Yoga Ethics: Part 3/3 Yoga Ethics and Activism yogaphilosophy.com South Asian Alternatives

• Three conventional ethical theories familiar in the West + Yoga/Bhakti • BUT, with no LAT –No Communitarianism –No Anthropocentrism Four Dharma Theories: Not Human or Community Centered • Virtue Theory: the good —virtue or strength— produces right action. • Consequentialism: the good (end) justifies the right (means). • Deontology: the right (reason) justifies the good (action or omission). • Bhakti/Yoga: the right action produces the good. Is (prakṛti) vs. Ought (puruṣa)

• Basic distinction between the facts AND • What ought to be. • Nature is about the is. • Persons are about the ought. • Expectation that you find yourself through introspection is confused, as are Buddhist criticisms that there is no self as it can’t be perceived. Yoga as a Kriyā (YS II.1)

• (The Lord is a special kind of person, untouched by afflictions, actions, untouched by effects of actions and stores (of latent tendency-impressions). I.24) • Īśvara praṇidhāna = devotion to Sovereignty • Tapas = austerity, penance, heat, self-challenge • Svādhyāya = self- determination • (essential aspects of

sovereignty are converted into The Goddess Lakṣmī (the Earth) embodies the goals of yoga: procedural ideals) svarūpevasthānam/“abiding in one’s form” (YS I.3), svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā/“standing on one’s form” (YS IV.34), and more literally sva-svāmī/“own mastery” (YS II.22). She is the wealth, prosperity and the thriving that comes from owning one's own choices and determining one's own future Yoga’s End: kaivalya

• The traits of Svādhyāya • svarūpevasthānam/“abiding in one’s form” (YS I.3), svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā/“standing on one’s form” (YS IV.34), and more literally sva- svāmī/“own mastery” (YS II.22).

• Perfection of the practice of The Goddess Lakṣmī (the Earth) embodies the goals of yoga: being oneself! svarūpevasthānam/“abiding in one’s form” (YS I.3), svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā/“standing on one’s form” (YS IV.34), and more literally sva-svāmī/“own mastery” (YS II.22). She is the wealth, prosperity and the thriving that comes from owning one's own choices and determining one's own future YS II.1 over YS I.2-4 (Texts Come In Different Mediums: not always language)

•Depiction of three kriyās over the project of yoga. •There is no one thing that is Īśvara. •Devotion to Īśvara analyzes it into component practical ideals. •So there’s no other person who is responsible as you are devoted: it’s you. •The end of Yoga is •What we discover is that the end is devoted to the what we discover by means: svādhyāyād-iṣṭa-devatā-samprayogaḥ (YS being devoted to II.44) Īśvara. •It is a matter of personal choice. The Enemy: Egotism

• dṛg-darśana-śaktyor-ekātmatevāsmitā • dṛg = seer, perceiver • darśana = vision, perspective, scholasticism • śaktyoḥ = (of, in, at, two) powers • eka = one • ātmatā = selfhood • iva = like, in the same manner, as it were, in a certain manner • asmitā = egotism, I-am-ness, impurity, state of concentration • “Egotism consists in conflating the power of the seer (that is, the puruṣa) with the natural powers of perception into a single (conception of a) self.” (YS II.6) • Devotion is instead about seeing from many perspectives. • Problem with Egotism: it confuses the Is of a life and the Ought.

10 How does Devotion to Sovereignty Not Reduce to Libertarianism? • Libertarian individualism depends on what Yoga calls egotism: the conflation of self with one’s experiences (including wants etc.). • Devotion to Īśvara is about getting over egotism. • Yoga criticism: Libertarianism isn’t devotion to sovereignty. It’s narcissism.

10 Trauma and Value

• Thinking that there are ends that ought to be the case, and then berating ourselves for not having these ends • This requires Consequentialism Healing and Ought

• Thinking about choice in terms of devotion to right procedure allows us to let go of failure as inessential to our self identity • Yoga • Amoralism seems like an option if we are Consequentialists, which gives rise to the trauma Is Devotion to the Right Subjective?

(1)If the objective is what we can disagree about, it’s objective. (2)If we can get over our own ego (conflation of experience with responsibility), we can make non-subjective, right choices. (3)There will be a personal aspect to this. Acting objectively is about acting in a manner that allows for a diversity of perspectives in a public world.

