When we start to look at spiritual traditions,
It is very important that we look back carefully at their history so we can find out the truth of their development and the truth of the original concepts that were taught.
This doesn't mean that these arts don't have any evolution and their evolution is incorrect,
But it does mean that we need to understand their evolution so we know clearly in our haas the essences of their style.
One example of this is yoga and the word asana.
Asana is the third step of their eight limb path written down by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
When we start to research in that direction,
It actually appears that the asana was specifically related to sitting in the lotus posture,
And sitting in the lotus posture to a point where one could sit in 100% comfort with a straight spine for as long as was needed.
It does appear that the asanas that we do for example in modern time are a much later addition to the eight limb path and the idea of asanas.
It is therefore also important that we look back at some of the crucial ideas that were used in ancient India through Buddhism and Hinduism and the various other philosophies at the time.
No matter what philosophy it is,
There is always some form of a cultural aspect related to it.
So let's look at the concept of karma.
Your karma makes you born into a certain caste,
Because we must never forget here about the caste system of ancient India.
It's commonly not spoken about nowadays,
But it is just important to remember that as it is for example with the history of China,
Child slavery was actually a massive part of their culture for a very long time.
Just as foot binding was a huge part of their culture for over a thousand years,
Where in the end 90% of all Han women had actually their feet bound.
The way they were bound was by cracking the arch of the foot to three year old young girls in winter when the foot was more numb and then binding it.
We also need to realize for example in Chinese culture,
The philosophers ruled the country and had to participate in immense public exams and whoever was able to get the highest mark got governmental positions.
The exams though were all based on Confucius and other sages throughout China.
Therefore China always had the history of thinking that the past sages were the greatest and knew everything,
Hence the fact that China got held back for many,
Many,
Many hundreds of years.
We also need to therefore look at India and have a look at the original ideas and understand where they came from,
So from a spiritual tradition we're not getting caught up with cultural aspects.
The first thing we must realize about ancient Indian culture and we must never forget is the caste system.
This is paramount to understanding it.
So your karma makes you born into a certain caste and it is your dharma,
Which is your duty to accept your caste and live in an orderly fashion without any upheaval.
So dharma in many ways actually means orderly in its more early ways.
So you're born in a caste and you're born in that caste due to your karma.
So imagine if you're born in a low caste.
Everybody thinks you're born into a low caste because of the fact that you had some bad karma.
Now you're paying for it and you must stay orderly in that caste,
Do your duty,
And then be reborn in the next life in let's say a higher caste.
This of course is a brilliant way to keep society in harmony.
So this idea of karma and duty is specifically talked about in the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna tells Arjuna to fight.
This would normally be a major contradiction considering the highest dharma is said to be that of non-violence,
But in the Hindu society,
To keep the order of society,
One must fulfill one's expected class duty.
And this is no more evident in any other book than the Bhagavad Gita.
How can you argue with your caste and the duty that needs to be fulfilled when your position in life is due to your past deeds?
Buddhism though changed this completely and offered that anyone could achieve nirvana no matter what caste they were in,
Combined with the fact that Buddha took and changed the idea of Atman,
The central core idea of Hinduism,
And replaced it with the opposite,
Anatman,
As the core of its philosophy,
And here we have a new religion that is born that is for the people and not just for the upper class.
So when we look at the meaning of karma,
It was much more in line with ritual actions,
After which it was in line with that one can become good through doing good deeds and one can become evil through doing evil deeds.
Here we are not getting in the idea of samsara.
The early ideas of dharma was not so much based on one's expected duty or what one had to do in one's caste to maintain order of society,
Instead it actually meant the cosmic laws and rules that created the universe from chaos.
The ideas of karma and dharma seem to have come much earlier than those of samsara,
Mukti,
Moksha and nirvana.
Therefore the idea of rebirth or reincarnation probably isn't as old as what we may have thought.
Personally,
I prefer the early ideas of karma and dharma,
Because if we were to look at dharma,
It means that it is our duty or our dharma to follow the cosmic law.
The law of action or the law of karma is,
In the old way,
Is based on do good deeds so that you become good.
Don't do evil deeds so you don't become evil.
I also like these ideas of not focusing on samsara,
The cycle of rebirth,
Because in the end,
We don't know if rebirth is true or not.
There is no way of truly knowing it.
So why should we spend our life focusing on that?
Instead though,
We focus on moksha or liberation of suffering in this life.
And we practice selflessness in action and we aim to achieve moksha through the four paths of yoga that we combine together.
Therefore we practice selflessness in all actions that we do,
Pure awareness meditation,
Contemplation that we at our essences are not our body,
Not our mind and not our thoughts and instead adjust this blank piece of paper,
This awareness.
And then finally having faith and believing in this idea of pure awareness.
