Celebrating Diversity: An Interview with John Friend
Posted on 28. Apr, 2011 by Katie Myer in blog, interviews
Tamil Nadu, India, January 2011
Right after the New Year, we had the amazing opportunity to travel through Southern India with Dr. Douglas Brooks on pilgrimage to the six Subhramanya temples in the Tamil Nadu region. Subhramanya is another name for Murugan or Skanda, brother to Ganesh, and a central figure in the region’s devotional culture. Much to our surprise and delight, none other than John Friend, founder of Anusara yoga, was a fellow pilgrim on our journey. John graciously took the time to sit down with District Kula and reflect on the experience.
District Kula: What inspired you to go on pilgrimage with Douglas Brooks?
John Friend: It’s been 22 years since I first came to India, and this is my fourth time here. The preceding three trips were throughout the north and the west. I’ve never been to the south. Traveling in the north was challenging for me; for example, the air pollution was so bad then that I would blow my nose, and it would come out black. Also, at the time, the lack of infrastructure made travel fairly dangerous. On those previous trips I was always on my own, taking care of everything myself, including transportation, lodging, and food, not to mention worrying about the occasional person trying to get one over on me. One time when I was traveling by bus, I threw my bag to a guy on the roof putting the bags up. He threw my bag off the other side of the bus to his friends, who then ran off with my bag! All that said, being in India has always been tremendously beneficial and deeply transformative for me. I’ve had experiences in this country that deeply impacted me for my whole life. Because of the difficulties and the risks involved, I was reluctant to return, but Douglas (& Tiffany – my beloved) convinced me.
Douglas has been taking groups on pilgrimage for several years now, back to where he and his teacher, Dr. Gopala Aiyar Sundaramoorthy (Appa), traveled in the 70s. He knows this region of India, Tamil Nadu, very well, from Madurai all the way as far south as Thiruchendur. It always sounded great, so I asked Douglas for more information regarding the logistics. Douglas informed me that we would be on an air-conditioned bus at all times (something I’d never even heard of in India), have first-class lodging and that all the logistics would be taken care of by our guide. This would free up our time and energy as pilgrims to focus on the experience of devotion in the many temples we would visit. I thought that sounded ideal. Additionally, Tiffany had never been to India before, and it was going to be her 32nd birthday. I thought it would be a fantastic experience to celebrate her birthday together in Tamil Nadu where she could see and experience the bhakti and devotion of the people and the elaborate rituals of the culture. Douglas’s unparalleled knowledge of the area, including how to gain access to some of most sacred areas of the temples, along with the occasion of Tiffany’s birthday inspired me to come back after my 15-year hiatus.
District Kula: How was your experience of Southern India and Tamil Nadu?
John Friend: The south is generally very rural, compared to the north. The majority of the temples that we visited were in small villages. Tamil Nadu is very traditional, from both cultural and religious standpoints. For our group to be well received and also to show proper respect for their traditions we wanted to dress appropriately, saris for the women and dhotis for the men. Even still, we were quite the spectacle! In most places we were the only foreigners, and we were dressed like Southern Indians. Most of the locals literally did a double-take.
It was a different experience being in the south for the first time. Though very traditional, the culture is also very warm and welcoming. Everywhere that Douglas took us, we were treated as honored guests. On top of that, the hotels and accommodations were very modern and half the time you wouldn’t even know that you were in a developing country. Obviously some of the same challenges still exist from when I was in India before, such as pollution and over-crowding, but overall it was a great experience for me.
District Kula: Can you talk a bit about this pilgrimage and your experience through the lens of Shiva-Shakti Tantra?
John Friend: In every temple we visited, including Chidambaram (the big temple dedicated to Shiva Nataraj, the divine dancer), not only did we find the god to whom the temple was dedicated, but also an implicit and often explicit consort. For Shiva, Kama Devi, in the Tillai Kali temple, a goddess temple in a small village outside Chidambaram, we find Bhiarava too. There’s always this dance of different energies present, between Shiva and Shakti, between contrary complements. The temples are laid out in this way to remind us that we — and life, really — are a blend of these masculine and feminine energies. We, and the world we see around us, are reflections of this dance, this commingling of contrasting divine energies.
