On the Wholity of the Yoga In Words of My Own On account of the first International Day of Yoga 21 June 2015
Juri Aidas
Sat Chit Ananda Existence, Intelligence, Bliss
An Albatross Publication − AAAP 69:2 OnAnother the Wholity of the Yoga
1
http://www.issuu.com/albatross Issuu Juri Aidas, 21−June 20158:5
An Another Albatross Publication AAAP 69:2, Issuu 8:5 Updated, 3 July, 15:15 pm, GMT +01:00 (First draft: 19 June 2015) Words for the first International Day of Yoga 21 June 2015 Copyright Š Juri Aidas, 2015 Illustrations: Magnus Malmsten
On the Wholity of the Yoga
2
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
Jai Guru Dev “See the need. Do the deed.” − Maharishi Mahesh Yogi “Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence.” − Patanjali, Yoga Sutra, I.2 “Established in yoga, perform action” − Bhagavad Gita, 2:48
On the Wholity of the Yoga: In Words of My Own Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
T
he Yoga definitely represents a wholity of many levels, all to be looked upon in terms of the practice as such. In my view of yoga the elements that go together to define the nature of yoga, the eight aspects of yoga, are not to be viewed as ideological determinants. The aspects, the elements of yoga all relate to the actual workings of the methodic of yoga which is derived from its paradigmatic of rest and activity. In other words, “The Paradigm of Yoga: Rest & Activity”. Ideology is something else. Ideology is about how to relate to the world and in that culture defines us all. Yet the hope is that deeper values emanating out of the deep serenity and peace of mind that is generated by a relevant yoga session will lead an individual to act with ethical restraint and moral forbearance towards “the other”. (As indicated in a Cyber meme I saw the other day, “Mythology is what we call the religion of somebody else.”) I consider here the eight aspects of the philosophy of yogic practice, and endeavour to follow up on Maharishi Patanjali, who provided the first distinct and still relevant treatise on the philosophy of yoga, the Yoga-Sutra, and who in that work defined the yogic momentum and provided a definition of the yoga. “Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence.” (YogaSutra, 1:2) From Pantanjali we also have a sequence, the elements of yoga, the eight aspects of yoga. These we find in two groupings, inner and outer limbs, or branches, if you will.
The outer limbs of yoga ( … or, say, branches on the “Tree of Life” of the yoga.)
Yama: The attitude and stance we take towards, and within, yoga practice ought to be an informed one. We’re supposed to know what we do in applying yogic practice. Do make a background study!
On the Wholity of the Yoga
3
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
Niyama: The conduct we hold ourselves to (when we are actually engaged in the doing of yogic practice) regarding the recommendations as to the practice as such. You know, establish a continuity of practice and in that practice behave accordingly.
Asana: The development of balance and harmony of the physiology. Have the blood flow around a little, some massage; some rolling around, check that everything works, smooth things out, get rid of tensions. Establish ‘posture’ that is. Imagine the balance of a seal, as it shows off, with a ball on top of its nose, child’s play. But how to find that perfect posture, the padmasana, the lotus position, wherein when the balance of the spine lies within the triangle of knees and hips and we get a spontaneous lifting of the spine from the ground all the way up its extent, and all one then has to do is balance ones head there, in the cradle of our shoulders … and do you know what, in the padmasana one has the built in pillows of one’s thighs for support, no bone touches the ground, and the spine is upheld by the balanced and vitally charged musculature of the body. Nothing else be needed. (But please, if this posture, the full lotus, does not come naturally for you, then don’t force it, you might hurt the meniscus. And, of course, if you are pregnant, I should definitely not roll around of the floor. Find a yoga teacher who specializes in that.)
Pranayama: Of course, after all that rolling around (after the doing of an individually set sequence of asana) ones breathing needs to be normalized. It gets slightly energized during the set of asanas. It’s important to understand the interactivity here of both the asanas and the pranayama, they are to be applied in a way that relates to a dynamic of rest and activity, like I mentioned above, i.e. they are not to be forced as we still have the inner limbs of yoga to consider.
The inner limbs of yoga ( … or, as said, branches, and also stem and root of the “Tree of Life”, whereof the last and final one “The Deep”, samadhi, embraces all the other seven branches on the tree of the philosophy of yoga.)