10 End of the Yoga Sūtra: dharma- meghaḥ samādhi • “When one attains this summit (of yogic practice), characterized by a lack of selfish desires in all contexts and the ever presence of discriminative knowing, there comes the Rain Cloud of Morality Liberating State of Absorption (dharmameghasamādhi).” (YS.IV) • Selfish desire = ego puruṣārtha-śūnyānāṃ guṇānām pratiprasavaḥ kāivalyaṃ svarūpa-pratiṣṭhā vā citi-śakter-iti

• “With no other goal of the person remaining (for they have all been fulfilled), the qualities (of Nature) resolve themselves back into the flow (of Nature). Then (the person) stands only on its own form, or on (pure) power of knowing. This is Isolation. That is all.” (IV.34) • → End of the Yoga Sūtra is a full circle of the beginning. • Getting over egotism, leads to one’s own self- sufficiency. Central concern of Yoga

• Dharma, but a specific theory: right action, and devotion to the ideal of that, brings about a good outcome. • Right action means getting over your own ego. • Devotion to Īśvara means understand what we share an interest in as persons. Anti-egotism. Yama = Beginning and End of Yoga

• Disruption of systemic harm (ahiṃsā), that reveals facts (satya), about a world where people have what they need (asteya), personal boundaries are respected (brahmacarya), and one doesn’t hoard (aparigrahā). (YS II.30) • Non conditional: universal obligation. (YS II.31) Niyama=The Middle of Yoga Practice • Personal observation of the three basic practices of yoga (tapas, svādhyāya, and Īśvara praṇidhāna), while working on being (santoṣa) content with the practice and pure (śauca) in one’s commitment. Where to Practice Yoga

• For a yogi, any and all activity is the opportunity to practice. • There is no distinction between practicing yoga and living life. • Every aspect of relating to others (Yama) and oneself (Niyamas) are expressions of the more basic three practices. Activism

• With respect to the Middle of Yoga practice (Niyama), we have śauca to remind us of the importance of being actively against non-yoga. • With respect to the beginning and end of Yoga, it’s all direct action. Civil Disobedience, Direct Action, Yoga Sūtra • Hypothetical arguments that harass and oppose those who would follow these dictates must be countered by (becoming) an opponent who lives according to them (that is, the yama and niyama rules) and in opposition to the detracting arguments. • Hypothetical arguments promoting harm and the like, that cause actions to be done in accordance with euphoria, greed, anger or infatuation, are preceded by mild, moderate and extreme suffering. Without penetrating knowledge, such fruit (of suffering) is endless. Thus, one must become an opponent to such influences by living in a contrary manner. • That (being the yogic activist) is based upon non-harmfulness, and that has the effect of making opponents renounce their hostility. (Yoga Sūtra II. 33-35) Contacted Scholar of Gandhi: Politics of Satyagraha in the Yoga Sūtra • She went out and wrote a book on how Gandhi ubiquitously cites the Yoga Sūtra in his collected works and credits Patañjali with his theory of the central importance of ahiṃsā. • Puri, Bindu. Tagore-Gandhi Debate on Matters of Truth and Untruth. Springer, 2015. Global Influence of the Yoga Sūtra

• Yoga Sūtra → Gandhi→ MLK and the American Civil Rights Movement→ contemporary protest movements (e.g. Direct Action Everywhere, Black Lives Matter) Yoga as Undermining Convention

• Lesson from the Mahābhārata: the problem is conventional moral rules that cement systemic injustice — and it’s the conventionally good who are repeatedly undermined. • Leaning on Bhakti/Yoga allows us to focus on how we ought to live and this has the effect of reinstituting a moral order, as the old conventions crumble. • Activism: breaking rules of conventional morality.

20 min Yoga Activism

• It’s the beginning and end of yoga practice. • It involves disrupting any and all systemic harm that undermines the space for people to work on their own svādhyāya (self- governance). • The Western tradition, with its emphasis on the cultural foundations of language (via the LAT) presents several obstacles. Yoga and DE&I

• Heterosexism • Bigenderism • Sexism • Speciesism • Racism • … all of which require egotism—that defines the ideal person in terms of certain life experiences. Yoga and Understanding People

• A person isn’t defined by their natural attributes or abilities. • A person is defined by their interest in their own sovereignty (tapas and svādhyāya) • A person isn’t the same as something that is alive. There are many living things that only thrive if they are not sovereign, e.g. plants. • Our Activism is about Making Space for People. Examples of People

• Nonhuman animals • The Earth (The Goddess Lakṣmī) Test if you are Westernized?

