Suzy's Mysore Blog 2011-12

I am slowly trying to write up the last few conferences I attended, which is proving pretty difficult with a job and a yoga practice. But I am also really enjoying reminding myself of Sharath’s teachings. Hopefully I still have his intonation right, I think I’m forgetting it a bit:

There are many times I’ve told you, when doing asanas, yama and niyama are also very important to follow, to bring a meaning to our practice, if you want it to be complete. Asana is not enough. It is not the final part of spiritual practice. It is the beginning of spiritual practice.

Without yama and niyama… the Hatha Yoga Pradipika says – when doing asanas we have to do yama and niyama.

So if you are able to do all asanas beautifully, if you are able to do handstand (everybody wants to show that ‘I can do handstand’ – it’s all to attract people – but it doesn’t mean you are a big yogi).

Yoga means the transformation which should happen within us. The reason of doing asana is to purify our body and mind and then the change should happen within us – how we react to things, how we behave… all these things should change.

Rajoguna (the guna (quality) of rajas (motion, activity, passion, change, excitement)) will go high after practising asana here. You will go to the coconut stand outside and fight with everyone and start doing handstand there [we all laugh]. Whatever you do outside also matters. Outside if you act crazy with people then what is the use of doing this? It means you haven’t understood this.

Many people compare Ashtanga Yoga to aerobics class. But only if you jump into the sea can you see the beauty of the sea. I’ve not been [in the sea] because I’m very scared. But if you have dived inside this thing called yoga… I’ve experienced a few beautiful things in this.

Some people practise and practise but they haven’t understood the meaning of this. An example is if you keep chanting everyday but your mind is thinking some bad things, so what’s the use of doing chanting. When the mind and body are involved in chanting then positive energy will generate here. If the mind is negative then negative energy will come around you.

Why is chanting important? to create positive energy in us and around us. Like that, asana practice should also be done like that. When we bring everything together in our practice then positive energy will generate.

‘ahimsasatyasteyabrahmacharyaparigrahayamah’ (Yoga Sutras II:30) – the yamas are ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha.

‘shauchasantoshatapahsvadhyayeshvarapranidhananiniyamah’ (Yoga Sutras II:32) – the niyamas are shaucha, santosha, tapas, svadhyaya and ishvara pranidhana.

Ahimsa means non-violence. Last time one student asked me if we are hurting ourselves through practice. This is not hurting – we are getting rid of bad karmas (actions) through practice. We can hurt others by words or thoughts – if we are mentally thinking something bad, that negative energy… in India we always say you have to be very careful with negative energy. When we have a new house we put a pumpkin outside – it takes away the bad energy. [About the house] sometimes some people have good intentions, some people have bad intentions. Most of the time it’s bad intentions.

When you go to a big function, there you see all different kinds of people. First we have to generate ourself positive energy. Once we follow all these things – yama and niyama: satya, truthfulness; asteya, non-stealing; brahmacharya, celibacy… yogis in the past used to follow all these things to give them positive energy. Satya and ahimsa – if you follow them then nothing will bother you.

Karma is also very important – the action what we take. If you do something bad in life then you have to pay for it. Bad things will happen to you also. If you think like that – if you hurt others then really you are hurting yourself – then positive energy will come to you.

This is the change that should happen within you. Until then you are not doing yoga. Yoga is not only on your mat, it should happen wherever you go. If you go to a certain level then yoga happens within you.

Asteya – now many things are stolen, including the postures. Now there are so many different kinds of yogas, originally there were only a few of them.

Brahmacharya – celibacy – this is also very important – to be true to your partner. This is very important in spiritual practice. This will create a certain kind of energy within us.

Aparigraha – greedy – wanting more, more, more. Now people are so greedy. They will do anything to get popularity. Everybody wants to be in the limelight. If you get a yoga magazine it’s all I, I, I. A real yogi will never say ‘I did that, I did this’. This yoga practice is a very private thing. It is not to show others that I am a big yogi.

