Yoga and the Dark Night of the Soul: The Soul's Journey to Sacred Love

"Yoga and the Dark Night of the Soul: The Soul's Journey to Sacred Love" (Simon Haas)
is presenting the Bhagavad Gita
as a book about OVERCOMING THE ADVERSARIES (i.e. demons) WITHIN YOU !
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Some extracts, below.
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p.37
We experience a continuous compulsion to define who we are to ourselves and to others. Through Facebook and social media, we now have the technology to refine and polish our image of ourselves.
We forget that the lead character in our story is birthed by the mind. The ancient texts of India refer to this fictitious self as ahamkara, which in Sanskrit means literally, "I-making".
Mostly, we live from this illusory, constructed self.
We, the storyteller, remain undiscovered.
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p.43
The dark night experience itself, the dissolution of our world, has four main symptoms:
1. SUFFERING ASSOCIATED WITH THE THREE PLANES (PHASES OF TIME):
-FEAR is suffering related to how our story will unfold in the future ;
-LAMENTATION is suffering related to how that story has unfolded in the past ; and
-CONFUSION is suffering related to the present. It arises from identifying so resolutely and ardently with our story, even as it falls apart.
2. THE REVEALING OF OUR DARK SIDE (parts of us that may have remained concealed from others, and even from ourselves... making us intensily irritable, angry, impatient or resentful: guilt, self-pity and even self-loathing)
3. A STRONG IMPULSE TO RETREAT FROM LIFE (as a form of suicide)
4. COMPLETE HELPLESSNESS
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p.57
Our battles are always first and foremost within us. A true warrior, one who has conquered the inner world through yoga, has nothing to fear from the outer world.
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p.76/89
"Yoga" (defined by Krishna, in Bhagavad Gita 2.50, as "skill in action" or "skilful action" ; in other words: the art of making adept choices in life - 'yogah karmasu kaushalam')
allows us to unify, or unite,

the 'FIELD OF DHARMA' (dharma-kshetra, with "dharma" meaning "_right_ action") and
the 'FIELD OF ACTION' (kuru-kshetra).

All action occurs in the present moment, the 'FIELD OF NOW'.
Therefore, when we make the 'FIELD OF NOW' a sacred place, we are practising yoga.
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p.78
The warrior is forged in war. The battle scars define him or her. Likewise, the warrior in life emerges from active engagement with life's refining challenges.
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p.80
Krishna's 4 main teachings (or "AGREEMENTS") for navigating the dark night of the soul (with BG divison according to Shri Yamunacharya):
AGREEMENT-1. SET OUT ON THE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL (BG 01-02) - i.e. Arjuna describing his dark night of the soul, and requesting Krishna (*) to be his yoga teacher - i.e. (*) being
-his mentor and his best friend, but also
-the Soul of the Universe (Vishvatma), the Universal Teacher within each of us. Taking shelter of this higher knowledge is 'Sharanagati' (the way of surrender/takingRefuge);
AGREEMENT-2. LET EVERY STEP BE ITS OWN REWARD (BG 01-06: Karma-yoga) - i.e. action performed for its own reward, without an attachment to the results ;
AGREEMENT-3. LET DISCERNMENT (*) BE THE WARRIOR'S SWORD (BG 13-18: Sanhkya) - i.e. (*) the ability to see things as they truly are, which allows us to transcend the small narrative we create in our mind, which we may otherwise spend an entire lifetime defending and sustaining;
AGREEMENT-4. LET SACRED LOVE BE YOUR ONLY GOAL (BG 07-12: Bhakti-yoga) - i.e. taking shelter in sacred love, transforming your entire life into a work of devotion !
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p.96

AGREEMENT-1 (SET OUT ON THE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL)

includes:

HONOUR THE DARK NIGHT AS A RITE OF PASSAGE
TRUST YOUR INNER GUIDE
SURRENDER THE NEED TO CONTROL

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p.118

The MANIFESTATIONS of the UNIVERSAL TEACHER (overflowing with wisdom)

