Disillusionement with sacred scripture. Will it ever end? What is sacred anyway? I became disillusioned with the Western Bible for all the rubbish and hubris contained within. Idealized another ancient scripture then, only to experience disillusionment again. With the Eastern Yoga Sutras. Brilliantly concise and complete. But, of course, what is written by humans will be as flawed as we are. So what? Take what you like and leave the rest, the saying goes. I confess to yearning for wholeseome and unquestionable answers. But even in a world of sensible answers, questions abound.
Yoga Sutra II.40: śaucāt svāṅga-jugupsā parairasaṁsargaḥ
"By purification arises disgust for one's own body and for contact with other bodies." (1) (1985)
The word 'jugupsa' can be translated as censure, dislike, aversion, being on one's guard, abhorrence, disgust. (2) Sva = self; anga = limbs/body; paraih = with others; asamsargah = non-contact/non-intercourse; saucat = by cleanliness/purity. (2002)
The connotations for the human body are negative. I take issue with that. Another interpretation of the Yoga Sutras (3) explains that the spiritual seeker will "From purity," develop "distaste for his own body and [thus have] no intercourse with others"...
"When by practicing purity and seeing the defects in the body, he becomes disgusted with his own body, he becomes free from obsessions with the body; seeing what the body essentially is, he has no intercourse with others. So seeing, the renunciate finds no purity in the body even after he has washed it with earth and water and other things; how should he engage in intercourse with the absolutely unpurified bodies of others?" (1992)
I wonder, what exactly is the body essentially? And why is it understood to be essentially impure? This rings of a whole lot of unhealthy relationships with onself and others. It appears to contradict the wisdom of Yoga and the Sutras. It also explains the extreme ascetism that can be characteristic of classical yoga and the renunciates who seek social isolation. It also makes me think of the barbaric archaic Christian practices of self-flaggelation. I see no benefit in vieweing the body in a distasteful way. Yes, let's overcome the obsession with the body. But let's do so with compassion and love. I take fascination, study, exploration and admiration any day over distaste. Yes, it exists and all sorts of illnesses, addictions and afflictions (i.e. eating disorders, drugs, botox, plastic surgery etc.) result from experiencing distaste with the human body. Distaste is unwise. On the road to enlightenment/illumination all becomes relative if all is to be transcended in the end. Then, why loathe nature's bodies and their filth? Appreciation and love must not inhibit purity, cleanliness, hygiene, intercourse and procreation. On the contrary, they go hand in hand. The ancient Aztecs even had a Goddess of Filth, Tlazoltéotl ("Filth Deity"), who was a temptress and a purifier, ruling over flesh, feces, and feritility. Filth is an undeniable aspect of human existence. Must we loathe it?
I.K. Tainmi doesn't seemm to think so (4), as he clarifies in his scientific interpretation of the Yoga Sutras, where Sutra 2.40 is translated as follows:
"From physical purity (arises) disgust for one's own body and disinclination to come in physical contact with others." (1986)
On the one hand Taimni declares: "The physical body is essentially a dirty object as a little knowledge of physiology will convince anyone." Not me. The physical body is essentially beyond dirty and beyond an object as a little knowledge of Sein (To be) will convince anyone, too. If it's but a matter of perspective, why vilify the body? To see it as wonderful and sacred and holy is possible as well. Isn't it? But Tainmi insists: "Physical beauty is proverbially skin deep and beneath this skin there is nothins but a mass of flesh, bones and all kinds of secretions and waste products which arouse disgust in our mind when they come out of the body."
Except, catching the constant shit of my babies also filled me with such joy. They filled me with joy. It's their shit. So what? Both the disgust and the joy of cleaning shit, piss and vomit were temporary anyway. The children grew up and learned to clean their own shit. And that is just a fragment of what having a human body means. It cannot be reduced to being essentially an object, for it enjoys a vast subjective existence (nervous system, intuition etc.) and is frequently the subject itself in a lifetime of movements. Tainmis understanding of the body is in my opinion essentially wrong.
Distaste for the body leads to an antisocial state of mind. Tainmi explains that "A person who feels disgust for his own body is not likely to feel any attraction towards the bodies of others which are likely to be comparatively less clean. The disinclination to come in physical contact wih others is thus natural." Iyengar's translation turns Sutra 2.40 into a more practical guideline: "Cleanliness of body and mind develops disinterest in contact with others for self-gratification." (2002)
Today at the public pool, as I meditated on filth, I looked onto everybody there with great love. Even though it still felt gross to walk barefooted on moist and mini-muddy mystery wet floor. This did little to my sociability though, my love for humankind. Human nature is inevitably interactive and bodybound. Distaste only leads into the opposite of truly understanding what the human body essentially is. Distaste also threatens to divide what is inescapably unified. Potentially leading to all sorts of ills such as hierarchies, castes and ranks. It's socially divisive on a human scale, nihilistic in the individual. It's counterintuitive as it moves away from nature but not in a good way.
To develop a distaste for the human form on the path to illumination makes little sense to me. What were these ancient sages thinking? Blind to their own contradictions. And I thought they had it all figured out. The body is to be loved. Nature is to be loved. Distaste does occur, but is not wise. The body walks beyond distaste essentially, which is why it cannot be essentially distasteful. Nature nurtures and cleanses with equanimity. Balanced stillness for Prakriti thanks to Purusha? Or is Nature essentially balanced as well?
Even Tainmi believes in a "fundamental law of Love":
"But it should be noted that this does not mean any feeling of repulsion towards others, for that would be positively reprehensible and against the fundamental law of Love. A positive love towards the owner of the vehicle is quite compatible with a lack of desire to come in contact with the vehicle itself when a person has the capacity to distinguish between the two."
Except, remember Jesus of Nazareth?
"Love your neighbour as you love yourSELF."
Every seeker exists inextricably linked to her body. The law of Love equally applies to one's own body, the one we're in constant contact with while alive.
At the pool I also thought about what thinker I might kiss if I could. Krishnamurti, maybe. Dshuang Dsi, definitely.
And then again, sacred scripture is as flawed as my desire for flawlessness. Thank God for the Dirt Goddess! Pendulum between filth and fertility, between desire and purity.
Tlazoltéotl - Goddess of Filth 1
Bitch sniffing where shit, piss and other things are smeared.
Tlazoltéotl - Drecksgöttin 1
Eine Hündin schnüffelt die mit Scheisse, Pisse und anderen Dingen verschmierte Stelle.
(1) Integral Yoga - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Translation and Commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda. 1985.
(2) Light on the Yoga SUtras of Patanjali. B.K.S. Iyengar. 2002.
(3) Sankara on the Yoga Sutras - A Full Translation of the Newly Discovered Text. Trevor Leggett. Delhi, 1992.
(4) The Science of Yoga. I.K. Taimni. 1986.
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