Wholistic Fitness

What place does a yogin have causing harm and/or death to Fish Beings? See Part One for such a place and read below for even a Higher Understanding. photo; this is the first photo ever taken by Dewachen (21 months old) with help from Amma Ananda. Dewa took this shot of Abba Ilg still attempting to catch one single trout during a Shiva-infused Teaching in Ahimsa…click to enlarge. Dogtown Lake, near Williams, AZ last weekened

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“It is truly impossible for an embodied being to abandon actions completely, but he who relinquishes the fruit of action is called a renunciant.

The triune fruit of action – good, harmful, and mixed – springs up in nonrenunciants after their demise, but in renunciants never.”

– Verses 11 &12, Chapter XVII Bhagavad Gita

if we can somehow grok the spiritual gist of this Divine Counsel given to the Warrior Arjuna from Krishna, then we’ll have an easier time forgiving ourselves as we attempt to live a yogic lifestyle entrenched in Kali Yuga.

though far from a ‘redneck’ ilg’s sadhana includes going fishing every now and then during our short summers here in Flag in order to stay in visceral touch with the karma of living a non-vegan, non-monastic life which, as stated in Part One is virtually impossible in this day and age. In fact, if you are reading this, you are not a vegan due to the harm done to thousands of Beings associated with the creation, manufacturing and distribution of computers, palm phones, and the electronic grid. so, instead of feeling (w)holier-than-thou, ilg feels it very important to re-instill some common, blood-and-guts, and hunting or fishing skills to our direct experience instead of fooling ourselves (and worse, our chi-ldren) into thinking that cooking a nice tilapia filet or grilling Organic Skirt Steak out on the grill is somehow NOT associated with you actually going hunting and fishing and killing with your own two hands. We are, and we do. Vegetarian or not, here comes your karma unless you live off the Grid and eat only veggies (which has its own philosophic conundrum) from your biologic-protected garden somehow year round. Go(o)d luck.

so far, even the harshness of my Teachers have not forced me to go deer hunting…occasional fishing with plenty of pre and during and post “Give Away” rituals are enough for this Mountain Yogi, these years. Remember, however, that i was Told to spend at least 10 years living as close to a Vegan Lifestyle as possible which i did in Boulder years ago. the point is, along this Lifespan, our spiritual training should include the wholistic polarities of living as innocently as possible for a time span (which should be supervised by your Teacher) and to balance that with real blood-and-guts messing around with hunting and/or fishing. We all come from a Hunter/Gatherer Tribe; it’s vital to reVisit that ancient skillset. We may be surprised at how much ‘gunk’ comes up emotionally from deeeeeep within our lower chakral fields when we pursue hunting or fishing as a spiritual assignment. The spiritual advantages of inflicting pain and death upon the Animal Realm are not to be politely shielded from your supposedly more ‘harmonious’ endeavors along the Way toward Enlightenment. Really, why do you TAF that India’s most Beloved and Powerful Scripture – The Bhagavad Gita – takes place in the middle of an intense civil war?! C’mon; if ilg has taught you ANYTHING about the spiritual journey it’s that, “it ain’t spiritual if it’s comfortable to your ego.”

such Steep and Direct Teaching – consistently practiced over the course of one’s life, requires Humor.

Now, i realize ilg is stretching your concentration skills here in connecting the above few paragraphs directly into Humor, however, that is precisely the stunning splendor of the Divine Play of It All (Tvat Tvam Asi). As we trek along, stumbling, falling, getting back up…again and again along our Way Higher, the Humor of Shiva, Brahman, and Vishnu MUST be FULLY embraced or we might just risk a complete neurotic breakdown in the face of deconstruction of our untrue self. last weekend’s ‘family camping trip’ (the second of my life) was a hilarious example of what happens to even a feeble yogi like ilg when he attempts to inflict harm upon another Being…in this case, a Fish Being.

All i wanted was to go family camping and catch one single Trout for my family to share over a campfire. I mean, i used to fish ALL the time…when my sadhana steepened and i received an Enlightenment Shard to stop killing directly and eventually engage a vegan lifestyle, i made sure i made the podium of American fishing, that meant – to me:

1) – somehow catching an Arctic Grayling
and
2) – catching a trout with my bare hands.

