times. In fact, one entire section of Volume V -- Nirvana
Prakarana -- is entitled "Desire is the cause of bondage" (and, conversely,
detachment is the source of liberation).
This great
theme has special significance for me: My own teacher, Sathya Sai Baba,
ended my most recent interview with him in 1995 with these words: "Detachment
is the key to liberation."
While dispassion
and detachment are easy enough to understand, less so is the highly-cherished
liberated state of being. To some, liberation means that, after death,
the soul reaches "heaven" (by whatever name one assigns this mystical
place). Then, if you believe in Vedanta's claim that reincarnation exists,
it further includes the concept of never being reborn into a human body.
Others
see liberation as a kind of illumined or enlightened state of mind ...
one which can arise either before or even after physical death. And
still others hold that liberation means total "erasure" from individual
beingness -- a kind of death, then transfiguration, if you will. Or
perhaps it means passing into a Great Void -- there are many explanations
and conjectures about what "liberation" truly means.
Without
adding more than two cents' worth of my own opinion on the subject,
let us briefly explore the word, "liberation." itself. In Sanskrit,
the native language of yoga-Vedanta, there are several words for this
penultimate state. My favorite is moksha, which is a contraction of
two, other words: Moha and kshya. Taken together, these actually translate
as "freedom from delusion."
The implication,
then, is that liberation is more a mental than physical condition. A
state of seeing "reality" as something different from the norm.
Indeed,
throughout the study of Vedanta, we are taught that "the world" is in
fact a kind of projection of God's (our own) mind. A dream or illusion,
if you will. A mirage. Maya. The world, as we know it, has no substance
or reality, only the appearance of reality, teaches yoga.
However,
fully grasping the truth of this awesome contention is no small task.
It demands clarity and focus of thought, as well as heartfelt knowledge.
While this information can be taught, the actual realization of this
Great Truth of No-Thingness further eventually requires undergoing a
certain, enlightening experience ... an experience wherein the veil
of maya or delusion is parted, at least briefly, and the true nature
of our deepest, eternal Self is revealed.
Only then,
it is taught, can we say with utter confidence: "All of this world and
its dramas are unreal ... none of what I perceive with the senses is
actually happening."
At the
highest level of yoga-Vedanta, then, there are no gods, goddesses, prayers
or other trappings of religion. There surely are practices, however,
which are to be followed on this pathway. But they are essentially procedures
and processes designed for one purpose, alone -- the purification of
the mind. For only then, it is believed, will we be able to recognize,
understand and grow from the vital, illuminating experience that produces
what some people call "Enlightenment" or "Self-realization."
"Detachment"
is one such practice.
Detachment
can be practiced in a variety of ways. The most typical form is to simply
tell ourselves that we "shouldn't" want this or that. Or perhaps "yogis/yoginis
don't act or think this way." But religions (or our mothers) can teach
us that; and yoga-Vedanta, though it may be "spiritual," is not a religion.
The detachment
which yoga espouses is not something we can merely "talk ourselves into";
rather, it comes from a deep wellspring of knowledge. A heartfelt knowledge
of the unreality of the world as we know it. And this priceless knowledge,
naturally enough, does not arise without our paying some expensive dues.
What are
the psychodynamics, the forces that work upon the mind, when we set
about to release any and all attachments to the world? It certainly
is easier to detach ourselves after having undergone the special experience
which leads to Self-realization. But let us assume that we are still
in the dark about that crucial experience: How might we nonetheless
go about detaching ourselves from maya ... from this delusion we call
"reality"?
For most
of us, it begins by having a teacher whom we trust, and/or in studying
yoga's scriptures. We need a basis for this paradigm shift ... this
new way of viewing the world as a mirage. Then, we can take the next
step: Regularly repeating, affirmation-like, that the world as we know
it is unreal and that none of what we perceive is truly occurring. It
is a simple assertion, one which we try to keep in mind whenever we
can recall it.
At first,
of course, it seems to be an absurd contention. Our senses shriek at
our stupidity for asserting such nonsense. They rejoice at every opportunity
to prove us wrong.
Yet we
persist. And we add other practices to this simple program of affirmation,
as a kind of support for the voluntary mind-purification process which
we have embarked upon. Perhaps we sing bhajans (sacred chants and songs),
perform service or sadhana or do a variety of similar, suggested practices.
But first
and foremost (at least for most of us) is a radical and profound change
of diet. Even though we may not fully understand why, we learn that
yoga requires us to follow a vegetarian diet ... at least, if we wish
to gain the benefits from this timeless science of mind-upliftment.
We are taught that when we consume the terror of slaughtered creatures,
it has a subtle but significant effect upon our own minds.
So we reluctantly
release all slaughtered foods from our diet. This is surely the premier
practice in yoga-Vedanta, and virtually no spiritual growth beyond a
very limited point is possible without following such a peace-full way
of eating.
If we
are fortunate enough to have a teacher who understands the power that
food exerts upon the body-and-mind, we further learn that we must quickly
also release such abuses as sugar, alcohol and even all milk products
(e.g., cheese, yoghurt, etc.) -- which are rich in the sugar, lactose
-- or else we shall suffer a variety of unpleasant physical and especially
mental consequences.
This is
because of the imbalances those foods now cause in our body's electrochemistry,
by way of our organs and glands. Like cumbersome weights on either end
of a child's teeter-totter, slaughtered foods are "balanced" by the
other extremes of sugar, alcohol and the rest.
