A MASTI YOGI’S* PRAYER FOR OUR TIMES

A MASTI YOGI’S PRAYER FOR OUR TIMES
I bow to those who continue to defy the onslaught of modern industrial-military Civilisation and its hardening of categories and borders,

I bow to the dirty underwear and those who don’t wear underwear,

I bow to the fools, the misfits, the lazy (wo)men, the fakirs and the jokers who invite us into spaces of silliness, free play, emptiness and into laughing at the myth of human exceptionalism,

I bow to those who graciously lick each and every finger after eating with their hands,

I bow to the uncontrollable farts, hiccups and burps which remind us that our playful and loving ancestors are still with us,

I bow to the deep and profound darkness who defies being lit up like Las Vegas,

I bow to those beings who queer boundaries, transcend labels, rattle utopian plans and offer that confusion is sometimes more powerful than clarity,

I bow to the voices who continue to sing out of tune,

I bow to those who choose not to use deodorants and perfumes to hide their natural body odor and sweat,

I bow to those who are constantly late and operate with non-linear notions of time,

I bow to those who refuse to be colonized by rationality and invite us into promiscuous liminal frequencies,

I bow to those who daydream during zoom calls,

I bow to the mountains, rivers, forests, deserts who struggle to remain wild and ‘undeveloped’,

I bow to those beings who don’t see English as a superior language,

I bow to the sacred and profane which remind us that ‘standardization’ and ‘being normal’ is not really normal,

I bow to the disillusionment which keep us from getting comfortably numb and wakes us up to search for new paths,

I bow to those earthworms who can compost trauma and expand our capacities to hold the pain and love,

I bow to the grandmothers who remind us that genuine connection, real wealth and happiness has nothing to do with money,

I bow to those who do not confuse learning, intelligence and knowledge with degrees and diplomas,

I bow to the failures, imperfections and ugly cracks which remind us that hope is a sensuous and mysterious gift,

I bow to those beings who aren’t afraid to be lost and are willing to dance in the unknown,

I bow to those who refuse to see asking for forgiveness and sharing empathy as a form of weakness,

I bow to those who understand the alchemy of ‘less is more’,

I bow to those who remind us that ‘reality’ is not the only reality,

I bow to those who continue to defy the onslaught of modern industrial-military Civilisation and its hardening of categories and borders,

With this mantra, I invoke the trickster spirit of playfulness, chaos, eros, imagination, trans-disciplinarity, shape-shifting, jugaading and gift culture for the well-being of all life in the universe.
- Manish Jain, Shikshantar Andolan

#shikshantar #swarajuniversity #ecoversities

*Note: Masti yoga is a hidden branch of yoga. It invites the energy of the sacred trickster who disrupts established patterns, provokes unlearning, unhinges the arrogance of ‘the right answer’ to invite in new possibilities.

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