One of the highlights of the pilgrimage for me was going to Chidambaram to see the Nataraj. Our first trip to the temple was in the evening for aarthi, an evening fire ceremony, where Shiva is symbolically “put to bed” for the night (with his consort!) Another profound ritual that we witnessed at Chidambaram was the ancient abhishekam practice that has been going on for centuries. The abhishekam is a ritual washing of the murtis, or in this case, the crystal linga. During the ritual various substances of devotion are poured over the linga. Fire is waved around the linga and flowers are applied to it. All this is done amongst the cacophony of bells ringing, drums beating, priests chanting, and devotees muttering mantra. It’s truly magical! During these rituals, there was so much Shakti for me. I was just buzzing with Spirit — Kundalini Shakti, really.
While in Chidambaram, we also had the rare privilege of attending the rudra homa, an elaborate fire puja, which is a religious ritual of making an offering to the deities. During the three hour homa, the priests chant uninterrupted while simultaneously offering 108 different items to the fire. The ritual is concluded with abhishekam of the crystal linga. You quickly become absorbed in the mantra and the experience, offering elements of your own mind and heart into the fire for transformation, transmutation. It’s quite interesting to observe what the homa brings up for you. You really feel completely shifted when the ceremony ends.
Over the course of the pilgrimage we visited many temples, having darshan (viewing the murti, or looking at the gods as they look back at you) with of a variety of deities. Though the deities were varied, there was a common link between all the temples. In every temple, there’s a play of Spirit, from masculine to feminine, from beautiful to ferocious, an endless dance of Shiva & Shakti. Sometimes he’s beautiful and she’s ferocious, or she’s masculine and he’s feminine. In the instance of Nataraj, you see both energies commingled in one murti! Through darshan, the deities offer the full spectrum of human expression back to you. For example, some days you find yourself feeling like Lakshmi and on others like Kali. For the people of Tamil Nadu, darshan in the temple is a central part of their daily lives. You can observe how the people relate to these rituals and practices on a mythic almost subconscious or super conscious level. It’s not just an outer form of idol worship for them; the murtis reflect back what they already hold inside themselves. Like Shiva-Shakti Tantra, darshan is a practice of aligning with what’s already being offered. Aligning with Grace in all its forms. When you do this, Grace just pours in, Grace as the tremendously transformative power of Spirit. It’s auspicious, and it’s always with us, even if we’re not always aware of it. Going on pilgrimage like this reminds us of Grace’s powerful presence in our lives.
District Kula: What effect has this pilgrimage had on you, and how might it shape your year?
John Friend: In a few days, we’ll all be back in our normal settings but, I think with deeply shifted interiors; this trip has changed each of us in some way. I’m personally looking forward to the rest of the year, the tour and infusing my teaching and what I offer with the beauty of this divine dance that is going on around us all the time. I look forward to this dance inspiring me to make even more beauty in everything that I do. Moved by this experience, I can do things with greater sensitivity to the Shakti, with more sensitivity to other people’s challenges, with more compassion and understanding. I can infuse my every action with the softness, the intentionally of a puja. Can I make each action one of devotion, an offering back to the bigger dance? Can I not get lost in the perfunctory ritual of things but instead keep going back to the deepest meaning of each action I take?
A favorite practice of mine is to look back at the end of a period of time, a day, a week, a month, a year and ask the question, “how have I done?” It’s a great opportunity to take a closer look, to really evaluate yourself and your life. When somebody needed me, was I there? Was I alert and sensitive to some one’s needs? Did I serve them in the most skillful way possible? Did I cultivate more patience, more generosity, more kindness? I really endeavor to cultivate these higher virtues in my life and to be inspiring to others to do so too. I can also see my tendencies to get negative, to think or act in a way that’s not necessarily life enhancing. And, I think having that awareness is the best way to start to shift.