If one
"side" or the other of this precarious balance is removed, biochemical
chaos typically follows ... and its results are particularly felt in
the emotions. After eliminating slaughtered foods, these escalating
emotions tend to include (but are not limited to) increased anger or
even rage, depression and generally feeling "not good," as we pursue
our noble, though imbalanced, vegetarian "dietstyle."
Thus, without
restoring balance to both sides of this teeter-totter, we tend to feel
increasingly worse, not better or more enlightened, as we had probably
hoped when we began the change. Soon, it is natural to begin questioning
whether or not "this whole thing is worth it" ... our dietary practice
-- and possibly our entire commitment to yoga -- becomes at risk.
Releasing
animal flesh, sugar, alcohol and dairy products from the diet -- along
with such other abuses as tobacco and recreational drugs, of course
-- is the first, big hurdle in detachment that many yogis and yoginis
encounter. In a way, it is like a test: For if we cannot detach ourselves
from addictive foods and substances, how can we ever hope to detach
from the other "hooks" and "karmic sucks" which keep dragging us back
into The Dream, this physical realm of the senses?
For yogis
and yoginis, the belief in non-happeningness is crucial and -- once
established -- can successfully support us during times of stress, danger
or even at the end of this life, itself. I recall a funny incident that
occurred many years ago, just as I was being introduced to the concept
of the-world-as-maya and the contention of non-happeningness.
At that
time, my wife, Gail, was still a travel agent. A friend had called to
tell us that she was acting as a hostess for a famous yogi, who had
recently arrived in the U.S. after a long Himalayan retreat. She wanted
Gail to reserve a flight for this yogi from Miami to New York.
Gail made
the arrangements, happy to be of service to such a holy soul, and offered
to bring the ticket by, to save our friend a trip to Gail's agency.
Upon arriving at our friend's home, only the yogi was there. Pleased
to have an audience, he showed her first one scrapbook, then others,
filled with pictures of himself in a loincloth, holding various poses
and asanas, along with news clippings proclaiming his importance throughout
India and beyond.
But as
Gail was about to leave, the yogi affectionately squeezed her bottom!
Shocked and befuddled, Gail rushed out the door and back home, nearly
in tears as she told me the story. Like many Western women before and
since, this experience had shattered her mistaken illusion that all
yogis are saints, holy men and renunciates!
To make
matters worse, our friend called shortly afterwards and asked if Gail
could take this yogi to the airport the next day! Nonplussed at the
thought, she was about to snap out her denial; but with, I'm told, an
evil glint in my eye, I interrupted Gail by saying, "no, I'll take this
fellow to the airport."
And the
next morning, all six feet plus and 200 pounds of me, dressed in my
meanest pair of cowboy boots and most intimidating John Wayne snarl,
drove Mr. Yogi -- all five feet of him -- and his scrapbooks to Miami
International. During that half-hour drive, I -- shall we say, loudly
and continuously -- berated this chap about his inappropriate behavior
concerning another man's wife. Seeing the size of him, my rage was feigned,
though he had no way of knowing this. I put on an excellent performance!
But curiously,
throughout my impressive tirade and show of apparent wrath, this fellow
merely sat perfectly still and calm, eyes straight forward, repeating,
like a mantrum:
"This is not happening ... this is not happening ... this is not happening
..."
It was
my first real experience with yoga in action. Not the early-morning-TV
variety of stretching and asanas, but the real thing -- the applied
science of mind and sense control. Little did I realize as I drove away
from the airport -- laughing uproariously at the incident -- I had just
met (for the first and last time) one of my most memorable and important
teachers on my pathway of yoga-Vedanta!
In my pathway,
Neti Yoga (a westernized version of jnana yoga, "The Way of Ultimate
Wisdom"), we teach that a vital goal of life is to die with no unfulfilled
desires. This is a backhanded way of saying that detachment insures
liberation.
As with
the practice of detachment, there are several ways to "burn" our desires:
Fulfilling them, of course (but this can be costly and even cause us
untold suffering) ... "the manly way" of simply squashing the buggers
down in denial (though this is very unsafe, since repressed desires
tend to reassert themselves at the most inappropriate moments) ...
... And
the yoga way: Through knowledge and wisdom. That is, by seeing for certain
that the world -- and all of its dramas and toys -- is nothing but maya,
delusion. For once we actually see the illusion of everything, then
-- and only then, teaches yoga-Vedanta -- can we truly release all desires.
After all,
only a fool becomes so enthralled by a movie that he believes it is
real, even upon leaving the theater.
Detachment
is neither a fast nor painless process. After all, we are undertaking
nothing less than the absolute transformation -- indeed, the transcendence
-- of the mind and our nature. Family and other loved ones drop by the
wayside, along with the rest of our attachments, as this process continues
(for after all, liberation implies nothing left to do or learn).
Instead,
the Wise One finds him- or herself increasingly "asleep" even while
awake, and the world as s/he knows it fading into a flat, almost two-dimensional
sort of living painting. It becomes like dimly-flashing lights on the
screen of consciousness.
Joy and
sorrow, grief and grandeur, fade into a kind of bliss that knows no
bounds. No longer is it necessary to affirm "This is not happening ...
this is not happening ... ", for we have come to know the world's unreality
as fact.
"A
Yogi Explains The Bhagavad-Gita: Enlightenment for the New Millennium,"
is currently available from The G-Jo Institute. Or for more information
about Neti Yoga, or on the healing benefits of G-Jo Acupressure, please
visit www.g-jo.com/. I wish you well
on your own journey!
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