Rodney J Owen
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Auspicious Beginnings

9/20/2020

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On September 19, 1920, a young Swami Yogananda (later known as Paramahansa Yogananda) first set foot on American soil, having traveled from his native India on "The City of Sparta." He would come to be regarded as "the father of Yoga in the West." The Boston Globe reported on the steamer’s arrival in Boston Harbor, noting that Yogananda "has come to this country to attend a religious conference in Boston and later plans to make a lecturing tour through the country."

A post shared by SRF Yogananda (@selfrealizationfellowship) on Sep 19, 2020 at 6:00am PDT

100 years ago, September 19, 1920, my paramguru (my teacher's teacher), Paramahansa Yogananda arrived in the US.  He was not the first yoga teacher from India to travel to and lecture in the US, but he was the first to make his home here, to actively propagate the teachings of yoga in the United States.  And that has made all the difference for so many people.  Indeed, I would argue it has made a difference for many people who don't even realize it, as teachings don't belong to any individual, they belong to us all.  Teachings escape their trappings and infiltrate all aspects of their host society.  As I have been following these teachings for many years, I feel I can see not only how that happens but can witness countless aspects of it in our current worldview.

I am not, nor ever have been a member of SRF, but I have been a disciple of one of Yogananda's ordained teachers and have integrated Kriya Yoga into my life to the point that I don't really consider it a path or a teaching anymore.  It's how I live my life.  And I think that is ultimately the idea of this and similar teachings.  My approach to this is that we should look at the teaching, practice it if it resonates, find what is important to us, if anything, and integrate it.  At that point it is no longer about the teacher, the lineage, the philosophy, or anything of that nature.  It is about the quality of life.

The root word of Kriya is action.  Hence, Kriya Yoga is about right action.  It's not about beliefs or concepts, it's not about religion and ritual, it's not about outward modes of expression.  It's about this moment and the next, how we live this life, which only happens in the moment and is best expressed spontaneously, devoid of concept and belief.  In other words, life is lived to the fullest when we flow with the flow, change with the change, and live life to the fullest.  Beyond the mysticism attributed to Yogananda, beyond the beads and robes, beyond his vital and impressive lineage, beyond all the superficial things, including the man himself, this what he most wanted to impress upon the country he adopted.  Live life to the fullest, starting right now.
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Present Presence

9/15/2020

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To be present is arguably the best thing.  And it is really the easiest thing.  And the hardest thing.  Until it isn't, then we find it is the easiest thing after all.  But that is not something anyone can tell you.  Which means I'm not really telling anyone either, I'm just putting words on the page.  I'm not implying there is no one there to tell.  I'll leave the nihilism to Nietzsche and the Neo-Advaitists.  My point is I'm not trying to persuade anyone, just stating a fact.  To understand that presence is the best thing and the easiest thing, one has to practice it.

I'm inclined to think that presence is the key to the Kingdom, so to speak.  At this point I'm thinking enlightenment, at least as it is presented, is a pipe dream, an ever out-of-reach pipe dream that keeps one in a state of desire for the unattainable.  Further, life after death, reincarnation, etc... are equally pipe dreams because no one has gone there and come back to tell all the rest of us what it is like.  All such associated ideas are concepts and concepts are unattainable because, well, they are only conceptual.  But presence is available now, right now.  And the more one practices it the easier it becomes to acknowledge it and abide.  For me, the more I practice presence the deeper the experience of presence becomes, to the point that it is possible to see all of life in a different light.

None of this is revolutionary.  Yet the direct experience of the depth of being aware of being aware is truly profound.  It has opened up the possibility of a much simpler and organic life experience for me.  And while I still maintain an interest in some of the practices I have utilized over the years, I no longer see them as essential to waking up or anything else for that matter.  They are no more profound or supermundane than riding a bicycle or taking a nap.  Mentally separating anything we do from the rest of life is a large mistake.  In fact it can't really be done except in your mind, and all that does is cause more confusion or what the Buddhists call dukha.

In short, we can live life to the fullest right now, today.  We don't need to go to a monastery, on retreat, learn yoga, or sit at the feet of the next silk-pajama-guru.  All we need do is be present to being present and let all the small stuff go.  And as they say, it's all small stuff.
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