chanting

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August 7, 2011

Many thanks for your patience with my infrequent blogging and non-linear posting of dharma talks. I continue recording each week and hope to be caught up by the end of this year. For now though, when I actually have time to edit a talk, it makes more sense to post the most recent. So, here is Monday August 1’s talk on Patanajali II 40 & 41.  Here are the sutras:

[Mukunda Stiles’ version]

II, 40
From purity arises a desire to protect one’s body and a cessation of adverse contact with others.
II, 41
From the purification of one’s essence cheerfulness arises, and with it, one-pointed concentration,
mastery of the senses, and the capacity for sustaining the vision of the True Self.

[Chip Hartranft’s version]
II, 40
With body purification, one’s body ceases to be compelling, likewise contact with others.
II, 41
Purification also brings about clarity, happiness, concentration, mastery of the senses, and capacity for self-awareness.

Here’s the actual talk:

I’m also including this Kabir poem which manages to make the same point in a handful of lines!

The Hearse
Kabir, version by Robert Bly

The spiritual athlete often changes the color of his clothes,
and his mind remains gray and loveless.

He sits inside a shrine room all day,
so that the Guest has to go outdoors and praise the rocks.

Or he drills holes in his ears, his beard grows enormous and matted,
people mistake him for a goat…
He goes out into wilderness areas, strangles his impulses,
and makes himself neither male nor female…

He shaves his skull, puts his robe in an orange vat,
reads the Bhagavad-Gita and becomes a terrific talker.

Kabir says: Actually you are going in a hearse to the country of death,
bound hand and foot!

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June 21, 2011

I recently found this draft of a post for class on May 9th.  Although adding it now takes us out of chronological order, I think it’s worth including. We had just entered into Book II of the Yoga-Sutra and were beginning to look at Patanjali’s concept of the kleshas, the “primal causes of suffering.” That week’s sutra focused on the first klesha, avidya. If you want a reminder of the five kleshas, scroll down to May 15th.

II, 4
Ignorance (i.e. avidya) is the fertile soil, and as a consequence, all other obstacles persist.
They may exist in any state—dormant, feeble, intermittent, or fully operative.

Click here to listen to my May 9 Dharma Talk.  I’m talking about the kleshas as a way to understand addictive behavior patterns.  That was the night I told the story about the Canadian geese on the towpath and driving to class with my dirty windshield.

Here’s a lovely Zen story that illustrates how life looks when we’re stuck behind the second klesha, asmita (attachment to story) planted in the fertile soil of avidya (ignorance).

A potential student went to see a Zen master and asked: “If I work really hard, how long will it take to become enlightened.”  The Zen master looked at the man and said “Ten years.”

“No, no,” the man said, “I mean to really work at it –“

The Zen master cut him off. “I’m sorry, I misjudged you–twenty years.”

“Wait,” the man blurted out, “I’m very serious, you don’t understand–“

“Thirty years,” said the Zen master.

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June 17, 2011

We continue our Patanjali journey, entering into the text more deeply each week. We’re now chanting a group of nine sutras that, in a sense, contain the essence of the entire system. I’ll post those here along with a sound clip from class on Monday 6/13. But first, here’s an excerpt of the first 13 minutes of that night’s dharma talk:

I also want to include the beautiful Goethe poem I read at the end of class. I’ve no idea if Goethe studied Yoga. Most likely he did not. But clearly, he experienced the Wisdom Fire…

The Holy Longing
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
[tr. Robert Bly]
 
Tell a wise person or else keep silent,
Because the massman will mock it right away.
I praise what is truly alive,
What longs to be burned to death.

In the calm water of the love-nights,
Where you were begotten, where you have begotten,
A strange feeling comes over you
When you see the silent candle burning.

Now you are no longer caught
In the obsession with darkness,
And a desire for higher love-making
Sweeps you upward.

Distance does not make you falter,
Now, arriving in magic, flying,
And, finally, insane for the light,
You are the butterfly and you are gone.

And so long as you haven’t experienced
This: to die and so to grow,
You are only a troubled guest
On the dark earth.

Finally, here are the nine sutras we’re now chanting. This recording is a bit heavy on harmonium and the chant is still in learning mode. In other words, not the best all around quality. Nevertheless, I’m uploading it here as a learning tool for those who want to chant at home.  Enjoy!

