Menace of Elderly Years
I remember living in an ashram where just about everyone was between twenty and forty years of age. Everyone was in the prime years of the material body and felt that things were A1. Everyone was in his utopia of consciousness mistaking a youthful body as being the self.
Then later when the body aged, some of us complained about its health condition. Some of us passed on. Some had to see physicians to get medical treatments. The confidence we had in the younger years collapsed, even though at the time we spoke about not being the body.
Obviously our not being the body was talk only, hype which gave us a false increase in self-esteem. This was due to the fact that while we said we were not our bodies, we actually were identifying with the youthful condition of the physical body and not realizing that we were because we lacked the insight to sort between that youthful condition of the physical form and whatever else we were apart from that.
Self-realization is more than expectation, imagination, believe and positive assertion. This is seen as soon as nature retracts whatever support it gave for one to make the assertion in the first place.
Recently I was given the opportunity to become frightened by the condition of the body in the elderly years. I met some relatives who were over seventy years of age. This is not far from my being over sixty years of age. First there was this strong urine smell emitted from their clothing. How awful!
Not the smell, but the fact that when the body gets to be seventy, its kidneys may cease functioning properly. Yes but you may again say like they said in the ashram, that I am not the body and my elderly relative is not his or her body. But wait, consider this:
The body is being maintained in relation to whatever you say I am. For instance if you say that I am brahman or if you say that I am atman or if you say that I am God or if you say that I am a servant of God, regardless, the fact remains that whatever that is it is related to the living body. It must be cognizant of whatever condition the body has.
With those relatives, there was this smell because of the malfunctioning of the kidneys where the urine it produced stunk. There was also the problem of incontinence where the bladder check valve malfunctioned and the urine leaked into their clothing.
But then there were other problems as well. The hip construction was collapsing making walking painful. The body was bloated because some of its cells were under attack by cancer.
One of the elderly person s has a tablet pack with so many medications as to confuse anyone as what was being taken for what ailment. Can you imagine 25 or so tablets as one dose to be taken more than once per day.
The specter of it:
The body’s elderly years.
The faulty kidney releasing chemicals into the brain which affect consciousness and causes dull ill-focused meditations.
The heck of it!
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Michael Beloved Just for the record, the key term is bhāvanātaḥ. I translated the verse as follows:
मैत्रीकरुणामुश्चदतोपेक्षाणाां सुखदुःखपुण्यापुण्यश्चवषयाणाां भावनातश्चित्तप्रसादनम्॥३३॥
maitrī karuṇā muditā upekṣānāṁ
sukha duḥkha puṇya apuṇya
viṣayāṇāṁ bhāvanātaḥ cittaprasādanam
maitrī – friendliness; karuṇā – compassion; muditā – joyfulness, cheerfulness; upekṣaṇam – indifference, neutrality, non-responsiveness; sukha – happiness; duḥkha – distress; puṇya – virtue; apuṇya – vice; viṣayāṇāṁ – relating to attractive objects; bhāvanātaḥ – abstract meditation; citta – mento-emotional energy; prasādanam – serenity.
The abstract meditation resulting from the serenity of the mento-emotional energy comes about by friendliness, compassion, cheerfulness and non-responsiveness to happiness, distress, virtue and vice; -
Michael Beloved And some alternate methods are given in some following verses. This is just one such method listed:
प्रच्छदयनश्चवधारणाभ्याां वा प्राणस्य॥३४॥
pracchardana vidhāraṇābhyāṁ vā prāṇasya
pracchardana – exhalation; vidhāraṇābhyāṁ – by inhalation; vā – or; prāṇasya – of the vital energy.or by regulating the exhalation and inhalation of the vital energy.
or by regulating the inhalation and exhalation of the vital energy; -
Mohanakrishnan R Well none knows what the original writer intended! The wordings to me seem to suggest that "maitri" (friendship), "Karuna" etc are CAUSES of "harmonization" rather the results thereof! It can well be the other way around and perhaps Patanjali "implied" it! "Abstract meditation" may be one of the many methods to master these drivers of personal harmonization. IMO that is what "ashtanga" (8 part) of Ashtanga Yoga is about. Beings swerve from this rightful path because of LIMITATIONS BOTH MENTAL AND PHYSICAL. Patanjali gives his own prescription to transcend such limitations. Yoga may not be the panacea for all mental and physical ills and methods may exist beyond the eightfold path. But IMO Yoga is the first documented attempt to harmonize the perspectives at different levels of existence.
