One evening when I was teaching in the class, a tall and fit looking senior woman in her mid fifty, with somewhat forceful voice tone, insisted that I have to see her. I told her to wait until the class is over. I planned to give her ten minutes before I start the next class. She was a part-time yoga instructor looking for a teaching job in my center. Sorry, I train my own instructors, I don’t employ outsiders, I told her. She wanted to know why. Because, the training backgrounds are different and most of all, the human characters are vary, that I don’t like working with people whom I don’t know very well. Moreover, handing over my dear yoga students to some strangers to teach…that’s something I would not do. She insisted that I should at least give her a chance, to see how good and confident she is in her teaching before I turn her down. I asked her why I owe her the chance. Because, as same fellow yoga teachers, we have to support each other in sharing students, that is the basic ethics for those who are working in the same field, she argued. Ethics… Here is someone, who stepped in my yoga center, and asking for a job by using the tag line of ‘ethics.’ That got my attention.
It doesn’t look like she is going to budge out easily until she gets what she wants. Also, I am not good at brushing off people straight in their face. Ten minutes are not going to work… So I asked my other instructor to take over the next class and settled down with her in the office. Okay. What is your training background? How long you have been doing and teaching Yoga? She happily laid out her passion with yoga, the names of teachers she’s been associated with. About three years in practice, one year of teaching experience after taking three month instructor course from a Westerner in the US… That sounds good.
“Do you know Patanjali Yoga Sutra?”
“Say that, again?”
“Patanjali Yoga Sutra…”
“No, I don’t know. First time I hear about it.”
“Do you know Bhagavad Gita?”
“What is that?”
“They are the two most important Yoga text books for any yoga teachers or yoga aspirants to refer for their ethical conducts.”
“No, Tim (her teacher) never mentioned about the books. Why he didn’t teach us if they are so important?”
“You don’t ask me, should ask him.”
“But…”
So it went on like that, for more than an hour. Still not giving up, she was trying hard to convince me to see at least once how she is teaching yoga. I told her I don’t have to see, because I can already know. She would not believe me. I am sure she is very good at what she is doing but it wouldn’t be my style, or my students’. You are forceful in your way of persuading, which reflects your training and your character. By the same token, your students will be those hardy ones who need somewhat aggressive approach. That’s not my characters, therefore not my students. Then she wanted to know what she can do if she were to teach in my center, which she really wants it, because my center is located very near her house for her convenience…
If you really want to teach in my center, then, you have to go through my training, but it will be hard for you to follow. Why? Is it very difficult with a lot to study? The course itself is not difficult, especially given your kinds of disciplinary attitude. It will be difficult because your own ‘tendency’ ‘nature’ is the main obstacle that will be not easy to overcome, unless you meditate regularly. That is what the Patanjali Yoga Sutra is about, how to see our own characters, tendencies, potentials; then you can refine them to be better; only then you can help others how to see and improve themselves. Yoga is not just about stretching or bending here and there; Yoga is about how to “still the turning thoughts.” That takes time and patience. It can’t happen in three months short crash course.
She could no longer argue with me, though still not yet giving up. She said she will come back to take the meditation course as she really wants to teach in my center. I said sure, but in my heart, I knew she won’t. Few days later she called me to say that, she decided to stick to her own styles. I told her good for you, which I really meant. I didn’t want to jeopardize her belief system that was woven so tightly around her strong sense of ego, her own self-worth. My way will be too drastic of change for her nervous system in that age. But, if she can, she would make a rare and fine teacher, as her kinds of high discipline and commitments are hard to come by. But she decided not to take a step further from ‘loving’ yoga to ‘hating’ yoga stage. Ecstasy springs from fire, and as is anything else we do in life, we need to go beyond initial love until we hate it if we want to see til the end of the tunnel in all our worldly or spiritual pursuits.
