My First Letter to SHRI AJITA

Mar 27, 2008 | Silent War, Social Justice

“For the one that is pure absolutely everything is pure. Truly understanding everything means to forgive everything”

Dear Shri Ajita,

Thank you for your letter and for your concern for our yoga school, as well as for the help you intend to offer us and which is always welcome.

If I put myself in your place, I understand your concern. This is why I would like to clarify as much as possible certain aspects, so that this tormenting feeling of discomfort regarding me and our school will decrease. Please become aware that the state you experience is not harmonious for you and it shows that you also need to reconsider our suggestions because I do not have such states of distress and when I notice that something is not right I manifest rather a state of compassion and detachment and definitely I do not remain uneasy about it. Now I will take in turns the aspects presented so that we can clarify each of them as well as possible. Here is one first statement from your letter:

“You explain how bad people attack you and your organization and you speak of calumnies against you. But that is disturbing me. Because you cannot deny you are involved in sex business, as proved for me by the presence of a sex shop on your congress of Kopenhagen, where everybody could see and buy pornographic material, books or sex toys.”

I will start with the good news. You can relax with regard to selling porn material at a presumed sex-shop within the European Yoga Congress in Copenhagen: none of the shops authorized to sell their products at the entrance to the halls of the congress was a sex shop. I checked myself the lists with the materials they were going to sell in those days and I also spoke directly with the managers of those companies and I made sure it was not like that. I had to do that because, as you know, I had to leave the works of the congress immediately after the opening festivity – after the conference I kept in the beginning. I wanted to make sure that what you have indicated would not happen after I had left. The only materials of erotic nature that existed in that building during the three days of the congress were the ones brought by Kubera Tantric Butik and they were just some sex toys like the ones mentioned in the Kama Sutra. There were no porn magazines, books or movies, as you have said. Even so, those toys were not visible, but they were in a box available only to those interested. The initiative of that shop belongs to a yoga teacher in our school who teaches also Tantra. He considered that since at certain tantric courses we speak about sexual harmony within a couple, and since such toys are anyway mentioned in famous works such as the Kama Sutra, those who were interested could have them at their disposal, so that they would not have to go and look for them in the sex shops, where there are also other materials. And more, the team that organized the congress asked from the Kubera shop to keep those toys only for those who asked for them, and not exposed. Still, if you have more questions, you can contact directly Andronicus Torp, the manager of that company, at email adress [email protected].

“The essence of your problem, Mihai, is that you are busy with an own form of Tantra Yoga, which has been transmitted to you by Grieg Bivolaru. And you still believe the man.”

This part of your letter surprises me and I hope the cause of this strange affirmation is only the ungainly use of a language different then your mother tongue. Still, I wonder how the essence of my problem can be the fact that I follow my spiritual guide. In which books have you read that a disciple who follows his spiritual guide has an essential problem because of this? From what it is clearly stated in all basic treaties of wisdom, essential problems appear when the disciple does not follow his spiritual master properly. And, of course, in order to practically follow your spiritual master, you must believe in him and in the truthfulness of his affirmations. The form of Tantra Yoga that my spiritual guide Grieg had taught me is a TRADITIONAL one. I checked this myself, comparing what I have learned from him with traditional yoga and Tantra works. For me (as well as for many others) it is no longer a problem to believe Grieg or not, because now for me the authenticity of these teachings is a matter already proven, both by these studies I have already made, and also by the experience I have on this path. Therefore the affirmation “You still believe him” is pointless. The spiritual experience I have accumulate so far has made it clear for me that this man is right. Moreover, I became convinced that these traditional teachings are fitting with the ones taught by the great Divine Model which was Jesus when He gives the parable with the coins. I am surprised that you wish the burry the “coin” of sexual energy, which God had given to us, and that you do not want to multiply it for the spiritual good – as in the parable given by Jesus. Even if you have no interest for the Tantric path, it is worthwhile at least to relate to Jesus’ teachings, because from what I have checked and from what I practice, these paths are identical from this perspective. Besides, we also teach sexual continence in our school, which is mentioned in all yogi treaties as Brahmacharya.

Moreover, if this is the essential problem, then why don’t you ask these questions directly to Grieg? I am sure he will be happy to answer you. I am convinced that this approach would have saved many questions in the mind of some people and it would bring many revelations. I will carry on and answer your message.