Pratyahara: Absorption, a kind of withdrawal. This stage in the yogic process represents a backing away from any intentional activity unto the point where the acute necessity of having to act does not rise. A sort of
On the Wholity of the Yoga
4
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
spontaneous inner absorption occurs if the prerequisites for that are around. I mean, find a secluded spot to do your practice, allow yourself the freedom, for the while of the yogic session, of not being enticed into action by others. Life goes on all around you anyway. This quality is easily exemplified by the very common occurrence of drifting away, say into a book, and seemingly being unaware of being spoken to, or something such, and then realizing that somebody spoke to you a moment ago, and you go “Um? What? What did you just say?” :) This is a process that starts up when we finally sit in some relevant pose in preparation for the inner dive that will come about as the practice of yoga is taken further. The pose you adopt, whether it is the lotus position or just sitting in a chair (depending on what the physiological constitution of your somatic body allows) is now the new starting point, wherefrom the inward flow will start its deepening. From this point, as per the yogic understanding, a certain mechanism (see the next element, here below, ‘dharana’) may trigger an ever increasing, as subjectively perceived, inward flow towards the inner depths of “The Deep”, a natural inwards flow of the mind, 'dhyana'. In the interaction of the inner and outer branches (limbs) of yoga we find an important key to the full yogic experience, which then comes to bloom in the interaction of the next two levels (or branches) on the yogic tree of life. We find that the natural inwards flow can be enhanced by the application of a recursive mental mechanism, whereof the stepping back is a first step. Never force the yoga!
Dharana: This concerns a slight momentary focusing (often misinterpreted as concentration) of attention within the flow of inwardness that spontaneously has come to expression by the combined effects of the application of the outer limbs of yoga and then continuing into the absorptive stage. With this slight almost spontaneous, effortless focusing, in a recursive manner (meaning not taking the thought further) of the mind onto an object of the mind a thought, a 'mantra', is used to direct ones attention in an effortless manner onto the instance of that thought, a word, the essence of poetry, the song, the song of life, if you will. To have something stable to fall back on in this process one would take one word and return to that (the recursivity), and this 'algorhythmic' process (ever returning), or what you will, this process helps the mind deflect from its deep desire to start thinking of all the things that happen, have happened, or may yet come to happen in your life. Using a word in this sense, in the setting of yoga, that kind of word is called a 'Mantra'. A sound of recognizable form to return to, some syllables of no contentual essence, no
On the Wholity of the Yoga
5
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
hidden meanings, not really meaning anything. This is the nature of the concept of ‘mantra’, it does not start new trains of thought. What happens is that the ordinary stream of thinking is distracted, one is really in no need of following thoughts to their conclusions as one practices these stages in the yogic wholity, and when you are distracted from all them thoughts they lose their momentum and do not anymore insist or demand of one to follow through with their all suggested action, and they leave you more or less to your own. (I’m going, I’m going’ I’m gone). And thinking goes away. Or, in other words, we go beyond thinking. This is the point, in this short attempted delineation here of the yogic process, that leads us straight on to the crown on the tree of life of the yoga. The process of meditation! Or, if you will, the free, spontaneous, effortless, inward flow that represents the element of ‘meditation’ the final spontaneous dynamic in the process of yogic practice, 'dhyana'.
Dhyana: Meditation. After all the above there is not really much more to add. All the preconditions for a successful ‘Deep’ meditation are now in place and the process of the inner subjective dive into the inner ‘Deep’ is thereby set in motion and comes about effortlessly. Here the practice is more of but effortlessly maintaining the flow, not unnecessarily breaking the flow, allowing the minds natural tendency to go to more relaxed and blissful states and to be upheld by those. The slight return to the ‘mantra’, the recursivity of that, the ‘focusing’, encourages this process which in turn becomes more and more ingrained within the practitioner as the process of yoga flows on and keeps the dive into the deeper depths of ‘The Deep’ on an even keel and on a steady course — until we subjectively splash or merge into an inner sea of utter serenity and a deep, deep, satisfying peace, a merging into an inner ‘Deep’, ‘The Deep’, of unimaginable depth. Our attitudes and our conduct, the balancing of the body and the normalizing of breath, the withdrawal which allows for solitude, the focusing that returns one to the process of yoga, all these are the backbone for a skillful use of the meditative flow to make it possible for the practitioner to withdraw inwards to the inner unifying roots of all life in the deep deep samadhi that ultimately brings life to its fullest expression. The practice of the specific act of ‘meditation’, so to say, comes to the fore when either of these following two things will happen, the first of which is when thinking has begun to draw attention back onto more energetic levels of activity, and the second is that we may fall into reveries or into dulling day-dreaming attitudes. When these things happen the slight focusing towards a mantra, in the meditative phase
On the Wholity of the Yoga
6
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
of the wholity of yogic practice, brings us back to an effective use of the window of time we can afford the practice of yoga. In this the inward flow becomes a more dynamic process than but an attentivity to inward things. It’s thinking that gets distracted in the yogic process, thoughts don’t find the relevance to complete themselves and go away as we practice the yoga (buses go by, we can always take the next one), thoughts lose their momentum — but not to worry, they’ll come back when you actually need them for excellence in action, resonating now from even deeper existential levels of your being. Just one more consideration, if one falls asleep during practice of yoga then that’s a good thing. I’m sure you needed that sleep and the yogic process opened the door for you to be able to partake of the restorative effects of natural and deep invigorating sleep.