Eventually, over the course of two years, i did just that.

That, however, is a different Teaching.

Back to last weekend and nearby ‘Dogtown Lake’ where ilg and his fishing desires got downright dogged, along with the rest of my family…

It started out just dandy…got a killer campsite right next to a beautiful alpine lake at nearly 8,000′ (see photo). after doing the bijillion new duties inherent to being the Family Camping Head Leader (JESUS!!! THIS IS NOT THE BACKPACKING CAMPING ILG HAS KNOWN AND LOVED HIS WHOLE LIFE!), it finally came time for me to go down to the lake and catch a trout as Grandfather Sun slid behind the ancient sacred mountains of the Hopi.

Confidence and Ritual animated my barefeet as i skipped myself and tackle box down to the shore. word on the banks was that the trout were being caught by the dozens…
“So, what are the fish biting on?” i asked the Campground Host
“Worms,” came the reply from the Host…which has got to be one of the best jobs ever.
“Oh, cool, thanks!” i responded undeterred by the fact that i had no worms and i was not about to do MORE killing to catch my One Beloved Trout.

no sirree, ilg was a very accomplished fisherperson and regardless of what the Commoners were using, i would catch my Trout using hand-tied flies…the Noble, the Approriate, the Tribal way…

“ahhh, this is living…” i thought to myself as i wetted my first few lines…“solitude, beauty, and getting back to real…”

A Great Blue Heron and another Bird of Prey were escorting my reverie at the shore and ilg was content in a deep, deep way…

It was no longer than 10 minutes when i tied into something i’ve never, ever caught before in my life…

a Crawdad.

how the hell a Crawded got onto my hook, i have zero idea. extracting the poor Creature, i Recognized Him immediately as my Guru…“OHHHHH NO!!!” i felt my heart contract…then i began what i am sure none of you do, i began negotiating with God…if i could just catch ONE TROUT FOR MY FAMILY…NOT FOR ME>>> i won’t go fishing again for a loooong time, okay???

thus armed with a proper rationalization, i threw my line out and caught something else…another fishing lure…an old “SuperDuper” whose hooks were rusted and forlorn. within the lure’s mother-of-pearl veneer ilg was looking again into my Guru’s reflection…

so i toughen up my rationalizations and casted again…this time i felt something on my line again…
…another Crawdad!!?!??!

this was surreal.

after Crawdad Number 2, i had to shift from negotiation with God to downright Debate…a technique learned from the Tibetans at Naropa University and i was pretty okay at it, so i launched into a finely tuned Debate with God and kept casting into the falling night…even the Great Heron had called it quits, his Buddha belly full of Trout. Heron sauntered close to me, about 50 meters, and i swear, i heard this Great Being of Flight say, “Dude, give it up. You’re the only one out here and the Fish are literally jumping out of the way of your line and hook, okay? Go back to your campsite and your family…”

i shot Heron Brother a scowl and casted again into the cooling night air and my fly landed in an ocean of trout surfacing for flies…i’ll show YOU ALL!!!!

that’s when my hook caught on a submerged tree…i paced off a few feet to get an angle and jerked my rod to free it…

that’s when my fishing rod snapped right in two, right near my reel.

i looked up over at Heron Brother, he was smiling.
i looked across the Trout-rippling lake…it was smiling.
i looked up into the deep sky presided over by a lovely Grandmother Moon,
and felt the Dance of Shiva,
the Humor of Vishnu,
and
the exquisite teaching skills of Brahman
and i laughed.

EPILOGUE
it was about 2 am that Dewa – who loves camping – woke Ananda and i up by vomitting all over my expensive Marmot® sleeping bags. Extraction of puke revealed barely digested Blueberries. You see, i TAF that Dewa is coming off a Bear incarnation from the not too distant past, cuz the little woman can put away Blueberries like nobody’s business. at about 4:30 am and three more throw-ups later, we realized that as we were busy pitching camp, Dewa had sat down with an entire box of Blueberries (see photo above, click to enlarge) only to follow the Blueberries up with a box of Raisins. perhaps the cold night air contracted Her belly a bit and well, i’ve still got the sleeping bags airing out in the sun…Family Warriorism, indeed.