asteya topics

[Guest guest]

for a new member to this " club", it seems

like a lot of the entries are pretty caustic. lots of

talk about who is and isn't certified to teach

ashtanga, and the banter about jmyc teachers- surely these

are some very hurtful postings. no one seems to find

it necessary to mention that without the ways and

means of these places- like jmyc, (and pys), not too

many of us would actually know about guruji!<br>let

the "bad man/ladies" who take guruji's teachings

without his blessings beware of karma! who knows this

better than those of us who respect the sacredness of

his generosity!<br>as for famous people, this is new

york- take a look around, they live here. live your

life as you pratice yoga and become beautiful (and

perhaps famous) too! these people are no more human than

any one else, what they have done with their lives is

to focus. something we are here to learn about

through yoga practice. <br>is it just plain laziness that

keeps the postings constantly focused on someone else's

credentials? they are certainly not using them now. they are

binding their poses and breathing along to guruji's

voice. let the magnificence of these teachings not be

brought down to such a level as to who someone is or

isn't. instead- how about a little more personal

questioning- such as, why are you concerned with who someone

is or isn't- how about focusing on yourself?<br>so

far, the experience to practice with this man, (who is

older than most of the humans on the planet), has been

such a great gift for all of us. each twilight

morning, each downward dog, etc: the opportunity to become

a more beneficent being is offered: go for it!

<br>the postings that have chronicled the daily classes

that everyone has been doing at the puck building this

week are so great- it is wonderful to see that some

people were offering it as a journal/diary of all the

good work (no bad ladies or men here!) we are trying

to do. let us try to speak about some of the more

positive aspects of why we are there. is the idea of that

too much for those who seem to enjoy the bashing of

people who have worked very hard to bring these

teachings to us all?! right here in nyc?! let us be

grateful- however that may be. i bow at the lotus feet of

my teacher.

[Guest guest]

Well said, Sunshine-! i liked that. Keep writing!

[Guest guest]

thank you for posting this. I don't understand

SPW's obsession with Jivamukti. Senor when you post

something helpful it is truly helpful but when you post BS

it REALLY smells. Come on people admit it...many of

you became interested in ashtanga and guruji through

your exposure to jivamukti open classes. And if you've

ever taken a class with Sharon Gannon or David Life I

can't believe you didn't walk away feeling very

elevated. It is my understanding that they go to Mysore

every year. Correct me if I'm wrong. And Guruji was

going to speak where last night? -- Jivamukti.

Unfortunately the event was cancelled.<br><br>Many yoga sites

have teacher bios. Why the obsession with this site?

As sunshine_shantih mentioned this is NYC. Where do

the models/actors of the world live -- here. So if

you are going to find a yoga teacher/model it will be

in NYC. As sunshine_shantih mentioned it has been

such a positive week why bring it down to such a low

level of immaturity and bashing.

[Guest guest]

Liked your post. I certainly didn't mean anything

negative by any of my observations - hope you don't think

that I did. <br>Will you tell me: what do you mean

when you say that some would "take guruji's teachings

without his blessings"?

[Guest guest]

<< what do you mean when you say that some

would "take guruji's teachings without his blessings"?

>><br><br>I guess it means that some of those you see kissing

Sri Jois' lotus feet at his workshop in NYC in fact

don't give a damn what he says, and they are perfectly

happy with it.<br><br>Why go through the gruesome

process of becoming an officially recognised teacher,

when you can have it all much easier, much faster...

Like this Dennis Dean guy, who, because he attended

some workshops with Tim Miller, he now calls himself

an 'Astanga Yoga teacher', and does hold workshops

that are then publicised on YOGAChicago magazine also.

Why follow the rules? Why the need to go to Mysore?

But OK OK - let us not 'bring it down to such a low

level of immaturity and bashing', as someone else put

it.<br><br>BTW, Malsag - I enjoy reading your reports on Guruji's

workshop. Thank you.

