Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar Part 1: Jñāna Yoga … inquiry in which we first hear, then we reflect, and then gradually we see the truth, is jñāna yoga … that jñāna is always there. Jñāna arrives automatically when something that is blocking it has been removed … We see the truth, […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar Part 1: Antarāya … The term antarāya describes a situation where a person moving towards betterment is blocked, either because of the experiences had in that progression or because of negative factors that might have been present for many years. Let us consider some of these obstacles, […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar Part1: Definition … I have explained how prāṇāyāma helps the firs in the body, sūrya, to reduce the “dirt,” apāna. Bandhas are a means by which we can intensify this process. The theory is that the bandhas make sure the flame is brought exactly to where the […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar Part1: Antaraṅga Sādhana … We are not consciously aiming for or striving to do dhyāna. We are really striving to remove the obstacles to dhyāna. We always have a potential for the state of samādhi but somehow something comes between us and that state. This veiling we […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar Part 1: Ratio Now, a very important aspect of the practice of prāṇāyāma is how to establish the right ratio for individual practice … We might need something new to maintain our attention to practice or to suite a particular need, If the ratio is too easy, […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar Part 1: Antaraṅga … We have discussed the first four aṅgas, yama and niyama as attitudes and āsanas and prāṇāyāma as two limbs we can practice. The remaining four aṅgas are called antaraṅga sādhana, meaning “certain things we really cannot practice, rather they just happen.” All we […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar Part 1: Prāṇa & Ayāma … Let us continue with prāṇāyāma, the fourth aṅga … our first objective is to be conscious of the breath … Next we determine how to continue to be conscious of it. … The word prāṇāyāma has two parts, prāṇa and āyāma. […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar This part introduces the vocabulary of breath-related practices. Part1: Pūraka & Recaka … In prāṇāyāma we simply breathe. As long as we observe how the body is responding to our breathing, we have nothing to worry about. Problems develop only when we insist upon holding the breath […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar Part1: Yama & Niyama … Yoga does not offer us a specific method, in that, if we do this, such will happen … Yoga also suggests that our attitude towards things can help in this movement toward reduced avidyā and freedom from duḥkha. The entire practice of […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar … As we continue āsana practice using a variety of postures and breathing in a planned sequence, somehow we get used to the routine. Gradually our attention to our practice decreases … This, then, is a reason for improvisation, to bring a new quality of attention and […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar This chapter is a brief overview of Samkhya. In this excerpt I’ve elected to let the live teaching setting in which this book originated by letting the questions come through. I believe that the questions (and answers) capture well the essence of these teachings by encountering (and […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar Part1: Saṃskāra … dust that blows on the skin is harmless, but if a tiny particle gets into the eye we suffer … a person who seeks clarity becomes sensitive like the eye … That is why there is always more apparent duḥkha for a viveki, one […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar Part1: Vinyāsa … Will someone who knows nothing about Yoga recognize the difference between it and gymanstics … merely by looking at a book on Yoga āsanas? Yoga … is not an expression of form for others to watch. We are doing it for ourselves. We are […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar 1: Avidyā ” … We never know when a particular form of avidyā might arise. It is like planting seeds. The moment they get water, fertilizer and air, they sprout … We should never relax when we appear to have no avidyā … Therefore, we emphasize that […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar 1: Asana The practice of Yoga provides us an occasion that might give us a feeling for the meaning of the word Yoga. Despite any incidental benefits, this is the fundamental reason for practice … In our practice we focus upon the body, the breath and the […]
Excerpts from “Religiousness in Yoga” by TKV Desikachar 1: Yoga Yoga is one of the six principle systems of Indian thinking known as darśana. The word darśana is derived from the Sanskrit root drś, meaning “to see.” Fundamentally darśana means “view” or “a particular way of viewing.” It also has a further meaning which suggests […]
Again this reminded me of Alexander and unfoding wholeness – a process of making in which felt experience is constantly incorporated in guiding choices … and of Pirsig’s sitting on a hot stove. “Practice is action. In this, Yoga differs from – without exclding – other schools of philosophy and of belief that rely solely […]
These words, inside me, resonated with Alexander’s Windows to the Ground “All artists I’ve known whose works surpass anything we’ve known before invariably ascribe the source to a higher force, whether they call it God or not. The work then becomes a object for our own contact with something higher. In the course of my […]
“Halfway down the street I rented a large house with space for offices, individual classrooms, and one large lecture hall … Since its opening, more than twenty thousand people have come to the Mandiram … mora than twenty thousand entirely different situations – but each asks, in one form or another, “Can you help me?” […]
A few days ago I was trying to illustrate in conversation why I have a resistance towards any religious expression in MY world. While I do believe that religion had a constructive role in social evolution … and maybe it still does in some contexts … I do feel that in some parts of the […]
