THE SOCIAL YOGA
of the Monkey King
The heart of
social yoga is the preservation and defense of life itself. Life in all its
manifestations. My life, our life. Individually and socially, without any
distinction of race, gender, condition or appearance. It is a theoretical and
practical proposal, which takes the essential elements of several of our mother
cultures. In it, spiritual practices from diverse geographies are found and
dialogued, such as: the spiritual and social findings of some indigenous
cultures, Buddhist thought and practice, Islamic ethics, the love of neighbor
of the Christs and, of course, the transcendental practices of yogiism.
Yoga, in its modus operandi, means liberation from all forms of oppression and suffering. Liberation from alienation, from daydreaming, illusion (“maya”), ignorance and attachments. Liberation from prejudices, ideas, imprecise, deceptive concepts and sectarian visions. Its ancient and effective techniques and methods, tested by countless liberated masters over at least 5,000 years, require constant conscious effort and several years of practice. There are no magic or instant solutions. In this sense, Social Yoga proposes a type of internal struggle similar to Islamic Jihad, in its true philosophical sense, as: “invincible effort to subdue our own dark nature, our animal heritage.” “This constant Jihad means strict adherence to the will of God in all aspects of our life,” according to Maulana Wahiduddin Khan in his book “True Jihad. The concepts of peace, tolerance and non-violence in Islam.”
According to
Yoga, in its sense of union (“Yug”) of the individual soul with the universal
soul (Jivatman-Paramatman), the human being necessarily incubates his goal of
final liberation within the community. In the sphere of social relations.
Between human consciences and hearts. Individuals, couples, families and groups
in communion, common union with harmonious nature. Thus, the practice and hope
of Social Yoga is similarly reflected in the meaning and profound praxis of the
term Sumak Kawsay (from Quechua, roughly translated as “good living”),
originating from the indigenous communities of the Andean region, and which can
be defined as: “the satisfaction of needs, the attainment of a dignified
quality of life and death, loving and being loved, and the healthy flourishing
of all, in peace and harmony with nature” (Ramírez, 2010: 61). Even yogis,
shadus, shiddis, swamis, sanyassas, jivanamuktas, monks, hermits and gurus
drink, have drunk and are fed, in their fundamental values and higher
customs, by the social group that sees them born and grow.
The social, the
community, especially in our days, takes on a surprising relevance, and the
enjoyment of a dignified life for all, can only be a logical achievement for
any spiritually conscious being. Social Yoga conceives that human dignity is
unthinkable without social justice and unrestricted respect for human rights.
The Buddhist
thought expressed as: “until all sentient beings have been liberated, no one
has been liberated” could never have been more relevant than in our days. As
long as human suffering, caused by ignorance or political and economic violence
of governments and companies, subjugates one of us, we are all subjected
because we are all ONE. Yug, union, again.
It is true that
life has preserved and maintained its balance and harmony for millions of years
without human intervention, however, in this era - the modern era that has
given us not only comfort and material progress - we have seen its greatest
threat emerge as never before in any other period of our history. Isolated and
minority groups of men and women, who venerate and submit to material values,
ruthless consumerism, the market and the economy as the only goal and objective
of life, are those who now govern us. By their actions and omissions, they are
directly responsible for having erected and continuing to sustain an empire
("the empire of forms", wrote the Most Worthy MASTER S.W.K.). Their
actions, thoughts and poisoned emotions (toxic ideas, "kleshas", in
the language of yoga) - made into economic, political, moral and social systems
- impose themselves on our human dignity, and that of all living beings on
planet Earth, leaving it seriously threatened and denigrated.
Why, then, are we
governed by these elites who are predators of life? Are they “the culprits” of
the economic crises that hit our families, the lack of decent employment for
all, the ecological catastrophes, the unpunished promotion of all kinds of
addictions and discrimination as lifestyle habits, the tendency towards the
privatization of education, health services, security, culture and everything
else that is possible?
Are they
directly responsible for the suicidal and self-destructive tendencies of
millions of teenagers and young people, the commercialization of the body,
appearances and female sexuality, the business of war, the invention of
terrorist groups supported by them, the massive manipulation of the media, the
selective persecution and murder of social, peasant, indigenous or human rights
leaders and the marketing and distribution of carcinogenic, unhealthy and toxic
“food” products without restraint or restraint? Are they, or are we, with our
imperial ignorance and our excessive apathy, the ones who feed them, support
them and allow them to do it?
Social Yoga
proposes, then, as a common, ideal and necessarily urgent goal, the replacement
of these implicit and explicit governments, made up of human beings with
deformed and sickly bodies, mentally and emotionally unbalanced and spiritually
rudimentary, by autonomous governments, in areas freed from their products,
habits, consumption and laws, formed by councils of noble, wise old men and
women, healthy in body, mind and soul, elected for their deeds of life in favor
of life, by our own communities: girls and boys, included. Something that
within the indigenous communities, in America, Africa, the Asian and Oceanic
continents, was common and desirable before the European invasions and
plunderings.
Social Yoga
calls for a true Simple Revolution, non-violent and non-oppositional to
anything. A true internal revolution, from each being, their conscious
decisions and actions, towards their partner, family, groups of friends and
relatives and our communities. The proposal is: to start with ourselves,
replacing habits, products, goods, services and mental attitudes that destroy
life or feed the insatiable greed of those groups, with actions and habits,
products, etc., noble, elevated and that feed community life, in its most
precise and elevated sense.
Social Yoga for
liberation from individual and community, spiritual and material, economic and
psychological oppression.