M-1: PARAMATMA
When the mind becomes dominant in our life, we struggle to hear our inner guide. The voice of the UNIVERSAL TEACHER WITHIN is drowned out by the domineering voice of the mind, by the officious will of the ego.
The dark night of the soul offers a special opportunity to hear the Universal Teacher in our life. This is because the dark night crisis dismembers our ego and fractures our story. In the stilness that follows, if we desire to listen, we can hear the voice of truth speaking to us through all things.
The people of ancient India referred to the INNER GUIDE as the SUPREME SELF, the SOUL OF ALL SOULS (PARAMATMA).
p.120
M-2: GURU, i.e. a caring mentor. Gu(darkness)-RU(illumination).
p.122
M-3: the ENVIRONMENT (24 different gurus, including: earth, wind, ocean, honey thief, hawk, arrow maker).
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p.133
In BG 2:14-15, Krishna is making an implicit distinction between
-PAIN (a natural and INEVITABLE part of being human - next to pleasure), and
-SUFFERING (OPTIONAL ; our mental response to our experience of pain).
This is why Krishna advices Arjuna to learn to endure his pain without being distracted, without creating a story around it.
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p.134
Krishna defines yoga in several ways, and one of them is "breaking the connection with suffering". (BG 6:23: duhkha-samyoga-viyogam)
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p.135
Great trust in the self-organizing and self-corrective principle of life is called SHARANAGATI, "the way of surrender" (when we make the Soul of the Universe our protector and maintainer).
...with (FR) surrendre (NL: to give up) our story, our false identity.
This SHARANAGATI is made up of six yoga-practise attitudes (CC Madhya 22.100)

Accept whatever supports your yoga practise.
Let go of whatever harms your yoga practise.
Depend upon the Soul of the Universe as your true protector in all circumstances.
Embrace the Soul of the Universe as your maintainer
Surrender all false identities, including that of being the doer or controller
Cultivate humility in life.

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p.150

AGREEMENT-2 (LET EVERY STEP BE ITS OWN REWARD)

When our actions are propelled by fear, lamentation or confusion, we act in a way that is unskilful. Yet, there is a way of acting that doesn't lead to suffering. Unskilful action entangles us more deeply in our story ; but skilful or yogic action frees us. It creates immense spaciousness and no longer binds us to suffering.
Krishna breaks it down into three easy steps:

BE TRUE TO YOUR OWN NATURE.
LET GO OF THE FRUITS.
MAKE YOUR WORK AN OFFERING.

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p.150/205
Dharma (in the Bhagavad Gita) is not just what a person ought to do;
it's a reflection of a person's inner nature (sva-bhava).
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p.158
By carrying out action in accord with one's own nature (i.e. creating vitality, with effortless effort), one doesn't go wrong. (BG 18.47)
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p.161
When we aren't true to ourselves, we inflict a form of violence upon ourselves.
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p.165
Living in accord with one's own nature is an act of self-kindness.
It's impossible to be effective or skilful on the field of life if we're locked in a fight against our own nature.
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p.167
The first step (in Karma-yoga) is to work in harmony with the git of our nature, with the way we're built: "our personal dharma", sva-dharma. (BG 18.47)
Krishna goes still further: "A person attains full perfection by devoting himself to his own particular work" (BG 18.45). In other words, our work can become our daily yoga practise.
When we follow our personal dharma, Krishna says, making what we do an offering, then our work can become an act of workship (BG 18.46).
If we live in agreement with our nature, in a way that is truthful to ourselves, whatever we do - whether it meets with great reward of even only limited validation - is still highly satisfying. What we do becomes its own reward.
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p.175
"Don't try to control what's outside your control", Krishna teaches Arjuna. "Put your heart into what you do, make it an expression of love and devotion, and then let the results take care of themselves. This is yoga... Don't obsess about the arrow that has left your bow." (BG 2.48)
Krishna teaches the warrior Arjuna a new way to act, one that doesn't bind him to suffering. In breaking the connection to suffering, such action constitutes yoga. (BG 6.23)
The best way to act, Krishna explains, is to devote ourselves to the cause, but no to the fruits.
p.180
Krishna explains that the secret of action is to renounce our infatuation with the world, without renouncing the world itself.
Non-attachment is

not: that we should own nothing,
but: that nothing should own us.

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p.182
Author's Sanskrit teacher: "What matters most is not what you happen to be doing, but HOW you do it. It's about right attitude and motive - from inception. Then there's meaning even within difficult or frustrating tasks."
p.184
Letting go of your obsession with the results frees up a space in which you can focus on the work itself with complete attention. It creates a sacred space in which to act.
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p.191
There is a Sanskrit word for sacred action, action impelled by devotion: seva.
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p.212

AGREEMENT-3 (LET DISCERNMENT BE THE WARRIOR'S SWORD)

I.e. (theistic) Samkhya, the Sword of Discernment (which, when wielded by a skilled yoga warrior, severs our connection with suffering), summarized as following:
1. REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE. - 'You don't know what to do because you don't know who you are':

not: what we see in the field of perception,
but: the observer beyond the ever-changing play of form in that field. I.e. a soul, undefeatable and beyond our petty recurring storyline.