From being here in Tamil Nadu, visiting the temples, having darshan, I feel like I’m starting the year from a more open place. A place that will give way to even more sensitivity and awareness in the upcoming year and on my 2011 Dancing with the Divine tour. I have greater commitment and focus to cultivate more virtue and to inspire everyone to work on the things that we always do, like community and looking for the good in each other. We’ve always done this, and it’s so special. People love to be together in our community because we recognize each other’s talents, what each of us has to offer. We don’t think, “oh this person’s better than that one.” We like the young and old, the stiff and the flexible, the ones that are new, those that are experienced. I’m looking forward to celebrating the diversity of our community.
I’m also excited to be able to go around the world and see that diversity in many different cultures. This year, we’re going to Asia, and then going down under to Australia and New Zealand, and then back to several countries within Europe. The cool thing is that even with the diversity of cultures, Anusara offers a very basic connection: everybody has this innate goodness within them and we are each a reflection and a refraction of the same light. It may be expressed as different colors — like here in Tamil Nadu, everyone wears a different sari or dhoti or a different bindi, and we love that! If we all wore the same thing, it would take away the greatness of our individuality. This year in Anusara, we will celebrate each person’s individual expression of the dance. When we dance with the divine, whether it’s more like salsa, hip hop, or tango — it’s all Sri!
All that said, in 2011 and the next few years, we’re going to be faced with more global difficulties, perhaps even accelerated difficulties, such as in energy. We’ve hit the peak of oil, so you think about a country like India; what’s going to happen to this country when gas doubles? We’ve had a difficult time of late, and I fear that these crises — financially, economically, socially — are going to get worse. We’re sometimes seemingly far away from it in America, but there are hot spots in the world. For instance, Pakistan is an increased cauldron of volatility. Afghanistan, too. These hotspots could really get inflamed very quickly. All of us need to take our practices and to make them go so deep inside that we can hold the light, no matter what happens. People are going to be looking to us for courage, for clarity, for strength — we are going to be the embodiment of that. We’re going to really be the leaders. In America and Western culture, we don’t have religion like here in India. People don’t have a family authority that they put full respect in, and they have lost a lot of trust in political leaders, so they turn to somebody that is going to hold the light for them. That is part of our dharma as teachers and practitioners. Under the most critical time, people are going to look to us, so there is a seriousness that we have to be alert to. We have to focus on goodness, beauty and the light. It’s going be a challenging time, so setting the energy now from this India tour, and then bringing it into 2011, will be a tremendous benefit to all of us. We just have to keep our momentum going by supporting each other in community, like the Katies in DC. We can support each other; when one is down, the other can be strong and vice versa. And we’re lucky to have that community strength worldwide. We are not alone which is wonderful thing!
District Kula: Can you share a couple of your favorite moments from our pilgrimage?
John Friend: There are so many. Working backwards, yesterday in Chidambaram, our dikshatar (the temple priest “assigned” to our group) took us to the top of the east gate, or gopuram, of the temple, which is 175 feet up in the air. We climbed a very narrow, spiral staircase that has nine different levels. It’s filled with bats, bat dung, spiders, and dust; it’s as though no one has gone up there for decades. It was amazing to go up to the very top, to gain a unique perspective of the temple and grounds. You see the golden roof that covers Nataraj’s inner sanctum, the 72,000 petals of gold, a reflection of the 72,000 nadis of our bodies. We even took a ladder to go to the very tip top where the kalashas are. The kalashas are the pinnacle elements of the temple. They represent the cosmic antenna for Spirit, to bringing the energy of Spirit into the temple. Standing there, holding a kalasha and looking out at Chidambaram — the town and the temple — was an unforgettable, very rare experience. And that was just one morning!
Later that same day we returned for the second time to one of the oldest Kali temples in the world, Tillai Kali, which completes any pilgrimage to Chidambaram. In this particular temple, Kali is completely bathed in a dense cloaking of kumkum, with only her eyes, her mouth, and her nose visible where you see the very black stone of the statue showing through. She wears a white sari but it is almost entirely obscured by the kumkum. You feel the Shakti intensely in the darshan. We were able to sit there for some time, respectfully and quietly, and we just gazed upon this form, this condensation of incredible Shakti. Transformative power, that’s what Kali is. The dense absorption, the implosion of energy into its dark blackness. Most pilgrims are only allowed a few seconds of darshan; you get to look quickly and then you have to move on. But we were able to bathe and revel in her power. Again, that was just one day out of thirteen!
