Imitation
They say it’s the highest form of flattery, but what is the place of imitation on the path of Yoga?
Yoga is an applied craft, first and foremost, it is something you do.
Crowing practices, like meditation, involve an active component; taking yourself to a place and sitting down, and an inactive, or surrendered component, ie doing nothing.
For thousands of years, well before the age of Youtube, seekers sought out guides. The seeker was called a shishya, and the guide, a remover of darkness, a guru.
The interaction between student and teacher, guide and guided, shishya and disciple is an essential part of Yoga. One must learn from a being in whom the practice they are teaching lives.
It isn’t enough for a guide to have bookish knowledge, for even a parrot can learn to say something that sounds intelligible (but isn’t necessarily.) A good guide has trod a path which has been supported by their own study under a guide.
This tradition flows from generation to generation, the sacred flame of knowledge is kept alive by those Souls who have received teachings and practices, and had their lives changed.
As a species, we tend not to pass on fluff. As a student of some of the world’s great Yogic masters, one can see many disciples end up becoming a ‘Mini-me’ of their teacher.
Hence, today, we are talking about imitation.
Imitation can suggest outright copying, but let’s look at a definition; to imitate; to copy, follow as a model, or reproduce the appearance, speech, or behavior of someone or something.
In a guru-shishya relationship, copying can lead very quickly to inauthenticity, parroting and pretending. But hidden in the definition is the way out; to follow as a model.
What happens when we consent to being guided, when we allow ourselves to follow a path or model or practice set by the guide, is that we humble our ego. The ego, one of many functions of the mind, has one job, to make it be about us.
The ego is necessary in that when you are hungry, it is your body speaking to your mind and for you to feed the neighbour, your hunger would remain unaddressed.
When we make ourselves the centre of the universe, what happens? We can’t hear our loved ones over our own needs and we find fault with the world around us. This egoic preoccupation leads to suffering.
Yoga is a path that promises to help us go beyond suffering, and it does this by humbling the ego with a variety of means.
What is the quickest?
For a monster ego like mine, devotion.
A step towards devotion, is simply deciding to follow the advice of a guide.
But when we not only consent to follow our guide, but to offer them love and to see the divine flowing through them, I put it to you that we are the one who benefits (and not the guide – they have gone beyond needing validation.)
Devotion puts us in maximal receiving capacity. Admitting our insufficiency before the great mystery of life is the first step of genuine prayer. Ironically, we have to lower ourself to lift ourself up.
One of the secrets of success on the path of Yoga, and indeed life, is balance or as the Buddha taught, the middle path.
Imitation is essential; in principle we must consent to follow an example of a life well lived. We can choose a Saint, a Buddha, a Jesus, a Swamiji, whoever it is, we must recognise that someone has gone beyond what we ourselves are afflicted with.
But we must also not imitate too much. If we find ourselves copying our guide to a neurotic degree, or embodying practices that go against our nature ‘because it worked for the guide’ then we ourselves will suffer.
It’s all about nuance and discernment, which are greatly enhanced by meditation.
After you get across the river, you leave the canoe behind.
There is no need to carry your boat on your journey up the mountain, it will just tire you out. As we get free of our afflictions, and find steadiness in the Soul, the emphasis shifts from following a guide, to internalising guidance; in essence, you become your own guru.
This allows, like a rose emerging from a thorny bush, our own inner unique gifts to emerge. These may be quite different in style and substance from our own guide. One of my guides, Swami Shivkrupanand, comes from the Indic culture, and he has a destiny to embody the Divine and enlighten the masses. Another is Sundernath, of Hungarian descent and himself a Veteran. Two masters, two radically different approaches. As I allow their teachings to be absorbed, I follow the bits that resonate as both have instructed me (and cautioned me about the perils of going against my nature.)
For Raya and myself, our small contribution starts not in mimicking the divine, but in getting our own human-ness sorted out. On the back of this, only then can we support the cause of collective wellbeing through the humble endeavour of Kailash Ashram.
Who guides you, how you internalise that guide, and who you in turn support is written in the stars, not the intellect. The backbone of it all is the sustained connection with the divine light radiating in your own heart and mind, and the best approach to sustain that connection is indeed as an eternal shishya, forever a disciple and always a student.
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If you are seeking practices that will help you listen to your own Soul, and would like to receive support in an immersive retreat setting, we would love to invite you to join our upcoming Soul Retreat.
Jai Atmeshwar
Victory to the Divine Soul
David & Raya Wegman
