Defeating Duryodhana

We've been reading the Bhagavad Gita in yoga teacher training, and it's reminded me of some of the tales from the grand Mahābharata, of which the Gita forms a part.

The central plot of the epic is the rivalry and eventual Armageddon level war between two clans, the Pāndavas and the Kauravas. During the long leadup to the war, we get to know the many characters -- their strengths and weaknesses, foibles and virtues. Although not completely black and white, in general the Pāndavas come off as the righteous and principled group, whereas the Kauravas are, um, compromised. 

A high-drama story involves the Kaurava prince Duryodhana, who reveals his vindictive nature when he challenges the five noble Pāndava princes to a game of dice. Duryodhana's equally flawed uncle, Shakhuni, weights and rigs the dice so that the Pāndavas lose every round. They keep losing, hung up as they are on notions of princely honor, until they wager their last "possession," the princess Draupadi, and lose her too. At that point, the wretched Duryodhana is not content to have left the Pāndavas destitute. He must humiliate Draupadi by ripping off her sari in public! Boo, hiss, horrid sneaky guy!

In a development which prefigures the outcome of the epic, Lord Krishna himself responds to Draupadi's pleas for help, and causes her sari to be of infinite length, never to unwind. Duryodhana is forced to give up. Hooray, the bad guy meets a bit of justice!

At the deepest level of interpretation, the Mahābharata epic is seen as a metaphor for the struggle which can occur inside each person. The small and selfish impulses don't always willingly give ground to the larger, expansive, more selfless tendencies. Sometimes it's full-on war, within us humans. 

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Also in yoga teacher training we've each been challenged to fast for one day, giving up something which is both a personal impediment to growth and an activity that we do anyway, impediments or no. 

Damn. I'm looking square at that thing which I know is a super-wise behavioral principle. It's ekagraha, one-pointed focus, one-pointed attention, in which a person only does one thing at a time. It's the opposite of multi-tasking. 

Eknath Easwaran is completely convincing and eloquent on the subject. In fact, ekagraha forms part of Easwaran's Eight Point Program of meditation.

One-Pointed Attention: Giving full concentration to the matter at hand

Everything we do should be worthy of our full attention. Doing more than one thing at a time divides attention and fragments consciousness. When we read and eat at the same time, for example, part of our mind is on what we are reading and part on what we are eating; we are not getting the most from either activity. 

Similarly, when talking with someone, give that person your full attention. These are not little things. Taken together they help to unify consciousness and deepen concentration.

One-pointed attention is a powerful aid to meditation. Though our mind may be three-pointed or four-pointed or a hundred-pointed now, we train it to be one-pointed in meditation. Until it is trained, the mind will continue to go its own way, because it is the nature of an untrained mind to wander. Attention can be trained, and no skill in life is greater than the capacity to direct your attention at will.

The benefits of this are numerous. If you have trained your mind to give full attention to one thing at a time, you can achieve your goal in any walk of life. Whether it is science or the arts or sports or a profession, concentration is a basic requirement in every field.

One-pointed attention is helpful in whatever job you are doing. But perhaps the greatest benefit of a trained mind is the emotional stability it brings. In order to get angry, for example, your concentration must be broken – your mind has to change lanes. In order to get afraid, your mind has to change lanes. In order to get upset, your mind has to change lanes. What we all yearn for is a mind that cannot be upset by anything. And we can achieve it, too; but it calls for a lot of work in the training of attention.

When the mind is one-pointed it will be secure, free from tension, and capable of the concentration that is the mark of genius in any field.

Argh, Easwaran even called out my specific situation. I've had a long, longtime habit of reading and eating -- at the same darn time.

Okay, that is my yoga class project fast. Do. Not. Read. While. Eating. Only I'm not just leaving it off for one day. I've struggled with it before, for sure. But now feels like the time to put forth some energy and leave that habit behind for good.

Speaking of struggle. Is this a Mahābharata-level struggle? Shouldn't be. More like a tempest in a teapot. But truly, I have inside me a wee Duryodhana, with a tiny Shakhuni as accomplice, who are both sneaky and sly and utterly persuasive that morning yogurt and New York Times go well together. That lunch salad and Facebook are dandy fun. And that dinner veggies are better with a gripping historical novel.

