A Yoga of Illuminated Poverty
The foundational principle of a "Yoga of Illuminated Poverty" is the essential philosophical statement by Simone Weil: "We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love." True illumination is precisely this: to become Love. There are no "secret initiations" to advance anyone beyond anyone else. There are no "magic formulas" that will sudden the conclusion of the journey. Each one of us "arrives" or "awakens" moment-by-moment as we surrender to our daily practice...
With this breath I will Love... with this breath I will hug my children... with this breath I will prepare food for my children... with this breath I will read a story to my children... with this breath I will do the laundry that needs to be done... with this breath I will clean my house... with this breath I will be silent and embrace Love in my heart... with this breath I will listen to some music... with this breath I will volunteer and help someone else in need... with this breath I will go to work and do the best that I can... with this breath I will pay my bills... with this breath I will shop for groceries... with this breath I will read one paragraph in a Sacred Scripture... with this breath I will remember to breathe and to smile...
"We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love"... We "become Love" by each and every act of loving: every action, every kindness, every blessing, every moment of remembrance through the ordinary events of our days creates a tangible, dynamic, movement towards our liberation in Love: this is the "Yoga of Illuminated Poverty"...
Definitions
Yoga: the realization of our essential oneness with the Source of our being: a spiritual / scientific practice to assist in awakening into our liberation...
Illuminated: To brighten with light: to come to understand: to become enlightened...
Poverty: The state of being poor; a lack of material goods or money: our human condition relative to the Eternal Creative Source and Energy when "pretending independence"...
Summarizing, and turning the foundational principle of a yoga of illuminated poverty sort of on its head, one could say that we are not "not Love"!
Opportunities
Could there be a more enlightening antidote to the crippling reality of poverty than the root affirmations "Every human is holy" and "Everything is One"? Any step forward into a more purposeful and liberated life begins right here: while "OM-ing" through a hatha yoga routine, momentary pauses between the various postures of your program to mentally recite these affirmations can be the real beginning of your own personal rEvolution. Justice will proceed from your / our rEvolution: nowhere else. Liberation, in all of its dimensions finds its foundation exactly here.
The integral unity of "human" and "community" is key to the creative vision of both an activated compassion and all the spiritual / political tools increasingly available (and needed) in the modern world -- everywhere. If yoga is not up to the task of re-invigorating the many cultures of this precious blue Planet, where else are we going to look: what world system or religion has the current wherewithal to stand clear of the dominator paradigm? What practice is ready to guide us -- down and through the cellular level -- to the experiential wisdom of illumination and liberation? That single mom living in a housing project has to become the focus of spiritual practice: unless our yoga is inclusive of everyone and connected to a politics of service, equality, justice, and an increase of personal and cultural harmlessness it will only be another cog in the wheel of domination. Mahatma Gandhi, Ram Dass, and Mother Amma are three examples of yogis-in-action who can assist the student in developing a liberating practice.
Perhaps the most important yoga of the Bhagavad Gita is that of the "Yoga of Absolute Love": in the Gita, it is the Lord who stunningly says to each one of us, "You are my beloved!" (Chapter 18, verse 64). Then continuing in verse 65: "Be aware of me always, adore me, make every act an offering to me, and you shall come to me; this I promise; for you are my beloved!" It is this yoga, the Yoga of Absolute Love, that is the one essential teaching of the Gita and of yoga: and by extension, it is the radical testament sufficient for a genuine rEvolution. Who can be violent, or justify violence, if we are all the Lord's beloved's? Who can be unjust, unkind, prejudiced, misogynistic, oppressive, unforgiving, and exploitative if our every act is in remembrance of the Lord who passionately considers each (and every) one of us as "beloved"? [Of course, the "Yoga of Absolute Love" is also the spiritual essence of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam...] Needless to say, but it is also this yoga of absolute love that is the "Yoga of Illuminated Poverty"...
A Yoga of Illuminated Poverty
This "Yoga of Illuminated Poverty" is the vision of every human person remembering her divine nature and then re-creating her culture in accordance with that remembrance. We work on ourselves to fully awaken in our love for the Lord of Love and the Lord's love for us and everyone else. We work on ourselves in order to better become instruments or agents of global transformation. We work on ourselves: hatha, kriya, karma, bhakti, in service to the single mom living in a housing project. We know that our liberation is intimately connected with -- and totally dependent upon -- the liberation of everyone. And in yoga, not even the creatures, and most especially this precious blue Planet, gets left behind...
A Few Strategies
1. Begin today to volunteer with a community-based organization: get out of your circle of comfort and serve: immigrants, the homeless, victims of domestic violence, prisoners, the LGBT community (especially runaway youth), etc. Volunteer without expecting (or even wanting) anyone to change -- except you!
2. Keep a journal: record your "activated compassion" experiences, your thoughts and feelings. Write to newspapers and your elected officials: tell everyone the truth about our deep human and Planetary connections: also tell them that you are giving attention to issues as they affect your community / country and that you expect steady movement towards greater justice, equality, kindness, respect, beauty, and peace.
3. Form a new circle with persons whom you are serving, other volunteers, and the wider community: ask what next steps would be most helpful and liberating. Begin to talk about expanding shelters, free art projects, forming work co-ops, skills-to-need shops, neighborhood gardens, organic produce "ice cream" trucks, youth programs, free taxis to free days in community yoga studios, intentional communities, and free day care. Network!
Conclusion
There are no secret yogic initiations that will make you or anyone else a better person without having to love. There are no yogic dimensions a secret initiation can access without the requirement of growing in love. There are no yogic powers available through a secret yogic initiation that can exempt you or anyone else from all of the struggles of putting your entire being into the project of becoming love. To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi, there is no acceptable form for the Lord of Love to come to that single mom living in a housing project than as food and roses, as respect and respite care, as opportunity and dignity, and as a rEvolution of systems so that every power serves and liberates instead of exploits and oppresses. Yoga is a means to "polishing your mirror" so that you -- and everyone else -- may see your face as that of Love: and that polishing is always about every "other" first: because that's the Way Love Is!