Book I
1.   atha  yogānushāsanam
2.   yogah  chitta  vritti  nirodhah
3.   tadā  drashtuh  svarupe  avasthānam

Book II
1.   tapah svādhyāyā iśvara-pranidhānāni kriyā yogah
2.   samādhi bhāvana arthah kleśa tanu karana-arthah ca
3.   avidyā asmitā rāga dvesha abhiniveśāh pancha kleśā
29. yama niyama asana prānāyāma pratyāhāra dhārāna dhyāna samādhayo astau-angani
30. ahimsa satya asteya brahmacarya aparigraha yamah
32. śauca santosha tapah svādhyāyā iśvara-pranidhānāni niyamāh

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May 15, 2011

Patanjali’s categorizing of the Pancha Kleshas, the five primal causes of suffering offers an elegant tool for deepening our awareness and through that deepening, getting out of our own way.  We talk a lot about dropping the narrative, practicing detachment, softening into the ground of Self. It’s all laid out in this handful of sutras. Here they are in Mukunda Stiles’ version:

II, 3
There are five primal causes of suffering:
ignorance of your True Self; [avidya]
egoism and its self-centeredness; [asmita]
attachment to pleasure; [raga]
aversion to pain; [dvesha]
and clinging to life out of fear of death. [abhinivesha]

II, 4
Ignorance is the fertile soil, and as a consequence, all other obstacles persist.They may exist in any state—dormant, feeble, intermittent, or fully operative.

II, 5
Ignorance is the view that the ephemeral, the impure, the pain of suffering—that which is not the Self—is permanent, pure, pleasurable, and the True Self.

My last post on this blog included an excerpt from the May 2 dharma talk. Here’s the rest of that rather free-wheeling talk:

Also, here is an excerpt of class learning the new Patanjali Chant which includes the first 3 sutras of Books One and Two. I’ll include the text below.

Atha  yogānushāsanam
Yogah  chitta  vritti  nirodhaha
Tadā  drashtu  svarupe  avasthānam

Tapah svadhyaya Ishvara-pranidhānāni kriyā yoga
Samādhi bhāvana artha kleśa tanu karana-artha ca
Avidyā asmitā rāga dvesa abhiniveśa pancha kleśā

Now we begin the teachings of Yoga. Yoga is the stilling of the thought waves in the mind.  Then we rest in our essential nature.

The practical means for attaining the state of Yoga consist of three components: self-discipline and purification, self-study, and devotion to the Lord.  These practices cultivate an attitude conducive to being absorbed in Spirit and minimize the power of the primal causes of suffering.  There are five primal causes of suffering: ignorance of our essential nature; egoism (the “I-maker”); attachment to pleasure; aversion to pain; and clinging to life out of fear of death.

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May 9, 2011

Back in the days when we were working our way through Stephen Mitchell’s lovely translation of the Tao Te Ching, it seemed a good idea to gather the parallel readings I was bringing from other traditions and post them in one place. And so began this blog-collection of sacred text, poetry, and story. Now, as we slowly work our way through the Patanjali Yoga Sutra, I am, needless to say, posting much less than before. My thanks for your patience. I do continue recording each week. I’ll upload an 8-minute excerpt from last week’s class here. I was talking about how we might work with what Patanjali calls the “kleshas,” often translated as the five primal causes of suffering. Enjoy…

Click here to listen to excerpt from last week’s talk on working with the kleshas…

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May 8, 2011 — Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to the Creative Pulsation 
Power of Truth, Majesty, Insight, & Compassion
Inner Luminosity that is Ground and Core of your Being…

To Nature
Orphic Hymn

I call to Nature, the mother of all, the mother who makes,
Heavenly, honored, goddess of wealth, sovereign,
The one who wins, who is never tamed, the narrator, the Giver of Light,
Stronger than the strongest, who gives her breasts to all….
Born of the night, all wisdom, carrier of light….
We see your footprints that whirl silently when you are still….
Forerunner, she who gets things done, giver of breath, feeder of all….
Goddess of earth, sea, air,
Bitter to the picayune, sweet to the large-hearted,
Wholly wise, wholly generous, guardian Queen….
You are father, you are mother, you are nurturer, you are nurse….
Creator of the world, sculptor, spring of richness, diversity of the sea,
Everlasting one, she who gets things to move, wholly wise, one who cares,
And never fails, one whose strong energy goes whirling,
Always river-like, moving in circles, changer of shores….
Having no fear, champion over all, you are fate and destiny, fiery Mother,
Never born or dying, you are continuous life and know what comes.
You are the Great Plenum and you alone give birth.
Holy Mother, we pray you in this season lead us
On to peace and health and increase of good things.

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April 2, 2011

Okay, here we go. I’m posting the dharma talk and chant from March 28 Class. Voice quality on the dharma talk is fine. Chant recording is heavy on harmonium. I only realized I should record after chanting began so was unable to position the mike to catch optimum voice. Nevertheless, I’m including the MP3 here. Seems better than nothing. Since everyone has been loving the new Patanjali chant, this will give you something to work with on your own.

Here’s the Dharma Talk:

Here’s the Chant: Patanjali-Yoga-Sutra Book One, Sutras 1-3

This beautiful poem came to me this week. It so evokes the process of Yoga, I’m including it here for you.

A Cloth of Fine Gold
-Dorothy Walters

You may think
that first lit flame
was the ultimate blaze,
the holy fire
entered at last.
What do you know of furnaces?
This is a sun that returns
again and again, refining, igniting,
pouring your spirit
through a cloth of delicate gold
until all dross is taken
and you are sweet as
clarified butter
in god’s mouth.

