Castor Oil a Kriya?

[Guest guest]

The means to liberation and higher consciousness

are: Mudra, Pranayama, Pratyahara and Dhyana<br><br>In

order for these techniques to be effective, the body

has to be first prepared and the Nadis have to be

clean. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Gheranda Samita

describe these cleansing exercises: Shat Karma and Kriyas.

However the Yoga Sutra makes no mention of them - the

first stage here is Asana. There is also no mention of

Mudra - which both the HYP and the GS go into in some

depth.<br><br>The first two sequences of Ashtanga Yoga: Yoga

Chikitsa (Primary) and Nadi Shodona (Intermediate) perform

the same function as the Kriyas - they clean out the

body and prepare it for the further stages of yoga. It

is a mistake to call the breathing method advocated

by Pattabhi Jois for the practice of asana, Ujjia

Pranayama - Guruji just says "breathe with sound".

Pranayama is a separate practice.<br><br>You will notice in

the Yoga Sutra that no specific Asana is mentioned

for practice. The only instruction is that the asana

should be steady and comfortable, and that you should be

able to stay in it for a long time (1 yama - 3 hours).

Also the pranayama exercises are not described in

detail. This points to the necessity of the Guru who

interprets the text and completes the picture with practical

instruction.<br><br>The three texts indicate different approaches or

possible sets of options to bring the practitioner to the

same end. Different categorizations of practices and

even names of asana appear in different texts. For

instance in the GS what is here described as kurmasana is

what we Ashtanga practitioners call mulabadhasana -

the names for asana also change with different

traditions.<br><br>The Ashtanga Yoga system is very simple and very

beautiful. Some times a kriya may be necessary, but in

general the only one Guruji recommends is Castor Oil.

<br>(Sorry, I dont think that one was mentioned in any of the

texts)

[Guest guest]

truly our rootguru (patanjali) includes little or

no technicalities in his text. this might not ONLY

be a safety measure to ensure that subtle practices

are not abused by the impetuous. it may also be to

avoid rigid formulation of the ONLY means to practice

yoga. my reading of the sutras on asana and pranayama

is that he uses the terms to describe not

techniques, but beingstates. both being characterised by

nondaulity. the means for achieving these states no doubt

include asana and pranayama techniques, but others also.

in my experience bandha being the most vital.