FACIMILES OF HUMANS--Rishikesh is the World Capital of Yoga…or Ego…?!
A friend refers to RishiCult as one giant mental hospital. I now have to agree after years of visiting here. It’s an international mental hospital or maybe sanitarium best captures the rank atmosphere—the longer people stay the more brain damage they seem to exhibit (and other forms of ill-being as well).
Even the teachers here hardly know of and follow the Yamas and Niyamas, an ethical foundation of yoga without which further studies will be misguided at best (from my experience, advaitists/non-dualists seem to be some of the most self-absorbed of all here while at the same time fronting as open-minded and carefree—carefree until the precise moment the world goes against the grain of their self-serving desires…LOL).
A friend refers to RishiCult as one giant mental hospital. I now have to agree after years of visiting here. It’s an international mental hospital or maybe sanitarium best captures the rank atmosphere—the longer people stay the more brain damage they seem to exhibit (and other forms of ill-being as well).
Even the teachers here hardly know of and follow the Yamas and Niyamas, an ethical foundation of yoga without which further studies will be misguided at best (from my experience, advaitists/non-dualists seem to be some of the most self-absorbed of all here while at the same time fronting as open-minded and carefree—carefree until the precise moment the world goes against the grain of their self-serving desires…LOL).
Still, some of the lovely folk here are teaching (gasp) everything from
asana (postures) and philosophy to meditation and beyond—ultimately,
mis-training students who don’t know any better and are unlucky enough
to encounter and trust uninformed teachers, teachers who themselves
should be studying and practicing and not teaching, yet.
And caveat emptor (buyers beware!)--another mother kisser here is serving the faux-god Mammon and making money by selling ornaments that he fools customers into believing supports village women—truly bad karma (action) that will come back on him.
As the famous Swami Sivananda said, “The Law of Karma is inexorable. You will have to suffer for every wrong action of yours.”
With karma in mind, especially petty here is the gossip—day and night, night and day and at every meal and gathering--seems wrong-speech is a real and divisive issue wherever foreign expats congregate—they cannot feed enough on a frenzy of petty gossip on a daily if not hourly basis. Un-yogis if there ever were as they can’t even understand the most basic concepts and align with them—ahimsa (do no harm in body, speech and thought) and satya (do not misrepresent the truth).
Petty gossip by facsimiles of humans within earshot of Mother Ganga fills the air and pollutes the beach.
Well, if ego is increasing, then perhaps it’s not genuine yoga, right? Do practitioners have the wherewithal to notice if something is amiss and if ego is increasing through their practice? If so, how to make adjustments? Truth be told, I cannot recall anyone I’ve met studying in Rishikesh, the self-styled ‘Yoga Capital of the World’ who wasn’t increasing their ego while here—and that’s over many years. Therefore, maybe it’s actually the de facto Ego Capital of the World?
Peace out—please don’t mind if this post offends anyone, and if so, then please let the accompanying photos be small consolation
And caveat emptor (buyers beware!)--another mother kisser here is serving the faux-god Mammon and making money by selling ornaments that he fools customers into believing supports village women—truly bad karma (action) that will come back on him.
As the famous Swami Sivananda said, “The Law of Karma is inexorable. You will have to suffer for every wrong action of yours.”
With karma in mind, especially petty here is the gossip—day and night, night and day and at every meal and gathering--seems wrong-speech is a real and divisive issue wherever foreign expats congregate—they cannot feed enough on a frenzy of petty gossip on a daily if not hourly basis. Un-yogis if there ever were as they can’t even understand the most basic concepts and align with them—ahimsa (do no harm in body, speech and thought) and satya (do not misrepresent the truth).
Petty gossip by facsimiles of humans within earshot of Mother Ganga fills the air and pollutes the beach.
Well, if ego is increasing, then perhaps it’s not genuine yoga, right? Do practitioners have the wherewithal to notice if something is amiss and if ego is increasing through their practice? If so, how to make adjustments? Truth be told, I cannot recall anyone I’ve met studying in Rishikesh, the self-styled ‘Yoga Capital of the World’ who wasn’t increasing their ego while here—and that’s over many years. Therefore, maybe it’s actually the de facto Ego Capital of the World?
Peace out—please don’t mind if this post offends anyone, and if so, then please let the accompanying photos be small consolation