Why do people act so fierce in defending their value or belief system, their spiritual or material conditions, or the boundaries they have set up around their identity make-ups? Why do people so quick to make judgments, discrimination, to segregate friends and foes, in the slightest disagreement of opinions, inclinations, likes and dislikes? Why do people behave so stubborn in protecting their own self-interest while it’s okay invading others? Because, we lack in balance, perspective, faith of oneself and others; because, we lack in our ability to trust our inner value and the way of life that works in spiral not in linear way; because we lack in the experiences of fundamental wisdom, Samadhi, that is not depended upon time, space or place.
Pantanjali Yoga Sutra provides the lucid answers and practical ways to achieve liberation from the limited perception of ourselves and life itself. Written by a sage Pantanjali some 2,500 years ago, it describes the means by which Yoga is attained, and the powers that come to the seeker in his quest and the state of absolute liberation. While most yoga practitioners or instructors in Malaysia know nothing, if not little, about the book, its short but beautiful 196 hymns, written in poem like style, are priceless jewels for anyone who is seeking truth, wellness and perfect happiness in this ordinary life we live day to day. It shows how to transform our limited small self into an enlighten being who is the living embodiment of unconditional, universal love and compassion.
We just need to inquire into our very awareness and underlying tendencies, to lift off the veils of fundamental ignorance, overcome inner obstacles, to be free from any physical, mental and emotional sufferings. It says, supreme happiness and abundance is our birthright, of which we forgot in our identification of self to the limited physical body, the fluctuating emotional state, the constantly turning thoughts, conjured up by false impressions of reality, words we heard, and tendencies we carried on from the past. How do you overcome them? By repeatedly bringing our awareness to a single focus with the practice of yoga over a long period of time…
That is why I train my own instructors, though it takes much time and efforts for me than using other instructors trained else where. Because, my intention is not to make them work for me, but to see them growing as a whole person. It is easy to master the triangle, headstand, armstand poses, or teach it to others how to do. But, what is difficult, is one’s willingness to turn within, to refine the character to be a better human being, before we can stand in front of others to teach; be it yoga asanas, yoga theories or ethics. In this fast moving and isolated modern world, in where many are out to take advantage of others in serving their own self interests, I still seek to find those rare souls who are willing to correct themselves and enjoy the reward by helping others, not by monetary return. Even if they are not yet as fit or confident as the lady is, it doesn’t matter. Because soon they will rise above the situation, given some time, supports and encouragements; but whom I would not waste my time and efforts are to those, who can’t see or don’t want to see themselves. Am I a naiveté with an unrealistic idealism of ancient? Maybe… But, that’s what I can’t change about myself. I am a still helpless lover of the human heart that resembles God who works tirelessly whether or not we bother to appreciate Him. I am infused in His love that the rest are little of significance; that is why, sometimes, you find me having this far away look at the corner of my eyes…
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Story 15. The spiritual hometown in my heart--Bhagavad Gita
It is winter back home in Korea. Growing up in a country with distinctive four seasons, winter was my favorite time of the year, because we were allowed to slow down during those cold months. It was okay to get lazy a bit without feeling guilty and also could hide the extra pounds under the thick clothes. When the world and busy outside life go into hibernating mode, I could happily catch up with extra sleep, readings and chit chatting with sisters and mother. The Iowa State where I stayed for 5 years, it used to snow until knee deep. The brilliant midday sunlight shining over the thickets of icy hills like crystal, the hauling sounds of the winter wind blowing all around in the bare corn field of Iowa, as though it were dreams, now they occupy in the corner of my heart as faint memories while I have moved onto different phase in the stages of life. But those were precious times during which life was much simpler and sheer joy filled with learning and hope for future. I missed them very much.
It is my 12th year that I am spending winter time without thick coats, cold air and icy ground. Living in Malaysia that is summer all year round for more than a decade, my body has already accustomed to its hot weather but my heart has not, it seems. The sound of silence in my heart echoes louder always around this time of the year. The yoga center also becomes quieter with the students busying themselves for family holidays or preparation of the New Year. Then, I would turn to my favorite two spiritual guides to find solace for my somehow empty heart— Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali Yoga Sutra (more details in the next article). Whenever I turn to them, I can forget all the wanderings, loneliness, pains and aches. I can renew my perspective about life as a whole with fresh dose of inspiration and enthusiasm. They are like my spiritual hometown where I keep going back whenever I need consolation, comfort, strength, energy and vision. I always get plenty of that, even more than what I asked for.
