As a longtime yogi, meditation teacher, and student of the mystical, I’ve observed the various points through which hatha yoga and meditation have entered the US psyche. Not intending to be historically immaculate, I simplify timeline details using broad brush strokes. The process I reference was most significantly launched by Emerson’s Transcendentalism, the Theosophical Movement, and the eventual arrival of Swami Vivekananda in the late 1800’s. After teaching in America for several years, Vivekananda returned to India but his visit was subsequently followed by that of Swami Yogananda in 1920 (later re-titled Paramhansa Yogananda). Yogananda made the US his base of operations and taught until leaving the body in 1952. Following his death, a host of other Indian gurus visited, taught, and helped fashion the yogic meditation culture. Enter Buddhist traditions through Alan Watts and Shunryū Suzuki who introduced Zen to the West. Then, in 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn adapted ancient Buddhist Vipassana and hatha yogic practices to create a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. His standardized, 8-week course couched meditation practices in Western, scientific terms using a definition of mindfulness as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, and non-judgmentally, to the unfolding of experience moment to moment.” This non-theistic concept became readily accessible to, and absorbed by, a religiously skittish western audience who sought something esoteric yet ‘safe.’ And, it garnered ever-increasing popularity after Bill Moyers TV series, “Healing & the Mind,” showcased Kabat-Zinn’s work. According to Medical News Today, Mindfulness is currently the most common form of meditation in the Western world.

This is a truly significant statement and, for me, a simultaneously disheartening one. Not that I mind folks trying their hand at meditation. I laud them wholeheartedly. Rather, I object from the standpoint of being a purist. Meditation has traditionally been used in spiritual frameworks to deepen realization of our essential nature, its relationship with Source or Spirit, and the meaning of life itself. Instead of pursuing such goals, modern versions of Mindfulness effectively strip-mine enlightenment traditions to foster relaxation, reduce stress, improve health, and enhance job performance. This is not what any spiritual master sought, taught, or counseled.

Noting sensations and thoughts as secretions of the mind, arising and passing like clouds across a vast sky is noteworthy, even therapeutic, but meditation is far more than this. It redirects energy and consciousness purposefully, shifting awareness from external sensory perceptions to realms of ever-expanding subtle reality. As this inner process unfolds, the limited identification of self with body and mind is replaced by perceptions of unified oneness with All-That-Is. That state of realization; Oneness, Returning to the Source, Reunion with Spirit, is the true purpose of classical meditative endeavors. Thus, I encourage all meditation practitioners to take a deeper look at what you’re doing and why. If seeking awakened connection with Source, you are on the right path. If merely pursuing less painful means of engaging the world, you are bypassing bigger realities and selling yourself short. When all is said and done, Spirit is the ultimate goal of life because It is existence, joy, love, consciousness, fulfillment Itself. Until we return Home, i.e. reunite with the Sacred, we remain stranded in a world of delusive separation and malcontent. No amount of mindful awareness or being present in the moment can change that fact, only union with Source can. So, make meditation a spiritual practice; that’s what it is for and why that emphasis will serve you better.

It doesn’t take much review of current headlines to wonder if we’re truly going to hell in a handbasket. Even I, who firmly believe we’re headed in a positive direction of global unity and spiritual evolution, find it challenging to remain upbeat in the face of such unrelenting negativity. Since the scope of pernicious news topics is so broad, I’ve chosen to address a personal pet peeve, political correctness. The latter is spiritually offensive to me because it fundamentally denies or skews truth. More, it inhibits thoughtful consideration of complex issues and aligns self-righteousness with repressive behavior to quash free speech, thought, and action. Rather than facilitate mature policy reformation, political correctness’ shame-&-blame M.O. hounds anyone willing to consider the highly textured, multi-factorial nature of complex social scenarios and, instead, favors emotional diatribes that usually misrepresent facts, discount context, and justify myopic, self-serving biases.

Social modification requires meaningful dialogue and action based on perceiving levels of cause and outcome. Grasping causation, therefore, is often a key component to crafting reform. Without clarity of insight, the ability to mend situational wrongs is blunted or misdirected. Political correctness undermines such by decrying critical thinking and misrepresenting origins of issues. Case in point: If a person persists in overeating or eating wrongly – for whatever reasons – they will gain weight. This is simple biology. Until they accept responsibility for this cause-effect relationship and undertake necessary steps to alter their habits of thought, activity, and eating, the problem shall remain. Spinning scenarios to blame others or glorify unhealthy body types won’t change reality. When pressure exists to replace facts with revisionist beliefs, as championed by PC protocol, such behaviors undermine societal health and become systemically problematic.

