This month, our Moving into Meditation class is focusing on the Yoga Ethic of Isvara-Prañidhânâ: surrendering to one’s highest ideal. This practice of devotion is a path to realizing Samadhi – the state of perfected concentration or the deep absorption of meditation.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra:
PYS II.45 samâdhi-siddhir îsvara-prañidhânât
From an attitude of letting go into one’s source (ishvarapranidhana), the state of perfected concentration (samadhi) is attained.
samâdhi = oneness, integration
siddhiï = perfection
îsvara = divine ideal of pure awareness
prañidhânât = surrender, dedication, application, alignment
In our group practice I invited students to surrender the sense of separate self to explore an interdependent being with the web of life. From an attitude of letting go into this state of inter-being we might realize Samadhi. We drew on the work of eco-philosopher, Joanna Macy – particularly her wonderful book: World as Lover World as Self.
Guided Relaxation
We can welcome the intention to open to the living wisdom of knowing ourselves as part of a greater, living web . . . earth . . . water . . . fire . . . air . . . and the numberless living organisms that arise . . . reproduce . . . evolve . . . all living beings sustained by everything the earth so freely offers . . . we are elemental beings . . . part of a greater whole . . .
We learn to survive by following the instincts of a self bounded by the need for self-preservation. Now we are being challenged to expand our boundaries . . . challenged to wider ideas of who we are and what our interests are . . . from a separate self to an ecological or eco-self – extending to other beings and life on our planet. Environmental activist, Joanna Macy, describes this transformation as the greening of the self.
Many of people are engaged in Earth-actions, risking their lives to protect the earth and its creatures. In the Chipko, or tree-hugging movement in north India, villagers fight the deforestation of their remaining woodlands. On the open seas, Greenpeace activists are intervening to protect marine mammals from slaughter.
Imagine yourself a tree. Feel your roots penetrating deep into the earth . . . your trunk growing upwards and your branches reaching and leafing all around. Think of the tree-huggers hugging your trunk, blocking the chain saws with their bodies. Feel their fingers digging into you bark to stop the steel and let you breathe.
Imagine yourself a whale . . . You are warm blooded sea giant. Your streamlined fusiform body can travel at up to 20 knots. You live in the open ocean, where you feed, mate, give birth and raise your young. You can hear the Bodhisattvas – the warriors of compassion – in their rubber boats as they put themselves between you and the harpoons, so you can escape to the depths of the sea. You give thanks for your life and theirs, and for life itself. We give thanks for realizing that we too have the powers of the tree-huggers and the Bodhisattvas.
Through the power of our caring, our experience of self is expanded far beyond the skin-encapsulated ego. . . . We share a deep concern for what is happening to our world, we can speak and act on its behalf.
. . . Now we can shift to a deep identity with the wider reaches of life. . . It is a source of courage that helps us to care, to act. . . . it is hard to look at what’s happening to our water, our air, our trees, our fellow species – yet we share a spiritual practice that holds life sacred and encourages joyful communion with all your fellow beings. . . .
The greening of the self . . .is happening. It is happening in the arising of the ecological self. . . . we witness the emergence of an eco-self. . . . We are capable of suffering with our world, and that is the true meaning of compassion. It enables us to recognize our profound interconnectedness with all beings. . . . crying for the trees burning in the Amazon or over the waters polluted from mines in the Rockies. . . . the sorrow, grief, and rage we feel . . . is a measure of our humanity. It is a measure of our open heart, and as our heart breaks open there will be room for the world to heal. . . . Together we realize the shift from “Me” to “We.” We are greening from within bringing forth one compassionate act at a time.
A beautiful offering from spoken word poet, Ben Bushill:
Lie back in the green arms
of the one forest,
flowers whispering on your cheek,
shadows of the leaf cascade
blessing your eyes
and sense, feel, imagine
the unfathomable intelligence
of the sacred earth.
Salmon form the rivers
they swim in,
Wolves change the hills and trees
they run through,
Birds shape the clouds…
Listen
Listen.
The great spirit of this wise earth
rises and swells
weaves you into it’s web of roots
and branches and stones,
quietening your busy mind,
soothing the inevitable aches of your human soul
and telling a story
of a planet
whose humble intelligence
displays the impossible miracle paradox
of a life
complex as a rainforest ecosystem
crazy beautiful as the myriad eyes on the peacock’s tail
and as simple
as a heart beating
day by day
love by love
keeping quiet time
for the rhythm of your life
as you walk your blessed pathways
in an eternal wilderness of light.
