How (Not) to Fight Injustice

Are yogic texts the most helpful guides? #yogaproblempage

A couple of weeks back, I asked you for problems. Part of my aim here is to explore how philosophies of yoga – and similar traditions – relate to modern challenges.

Problematic approaches…

Thanks to everyone who wrote – I now have lots of dilemmas (but please send me more…)! To keep things simple, I’ll start with a question that mentions a text.

As you’ll see from the answer below, I won’t just respond by regurgitating quotes. I’m keen to see what happens if we think for ourselves, albeit guided by yogic ideas.

So here goes…

Q:  How can we live meaningfully with Yoga Sūtra 1.33 without feeling we are abdicating responsibility for addressing injustices, iniquities, inequities, and risks to the environment? 

There’s a lot to unpack here. It boils down to asking if yoga involves taking action to right worldly wrongs, or whether its objectives are more world-renouncing.

Let’s start with the sūtra to which it refers. This pithy line of Sanskrit links clarity of mind to two lists of qualities. The first four are:

• benevolence (maitrī)

• compassion (karuṇā)

• pleasure (muditā)

• disregard (upekṣā)

The next are two sets of opposites:

• happiness (sukha)

• suffering (duḥkha)

• virtue (puṇya)

• vice (apuṇya)

Beyond that, there’s little to go on, which is one of the problems with the Yoga Sūtra – people tend to fill in the gaps to fit modern assumptions. This line is widely cited to promote being kinder, but on closer inspection it says something else. To quote the translation by Edwin Bryant:

“By cultivating an attitude of friendship toward those who are happy, compassion toward those in distress, joy toward those who are virtuous, and equanimity toward those who are non-virtuous, lucidity arises in the mind.”

In other words, the aim is to eliminate distractions from focusing inwards. Rather than envying those who are happy – or models of virtue – one wishes them well, while those who suffer are offered compassion instead of assistance. The last pairing sounds the most jarring – misconduct is effectively ignored so the mind becomes calm.