Running Is For Horses-Quotes from Kavi Yogiraj Mani Finger

Dear Yogi Marlon
I am a yoga teacher and have been quoting this for many years; a student of mine wondered where this quote was to be found? I have mistakenly been saying that it was BKS Iyenger’s assertion, but after many hours of reading and research I came across your ‘Zen and Now of Running’ but I still can’t find the source for this quote.
Could you help me please? Do you know if and where this was written? Meantime I am still going through my many yoga books in the hopes that I may track this down for my student who wishes mention it in an article she has to write and who needs the references if she does.
Thank you for your time and patience.
Yours in the spirit of yoga
Om shanti – Namaste
Rosina


Hi Rosina,

I heard the comment with my own ears in about 1993, when I was sitting with the man, who was the teacher of a few of my teachers. His name is Kavi Yogiraj Mani Finger. He may well have been quoting one of his teachers when he said, verbatim, “Heh! Running is for horses!” but I think not. It was Mani’s way to scoff at what he perceived as nonsense, and truthfully, I’ve never found anything he dismissed, to be worthy of more. Mani was controversial particularly in his expression, but I’ve found joyfully, that his seemingly impolite nature consistently cut through the fluff of the New Age thinking, and revealed truths that otherwise may have taken years longer to assimilate. I think it is with little risk, that we can fairly attribute the quote to dear Mani.

By the way, I am told that on his 85th birthday, Mani did a 45-minute headstand to celebrate the occasion. This vision and my memory of his sense of true mirth, I expect will continue to inspire me through all my years. It was a privilege, an honor and a lovely piece of grace to have sat before him. I wish for you that someone of such unique inspiration will cross your path equally as indelibly.

Mani also said that same day, "The intellect is over-rated," which is a concept I've learned through and through. So much of our culture focuses on the mind, when it’s such a fraction of the totality of our existence. Ask many and they will agree that we are not our bodies, but ask more, and they will tell you we are the stuff of our thoughts and personality. They'll say it is our ideas that make us who we are. If one looks at the kind of work that is valued today, physical labor is looked down upon as inferior to "brainier" jobs. Why? Who says using your brain or mind is superior to using your body, and if so, why? Our culture has a judgment that it is more admirable, but to my eyes it’s merely a single step more subtle or refined. I don't agree it makes it necessarily better. It's clearly more desired in our culture and perhaps even for me, but better? No.

To take the point further, Mani said, "Believe everything until proven untrue." For many who think of themselves as intellectual beings, this idealogy refutes logic. For them science is the sole indicator of truth. I say that's even more absurd, because the scientific theory as a method of proving what is true or false has only existed for about 150 years. Another huge factor is the enormous amount of funding and time it takes to conduct the process of hypothesis, experimentation, and conclusion. What about all the things that are never studied? Do they all cease to exist because they are not scientifically proven? Of course not. Furthermore, quantum physics, a science, has proven that the expectation of the experimenter significantly contributes to the actual outcome of experiments, not just the interpretation of the data.

If alternatively, we do not wait for proof, we open the possibilities in our lives. This is not to say that we fly in the face of logic at all. It simply suggests that we no longer have a "prove it to me" attitude and its resulting standoffishness before we give something a try. Instead we employ our innate powers of intuition. We believe that grace has a hand in what occurs in our lives. We instead learn to trust that what is before us in our lives is precisely the teacher we need to propel our spiritual growth. As a result of all these thoughts, I try to read the signs and apply my will to create a life for myself. I invite you to do the same!

Thanks for writing.
Om shanti,

Yogi Marlon