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5
Yogic and Spiritual practice are not so much about the vehicle of practice, as it is about how you drive that vehicle. For example I have been practicing various yogic techniques for years now, and through it I have gained the understanding that each day, each moment is the real practice, when it is lived fully.
How do you make a start? Well you don’t have to go to yoga classes, or Tai Chi, or any other such class, although they will help you, and give you formal practices. They will also provide better understanding of the body and be very beneficial in many ways. However, all said and done, you can start right now, without a formal practice. Start where you are, be easy and understanding with your self, and never give up on your self or what your trying to do. Water given enough time reduces the nature of a rough pebble to a rounded and smooth one in nature, streamlined to fit into it’s role of being a pebble.
What is the practice? Anything you choose, pick say your job, make it your mission to become the master of the job you do. Or maybe pick one thing you do at work, or at home, and master that one small aspect. This will bring great benefits, you will make much progress, others will notice how well you do something, and negative feelings will drop away. Your state of being will become enhanced, just by taking care and attention of what and how you do it, and in the attempted perfection of what you do.
In terms of yoga this is seva (service) and karma (yoga of action). You will confront negative emotions and thoughts, you will be distracted and have to pull yourself back from these distractions. You will be practicing one of the 8 limbs of Patanjalis Yoga, or royal yoga. By continually bringing your self back to this one thing (a single task, the entire working day, whatever you chose) you will be practicing concentration, and in doing so you will be practicing several other limbs as well. The process you will go through in making this thing the focus of your attention, will be to make good progress and preparation for your future; you will become better at what you do, and better prepared yogic or other practices you may want to undertake. Becoming better at what you do, will make you more noticed by others, and more effective, now who wouldn’t want some one who shines out and causes less problems for others?
Over time, obstacles to your health, progress and state of being will fall away, and you will find success more naturally and easily flows with less and less effort. You will become more joyful and calm, and things will bother you less. Focus on the process and the working towards perfection and push other negative thoughts and emotions aside, recognise them, understand them, but don’t dwell on them to the point of being overlay distracted by them. The practice is in recognising, accepting, understanding and MOVING on from that disturbance (emotional, intellectual etc). The learning of your true nature is what we are talking here, you will dispel various non-truths that you hold about things including yourself, and you will flow and become harmonious in how you are as a person.
So, make it your mission to do your best at one thing, be gentle and understanding with yourself, never give up, although you may stumble and take a break. Do these two things (perfect, and never give up on that), and you will make much progress and be thankful for it.
Namaste
Copyright © 2009 Russell Smithers
Jan
19
I just received the first official newsletter from the K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute, at the end was the following quote that I wanted to share.
“If you only read books, you only have book knowledge. You have to have practical experience by practicing the yamas and niyamas, and asana in the correct method, with correct breathing and correct gazing, in your daily life. This is how you realize the meaning of yoga—how you realize who you are.”
R. Sharath (taken from the offical www.kpjayi.org January 2009 newsletter)
Jan
17
Why would you want to have more than one copy of the yoga sutras? In the past I have mentioned that I find it beneficial to have more than one copy of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and certainly I have seen other people comment on this. That isn’t to say that I don’t gravitate to 1 version more, it’s just that sometimes a different version has an interesting perspective, better explained or easier to understand for a given sutra than in other translations. There are times two or more versions have excellent translations of a particular sutra, and yet the commentary might explain it in a different way that complements the other version. So it isn’t just that one version can be better, they can both be very good and complimentary.
Let me be specific on this, II.32 lists the 5 niyama’s along with a brief description for each, where as II.40 looks into the first niyama. In TKV Desikachar version he translates the first niyama in II.32 as; “Cleanliness, or keeping of our bodies and our surroundings neat and clean“, where as Sri Swami Satchidananda says; “Purity“. I accept that the niyama sutra (II.32) is only listing what the niyamas are, and in this case II.40 tackles the first niyama in more detail, but even II.40 is more understandable to me in TKV Desikachar version. Desikachar has provided a practical description, one that doesn’t take much thinking about to put into practice, and yet, the second needs more thought and the commentary to be referred to before you can make a start at trying to apply it to your life.