Like last time I told you, while practising the eight limbs of yoga, the impurities in the body and mind – we can get rid of by practising the eight limbs of yoga, and spiritual knowledge will glow within us. When it glows we become very wise in spiritual practice.

I was on America tour. One senior student said, he’s been practising for many years, more than 25 years, ‘whenever students came to your workshop, they came and visited me.’ [I don't really understand my notes here but I remember that the gist of the story was that this senior student was boasting that he was more important and more popular than Sharath.] Instead of getting anger I felt so sad. More than 25 years he’s been practising – he never understood yoga.

Nobody is great, only God is great. Many things we don’t know. Only when you say I don’t know anything then you start to know many things. If we say we know a posture… but then we realise many new things in our practice, even if just doing primary or half-primary. Once we think like this in our practice then many things will start happening.

Shaucha – cleanliness – there are two types:

i) Antar – internal, that the mind is clean, purity of mind. Without that the shaucha doesn’t happen. Our thoughts and actions should be clean. And to keep our internal body and nervous system clean.

ii) Bahir – external, environment – mat, clothes, house. We have to take a bath or shower before practice. Some people come like that – so smelly. Before your practice you have to be pure – inside and outside. When you take hot shower you get rid of the dust and bad energy and the body relaxes.

Santosha – contentment – it is very important – to be happy. Not just like this [Sharath gives a fake smile]. Some people have everything, still they are not happy. One wise man told me – animals – they have only one agenda – food. Humans – they are the other way – once you eat food, hundreds of problems start for you, because you are not happy. If you go to Africa or some parts of India you’ll see how some people live there. If you compare your life to them you are living a very luxurious life. Still you are not happy.Those people are happy because they are not greedy. So this is very important – santosha.

Tapas – austerity – to follow a strict life. Strict means to follow a certain discipline in our daily life. Doing practice, having food at a certain time, not all the time. Asana needs all these things. You have to leave many things if you want to do a sadhana (a spiritual practice) . You have to be very careful with what you do, where you go, who you meet… If you meet bad people, bad energy goes inside you and you start acting like them.

In olden days yogis used to live in the Himalayas because they wanted to keep their energy pure. And still many people are there. It is easy to lose positive energy if the mind is not stable. Unfortunately I cannot go – I have two children and a wife. We can do it here also in our daily life.

Svadhyaya – self-study – this is misunderstood by many people. People think it means to learn yoga alone. But it means to discover yourself through guidance from guru. As your mother shows you how to eat food. I am teaching you asanas but you have to put effort to do it, to think how to do it. That discovery is svadhyaya.

You have to be on your mat, try to do it, try to discover spirituality in your practice. That is self-study. When we get to a certain level in practice we totally submerse ourself. We can use a devata, a god, like Krishna or Ganesha - ishta devata (one’s god of preference) – whichever you like, Jesus, Allah, whichever you think you are connected to.

Everybody has one god they are connected to. I like Krishna. I think Krishna is the biggest yogi ever born in the world.

Ishvara Pranidhana – surrender to the divine. Once we surrender ourself we become God ourself. If you are properly practising ishvara prandihana you can go directly to samadhi.

In the Ramayana there is Rama, and in the Mahabharata there is Krishna. Both are incarnations of Vishnu but they come in different yugas (ages, eras). We are now in Kali Yuga (the age of the goddess Kali, the age of vice). In this yuga many bad things happen. We are coming to the end of this yuga.

There was one demon called Ravana – he had stolen Rama’s wife. But originally Ravana was a very big yogi and a very big scholar also. When Rama kills Ravana he becomes ruler of the whole of India. Rama was served by Hanuman, the biggest devotee anyone can imagine. He had to show how he can be so devoted to his master: Rama and Anjaneya (another name for Hanuman) were fighting together. Rama uses all his weapons but Anjaneya doesn’t use anything, he just chants ‘Rama’, and nothing affects him, and then he becomes Rama. That is the power of ishvara pranidhana.