Among these two, the Gita has especially special meaning to me. It has contributed few important life turning points in my personal life. First, it had initiated me into spiritual journey as a more serious seeker, at a time when my life was in the coldest winter. It also had arranged my meeting of then future husband when I first arrived in the State. The rest of time, it stood there, always silently watching over me, like a loving mother to her child, with caring and protective eyes, without interfering in everything I do but only when it’s needed. It has been the source of my strength, comfort, inspiration and love in the absence of my late dear mother, of which I first come to contact around her departure.
It was one early spring when I was given the present, a translated hand written copy of Bhagavad Gita. At the time, I resigned from my work and was helping out in a yoga center while waiting to leave for US in few months of time. My mother had just passed away and I was in deep depression filled with remorse. Somehow I couldn’t cry during and after mother’s funeral though my heart was heavily saddened and aching. The fact that she was no more, wasn’t really real to me as I could feel her presence even more intensely than when she was alive. As I started to read the book for the first time, a very foreign dialogue between a foreign god and a devotee that happened in an ancient time of a far-away land India, I broke down, started to cry for no reason, wailing like a mad person.
“…Just as you throw out used clothes and put on other clothes, new ones, the Self discards its used bodies and puts on others that are new.” “…Death is certain for the born; for the dead, rebirth is certain. Since both cannot be avoided, you have no reason for your sorrow.”
Those words in the book pierced sharply into my heart and I realized why I couldn’t associate mother’s life as being ended even though her body was no longer around. I could still see her, feel her and hear her voice. I couldn’t cry because she was there so close with me and I was right… I read the book again and again. I felt such relief to know that I wasn’t an evil daughter who can’t even shed tears in mother’s grave, at the same time, to know she would be reborn in where she could study as much as she wanted. It was her dead wish to have higher education in her next life, to become a very learned person…
Soon I heard the news of the yoga teacher training course to be held for six months in Hong Kong. Without thinking much, I postponed the US study and joined the course, though it took a huge chunk out of my study funds. It was not until I arrived there, that I realized what I had agreed to undergo, out of fresh inspiration from the Gita, which was much more beyond my ordinary capacity. Call me daring, but sure it was bravado if not stupid. For the next 6 months, I was to go through a very strict Spartan regime of training in a remote suburban place. First time out in a foreign land, with smattering English, I was not even allowed to call home or they call me. Everyday from 6am to 10 pm, consisted with intense rounding of yoga and meditation, lectures, study, memorization and tests, taking short breaks for meals and evening group stroll only; no talking, no socialization… It seemed I had signed up for a grueling military training in where the only way out was death. Despite the shocks and exertion, I didn’t die therefore I had no other choice but to go on…
I often cried at night silently in my pillow, afraid other people might hear. Mother’s departing started to feel more real, and I worried sick to think about facing father whom I left in darkness about my participation in the crazy (?) course. I cursed the people who put me into this torture by instilling me ‘inspiration.’ But days became weeks, and weeks became months. I was adapting better as my English improved significantly as it often happens in an extreme situation. I didn’t know I could be that resilient and disciplined. I also made some friends with other course participants not to feel like an alien anymore. The course became not so difficult to handle anymore. I also experienced many breakthroughs in meditation as well, helping me to clear off a lot of emotional and psychological baggage that hung around me like a soaked cotton. By the time the course came to an end, I was a different person; much stronger and fit physically; from a lost and confused soul, to somehow more confident and pleasant person who shone much lights and enthusiasm with easy laughter. When father saw my changed persona, he didn’t loose his temper at my disappearance but kept quiet, giving me silent approval.