Those who posses "the eye of knowledge" are able to perceive the existence of the soul within their own being.
This knowledge (of who we are) is not LEARNED, but REMEMBERED (ref. BG 2.63: "disturbed memory" = smriti-vibhrama")
2. UNDERSTAND THE TERRAIN (i.e. the "field of action" with its 3 qualities: sattva, rajas & tamas).
3. DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE DIVINE AND THE UNGODLY.
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p.216
Yoga is "philosophy in action".
Knowledge (as defined in BG 13.7-11) is

a state of non-attachment to the changing fortunes of the world, as well as
freedom from wordly want
...rather than some form of intellectual process.

Knowledge is:

not: about what we know ;
about our perception of reality

(which will profoundly affect the way we live in the world).
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p.227
Don't look for yourself in the field of perception: whatever you see there is not who you are. You are the KNOWER of the field.
p.235
When illusion is removed or stripped away, happiness is our natural state. Therefore, the way to happiness is not to try to create happiness, but to SEEK (AND REMOVE) EVERYTHING THAT OBSTRUCTS happiness.
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p.259
Recommendation: cultivate helpful habits to house helpful values... which happens over time, via practise.
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p.264/276
Three gateways of Tamas: desire, anger and greed.

The ceaseless river of desire in the heart leads to restlessness and continual dissatisfaction.
When desire is frustrated, it turns into anger;
when desire is satisfied, it turns into greed.

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p.271/277
There are 8,4 million possible asana's (*), as many as there are forms of life. Of these, 84 are prominent, of which 32 are especially useful (ref. Gheranda_Samhita)
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p.285

AGREEMENT-4 (LET SACRED LOVE BE YOUR ONLY GOAL)

summarized as follows:
1. ENGAGE YOUR HEART IN YOUR YOGA PRACTISE.
2. WIDEN YOUR CIRCLE.
3. WRITE YOUR STORY WITH LOVE AND COMPASSION.
In Arjuna's dark night, his thoughts and decisions are first guided by his mind's GPS system: Grief, Pity & Shame. Krishna teaches Arjuna how to be guided by sacred love instead. This is possible when we form a sankalpa (immovable resolve) to make our life an offering of love. When performed correctly, a sankalpa has the power to reshape our destiny.
p.286/345
In following Karma-Yoga and other practises described in the first 6 chapters of the Gita, one relies on one's own efforts to transform oneself. However, Krishna, seated within the heart of all beings, directly frees one who is devoted to him. Ref. BG 18.66: "Relinquishing all forms of dharma, take refuge with me only. I will release you from all misfortune: don't despair!"
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p.291
The art of allowing life to make our heart softer is called yoga.
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p.301/346
Oddly, we have (in English) only one or two words for love.
The Ancient Greeks had six words for different types of love:

eros, or sexual passion
ludus, of playful love
philia, or deep friendship
pragma, or longstanding love
philautia, or love of the self
agape, or love for everyone.

I've counted more than twenty in the esoteric, heart-based Bhakti tradition of India... from 'small love' to 'sacred love' (in Sanskrit: 'Bhakti', dissociated from both mere intellectualism and mere sentimentality).
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p.309/347
The yogi connects with Krishna in the heart through yoga, by developing yoga perception that is inward-facing (antar-mukha), rather than outward-facing (bahir-muhka).
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p.314/348
Krishna is sometimes addresses as Bhagavan, meaning: 'you who possess all potency/opulences' (i.e. he's the source of all beauty, strength, fame, wealth, knowledge and renunciation).
It's Krishna's presence in all of nature that causes us to be so profoundly stirred by it (i.e. that nature).
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p.318
Take great care! Be warned! Once someone glimpses Krishna, even for a moment, she loses all attraction for the ordinary things of this world. They appear to her as valueless as broken pieces of glass.
Ref. BG 18.67-71: Sharing Krishna's most confidential yoga teachings with those who are ready to hear them, pleases Krishna most of all and is the highest act of loving service. But Krishna also warns that these teachings should never be shared with anyone

who is without discipline,
who is bereft of love,
who doesn't wish to hear them, or
who holds envy in their heart.