[Guest guest]

""Like this Dennis Dean guy, who, because he

attended some workshops with Tim Miller, he now calls

himself an 'Astanga Yoga teacher', and does hold

workshops that are then publicised on YOGAChicago magazine

also. Why follow the rules? Why the need to go to

Mysore? ""<br><br>Yes, Shiny (dick)head, I am still

around, and yes, you are even more of an insufferable ass

than you have been in the past. This was clearly an

attempt by you to incite those who may actually know

something of Mr. Dean to come to his defense and take you

to task. Are you so in need of attention that you

have to seek controversy by belittling those with

vastly more experience than you (What do you have under

your belt now, all of 6 or 8 months of ever even

hearing about ashtanga and maybe 4-5 months of study

under your own most august

self-instruction?)<br><br>Since you seem to predisposed to pathologic perusal of

detail, I know you have reviewed Mr. Dean's website

(<a href=http://www.ashtangayoga.net/

target=new>http://www.ashtangayoga.net/</a>) and are fully aware he has studied

with both

Pattabhi and Manju Jois. He continues to study under and

teach with Tim Miller, one of the most respected

teacher's outside of Karnataka (curious that somehow Tim

meets your specious approval--maybe it's that he's more

famous or has a piece of paper on his

wall).<br><br>Perhaps it's to much to expect for you to realize that if

you do want people to appreciate your input here as

useful and informed, you need to somehow eliminate this

self destructive need to belittle and pontificate.

Especially about things that you are so woefully ignorant

about. If you want to knock Dennis, at least find out

about him. If you did spend the time to learn about

Dennis, (or probably many of the others that you so

willingly ASSUME are charletans because they teach without

a certificate, or because you read someone else

spout off a bon mot on their qualifications) you will

find out, with very little effort, that Dennis is the

yogi you should aspire to be, assuming of course that

you do continue to pursue this path in your next five

or ten lifetimes

[Guest guest]

<<like this Dennis Dean guy, who, because

he attended workshops with Tim Miller, he now calls

himself an "astanga yoga teacher">><br><br>I've

watched the posts on this board for a long time, and

heard people who barely have a practice, and who don't

teach, rip on those of us who sweat blood and break our

backs to bring you lovely folks this practice. You are

WRONG about Dennis- absolutely, totally full of shit,

wrong. He hasn't taken any workshops with Timiji- He

practiced with him daily for at least the 6 years I have

known him personally, and when I met him, his practice

was advanced.<br>Besides having practiced with Guruji

in mysore on more than one occasion, Dennis' ability

and maturity as an "Astanga Yoga Teacher" was

evidently good enough for Timiji, who asked Dennis to teach

basically ALL of his Mysore style classes and led classes

while he is traveling- but was does Tim know

anyhow?<br>Dennis' practice, his demeanor, and love of yoga are

AWESOME.<br>It's one thing to talk shit about a subject you know

nothing about (which you do, often)- its another thing

entirely to talk shit about someone you know nothin about,

someone whom you couldn't touch in terms of style, grace,

or skill.<br>I hope you receive this post in the

spirit in which it was written.<br>Gary

[Guest guest]

Ah yes, correct.<br><br>gary

[Guest guest]

""Why follow the rules? ""<br><br>Hmmm, now there

are rules to yoga. Heaven forfend. Who wrote them? Do

the rules for yogic development go something like:

"You must only study under someone who has been issued

a certificate by the Indian government to teach

Ashtanga Yoga--all others are fakers, posers and/or

models. If you can't study under one of these 30 or 40

experts then you do then next best thing and study on

your own." <br><br>Doesn't the logic of such an

approach strike you as a little absurd SS? No? Well,

that's not surprsing. You do come across as someone who

seems most comfortable when cloaked in rules guiding

the processes of thought and activity. Makes it

easier to know when you're "right" or "wrong" <br><br>I

think someone posted the following observations here

earlier--I believe they were formulated by some Hindu or

Buddhist sage. I think they come closer to what the rules

of yoga ought to be:<br><br>Do not believe in

anything simply because you have heard it.<br><br>Do not

believe in traditions simply because they have been

handed down for many generations.<br><br>Do not believe

in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored

by many.<br><br>Do not believe in anything simply

because it is found written in your religious

books.<br><br>Do not believe in anything merely on the authority

of your teachers and elders.<br><br>But when, after

observation and analysis, you find anything that agrees with

reason, and is conducive to the good and benefit of one

and all, then accept it and live up to it.