You say:”Maybe you could start wondering about this, knowing that sexual desire is a very dangerous thing to handle, especially when dealing with beginners. Therefore, in ancient times, the Rishi’s (reference “Science of Soul” by Swami Yogeshverananda Sarasvati) have described the difference between Bahirmukhi Vritti (energy vibrations leading to external life) and Antarmukhi Vritti (energy vibrations leading yo internal life), which are called commonly the left path and the right path.”

I totally agree with this. Moreover, I would like to add that Tantric works insist on the necessity to have a spiritual guide as an essential condition, in order to be able to realize successfully this differentiation between the two tendencies, in a practical and efficient manner. At the same time, it is well known that Tantric methodology gives us the practical “tools” through which the people who are anyway projected in the outside will be able to turn this tendency towards the inside through the complex process of transmutation and sublimation of the inferior potential into superior forms of aspiration.

You continue:”Using sexual desire to attain internal life is an extremely demanding art, where the practitioner has to be fully detached, with his mind under total control. “Knowing what it is all about, I can be allowed to say that in this affirmation you make the most common mistake made by people who want to understand Tantra yoga without practical experience and without the spiritual guide who can initiate them in these mysteries. To easily underline the error, here are some helping questions:If somebody is completely detached and his mind is under total control, then what would still keep him trapped in the “outer world”?

Why wouldn’t he withdraw into the infinitely more nuanced world, rich in significances, which is inside him? And in this case, why would he still need to use any methods (not necessarily Tantric) in order to obtain “the inner world”, since from the very beginning he fulfills the fundamental conditions for this? In reality, the one who is in that situation would not need to use special methods in order to go inside. Therefore the methods used in Tantra are meant for those who did not reach this level yet.

They (the methods) aim exactly to awaken these abilities: of complete detachment and total mental control. In the following, what has been said above is confirmed:”Failing to achieve that, the practitioner will fall in external life, which is the cycle of reincarnation.”

Whoever is full of attachments and has the mind unfocused will anyway fall over and over again towards the “outer world”, and he does this without any Tantric techniques! If this was not so, then we would have already found the solution for people to remain always in the inner life: forbidding any Tantric procedures and removing sexuality would guarantee that we remain inside, since the temptations of sexuality are the cause for falling in the outside!

But it is well known what happened to spiritual systems that made this serious mistake: to forcefully and without any discernment try remove fundamental aspects of human life, such as sexuality from the spiritual path. The fact that the one who is attached and unfocused falls in the outside world is the cause of being chained into Samsara and it does not belong to a certain spiritual path but to anybody who is in this situation. To put the problem like you put it is like saying that in order for a person to truly evolve spiritually he should be spiritually liberated! Or a simpler example: it is like you say that in order to learn to swim you need to swim very well! I hope this example is enough! Actually, how can somebody fall into Samsara if he did not have some attachments to it? And if these attachments are still there, the best things the respective person can do is to practice intensely and face those attachments. Avoiding these trials just to keep ourselves in an illusory inside oriented illusion is nothing else but to constantly and irresponsibly postpone this tragic end, without taking any measures for preventing it. We cannot create desire where it is already transcended, and where desire still exists within the being it will come out to the surface sooner or later, sometimes having devastating effects for the spiritual life of the respective person. But dealing with this problem openly, people have the chance to know themselves more profoundly. If they will notice they still have attachments to inferior problems, then they have the Tantric methodology at their disposal, so that they can really and profoundly transform themselves through the final sublimation of desires into something completely superior and spiritual. Tantra always indicates this attitude as being the most rightful one in order to succeed to overcome problems and attachments to exterior life. It is obvious that this can work only together with proper Tantric methodology. Therefore, we do not encourage, for example, eroticism without the adequate method which allows transmutation and sublimation of the sexual impulse into superior and non-sexual forms of energy.

