Dear readers, it’s been a good long time since my last blog. What can I say? I was in the wilds of Alaska. No seriously! 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 are so, so witty…and wickedly funny!
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 what she is saying in each of these little portraits of “4 or 5 families in a country village.” Many people do not understand her purpose in writing and worse, (trying for leniency of judgement here), seem to distort and invert the message, so that the ‘metaphysical’ aspect is often presented inaccurately or even completely ignored. We can only wish that the directors had read the novel with their intellect in 1st gear. This will never do! We might consider that dear Jane lived during the height of The Enlightenment, when philosophy and metaphysics were at the very center of public discussion. Almost anyone reading Jane’s novels at that time understood both her unique writing talents and the concept of a moral universe. Amazingly, she wrote without being preachy. Like Shakespear himself, she charmed and entertained readers with her exceptional realism in her depictions of character and what was praised as ‘natural’ dialogue. Even now, we often feel (at least I do) that many of the characters she describes remind me of people that I know! All the novels end happily, (for those who deserve it), and therefore fall under the category of comedies as opposed to tragedies, except in the case of Mansfield Park, which has to fight against the devastation to the Bertram family due to Maria Bertram’s excruciatingly public ‘fall’ from respectable society. I find it difficult to contemplate this novel without a sense of awe. It has more of a rational than romantic ending.
In every single movie adaptation (and even some academic reviews, grrr!) of Jane’s most demanding novel, Mansfield Park, the heroine, Fanny Price, is sadly misrepresented. Meddling with the character of the heroine herself alters the message of the story by seriously obscuring the importance and significance of her behavior. If they ever actually read the book, these directors seem willfully ignorant of what was important to the author, and even to what is an important part of the story. They do everything they can to “sex up” Fanny, rather than giving her the latitude to be herself–and she is not the typical heroine. She is unusually meek and timid, yet very much worth understanding. No doubt, she requires a bit of explaining. Allow me: At about 9 years old, she is plucked from a very impoverished situation and adopted by the wealthy Bertram family. She’s still a bit young to comprehend her good fortune. She misses her family and must navigate some daunting social dynamics while living within the Bertram household. Mainly, Fanny Price grows up as a sensitive child in an awkward and humble position amidst the splendor and polished manners of her cousins, aunts and uncle. Fanny’s mean-and-nasty aunt Norris, who proposed the idea of adopting her, never lets her forget her humble origins. However, many readers are also not kind to Fanny or at least they choose to forget that if Fanny were to stand up for herself the way many readers think she should, there’s no doubt that she would be cast out of the house or sent home to live in wretched poverty. Game over! Fortunately, our Fanny is not just sensitive but also very sensible. She doesn’t act impulsively or irrationally, and she embodies something we have forgotten: The (to us) insufferable idea that, “the meek shall inherit the earth.” Seriously, we never even hear the word “meek” in modern communication. It’s unfathomable that Fanny tolerates, or is capable of tolerating, the demeaning comments, slights and never pushes back at the outright false accusations. She never contests who she is or what she deserves. Yoikes! We feel for her and are outraged against Mrs. Norris. If thoughtful, we must conclude that this is so NOT a weak heroine, despite some of her scenes of “sobbing” (these almost max out my ‘sobbing’ limits). Still, it’s clear that, you would sob too, if it happened to you! Truly, Fanny Price is an exceptionally strong character with a solid moral compass who creates her good fortune by the sheer force of her character and does this without support. Her cousin, Edmund, is often totally AWOL or ignorant of her feelings, so it’s not like the other heroines, who have a sister or friend to talk to.
Let’s do some yoga philosophy to help understand where this Fanny gets her unshakable mojo: In true classical philosophy, as taught by Socrates (‘know thyself’), and similarly in Buddhism, anyone seeking to attain happiness needs a moral compass, firm character and peace of mind. As opposed to our modern tendency to spend a lot of time absorbed in ‘extremes’ of overt stimulation, such as addiction to social media. Experts are alarmed that western children are getting dumber. Confusing instant gratification with happiness is delusional. Fanny is an example of someone using their intellect to steer away from danger and irrational behavior. Her sister, Maria, a beautiful yound woman who promises to grace the very pinnacle of the social ladder, yet without training in self-control and unhabituated to self-reflection, is engaged to marry what John Mullan calls, “a block of wood on legs” and then Mary and Henry Crawford appear, and begin their seduction of the Bertram family.
Maria is vulnerable. Absorbed in external pleasures she is ignorant that there is an unlimited source of happiness which doesn’t require anything else. The only knowledge that will save us from being cheated by cheap thrills…is the understanding of self. As Krishna states in the Gita, (B.Gita 7.2) “Knowing this, nothing remains to be known.” That is such an interesting statement, and in Jane Austen’s novel, Mansfield Park, we can examine “cool-headed” rational thinking and its connection to a good life, or how we, (like Fanny and unlike Maria Bertram), can avoid falling from a good life into an irrational and hellish life, unnecessarily.
Exploring a bit more Mansfield Park, we find the very wealthy Bertram family in various states of willful unawareness. The aunt, Mrs. Norris, is miserly, cruel and a busy-body (in contrast to the amazing indolence of her sister, Lady Bertram). Yet while obsessing over saving a few pence, here and there, the aunt is oblivious to the wellbeing of her niece, Maria, the eldest daughter of Sir Bertram. By her aunt, 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 dangerous level of vanity that leaves Maria completely vulnerable to idle flattery from the likes of cold-hearted Henry Crawford. After Henry finishes with Maria, (for the moment), our heroine, Fanny Price, unexpectedly finds herself next in line for Henry’s calculated attentions. In fact, poor Fanny gets the worst of it, as Sir Thomas and her relations, pressure her to capitulate to Crawford’s proposals. Henry is wealthy and has many alluring talents and every charm of seduction (which many readers fall for), yet Fanny cannot forget what she has seen, especially his cruel abandonment of Maria. 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 just playing with her, as he did with her cousins. Mary Crawford is beautiful, charming and as vain and selfish as her brother. Edmund falls for her. Mansfield Park is a good lesson in understanding the dangers of individual narcissism.
Returning to Henry Crawford: Some readers are smitten with Henry 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 requires some serious self-delusion to imagine that it was better for Maria to have loved and lost. Maria herself doesn’t feel this way. She’s as embittered and feels as scorned as we can imagine. When Jane Austen accuses a man of “creating an attachment” (essentially, the wrongness is due to the man creating strong feelings in the woman, and Jane Austen considered it barbarious. It is unthinkable that modern women would fall for this character, yet this happens all the time. 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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