What would happen if a tohunga (priest/expert) of Māori esoteric traditions met a yogi master? What would their interaction look like?
Some years ago, a dear friend and mentor told me a story about a legendary sword fight between two samurai masters. They met on a beach, with their students watching on and expecting to witness the greatest sword fight of all time. The masters drew their katana. The students held their breath. One of the masters stepped forward and drew a circle in the sand with his weapon and stepped back. The other stepped forward and drew a dot in the centre of the circle and stepped back. Both masters then respectfully bowed to each other and parted ways, leaving their students wondering what just happened.
This story illustrates what might happen when two masters from different traditions meet, and they are able to see beyond the outer differences and recognise the higher spiritual principles of which they are both adepts. The story could just as easily be told using characters that come from Māori culture and Yoga. What would happen if a tohunga (priest/expert) of Māori esoteric traditions met a yogi master? What would their interaction look like? What language and images would be used as they recognise their shared experiences and principles? These questions have sat with me since the mid-80s, when I came across the teachings of the revered yogi master Paramahansa Yogananda.
There are several branches of yoga, of which Hatha (which focuses primarily on body discipline for physical and mental wellbeing) is but one. Other forms of yoga exist, such as Mantra Yoga (vocal chanting of seed sounds), Laya Yoga (union with the Inner Sound) and Raja Yoga (The “Royal” path of meditation), to name a few. My training in yoga has primarily been with Raja Yoga, and specifically through the Kriya Yoga teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. It is from this training that I draw my understanding of yoga.
Ali Hale Tilley (2017) states that references to yoga appear in newspaper articles in New Zealand from the late nineteenth to early mid-twentieth centuries, noting the “Theosophical Society’s proselytization of eastern spirituality to New Zealand audiences from as early as 1893” (p. 7). Over the years, the intersection between Māori spirituality and yoga has been explored by many practitioners from both sides. Some teachers and practitioners of yoga who happen to be Māori are also engaging in this exploration, with a rich body of knowledge emerging as a result. This article is simply a contribution to the on-going exploration of this relationship.
Any exploration of the relationship between yoga and Māori spirituality should, of course, begin with the very word “yoga” itself. “Yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root “yuj,” meaning to unite or join. It is also the root of the English word “yoke” (i.e. to “yoke” oxen together). While this can be interpreted at many levels, it is recognised that as a spiritual concept “yoga” refers to the “union” of the individual soul with the universal Spirit from which all things come.
“The story of the samurai masters teaches us to see beyond differences and recognize shared spiritual principles—a journey that mirrors the exploration of Māori spirituality and yoga”
I have been asked by the Yoga Education in Prisons Trust to provide a te reo Māori term for a new project. One suitable term would be Te Pūautanga. “Pūau” is one of our words for a river mouth, where an individual stream flows out and unites with the ocean. The word “Pū” refers to the root or origin of a thing, and “au” refers to a current. By adding the suffix “tanga” we capture the state of a thing. “Te Pūautanga”, therefore, refers to the state of union, whereby the individual soul-current returns to its origin and merges with the oceanic Universal Spirit.
We might also look to the definition of yoga by the great sage Patanjali, who described yoga as “chitta vritti nirodha. This is translated by Yogananda as “cessation of the modifications of the mind-stuff” (p. 70). When the meditator enters into the state of pure awareness, we experience perfect stillness of mind. The ocean of consciousness is no longer whipped up by the restless breath. The waves of thought are settled, and we experience a state of pure awareness. Our Ngāti Porou karakia about Paikea mentions the term “roki hau” (translated by Anaru Reedy as “a calm weather” (p. 143). However, “roki hau” can be translated equally as “a tranquil breath”.
A final comment should be made about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the importance of engaging around these traditions from a spirit of genuine partnership. This must start with a commitment to exploring what the full expression of Te Tiriti o Waitangi means for everyone in our nation, so we can all stand in our mana (authority) as Tiriti partners and co-create a nation that inspires and nurtures all communities in Aotearoa / New Zealand. I mihi to (acknowledge) the Yoga Education in Prisons Trust for committing to this journey. Heoi mō tēnei wā.
About the author
Rongo Ngata (Ngāti Porou) was first introduced to the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda in the mid-80s, and from 1993 was a monk for several years in the California ashrams established by Yogananda. There he practiced Raja Yoga meditation up to five hours daily and studied the common underlying principles behind eastern and western spiritual traditions. In 2003, Rongo returned to Aotearoa and started learning te reo and has attended various wānanga (schools of learning) reviving Māori spiritual traditions. In 2016, he received a PhD from Massey University for his doctoral research on matakite (a Māori term for experiences of heightened intuition). He teaches te reo Māori at Te Rā Waldorf primary school on the Kapiti Coast and to medical students at Otago University in Wellington. Additionally, he is a practitioner of rongoā (traditional medicine) and supports various organisations on their cultural competency and Tiriti o Waitangi journeys.
References
Reedy, Anaru (1993). Ngā Kōrero a Mohi Ruatapu: Tohunga Rongonui o Ngāti Porou. Canterbury University Press.
Tilley, AH (2017). Yoga Communities in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Examining Spirituality, Secularism, and Consumerism in the Wellington Yoga Industry. A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Religious Studies. Accessed online 21 May 2023 at https://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10063/6596/thesis_access.pdf?sequence=1
Yogananda, Paramahansa (1997). God Talks With Arjuna: Royal Science of God-realization. Self-Realisation Fellowship.
