Yoga Sutras of Patanjali + A REsponse from India

February 12, 2008

Dear CV,

I am a Hindu and know a little more about hinduism than

many westerners. First thing, the Vedas, Upanishads etc are the products of a

culture called 'Rishi Sanskrithi', which is atleast 10,000 years old accorcing

to some Indian scholars. The western historians always try to tell that the

Vedas etc. are only 5000 years old. In ancient India, some people wanted to

know the answers to the existential questions like 'What is life ? " , 'Is there a

God', " Is there a soul ? " , ''what happens after death ?' etc. Their desire to

find out the answers were so intense that they left their homes, and centers of

civilisation and went into deep forests or lonely valleys and continued their

single minded pursuit of God-realisation. Their search were inward and they

found out many wonderful truths which they depicted in the Vedas, Upanishads

etc. Even today the Rishi Sanskrithi is alive in India and there are thousands

of Ashrams located at lonely areas away from the

" Maddening Crowds " .

Patanjalis Yoga sutras is also a product of the Rishi

Sanskrithi. Patanjali does not talk about the Kundalini or Chakras. There are

hundreds of commentries about the yoga sutras and the one written by Swami

vivekananda is a wonderful one, because he has achieved the highest of the

eightfold path of experiencing samadhi. This book is available in the name of

Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda.

Very few Gurus, in India today, talk about Kundalini and

the chakras. Most Gurus give a Bija Mantra and advise Japa, the silent chanting

with reverence. This is considered to be the most appropriate method for

attaining liberation in the present era - the Kali Yuga. " Moksha " or liberation

from the cycles of birth and death is the highest achievement a human being can

aspire for in this life. " Enlightenment " is a side effect f attining liberation.

With Love and regards

Venugopal

celticvoice6 <celticvoice6 wrote:

I first bought the above book in 1979, but only dipped into it. Now,

it has real meaning for me. Here are some excerpts:

Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff from taking various forms.

At that time (the time of concentration) the seer rests in his own

ummodified state.

At other times (other than that of concentration) the seer is

identified with the modifications.

There are five classes of modifications, some painful and others not

painful.

These are right knowledge, indiscrimination, verbal delusion, sleep

and memory.

Direct perception, inference, and competent evidence, are proofs.

Indiscrimination is false knowledge and not established in real nature.

Verbal delusion follows from words having no (corresponding) reality.

Sleep is a vritti (form) which embraces the feeling of voidness.

Memory is when vrittis of perceived subjects do not slip away and

through impressions come back to consciousness.

Their control is by practice and NON-ATTACHMENT.

Hinduism is a relentless pursuit after truth.

Is is traced back to the Mohenjo-daro civilisation 4000-3000BC.

And to think the teachings have been around that long, or perhaps even

longer. It is based upon the eternal principles developed in the

ancient Vedas and Upanishads.It may be the oldest religion in the

world.

CV

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February 13, 2008

Hello dear Venugopal,

Thank you for your wonderful history lesson! I am reading a book

on various scriptures from India, and though they dont mention

kundalini or chakras, their advice on dealing with the lower self is

helpful for what we are going through. I really needed help right

looking at my " mind-stuff " and all the chatter and judgement that

goes on. The reason I have never needed a guru, is because I have

always used oracles and they work well for me. I asked the oracles

what I needed to do re the monkey mind chatter, and my eyes turned

to a book on my bookshelf that I had not read for years. It was a

book on Hinduism, and that was the answer. I dont belong to a

religion, and never have, but all religions have helped me at some

time, the Koran, the Bible, the Yoga Sutras, Sufis etc. A real

family of humanity.

CV

, Venugopal AK

<akvenugopal wrote:

>

> Dear CV,

> I am a Hindu and know a little more about

hinduism than many westerners. First thing, the Vedas, Upanishads

etc are the products of a culture called 'Rishi Sanskrithi', which

is atleast 10,000 years old accorcing to some Indian scholars. The

western historians always try to tell that the Vedas etc. are only

5000 years old. In ancient India, some people wanted to know the

answers to the existential questions like 'What is life ? " , 'Is

there a God', " Is there a soul ? " , ''what happens after death ?'

etc. Their desire to find out the answers were so intense that they

left their homes, and centers of civilisation and went into deep

forests or lonely valleys and continued their single minded pursuit

of God-realisation. Their search were inward and they found out many

wonderful truths which they depicted in the Vedas, Upanishads etc.

Even today the Rishi Sanskrithi is alive in India and there are

thousands of Ashrams located at lonely areas away from the

> " Maddening Crowds " .

> Patanjalis Yoga sutras is also a product of the

Rishi Sanskrithi. Patanjali does not talk about the Kundalini or

Chakras. There are hundreds of commentries about the yoga sutras

and the one written by Swami vivekananda is a wonderful one, because

he has achieved the highest of the eightfold path of experiencing

samadhi. This book is available in the name of Raja Yoga by Swami

Vivekananda.

> Very few Gurus, in India today, talk about

Kundalini and the chakras. Most Gurus give a Bija Mantra and advise

Japa, the silent chanting with reverence. This is considered to be

the most appropriate method for attaining liberation in the present

era - the Kali Yuga. " Moksha " or liberation from the cycles of birth

and death is the highest achievement a human being can aspire for in

this life. " Enlightenment " is a side effect f attining liberation.

> With Love and regards

> Venugopal

>

> celticvoice6 <celticvoice6 wrote:

> I first bought the above book in 1979, but only dipped into

it. Now,

> it has real meaning for me. Here are some excerpts:

>

> Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff from taking various forms.

> At that time (the time of concentration) the seer rests in his own

> ummodified state.

> At other times (other than that of concentration) the seer is

> identified with the modifications.

> There are five classes of modifications, some painful and others

not

> painful.

> These are right knowledge, indiscrimination, verbal delusion,

sleep

> and memory.

> Direct perception, inference, and competent evidence, are proofs.

> Indiscrimination is false knowledge and not established in real

nature.

> Verbal delusion follows from words having no (corresponding)

reality.

> Sleep is a vritti (form) which embraces the feeling of voidness.

> Memory is when vrittis of perceived subjects do not slip away and

> through impressions come back to consciousness.

> Their control is by practice and NON-ATTACHMENT.

>

> Hinduism is a relentless pursuit after truth.

> Is is traced back to the Mohenjo-daro civilisation 4000-3000BC.

> And to think the teachings have been around that long, or perhaps

even

> longer. It is based upon the eternal principles developed in the

> ancient Vedas and Upanishads.It may be the oldest religion in the

> world.

> CV

>

> 5, 50, 500, 5000 - Store N number of mails in your inbox. Click

here.

>

February 13, 2008

Can you tell me, Venugopal, about the Kali Yuga. As it is kali, it

cant be too far from our subject. I get the feeling that the large

population on earth is for a reason, and so many souls can become

enlightened now, more than ever before.