Samadhi: The Deep. Existence, Intelligence, Bliss. “Sat, Chit, Ananda”. The root of the "Tree of Life". The concept of “The Deep” and whatever qualifications one would wish to make for the sense of depth conveyed by the idea of ‘samadhi’, whatever concepts one would like to adorn that elusive idea with would not have more than elliptical powers to explain anything as any expression can only draw tangentially close to that which has no description. We find only an utter subjectivity of generated paradoxical images to express the unexpressable with. Deep quiet is ‘quiet’. Isn’t that so?! No word is being spoken and no one is speaking. If one might have chosen a theistically biased allusion to this “Deep” thingy, even that would lack the power to touch upon the ineffable (touch your finger to the waters of a still pool and you get ripples). I do not really imagine that any ‘God’ would find it necessary to disturb my merging with the ultimate (viewed in an epistemological subjective abstract sense). It’s irrelevant. Merging in wakeful awareness in the ocean of our inner depths is ‘samadhi’, “Sat, Chit, Ananda” − life with purpose, life in joy, life in peace.
So, for to conclude. Yoga as such (which implies a practice) is not an ideology, it is not a theistic determinism, it is not an idiomatic moralistic endeavour. Yoga is a paradigmatic based on the balance of rest and activity in life. One foot rests as the other moves, and vice versa. Allow for a deep wakeful rest of such a quality that the flame of consciousness burns steady as if in a place with no wind. Allow for the mind to settle into a state of quiet (by all means distract the momentum of thought, so that thinking won’t bother you). Allow the uncreate, that of no name, no face, no number, to merge with your inner silence and bloom into kindness, goodwill and peacefulness towards all and sundry. Allow for silence, allow for a silence of that is inherently dynamic. That deep silence, offered us by the philosophy of
On the Wholity of the Yoga
7
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
yoga, generates passion for excellence and offers us crucial discriminative capacities for distinctive skill in action − yes, for to undo the woes of the world first allow yourself to flow deep into the utter depths of The Deep. Yes. Rest first (if possible), and then act. Go deep, then go out and help out. Or, as the Maharishi once said when at a course he was asked on how to retain the serene experiences from and at the course. Well, the Maharishi then said, “Go out and lose it, then come back.” • “… and every wave of the way And gale I tackle, the whole world then, With more triumphant faith That ever was since the world was said, Spins its morning of praise, …” (“Poem on His Birthday”, Dylan Thomas.)
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015, Sundbyberg, Sweden
Inspired by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi since 1968 Teacher of the Transcendental Meditation Program: 1971 Governor of the Age of Enlightenment: 1975 Free Agent in the field of yoga since 2005 (‘Albatross’ of the Cyber, Long Distance Navigator) • (In 2005 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi restructured the organization of which he is the figurehead, the Transcendental Meditation Movement, asking all his teachers to come to him for a recertification course. In that act the Maharishi ultimately disbanded us all of no means, or who by other hindrances were unable to attend, from the representing of his organization leaving some of us, like me, who at that time could count like some 35 years of active teaching of the yoga in my resume, in free fall. Personally due to other demands at that epoch in time I was, as alluded above, not able to get myself to Maharishi’s place − which fact, actually, has seemingly been for the good. I do have a few ideas of my own on the matter of yoga, and I have been able now since 2005, with yet another decade of ponderings in the bag, to formulate things in my own words, bound by no policy as to this or that. I am my own free agent in all this… I attempt, in a way, to create a modern nomenclature for the inner mechanism of the yoga. [A recursivity within the algorhythmy, perchance? ]) On the Wholity of the Yoga
8
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
The links below lead to a few different presentations of mine. Books and Posters on the Yoga by Juri Aidas Many of these works of mine have not, as of yet, passed a final proofing stage, they have received no final edit. They are presented to the Cyber regardless of being somewhat sketchy here and there; they are “work in progress”. They are presented with the hope that the ideas they seek to expound may clarify the relevance of the yoga somewhat, and not but for the individual but for the whole world, shall shine brightly through.
