However, this year I was not feeling well, and Yoga poses in bed called in sick. My extensive traveling of the past month had suddenly caught up with me Yoga poses in bed and I crashed. I spent the day resting, contemplating, and just being in my home again. I went to mass at 5:30 in the afternoon. Father Lafferty was presiding from the dais over a nearly full church. I love to attend afternoon masses in the wintertime. It is so warm and golden inside this sanctuary in contrast to the dark cold outside. Father Lafferty walked up to the pulpit to deliver his homily in his usual warm way with his kind face and gentle manner and began to speak about the true meaning of Lent.
Kshatriyas and the spread of the proto-yoga discourse
We do not only encounter Brahmin lecturers in the Upanishads but also Kshatriya teachers. The Kshatriyas – the noble warrior classes – introduced the Brahmins to karma. Perhaps it was even the Kshatriyas who created the sign. So they found the new sign inspirational and thought that the Brahmins should know about it. Why? Because, as we can see today, the sign was loaded with ideology and power. Let me explain.
Karma explains social success and failure as a function of past lives. It is evident that karma implies that an individual’s present social position is a direct result of this person’s behaviour in previous lives. This sign in a single sentence explains and legitimises social difference. If you are poor, it is your own fault. Behave, and you will have a better chance in next life. Such a doctrine was clearly to the benefit of the two ruling groups who competed for dominance – the Kshatriya and the Brahmins. So the karma sign – interpreted in this narrow way – could easily have emerged among the ruling groups as North India became increasingly stratified.
