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Vinyasa Krama Yoga Newsletters 2011 from Srivatsa Ramaswami VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 Vinyasa Krama Yoga Newsletters 2011 from Srivatsa Ramaswami Disclaimer: This document was compiled from Srivatsa Ramaswami’s Vinyasa Krama Yoga Newsletters and contains volume 1-12 from 2011 - http://www.vinyasakrama.com Index January 2011 Newsletter — Iswarapranidhana 2 February 2011 — Thus Spake Sri T Krishnamacharya 5 March 2011 Newsletter — Breath of Yoga 9 April 2011 Newsletter — Mantra Cover 12 May 2011 Newsletter — Advaita 19 June 2011 Newsletter — Statics and Dynamics of Asana 24 July 2011 Newsletter — Trivikrama 29 August 2011 Newsletter — Yoga TT Program, What I Learnt 32 September 2011 Newsletter - Spinal Exercise, the bottom of It 38 October 2011 Newsletter — AVVAIYAR 42 November 2011 Newsletter — Yoga Joint 46 December 2011 Newsletter — Chants 49 PAGE 1 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 January 2011 Newsletter — Iswarapranidhana Wish you a very happy and prosperous New year, a New Decade. December was India month. LMU had arranged a ten day retreat in New Delhi the modern capital of India and Rishikesh the holy city along the Ganga, About ten participants from the USA and six from India attended the program. We had almost six hours instruction everyday, three hours of asanas and pranayama and about three hours of Yoga Sutras and Yoga for Health. I thought the programs went well. What was remarkable was that despite some real difficulties and challenges, everyone stayed to the end. I am beholden to all participants for their interest, support and patience. Thank you Dr Chris Chapple and Alana Bray of LMU for affording the opportunity. I spent a couple of days in Hyderabad thanks to the invitation of Saraswati Vasudevan of Yoga Vahini and Salil Ganeriwal of Shwaas, both of whom have long experience in the Krishnamaharya tradition. Saraswathy Vasudevan who has more than 17 years teaching experience in the Krishnamacharya tradition was the director of a 500 hr Yoga Therapy certification program. 14 very enthusiastic and knowledgeable yoga teachers completed the program and I had the pleasant opportunity to distribute the certificates and speak briefly. The teachers included Amala Akkaneni, one of my first students. She studied yoga with me for a few years as a student of Kalakshetra in the mid 1970s. It was nice to meet her too. Salil gave me an opportunity to speak about Yoga for Healing (Health) at his beautiful studio Shwaas. ISWARAPRANIDHANA Maybe I have written on this topic earlier. Normally in Sutras, the same term/idea should not be repeated. But in the yogasutras of Patanjali the term Iswarapranidhana is used three times. It is acceptable if the term is used with different connotations in different places/contexts. According to my Guru, the yogasutra even as it deals with subject of (Raja)Yoga, caters to the needs of three different groups or levels of yoga aspirants. The first one the highest or the uttama adhikaris are the intended group of aspirants in the first chapter called the samadhi pada. Here Patanjali used the term Iswarapranidhana as an independent means of achieving the goal of Kaivalya or spiritual freedom the set goal of yoga. It is the complete quietening of the mind or chitta vritii nirodha. According to Patanjali it is possible to achieve this yogic goal by intense devotion to Iswara (pranidhana= bhakti visesha) as indicated by the term Iswarapranidhana in this context. By the proper Japa of pranava which would indicate the mystic syllable or mantra “OM” the highest aspirant (adhikari) who already has the ability to go into a stage of samadhi (hence dealt with in Samadhi Pada) will be able to achieve this extraordinary result. An intense faith and devotion to the eternal unfettered spirit, Iswara,whose essence is pure consciousness and still endowed with omniscience would do the trick and nothing else is needed. If however this devotional fervor is lacking even if the samadhi capacity is there, the more step by step process of going through stages of mastering Prakriti (24 aspects ) may be resorted to following the path of Niriswara Samkhyas who have difficulty in subscribing to a nimitta karana or an efficient cause for creation.. In the second chapter, Sadhana Pada, Patanjali takes the case of those who without the yogic skill of Samadhi, but still wish to start to go along the path of Yoga, the first step in a 1000 mile long yoga journey. To them, the absolute beginners, he would include Iswarapranidhana as one of the steps in Kriya yoga . Here Iswarapranidhana has a different application. It is not the use of Pranava Japa as the Samadhi Yogi would do but Iswarapujana or worship of PAGE 2 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 Iswara as per many yogis. Simple to complicated rituals are