November
4, 2005 |
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| November 2005 |
| Harvest & Community |
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 Autumn is a time of harvest and
preparation at the Ashram. The whole community
comes together to pick apples, preserve vegetables
and clean up the garden. In this issue of
Lightwaves, we celebrate harvest and community.
The harvest season is part of a cycle of
growth, death and rebirth, and ripe with
metaphors for life on the spiritual path.
Swami Radha
Swami Radhananda - Abundance
Swami RadhaKrishnananda
James Gates Unexpected Growth
Harvesting the Best of Ascent - Inspired Lives
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Swami
Radha |
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 From the Hidden
Language Hatha Yoga chapter on ‘The Plough’
The Bhagavad Gita tells us that we should renounce
the fruits of our labour and dedicate them to the
Divine. Perhaps the most difficult of these fruits
to renounce are praise, recognition, fame or wealth.
We can also speak of ploughing the ground of life
and making it fertile to receive the seeds of divine
inspiration. The fruits of self-development that
come from self-examination automatically become
the fertilizer for further growth.
Even to sow the seeds of understanding, the ground
of the mind must be ploughed. The weeds (concepts
that have, like crab grass, grown deep) are hard
to remove. The seeds of understanding can only
grow in a fertile soil, one that is receptive,
and in which the nourishment is of high quality.
At the same time, discrimination is needed to distinguish
good, healthy thoughts from the weeds of self-importance
and fear—weeds that will crowd out the new
growth. Discrimination can reveal what is truly
inspiration, and what is still growing in the soil
of self-will.
To plough the ground means holding the plough steady
so the soil will turn over, making deep furrows,
making deep cuts, and pulverizing the earth. As
the earth has to be ploughed every year to keep
it loose and aired, so the ground of the mind has
to be ploughed over and over, to keep it open and
receptive. The old has to be destroyed before the
new can come.
The old ego, all the old personality aspects that
clamor for attention and create obstacles, has
to be destroyed to make room for the new growth.
The hard crust of greed, revenge, mercilessness,
deafness, has to be broken up so that the seeds
of understanding and compassion can be sown; and
so that the fruit of the true Self, a heart full
of love and devotion, a mind receptive to Divine
Wisdom, can be enjoyed.
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Swami
Radhananda - President of Yasodhara Ashram
Abundance |
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 Shortly after I came to the Ashram, one of my experiences
was harvesting an overabundance of apples.
There was a whole group of us with little knowledge
- we weren’t quite sure how to approach
the task. It wasn’t cherries that year;
it was apples, and we had to get them all in.
The first thing we did was meet under a big apple
tree. We put some picnic tables together and
planned what we were going to do—a few
of us knew some things, and other people knew
other things. We did some planning and started
harvesting, then reflected together on how the
work was going, and outlined the next few steps.
We found
that there was a sense of a greater force as
we shared our tasks willingly. Any grumbling—“I
don’t know how to do this”,
“I don’t know what decision to make”, “I
haven’t done this before”—seemed
to dissolve in the ability to come together and
work cooperatively. As we continued, the harvesting
project seemed small in terms of the learning
it offered and what we could offer in return.
This kind of learning, making choices and decisions
together, has become a bridge to welcoming people
with warmth and joy when they come to the Ashram,
whether they come for shorter or longer periods
of time. We know that both harmony and disharmony
will occur, but as a group we are ready to support
the dedicated, searching, seeking part, in anyone.
When people make a commitment, dedication becomes
evident; they make a commitment to themselves.
The Ashram is here for people to focus on spiritual
life in a practical, every-moment kind of way.
Every word, every action, can be an opportunity
to increase learning and deepen devotion. The
power lies in our sincerity, in how much we want
to know about ourselves, in how much selfless
service we want to give. Like the fruit trees;
whatever we do to feed them and help them grow
comes back in abundance.
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Swami
Radha Krishnananda |
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 Walking has become a little awkward some days as my
body takes on the Parkinson shuffle. It’s
almost like my feet are stuttering - an odd
experience. The funny thing is that there are
some movements that bypass the brain’s
reticence to stride purposefully. I can leap
and bounce and jog and dance some steps in
a perfectly normal fashion and take the stairs
two at a time. Why??
The question was really on my mind when Swami
Radhananda arrived in Spokane to give the Devi
of Speech workshop. She came with Alicia, my
daughter. Both of them listened to my story about
movement, about the limitations and the anomaly.
Then we went out and walked and walked and walked.
The two of them took up the gauntlet – Run
now! Skip! Bounce! Leap! Do your dance steps!
We tried it all. They did everything with me. ”Find
out what you can do and do it over and over”,
they extolled. “Forge new pathways in your
brain.”
Then came the feedback – “Your arm
is hanging down, your foot is dragging. You’re
bending over. Use it or lose it.” Their
words rang in my ears. They both looked at me
seriously making me think of the Devi of Speech.
I can’t do it. I have a limitation now
had been creeping into my mind. The words rolled
on – powerfully. “You have to tell
yourself you can do it,” they said. “You
can and will move freely and naturally. Exercise
your power of speech for your benefit.”
Enlivened and exhilarated by their ideas and
enthusiasm I’m on course now experimenting
with the rhythms that work, that make a difference.
No more shuffling along. I’m grateful for
friends on the Path.
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Unexpected Growth - James Gates |
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 It’s late Autumn now in
the Kootenay’s and the snow is moving
down the mountain. Soon winter’s white
blanket will cover the Ashram grounds; we’re
preparing by putting the garden to bed. It’s
a time of rest for the earth which provides
us with so much. We put a lot of effort into
the garden each year, planning, preparing
for planting, sowing seeds, weeding and then
harvesting; yet for all of our efforts the
most amazing things happen unplanned.
Last autumn we cleaned up all of the leaves around
the Ashram and piled them in a makeshift corral
made out of stucco wire. The pile sat there all
though the winter and I never thought much about
it. Sometime in May I walked by and saw that
there were a few tiny squash seedlings and a
tomato plant growing out of the pile. I had no
idea where the seeds came from but was happy
to see them volunteering themselves. Seeds are
remarkable things. Little packets of life waiting
for a chance of expression. When the conditions
are right life bursts forth.
At our Autumn Harvest Gita Weekend celebration
in early October, we had pumpkin pie. The pumpkins
came from the leaf pile. It was a weekend full
of gratitude for all the things we have been
given. While eating the pie, my mind scanned
the whole growing season appreciating how so
much care and attention went into growing food
and so much learning happened for everybody.
Yet the little seeds that produced these delicious
pumpkins just popped up on their own, off in
a remote corner of the garden. I wondered how
that happens, how things just decide when to
grow.
The Ashram is often referred to as a greenhouse,
living here speeds up growth because all of the
conditions are perfect. I’ve grown in ways
I couldn’t have expected; there is a burgeoning
confidence and independence that is very freeing.
Each day I commit to my karma yoga job, taking
little steps along the path. Over time I recognize
the tremendous liberation that comes with commitment.
Amazing things grow out of it.
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Harvesting the best from
Ascent magazine - Inspired Lives |
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 Inspired Lives: the
best of real life yoga, edited by Clea MacDougall
and published by timeless books will be
on the market in time for christmas. Scheduled
for a November launch, The book celebrates
the best of ascent’s writing about engaged
spirituality, the arts and politics.
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