Kate Taylor's Yoga Site

On Saturday, my friend Mauricio and I headed back up to the Ashram in B.R. Hills .

We arrived at the Vishwa Shanthi Niketana at about 9:30 am and were greeted by Swami Pranavanada.  He asked us if we would like some chai and thus began our odyssey of sitting with the swami and eating. We were there less than 24 hours, but managed to sit for five eating events plus a mid-afternoon offering of coconut water.

All of our meals were taken sitting on a mat outside of Swamiji’s bungalow. The banana leaves you see in the photo are our plates.  Our right hand was our fork, knife and spoon.

While we ate or sipped our chai, he would sit in his chair and act as our intermediary with the cook, who did not speak any English. He was incredibly generous with the delicious food and we both struggled to be gracious even though we were still full from the previous meal almost every time we sat down for the next one. While we ate, he would chat with us and answer any questions we asked. While he does not maintain complete silence as Nirmalananda did, he is a man of few words.

Here is a brief sampling of the foods we ate in our 24 hours at the ashram: chai, almonds, dates, Indian snack mix, papaya, rice with sambar and vegetables, carrot and coconut chutney, mango pickle, coconut water, pistachios, more chai, more snack mix, ladu, dates, noodle bhat, apples, more chai, more papaya, upmaa, figs, apricots, and more dates.

When we weren’t eating, we were free to do whatever we wanted. My preferred activities were reading and doing nothing. The night before we left I woke up, as usual, at 3:00 am, unable to sleep any longer. I read the sutras for a while and then picked up the copy of the Bhagavad Gita that we are using in my chanting class. I have read the Gita before, a couple of times, but thought I’d read parts of it again. As I started to read it, I realized that this is the book I should have been reading since I arrived.

The story of Arjuna’s struggle with his “professional” duty as a warrior and his personal desire to follow a spiritual path has many parallels to my current predicament. I cogitate a lot about whether planning and managing projects is my dharma (innate duty) and I just need to accept it, or whether I have another métier that just needs to be uncovered.

The 18^th chapter of the Gita talks about Svadharma (one’s natural duty) and Paradharma (the duty of another). The message is that it is better to follow one’s own natural duty that the duty prescribed for others. Chaper 18, verse 48 says this:

O son of Kunti! Do not abandon the duty that is natural to you, even if some imperfections are incidental to it. For there is no undertaking without some imperfections, even as there is no fire without the covering of smoke.

The tough part is knowing what one’s Svadharma is. While I enjoy teaching yoga, and have tried to dream up a million ways to make a living at it, I feel this may be Paradharma for me. On the other hand, there are many aspects of consulting and project management that come naturally to me, though. Sitting on the rocks at the ashram, for the first time in many months, I started to feel a need to accept and appreciate these unique gifts.  At the same time I am drawn to trying to apply these skills to a projects that speak to my heart. Rather than abandon all of the years of study and experience, I have started to think about ways to leverage this to “do good.”

The swami reminded us as we talked to him that we cannot change the world, but we can change ourselves.  My intention is to find a new path of Karma Yoga that takes advantage of these innate talents rather than trying to push them away.  I also intend to bring everything I am learning on my mat with me in whatever comes next for me professionally.