So, I was thinking about the opening prayer in the Asthanga tradition. Many people who come to yoga have abandoned, or fell betrayed, by organised religion. Yet here they are on the mat, about to engage in something intensely physical and we stop to say a little prayer. Why?
We need inspiration. We get that inspiration from our heros. For people who come from a background of religious belief, these heros might be the saints of that religion, St. Francis, or St. Jude, St. James or Avalokeitshavara. People used to study the lives of the saints and try to emulate them, meditate on their images and hope to be imbued with their characteristics. In the middle ages, people believed that “the rub of the relic” of some saint would cure them of what ailed them.
Who are our heros in this post-modern age? Are there any heros any more? In this age of social media, where are the exemplars of our age?
The first part of the Asthanga opening prayer invites you to look within, to find your own internal hero, the “guru” within. This is especially important in the current era when we are in the business of tearing down our heros. We are reminded that the real hero in the hero within, the ordinary man or woman who gets up in the morning and deals with whatever has to be dealt with, with whatever tools he or she has, with whatever help is to hand.
But we need inspiration, people who embody virtues we wish to emulate. It’s easy to find them in the sporting arena. If saying some prayer in some ancient language to some “guru” you’ve never heard of leaves you cold, then where do you find that inspiration? Winning All Ireland teams are a good place to start looking. Olympic champions are an inspiration. Political giants like Nelson Mandela, modern saints like Mother Teresa, environmental warriors. The current era is full of inspirational people. Musicians often provide inspiration. You may find though, in this world of real and false news, that your heros have feet of clay, defects, even fatal flaws that would revolt you, but their achievements are our inspiration. When you study the lives of your heros, you discover that underneath the glory lies an ordinary person, with an ordinary person’s emotions and tribulations, but who overcomes those tribulations, who finds a way, who steps onto the field of action and, every time they try and fail, they get up and try again. They have found, as we all must, their inner hero.
The second part of the prayer in an invocation to the sage, Patanjali. To him is attributed the setting out of the yogic philosophy that underlies all yoga and distinguishes it from mere exercise. Do you know who Patanjali is? Does it matter? Does anybody know who Patanjali is? Does it matter? So why do people invoke the sage before practice?
Because there is power in repetition, there is power in tradition, there is power in lineage. When you practice yoga asanas, you are tapping into a tradition that goes back thousands of years. It pre-dates Christianity, Islam, Buddism. That tradition, like traditional music, is rooted in the spirit of the people who have practiced it, who have influenced it, developed it, and passed it on to the succeeding generations. If you have ever stepped onto the pitch at Croke Park, you have felt that power. I’m sure it is the same at Wimbledon. I’m sure it is the same for performers who step onto the stage in the Roman amphitheatre in Verona. Issac Newton said that we see further because we stand on the shoulders of giants.
When you step onto the mat, you don’t have to rely just on yourself. You can rely on the strength of all those who came before you. You draw strength from your lineage, from your tradition. Whether you play in the green jersey, or just puck a ball around in the haggard, you tap into that lineage, you embody your sporting hero. That is what the second part of the Ashtanga opening prayer reminds us to do. When you step onto the mat, you embody that tradition with your breath, your movement, your dedication to the practice.
And so, the opening prayer invites you to ask for grace, to ask for power, for your breath, for your body to tap into the grace and power of a lineage and tradition that lets you find your hero within.
Om Shanti.
10/07/19
