Joy of being: The Integral
Yoga The Hindu LIFE & STYLE » SOCIETY MADURAI, November 1, 2012 R. DINESH
What is the Integral Yoga? Before understanding this, we need to go back to the basic starting point. Unless one defines a goal there is no need to change ...
What is the Integral Yoga? Before understanding this, we need to go back to the basic starting point. Unless one defines a goal there is no need to change ...
Therefore,
Life is all about oneself and what one can control. In all my earlier articles
the central point has been the cause is by oneself and not others. For want of
something better to do, we blame others but the root cause is our action or
reaction. The real cause is that a choice to truly pursue one’s goal single mindedly has not been made. The faculties are happy giving reasons as to why
one has to be unhappy (!) rather than doing something to rectify the situation.
Therefore this solution of depending on third party(s) is at best temporary and
not a solution. Then what does one do?
This
is the path of Integration or looking at the whole rather than the parts. The
‘Integral Yoga’ will then have to start with a clearly defined goal of
Happiness which is longest lasting (at least more than 90% say) if not
permanent. The next step is to align the goals of each of our faculties. What
does this mean? A rational analysis of the capabilities of our Body, Prana or
Mind and even the knowledge part of ourselves which can be called ‘Intuition’’
has to be attempted through observation (not mental analysis) and once the goal
is clear, effort would be made to ensure the capabilities of the faculties are
built up to ensure success. For those who believe in rebirth, this process may
require a few births but still one is steadfast to one’s goal of Happiness.
Even if there is no rebirth at least the quality of our current life would be
better.
See
how the above is an exact reflection of how we can and must live our practical
life. If one is clear what one wants and aligns all one’s efforts to achieve
that, there is the best chance of success. Also see what happens when one is
not aligned with one’s near and dear ones – fights, disappointments, disagreements
etc. How can one hope to align with another when our faculties are fighting
amongst themselves to show their superiority rather than aim for a common and
overarching goal. (This is the second article of a four-part series
on ‘The Integral Yoga’.) Feedback and questions may be emailed to joyofbeingrd@gmail.com (The writer is the Joint
Managing Director of TVS & Sons Ltd., and MD, TVS Logistics.)
Philosophy,
religion and science all seek, in their own ways, for the meaning and purpose
of our life on earth. The questions “why”, “what” and “how” are the basis of
this existential questioning of our existence. Where do we come from? Is there
life before birth? Is there any existence after death, and if so, what is it?
Even
if we try to avoid these questions and live a practical life of survival, or
hedonistic enjoyment, they continue to impress themselves on thinking humanity.
In mamy cases, those who have spent a lifetime denying this search for meaning,
come in the end, on their death-beds, to the ultimate question with fear,
trepidation, hope and prayer.
Sri
Aurobindo provides an answer which addresses the various issues that arise: “In
the idea of evolutionary rebirth, if we can once find it to be a truth and
recognise its antecedents and consequences, we have a very sufficient clue for
an answer to all these connected sides of the one perpetual question. A
spiritual evolution of which our universe is the scene and earth its ground and
stage, though its plan is still kept back above from our yet limited
knowledge,–this way of seeing existence is a luminous key which we can fit into
many doors of obscurity.”
Sri
Aurobindo places weight on the spiritual significance rather than the
mechanical process. “The failure to do that rightly will involve us in much
philosophical finessing, drive on this side or the other to exaggerated
negations and leave our statement of it, however perfect may be its logic, yet
unsatisfying and unconvincing to the total intelligence and the complex soul of
humanity.”
The Foundations of Psychological Theory in the Veda, Contd from Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore - C. Krishnamurthy (chamathu2003@yahoo.co.uk)
Rig
Vedic mystics realised that a human being performs an effective action only
through the assistance he gets from the devas, where as his own contribution is
nominal. In fact, even the greatest Vedic poets obtained inspiration from
superior planes and their contribution was restricted only to transcribe the
revealed verses. With this it is very clear that yajña is an activity
recognising the collaboration between the deva and the human. The much later
scripture ‘Bhagavad Gita’ specifically mentions the different yajnãs by name
such as yajña of obtaining material objects, obtaining knowledge, involving
self-study etc.,
If
a pushy philosopher were to back me into a corner and force me to choose one or
the other, naturalism or supernaturalism, I would choose naturalism. But I’d
find myself wanting to ask, as Socrates might, what is meant by “nature”?
Physics becomes metaphysics as soon as the word–”nature”–is pronounced. The
logos of language … Read More
Over
at An und Fur Sich, Adam Kotsko has written
a response to my defense of naturalism and materialism (here and here), accusing me of everything from believing that
science gives us unmediated access to reality, is capable of explaining
everything, and seeks to reduce everything, to advocating
totalitarianism. Anyone familiar with what I argue in my ontology and
epistemology will find this to be a peculiar set of charges, but so it goes… but
I feel compelled to say something as I have difficulty recognizing myself in what
is described in this post… In fact, the ontology and epistemology I propose,
the opposite is entailed… My central argument for the independence of
objects– drawn from philosopher of science Roy Bhaskar –revolves around the
experimental setting and how knowing requires us to carefully construct closed
systems in which we perturb objects in a variety of ways to determine how they
respond under these conditions.
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