World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 176

One of the authors that we read over the year was Vimala Thakar, an Indian spiritual teacher and social activist. Thakar writes, "Awareness of misery, without defense structures, will naturally lead us to action" (2001, p. 152). When we have cleansed our hearts and become free of ego, we are moved to respond to the pain we feel in the world. This is the normal and natural response to seeing a need. Apathy is an unnatural phenomenon based on constricted and compacted pain.
After much discussion, our group agreed that our main motivation for engaging in this research project and outreach was love. This love is a force that flows from the heart, and that moves our bodies into action. Ben wrote about the connection between love and action for him, "When I am in love, the head goes off, and it is just the heart and the hands reaching out." He referred to it as a "change in attitude," saying he was ready to "stop thinking" so that he could move directly from love. Over the year Ben maintained a daily practice of opening sensory meditation in the Vermont woods; for him this practice was based on his desire to actively show love for the world.
When I saw a question on the Kripalu International Network (KIN) list-serve regarding a student with an allergic reaction to a Yoga mat, I was moved to respond. I was hesitant to do so because I did not want my first communication with that list to be a "downer," and the issue of Yoga mats is very challenging. At the same time, I felt moved to contribute to the conversation by sharing what I had been learning.
In writing this letter I was motivated by my spontaneous desire to speak on behalf of the water, air, soil and our bodies, and to share information about the toxic load they carry from the plastics we use. I tried not to provide solely head-based information, which in and of itself I had found to be painful, but to acknowledge and discuss the way I had worked with that pain.
Working on self-transformation does not mean that we must be silent regarding the problems we see in the world. Gandhi certainly did not hold himself back from scathing indictments of the brute violence and lack of truthfulness he saw around him and the need for self-rule among the Indian people. Similarly, our group shared the Values Statement with the Yoga community out a deep conviction that we were being asked to speak in this way. For myself, sharing the Values Statement was more about helping others to make the connection between reverence for nature and Yoga than about getting anyone to change. Service
Principle Five: Action is about Service. This is the classic teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, that we should not undertake action with the inter of gaining a certain result, but rather with the intention of serving all life.
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