Our body is an essential dimension of our spirituality. By re-examining our understanding of the relationship between the body and spirituality, I believe that we can develop deeper and more authentic sadhana. As a community, integrating embodiment more fully into a positive yogic view of spirituality can help us become a richer and more heart-full community and perhaps one less susceptible to dualistic or religious ways of being.
We all know that Ananda Marga is not a religion. But it is so easy for us to unwittingly approach our organisation in the way that people have traditionally approached religion. I have seen myself doing this at times. It is easy for us to import our own religious samskaras into Ananda Marga, even when these are at odds with the essential teachings of Tantra. One area I think this can happen, is in our understanding of the relationship between physicality and spirituality.
Traditional monotheistic religions have promoted a dualistic ideology in which God is viewed as fundamentally separate from the world, and ‘spirit’ as essentially divorced from or even opposed to the body. While this is deeply at odds with Tantra, at times I think that we continue to approach physicality as though it was somehow at odds with spirituality. For example, I recently heard the shuddis of first lesson described as process of mentally leaving the physical strata, then shedding the mental and arriving at a purely spiritual level of experience. In the broader culture and in New Age cultures, a ‘spiritual experience’ is at times referred to as an ‘out of body experience’, again betraying this underlying sense of duality between the physical and spiritual domains. If we see the body as unspiritual, or even as something we remove ourselves from in meditation, we risk importing religious samskaras into Ananda Marga and ultimately stifling the nourishing flow of our own sadhana.
THE BODY IS NOT JUST AN OBJECT OR A SHELL, BUT IS A FIELD OF AWARENESS.
It is important to remember that Tantra teaches that it is not possible to do sadhana without a body, because of the Kula Kundalini associated with the spine and nervous system. In this context, it is not even be possible to have a spiritual experience without being embodied. The body is not just an object or a shell, but is a field of awareness. By developing a subtle somatic awareness throughout ones body, our concentration and our sadhana is able to deepen in subtle ways. For example, during meditation we may experience ourselves to enter into our Ista chakra in a somatic, spatial and almost tackle way. Or we may experience a vivid spatial sense of being suspended peacefully at a great height or to be sitting in sidhasana deep down within a place of immense stillness. There is an effortlessness to the way in which our awareness falls inwardly when our thinking mind and our object like body merge to become experienced as a singular flow of consciousness.
A generous and positive attitude to the body is facilitated of course by asanas, but also by dance, feldenrkais, physical theatre, bodywork or any practice that helps bring consciousness into our bodies. Through such practices in concert with yogic sadhana, the experience of duality between mind and body, worldly and spiritual is diminished.
By contrast, if we do not develop a subtle fluency of bodily awareness, if we are not ‘in our bodies’ when we meditate, then we be more likely to be ‘in our heads’, experiencing meditation as a sort of serial monotony and mind wandering.
The issue of embodiment is also important in a cultural context, because a dualistic attitude towards the body can subtly influence our culture and can import religious samskaras into the ‘what it feels like’ of being a Margi. If we have an unspoken narrative in Ananda Marga that spirituality is somehow removed from physicality then we devalue the place of the body and its associated domains such as emotions and sensuality.
IF WE HAVE AN UNSPOKEN NARRATIVE IN ANANDA MARGA THAT SPIRITUALITY IS SOMEHOW REMOVED FROM PHYSICALITY THEN WE DEVALUE THE PLACE OF THE BODY AND ITS ASSOCIATED DOMAINS SUCH AS EMOTIONS AND SENSUALITY.
In this case, we may be less likely to build and develop the emotional intelligence that is increasingly essential to success in the 21st century.
Importantly also, our humanness is deeply tied up with our experience of embodiment. Inhabiting our humanness, means inhabiting our bodies, emotions and our hearts and this is so important if we are to really grow as a spiritual community. Everything is an expression of Brahmic consciousness. Brahma is not separate and divorced from the manifestation of the physical domain. Ultimately, realising Brahma within our own consciousness, means realising Brahma within every cell of our body.
OUR HUMANNESS IS DEEPLY TIED UP WITH OUR EXPERIENCE OF EMBODIMENT. INHABITING OUR HUMANNESS, MEANS INHABITING OUR BODIES, EMOTIONS AND OUR HEARTS AND THIS IS SO IMPORTANT IF WE ARE TO REALLY GROW AS A SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY.
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Note: The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the official views, policy or position of Ananda Marga.
