Guest guest Posted November 8, 2001 Report Share Posted November 8, 2001 So often on this board folks say "you are your own teacher" or "do what feels right, you know best" and "don't follow traditions, after all its really up to you." All that advice is sweet but it is in NO way applicable to yoga. Yoga is an arduous path, it requires enormous effort and commitment. The very foundation of yoga practice is tapas, which is the performance of prescribed austerities. To the newcomer,yoga seems like groovy, improvisational, feel-good fitness (it isn't). After the initial novelty wears off, and the obstacles quickly increase, the newbie's enthiusiasm falters. After all, who the heck wants to be this uncomfortable day after day? It is much easier to quit. But missy says "yoga is the tightening of the screws." Certainly any yoga student that has read Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita or Yoga Mala would have a glimpse of the nature of yoga and know that the oft posted above statements have nothing to do with the tradition or practice of yoga. Looking at pictures of yoga, talking about yoga, attempting to grasp religious philosophy by reading overviews or intellectual descriptions - are a pretense at yoga, a charade. One who waxes poetic on yoga, while his or her practice fluctuates according to personal whims and vaguaries, is not yet on the path. To those folks missy says "face up, admit it - I am standing alongside the path, but I just don't have the courage, the discipline, the desire - yet..." Or go ahead, be a great pretender, but you are only fooling yourself. <br><br>missy pinky<br><br>ps oh, and good luck without a guru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2001 Report Share Posted November 9, 2001 MP, I personally have been an absolute purist with my yoga for some time. And I did so on a basis of assumption. Suggesting 'I govern my own direction',is egoistic has a part truth. MP perscribes submission to a master. Choosing a master is perhaps one of the most serious decisions influencing one for this life and those to follow. You,MP, feel full confidence in KPJ. I want to discover this for myself, and have made arrangement to travel to Mysore as my collective experience with him amounts to led group practice. I have hope that I will learn much from him, but I will work not to expect too much as I can't see the future. <br><br>One of my teachers experienced their teacher in samadhi state, realized it happened often to them. I do not feel affinity for this teacher as they do for the paramatma guru. <br><br><<very foundation of yoga practice is tapas, which is the performance of prescribed austerities>><br><br>I've read the Hatha Yoga Pradapika, and regulary study the Sutras as an ADJUNCT to practice,(agreeing Yoga is for doing, and experience is the most valuable knowledge) But Tapas means "to burn" to pursue zealously, religiously. <br><br>Missy, I have made mistakes in keeping my own council in yoga. As I advanced I learned that I need guidance. But making a mere teacher one's guru is full of considerable problems. And I've seen and read about "austeries" and approach austeries under the guidence of a teacher now. However there are finer aspects that need resolution in the moment. Lacking the intimacy of a proper Guru/Shisha relationship (as they are now confined within this tradition to a two hour hoe-down) is leaving one to some personal responsibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 10, 2001 Report Share Posted November 10, 2001 Missy Pinky<br><br>I agree with much of your post about the necessity of practicing hatha yoga. The Bhagavad Gita tells us (XVIII 7-9):<br><br>"Verily the renunciation of obligatory action is not proper; the abandonment of the same from delusion is declared to be Tamasic.<br><br>"He who abandons action on account of the fear of bodily trouble (because it is painful), he does not obtain the merit of renunciation by doing such Rajasic renunciation.<br><br>"Whatever obligatory action is done, O Arjuna, merely because it ought to be done, abandoning attachment and also the desire for reward, that renunciation is regarder as Sattwic.”<br><br>I might add that ‘obligatory action’ includes hatha yoga but does not stop at hatha yoga. It is clear from the quotes from the Gita below that ‘obligatory action’ refers to all of the eight angas of Patanjali<br><br>I believe, however, that you are incorrect when you claim that ‘the very foundation of yoga is based on tapas’ defined by you as ‘the performance of prescribed austerities’ in the sense of ‘arduous effort’. Tapas has nothing to do with the performance of arduousness.Tapas has everything to do with openness, serenity, humility, and devotion.<br><br>The Bhagavad Gita describes the three-fold nature of tapas very well (XVII, 14-17):<br><br>“Worship of the gods, the twice-born, the teachers and the wise, straightforwardness, celibacy and non-injury - these are called the austerities of the body.<br><br>"Speech which causes no excitement and is truthful, pleasant and beneficial, the practice of the study of the Vedas, are called austerity of speech.<br><br>"Serenity of mind, good-heartedness, purity of mind, self-control - this is called mental austerity.<br><br>"This three-fold austerity practised by steadfast men with the utmost faith, desiring no reward, they call Sattwic.”<br><br>You will have noticed that there is no mention or hint of arduousness. However, the Gita does deal with (and condemn) the type of arduous austerities that you refer to:<br><br>“The austerity which is practised out of a foolish notion, with self-torture, or for the purpose of destroying another, is declared to be Tamasic." (XVII. 19)<br><br>Also, “The austerity which is practised with the object of gaining good reception, honour, and worship, and with hypocrisy, is here said to be Rajasic, unstable and transitory.” (XVII. 18)<br><br>It is clear that arduousness is not to be considered useful. <br><br>If you want to think of tapas as self-discipline as Patanjali does, then you are a little closer to its true meaning. Self-discipline means control of the senses, refusing to meet the demand of the senses for pleasure so that the senses eventually stop their outward focus and turn inward instead. But even here, self-discipline will only create arduousness when the mind doesn’t want to submit to whatever practice is being followed to still the mind. There is no arduousness in the practice, there is only arduousness in the resistance of the mind to following the practice. Similarly, the Tattva-Vaisharadi (II.1) says that tapas should only be practised as long as it does not imbalance the bodily humours, the dhatus.<br><br>I agree unreservedly with your suggestion that one should have a guru for their spiritual journey. A flesh-and-blood guru is the easiest but I do know people who have astral gurus or inner gurus. These last 2 cases are very difficult because they are fraught with misuse and abuse. One must be a highly evolved soul to recognize and respond to a non-physical guru appropriately.<br><br>just4amusement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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