as with the divine self within them. Only in this way can the
disciple be led to an experience of their own divine self –
whilst at the same time learning from their Guru by what
profound means and modes of meditative and aware
relating they too can find relational fulfilment through
spiritually teaching and parenting other adults.
Yet just as a child has only an inkling of the adult world
of the parent, so the disciple has only an inkling of the
larger world of awareness of the guru. And just as the child
learns about the world of their parent in a way that is
primarily relational – from the ways their parents relate to
them from that world – so too, does the disciple learn
about the guru’s larger world from the latter’s way of
relating to them from that world.
What I have called ‘The Awareness Principle’ and ‘The
Practice of Awareness’ constitute the grounding principle
and practices of a ‘New Yoga’ – ‘The New Yoga of
Awareness’. Together they show how the false dualism of
hermetic isolation and communal belonging can be
overcome through practices of aware asymmetric relating.
The Practice of Awareness in asymmetric human relations
is based on The Awareness Principle itself. This ‘principle’
of awareness distinguishes all experiential contents of
consciousness or awareness from consciousness as such or
‘pure awareness’. The practice of this ‘Awareness Principle’
has to do with ceasing to identify with contents of