Vedr.: yoga? ... and then back to atheism :o)

[Guest guest]

Dear Braja Sevaki Mataji,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

 

Thank you very much for your input )

 

You raise some interesting points, which can be viewed from various

angles.

The question that was asked was "is this bonafide", and the response is,

techinically, "no, it's not," because it's advertised as "Vaisnava

yoga."

Alright!

 

 

The only system of genuine yoga being taught today is the method and

practice taught by Iyengar, which strictly follows the teachings of

Patanjali yoga. Mr. Iyengar is a practicing Vaisnava in the Sri

sampradaya.

His methods aren't concocted to appeal to mass markets, or to "pull"

people

in or "preach" to them. He learned from his yoga guru before him, who

learned from his, and so on. He comes in a long line of Vaisnava yoga

gurus.

That can be considered "Vaisnava yoga." I don't know how something

that was

invented two or three years ago can be considered Vaisnava yoga,

unless it's

just a marketing ploy to get devotees to think that it's the only thing

going for them. That would be a grossly misleading statement. And please

don't think that just because a guru or two recommend it that it's

"bonafide." That's not the criteria -- not by a long shot.

That seem to be a reasonable rebut of defining it as 'Vaisnava yoga'.

Just to make a simple point, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati said

something like: "It is better to chant the Holy Names in a diseased

bodily condition, that being in good health and not chanting the Holy

Names". So by this line of thought we could make the argument that a

bad yoga teacher with a vaisnava agenda is better that an expert yoga

teacher who does not have a vaisnava agenda. Surely teaching fx. bad

yoga postures etc. should be avoided...we don't want to harm

anyone...the point is the principle of 'creative' vaisnava preaching.

 

 

Yes, Prabhupada said "eat meat if necessary," but it's not necessary

these

days, is it? So that example isn't quite appropriate. You need to

understand

the entire pastime of this discussion between Srila Prabhupada and

Harikesa.

I my humble opinion this is a matter of developing methods of somehow

or other getting the conditioned souls to turn to Krsna, not about

going down the ladder to embrace lower standards of spiritual

practice (for the hidden purpose of sense gratification).

 

As long as the ultimate goal of the activity is Krsna consciousness

then what is the problem?

 

Well, that line has been used throughout the history of ISKCON and has

resulted in some not-so-savory results. The problems can be many.

Indeed. However why assume this is one of those cases. Teaching Atma-

yoga or whatever physical yoga, can, as far as I can tell, be taught

with 3 motives and purposes. 1/for sense gratification(gross or

subtle), 2/for the divine pleasure of Krsna, or 3/for a mixture of 1

and 2.

Hence the validity of a given preaching system should be judged

individually by the motivation and purpose, and not in principle. I

may arrange for 8 young socially rejected children to come and help

paint an old fence, and if the purpose is to give them Nama Bhajan

through a stereo, Krsna-prasad for lunch, and Krsna-katha during the

day...then I think this newly invented preaching system qualifies as

'vaisnava painting'...no matter how ugly the fence turns out ) Imho

we cannot exclude a seminar on 'alternative preaching methods such as

painting fences, changing light bulbs etc', just because of the title

of the seminar.

For the record my conclusion is not that we should do things poorly

in the name of renunciation. The more expert the better.

 

Ultimately everything is up to the individual, but to believe that

something

is "Vaisnava" just because the promoter tells you so is beyond naiive.

Of course.

 

 

I have no intention of offending you by my statements. Please forgive

me if I have done so.

 

Your servant,

Bhakta Daniel

 

 

_____

 

Med venlig hilsen | Yours sincerely

 

Daniel Steinmann Boldu Laflor

Hans Schourups Gade 4, 5. sal

8000 Århus C

Denmark

Cell.: +45 28880377

Landline: +45 87370377

 

E-mail: laflor (AT) kaospilot (DOT) dk