Other Limbs, II

[Guest guest]

Alert: pontification follows.<br><br>I'm sort of

an ashtanga heretic myself: I doubt that any one

limb on its own is sufficient preparation for another.

If you want to be generous and non-violent, then

serve the poor, live simply, and give non-violence a

serious try: don't think it will come by mastering arm

balances. And if your ashtanga gets in the way of serving

the poor, then skip a practice or two and work in

that soup kitchen or go to that demonstration,

whatever.<br><br>I also doubt that any one limb of yoga, even

samadhi, is the be-all and end-all of the whole system.

God is not found in one particular state of being,

but rather in the hermeneutical relationship between

these states. As Devereux says, you bring your

yama/niyama to your asana. But then work on asana should be

undertaken partly with a view to enhancing your

forebearance, generosity, etc., in your life off the mat. If

you attain samadhi, hopefully you will serve others

with deeper compassion, not just blast off into

moksha. Active love helps us to see God; seeing God makes

us love more actively.<br><br>So I don't see the

limbs of yoga as a linear structure in which each limb

is subordinate to the next. I think of yoga as a

web-like structure, with the "goal" being to move

gracefully along the strands from one node (limb) to the

other. This view probably stems from my Catholic bias.

So be it.<br><br>Peace and Good,<br>Homer

[Guest guest]

>>If you want to be generous and

non-violent, then serve the poor, live simply, and give

non-violence a serious try: don't think it will come by

mastering arm balances.<br><br>It isn't obvious to me why

it should be so, but I would say that most of the

people I know who have "mastered arm balances" - at

least those who have done it through practicing yoga -

are unusually open, kind, generous people. Something

happens, don't know how but I trust what I see. Thinking

"I want to be more like that" was one of the things

that motivated me to get serious about this

stuff.<br><br>Which isn't to say that there aren't also lots of

unusually kind, generous, open-hearted people who have come

to be that way via completely different paths.