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Michael Beloved The other methods listed for attaining bhāvanātaḥ cittaprasādanam (abstract meditation resulting from the serenity of the mento-emotional energy) were listed as:
Chapter 1
Verse 35
Or fusion and steadiness of the mind is produced by the operation of the mento-emotional energy towards an object which is different to but similar to a normal thing;
Verse 36
or by sorrowless and spiritually-luminous states;
Verse 37
or by fixing the mento-emotional energy on someone who is without craving;
Verse 38
or by taking recourse to dream or dreamless sleep.
Verse 39
Or it can be achieved from the effortless linkage of the mind to a higher concentration force which was dearly desired. -
Michelle Edwards I spent 15 years in chronic neck pain after a diving accident when I was a teenager. All through doing my yoga postures and meditation I continued to have this neck pain. It was all I thought about. I learned from that to distance 'myself' from my body. I had to or go nuts! Then, 19 years into my practices- poof! It was gone. It comes and goes a bit now, but not to the same intensity. Living with pain when you're young taught me a lot. I never did have that youthful, pain-free part of life. Now that I'm older and went through that, I'm changed.
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Mohanakrishnan R Taking the mind away from the source of pain or anxiety is also a valid Yogic method. This is practiced in other systems also like auto suggestion, hypnotism, faith healing etc. Meditation is prescribed as a method to achieve the "detachment" Mr.Edwards is speaking about. But there can be other methods to achieve the same purpose. Unlike the religious scriptures Yoga Sutra does not claim that it offers the one and only method that is valid and all the other methods are false. Performing Asanas and Pranayamas without the participation of the mind as elaborated in subsequent Yoga literature which explain the Asanas, Pranayama and meditation techniques in detail, reduces the effect of Yoga substantially. . Many of these subsequent books have a Tantric or Buddhist origin like Goraksha Samhita, Shiva Samhita, Hatha Yoga Pradipika.
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Susan Hirst Thanks for an interesting read/discussion. I'm 57 and much more fit and healthy than I was in younger years mainly because besides teaching Yoga and Singing/piano which helps keep my mind strong, I started teaching fitness classes just 3 years ago and recently was asked to cover a class of Muscle Conditioning besides my other regular cardio classes and I really noticed how
much lighter but stronger I feel in my body. Muscle/body strengthening with
weights seems to be an important thing that we can do in a very meditative
mindful way as a part of our well being practice. I feel incredibly optimistic
about staying well in years to come and believe fitness is an important compliment to yoga practice. -
Michael Beloved Susan,
It is interesting how when doing asana postures and/or pranayama breath infusion, that there can be progress made even in joint loosening when the body is over 50 (over the hill?). At 65, I am still improving certain asana postures even though I notice that in others who do not practice the joints are tightening up and crusting with arthritis and other related illnesses. Diet is important: That we keep improving the diet, keep reducing the food greed. Stamping down on innate laziness is important: That we keep fighting off the ongoing tendency to let the body age without continuing the practice because some postures cause stretching and curving pains.
Having a constructive focus like singing/piano in your case, and writing books in mine, is vital as well, otherwise the likelihood is that the devil will make the idle mind his workshop.
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Peter Pugh Surely age brings experience and more significantly new perspectives? In short, a view from a different mountain in ones life. As such much is incommensurable.
Priscilla Estes, Kundalini Yoga Teacher, IKYTA See the books, The Best is Yet to Come, Aging Gracefully with Yoga50plus by Willem Wittstamm mail@yoga50plus.de. And the Yoga of Aging andChronic Illness: Transforming a Curse into a Million Rays of LIght by Jivan Joti Kaur Khalsa Ph.D. No matter what, getting old is a challenge and we will never be young again.
Caroline Barnes @Michael: but in so far as one can actually find that true self and not identify with the social identity add-ons which we carried since birth and also from many past lives.
As i am nearing 65 myself, all this is very much what is happening for me. I used to think, when I still had a strong young body that as long as I did my yoga I wouldn't have to worry, haha!
