Human Spirituality and Coming Together in Peace, Looking Through Two Lenses (Māori and Sahaj Marg Raja Yoga). by Janine Joyce A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand November 2014 ii Abstract This project explored the experiences of ordinary men and women involved in spiritual practices in order to understand the phenomenon of spiritual heart and any implications for outer peace. The primary question asked of informants was what was spiritual brotherhood? Very early in the process the research question refined itself to ask about spiritual brothersisterhood, as the connotation of brotherhood was excluding for the female informants. In order to understand both the question and perhaps the phenomenon; participants from two communities became involved. Both communities were viewed as having expert knowledge about indigenous spirituality. One group came from a purposive sample of practitioners from the multi-cultural global Sahaj Marg community of Raja Yoga practitioners. The other group belonged to the Aotearoa New Zealand Māori community and had close whānau (family), kinship and iwi (tribal) connections. An indigenous perspective reminds us all of our roots, when we, in our present day lives, often forget these. The willingness of this group to guide this project and be involved was very welcome. Informants in this study identified a universal thread of awareness that revealed itself to each one as a practical knowledge of the spiritual heart. Informants in both groups experienced an ongoing transcendental connection through the spiritual heart, to a unified field of consciousness that they called respectively: Master, tūpuna (ancestors), and atua (forces that generate and animate particular realms of reality). This connection influenced relationships and lifestyle practices in ways that were described as peaceful. The researcher conceived an intrinsic space to hold the knowledge shared by informants as a form of dynamic conversation between a universal whānau (family) connected by spirit. It is not a comparative study. As such this thesis modestly outlines the convergences of practices, beliefs, attunement and awareness, that led to a peaceful lens, as described by these participants. Constructivist grounded theory and methods and Māori centred research perspectives was utilised in this three-year inquiry. The Māori people are the indigenous inhabitants of Aotearoa New Zealand, and in this study came from South Island Ngai Tahu and Waitaha iwi (tribe), with connections through whakapapa (genealogy) to many North Island iwi. Interview data were collected from 56 participants (N = 49 Sahaj Marg and N = 7 iii (Māori). Interviews with Māori informants were of longer duration. In addition, seven focus groups occurred with N = 46 (Sahaj Marg) and N = 6 (Māori). The Māori focus group met three times. Informants (called participants in the remainder of this thesis) represented a wide age span, from eighteen to eighty-nine years, with approximately 30 % male and 70 % female. Informants came from thirty-six different cultures. When contextual data came from participant observation, the researcher used the word ‘practitioners’. Keywords: Human spirituality, Waitaha people, Ngai Tahu, Sahaj Marg meditation, Māori spirituality, Consciousness, Peace building, Spiritual heart, Spiritual brother-sisterhood, Yoga, Raja Yoga. iv Preface Tihei mauri ora. I give greetings to the inner wellspring and the collective of ancestors that we all share. With gratitude, I acknowledge the mauri (vital life force) that nourishes us all in this wonderful play of creation. I belong to the waka (canoe) Te Wai Pounamu (South Island) of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Tākitimu Mountains and the wind swept Pacific Ocean. My people originate from the Celtic tribes of Ireland and Scotland and this land and its people have hosted us for five generations. The island of Te Wai Pounamu (South Island), Aotearoa has nourished my whānau (family) and given a place of safety and aroha (love). My name is Janine Maree Joyce and my heart is full of gratitude for this land and its peoples. My father is Hugh Joyce and my mother Heather Joyce née Powell from Murihiku (Southland). My children are Taarn, Ronan and Samson Scott. Their father is Bryan Scott. This journey of listening has been unexpected and has filled my heart with wonder, awakening a deep remembrance of connection within me. I have found no words in the English language that adequately describe or hint at the possibilities contained within this experience. I have had to blindly feel and attune to the mind of other cultures more richly endowed with deep spiritual traditions of unity and awareness. As such my journey has been one of faith and aroha (love) and I share the following not as an expert but rather as one who has been permitted to listen and act as momentary scribe. I would like to now acknowledge the support, instruction and teaching from a number of people. Dr. K.S. Balasubramanian, Assistant Director, Kuppuswami Research Institute who during an informal conversation activated my wonderings about Māori cosmology, Hine Forsyth (Waitaha, Ngāi Tahu, Rūnanga Council Ngāi Tahu) for her careful and kind guidance over many years. All the Māori sisters and brothers (many from Waitaha tribe) who have shared knowledge and enabled me to understand more deeply. The Sahaj Marg brothers and sisters who have so willingly considered the nature of spiritual brother-sisterhood and those who have not spoken directly but assisted this research process in many other ways. I have received more than I can express from my spiritual master: Shri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari, Shri Ram Chandra Mission, who encouraged my involvement in this project. v I am grateful for the assistance and spiritual guidance of Kamlesh Patel, Santosh Sreenivasan, Elizabeth Denley, Prasanna Krishna and others. John and Alison offered affection and the necessary care and practical support for this project. Although I name, I do not place any in a position of responsibility for these findings. I hope that the findings of this research will make a useful contribution towards humanities quest for harmonious living. I am particularly grateful for the practical instruction, support and extension from Yogacharya A. Rajendra Reddy, M.Sc., (Y & N) and all at the faculty at the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha Department of Sāṅkhya Yoga and Yoga Vignana, Tirupati, India. I am grateful to the New Zealand Indian High Commission who provided the support and Commonwealth scholarship for my studies and needs in India. My supervisors, Dr. Heather Devere and Dr. Grant Gillett, have been simply wonderful in the way that they provided wise guidance, flexibility and a deep hospitality towards an indigenous perspective and voice. I am grateful to all my colleagues at the Aotearoa Conflict and Peace studies centre as well as at the Bioethics Department in Aotearoa New Zealand. It was a delight to be with such caring human beings from all over the globe. The collective commitment towards the wellbeing of humanity was inspirational. I learnt a great deal from you all. The students at the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha gave me an openhearted welcome into their lives as we lived alongside each other on campus. I am grateful to Sravana, Vikram, Rakesh, Gayathri, Vaishnavi, Yoga Sir and Yoga Madam and many others. It was auspicious for me to be able spend so much time with you all. My heart feels you all as whānau (family). Finally, the reciprocated aroha (love) and generosity of my whānau (family) and children. Accommodating the changes in whānau (family) structure that assisted this work, is rare. Not all could adjust to their ex-wife, mother, sister and daughter living in another country for such lengthy periods and continue to flourish, Ka nui taku aroha ki a koe. I acknowledge that adjusting is not always an easy process and I honour the growth that happened for us all. It is not generally my nature to name and thank each person individually. Every person that I have met during the last three years has contributed in some way to the understanding of this research topic. If I name some, then I forget others. For some, we just forgot to introduce ourselves. I am profoundly grateful for all the practical kindness and support, wonderful vi curries, hugs and laughter from brothers and sisters within India and elsewhere. Your collective strength became my strength. Ultimately, this work has been a growing into an embodied awareness of the spaces that connect us all. I am very grateful for the spiritual values and knowledge that I now embrace and the deepening of a certainty of personal relationship with unity and oneness. Beyond this, I am in awe of the glimpses gained of a Creative being of such essential gentleness, silence, truth and freedom. I offer this work as scientist, as an artist, and as an aspect of a deep unifying consciousness that potentially embraces us all, despite the separations that we choose to create through our personalities, beliefs, cognitive frames and identities. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa (Therefore, thank you all). Janine Joyce, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand November, 2014. Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ii Preface .....................................................................................................................................