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p.322
Krishna explains to Arjuna that THOSE WITH RESOLVE ("definite intention" or "vow", in Sanskrit "SANKALPA") HAVE THEIR INTELLIGENCE FIXED ON ONE POINT,
while THE INTELLIGENCE OF THOSE WITHOUT RESOLVE HAS MANY BRANCHES AND DIVERSIFIES WITHOUT LIMIT.
A SANKALPA isn't the simple idea that I make a wish and then do a little spiritual practise to bring it about.
Our SANKALPA becomes our inspiriation, stirring our soul into activity.
The dark night of the soul is a perfect opportunity to find our SANKALPA, our north on this journey through life.
A SANKALPA is formed of the deepest desire fuelling our practise.
If we don't have a SANKALPA, then when life presents challenges and difficulties, we'll simply want to run away, like Arjuna.
Importantly, only one SANKALPA is to lead the way at any one time, so don't accept a new sankalpa until the previous sankalpa has been fulfilled.
There are four steps to the process of SANKALPA:
1. RECEIVE: revealed in our heart, from the depths of the soul
2. ARTICULATE: find the shortest, clearest, most concise and positive way to express your SANKALPA, beginning with "I will..." (not more than 6 words). But do not reveal it to anyone. This helps retain its potency.
3. RESOLVE: fully sanctify/consecrate/own your SANKALPA, embracing it wholeheartedly (connecting with the EMOTIONS behind your SANKALPA), by transforming your deep DESIRE into an INTENT, which you then release into the world... via a ritual that symbolizes that
-you've received the gift of your SANKALPA from the Divine, and
-are offering it (back) in the loving service of the Divine.
4. REMEMBER: repeat your SANKALPA to yourself with love and attention, making it a daily mediaton, to reaffirm and intensify it.
p.330
Discovering our SANKALPA is the result primarily of grace (from Krishna).
Our SANKALPA gives us one-pointed focus, shedding the weight of extraneous efforts, distractions, negativity and unhelpful chatter of the mind.
p.331
In redirecting our energy, a SANKALPA is the best way to rewrite our story.
In dismantling our previous conceptions of self, the dark night of the soul offers an opportunity to receive our true purpose, our SANKALPA. To find our SANKALPA is one of the most valuable gifts of the dark night of the soul.
p.334
The word "humility" comes from the Latin "humus", meaning "ground". When we understand humility, we conquer the false ego. Humility is freedom from the false identify of our story. If our humility is natural and genuine, then we'll begin to see ourselves of servants.
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p.335
The Sanskrit word for disrespect is APARADHA, which means "without Radha".
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p.337
The best possible time to develop the vision of BG 6.5 (**) is in the dark night of the soul.
One of the secrets to cultivating kindness and respect in our life is to start by being kinder and more compassionate to ourselves. We can do this by treating our own story less seriously and seeing the beautiful foolishness of our own life.
Self-kindness fosters kindness to others. Non-violence therefore begins at home, with ourselves.
--
AUTHOR:
https://www.facebook.com/simon.markus.haas
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10215148711775098
BOOK:
http://simonhaas.com/yoga-and-the-dark-night-of-the-soul/
https://books.google.be/books?id=xQtQDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=nl&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
(*) YOGA ASANAS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gheranda_Samhita
--
REMARK (**)
Strange how at the end (p.337) BG 6.5 is translated
-NOT
--as "The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well" (Srila Prabhupada)
--or "the mind is simultaneously one’s friend and also one’s own enemy" (BV Narayana Maharaja),
-but as "the self alone is the self's friend, and the self alone is the self's enemy".
Your initial reaction was:
"this is actually the translation of Dr. Radhakrishnan (of which Srila Prabhupada stated that 'mundane philosophers like Dr. Radhakrishnan are not qualified to delve into spiritual subjects.')"
...but the author himself (Sundar Gopal das / Simon Haas) was so kind to provide below feedback:
"The English translation of BG 6.5 doesn’t rely in any way on Dr. Radhakrishnan's translation. In truth, I've never read his work. Rather, it’s a direct and literal translation of the Sanskrit in the Gita. As you'll see, the Sanskrit uses the word “atma”, which means "self". So I have translated this literally here, simply to make a particular point (i.e. that we can be our own best friend and our own worst enemy, as you would say in English).
Of course, "self" like "atma" can in fact mean different things, depending upon context: it can mean the body, the mind or the soul. Srila Prabhupada makes this point at the beginning of his purport to this verse in relation to the word “atma”. The same is true equally in relation to the English word “self”, the translation of “atma”. If I say “I’ve injured myself”, it refers to the physical body. If I say, “my anxious, suffering self”, it refers to the mind. And if I say, “The self is indestructible”, it has to refer to the eternal soul.
In BG 6.5, the word “self” (“atma”) does in fact refers to the mind, as you say. This is supported by all the Vaisnava acaryas. Even Sankaracarya agrees on this. Naturaly, taking the dust of the lotus-like feet of the acaryas upon my head, I agree wholeheartedly too.
Nonetheless, like the original Gita, I’ve retained the original word “self”. This is not wrong, as it’s the word actually used in the Gita. The reason for retaining “self” (“atma”) is to more easily make the point that we can be our own best friend, as well as our own best enemy. But I agree with you, “self” in this context in fact refers to the mind."
--
References:
https://vanisource.org/wiki/BG_6.5
http://www.purebhakti.com/resources/ebooks-magazines/32-bhagavad-gita, page 326
https://archive.org/details/BhagavadGitaBySRadhakrishnan, page 189
https://vanisource.org/wiki/Special:VsSearch?s=Dr.+Radhakrishnan

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