Table of contents for Issue 4 in YOKE Magazine

Lord Krishna’s instruction to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita — You should do your duty —is a clear theme in an ancient text which has inspired millions with its timeless teachings. The primary teaching of Krishna to Arjuna is the importance of Karma Yoga and Nishkama Karma. The meaning of Nishkama Karma is to do one’s duty without worrying about the results. Doing one’s duty is not easy; Arjuna was constantly tossing up between his duty and his egocentric desires. But at least he knew what was expected of him — to fight in battle. In this modern age, how do we do our duty if we don’t even know what it is? In this fourth issue of YOKE we went in search of this slippery word ‘duty’. Like Arjuna,…

LULU AND MISCHKA, SHARLEE GIBB AND MATT WILKINSON, BEC MATTHEWS AND SARAH WARD, LOUISE WHELAN AND JOHN OGDEN People often think that a meaningful profession must come at the price of a meaningful relationship, or vice versa, but it is possible for the two to come together in surprising and creative ways. Working alongside your soulmate can bind two people closer together and expand the potential of their creative expression. For some couples the sense of duty they have towards each other merges into a mutual desire to express that sense of duty in the wider world. Whether it be through music, art, food, photography or family, each of the couples we spoke to are working together in their own unique way to make the world around them a better…

‘With art we are individually brought together … in a conversation about living.’ Living: it’s a tough gig. Mess. Confusion. Misunderstanding. Secrets. Clutter. The world. Difference. Kindness. Intrigue. Nostalgia. Revenge. Ambition. Betrayal. Noise. Choice. Death. Anger. Regret. Power. Loyalty. Love. Lust. Desire. Infatuation. Momentary infatuation. Memory. Imagination. Imagining the person who distracted you for a large part of your teenage life - un-kissed and unfulfilled. The one that got away. The niggling suspicion that perhaps everything has got away from you; that panic that comes from consciousness, from both action and inaction. The advertised insistence that perhaps the grass is greener and you are kept - by your own fear, or your own doing {or not-doing) - on your side of the fence, haunted by the idea that perhaps you…

LOUISE ZHANG, BEN ALI ONG, STEVIE FIELDSEND AND HYUN-HEE LEE The idea of duty is not generally something that you would associate with contemporary art or artists. Typically, some may think of artists as unfettered creative beings, coming and going from their studios at all hours, producing works on a whim that deal with whatever might have taken their fancy on that particular day. Yet underlying the thought process and conceptual practice of most contemporary artists is an inherent urge or desire to express something of value and importance a duty or a calling to create work which is meaningful and grounded in artistic integrity. This sense of duty manifests itself in a myriad of ways, from the intricate paper-based installations and paintings of Korean-Australian artist Hyun-Hee Lee which explore…

The word ‘duty’ implies responsibility. And for Sarah K, of design collaborative Supercyclers, this responsibility comes naturally. “I feel strongly about Supercyclers. Whether I name it or not, it influences everything I do. I just feel now that there’s no point in doing that other stuff,” she says. ‘Other stuff’ refers to design for the sake of it, design that doesn’t consider a purpose beyond looking good, or a benefit that doesn’t go beyond personal desire. As a designer and curator, Sarah K has seen her fair share of ‘other stuff’. What interests her now is the kind of design that responds to the more important questions. “I have always thought that as designers are trained as problem solvers, we have a duty to help solve the big issues that…

SUNE ENGEL RASMUSSEN AND DANIELLE MOYLAN “It's night. We’re driving without lights towards Lashkar Gah. We’re in the middle of a convoy with the Afghan forces. We put a blanket over the internal car lights and turn off our phones to try and become invisible. Two journalists have just been killed travelling in similar circumstances, hit by Taliban rocket-propelled grenades. It’s not fun. It’s one of the most dangerous things we’ve ever done. The Afghan soldiers think we’re safer with them. Sometimes that’s true. Sometimes that’s really not true. Sometimes we want to be as civilian as possible.” Danielle Journalists Sune Engel Rasmussen and Danielle Moylan are describing their return from Helmand Province, Afghanistan’s frontline, where the Taliban are recapturing territory. According to them, the 30-minute drive was far more…

We get nervous using the word ‘morality’, I think. Without much analysis of its meaning we tend to think of it as a set of instructions, proscriptions from on high. From the perspective of religious philosophies that assert a creator, that’s literally what it is. I asked ajesuit priest friend of mine what defines a sin, an immoral action and indeed he said, a sin is “doing what God said not to do”. It seems to be the same in our parents’ households. When I was a little girl it’s certain that when I asked my mother why I shouldn’t do something she told me not to do, her answer would be “because I say so”. In the world at large, too. We’re always on the lookout to avoid doing…

