Yoga's Lost Lineage: Rediscovering the Female Masters

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Yoga's Lost Lineage

Rediscovering the Female Masters

 

By Kirin Mishra

 

Importing from India is an age-old tradition. For

thousands of years those in search of material goods and

spiritual wealth looked toward the East, notably to India.

Before British imperialism, India enjoyed an

unprecedented level of physical wealth, a characteristic

that inspired waves of invasions throughout history by

everyone from the Muslims to the British. Presently,

India has been a source of interest for those seeking a

different type of wealth: spirituality. India's yogic

tradition has been a huge boon to the West. However, it

is important to take into account the conditioning and

imperial influence of those who have brought yoga to

the West. Yoga contains a deep and rich feminine

tradition, which through the misunderstanding and

misinterpretation of cultural and linguistic differences,

has been largely unknown to Westerners.

 

When one enters a yoga class, one thing is immediately

obvious. Women make up the majority of the class; in

fact, women comprise the majority of most yoga classes

in the United States. Now, the historical information we

have been exposed to characterizes yoga and its lineage

as having been the domain of men. But in fact, many of

the great teachers and masters were women.

 

It is often thought that the traditional place of women in

Indian culture must have prevented them from achieving

the status of master, but this simply isn't the case. For

example, one need only look to the Vedas, one of the

ancient texts on which our understanding of yoga is

based, to see that the ancient lineage of female teachers

is present and strong: Ambrhini, Anasuya, Maitryi,

Indrani, Vachakanavi, Ghosha, Romosha and Lopamudra, and,

of course, Saraswati, who is considered the primordial teacher,

the force of the universe, the Shakti in the Vedas.

 

If we turn to another ancient source, the Tantras, the list

is exponentially longer. There is one that is especially

worth noting. Yoga practitioners would be remiss if they

didn't explore the story of Hemalekha in the Tripura

Rahasysa. The text highlights the teachings of this

remarkable yogini who attained the highest states of

samadhi and was also able to elucidate the philosophies

of yoga. Hemalekha's teachings to her husband also

show us the wisdom and authority that women had in

the stream of yoga transmission.

 

To understand yoga, we must look to its ancient source

teachings which are the Vedas, Upanishads and the vast

information within the Tantric texts. Sources like the

Vedas and Tantras are not widely read nor understood

by most American yoga practitioners today, nor do the

vast majority practicing today fully know or appreciate

the history and legacy of the source teachings that have

come from the great female masters. Instead, the yoga

practice is defined and presented within the framework

of traditional patriarchal paradigms, which emphasize

hierarchy, an externalized concept of divinity and linear

and goal oriented thinking.

 

Many female masters have been completely written out

of history. For instance, Buddhist writers and

interpreters eliminated most early female Tantric

masters. Most Buddhist and yoga practitioners are

familiar with Padmasambhava yet do not know that his

master was the renowned yogini from Odiyanna, Surya-

chandra-siddhi. She has been deleted from the source

texts of her famous student. Furthermore, many female

masters preferred to remain unknown in the written

legacies and histories of their traditions.

 

The worldview of the yoga tradition is vastly different

than that which we hold now, particularly in the

industrialized West. As with aO philosophies, yoga is

filtered through the dominant paradigm of the day and

the lens of the dominant culture into which it is

assimilated. As yoga has been brought to the West, the

materialistic worldview of this society has separated

yoga from other aspects of life and dissolved the holistic

feminine approach by taking portions of the practice and

inserting it into the existing hierarchical paradigm.

 

One of the greatest feminine yoga traditions is Tantra.

This tradition is most misunderstood by the hierarchical

paradigms. The fragment that includes sexuality is taken

to be the whole and then assimilated into the existing

worldview. Tantra is a deeply mystical path that has

significantly influenced both Hinduism and Buddhism.

The teachers and students of Tantra traversed from the

mountain peaks of Kashmir to Assam, cross-fertilizing

the teachings of mysticism.

 

The Tantric path seeks to reclaim the divine in both men

and women and historically has empowered them to

respect and serve the feminine energies of beauty,

wisdom, and creativity. Utilizing these energies, the

Tantric yogis seek to find themselves in the harmony of

life by serving truth and justice. The outer form is not

imposed, restricted or standardized. When you look at

the yoga practice from the yogini's perspective, a unique

and vastly different approach opens before you. It is

holistic, and honors all nature, the earth and the body,

affirming our place in the cosmos. The practices of the

yoginis reflect this integration of humanity and divinity.

They empower us to stay in the world of forms while at

the same time transcending the fragmentation of this

level of reality. They compel us to actively participate in

the myriad mundane relationships and concerns of life.

In this way the yoginis' mysticism included a vision that

made meeting racism and poverty equal to reaching

samadhi and a perfect chatturanga.

 

Once the historical perspective is understood, it becomes

evident why it has been so difficult to export and

practice Tantric yoga in its true form in the modern

world. Yet, if we find a way to respect all of Tantra, the

feminine roots and the mystical practices that challenge

and confound the linear mind, we may yet profoundly

influence our future and the world. For even in this

rational, linear society, Tantra can be honored as a

paradigm that informs and awakens our deepest longings

to connect with, embrace and dance with the power we

have always suspected and known exists within and

through us and throughout all things. To embrace

Tantra, not the fragmented and the distorted version of

Tantra, would be much like the shift from Newtonian

physics to Quantum physics. It is for this reason that we

must look to those who carry the oral traditions of yoga

to receive their teachings and stories.

 

My own teacher was one of these yoginis. In learning

directly from her I entered a dynamic living stream

thousands of years old. At the same time, it was ever

fresh and alive with applicable teachings and

methodologies.

 

Hatha Yoga is actually a Tantric yoga practice.

Historically, those who did not wish to become

renunciates practiced tantra. As a result, it became a

system of yoga for those who maintained their duties

and responsibilities in the world. Therefore it is highly

applicable and appropriate for these modern times, in

which the choice to completely retreat from the world is

not supported or perhaps even desirable. The essence of

Tantra holds a vision and experience of the world as an

interrelated and integrated whole, pulsating with divinity

and beauty - a world where ail can live in peace, not just

those who are privileged and empowered by hierarchical

thinking. [....]

 

The results? A life worth living, embodying the

celebration of the universe through body, mind and

spirit and engaged fully in the expression of awakened,

aware aliveness; responding rather than reacting and

deeply rooted in a sense of the divine nature of the

universe. It is a life of joyfullness, peace and freedom,

without being either deluded or resigned; a life in the

continuum of the mystery and power of what it is to be

human.

 

http://www.saraswatiriveryoga.com/images/YogiTimesOct06.pdf

http://www.parvathinandanath.com/ENGLISH/welcome.html