World of Philosophy

SR No.: 007005
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan
Publication Year: 2011
Total Pages: 1002
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 30 MB

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ogy and Yoga, and a sign-up sheet for email contacts. Although we didn't know it then, out of this outreach would come a core of volunteers who would build Green Yoga's first website, encourage its first conference, and join its initial Advisory Board.
The research group gained many valuable insights as we engaged the Yoga community with our values statement. We learned that wise action is grounded in deep inner listening, love, and service; that such action requires courage; and that action works best when it involves person-toperson connection. Finally, we learned that action in the spiritual sense always involves mystery; we can never know what the results of our actions will be.
Listening
Principle One: The initial step in effective action is listening for guidance. This is perhaps our most basic learning. Listening means turning within to hear the guidance of Spirit. It also means turning without to hear the voice of the earth, the water, the soil, the air, a rock, or the leaves. Our group shared the Tantric worldview, in which the entire universe is understood to be imbued with prana, or life force. The voice of Spirit thus can appear to emanate from within or from without.
In the Yogic texts, this guidance is often represented in the form of a dialogue between the one who will act and a spiritual teacher or the Divine Being Him or Herself. In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is assisted by the god Krishna, who serves as his charioteer, or the guiding force behind his actions. Arjuna speaks at length with Krishna regarding his doubts and questions before acting, representing the inner dialogue we can all experience with Divinity.
In many ways, individuals in our group drew on this process of listening for and/or spontaneously receiving guidance. Hasita received very clear guidance from Spirit to create her YogaGaia process, and this provided the strength of motivation that sustained her through the intensive time of developing this work. Similarly, Tanuja received a clear message to combine earth and Yoga, leading her to explore this topic in writing and later join our research group.
When I asked Ben if he would join me in San Francisco for the Yoga Journal conference, he replied that he wanted to check in with spirit guides first. He went to sit in his spot in the woods, and after listening there, responded to me by email that the presence of the forest had let him know that this was the right thing to do, and that yes, he would come. Ben wrote in his journal that his practice of sense meditation in the woods was one of "learning to hear the corn sing," and acknowledged that he was still working on this skill.
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