Happy Birthday Prashant!

Sunday afternoon around 4pm India time Anne and I, despite our best efforts, could not stay awake. We had hoped to make it to bedtime and help ourselves out with the jet lag but we could not remain in an upright position so we both laid down and went to sleep. Both of us slept remarkably well until midnight when we were both wide awake! I managed to go back to sleep about 3 am and then we were up at 7 to get ready for the day.

After a cup of tea and a light Lara Bar breakfast we walked to the Institute. (The rain had actually stopped for the ten minutes it took us to walk there this morning.) People were gathering in the entryway/foyer and so we met some more people. Dean Lerner, a senior teacher that Anne has studied with over the years is here this month for classes and he gave us some tips on how not to embarrass ourselves, which was generous and much appreciated. As we were waiting to go upstairs for practice Mr. Iyengar walked through the door and proceeded into the main area. So there he was, in his yoga whites, with his wild mane of hair, his famous bushy eyebrows and his regal bearing and presence. It is customary upon seeing him in the morning (or Prashant or Geeta) to pranam and touch their feet if one is inclined or simply to greet them with one's hands in prayer and say, "Namaskar." (I learned that "Namaskar" is more reverential than "Namaste". Who knew?)

As we made our way upstairs to the practice hall, people were coming down the stairs saying, "Not yet." Turns out it was Prashant's birthday and there would be a brief celebration. Anne and I, in our attempt to get out of the way walked all the way into the foyer area which actually put us right in the front row as close up to Prashant as one could be. Chandru (who seems to be looking out for us since we are friends of Randy Just who he affectionately calls Arnold - referring to Randy's physique and presence being like Arnold Schwarzenegger) kept motioning for us to get closer up.

This is actually another line of consideration because the who do you know?, who do you study with? thing is very important here. This kind of relates back to my previous entry in thinking about relationship. Randy helps us with our taxi arrangements from Mumbai and helped us get our flat arranged. And we were graciously accommodated each time as "Randy's friends." In the interview process at The Institute we were enthusiastically welcomed after Pandu learned that we study with Mary and Eddy. Chandru seems to have taken an interest in us because of Randy again. And so it is clear at every turn that I am not here alone or because of anything I have personally done. I exist here as part of a community of support that has helped this opportunity happen for me. This is a lovely and yet humbling experience to be living in the middle of. Lee once talked about community as a soup. He said, "Think of a bay leaf. Alone, it is just a dried up leaf but when you put it in a soup the flavor it brings to the soup is quite remarkable. But really, the bay leaf has no purpose outside of the context of the soup."
Prashant said it was his day of embarrassment for it is embarrassing to him to have so much attention. Different people stood up to say thanks and give a few words of praise and honor. What stood out for me from the morning was his very natural sense of humility and dedication to turning people to the practice, to themselves and to the teachings, not to him- even on a day that was to honor him.

For instance one woman said, "every morning many of us start our day in Prashant's class and from that moment we are "Prashant-ified"... At the end of her talk he was very insistent that it is not nor ever has it been his desire that anyone ever be Prasahnt-ified. His desire, he explained, is that people become "Self-ified." He said, "I am not interested in a following, I am not interested in assembling a group around me, I am interested in turning you to the practice of yoga."

Another woman stood up and led a chant that was a chant about The Guru. Her voice was beautiful as was her intention and mood in her offering. After the chant was finished he said, "I want to be very clear about something. I am not qualified to be a guru... Never in this lifetime will I have that qualification. Nor are you qualified to be sishyas- disciples... It is important that we understand what each of us are and what our limitations are and what we can and cannot do together. What I am qualified to do is to be a teacher that can help you become a yoga vdyarti- a seeker of the wisdom of yoga. I am qualified to help turn you to the teachings of the subject of yoga so that you can understand this subject more fully and hopefully at some point, that understanding will prepare you to become a sishya. And once you are actually prepared to be a disciple, then you will be given a guru.The Guru is a function," he explained, "and so when we sing that chant it is praising a function called the Guru, not a person and certainly not me."

It was inspiring to see real humility and also to see that it must be a full time job to dismantle the projections that come along with his station and position.He then handed out some sweets, which were fabulous and then we went to the hall to practice.

Prashant's celebration really set a nice tone for the day. I am thinking a lot about the fact that I have come half way around the world (literally) to get help with my practice. And yet I watch the many ways it is hard to just remember that simple fact. My internal reality is more concerned with "not making mistakes" than it is with "getting help". This may sound like nothing but I think contextually these mindsets are worlds apart from one another. Prahsant's talk was a great reminder about why I have come this far to study. I am here- as is everyone else who has come- to get training in how to be one who is seeking the truth of yoga. We have travelled far, at great expense, to get help along the Way. The task is simply to avail myself of the help as it comes, in the many ways it may come and to use it to help me learn, grow and serve.

Being in the hall practicing was great. Mr. Iyengar was there and so was Geeta. How inspiring to see these luminaries of yoga simply roll out their sticky mats and practice. Really, what a teaching. For we are never exempt from that. At no point do we graduate from practice for that is what a seeker of the truth of yoga does- practice. Practice yields the ability to practice and so on like that.

I was going to post all of that yesterday but on my final scan, but the power went out and so it is actually the following day. We had class with Geeta last night which was awesome. Or at least the parts of the class I could understand were awesome. (Geeta has a very good command of English but a very strong accent.) What is kind of weird is how her class was so different from most Iyengar Yoga classes I have attended over the years. She did only two, very short demos (which she seemd reluctant to do at all and said she did not want to waste time)and there was very little start and stop. She was exacting, demanding, and yet it was very easy to feel her dedication and compassion. I got lots of new insights about some very basic poses and in general as great as it was, there was also an ordinariness to it as well. I found it a great relief to just fainlly be in class, doing what I love- learning and practicing yoga.

The Institute in many ways is quite ordinary. I do not mean that to disregard it in any way but it is very clearly a school of yoga. It is very humble, very simple and yet permeatated by such a strong legacy and intention that there is a transmission to be had simply by being there- that much is certain. But is is night and day from American yoga. There is no mood music, not one fancy thing, not one thing to indulge your comfort, not even one corner of quiet.

So certainly there is more to write on all of this but I want to get this posted before the power flickers and I have to wait another 24 hours! Oh- also keep reading Anne's blog for her insights and experiences on the trip. www.theyogaplacewaco.blogspot.com