Health and spirituality

[Guest guest]

Dear SS, Screade, Kiai72, clk0893, and the aptly

aliased Whitetrash yoga,<br><br>my statement:<br>"You

CANNOT be in tune with God unless you are physically

healthy."<br><br>was a clumsy paraphrase of a passage from Yoga Mala,

pg44. "The first duty is to take care of the body,

which is the means to the pursuit of a spiritual life."

(Shariramadyam Khalu Dharma Sadhanam).<br>Furthermore:<br>"This

self cannot be gained by one devoid of strength "

(Nayam atma balahinena ladhyah)<br><br>Whatever you

value in life, be it your family, your career, your

children or your relationship with God - that all goes out

the window when you are sick and infirmed. So I

believe that your first priority in life should be your

life itself - your physical health. All else follows.

Practicing suryanamaskara in the morning (the sun being a

symbol of life, as it is the source of all life) is a

way of demonstrating that you have internalized this

principle: that your physical health is your life's Primary

priority. <br><br>Yes you can pray to God and have a

spiritual life when you are ill or incapacitated. (duh) But

a healthy person is more capable of serving God,

performing bhakti, etc... <br><br>You owe it to God to honor

the gift of life S/He bestowed upon you by

maintaining optimum health.<br><br>Astanga yoga is by no

means the only path towards yoga (ie. union with God).

For an example of someone who is truly on the right

path who has never practiced a single asana check

out:<br><br><a href=http://www.pih.org/PIHNews/NewYorker.asp

target=new>http://www.pih.org/PIHNews/NewYorker.asp</a><br><br>Cheers, <br>DMcG

[Guest guest]

Dear Ddmcguire,<br><br>Actually I'm reading Yoga

Mala myself, and as far as the sentence "This Self

cannot be gained by one devoid of strength" is

concerned, I would be careful to equate the "Self" with

"God". Also, I THINK (I don't have the Mala at hand

right now, sorry) that Sri Jois also states that

"strength" doesn't necessarily mean physical, but also

mental strength in this context.<br><br><< But a

healthy person is more capable of serving God, performing

bhakti, etc...>> Well, I personally don't agree.

[Guest guest]

SS wrote:<br>"as far as the sentence "This Self

cannot be gained by one devoid of strength" is

concerned, I would be careful to equate the "Self" with

"God". <br><br>"Self" in this context refers to

"Universal Self" ie God.<br><br>DM