About a year after teaching in my previous yoga center, I soon left for my further study in the US. As I took a significant amount out of the study funds, I only had left enough money to last one year but not enough to afford the graduate course that I intended before. I felt okay, I said to myself, just one year, better than nothing to experience the bigger world, sufficient to a frog who had been living in a well. I enrolled myself in the English course and soon became accustomed to the new environment and people, enjoying fresh found freedom and learning experience.
One day about one month after my arrival, my Japanese roommate told me of a Bhagavad Gita study group in the town, offered free to Asian students by some Malaysian guy working in the famous new age bookstore in the town, who was also a Chinese Physician and quite well-known among the townies and international students for his mastery in diverse human science and esoteric subjects. I went there and saw this large framed man with funny beard and mustache. Other than that, he didn’t leave me much first impression but had a remarkable skill to understand the broken English of our poor Asian international students; that was the reason he offered the free study course to help us. The study book to be used for the discussion was the Gita. As he started to lecture on the Gita, I noticed that his explanation on the historical background of it was inaccurate. So, I, seating in the audience seat, corrected it by raising my hand. That got his attention—a reserved looking small woman from Korea knows about the Gita…
The rest of our courtship story is history as they would say… The one year plan stretched to five years. I could finish the graduate course with his help not only financially but also academically (he wrote the course papers for me…). I used to joke to him that the dowry money mother left for me, surely arranged to find husband in an unusual way. While my other fellow girl friends spend the money on buying house appliances or gifts for in-laws, I spent it off for the yoga teacher course (US $10,000 in 1991, a lot of money even now…).
Where did I get that kind of courage? Do you think I was crazy or foolish at that time? Maybe I was. But then, I don’t know how to regret over whatever happened. I take it as it comes. Whether the results from my decisions and actions come out, good or bad, I simply take it as learning experiences and move on. I can’t stay stagnated or hold onto what is over. I become very restless and impatient, then. The way I make choices in life are based on what makes me free, not binding with worry, regrets, obligations or fear. At this stage in my life, I see that quality of mine, the ability to think simple and act plain, is not liability, but a biggest asset, that which I learned from the Gita. I don’t strive for worldly fame or success; never I was or will be. But I feel free, content and am at peace with myself and my life. They are the blessings I received by knowing the Gita. They are also the same blessings the Mahatma Gandhi learned from the Gita. He shared those gifts with the whole nation of India to bring about its Independence. I do not dare comparing myself with him, but I do wish to share those gifts with more people if I can. The turbulent year 2008 is almost coming to an end, and it is my New Year wish to be able to hold the Gita study group with some of people who might be interested… Let me know if you are one of them. I will arrange the schedule soon.
It is my 12th year that I am spending winter time without thick coats, cold air and icy ground. Living in Malaysia that is summer all year round for more than a decade, my body has already accustomed to its hot weather but my heart has not, it seems. The sound of silence in my heart echoes louder always around this time of the year. The yoga center also becomes quieter with the students busying themselves for family holidays or preparation of the New Year. Then, I would turn to my favorite two spiritual guides to find solace for my somehow empty heart— Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali Yoga Sutra (more details in the next article). Whenever I turn to them, I can forget all the wanderings, loneliness, pains and aches. I can renew my perspective about life as a whole with fresh dose of inspiration and enthusiasm. They are like my spiritual hometown where I keep going back whenever I need consolation, comfort, strength, energy and vision. I always get plenty of that, even more than what I asked for.
Among these two, the Gita has especially special meaning to me. It has contributed few important life turning points in my personal life. First, it had initiated me into spiritual journey as a more serious seeker, at a time when my life was in the coldest winter. It also had arranged my meeting of then future husband when I first arrived in the State. The rest of time, it stood there, always silently watching over me, like a loving mother to her child, with caring and protective eyes, without interfering in everything I do but only when it’s needed. It has been the source of my strength, comfort, inspiration and love in the absence of my late dear mother, of which I first come to contact around her departure.