• Anthropocentrism is the sensitive part of the West, for it is a wide spread practice that assumes the primordial position of the human being. • This is an assumption, not a well reasoned conclusion. Vegan/Vegetarian? Is It Compulsory for Yoga?

• As South Asian moral theory Contrast with: “Mortals suppose that the gods are born and have is non-anthropocentric, there clothes and voices and shapes like their own. But if oxen, is wide support in this horses, and lions had hands or could paint, horses would paint tradition for Veganism and horse-like images of gods and oxen ox-like ones, each would Vegetarianism: nonhuman fashion bodies like their own.” Xenophanes of Colophon animals are people too. • What about Yoga? – Ah… Yes, but it’s complicated.

Viṣnu as a fish. Vegan/Vegetarian? Is It Compulsory for Yoga? • Vegetarian: a food item method of defining acceptable consumption. • Veganism is a form of Deontology, where the good rules of consumption (plant based) are justified by anti-animal exploitation considerations. Yoga is a distinct Ethical Theory

• In being devoted to Īśvara, we have to act in a manner that respects the common interest of people in their own unconservativism and self- governance. • This involves challenging ourselves and owning our own yogic choices. • Attacking other people to appropriate their bodies or products would be contrary to this (hunting, livestock agriculture for meat). • But there are lots exceptions to no animal products rule. Self-Defense Exception

• All bets are off when the person or product is something being violent to you. • In this case, devotion to Īśvara involves doing what is necessary to prevent one’s own demise. » An excuse could even be generated for hunting in traditional contexts, but one that had to make reference to egotism in terms of the hunter or the hunted. • (This is the opposite of animal agriculture at presence that preys on animals that don’t treat humans as food or a threat.) Context of Care Exemption

• No animal products? • This too becomes more complicated. If the animal products are produced in contexts of care. • EG mother’s milk for babies. • EG use of animal discards (manure, excess fur…)

30 min Problem for Virtue Ethicists

• Making the issue of nonharm a matter of one’s own virtue is to deemphasize the importance of others. Problems for Consequentialism

• Anything would appear acceptable if we could diminish the bad outcome for victims. – Anaesthetics administered before killing someone would make murder acceptable. – A kind past can be used to justify an appropriative end: E.G. “Ethical Meat” • Problem of the Bad Man: if you don’t kill 2 the Bad Man will kill 3, so you kill 2, which is less bad. Problem for Deontology: Primary vs. Secondary Outcomes • We can be both being against animal exploitation and being plant based given a very truncated account of the outcomes (what we see, what we eat…) • What we have no direct control over are the secondary outcomes, where plant agriculture occurs within a wider context of oppression, and where the oppression of animals is part of the very process. • People who think that only the first matter endorse the doctrine of double effect. Catholic Church uses this doctrine to justify forbidding abortions in cases of maternal medical crises. Primary vs. Secondary Outcomes

• Where one draws the line is arbitrary. • Deontology in making duty about good behaviour, leaves the bad stuff untouched as a secondary outcome. Yoga Response to Primary-Secondary Outcomes • Draw the boundary between the two outcomes so that the Secondary Outcomes are the good things, like practice (Niyamas). • Treat the primary outcomes as what needs to be disrupted (Yamas). Yogic Activism: Īśvara praṇidhāna

• Undermine Obstacles to good Secondary Outcomes by tapas • Endorse Primary Corrective Practices via svādhyāya – → this generalizes to all yoga activism. Yoga Practitioner: the friendly subversive • Devotion to Īśvara → devotion to everyone’s interest in Sovereignty (not a zero sum game) • Won’t have the edge of the cranky Deontologist • Adding limbs to your practice is about adding layers. • Moral Problems are not personal: they are systemic! People who are problems

• They have decided to internalize the world they experience as part of their own self identity. • They stop acting like individuals and instead as agents of the system. • So a world that is White supremacist and anthropocentric would encourage either or both for those who fail yoga and merely identify with what they experience. Solution

• People who simply believe what they see need to shown a different way of living. • So Yoga Activism, based on ahiṃsā, provides them a different experience that if they internalize will be transformative. • It’s not about shaming people (that’s what frustrated Deontologists do). It’s about demonstrating a different way of living. A different outlook

• Fight against the idea of a disposable life for persons. • Change is systemic (yama) and personal (niyama). • After proper attention to that, you have the external and internal environment for āsana, and the other limbs, only to come to the end and the beginning: dharma-meghaḥ samādhi.