“The future is bright.” − Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Overview: A few different presentations on the yoga (plus two books of songs and poems and translations). http://issuu.com/albatross “The Tree of Life”: A graphic representation of the wholity of yoga metaphorically viewed as of the nature of a tree … with roots that go deep into the depths of the human mind. http://issuu.com/albatross/docs/overview-thetreeoflife-poster-albatross-a3 Fundamentals of Yoga: A booklet with 12 Illustrations, 56 pages, that attempt to explain the specifics of the fundamental elements that go to make a wholity of the philosophy of yoga. http://issuu.com/albatross/docs/12-yoga-posters-juri-aidas-albatross An A3 poster: In this work I define yoga as a paradigmatic on the respective dynamics at to the inherent qualities of rest and activity. In short, “The Paradigm of Yoga: Rest & Activity” http://issuu.com/albatross/docs/paradigm-of-yoga • Thank you all at Maharishi Vedic Pundits for posting the original video of Maharishi speaking on the yoga which inspired me to this post, very fitting as the first International Day of Yoga (great initiative) is upon us Sunday, 21st May 2012. Maharishi talks on the yoga (Short clip on Facebook 2:46 min.) https://www.facebook.com/VedicPandits/videos/10151455120496673/
On the Wholity of the Yoga
9
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
“Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence.” Yoga Sutra; 1,2
“Established in yoga, perform action.” Bhagavad Gita; 2,48
On the Wholity of the Yoga
10
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
THE TREE OF LIFE – AN HEURISTIC, RECURSIVE METAPHOR OF THE “YOGA DARŠANA” – THE PHILOSOPHY AND VISION OF Y OGA
“Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence.”
“Established in yoga, perform action.”
Yoga Sutra; 1,2
Bhagavad Gita; 2,48
Meditation Dhyâna * Meditation Dhyâna inwards
Withdrawal of the senses
Focusing Dhâranâ * Dhâranâ Focusing
Absorption Pratyâhâra *
inwards
Retracting of the Senses Pratyâhâra
outwards sight
Breath * Prânâyâma
touch smell
The Breathing Prânâyâma
ÂsanaPosture / The Body
rythm flow
Morals
shaucha simplicity
balance massage, stamina stretch, bend,
f. ex. padma âsana stability and others as the cobra endurance twist, roll, or hala asana turn, etc. Ethics . stimularatory or sun greeting, etc.
suspended
Copnduct Niyama * Morals,, The Laws Niyama LawsofofLife Life
Posture Âsana *
taste
out
in
hearing
santosha contentment tapas purification
.
swâdhyâya refinement
Mudras?
satya truthfulness
aparigraha non-attachment
îshvarapranidhâna sense oftowonder surrender the Lord
Attitude Yama *
Ethics, TheRules Rules for Living Yama , The Living ahimsa non-violence
asteya integrity
brahmacharya restraint chastity
Prakriti Samâdhi Nirbîja Samâdhi Samâdhi without object
with object
The Deep Samâdhi
Samâdhi , Restful Dynamic BlissAlerness
Manifest
Purusha Unmanifest
Sat, Chit, Ananda
Sat, Chit, Ananda
Existence, Intelligence, Bliss
Existence,Transcendent Intelligence, Bliss
Virtual Self-Referential Field Transcendent
Perplexitie VirtualBeyond Self-referential Field
Beyond any concept of the beyond!
*
T
he categories of Yoga (and the subcategories implied therein) presented in the schemata of the metaphor of the Tree of Life” and in the traditional listings all refer to the process of Yoga as such and are not to be ideologically transferred to any other domain, their qualities will rather become infused into our life and into our living depending on what application gives and what circumstance brings.
On the Wholity of the Yoga
11
Juri Aidas
Juri Aidas, 21 June 2015
On the Wholity of the Yoga In Words of My Own On account of the first International Day of Yoga 21 May 2015
Juri Aidas
“… and how / More spanned with angels ride The mansouled fiery islands! …” (Dylan Thomas, “Poem on his birthday”)
Anthe Another Albatross Publication − AAAP 69:2 On Wholity of the Yoga
12
http://www.issuu.com/albatross Issuu Juri Aidas, 21 − June 2015 8:5