So far, I've outsnuck them for a week. Taking off my glasses at mealtimes so far is the best guerrilla warfare tactic. Thinking of this gone-public blog post ought to help, too. 

I'll keep you posted.

Affirming: Putting the future into words

Sutra 2.33 is one verse from the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. Just one verse, but with powerful implications. 

vitarka baadhane pratipaksha bhaavanam

Variously translated as

When negative feelings restrict us, the opposite should be cultivated. (Alistair Shearer) 

Unwholesome thoughts can be neutralized by cultivating wholesome ones. (Chip Hartranft) 

When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite, positive ones should be thought of.  (Sw. Satchidananda)  

Upon being harassed by negative thoughts, one should cultivate counteracting thoughts. (Edwin Bryant) 

vitarka = negative thoughts

baadhane = disturbing

pratipaksha = opposite thoughts 

bhaavanam = thinking of

One more aphorism, close in spirit to the sutra:

Think lovely thoughts. -- Tinker Bell

Oh, those thoughts that have the power to restrict, sicken, disturb, harass, and ground us.

Tinker Bell got a wonderful, almost immediate result from her strategy of thinking positive thoughts: "I'm flying!!!"

For the rest of us, the project of turning our thinking by replacing the bummers with the good things will usually take longer to give results. But it's possible.

I was in my third year of teaching, the crucial, make-or-break year, when I would either be granted tenure or be dismissed. My principal was infamous for denying tenure, just to flex administrative muscle. The pressure was on.

In a try-anything mindset, I turned to what I'd been learning about affirmations.

Affirmations, positive statements that describe a desired situation or goal, are repeated, until they get impressed at deep layers of the mind. From the subconscious, they can influence our behavior so that we're acting in alignment with our desired future. Phrase them so they're short and sweet, and include all your names.

Okay, if that could help me with Mr. Tough Administrator, it was worth a try.

I put Post-It notes in strategic spots in the house.

From this situation, only good comes to me, CKM. 

I, CKM, am safe. 

I, CKM, accept my good. 

I, CKM, love teaching, and teaching loves me. 

I, CKM, live by the Existence Principle: for every problem there exists a solution; for my situation, I have the solution.

True, that last one was a bit long. But I was inspired by the notion that this Existence Principle thing (learned about it from NPR) was one that inventors have faith in. If it could work for guys like Thomas Edison and Elias Howe, it could work for me.

When to repeat an affirmation? Whenever. While walking, a very effective time, as it’s reinforced by stepping and breathing. Whenever you start to taste the gray grit of worry. While breathing yourself to sleep, attaching the syllables to the rhythm of the breath. The words that name the future that you want -- they can be very powerful.

The other day I found one of those Post-It notes, a tattered little reminder from the past. Holding it, I remembered how much energy I'd put into repeating it. And how much work I'd put into improving every aspect of my teaching, not trusting in affirmations alone. I'll never know which proportions of which efforts bore fruit, but in the end, I was granted tenure. An immense, profound relief. Man, was I grateful.

So, I became an adherent of using affirmations, and have kept on using them to this day.

Thanks to Patanjali for the recipe.

I have a corollary sutra to offer. Until I can get an elegant, poetic, sonorous, Sanskrit version, I’ll offer up the English:

Upon being harassed by persistent worries, one should make brownies for one’s next door neighbor. 

Upon being disturbed by sinking hopes, one should go outdoors for a brisk walk-jog. 

And upon being restricted instead of uplifted, one should put on loud French-Canadian music and dance around the room.

Because marshalling the power of affirmation can be a long haul, and sometimes we all need a quick fix.

Fear might be getting a bad rap

I first encountered yoga and yogic philosophy when I was a newly-hatched adult and pretty much un-formed person in my 20s. Human relationships were quite a mystery to me, and as the saying goes, I was not "in touch with my feelings."

For some years I misunderstood the philosophy. I thought it was offering a shortcut, a way around those mysterious and troublesome phenomena, the emotions. The solution was to ignore them, obviously, and focus on "higher truths."

It's been a long road to learn that the emotions, all of them, are an irreplaceable part of our exquisite bodymind systems.

I can understand how I misinterpreted some cues. 

For example, check out this excerpt from a primer on the chakras.

The first three chakras, starting at the base of the spine, are chakras of matter. They are more physical in nature. When we work through our physical chakras, or the first three, we can open the spiritual chakras more fully.      