Once we think about some god, you yourself become God. That is what Shankar said – I am Brahman. But you have to go to that level – we have so many delusions within that make us blind. So we have to do our practice. We can change many things by doing this – not only ourself but the whole of society and the environment. Yoga is a very powerful tool – we  need to know how to use it then many things can happen. Like with an Apple computer, if you know how to use it then you can do miracles; if you don’t know how to use it then you can blow up the  computer. Yoga is also like that. You need to know how to use it through guidance from guru. Without guru’s blessing it is impossible for transformation to happen. Knowledge should glow within you – bright like a sun. Once these things happen, many things will become nonsense for you. When you become wiser your spiritual knowledge becomes stronger within you. You should focus on that, not just on authorisation, on getting a certificate. Once this glows within you, that is the real certificate. We will all keep trying.

No questions – next week – you can think for one week.

This conference lasted about 90mins and so towards the end I became a bit less diligent in my note-taking unfortunately but I think that I’ve managed to write down the main points:

Yogena cittasya padena vacam

Malam sharirasya ca vaidyakena

Yopakarottam pravaram muninam

Patanjalim  pranjaliranato’smi

(invocation to Patanjali)

When we pray to Patanjali we pray for 3 things, he created 3 great things:

Yoga – to control the mind;

Ayurveda – to cure diseases and to cleanse the body;

Grammar – for good speech.

These 3 things that were created by Patanjali are very important.

There are 2 different kinds of diseases:

-     diseases that can be cured by Yoga;

-     diseases that can be cured by Ayurveda.

If you have bronchitis it can be cured by asanas and kriyas (cleansing techniques). If you get yellow fever or hepatitis you cannot do asanas and so you use Ayurveda and take all the herbs – in 15days you can be cured.

Recently one girl from North Karnataka has done some research in Ayurveda and she has produced a thesis saying that she has made a medicine to cure breast cancer. It has been approved by some medical research society who have said that breast cancer can be cured by Ayurveda.

In asanas there are many different asanas, for example janu shirshasana, baddha konasana, that are very good for many things. For example, for digestive problems janu shirshasana and pashchimattanasana are good. Some asanas are very good for pregnant ladies. But some very advanced asanas, in 5^th and 6^th series, should not be done by ladies as they can damage the womb.

With asana we cure diseases to get good health. That is why asana is the foundation – if the body is not healthy how can we think of controlling the mind?

Before we can think about enlightenment we need to get healthy. If we are always going to the doctor how can we think about controlling the mind?

One of the Upanishads (Hindu philosophical texts) says that now our senses are working only outward to the external, and our brain is working only outward, but he who is a brave yogi, he will draw all his senses inside and try to see the inner purity, the inner soul, the purest form of the soul. This is what Shankaracharya also said, that we all have a purity of ourselves inside but it is covered by the 6 enemies (lust, anger, attraction, pride, jealousy and greed). When we realise the purest soul – that is enlightenment.

But before we think of that we need to follow the yamas and niyamas – these are very important in yoga practice. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika only gives 6 limbs of yoga because you do yama and niyama with asana.

The yamas (abstentions) are (Yoga Sutras II:30):

1)      Ahimsa – non-violence, non-harming physically or mentally;

2)      Satya – truth, to yourself and to others;

3)      Asteya – non-stealing;

4)      Brahmacharya – celibacy;

5)      Aparigraha – not being greedy.

If you practise all of these things then there will be no delusions.

1)      Ahimsa – if you go into a forest and see a tiger then just run away from it, don’t try to fight it. Not even that, if you see a monkey and throw a stone at it, it will come and bite you; if you just keep away from it then it will leave you alone. If you don’t harm anyone then they won’t harm you.

2)      Satya – if you are true to yourself and others then there will be nothing to think about.

3)      Asteya – nowadays everything is stolen, even some yoga postures are stolen.

4)      Brahmacharya – very important – be true to your partner and your partner be true to you. In a relationship you need understanding and compromise; a husband and wife both should compromise for many things otherwise it will be a disaster all of the time.