A well-known Ayurvedic practitioner finishes most of her first consultations with the following question: ‘Do you know what your purpose in this life is?’ The first time I was asked this question I cried. The question runs through your skin, your tissues, settles in your organs and vibrates within every cell’s DNA. Then the mind spoils that moment of understanding: What does purpose have to do with the diet and lifestyle that I have just been prescribed? For Ayurveda, living our full potential, embracing and acting upon our highest calling is a vital point to achieve and maintain health. Even though we tend to start our Ayurvedic path finding out about our unique constitution (dosha) and our imbalances, about the foods and habits that nourish us, even though we learn…

EVE GRZBOWSKI, MARK ROBBERDS, MATY EZRATY, TREVOR TANGYE ‘Duty’ is a double-edged sword of a word. It can suggest all the stuff we don’t want to do but must. Yet certain duties have the capacity to liberate us - or at least, in asking for our disciplined awareness, offer up a path to growth. Parenting, for instance, or any labour of love. Here we can flip the word over: duty can be elevated to devotion, something we may be bound to, but out of love, an inner feeling or sensitivity. So what is duty in the context of yoga practice? Is the thing that gets us onto the mat in the first place the same thing that keeps us going? What compels some practitioners to take the extra leap to…

ROB GINNIVAN When Rob Ginnivan was 34 and in the corporate world, drinking, smoking marijuana and stressed out, his doctor warned him that he was heading for destruction. One day, unable to breathe, he parked his car by the side of the road and suddenly realised he must learn to become mindful, practice compassion and help others. He looked outside himself and his consciousness and his awareness shifted. He studied with the great gurus and doctors and came home to Canberra a pioneer, to concentrate on helping veterans suffering from PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His new book is called Now and Now. We are living at a time when I think yoga and meditation are acknowledged, particularly in the Western world. They have been a big part of your life.…

Try, if you can, to imagine a world without art and culture. No theatres or concert halls or art galleries. No dance, opera, classical music, plays, musicals, cabaret or circus. The little bar in your suburb that hosts live bands would be gone, along with your child’s dance school. Say goodbye to novels, cinema, television dramas, radio, pop music, video games, graphic design and fashion. It’s hard to get your head around just how many things that we take for granted would no longer be there. In fact, you probably need an artist to help you imagine what such a world would be like. But artists do more than make art. They entertain and uplift us. They tell us about ourselves and the world we live in. They allow us…

Duty requires a sense of obligation - it implies something that must be done regardless of whether we want to do it. Like duty to country… I don’t like the sound of the word duty. I don’t like the feeling of doing something out a sense of duty. It feels obligatory, and that it exists because of cultural memes. I’m rebelling. The underlying essence of duty makes me want to turn around and walk away from it and when I metaphorically do, I hit a wall called negligence. As I wrote this I paused for a few moments because it touched a nerve. There was something new and raw processing within me. Have I been negligent? No. Negligence is choosing not to care, though I could be negligent and also…

Never have I been asked to either speak or write on the subject of duty but, in the presence of Cynthia Sciberras, I can only agree. Duty is a notion that has floated up and down with the tidal movements of history. It is a view that carries a very different meaning from one generation to the next. George Bernard Shaw wrote in Caesar and Cleopatra “When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.” On the other hand, the last words of Lord Nelson were “Thank God, I have done my duty.” I’m inclined to think that the idea of duty is connected to the ideal of human rights, although ancient cultures that had no concept of human rights…

Abdul Abdullah is an artist from Perth who works across painting, photography, video, installation and performance. As a self described ‘outsider amongst outsiders’, his practice is primarily concerned with the experience of the other’ in society. Abdullah’s projects have engaged with different marginalized minority groups and he is particularly interested in the experience of young Muslims in the contemporary multicultural Australian context. Andrea O'Driscoll is a professional writer from Sydney’s Inner West. When she’s not busy with that she likes spending time with her two young children and struggling to finish her latest novel. Augusta Supple is a cultural crusader, arts activist, writer, theatre director, strategist, intellectual, performing arts obsessive, man-loving feminist, provocateur, romantic, punk, lapsed jazz musician, new work advocate, she is an arts “slashie” of extremedimensions who is…