Dear readers, it’s been a good long time since my last blog. What can I say? I was in the wilds of Alaska. After a long, long 18 months, it was time to get back to the lower 48. I’m happy to again have the time to jump back into my blog!
My teacher once stated that if we were fully enlightened, we would understand the reality of all souls as unimaginably beautiful beings. We are simply conscious beings “DBA” (doing business as) humans and it is a mistake to misidentify ourselves as these temporary material bodies, or to identify with all the thoughts that enter our heads. What is the true self or consciousness and how do we rediscover self? The good news about yoga philosophy is that the process is so easy. Only it takes a little intelligence and sincerity and then, of course, Jane Austen’s novels.
Jane is widely recognized as a literary genius and demands her readers’ full attention. She once wrote in a letter, “I do not write for such dull elves as have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves.” In other words, she put her genius to work in creating her novels and, in reciprocation perhaps, would naturally expect her readers to roll up their sleeves and “have a think” about her purpose in writing and to discover the exceptional moral universe she illustrates. In this media-saturated environment, the ‘metaphysical’ aspect is not well understood by modern readers, although 250 years ago, during the height of The Enlightenment, philosophy and metaphysics were at the center of public discussion. Anyone reading Jane’s novels at that time understood her skill in focusing on proper behavior and amazingly, she did this without being preachy. Jane also charmed and entertained readers by the author’s realism in her depictions of character and witty dialogue. The romantic aspect is significant (we will speak more on this later), yet it is clear that much of the action describes heroes and heroines striving for self-control and understanding proper behavior, often under trying circumstances, and usually when dealing with seriously ‘ill-bred’ and even downright rude behavior by acquaintances. Of course, all the novels have happy endings and therefore fall under the category of comedies as opposed to tragedies, except perhaps in the case of Mansfield Park, which has to fight against the wrenching virtual demolition of the family and local neighborhood. It has more of a rational than romantic ending, although I must say that Fanny Price does live happily ever after!
Diving in, it must be noted that in many movie adaptations (and some academic reviews…grrr!) of Jane’s most demanding novel, Mansfield Park, the heroine, Fanny Price, is often misrepresented. This greatly affects the message of the story, in a negative way, by obscuring the importance and significance of the heroine. Perhaps this is a result of being out of touch with “the norms” of the age in which the novels were written. Especially in movie adaptations, and ignoring what was important to the author, the directors try to “sex up” Fanny, rather than giving her the latitude to be the amazingly strong character that she is. Certainly, Fanny Price is unusually meek and timid, yet she is worth understanding even if not even close to what the modern reader considers a typical heroine (she requires a bit of explaining)!
In yoga philosophy, as well as true classical philosophy, as taught by Socrates (‘know thyself’), and similarly in Buddhism, anyone seeking to attain happiness needs to find a peaceful mental condition. And a peaceful mind is based in rationality, as opposed to our modern tendency to spend a lot of time absorbed in ‘extreme’ activities and external stimulation such as addiction to social media. Such a ddictions are unhealthy and children are, according to experts, getting dumber by having access to The self-realized person would say this: Confusing stimulation for happiness is very sad because the happiness we seek is already there within us. There is an unlimited source of internal happiness which doesn’t require anything else, it doesn’t require retail therapy or a ‘consumer’ mindset. This is why Americans and many countries now, are swamped with advertising. Knowledge of self is the best thing as it is perfection. As Krishna states in the Gita, we connect with eternal happiness through this knowledge, and, knowing this, “nothing remains to be known.” That is such an interesting statement, and we can explore this amazing knowledge and the power it gives us, by looking at this concept through Jane Austen’s novel, Mansfield Park, which addresses “cool-headed” rational thinking and its connection to a good life.
In Mansfield Park, we find the Bertram family in various states of willful unawareness. The aunt, Mrs. Norris, obsesses over small savings by her domestic “economy” and takes charge of everything (owing to the amazing sloth of her sister, Lady Bertram). Yet Mrs Norris is ultimately oblivious to the wellbeing of her niece, Maria, who is the eldest daughter of Sir Bertram. Maria is endlessly flattered into vanity and convinced that she has attained every perfection. Maria’s younger sister, Julia is also vain yet being the younger sister and less handsome saves her from the extreme vanity which leaves Maria completely vulnerable to idle flattery from the likes of cold-hearted Henry Crawford. The poor cousin, Fanny Price, (the story’s amazingly timid, meek and unexpectedly courageous heroine), unexpectedly finds herself next in line for Henry’s calculated attentions. In fact, poor Fanny gets the worst of it, as she is under greater pressure from her uncle, Sir Thomas and her relations, to capitulate to Crawford’s proposals. He is wealthy and has many alluring talents (which many readers fall for), yet Fanny cannot forget the blatant cruelty to her cousins, and especially his cruel abandonment of Maria, and she sees his words as meaning nothing. Seeing her moral integrity and sweetness, Henry develops a somewhat real attraction to Fanny and unleashes his considerable powers and charms to woo her. Fanny finds herself in a serious predicament as to whether Henry is still the same old selfish and vain “Henry,” yet she is still devoted to her oblivious cousin Edmund, who is himself smitten by Henry’s sister Miss Crawford, who is beautiful, charming and as vain and selfish as her brother. Mansfield Park is a good lesson in understanding the dangers of individual narcissism.