It was one early spring when I was given the present, a translated hand written copy of Bhagavad Gita. At the time, I resigned from my work and was helping out in a yoga center while waiting to leave for US in few months of time. My mother had just passed away and I was in deep depression filled with remorse. Somehow I couldn’t cry during and after mother’s funeral though my heart was heavily saddened and aching. The fact that she was no more, wasn’t really real to me as I could feel her presence even more intensely than when she was alive. As I started to read the book for the first time, a very foreign dialogue between a foreign god and a devotee that happened in an ancient time of a far-away land India, I broke down, started to cry for no reason, wailing like a mad person.
“…Just as you throw out used clothes and put on other clothes, new ones, the Self discards its used bodies and puts on others that are new.” “…Death is certain for the born; for the dead, rebirth is certain. Since both cannot be avoided, you have no reason for your sorrow.”
Those words in the book pierced sharply into my heart and I realized why I couldn’t associate mother’s life as being ended even though her body was no longer around. I could still see her, feel her and hear her voice. I couldn’t cry because she was there so close with me and I was right… I read the book again and again. I felt such relief to know that I wasn’t an evil daughter who can’t even shed tears in mother’s grave, at the same time, to know she would be reborn in where she could study as much as she wanted. It was her dead wish to have higher education in her next life, to become a very learned person…
Soon I heard the news of the yoga teacher training course to be held for six months in Hong Kong. Without thinking much, I postponed the US study and joined the course, though it took a huge chunk out of my study funds. It was not until I arrived there, that I realized what I had agreed to undergo, out of fresh inspiration from the Gita, which was much more beyond my ordinary capacity. Call me daring, but sure it was bravado if not stupid. For the next 6 months, I was to go through a very strict Spartan regime of training in a remote suburban place. First time out in a foreign land, with smattering English, I was not even allowed to call home or they call me. Everyday from 6am to 10 pm, consisted with intense rounding of yoga and meditation, lectures, study, memorization and tests, taking short breaks for meals and evening group stroll only; no talking, no socialization… It seemed I had signed up for a grueling military training in where the only way out was death. Despite the shocks and exertion, I didn’t die therefore I had no other choice but to go on…
I often cried at night silently in my pillow, afraid other people might hear. Mother’s departing started to feel more real, and I worried sick to think about facing father whom I left in darkness about my participation in the crazy (?) course. I cursed the people who put me into this torture by instilling me ‘inspiration.’ But days became weeks, and weeks became months. I was adapting better as my English improved significantly as it often happens in an extreme situation. I didn’t know I could be that resilient and disciplined. I also made some friends with other course participants not to feel like an alien anymore. The course became not so difficult to handle anymore. I also experienced many breakthroughs in meditation as well, helping me to clear off a lot of emotional and psychological baggage that hung around me like a soaked cotton. By the time the course came to an end, I was a different person; much stronger and fit physically; from a lost and confused soul, to somehow more confident and pleasant person who shone much lights and enthusiasm with easy laughter. When father saw my changed persona, he didn’t loose his temper at my disappearance but kept quiet, giving me silent approval.
About a year after teaching in my previous yoga center, I soon left for my further study in the US. As I took a significant amount out of the study funds, I only had left enough money to last one year but not enough to afford the graduate course that I intended before. I felt okay, I said to myself, just one year, better than nothing to experience the bigger world, sufficient to a frog who had been living in a well. I enrolled myself in the English course and soon became accustomed to the new environment and people, enjoying fresh found freedom and learning experience.
