Knowledge

Teachings of Swami Indrananda Ji

Continuing the Series – Shirley Davies

When we began our yoga studies, maybe many years ago, we had a thirst for knowledge. We probably all found the subject of yoga both fascinating and confusing. And for many of us it has taken most of our lives to establish a deeper understanding of what Yoga is all about and to allow it to permeate into the very fabric of our Being. I firmly believe Yoga is not something we do, but something we Become.

It takes many years just to accumulate the knowledge of the teaching of yoga, notwithstanding wrestling with Sanskrit, and we can all agree that it is a very intricate and winding path which leads us to our goal of knowledge of the Self. But only with perseverance. Patanjali said that yoga practice should be undertaken for a “long time, consistently, without a break”.

In fact, it is possibly the product of more than one lifetime. I have always felt that on the spiritual path we spend many lifetimes just collecting information, storing it within our subconscious mind and taking into the next life in the form of Samskaras – our personality traits and affiliations. I am sure that we all know at least one person who does course after course, changing interests and even their career every few years. Perhaps they are just on the “collecting information” stage of their spiritual path.

Then one day it dawns that the accumulation of knowledge is useless unless it is applied to better our existence. For me this was a reasonably slow process – perhaps I am a little slow on the uptake – maybe because our educational system is all about acquiring facts. We are tested throughout our school days and in higher education to find out how many facts we have retained, and occasionally are asked to actually apply them to something via the reasoning mind. Life becomes a journey of acquiring bits of paper just to confirm that someone else thinks we know something useful. If we are not careful, life, at least in the first 30 years, can become a paper collecting exercise, especially more so now in this present highly competitive, cut-throat society.

So, for most of our lives we have accepted that our Society prizes knowledge. With knowledge we can do things, improve our standing in our community, earn more money, feel more important, live more affluently, be respected by our peers, protect ourselves and our loved ones, and maybe even become a little arrogant. But, all this may not lead us to happiness, inner peace or Self knowledge. The acquisition of knowledge is not particularly valuable on the spiritual path unless it points the way towards freedom.

I remember saying to my boss, when I was in my early 20’s, that I knew he would know the answer to my question. I jokingly said, “How does it feel always to be right?” He replied “Shirley, it is very boring because everyone asks you stupid questions all the time”. He may have been highly intelligent, but unfortunately, he was not liked very much…he didn’t have too many people skills.

Knowledge, by which I mean the database of facts and information stored in our minds, can be both a blessing and a burden. Clearly some knowledge we have is invaluable, particularly that which gives us autonomy – freedom to look after ourselves and our families, to provide ourselves with an income, to keep healthy and strong, to know right from wrong, etc.

But knowledge can also be a burden. Some people can become experts at collecting knowledge and storing it, being a mine of facts and figures. But sometimes those same people have not a single clue about how to communicate with others, how to exist comfortably in a social setting. Knowledge can be also be a burden when it gives the impression that we are wiser or more special than others. This just cultivates the Ego. Then there is knowledge that may be interesting in passing, but totally useless in modern life. For example, I have a book given to me by a dear friend, which was written in 1875, called The Language and Poetry of Flowers. You may know that in Victorian times, flowers were used as letters to convey sentiments and their meaning was very precise. Today, apart from the idea of red roses for love, we don’t have the same associations with flowers. Today, flowers are beautiful and that is meaning enough. So the knowledge we have needs to be relevant, useful and will help us towards our chosen goal in life. In fact knowledge has to be integrated into the life we are leading to be useful in any way, shape or form.

On the spiritual path there are many, many roads to follow, and some of us skip from one to the other at almost a moment’s notice. However, fortunately for us, the path of Yoga has endured the test of time and is as relevant today as it was centuries ago. Maybe the Language of Flowers has had its day, but knowledge of the Self will always endure. Because it is Truth. Knowledge can be a burden if it does not bring joy; if it does not set you free. Truth alone can bring joy and will set us free.

Swami Ji always, in every talk he gave, mentioned at length the importance of discipline in our lives. Of course, the word “discipline” implies suffering and self-sacrifice. And most of us shy away from mortification of the flesh in any form. In the beginning when we start something new we have to have an element of discipline – of routine – to get us into the habit of doing it. We are creatures of habit and routines take a while to get established. But at some point along the way the “discipline” of doing something is let go of in favour of “wanting” to do it, enjoying doing it, in fact integrating it into our lives. I am sure that we all have experienced that in the past in our yogic journey. We begin by planning to “do it every day” then we forget about it until the next time it presents itself again. This is the collecting information period of our journey. Then we decide at some point that we will do more of the practices because we enjoy them. And that is where the discipline comes in. We need to keep ourselves motivated and primed to practice, until the change is firmly established in our routine, in our daily life. Then it becomes Joy, our safety net, our Peace, our refuge, our life saving, life enhancing reason to get out of bed early to do it. This only happens when we use the knowledge we have of our lives today, to establish a new, better way for the future. Therefore we must at all times be selective in choosing situations, people and circumstances which enhance our understanding of the Soul.

At this point, Yoga becomes our life, the very fabric of our Being and at that point knowledge is not something we seek, it is not something we demonstrate to our peers, – all that happens naturally without our instigation. It is something that we are, living knowledge, perfect knowledge, the ultimate knowledge. We have become Knowledge Incarnate. We have become Truth. We have become Yogis.

And didn’t Lord Krishna say to Arjuna:

“Because his former yearning and struggle irresistibly carries him onwards, and even he who merely yearns for Yoga goes beyond the words of books.

And thus the Yogi ever-striving, with soul pure from sin, attains perfection through many lives and reaches the End Supreme

Be thou a Yogi, Arjuna! Because the Yogi goes beyond those who only follow the path of the austere, or of wisdom, or of work.

And the greatest of all Yogis is he who with all his soul has faith, and he who with all his soul loves me.”

B.G. 6:44-47