This week's Parsha is Parshat Shelach. It begins with the story of the spies going into the land of Israel to scope it out to prepare to enter it. It occurs in Sefer Bamidbar (The 4th book of the Torah, The Book of Numbers), the thirteenth chapter starting at sentence 27 through the third sentence in the fourteenth chapter.
Ramban spoke about the problem with the spies in the following way. While it’s ok to spy to prepare for military operations so that bnei Yisrael could conquer the land that God promised them, the 10 spies went beyond this. They presented and editorialized beyond just reporting what they observed. They said in Pasuk 39, “It is too strong for us!”. They were only thinking of their own capabilities without any mindfulness of God leading them and making sure that the Jews were successful, even if it seemed to occur through natural means like through battle rather than a supernatural miracle. This brings to mind the 5th Niyama (ethical principles towards ourselves), called Ishvara Pranidhana, known as surrendering to God, devotion to a higher power, and recognizing the source. Nicolai Bachman, in his book The Path of Yoga, says that this Niyama (Ishvara Pranidhana) implies HUMILITY, of suppressing the ego in the presence of something higher. The story of the spies is an important lesson of Ishvara Pranidhana. Rolf Gates states in his book Meditations from the Mat, “Act as if you trust in God” and when the 10 spies forgot to do this and let their egos create fear while forgetting about God, they had to pay the consequences and live out their lives in the desert until the next generation was ready to enter the land.
Ishvara Pranidhana is mentioned in the Yoga Sutras in a few places, first being mentioned in chapter 1, sutra 23. As we get caught up in our day to day lives, we often lose our mindfulness of God’s presence. One way to try and hold onto this mindfulness is through Tefila, prayer. When we wake up first thing in the morning and we say Modeh Ani “I thank you, living and enduring King, for You have graciously returned my soul within me. Great is your faithfulness.” When we go to bed at night, we say the nighttime Shema, which begins with, “Hear, O Israel, the L-rd is our G‑d, the L-rd is One.” Before we get out of bed in the morning we are mindful of God and when we crawl into bed at night we are mindful of God. Throughout the day we can say other Tefilot (prayers) and Brachot (blessings) to continue to bring the idea of God to the forefront of our minds. Maintaining a gratitude journal is another way to help keep a view of the bigger picture and the Divine.
On the mat, there are a number of ways to surrender to the Divine. There is Anjali mudra, prayer pose for the hands, where the hands are held palm to palm, often at the heart. This can be done in a number of poses like mountain, tree, chair, warrior 1, squat, and even locust pose. There is of course Prayer pose where we lie on our belly, similar to locust pose. The forehead is on the floor and the elbows bend while staying on the ground so that the hands come up and together into prayer above the head. With yoga Nidra also known as “The Creative Surrender”, it’s another wonderful choice to work on Ishvara Pranidhana, and surrendering to the Divine.
As we think about the spies and how most of them couldn’t keep their trust in God, how might you go through your yoga practice, on or off the mat to keep God in the forefront of your mind? And trusting and surrendering to God?
Please feel free to follow, comment, and share
@thejewishyogi thejewishyogi@gmail.com