First Chakra: The Muladhara is the chakra of stability, security, and our basic needs. It encompasses the first three vertebrae, the bladder, and the colon. When this chakra is open, we feel safe and fearless.  (Chopra Centered Lifestyle)

Can you see a subtle value distinction which implies that the “physical” is inferior to the “spiritual”? And a not-so-subtle statement that a person with an open first chakra will feel fearless? Without an appreciation for the roles of the emotions, writings like this one might cause us to undervalue the emotion of fear — which I’ve seen called a “base” emotion.

Actually, we’ve each came equipped, physically, mentally, emotionally, to be proactive in our own survival. Our organisms have that innate wisdom. Survival is a necessary platform from which to seek truth, peace, enlightenment, and spirituality. So, we can honor our abilities to survive.

Which brings me to the value of intuitive “feeling” and the value of fear.

There’s no better interpreter than the author Gavin De Becker. From The Gift of Fear, 1977:

Fear can save your life. It directs you to avoid that stranger, to leave the room, to call for help. The intuitive message of fear, together with rational principles, can help you to predict and thereby avoid personal violence.

Like every creature on earth, we have an extraordinary defense resource. We don’t have the sharpest claws and strongest jaws — but we do have the biggest brains, and intuition is the most impressive process of these brains. … [M]ore viscerally named a "gut feeling," but whatever name we use, it isn’t just a feeling. It is a process more extraordinary and ultimately more logical in the natural order than the most fantastic computer calculation. It is our most complex cognitive process and, at the same time, the simplest. 

Intuition connects us to the natural world and to our nature. It carries us to predictions we will later marvel at. "Somehow I knew," we will say about the chance meeting we predicted, or about the unexpected phone call from a distant friend, or the unlikely turnaround in someone’s behavior, or about the violence we steered clear of, or, too often, the danger we elected not to steer clear of.

Regarding our intuitive and emotional nature, I think the way forward is a two-part process. First feel. Then deal. 

I want to be open to intuitions of warning, to feelings of fear, for their purpose is to alert me to danger. Then, I want to be open to dealing with warning and with fear. Perhaps I should act on them. Perhaps on second look, they will prove groundless.

The principles of the yamas — the knowledge of how to relieve stress by soothing the nervous system — the inner knowing oneself that comes from yoga practice — and what we can learn by reading Gavin De Becker — all those are priceless tools for the “dealing” part of the process of honoring and working with our intuition and our feelings.

The “feeling” part is to be equally valued and honored.

Sex can be scary -- $24 billion scary

Yoga training class, making its way through the list of five yamas, precepts for ethical behavior, dwelt for a time on the concept of bramacarya, responsible behavior in the realm of sexuality. A multi-dimensional concept, stretching from the most interior realms of the individual to the broadest of implications for societies.

At the same time we were considering the topic via class discussions and homework writings, the nation as a whole was grappling with political struggles re federal funding of the non-profit organization Planned Parenthood.

Two separate issues? I've decided not. 

Laying out the pieces of the puzzle

1   The primary role of Planned Parenthood is to provide access to reproductive health care services.

The overwhelming majority of Planned Parenthood's services involve screening for and treating sexually transmitted diseases and infections, as well as providing contraception  ... [M]any of Planned Parenthood's patients are ... lower-income. As of 2012, 79 percent of people receiving services from Planned Parenthood lived at 150 percent of the federal poverty level or lower (that comes out to around $18,500 for a single adult), according to a March Government Accountability Office report. (Political News from NPR, 8/5/15)

2   Some object to the fact that Planned Parenthood's services include abortion.

3 percent of the services it provided last year were abortion-related. (Political News from NPR, 8/5/15)

3   In opposing abortion, some are opposing family planning and birth control services as well.

Re Charmaine Yoest, President and CEO of Americans United for Life: "For all her emphasis on women’s health, her end goal isn’t to make abortion safer. She wants to make the procedure illegal. She leaves no room for exceptions in the case of rape or incest or to preserve the health of the mother. She believes that embryos have legal rights and opposes birth control, like the IUD, that she thinks 'has life-ending properties.' 

