But if you see closely, many of these books are about certain `forms’ of Yoga that the Guru is propagating. Also, most of these books give an authoritarian view of Yoga. Yoga is projected as if it is a belief system much like religion or any other faith-based practice.
Schaut man jedoch etwas genauer hin, so zeigt sich, dass die meisten dieser Bücher vor allem über die jeweils von den Autoren vertretenen spezifischen „Yoga-Formen“ sprechen. Zudem erklären viele dieser Werke Yoga aus einer eher anweisenden Perspektive. Yoga wird dabei wie eine Religion oder ein anderes glaubensbasiertes System als eine Art Glaubenslehre dargestellt.
Pero si se observa un poco de cerca, la mayoría de estos libros hablan únicamente de las formas específicas de yoga que esos maestros promueven. Además, gran parte de estos libros explican el yoga desde una perspectiva dogmática. El yoga es presentado como un sistema de creencias, similar a la religión u otras prácticas basadas en la fe.
కానీ కొంచెం లోతుగా పరిశీలిస్తే, ఈ పుస్తకాలలో చాలా భాగం ఆయా గురువులు ప్రచారం చేస్తున్న నిర్దిష్టమైన ‘యోగ రూపాల’ గురించే మాట్లాడుతున్నట్టు తెలుస్తుంది. అంతేకాదు, ఈ పుస్తకాలలో చాలా యోగాన్ని ఆజ్ఞాపనాత్మక దృష్టికోణంలో వివరిస్తాయి. యోగాన్ని ఒక మతంలా లేదా ఇతర నమ్మకాధారిత పద్ధతుల్లా ఒక విశ్వాస వ్యవస్థగా చూపిస్తాయి.
ಆದರೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ನಿಕಟವಾಗಿ ನೋಡಿದರೆ, ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬಹುತೇಕವು ಆ ಗುರುಗಳು ಪ್ರಚಾರ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವ ನಿರ್ದಿಷ್ಟ ‘ಯೋಗ ರೂಪಗಳ’ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರವೇ ಮಾತನಾಡುತ್ತವೆ. ಜೊತೆಗೆ, ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳ ಬಹುಪಾಲು ಯೋಗವನ್ನು ಆಜ್ಞಾಪನಾತ್ಮಕ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಕೋನದಿಂದ ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತವೆ. ಯೋಗವನ್ನು ಧರ್ಮ ಅಥವಾ ಇತರೆ ನಂಬಿಕೆ-ಆಧಾರಿತ ಪದ್ಧತಿಗಳಂತೆ ಒಂದು ನಂಬಿಕೆ-ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯಾಗಿ ಚಿತ್ರಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ.
If you ask this question to a Hindu, probably he would flounder to give a straight simple answer. He could speak for hours about what Hinduism is all about but never define it precisely in unambiguous words.
Neither the Advaitis nor the Dwaitis would accept this equation. Each side is biased by what their preceptors have said. And the debate goes on, about which is the right view. I think if we can see that both are same, many confusions would get resolved. But how do we do that within the framework of the Upanishads?
This word Brahmacharya is probably the most misunderstood word. People somehow link it to ‘preserving sexual energy’, being celibate, transmuting the ‘sexual power’ etc. There is a long history behind all these notions and it is hard to see the light.
As per the traditional belief, whatever truth one finds in the Upanishads is an attempt by the Upanishadic sages to explain their experience, that they had when they were in deep state of meditation. That is the realization they arrived at. It is a different matter whether they could describe their experience exactly as they went through it. But anyone who goes on their path, would surely experience the very same truth and it needs no further validation.
What is this realization as per the Upanishads?
The Bhagavad Gita has a complete chapter on meditation – chapter 6, Dhyana Yoga. This deals with how someone undertakes this path of realization or attainment of ultimate truth. It also explains what happens when someone reaches the culmination of this path and what is the ultimate truth that one realizes.
Akka Mahadevi is on the final phase of her journey. She wants to make the impossible possible. Though without a body consciousness, she does have a body and that body has its own limitations. It wants to see the formless in some form. That is because it can only perceive forms. It does not understand abstract things.
In the previous episode, we saw how a young girl namely Mahadevi dared to take on the entire world. She did not care how the worldly people look at her. She discarded all identities, even the identity as a female!
She went around naked without any hesitation or feeling of shame.
Before we get into this dreaming business, let us start this episode with a startling incident.
It was an assembly of great saints, all of whom had experienced God in their own way. There were men and women who had gathered together to share their individual experiences with each other. They had also come for a serious discussion about how the society can be reformed.
We were discussing the story of one of most revered mediaeval saints of India, namely Goda. Goda is in love with God! And she has no hesitation to admit it openly. So, she sings expressing her love to God. She imagines herself to be one of the cowherd girls who lived with Krishna, when the God descended on earth in the human form of Krishna.
Many modern Yoga teachers define Yoga as union. Union with what? Many definitions have been given. But the fact remains that most of us mean body exercises, when we say Yoga. It is about manipulation of the body, it is about fitness of the body, it is about ‘control’ of the body and its instincts. That is the domain of Hatayoga.
So, what is this union about?
Patanjali Yoga goes a step further. It talks about moving beyond the body and mind. It talks about the soul. And if at all you can use such a word, it talks about uniting with your real self, or attaining Kaivalya – a state where the soul is completely free.
But is that the end? That is what we will be seeing in this episode.
Just like our modern-day computers, our minds too have EPROMS with pre-stored instructions that enables us to boot strap, and go on with our lives. These instructions are essential for living. But they become a problem when they somehow get corrupted. Imagine how a computer would behave if its EPROM is corrupted. It just crashes 😉 That would also be our state, if we have a faulty mental EPROM. Before we talk about how the practice of Yoga helps in setting right a corrupted mental EPROM, let us face the fundamental question namely -
Upanishads always fascinated me. For those people who are not familiar, Upanishads are the philosophic parts of the ancient Indian Vedas. And Vedas are probably, the oldest available scriptures of the world. While most Indians view Upanishads with lot of reverence, many westerners, which include well known scientists and intellectuals, consider them as the peak of human intellectual endeavors.
One such theory of mind was Buddhist theory of mind as recorded in the Buddhist scripture, namely the Abhidamma Pitaka. Based on this theory, Buddhists developed various meditative practices. We will discuss this Buddhist theory of mind in this episode.