Political correctness fundamentally rejects notions of personal responsibility preferring sanitized versions of life which appease its ideological doctrines. Conversely, the esoteric route to problem solving lay in thoughtful self-reflection. Much in life happens mysteriously, yet justifiably, due to subtle causative principles. From a spiritual perspective, we’re not hapless victims of unknown forces foisted on us by ‘others’ but architects of outcomes arising from choices and actions made consciously or unconsciously overtime. That is why when unpleasant life events occur it is advised to contemplate our possible role in fashioning such, then, devising ways to remedy situations – including by changing ourselves. Consider these statements of Paramhansa Yogananda:

“The habits you cultivated in past lives have substantially created your physical, mental, and
emotional makeup in this life. You have forgotten those habits, but they have not forgotten you.”

“A man (person) takes birth in a certain family, a particular social and national environment,
owning to specific causes—his own past actions. Therefore man is the architect of his own destiny.”

“Your failure or sickness or other troubles started with unwise actions in past lives, and the effects of those causes have been brewing within, waiting for the right time to bubble over. Disease, health; failure, success; inequalities, equality; early death, long life—all these are outgrowths of the seeds of actions we have sown in the past…Each person has made himself the way he is.….Don’t blame God or anyone else if you are suffering from…upsets. You created the cause of the problem in the past and must make a greater determination to uproot it now.”

The reason I put all this forward is because I recoil at the decline of truth, understanding, and moral backbone so prevalent today. Like everyone else, I wish for a more just and equitable society. However, that doesn’t mean we can overlook the subtle infrastructure which contributes to its makeup. Dharma, or cosmic righteousness, won’t be trifled with nor tolerate fools. Life operates precisely and mathematically not by ungoverned whimsy. There are consequences to actions made in accordance with, or in disregard of, cosmic laws. As such we must realize that whatever exists in our lives does so by subtle principles like cause-effect and energetic-magnetic affinity. Individual, societal, and global activities are governed by these universal laws. Therefore, we must be willing to at least consider the potential contribution our own actions have wrought while also compassionately seeking to correct whatever is amiss. This commentary is not meant to deny the wrenching impact of life tragedies nor substitute PC thinking with spiritually-flavored blame doctrines. That is neither intended nor proper. Karma is too complex a doctrine for such simplicity. Nor are we victims of unalterable fate. As souls we possess free will and the inherent potential to modify karmic outcomes in ways to our liking. That said, we must also accept that every event has it roots in diverse energetic components. When the reflex to deny accountability is replaced with thoughtful consideration of our potential role in shaping life, we begin to approach and remedy life imbalances in ways that are more spiritually correct, and, enduring.

Meditation is often included in modern hatha yoga classes in a relevant-but-not-essential way. Many who utilize meditative elements do so by drawing upon Buddhist Mindfulness practices without realizing that Buddhism arose out of yogic tradition and that the latter is steeped in vast meditative wisdom. A long-time disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda (author, Autobiography of a Yogi), I encourage hatha practitioners to re-investigate classical yogic meditation methods and start ‘bringing the pillow to the mat.’

Meaning and Purpose of Yoga

The root word for yoga, “yuj,” means to yoke and implies a state of union or uniting. This is not, as common understanding would have it, a reference to integrating physical and mental health. That stance is understandable in a culture where people are leery of religious dogma or faith-based language. The truth, however, is that yoga is a millennium-old, universal spiritual science that charts the way by which the soul descends from Spirit into bodily consciousness and how, by specific meditative practices, can be returned from a state of isolated embodiment to liberated oneness with Source. Classically speaking, then, yoga refers to yoking or reuniting the individualized divine, soul, with the infinite divine, Spirit. Again, yoga is not to be trivialized as a physical health system yielding flexibility and mental balance. It is about something much more, self-actualization or Self-Realization. And what is that? According to Yogananda, Self-Realization means, “the knowing — in body, mind, and soul – that we are one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to pray that it come to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God’s omnipresence is our omnipresence; that we are just as much a part of Him now as we ever will be. All we have to do is improve our knowing.”