Besides, let’s not forget that in the eastern tradition we have the example of Krishna who made love to the 16 000 virgins. And even the Hatha Yoga system is of Tantric nature, representing in fact the union of polarities Ha and Tha.”Where is your practice Mihai, when you stimulate sexual desire in everybody walking by, without distinction, and even more, asks money for your sex tools? Is that not dangerous and a clear sign of attachment?”The fact that people have sexual desires is not due to us or to you. This is an aspect that exists naturally. As you already know, each pervert and limited person judges the world by his own perversities. But, for the one that is pure everything is pure. In this context I ask you: what is it more dangerous, to avoid facing what you already have inside of you? Or to learn how to deal with and then to face those tendencies which anyway, sooner or later, will have to be solved despite our coyly postponing? Is it a sign of attachment to take a problem into consideration, or to avoid it? Taken a certain problem into consideration does not necessarily imply attachment. But, stubbornly avoiding it certainly implies repulsion. As Patanjali tells us, repulsion has the same nature as attachment. The story of the two monks is significant for this: Two monks, one young and the other one old were coming back to the monastery from a pilgrimage. On the bank of a river they were about to cross they met a woman that asked them to help her cross over the water. The young monk shouted at the woman, telling her off for approaching them, as they were monks. Without saying a word, the oldest monk took the woman in his arms and crossed her over the water. On the other bank of the river, the old monk put the woman down without saying a word and continued to walk. After a few hours of walking in heavily silence, the young monk burst out, asking the old monk why he had taken the woman into his arms, thus breaking the monks’ code of conduct.

The old monk smiled and said: “I took the woman from one bank of the river and left her on the other bank, but you still carry her in your mind, due to your obsessions”.

At the same time in the affirmation you make I noticed also a breach of the yogic moral code. According to which criteria can you judge my practice or that of our school by asking rhetorical questions as long as you have not followed the courses of this school? How many hours have you spent studying our courses? How many people have you met that have practiced yoga PROPERLY AND PERSEVERINGLY in this yoga school? Have you analyzed the results they had carefully?But skipping the moral code aspect I would even understand some of your above affirmations if in our school sexuality would be a constant or predominant topic. But, for your information, in the curriculum of the courses from the first 10 years of yoga (approximately 480 printed courses), in maximum 10 of them only it is spoken of sexuality. To say that this is a problem shows an exaggeratedly chaste attitude.

Please study the entire program of activities of Natha Yoga School (the guest of which you were), which is published on the website of the school and tell me what is the percentage of spiritual activities regarding sexuality, considering the general context of the school? You will then have a great revelation, seeing that we do not stress so much on this subject. It is better to rely on facts when you emit valuable judgements. Nevertheless, the fact that in this school we speak very openly about sexual life and how it can be integrated from the spiritual point of view is not a secret. In this context some of those who teach Yoga and Tantra within this school have initiated certain projects (among many of the projects we have going on in the school, besides the Yoga and Tantra classes) meant to describe an alternative to the unconscious and degrading sexuality which people usually practice. And as we know this kind of unconscious sexuality has unsuspected but very serious implications upon their spiritual life. The aim within these projects is to present the way in which people can integrate consciously and spiritually the concept of sexual continence as a starting method for reintegrating sexual experiences in the spiritual life.

I am aware that some of these initiatives are revolutionary but if we did not have as a base the many years of spiritual practice and spiritual results we would not have afforded to walk this path. And we are aware of the risk to be misunderstood by those who are still under the spell of worldly desires and who see the world through the lenses of their own obsessions. But this is always the risk with the ideas that transform profoundly the life. As you know, the drama of many people nowadays is not due to the fact that they do not know what harms them, but it is due to the fact that they cannot do almost anything to snatch themselves from the attachments to pleasures of the exterior world. Let’s not forget that people nowadays are still buying cigarettes on which there are printed pictures of people dying from smoking! They are still buying the cigarettes not because they are blind but because they are unable to resist the gigantic attraction toward the exterior temptations. Whatever beautiful words we will say, most people will have big problems to follow an ascetic path – that of total refusal of the world of senses. And this is for the simple reason that they do not have the necessary training and force for this powerful ascension. For all these people – who represent a majority in the present moment, in this age of spiritual decay – Tantra Yoga is a path towards God, which is practically accessible. These people caught under the spell of their own desires should not fool themselves anymore by repressing into their subconscious the inferior tendencies because on this path they have the practical methods to become aware of those tendencies and to sublimate them into superior spiritual aspirations, without the need to go through the traumatizing experiences of going astray from the path towards God. This is why, on the Tantric path, most people are not afraid at all to approach subjects which are normally taboo for the ascetics.