One day about one month after my arrival, my Japanese roommate told me of a Bhagavad Gita study group in the town, offered free to Asian students by some Malaysian guy working in the famous new age bookstore in the town, who was also a Chinese Physician and quite well-known among the townies and international students for his mastery in diverse human science and esoteric subjects. I went there and saw this large framed man with funny beard and mustache. Other than that, he didn’t leave me much first impression but had a remarkable skill to understand the broken English of our poor Asian international students; that was the reason he offered the free study course to help us. The study book to be used for the discussion was the Gita. As he started to lecture on the Gita, I noticed that his explanation on the historical background of it was inaccurate. So, I, seating in the audience seat, corrected it by raising my hand. That got his attention—a reserved looking small woman from Korea knows about the Gita…
The rest of our courtship story is history as they would say… The one year plan stretched to five years. I could finish the graduate course with his help not only financially but also academically (he wrote the course papers for me…). I used to joke to him that the dowry money mother left for me, surely arranged to find husband in an unusual way. While my other fellow girl friends spend the money on buying house appliances or gifts for in-laws, I spent it off for the yoga teacher course (US $10,000 in 1991, a lot of money even now…).
Where did I get that kind of courage? Do you think I was crazy or foolish at that time? Maybe I was. But then, I don’t know how to regret over whatever happened. I take it as it comes. Whether the results from my decisions and actions come out, good or bad, I simply take it as learning experiences and move on. I can’t stay stagnated or hold onto what is over. I become very restless and impatient, then. The way I make choices in life are based on what makes me free, not binding with worry, regrets, obligations or fear. At this stage in my life, I see that quality of mine, the ability to think simple and act plain, is not liability, but a biggest asset, that which I learned from the Gita. I don’t strive for worldly fame or success; never I was or will be. But I feel free, content and am at peace with myself and my life. They are the blessings I received by knowing the Gita. They are also the same blessings the Mahatma Gandhi learned from the Gita. He shared those gifts with the whole nation of India to bring about its Independence. I do not dare comparing myself with him, but I do wish to share those gifts with more people if I can. The turbulent year 2008 is almost coming to an end, and it is my New Year wish to be able to hold the Gita study group with some of people who might be interested… Let me know if you are one of them. I will arrange the schedule soon.
Bhagavad Gita and Pantanjali Yoga Sutra
Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita means “The Song of the Blessed One.” No one knows when it was written; some scholars date it as early as fifth century B.C.E, others as late as the first century C.E. But there is general scholarly consensus that in its original form it was an independent poem, which was later inserted into its present context, Book Six of India’s national epic, the Mahabharata.
The Mahabharata is a very long poem—eight times the length of the Illiad land the Odyssey combined—that tells the story of a war between the two clans of a royal family in northern India. One clan is the Pandavas, who are portrayed as paragons of virtue; they are led by Arjuna, the hero of the Gita, and his four brothers. Opposing them are the forces of the Kauravas, their evil conusins, the hundred sons of the blind King Dhritarashtra. At the conclusion of the epic, the capital city lies in ruins and almost all the combatants have been killed.
The Gita takes place on the battle field of Kuru at the beginning of the war. Arjuna has his charioteer, Krishna (who turns out to God incarnate), drive him into the open space between the two armies, where he surveys the combatants. Overwhelmed with dread and pity at the imminent death of so many brave warriors—brothers, cousins, and kinsmen—he drops his weapons and refuses to fight. This is the cue for Krishna to begin his teaching about life an deathlessness, duty, nonattachment, the Self, love spiritual practice, and the inconceivable depths of reality. The Gita, consisted with the eighteen chapters, is a “wondrous dialogue” between Krishna, the God incarnate, and Arjuna, the symbol of a true devotee. However it really is a monologue, much of it wondrous indeed, which often keeps us dazzled and asking for more, as Arjuna does;
“For I never tire of hearing your life-giving, honey-sweet words. (10.18)”
Yoga and Pantanjali Yoga Sutra
1. “Yoga” means “union” or “bring together”. It is a discipline that brings together of body, mind and spirit. Yoga is a powerful means of physiological, psychological and spiritual integration. It makes you aware that you’re part of a larger whole, not merely an island unto yourself. Humans can’t thrive in isolation. Even the most independent individual is indebted to others. Once the body and mind are happily reunited, this union with others comes about naturally.