At the end of the day this commentary is not about turf, Yoga vs. Buddhism, but education. The role of yoga has always been spiritual and it behooves those enamored by its physical disciplines to understand and practice its meditative ones as well. Doing so will enhance overall benefits and in a way consistent with the core purpose of practice, optimal happiness and fulfillment.

With social unrest percolating at a furious, oft-fanatical bubble these days, many pause to reflect on what is happening, why, and their potential culpability in creating, or contributing to, the issue array confronting them. Let there be no mistake, there is always value in becoming aware of and correcting societal or global injustices, of exercising compassion in the face of distress, and of seeking to mitigate the suffering of others. Yet there are subtle forces at play that factor into these situations such that having a spiritual perspective about them may have tonic value.

Cosmic laws operate mathematically and over the long-rhythm continuum of time. These can’t and should not be ignored. Our planet goes through evolutionary cycles – called Yugas in Vedic terms – which correspond to stages of ascending or declining spiritual awareness. Currently we’re in the early phase of an ascending era called Dwapara Yuga otherwise known as the Age of Energy. Without going into extensive details, a global shift is occurring transitioning us from a period of gross materiality to one of increasingly refined awareness. Initially this involves gaining insight into ourselves and the universe from an energetic platform. As less-enlightened paradigms wrestle with newer ones upheaval arises. Of course, the ‘newer ones’ aren’t new at all, merely reflections of more sophisticated levels of reality. The fact that someone only knows basic math doesn’t preclude the existence of advanced calculus: The latter co-exists at a strata of greater understanding. On the world stage, diverse ideological streams roil as they converge. Again, conflict during such intermingling is virtually inevitable. Planetary equilibrium shall stabilize as higher awareness continues to manifest yet, in the interim, prayers and actions for peace are helpful and, mayhap, necessary. We each can contribute, even in small ways, so don’t discount the value of personal prayer and meditation for the greater good.

On another level, much necessary attention is being given to long-standing racial, ethnic, and gender-based disparities. Again, any effort at correcting injustice is meritorious. That said, those who strive to effect change by blaming or shaming others in more ‘privileged’ life stations fail to realize that the laws of karma have a pivotal role in creating both fortunate and unfortunate life circumstances, plus, draw souls to corresponding situations according to the subtle realities of karmic affinity. This is a hard pill to swallow for it represents the ultimate platform for personal responsibility: “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.” When confronted by adversity it is far easier to target society at large or those who are better off than it is to recognize the relevance of self-created karma. The truth is that each of us is responsible for our own lives and circumstances we’ve knowingly or unconsciously created. This is not meant to blame victims of dire straits nor hijack complex spiritual principles to buttress hard-hearted political agendas. Rather, I mention this solely to insert a necessary element of understanding: Cosmic laws factor into life scenarios. Those who may feel guilty for events or issues they had no hand in creating need to realize their existence is not a fault nor are they the problem. As Paramahansa Yogananda said, “Like attracts like. One’s karmic pattern draws him to incarnate in an advantaged or disadvantaged, good or evil, body and mentality, family, and environment that not only reflect the effects of one’s past actions, but provide the necessary challenges for learning from past errors.”

It does not behoove anyone to feel better or worse than another. We are all souls created equally in the image of God and each of us has the privilege to exercise free will in alignment with or in opposition to divine law. The former manifests good, the latter; its opposite. When confronted by difficulties seek not to blame but to correct. Express expansive perspectives that serve to heal not alienate. Understand that multiple, simultaneously-accurate viewpoints can exist in any given situation, pray for guidance, then act in alignment with Higher Wisdom. When in doubt be kind, not caustic, love; don’t lambaste. Striving for peace with violence in one’s heart or seeking justice while being unjust or hateful is hypocritical and anathema to idealistic outcomes. Start with yourself and work outwardly. As we correct ourselves we become increasingly powerful forces to help change and uplift others. As Mahatma Gandhi wisely said, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him…. We need not wait to see what others do.” Yes, healing planetary strife is needful yet, equally so, is the manner by which it is accomplished. Cultivating more enlightened societies or global order can’t be accomplished through repressive means or the exercise of ignorance masquerading as liberality. What we sow is what we get and it behooves us to act with kindness, clarity, and broad-spectrum discernment in order to reap a harvest worthy of nourishing ourselves and many generations to come.