Someone recently introduced me as a spiritual teacher. I really didn’t feel comfortable with that and without thinking, I said, ‘Yes, if spirituality is about disrupting the status quo’.
So, here are a few things that came from contemplating the purpose of spiritual practices, especially with new age teachers promoting ascension and self-indulgent practices.
The Bodhisattva is the one who participates in the sorrow of life joyfully.
He is not using meditation to avoid the suffering of the world.
When we raise the kundalini, the earth-bound feminine principle Shakti meets Shiva, the spirit-bound masculine principle, in the crown. After merging they come back down to earth, to the physical realm.
When the shramanas, the first yogis, saw that the rulers were choosing adharmic practices (that which is not in accord with the dharma) of inequality, they choose to live a simple life close to nature. Their spiritual practices were a form of sacred activism, saying no by not participating, and contemplating the meaning of life and how to move from the drama into dharma.
If spirituality is not grounded in the physical, in elevating the suffering of others and protecting the earth, then what’s the point of all the sexy yoga mats and leggings?
If we can’t stop on the street to ask the unprivileged, deeply traumatised people how they are, while looking in their eyes, what’s the purpose of all the meditations?
In the Kula-yaga, one of the two scriptures of sexual rituals in tantra, it says that for the ritual to be successful, the yogi and the yogini must be free of social conditioning. Why?
Is it that our spiritual practices give us the opportunity to remove ourselves from all that is socially acceptable so we can reflect on what doesn’t serve dharma (the wellbeing of all)? Is it so we can come back from ‘the cave’ with inspiring resources to bring more nourishing solutions to our communities?
If you feel inspired, use this inquiry in your practices and please share any clarity that comes through.