I have meditated and contemplated about this a lot. Is it a blessing or is it a curse? If it is not a curse how is it a blessing? I have come to the conclusion that the passing of physical strength, the passing of being in the body without constant reminders of its mortality is to give us an extra push in the direction of infinity, to shift our focus, getting ready for the coming transition. How one responds to this situation is very important for the transition and for future rebirths. If one is trying to stay young regardless, and just focus on the body, plastic surgery etc. one will have to expend vast amounts of energy
Caroline Barnes one will have to expend vast amounts of energy for vastly diminishing returns. If instead one focuses that energy onto preparing internally for the next step then it does become a blessing.
As long as I was strong and healthy I would always rely on that strength to get me through. When the strength wanes it gives me an impetus to shift my focus. Once I start to do that I have found that that shift of focus or attention begins a very interesting process, and one that I would never have accessed as my young strong self.
Andree Lerat Great insight. However the experience of self in youth is the stepping stone to real wisdom as proven by your post.
Mohanakrishnan R The "infinity" or "Whole", "Brahman", "Self" etc are all logical abstractions IMO, which though true in a logical sense serve no practical purpose in solving the various problems associated with our existence. Matter (Acit) and Energy (Ishwara) being "interconvertible" and "life" (Cit) being nothing but a product of interaction between matter and energy -- In the ultimate sense a human being is not a human being but a temporary state of interaction between matter and energy - Sunlight was nothing but matter which in turn could have been energy --- one can go on and on. Yes "Logically" "Jagat Mithya Brahma Satya" (Manifest universe is untrue and Brahman alone is the truth), where Brahman is the collective term of the "whole" system of matter, life and energy. 'Realizing the self" is nothing but logical acceptance of the comparatively transient state of our existence and egoistic I cannot exist in the ultimate analysis. BUT WHAT THIS REALIZATION CAN MEAN IN PRACTICAL TERMS?
Mohanakrishnan R Will problems associated with old age like loss of bone and muscle, weakness, depleting immunity etc be solved through "Realization of the self" -- That is through logical acceptance of the extremely short lived? Sorry the egoistic "I" is a reality as long as it exists however ridiculously short the duration may be. THis "I" exists in a much smaller frame of reference in the overall context. That does not mean that it can be ignored. For a moth that lives for minutes even a millisecond is a substantial duration compared to a human who lives for say 100 years. You cannot tell the moth that compared to a human it (moth) does not exist! Likewise a star which takes billions of years to evolve and for which hundred years is immaterial cannot tell the human that humans do not exist.
Mohanakrishnan R That is why Yoga Sutra does not stop with the logical ideas of "Samadhi" that is discovery of one's own nature (Drashtu) by clearing the mind of its "misconceptions" (Vritti) which distort the perceptions. (Samadhi Pada 3 and 4). This is at a far higher frame of reference. Life is much more than ivory tower speculation of arcane ideas however logical they may be and exists at a far lower frame of reference. That is what Samadhi Pada emphasizes in verse 33,
मैत्री करुणा मुदितोपेक्षाणांसुखदुःख पुण्यापुण्यविषयाणां भावनातः चित्तप्रसादनम् ॥३३॥
"All that is mutable in human beings (chitta) is harmonized through the cultivation of love (maitri), helpfulness (karuna), conviviality (mudita) and imperturbability (upeksha) in situations that are happy, painful, successful or unfortunate."
Note all terms used are "relative" (Maitri, Karuna etc) and it apparently contradicts the concept of "self realization"
Mohanakrishnan R Yama, Niyama, Asana etc are the best practices recommended at the lower frame of reference. Pursuit of the knowledge of the self is a far higher level of reference. Both are true though the former is more relevant. That is where Mr.Barnes errs when he says "As i am nearing 65 myself, all this is very much what is happening for me. I used to think, when I still had a strong young body that as long as I did my yoga I wouldn't have to worry, haha! " Can he confirm that wool gathering and speculation of a logical idea do effectively substitute orderly life and mental health? Definitely adherence to a proper social code of conduct (Yama), clean habits (Niyama), exercises (Asana, Pranayama), improvement of mindset through mediation and concentration are far better common sense pointers to a healthy and happy old age than empty speculation with no purpose!
PS I am over 65 and I attribute what I consider to be my good health (Physical and mental) to the practice of Yoga:)