There were actually many occasions where we were granted special access to the inner sanctums. This was partly due to how we dressed (traditionally in saris and dhotis) and presented ourselves, but also due to how things work in India. You can literally pay for access, so if you are wealthy like we are (relatively speaking) you can gain greater access. You see things that other pilgrims might never have access to, for example in Thiruchendur, we were allowed into the Pancha Linga cave behind the Subrahmanya murti, a small enclosure containing 5 linga on a rock platform. Very specific rites and rituals have been practiced in this space for centuries. The pancha linga have been transformed from simply rock carvings into these amazing repositories of energy. They literally radiate energy, and when you are in their presence having darshan, you shift internally. Whatever you’re thinking and feeling is magnified. Many pilgrims before and after you will come and have similar experiences. It’s been going on for so long, in fact this part of the world has been civilized constantly for a longer period of time than any other region.
It’s funny because our Western minds initially want to think ‘these people are playing with dolls!’ We rationalize and analyze. But if you can stay in your heart and feel the pulsing energy of love and that there’s a deeper devotion to something far beyond the statues, then you can experience what’s really going on, pure bhakti or devotion. This devotion manifests in amazing ways. We often saw other Murugan devotees walking at least thirty miles in a day, sleeping outside, finding food wherever they could. But you never saw any concern or complaint, all you saw was absolute devotion. They would arrive at the temples like merry bands of Gypsies, beating tambourines, shouting ‘Agora’ (good health to you) and lining up at dawn to make an offering of their own hair. Meanwhile, we’re on our way back to our air conditioned bus! The other pilgrims walk all the way, stand in line for hours and they get maybe a minute or two of darshan and they’re totally content. And, they were always thrilled to see us, so honored that we would come all this way to go on pilgrimage. It really gives you some perspective.
It’s been a wild trip! The Western mindset can at first make everything you’re seeing and experiencing difficult to understand, their culture being so radically different from ours. But if you can stay soft and open, feeling those universal qualities of love and devotion all around you, that’s what can effect an internal shift. It’s also entirely possible to go through the entire two weeks in a closed off state, returning more irritated than anything else. But again, if you can stay soft and open to whatever the experience might offer, you will begin to perceive how much the Tamil Nadu culture is about love and devotion. It may be in different forms than we are used to in the West, but there is a universal appreciation of love and of the goodness of life. And that piece has had the biggest impact for me and it’s something I’ve felt in my heart every day of the pilgrimage. And, of course, doing fun things like riding elephants and seeing crocodiles were pretty awesome too!
District Kula: John, we had a blast spending time with you, whether at the temples or on the bus rides. You brought added excitement, humor, and perspective to our pilgrimage, and we are so thankful for that – and for the incredible system of Anusara Yoga. Thank you for reminding us to look for the good in ourselves and others, and to celebrate and honor the incredible diversity within our kula. Also, we thank you for your wisdom and insight, and for generously sharing your experience with District Kula today!
John Friend, the founder of Anusara yoga, is widely recognized as one of the most charismatic and highly respected hatha yoga teachers in the world. Blending a life-affirming Tantric yoga philosophy with Universal Principles of Alignment and a delightful sense of humor, John’s teaching style guides each student to live every moment fully from the heart. Students often comment in amazement that they can perform their yoga poses under John’s guidance with a level of creative freedom and inner power that they have never experienced before. Above all, John respects and honors his students with a great deal of loving-kindness and inspires them to see their own unique beauty and divine goodness.
Founded in 1997, Anusara yoga is one of the most highly respected schools of hatha yoga in the world with an expanding presence in North America, the UK, Europe, Asia, and Australia. With hundreds of thousands of students and thousands of teachers worldwide, Anusara yoga is now practiced on every continent throughout the world, excluding Antarctica. With its closely knitted community and industry-leading standards in teacher certification, Anusara yoga is highly respected throughout the greater yoga populace as a preeminent 21st century yoga school.
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