goal of yoga, astanga or otherwise

[Guest guest]

your discussion was very helpful. but isn't

working towards samadhi the goal of other yoga forms as

well? do the other forms of yoga, about which i am

totally ignorant so please excuse me, not also attempt to

involve all 8 limbs as described in the sutras, albiet in

a different method that astanga?

[Guest guest]

my reading of the yogasutras and various

hathayoga texts (pradipika, sivasamhita, gherandhasamhita,

gorakhsas) leaves me with a very clear distinction bewteen

them. when translated on the basis of practice rather

than spurious dictionary definitions, patanjali is

talking about surrender, whereas the others seem to be

talking about control. (i admit i have not studied them

as closely). while patanjali refers to asana and

pranayama as states of awarenessbeing rather than

techniques, the hathayogis ((who dropped the indispensable

yama&niyamas which patanjali put first (and used more words

for them than the other 6 limbs together) for the

reasons that 1. they are the fundament of the practice &

2. they alone guide you through asana to samadhi))

are using them (asana&pranayama) quite differently as

techniques to bring about samadhi or bliss. while patanjali

refers to samadhi as a purification process (“within

which all affliction and all karma are burned up”)

which reveals the underlying essential self, of which

bliss is ony a not particularly significant aspect. the

pivot being that it is a nondual state of

beingawareness in which no separation is made between this and

that, self and other, while still being able to

distinguish and navigate between their apparency. this

requires the absence of identifying a selfcentre that is

interested in or rewarded by bliss. where the vinyasa system

fits in is another matter. and which until the yoga

koruntam is unearthed, must remain conjectural or else

experiential. for me it brings patanjali to life in a way

nothing else ever did. so i have no argument with PBJ for

calling it ashtangayoga, but we might do well to remember

others were teaching & practicing what they also called

ashtangayoga before his comet hit the heavens, and that only

patanjali has the right to edjudicate on the use of the

name. we might also do well to remember that other

students of krishnamacharya have been and are teaching the

vinyasa system within the context of patanjali's eight

limbs. and that they have students, myself included,

just as PBJ does. incidentally, a ninety minute

practice sounds like a pretty short form to me. but,

anyway, who is this that wants bliss, who is striving for

samadhi, what is indulging that desire, that striving

doing to that apparent selfcentre???? is that yoga???

see what chogyam trungpa rinpoche has to say about

spiritual materialism (there might be something in it, you

never know till you try), then take a look at the

startling wisdom of dogen if youre not afraid to have the

ground kicked out from under your feet....

[Guest guest]

Right on... which is why I think it is helpful to

say 'ashtanga yoga as taught by SKP Jois' I think

this is most correct if one wants to define what it is

this club seems to be referring to by simply saying

'Ashtanga Yoga' because yes Patanjali discusses this 'eight

limbs' and he was around a long long time before

Krishnamacharya and SKP Jois.