5)      Aparigraha – greed – this kills man. You want one thing and then another and another – there is no end – you keep on wanting.

The niyamas (observances) are (Yoga Sutras II:32):

1)      Shaucha

2)      Santosha

3)      Tapas

4)      Svadhyaya

5)      Ishvara pranidhana

1)      Shaucha – cleanliness – there are two types:

1. Antar Shaucha – this is being clean inside – it means good thoughts, not thinking anything bad about another, and it means keeping the organs clean by doing asanas;
2. Bahir Shaucha – clean outside – clean clothes, environment, yoga mat – no more smelly mats.

2)      Santosha – to be happy – it means not just to be smiling but with the brain inside working like a devil. You should be happy with whatever you have. If you go to Africa or some parts of India many people don’t have many things but they are still happy.

3)      Tapas – austerity – this is very important in yoga practice. Everyday we have to maintain a strict life, disciplined life – your lifestyle totally changes. If you don’t maintain that then it is difficult to maintain a yoga practice. Here Sharath explains that he gets up at 1am to do his practice and so at at 8pm he must go to bed.

4)      Svadhyaya – self-study – this doesn’t mean that you don’t need a Guru – it means that you have to discover (for) yourself. If I tell you philosophy you have to go home to see what it is and read what it is. If I tell you to do an asana you have to learn yourself how to do it, how to feel good in it. Before a student asked about japa (mantra repetition). Svadhyaya means connecting to God through japa – to any god you like. Tapas, Svadhyaya and Ishvara Pranidhana are Kriya Yoga (Yoga Sutras II:1; Kriya means action).

5)      Ishvara Pranidhana – to surrender to God – if you are very good at that then you go straight to samadhi.

There is one story in the Ramayana (a great Sanskrit epic) – Hanuman (the monkey God) is a servant to Rama (an incarnation of Vishnu) – he is a big devotee of Rama – Ravana is the demon. After Ravana is killed there is a fight between Rama and Hanuman. Rama has to kill Hanuman and so he shoots an arrow at Hanuman but as he is doing this Hanuman is chanting ‘Rama’ and in doing so he becomes Rama – and so Hanuman is not killed by the arrow. This is Ishvara Pranidhana, this is pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses, the fifth limb of Ashtanga Yoga).

Once you keep on chanting you become yourself the supreme soul, the divine – that itself is samadhi.

In South India a famous yogi called Sadashiva was born in a village called Nerur – about 6 hours drive from here. He used to sit by himself, never talking. Many people told him he was a crazy man. His mother became very worried. This was 400, 500 years back. In the olden days there was child marriage – Sadashiva got married as a child. The children live with their parents until the girl is mature. Then when the girl is mature her parents send a letter to the boy’s parents saying that the girl is mature – then they send the girl to the boy’s home. One day Sadashiva’s mother got that letter and she came outside to tell him and then went back inside to get food. When she came out again he had disappeared. He is walking away. She finds him sitting next to a dustbin eating food that has been thrown away – she is so worried. But then a sadhu comes and says that Sadashiva is an enlightened person – he is only thinking of the divine, what he does doesn’t matter to him, his mind is always on the divine.

There are many stories – one day he is walking and he comes to a kingdom and then arrives at the palace. He can walk anywhere as a yogi – there are no barriers for him. The king had many wives and he is taking a bath with them in the pool. The yogi walks inside the palace to the pool, through the pool and then out again and walks away. The king gets very angry and takes a sword and runs behind him and cuts his arm and the arm falls to the floor. But Sadashiva keeps walking – he doesn’t even realise his arm has fallen. Then the king gets very scared and carries the arm with him and tells him ‘I’ve got your arm’. Sadashiva puts the arm back and keeps walking. This is pratyahara – you go to a different level. Whatever you hear or see is divine. This body is nothing for them. But you don’t try.

