Critical Thinking

[Guest guest]

Critical thinking is very important - but not

sufficient. After you have taken something apart and analysed

it - you need to put it back together again. You

cant put the laboratory rat back together once you

have disceted it - our western tradition of scientific

inquiry has a terrible record mainly because it lacks one

thing: humility or respect for nature.<br><br>It is the

same with any inquiry - if you take something apart

with arrogance - it stays in pieces and is no use to

anyone.<br><br>The only evidence yoga provides is your own

experience - if you want to know whether KPJ is telling the

truth - speak to him yourself. Listening to a chinese

whisper story is certainly not using critical

thinking.<br><br>Your thinking can only be effective if based on the

correct facts, and only if you show appropriate respect

for those facts - otherwise the sharpness of your

scalpel will cut away all evidence you are looking

for.<br><br>I'm not talking about blind faith. But you need to be

in a place where you can believe anything to be true

while at the same time being open to it not being true,

other wise you can never aproach any kind of

objectivity.<br><br>When you study with a spiritual teacher like KPJ you

do not have the same relationship with him as a

seminar teacher at your university.<br><br>His teaching

is subtle and will not be revealed to you if you do

not know how to receive it. <br><br>Calling someone a

liar (on the basis of hearsay)is in my opinion showing

a distinct lack of respect, and this kind of

attitude will bring no fruit in the practice of yoga, or

study with KPJ.<br><br>The nature of occult practices

like yoga is that something is hidden from incisive

intellectual inquiry. This is the inner experience of spirit

which is destroyed if you talk about it. An attitude of

reverence is required to cultivate these experiences, and

reverence for the Guru is just an aid to discovering that

same attitude towards the whole of creation. Only when

you hold something in high esteem will its secrets be

revealed to you. If you only hold yourself in high esteem,

then all you will see are projections of your

"beautiful" self (small s).

[Guest guest]

Besides, I never posted "K.P.Jois is a liar", or

even "K.P.Jois lies"; I wrote "he may be lying", which

gives him the benefit of the doubt - I guess you should

read my posts more accurately.<br><br>Of course, if

you doubt the Yoga Korunta ever existed (and by the

way, hatha-yoga scholar Georg Feuerstein, who

certainly knows a lot about the subject, questions the

truth of the Korunta legend too), you obviously imply

that K.P.Jois lies when he claims to have discovered

an ancient text on "Ashtanga Yoga", of which you

will find not the faintest trace in Indian literature

and philosophy.<br><br>But perhaps, the word "to lie"

is too strong for you. Maybe it would be more

appropriate to say that K.P.Jois is "mythifying" his

hatha-yoga style - and in this, he is utterly in sync with

the yoga tradition of naming, for example, postures

which may originally have been taken from British

gymnastics after Indian Gods and sages & calling them

"Asanas".<br><br>However, K.P.Jois is not just the alleged discoverer of

the Yoga Korunta. More importantly, he is one of the

most remarkable Yoga teachers and spiritual leaders of

this century; for this he deserves all the respect I

can give him.

[Guest guest]

We are having a great system to follow and

practice. K.P.Jois has given to us. There are many comments

regarding him and his teaching. We should know our goal and

practice to reach the goal. <br><br>George Feurtein knows

a lot. He questions alot. A questioner only

questions.He always has the doubt whether he has any answer

for his question. A sadhaka practices to reach the

goal. <br>sadhaka gets answer for his questions from

his inner guru. It will be good to follow this guru

[Guest guest]

Even if Ashtanga Yoga is basically an invention

of Sri K.Pattabhi Jois & his Guru T.Krishnamacharya,

and the Yoga Korunta is nothing more than a myth,

this doesn't mean that Ashtanga is

worthless.<br><br>Indeed, Ashtanga Yoga has proved to be a highly efficient

tool for personal self-improvement, be it physically,

mentally and spiritually.<br><br>(Inventions, by the way,

are nothing new in Yoga.)

[Guest guest]

imo, Patajali's astanga yoga Is critical thinking

applied to the task of self-discovery. That's my reading

of the yoga sutras -- practical application of self

awareness leads to freedom of the mind.<br> <br>This is, or

rather should be, something quite apart from what we see

of cultic "gurudum," which is a perversion of proper

respect to authority. In Gurudum, the possibility that

the Guru can be wrong in any way shape or form is

never allowed to arise. <br><br>Real Gurus worthy of

real respect (not cultic reverence) admit when when

they are wrong; they don't offer up lame excuses such

as "the ants ate my sacred scripture."<br><br>This

kind of humility is the true occult power of the Guru.

A good example of such humility: the current Dalai

Lama admitted he was gravely wrong in saying that the

leader of Aum Shinryko, (before he became infamous for

murder and other crimes) "had the mind of a Buddha."

[Guest guest]

Thank you, screwgee, wise words. <br>It's funny

how in school the teacher that I appreciate the most

is my maths teacher of five years, who has always

emphasized that one should always ask and question, and that

whatever she says is not final (or the only correct

answer), but open to discussion. A very rare

characteristic feature in a teacher..