Amazingly, some readers fall for Henry Crawford despite Jane Austen making it perfectly clear that he is the epitome of insincerity in a lover. DULL ELF alert! …Jane Austen expects her readers to have a THINK about what Henry is doing to the women in this novel. Specifically, as to ‘trifling’ with the affections of a woman, as in the abominable behavior of Henry towards Maria, it must be said that theno one involved thought it better to have loved and lost. When men engage in “creating an attachment” (essentially, it’s when the man creates strong feelings in the woman, and the expectation of a proposal of marriage, without any intention of doing so), Jane Austen considered it barbarious. It is unthinkable that modern women would fall for this character, Henry, in spite of the outrageous irreparable damage to the Bertram Family, that his behavior causes. Jane wrote this novel as a warning and some readers take it as a titillating description of a charmingly flirtatious man, just as Maria Crawford, (no model of goodness or integrity herself), speaks of it. Her casual ‘remedy’ for the situation is what finally tips off Edmund that she also, is not a good person!
So how do we avoid being duped by our own vanity? We wallow in a culture that tells us to believe that we are flawless, while social media pretends that the inner self doesn’t exist. We are constantly given the message of placing importance on the physical body, yet we are “giving up the substance for shadow” as we have no idea how beautiful we already are (as spiritual beings). The only ‘cure’ is to reconnect with ourselves and our real spiritual identity. Bhakti-Yoga practice satisfies and reveals our inner self through the rediscovery of the Source of our existence. Jane Austen actually used the word, “meditation” in her novels, and her heroines often retreat to their rooms for that purpose. Interestingly, special rooms were built in the homes (of the rich usually). These room were called ‘closets‘–which were made for the purpose of allowing the owner the luxury of just being alone. Back in the Regency era, people actually valued time spent alone and in meditative contemplation. They were aware that sitting quietly or walking in nature helped to calm the mind. What Jane’s heroines were doing when they engaged in a few moments of meditation then, is something that many thousands of people are doing today…and if we do this practice daily, it bestows what we all desire, namely focus and serenity. Perhaps this sounds too good to be true yet science backs it up. I love science and will be inserting as much science-based information as possible so keep clicking on those links. Bhakti-yoga is also a spiritual science that is based in eastern wisdom.
As for what kind of perks come with Jane and Bhakti-yoga practice, yes there are indeed concrete benefits for the brain. One way to boost our consciousness is a good Jane Austen binge-reading session. My 10 year binge was amazingly therapeutic. Science (seriously) agrees. According to one Stanford study, our brain under the influence of Jane Austen is a brain in therapy. Who knew? Well, someone must have known because her novels were even used as therapy for shell-shocked soldiers of WWI and even that ultimate tough-guy, Winston Churchill was a fan. Beside all this, many intellectuals, philosophers and science-minded readers of her novels admit to finding great comfort in her depictions of a moral universe, because it portrays reality in a way that ‘makes sense.’ Some of us remember when the world used to make sense. Ah, nostagia!
The really good news is that you can begin from wherever you are at right now and can access what Jane called self-knowledge, or as it is called today, self-realization, through an easy metaphysical process called bhakti-yoga. I am still trying to learn the luxury of, ‘sleeping’ on decisions. Sometimes our worst choices can be based on emotional, financial and physical impulses. We can save ourselves from such impulses simply by the practice of meditation on our Source (there are many names for God, and my favorite is the Sanskrit name, Krishna, which means, “all-attractive”). Otherwise, there are many cheaters who are on the lookout for fools (or someone having a weak moment and acting impulsively).
Click here to watch an excellent lecture on the philosophy of yoga given by my mentor and the founder of Krishna West, HD Goswami. As HD Goswami explains, the basis of bhakti is clearly explained in the wisdom-text from India, known as the Bhagavad-gita, or The Song of God (order here). In the Gita, we are invited to venture into a reawakening of self through devotion. To act from the deepest pure love is actually the highest form of yoga or connection with our source. In the Gita, one is assured of ‘swift’ deliverance from material suffering by infusing all actions and offerings with devotion. In this way we can gradually reawaken our eternal relationship with the original source of our existence. This a beautiful and powerfully effective process and we are sharing it freely with all. As my teacher explains:
“The word “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root Yuj which means to link with, or combine. Bhakti-yoga means to connect to the Supreme by means of loving devotional service.” –H.D. Goswami
- Buy Bhagavad-Gita here!From Barnes & Noble
- Get Jane Austen’s Complete Novels here! From Amazon.com
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Jane Austen Yoga 