Another story – there was a king called Hiranyakashipu – he was the enemy of Vishnu, the ruler of this universe. Hiranyakashipu wants to defeat Vishnu. He has a son who is a big devotee of Vishnu and so Hiranyakashipu tells his son that he must replace all of the temples to Vishnu with a statue to himself, the king – he tells him that he must do puja to him, not to Vishnu. Everyone is scared. The son tells him that he is not god, that Vishnu is god. Hiranyakashipu gets angry and puts his son into the fire because he thinks his son is the enemy. But Vishnu comes and rescues him. Then he throws him from a mountain but he doesn’t die. Then he brings many elephants to try to stamp on him. Hiranyakashipu is very angry. One day he brings his son to a huge hall with lots of pillars and asks him ‘where is your Vishnu?’. The son replies that Vishnu is everywhere, everything is Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu asks ‘god is in this pillar?’. His son answers ‘yes’. And so Hiranyakashipu brings clubs and tries to break the pillar. There are 10 incarnations of Vishnu – one of them, Narasimha avatara, then comes out of the pillar and destroys this man. You can read more about it.

When you do japa everyday then you become submersed in the divine. These yamas and niyamas are very important in practice. You have to follow them.

I forgot to say when I was talking about ahimsa - that himsa (harming, violence, the opposite of ahimsa) is also cow slaughtering and eating meat, any animal – this is very bad. They showed the slaughtering of animals in China on TV – was horrible how they do that, so cruel, we should show it to meat-eating people, they will never eat meat again.

Questions:  

1)     How can we keep ahimsa in asana practice? Where do we draw the line between ahimsa and tapas?

Answer – because we did all himsa in past life then now we are suffering in asana. The body has to change so we get pain. No pain, no gain.

[Sharath then tells the jogging at the lake story that he told in Conference on 19/11/11]

Asana makes you flexible but we do other things that make us tight. The body has to change to adapt. For asanas the body needs different muscles from skiing for example. For that you have to go through many pains. New asana, new pain.

2)     I also meant about the ego – what if we are thinking that we want to get the new asana right because we want to be the best?

Answer – this depends on your mentality – for what purpose you are doing asana – if you are here to prove that you are good at asana. You should be happy with whatever you are doing – you are not here for a competition or to prove you can do asanas. You should enjoy doing asanas. Pain is also sweet pain. By pain we can also understand many things – we can get rid of the ego.

People come here and think they know everything. One old student came – the most egoist person I have ever seen in my life – he stayed for a long time and then he went back to America to teach. Then he comes back bringing with him one man and he says to Guruji ‘Guruji, whatever you have taught to me in 6 years, I have taught to this guy in 4 months’. This is pure ego.

In yoga you should always have the attitude that you don’t know anything – then you can learn many things. Yoga is a lifelong study until we die – we are always learning new things. Even in asana you learn many things. Try to enjoy. I enjoy asana like I enjoy drinking coffee. In asana everything should be balanced – asana, breathing, enjoyment also. Asana is the ultimate meditation. You need to be a little intelligent to understand asanas and how asanas can become a meditative practice. If not then asana is just exercise.

3)     If having a meaningful asana practice is the responsibility of the practitioner then what is the mission of a yoga teacher?

Answer – before becoming a teacher you have to be a practitioner. Enjoy yoga when you’re a student. First you have to learn this method properly and then teach others what you know. There is no mission. I don’t know what your agenda is. A yogi’s agenda is getting enlightened. A yogi’s mind is always towards that – how to get liberated. Are you a yogi or a so-called yoga teacher? A yoga teacher teaches asanas but a yogi’s mind is always towards the divine. I don’t know which one you are talking about. If it’s a yoga teacher then there are limitations. If it’s a yogi then there are no limitations.

Through yoga we can explore deeper inside our spiritual practice. Yoga has to come like starving for food – you should feel you are starving for it – you feel you have to practise. If somebody asks me what is my occupation, I am a yoga student. We are still students, we only know a little.

The Bhagavad Gita says that day by day, if you have shraddha (faith) in your practice then automatically knowledge will come to you. Then it is possible to control your senses. If you have faith then only can you go to higher levels in practice.