There is a legend that once two warring brothers Bharata and Bahubali engaged themselves in a ‘staring war’!. They were two princes who ruled India more than 2000 years ago. They wanted to settle a succession dispute among themselves by engaging in a ‘war of staring’ or DrShti Yuddha.
They did not want to indulge in bloodshed. They kept staring at each other without batting an eye lid. Whoever winked first, is the loser. A completely nonviolent way of settling a dispute!
In the previous episode we were discussing the Pranayama technique of Yoga that helps us in honing our focusing skills.
Towards the end of that episode, I also made a passing reference to methods that also go by the same name, but come from a different source and have an altogether different purpose.
Many modern Gurus interpret the word Pranayama to mean controlling of the life force or Prana. They are right if they are talking about the air we breathe in and out. That is definitely something that keeps us alive.
Let me start with a nice little story. This story may be a bit out of context. But let me narrate it in a new way. This is a story from Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the Guru of Swami Vivekananda.
Though I don't wish to add the prefix ‘Yoga’ to this exercise, I will add it to satisfy the masses who think that it is part of Yoga 😉
I don’t know the exact origins of this exercise which is quite popular these days. It may be a few decades old. It tries to combine various aspects of Patanjali Yoga as well as Hatayoga in one single ‘one fit for all’ kind of exercise.
It has many of the Hatayoga asanas, breathing regimes, devotion, mantra chanting, aesthetics, all combined in one. Some Gurus even try to superimpose it with figurative aspects of Yama and Niyama as well!
A sanyasi is a recluse who is supposed to keep aloof from worldly matters. He is not supposed to have any processions of his own, nor he is supposed to entertain any desires for pleasures.
But come on, he is also a human being!
Once there was a sanyasi who had a desire to drink soup! But he has no resources. Nor he can ask anyone to make some soup for him.
I have been discussing about some new ways of gardening for the past several weeks. The topic I started with was “self propelled endless store of nutrients”
Yes, I often use verbal overloading or pun to make fun of situations or people. But not here.
A few episodes ago, I compared the eight steps of Yoga to eight steps of a ladder. Asana is the 3rd step in the original Yoga of Patanjali. In the previous episode I have explained how the meaning taken on by the word asana these days, does not match the original meaning of the word.
So, am I suggesting that Asana as propagated today is a wrong step in Yoga? A wrongly placed step can topple the person who tries to climb up the ladder 😉
In the previous episode, we were discussing how the concept of Asana or Yoga posture as understood today, is quite different from what was stipulated by Patanjali in his Yoga sutra.
I was talking about the experiment that my friend carried out to decompose the grain waste using the magical bacterial solution provided by Dr. Krishan Chandra.
There is a legend that once two warring brothers Bharata and Bahubali engaged themselves in a ‘staring war’!. They were two princes who ruled India more than 2000 years ago. They wanted to settle a succession dispute among themselves by engaging in a ‘war of staring’ or DrShti Yuddha. 