available for the interested to remain focused on Iswara for a period of time every day. This in practical terms is much easier to resort to following the well established procedures of puja (worship rituals) of the Lord. This is possible for anyone with faith in God, but lack the samadhi capability. One may not be able to achieve Samadhi with this but it will slowly prepare the mind to go along the path of yogic samadhi. Concurrently it will also reduce the mental pain caused by several kleshas like avidya etc. One may ask if Iswarapranidhana or Iswarapujana as it is said in Kriya yoga can by itself lead to samadhi bhavana or is it part of a whole practice called Kriya yoga. Another corollary question would be what if one has difficulty believing in God, could one still take advantage of kriyayoga? There are references to practices of kriya yoga used without the Iswarapranidhana component. The great epic Ramayana describes a sage as one established in austerity and scriptural studies. The Ramayana opens with the two traits of Kriaya yoga viz., tapas and swadhyaya. (tapas swadhyaya nirataam). So we may see that there are occasions where the first two traits are mentioned independent of Iswarapranidhana. Of course it would be best to use all the three parts of kriya yoga. When a start up yogi belonging to the iswarapranidhana stream practices iswara pujana assiduously, the mental klesas come down and she/he will be well on the path of conditioning the mind for samadhi. Then we have the next yoga stage called ashtanga yoga a more elaborate and complete yoga sadhana or yoga practice. Herein also is Iswarapranidhana mentioned and the result of this practice as part of niyama would be Samadhi itself, which also is the goal of the entire ashtanga yoga as samadhi is the last anga. Commentators give a different interpretation of Iswarapranidhana here in ashtanga yoga than what is found in first chapter and in kriya yoga.. They would say that it would refer to doing one's prescribed duties diligently as God's work and surrendering oneself to the Lord and also the fruits of all actions. This intermediate stage yogi or madhyama adhikari the one not having the skill of going into samadhi but is totally committed to yoga as a life long pursuit. For her/him Patanjali suggests the classical ashtanga yoga. Here as per my Guru and several commentators it would mean total surrender to the Lord or Saranagati or prapatti. One may say that the prescribed duties would also imply practicing the stipulated duties in ashtanga yoga and doing them as God's work with a complete sense of surrender to the Lord. This “karma Yoga” in which the results of the practices do not cloud the yogi's mind is “karma phala tyaga”. This devotional path will lead to Samadhi the necessary skill to take the last lap in the yoga journey. My teacher being a devout Bhakti Yogi stressed the importance of the Iswarapranidhana stream in the Yoga Sutras. The Yogis who have an intense devotional fervor could do well to follow the devotional path. For most yogis a judicious combination of samkhya yoga and bhakti yoga would be helpful as is the direction of the sutras. But it is also necessary to point out that Iswarapranidhana even though it is mentioned just three times in the whole text forms an independent and complete system of Yoga in the Yoga sutras. For the start up Yogi it prepares the mind for samadhi and also simultaneously reduces the mental klesas. At the intermediate level it leads to dawn of Samadhi a necessary tool for both Siddhis and Kaivalya and a reduction in impurities of the mind, the Rajas and Tamas.. At the highest level Isawarapranidhana leads to understanding the true nature of oneself (pratyak cetana)and also the removal of all spiritual obstacles (antaraya). Many other acharyas also have taken the efforts to stress the importance of both the streams. Adi Sankara the advocate of Advaita or nondualism, wrote great works not only on the intellectually challenging subjects as advaita like the Brahma Sutra Bhashya, Vivekachudaani PAGE 3 OF 53 WWW.VINYASAKRAMA.COM VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2011 etc., but also wrote such wonderful devotional works as Bhaja Govindam, Soundarya Lahari and several others. Sri Sankara apart from being the most revered exponent of Advaita also came to be known as one who established the six methods of orthodox worship of the divine in India (shan-mata-sthapana-acahrya), The six methods are worship of Ganesa (Ganapatya), Kumara (Kaumara), of Mother Sakti (Saakta), of Siva (Saiva), of Vishnu (Vaishnava) and of the Sun (Saura). He wrote numerous works of poetry on all these deities. Patanjali, Adi Sankara, my own Guru Sri Krishnamacharya and several orthodox teachers of yesteryear were at considerable ease with both the paths of wisdom and of devotion.
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