The moral principles of Yoga are all embracing, encouraging you to seek kinship with everyone and everything. Yoga originated 5,000 or so years ago in India. It only reached the shores of Europe and America a hundred years ago. But the modern Yoga boom didn’t start until the 1960s. In Asia, it is not until 1990s. In Malaysia, it is only last few years. What is popular as “Yoga” throughout the world as it is today, it refers mostly to “Hatha” Yoga.
Hatha Yoga: “Ha” means “sun”, “tha” means “moon”. It starts with the two physical aspects of Yoga, Asana (physical postures) and Pranayam (breathing exercises).
The physical postures and breathing exercises of Hatha Yoga bring harmony, balance and freedom of body. Practicing Hatha Yoga can stabilize and boost one’s vitality and harmonize his emotion, and strengthen the mind.
2. Pantanjali Yoga Sutra, consisted of 196 aphorism (4 chapters), written by a sage Pantanjali some 2,500 years ago, is the most authentically acclaimed and widely translated textbook of Yoga. It describes the means by which Yoga is attained, and the powers that come to the seeker in his quest and the state of absolute liberation. According to Patanjali, there are eight-limbs of Yoga, or Ashtanga Yoga which are designed to lead to enlightenment, or liberation. They are,
1) Yama (The laws of life): Non-violence, Truthfulness, Integrity, Chastity,
Non- attachment.
2) Niyama (The rules for living): Simplicity, Contentment, Purification, Refinement,
Surrender.
3) Asana (The physical postures)
4) Pranayam (Breathing exercises)
5) Pratyahara (The retirement of the senses)
6) Dharana (The steadiness of mind)
7) Dhyana ( Meditation)
8) Samadhi (The settled mind)
The path of Yoga is not liner but rather circular. That is one will arrive to the destination from anywhere he starts the journey, with the eight limbs of yoga, together constituting one body of Yoga.
The first and second limbs, Yama and Niyama, are the inner and our rules of living that which is the behavioral guidelines of yoga practitioners to ensure happiness, harmony and freedom.
The third and fourth limbs, Asana and Pranayam, are the yoga postures and breathing techniques, together constituting Hatha Yoga that which is the most well-known aspect of yoga as is today, almost synonymous with ‘Yoga’ to general public but is only the physical aspect of yoga.
The fifth limb is Pratyahara, that which means ‘sense withdrawal.’ We have five sense faculties—seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. With these, our attentions are always distracted toward without, out of body, thereby leaving us constantly in the state of anxiety, ungroundedness, insecure and fearful. Like tortoise, when we withdraw our senses within, we can discover the inner sanctuary of calmness, peace and joy.
The sixth, seventh and eight limbs are Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, together known as Raja Yoga, meaning the Royal Path of Yoga or meditation. It is the heart of yoga, more intimate than the proceeding limbs, that which describe the natural and effortless process of our undisturbed awareness flowing one direction to experience ‘the settled mind,’ the state in which we experience ever present awareness to be all embracing, blissful and pure.
Bhagavad Gita means “The Song of the Blessed One.” No one knows when it was written; some scholars date it as early as fifth century B.C.E, others as late as the first century C.E. But there is general scholarly consensus that in its original form it was an independent poem, which was later inserted into its present context, Book Six of India’s national epic, the Mahabharata.
The Mahabharata is a very long poem—eight times the length of the Illiad land the Odyssey combined—that tells the story of a war between the two clans of a royal family in northern India. One clan is the Pandavas, who are portrayed as paragons of virtue; they are led by Arjuna, the hero of the Gita, and his four brothers. Opposing them are the forces of the Kauravas, their evil conusins, the hundred sons of the blind King Dhritarashtra. At the conclusion of the epic, the capital city lies in ruins and almost all the combatants have been killed.