In contrast lets look at I.33, TKV’s version has an excellent description; however, Sri Swami Satchidananda’s version has an ok description but a fantastic commentary. For me, both versions are complementary, together they provide a more complete picture of the sutras than just one does. I have to confess to owning several more than 2 versions of the yoga sutras for similar reasons, to keep things fresh and to gain many perspectives on the one center of wisdom, and also to clarify something that’s not fully understood. There are examples in Satchidanand’s version which are more undstandable to me than TKV’s.
Personally out of the 6 or so versions of the sutras I own, I reference the two discussed here more than the others, having said that I also like Swami Vivekananda translation, it has some good commentaries. So become settled in one version first, and then start exploring a few others, obviously you dont’ want to many, and some you may pass on or sell. But find a few copies that work well together and you will find studying the sutras more interesting and engaging. In fact it’s interesting to note that study of books like these which involves study of one self, is the fourth niyama II.44. This is an example where the description in both books for the fourth niyama in II.32 and II.44, work very well together, and at the same time stand on their own.
I hope this helps explain why it is worth investing in several translations. You might like to look at the general book list to see the versions I currently own, although there are a few missing from this list because I haven’t read them yet.
Copyright © 2009 Russell Smithers
Jan
16
The new page Philosophy, Introduction and Practice (see quote below) uses the yoga sutras as the backdrop to look at yoga in the wider context, and the sutras then provide the starting point for the practical aspects of applying the philosophy. It also explains how to put the philosophy into practical daily use. Some of the concepts near the end will be looked at in more detail in later posts.
“The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is an interesting subject to become acquainted with because yoga is about transforming oneself, and the sutras are of tremendous help with self improvement. Where do you start? Pick up any translation of the yoga sutras and you will see why I pose this question, so I wrote a quick start guide. ” from Philosophy, Introduction and Practice
Jan
11
Introduction
This article is more of an investigation on my part into the Yoga Sutras to give an over view. It might be useful to others, but it is not intended as an article in isolation, you must study the yoga sutras your self to under stand them properly. See the general book list for books to read. In this discussion we look at parts 1 and 2 of the yoga sutras, known as I and II, numbers after these relate to the sutras(stanza, thread) in that section. So I.1 is the first sutra, where as II.1 is the first sutra of part 2 (II). I have used part of one translation for part I and part of another translation for part II, this is because I felt it more appropriate. You may like to read a short description of the sutras which explains why several translations are useful.
Portion on Contemplation – Sri Swami Satchidananda (Part 1 of the Yoga Sutras)
Yoga says that there are those who are born into a state of yoga and do not need the practices required of a yogi, and there are the rest of us who need to practice in order to become free. This is sutra I.1 of the yoga sutras. The sutras go on to say that restraining the modifications of the mind (Sutra I.2.) is the method to become free and attain a state of yoga. I.5 lists the five mental modifications and these can be painful or painless, which are in I.6 listed as; right knowledge, misconception, verbal delusion, sleep and memory.
The idea behind yoga is that we need to focus on the positive aspects that will lead us to freedom, this is achieved through I.7 where the sources of “right knowledge” are listed as; direct perception, inference and scriptural testimony. And we are told in I.12 that “these mental modifications are restrained by practice and non-attachment”, and that “of these two, effort toward steadiness of mind is practice.” (I.13)
Sutra I.14. states that when “practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness”, which means that unless we attend to regular sustained practice we will not make much progress, however when we do sustain our practice eventually “… all the obstacles disappear and simultaneously dawns knowledge of the inner Self” (I.29). Obstacles to practice (I.30) are distractions of the mind stuff which are “disease, dullness, doubt, carelessness, laziness, sensuality, false perception, failure to reach firm ground and slipping from the ground gained …”.