[Guest guest]

One more thing peanut head, they're not kissing

his feet. They're kneeling at his feet, bending down

and alternating hand gestures between their eyes/face

and his feet. There are some who think they are

supposed to kiss the feet and try to do so. You can see

the discomfort in his face when this happens, but he

graciously grits thru it, apparantly knowing that, while

many of us Westerners are an ignorant lot, we do mean

well.

[Guest guest]

shining_skull is my apprentice in the war against

yoga criminals. In our previous incarnations we were

ants who feasted on the Yoga Korunta. We have no need

meet those we insult in Guruji's name (don't tell

Guruji). When we are done exposing criminals we celebrate

by emailing each other pictures of our mula bandas

and tickling each other remotely.<br><br>El Senor,

Ole!

[Guest guest]

El Senor - you are now officially my hero...but beware...by finally

acknowledging the existance of SS, you have inadvertantly made his day.

[Guest guest]

mat rat,<br>You did notice, didn't you, that that

was not Senor Pinche Wey who wrote that note? It was

one of his satirists, Senor Pinch Away, emulating the

appproach once attributed to Pinche Wey of using misleading

and sometimes multiple on line identities to direct

'humor' and criticism.

[Guest guest]

See...now I feel stupid...I was duped by an El

Senor imposter! I'm sure SS's heart skipped a beat when

he thought Senor was addressing him directly!! Oh

well - his day will come.<br><br>P.S. Senor - you are

still my hero

[Guest guest]

Bored, who is never boring, that quote is from the Buddha and is in the Kalama

Sutra. You can find the whole Sutra online here:<br><br><a

href=http://www.tbsn.org/english/library/sutras/kalama.htm

target=new>http://www.tbsn.org/english/library/sutras/kalama.htm</a>

[Guest guest]

I'm sorry Shining Skull, but you are completely, completely, completely wrong

about Dennis Dean, one of the best astanga yoga teachers anywhere.

[Guest guest]

boredcthis<br><br>Giving so much emphasis to

'reason' as you do is never a good idea. Reason and the

senses only give a narrow, limited view of a thing. In

order to fully understand that thing, one must use what

might be called intuition or holistic

awareness.<br><br>In The 8-steps of Raja Yoga, reason most definitely

has a place and can take one close to the threshhold

of enlightenment. But reason alone cannot open the

door to enlightenment or take you across the

threshhold. For that you need to develop other, more subtle

states of consciousness.<br><br>Those pieces of advice

that you posted are a double-edged sword. They carry

the truth that one is ultimately responsible for

one's own spiritual liberation. But those pieces of

advice also carry the error of ego and thinking that one

can acquire spiritual liberation on one's own without

reference to anyone or anything else. Hardly likely and,

even if that were possible, why reinvent the wheel

when there are thousands of years of spiritual

knowledge there for your edification and many authentic

gurus or spiritual leaders who can help you to identify

your own spiritual path and can guide you along your

own path?<br><br>Every authentic guru would say that

same things that you are saying, but they would also

say that one should follow the teachings with both

faith and discrimination. <br><br>In the world of

philosophy, one is encouraged to read someone's philosophy

'as if if were true'. That is, give the philoshophy

100% of your impartial attention, don't prejudge it,

don't read your own biases into what the philosopher

has written, just read what has been written, try to

understand what has been said, and, then, make your logical

evaluation of the validity of what has been said without

reference to whether you like or dislike the philosophy or

the philosopher. In spiritual matters one should

follow the same practice, not only using reason and

logic but also using those higher order states of

consciousness.<br><br>Incidentally, it the performance of the spiritual

practices

without expectation that develop those higher order

states of awareness.<br><br>Omprem