The Gita takes place on the battle field of Kuru at the beginning of the war. Arjuna has his charioteer, Krishna (who turns out to God incarnate), drive him into the open space between the two armies, where he surveys the combatants. Overwhelmed with dread and pity at the imminent death of so many brave warriors—brothers, cousins, and kinsmen—he drops his weapons and refuses to fight. This is the cue for Krishna to begin his teaching about life an deathlessness, duty, nonattachment, the Self, love spiritual practice, and the inconceivable depths of reality. The Gita, consisted with the eighteen chapters, is a “wondrous dialogue” between Krishna, the God incarnate, and Arjuna, the symbol of a true devotee. However it really is a monologue, much of it wondrous indeed, which often keeps us dazzled and asking for more, as Arjuna does;
“For I never tire of hearing your life-giving, honey-sweet words. (10.18)”
Yoga and Pantanjali Yoga Sutra
1. “Yoga” means “union” or “bring together”. It is a discipline that brings together of body, mind and spirit. Yoga is a powerful means of physiological, psychological and spiritual integration. It makes you aware that you’re part of a larger whole, not merely an island unto yourself. Humans can’t thrive in isolation. Even the most independent individual is indebted to others. Once the body and mind are happily reunited, this union with others comes about naturally.
The moral principles of Yoga are all embracing, encouraging you to seek kinship with everyone and everything. Yoga originated 5,000 or so years ago in India. It only reached the shores of Europe and America a hundred years ago. But the modern Yoga boom didn’t start until the 1960s. In Asia, it is not until 1990s. In Malaysia, it is only last few years. What is popular as “Yoga” throughout the world as it is today, it refers mostly to “Hatha” Yoga.
Hatha Yoga: “Ha” means “sun”, “tha” means “moon”. It starts with the two physical aspects of Yoga, Asana (physical postures) and Pranayam (breathing exercises).
The physical postures and breathing exercises of Hatha Yoga bring harmony, balance and freedom of body. Practicing Hatha Yoga can stabilize and boost one’s vitality and harmonize his emotion, and strengthen the mind.
2. Pantanjali Yoga Sutra, consisted of 196 aphorism (4 chapters), written by a sage Pantanjali some 2,500 years ago, is the most authentically acclaimed and widely translated textbook of Yoga. It describes the means by which Yoga is attained, and the powers that come to the seeker in his quest and the state of absolute liberation. According to Patanjali, there are eight-limbs of Yoga, or Ashtanga Yoga which are designed to lead to enlightenment, or liberation. They are,
1) Yama (The laws of life): Non-violence, Truthfulness, Integrity, Chastity,
Non- attachment.
2) Niyama (The rules for living): Simplicity, Contentment, Purification, Refinement,
Surrender.
3) Asana (The physical postures)
4) Pranayam (Breathing exercises)
5) Pratyahara (The retirement of the senses)
6) Dharana (The steadiness of mind)
7) Dhyana ( Meditation)
8) Samadhi (The settled mind)
The path of Yoga is not liner but rather circular. That is one will arrive to the destination from anywhere he starts the journey, with the eight limbs of yoga, together constituting one body of Yoga.
The first and second limbs, Yama and Niyama, are the inner and our rules of living that which is the behavioral guidelines of yoga practitioners to ensure happiness, harmony and freedom.
The third and fourth limbs, Asana and Pranayam, are the yoga postures and breathing techniques, together constituting Hatha Yoga that which is the most well-known aspect of yoga as is today, almost synonymous with ‘Yoga’ to general public but is only the physical aspect of yoga.
The fifth limb is Pratyahara, that which means ‘sense withdrawal.’ We have five sense faculties—seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. With these, our attentions are always distracted toward without, out of body, thereby leaving us constantly in the state of anxiety, ungroundedness, insecure and fearful. Like tortoise, when we withdraw our senses within, we can discover the inner sanctuary of calmness, peace and joy.
The sixth, seventh and eight limbs are Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, together known as Raja Yoga, meaning the Royal Path of Yoga or meditation. It is the heart of yoga, more intimate than the proceeding limbs, that which describe the natural and effortless process of our undisturbed awareness flowing one direction to experience ‘the settled mind,’ the state in which we experience ever present awareness to be all embracing, blissful and pure.
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