Those who walk the spiritual Tantric path approach life openly and without prejudices. This does not mean at all that they do only what they want, no matter the consequences. That is why Tantra says that “everything is possible but not everything is allowed”.The simple fact that we speak openly about aspects which for some remain taboo makes the ones who want to benefit from our school, to wish to exploit peoples’ fear and misunderstandings regarding these subjects. For this, they throw on the market half-information and even absurd information, counting on the confusion that already exists on those subjects.

You continue you letter with this affirmation:”My problem now is that I doubt you can recognize the danger of your lack of knowledge about Tantra Yoga. I hope that you can recognize this and act in consequence. For that I am ready to help you. Coming to Bucharest on your special invitation will then be a pleasure for me, giving me the opportunity to explain you more.”

With all due respect, I want to draw your attention and to tell you that your affirmation that we do not have the necessary knowledge regarding Tantra Yoga is once again breaking the spiritual moral principles, since you did not have the chance to know us directly and to be able to study how much or how little it is known about Tantra Yoga in this school. If we judge a school by those who repeat the class and who failed their exams, we do nothing but to become ridiculous. I know you understand what I mean, because I noticed in a reply you gave to Prof. Dr. Holger Lutich, on the same forum of the international yoga federation how you doubted his ability to judge MISA as long as he did not know it very well.

You said there: “Anyway I do not understand that you admit not knowing M.I.S.A very well, but still are in favour of defending that organisation.”

Please be consistent with your own principles.Moving over this mistake (which I have underlined due to an open dialogue we have engaged into here), I must tell you that you are always welcome (as you have always been) to the congress we will organize in Bucharest, under the International Yoga Federation’s patronage. We are sure that truth can come out of constructive debates.Nevertheless, for us it is strange the fact that although we have shown so many flagrant aspects of breaking human right in Romania, although you know very well that Romania is the country with most convictions at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, yet the reason of your concern is represented by these aspects, which once explained, appear insignificant, as you can see. Doesn’t this show an attachemnt to the exterior world of illusions created by our own projections?Which treaty of ancient wisdom says that people are not allowed to follow their own path towards God? In the law trials in Bucharest, yoga teachers are absurdly accused of human traffic, in a way similar to Kafka’s absurd style. How long must those trials in Bucharest must still continue until people from the spiritual environment will stand up firmly, beyond the particular path they are on?

For this, please read the accusations the Chineese government has against the members of Fallung Gong movements. You will notice striking similarities. Nevertheless, there, because there is political interest to force the China’s communist regime, something is being done to support the respective movement. I believe you agree with me that we do not need to have victims among yoga practitioners in Romania in order to ask firmly and urgently from the highest worldwide authorities for these abuses and attacks against M.I.S.A yoga school to STOP!
In this direction we expect at least the same concern and support, because it is much needed now, when more then 50 romanian yoga teachers are taken to court. They are judged with certain law files for which Romania is criticised openly by the European Administration. As a last proof for the affirmations I made about the abuses against the Yoga movement in Romania, here is how the press has interpreted your letter: It was said that the Federation withdraws her support for the congress in Bhucarest and even that you have personally announced that you do not wish to participate in the congress. This tendentious interpretation of what you said by some romanian newspapers (which are supported from behind the scenes by forces within the state control regime) must make you wonder whether they are trying to use you in order to make new attacks against the yoga school by compromising its image. In order for all these situations to be avoided it is best to know the truth as it is BY DIRECT EXPERIENCE AND NOT BY FOLLOWING SOME GOSSIPS. In order to create this opportunity to link all of us on the field of genuine spirituality we invite everyone who wants to participate in this International Yoga Congress to come with an open heart and to know also the host school, M.I.S.A. Thus, these unclarities generated by anonimous and bad intended gossipers will no longer exist.We look forward to seeing all of you in BucharestWish you Love in the Heart and Peace in the Mind

Mihai Stoian

Honoray secretary of International Yoga Federation for Scandinavian countries

Reprezentative of ATMAN International Federation foor Yoga and Meditation

ro.gif   Apasati aici pentru varianta in romana a articolului.

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