"Nor does Yoest advocate for reducing abortion by increasing access to birth control. When I asked what she thought about a study, published in October, which found a 60 to 80 percent drop in the abortion rate, compared with the national average, among women in St. Louis who received free birth control for three years, she said, 'I don’t want to frustrate you, but I’m not going to go there.' She referred me to a critique of the study’s methodology in National Review. 'It’s really a red herring that the abortion lobby likes to bring up by conflating abortion and birth control,' she said when pressed on PBS last year. 'Because that would be, frankly, carrying water for the other side to allow them to redefine the issue in that way.'  (New York Times, 11/4/12) 

4   But doesn't offering birth control cut the numbers of abortions? Yes. This common-sense notion is supported by statistical study.

"Free birth control led to greatly lower rates of abortions and births to teenagers, a large study concludes, offering strong evidence for how a bitterly contested Obama administration policy could benefit women’s health. The two-year project tracked more than 9,000 women in St. Louis, many of them poor or uninsured, who were given their choice of a range of free contraceptives. These women experienced far fewer unintended pregnancies as a result, reported Dr. Jeffrey Peipert of Washington University in St. Louis in a study published Thursday.  

"There were 6.3 births per 1,000 teenagers in the study, compared with a national rate of 34 births per 1,000 teens in 2010. There also were substantially lower rates of abortion, when compared with women in the metro area and nationally: 4.4 to 7.5 abortions per 1,000 women in the study, compared with 13.4 to 17 abortions per 1,000 women in the St. Louis region, Dr. Peipert calculated. The national rate is almost 20 abortions per 1,000 women. Women’s health specialists said the study foreshadows the potential impact of the new health care law, in which millions of women are beginning to get contraceptives without a co-payment." (New York Times, 10/4/12)

5   So what is at the heart of opposing family planning services offered at Planned Parenthood? I can only conclude that some of us, possibly religious persons especially, really want to monitor sexual behavior of others of us, because disagreement about what constitutes responsible behavior apparently makes some of us very nervous.

Lutheran Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber of Denver, Colorado, has some pointed words on the subject. "I don't monitor people's behavior, let's put it that way. So much of Christianity has become about monitoring behavior, and so far it has just failed to work as a strategy for making people better. For instance, we're in the middle of this Ashley Madison scandal with all of these clergy, so on some level Christianity became about monitoring people's behavior, like a sin-management program, and that almost always fails and often backfires. I would actually argue that conservative Christianity's obsession with controlling sexuality — I mean absolute obsession with it — has in fact created more unhealthy sexual behavior than it has ever prevented. I really believe that."  (Washington Post 11/3/13)

6   Planned Parenthood offers services to all, married and unmarried. When people access the services at Planned Parenthood, it becomes impossible to control their sexual behavior.

Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins told conservative activists last week that the real goal is to “take out Planned Parenthood.”  

In a speech to Eagle Council 2015, the annual conference held by Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum, Hawkins ... claimed that Planned Parenthood only supports sexual education and birth control in order to convince young women to have premarital sex, causing them to go to Planned Parenthood to spend money on STD tests and treatment and, eventually, abortions. 

“She’s going to start this cycle of bad decisions,” she said.
(Right Wing Watch, 9/15/15) 

7   In order to undercut Planned Parenthood, therefore, some in Congress want to cut all federal funding for the organization.

Planned Parenthood received ... $528 million [in federal funding] last year, according to Planned Parenthood's latest annual report. That totals more than 40 percent of Planned Parenthood's total $1.3 billion in revenue for the year, which suggests that the organization would be in some heavy financial trouble without that public funding. 

Title X does not allow federal funds to be used for abortions. Medicaid, however, does allow [state] government money to be spent on them — in very restricted cases. (Political News from NPR, 8/5/15)

8   And some are so adamant that they would shut down the federal government if they do not get their way. 

The House passed two abortion-related bills Friday, including one that would strip federal health-care funding from Planned Parenthood for one year, but it remains unclear whether the votes would appease conservatives who have threatened a government shutdown over the organization. (Washington Post, 9/18/15)

9   How much did the government shutdown cost last time?

The government shutdown [of 2013] has taken at least $24 billion out of the United States economy, [according to] the financial ratings agency Standard & Poor's.  (Huffington Post, 10/16/13)

Putting the above nine puzzle pieces together, we arrive at the title of this post: Sex can be scary -- $24 billion scary. We'll stay tuned . . .