“In the World but Not of the World.” -Swami Satchidananda
by Swami Vimalananda
I remember in high school we were told that nothing was impossible and that we could go out and conquer the world. There were no limits, just our own thinking prevented us from great wealth and fame. If we truly believed, everything could be ours.
This is the essence of capitalism—the idea to beat the other guy, winning through aggression and competition. The goal is wealth and power which equals happiness.
Not too long ago, while visiting my grandsons, I began walking up the stairs with my six-year-old grandson and he shouted to me, “First one up the stairs, wins.” Well, believe me, there was no contest. When he reached the top he proclaimed, “I win!” I asked him what he won and he was silent for some time. Then he said, “the game.”
When I worked in juvenile probation, the administration decided to have a department-wide consultant come and work with us to boost our morale and our effectiveness with the clients.
There was a game that everyone had to participate in. It seemed that the object of the game was to have your group choose someone to represent that group; that person was elevated and then the next representative from that group was elevated and so on up the ladder to the overall leader. It had to be done quickly before time ran out. In the group I was in, a woman immediately took over and pointed to the head of juvenile hall and declared that he was the representative to advance. There were about five of us in the group, and four groups overall. Of course, I was the one who said, “Why him?” I was swiftly demoted to the lowest group that consisted of a maintenance man who was napping. I vividly remember the feeling of being ostracized for questioning and very clearly understood, “You’re out!”
At the conclusion of the game the consultant stood by the winners and only asked questions about their feelings, their achievement, and how their people were chosen. No attention was paid to the so-called loser group. I also remember that no one questioned the game itself.
This game plays out on a global level as well. Half of the billionaires of the world are in China and the US. These are the people who won the capitalistic game. They have immense power and wealth but two of the wealthiest are divorcing their spouses. In the outside world, they are the winners. In their inside world, not so much. In fact, I read that Melinda Gates stated she couldn’t wait to move to a smaller, more reasonably sized house that would feel more like a home, and MacKenzie Bezos is giving away a lot of her wealth.
We have been taught from our infancy that happiness is found with worldly success — be popular, be wealthy, be powerful, be the world’s authority, be a winner — happiness is at the end of the rainbow.
In our world, the vast majority of people give the powerful great prestige, and even bow at their feet. Lofty titles are given and character flaws overlooked.
These rules are very pervasive and we can be scorned for not buying in, but most do not question the package. Even in spiritual pursuits, there can be a desire for power and prestige. Sadly, the goal of Yoga can be to acquire a “Yoga butt,” stand on one’s head for an hour, or twist the body into a pretzel. Another goal might be to develop popularity and have a successful business. Some practitioners take pride in the ability to meditate for five hours, to know all the various Yoga school offerings, and to name all of the famous Guru Masters. Others take pride in the ability to teach all types of Hatha Yoga and attempt to be an authority by reading every spiritual book, and having the most followers on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Not too long ago, I was feeling quite depressed for some days, and I had to sit down to analyze why. I was very sad. It became clear to me that I still had hope and attachment to the world and humanity. I still hoped that people would realize that selfishness and competition were not the answer to help our bruised and battered earth and its inhabitants. In fact the opposite is true: selfishness is destroying our beautiful earth.
There comes a time when each of us takes a step back and sees our belief system, to realize that competition and self interest is not the way to happiness. An old minister friend once said to me, “I gave up on humanity a long time ago.” He no longer bought what the world was trying to sell him. He realized that happiness was not found in the world’s agenda. The question becomes then, where do we find peace and happiness if not in the world?
The path to peace is right in front of us: Integral Yoga.
Integral Yoga is complete. A pure, exquisite jewel, encompassing the entire essence of Truth. It has clear instructions for the means to peace and oneness, and also it has the precious treasure of an enlightened spiritual guide.
The fundamental teaching is that love, peace, happiness, and freedom is found within our own selves. We are complete, we don’t need to add or subtract anything from our being. The realization of this truth of completeness is the essence of all spiritual teachings.
A young renunciate told me that she was playing her guitar and singing a song of God. She was looking up as if God was above her as she sang. Gurudev pointed his finger upward and shook his head, no, and then pointed his finger towards her heart, and nodded his head, yes.
The other main teaching to realize our True Self is that we must calm the mind. The only way we will abide in our peace is to not be attached to our own thoughts. We believe that we are our thoughts. As Rev. Carrera said, we are like a dog going around to different trees in a forest, lifting his leg and marking them and saying, these trees now belong to me, this is my territory. We have various thoughts that go through our minds and say to ourselves, “These thoughts make up who I am, my identity and my view of the world.” Then we become attached to these thoughts; these attachments shape our personal and world view.
I once saw a bumper sticker saying, “Don’t believe everything you think.”
In fact we are not our thoughts. As our minds become increasingly calmed, our true nature becomes clearer. We develop discriminative discernment, seeing that stilling the mind is the way to peace, and that with discrimination our ability to abide in happiness increases. It becomes clear that happiness comes with letting go of our old beliefs, practicing stillness and realizing that we are peace and happiness itself.
Integral Yoga also explains what impedes our realization of the truth and gives clear practices to eliminate those impediments.
We also have an enlightened teacher to guide us. As Sri Gurudev has stated, “I am a signpost — this is the way to happiness.” He is there within our very being to guide us, point out our detours and our misconceptions. He envelops us in his love and unwaveringly points the way. The more we calm our minds, the more we realize that Sri Gurudev is guiding us.
Yoga can permeate to the very essence of a person. Every thought, word and deed, even in sleep, relationships, etc. Integral Yoga can be the soul of the individual: The reinforcing structure of our being, the kelson of our lives, directing us to the realization of our True Selves. Our path is straight and the success of our journey is assured.
THE FALL BACK POSITION
The place of true faith
Not what I have been taught,
Not what I want to believe,
But the place that can soothe the ghosts and goblins
the pain
the lost expectations
the future knowing
and the dark, scary unknown.
And accepts the true me—
the failures
the brokenness
the selfishness
the smallness.
A place where I can lay my head
be at peace
have solace
and watch the crazy world spin by.
It is in the knowing of my sacred Guru.
The One who whispers in my ear,
laughs at me,
teases me
scolds me,
comforts me,
points the way for me
and envelops me in His love.
He always says to me “everything is fine
and everyone is completely taken care of.”
Swami Vimalananda Ma, RYT500, is an Integral Yoga sannyasi – monk. She has been involved with Integral Yoga since 1971 and Director of the San Francisco Integral Yoga Institute from 1992-2011. She specializes in teaching yoga philosophy and spiritual counseling.