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February 4, 2011

The life/death/life cycle being what it is, I’ve ended up taking a much longer break than anticipated. For me personally, this has  been a season of grief.  I lost not one, but two beloved aunts, two remarkable women who formed me in so many ways. My Aunt Maureen lived in England so we had precious little face time, but what a long and deep connection heart to heart. My Aunt Bunny lived in NYC so we got to spend much more time together. For that I am so grateful. I only wish I could have had many more years with both of them. Sitting with my Aunt Bunny as she moved through the process of dying was devastating, relieving, exhausting, heart-breaking, shattering, grief-filled — and somewhere, floating around the edges, the memory of grace. This life and our connectedness is so precious. The thread so easily severed. I want to thank everyone who’s reached out during this time. Your outpouring of love is such a gift.

I’m slowly returning to the shapes my life moved in before death intervened. Coming back to this blog for the first time in weeks, I see I started a post on 12/20/10. Our last class before the Winter Holiday Break. That was quite an auspicious evening: winter solstice, lunar eclipse, celestial cycles moving us towards 1/1/11.

Here it is now 2/4/11. Weeks later, and yet, the poem I read that night seems more perfect now.

On the Spirit of the Heart as Moon-Disk
Kojiji

Merely to know
The Flawless Moon dwells pure
In the human heart
Is to find the Darkness of the night
Vanished under clearing skies.

Huge thanks again to DanJ for being the Keeper of Monday Night Class — and for holding class so beautifully while I’ve been away. I look forward to returning this coming week. My love to you all.


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December 6, 2010

This week’s verse from the Tao Te Ching, #41, is at once self-explanatory and opaque, a perfect embodying perhaps, of Tao wisdom. Rather than dwelling on the verse, this week’s Dharma Talk focuses on working with chanting as a mindfulness practice. While listening to the the talk, if you interchange the Yogic term “Self” with the Taoist term, “Tao,” you’ll connect the dots between these two traditions.  Here’s the verse, followed by the talk which runs about 23 minutes.

41.

When a superior mam hears of the Tao,
he immediately begins to embody it.
When an average man hears of the Tao,
he half believes, half doubts it.
When a foolish man hears of the Tao,
he laughs our loud.
If he didn’t laugh,
it would be the Tao.

Thus it is said:
The path into the light seems dark,
the path forward seems to go back,
the direct path seems long,
true power seems weak,
true purity seems tarnished,
true steadfastness seems changeable,
true clarity seems obscure,
the greatest art seems unsophisticated,
the greatest love seems indifferent,
the greatest wisdom seems childish.

The Tao is nowhere to be found.
Yet it nourishes and completes all things.


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November 29, 2010

Here’s this week’s Dharma Talk on Verse 40 of the Tao Te Ching. Which comes at just about the halfway point… and at 4 lines, is the shortest of 81 verses. This week’s talk is a kind of free association on the verse. Rather than inspiring parallel teachings, I found myself intrigued by the brevity of the four lines and the significance of the number 4. Of course, I couldn’t talk about “non-being” without bringing in Dhumavati, the Wisdom Goddess personifying the Void.

40.
Return is the movement of the Tao.
Yielding is the way of the Tao.
All things are born of being.
Being is born of non-being.

I tend to hold being as the ground as in “ground of being.”  This verse reminded me of the deeper level, the level that is unfathomable and without bottom, which would be non-being or the so-called Void. While we really need no metaphors to wrestle with these concepts — and truly better to experience the state in chanting and meditation, still, the stories and imagery are so lovely. Here’s a bit from the mythology of Dhumavati quoted in David Frawley’s Tantric Yoga and the Wisdom Goddesses:

Perceived as the Void, as the dissolved form of consciousness, when all beings are dissolved in sleep in the supreme Brahman, having swallowed the entire universe, the seer-poets call her the most glorious and the eldest, Dhumavati….among yogis she becomes the power that destroys all thoughts, indeed Samadhi itself….

Dhumavati is the void, wherein all forms have been dissolved and nothing can any longer be differentiated. Yet this void is not mere darkness. It is a self-illuminating reality free of the ordinary duality of subject and object… As such, Dhumavati is pure, perfect, and full Awareness in which there are no longer any objects. The Void is not merely emptiness but the cessation of the movements of the mind. Dhumavati is thus ultimately silence itself.

Small correction:

In my talk, I inadvertently mixed up the technical names of the Four Levels of Sound.

The Para levels is as I said, deep in the lower depths of being/non-being at around the naval chakra. This is where what we might call the “impulse  of a sound” begins. As the impulse moves towards oral expression, it enters into the Pashyanti level around the heart chakra where it is still not heard but getting closer, then into Madhyama level which is at the throat and finally Vaikari which is the actual physical sound. As the sound channels through the four levels it is influenced by the inner environment. So for instance, the impulse may be an angry response to something someone has said to us. But as it moves through the intermediary levels before Vaikari it may be toned down, refined, recalibrated, or suppressed. This is a big topic we’ll take up in subsequent weeks.