Ārya – the respectable man  

«The decision is that—‘one born to an Ārya from a Non-Ārya woman may be an Ārya in quality; but one born to a Non-ārya even from an Ārya woman is always Non-Ārya’» (Manusmriti, 10.67).

Let’s face it, Manusmirti has done a lot of damage in history. Castes could be a good idea in some respects, but they turned out to be a source of discrimination and inequality. Of course, it is a text from two thousand years ago. Today you could or should consider certain outdated beliefs, shouldn’t you Cancer?

Yet social conditioning is still so important. Today you can change social status with respect to that of birth, but precisely for this reason the struggle is even more fierce to grab the best. When you dig deep, you often find that the need for social prestige has a very ancient source in your life, certainly survival but more easily the expectations of the family of origin. So, Cancer, is it for the material plan or for your prestige that you get so angry with others when you feel them against you? Think how these struggles with others would become meaningless if you renounced a certain image of yourself. Magically you may find yourself in a strange harmony precisely with the same people you perceive as enemies.

IN PRACTICE  

Upavisthakona-āsana, angle-down pose

A position of surrender of the self, but with a strange opening “from below”. Can you relax in this pose? Try it for two minutes every night, resting your head on a support.

Awareness exercise

Take a sheet. Write down all your features and your dreams in a list. Re-read them: how true are they of you? How truly yours those dreams?

Mantra of the month

«Who am I?»