Ashtanga Right Wingers.

[Guest guest]

Aghori -- Thanks for this post. I think it really

helps me understand where you and El Senor are coming

from.<br><br>It seems that you two are indeed, as SPW has said,

yoga "right wingers." As yoga conservatives, you think

that no one should study yoga unless they also study

Hindu religious texts extensively, that Ashtanga should

only be taught the way that your supreme Ashtanga

authority (Pattabhi Jois) teaches it, and that everyone who

disagrees with you is wrong.<br><br>Like many right wingers

in other areas of life, you set yourself and the

texts and authorities as you see them up as inherently

qualified to decide what's right. Like most right wingers,

you seem to have stored up a lot of anger, and to

feel compelled to direct it at anyone who dares to

oppose your authority, frequently resorting to name

calling and hypocisy.<br><br>I am willing to accept that.

As a practicing Jew, I put up with conservatives and

right wingers in my religion, and try to suppress my

anger towards them because of our shared cultural

background and faith. I also respect their knowledge and the

strength of their beliefs. And as a yogi, I am willing to

take the same attitude towards you.<br><br>It is

unfortunate that sometimes our overtures of brotherhood and

friendship are not returned, but maybe you'll understand

what I'm saying and appreciate it.<br><br>As for

everyone else, I encourage you to accept the fact that

we're not ever going to agree on these issues, and try

to keep the dialogue as civilized as possible. It's

better to disagree as adults than to bicker like

children.<br><br>Thanks also to all for your Mysore advice.

[Guest guest]

Mark, you are the voice of reason.<br>B

[Guest guest]

Dear Mark,<br>With all due respect, I find it

discomforting when individuals draw parallels between their

various unrelated religious orthodoxies and Yoga as you,

yogagirl, and hulasana have done. "Overtures of brotherhood

and friendship" are always admirable but NOT at the

cost of conceiving mutts and half-breeds. This is

pecisely the kind of muddling that causes ignorant people

to equate Yoga with all sorts of unrelated

clap-trap, witchcraft, and mumbo-jumbo.<br>Furthermore, for

future reference, Aghoris are ALWAYS left of center!

<br>If someone tells you you are on fire, the

unpleasantness of that news is undeniable but ignoring it will

result in consequences that stretch far beyond the

impact of the news itself.<br>Suffice it to say that, if

you associated with another school or a teacher that

Sri Krishnamacharya did not approve of, you would be

dismissed as a student! He did NOT want the system

corrupted. He once told a group of visiting American

students NOT to study with "Mr. Iyengar". How do you think

that compares with what is going on today?<br>If you

religious types can't relate... imagine me coming along and

re-interpreting your precious Talmud and Bible and publishing my

own version the way I would like it to read!

[Guest guest]

Aghori states that Krishanmacharya “…did NOT want

the system corrupted.”<br><br>So we have a bunch of

students of Krishanmacharya that teach different Yoga

systems. BKS Iyengar of Pune, BNS Iyengar of Mysore, PK

Jois, TKV Desikachar and even more less known

teachers!<br><br>They were all taught the exact same stuff from

Krishnamacharya but they are all traitors. They conceived “mutts

and half-breeds”.<br><br>I am willing to bet , only

Aghori’s teacher teaches the right, pure, true

yoga.<br>And it’s not even Ashtanga Yoga, the subject of this

Club. Click on his name to see the picture of

this “heretic”, practicing something that’s in no

series we get taught by our Ashtanga

teachers.<br><br>What about Sri Ramamohan Brahmachari,

Krishnamacharya’s main teacher? How do we know that Krishnamacharya

made no “unwholesome” changes to the system he was

taught? In the 1938 video of Krishanmacharya practicing

except for the straight and simple Sarvangasana, which

we do in the finishing postures, he performs oodles

of variations that are in no Ashtanga series. So

there IS other Yoga, practiced and taught by

Krishnamacharya, than what we do in Ashtanga!<br><br>The truth is

simple. Each and everyone of those teachers has students

small minded enough to spend their time talking about

the “purity” of the system, and how what others teach

is inferior to their school, which is at the heart

of Aghori’s arguments.<br><br> Surprise Mr. “left of

center” is just another Aryan brother/wolf in sheep’s

angora clothing.

[Guest guest]

I never wear wool in the summer!

[Guest guest]

Great post Javra. <br><br>I think maybe the

vestiges of our tribal instincts (fear, identification,

impulse toward survival) impel us towards a parochial

crystalizing of our chosen authority figures and

systems...it's a very human tendency.<br><br>Devil's advocate --

I like very much what Richard Freeman has to say

about the balance between the

fundamentalist/doctrinaire, on the one (right) hand, and Extreme Relativism

on the left. The way I see, the ideal (never fully

realized in consensus) is a respect of authority and

rational though...seems to me the best way to

progress.<br><br>Or...Enlightenment isn't so much about getting brighter, it's

about

lightening up (as my Buddhist Monk friend tells

me).<br><br>One final thought:<br><br>Astanga yoga can and must

GROW, ie change. It will grow, or it will die, just

like everything else in this Starry Jungle.