The one sutra that is easy to remember and most helpful on the yogic j is I.33, which states “by cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous,and disregard toward the wicked, the mind stuff retains its undisturbed calmness” see also I32 and I.34 to I38
Sadhanapadah (Practice) – TKV Desikachar (Part 2 of the Yoga Sutras)
“The practice of yoga must reduce both the physical and mental impurities. It must develop our capacity for self examination and help us to understand that in the final analysis, we are not the masters of everything we do.” (II.1). “Then, such practices will be certain to remove the obstacles to clear perception” (II.2). II.3 lists these obstacles as; misapprehension, false identity, excessive attachments, unreasonable dislikes and insecurity, where misapprehension is the root of the other obstacles (II.4).
II.10. Warns us that “when the obstacles do not seem present, it is important to be vigilant”; because, while “obstacles prevail, they will affect every action” (II.13). While these obstacles are present the results of our actions will be either painful or beneficial in depending if the obstacles are present or not (II.14).
Reassuringly II.25 tells us that “as misapprehension is reduced there is a corresponding increase in clarity. This is the path to freedom”, so it might then seem obvious but we are told that “this is a gradual process” (II.27), and this is why regular and sustained practice is required to make progress, something I have proved for myself. By the way, yoga is all about proving things for yourself and not idly taking some ones word for it.
So what is practice? There are 8 areas of practice which are known as the 8 limbs or ashtanga. These limbs are named in sutra II.29 as; Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Of these I think the first 4 are external and the final four are internal, this means that some practices use the external outward world and the senses to progress, and the internal ones exclude external sensations and the senses.
The thing with yoga and treading the path as it were, is that there is subtly at every corner, at first you can be blind to some aspect of yoga, and one day you will have a realization about something and your knowledge or wisdom will grow, and secondly, there is the practices which can be very subtle to perfect even though potentially very simple. To be a fully realized yogi you need to have mastered all eight limbs. The internal limbs are not accessible until the lower 4 limbs have been mastered. So there is no shortcut, you work on the Yamas, Niyams and Asana, as you make progress on these limbs, the breathing can be tackled (Pranayama) and then Pratyahara and so forth. Check out Dharana Darshan and some of the other books like autobiogrphy of a yogi on the book list under the heading Delve Deeper.
The first limb as detailed in II.30 is yama and this is further subdivided into; Consideration, right communications, non covetousness, moderation in all our actions and absence of greed. It is with this first limb that it becomes apparent that yoga practice is a moment by moment daily practice. It’s outside the scope of this article to go into these in more depth, but spending some time per day on any one aspect of the yama’s or niyama’s for some time revels insights, best to read the commentaries on them first. This is where having several translations of the yoga sutras (see book list) come in handy. The niyamas are listed in sutra II.32. and are; Cleanliness, contentment, removal of impurities, study and actions done in the spirit of service. So attend to the niyamas with the same method as in the yamas, pick which ever feels most appropriate,and I can assure you the ones that seem easy are not.
Fortunately sutra I.33 from the first part of the sutras helps us considerably with our practice, in a few short lines it sums up yoga in a way that we can remember and keep with us daily. This sutra is wonderfull to remind yourself of in difficult times, especially if you can apply some basic breath awareness and control. You might like to compare the following quote with the translation by Sri Swami Satchidananda (above), again easy to see why having several versions of the sutras is handy.
I.33 “In daily life, we see around us people who are happier than we are and people who are less happy. Some may be doing things worthy of praise and others may be causing problems. What ever be our usual attitudes towards such people and their actions, if we can be happy for those who are happier than ourselves, compassionate towards those who are not as happy, pleased with those whose activities are praiseworthy and remain undisturbed by the errors of others, our minds will be very tranquil“
TKV Desikachar in Reflections on Yoga Sutra-s of Patanjali
I have proved to myself that keeping this one sutra in mind, and trying to behave as directed, does indeed help sustain a tranquil mind. And why is this important? Because in order practice yoga our state of mind plays a large role in our success, just as does our diet and other factors. In this translation although there is commentary on the various sutras, there is no commentary on this one; however, some of the others do have commentary on this sutra. The one I like most so far is the one in Sri Swami Satchidananda translation of the sutras, I recommend you read it.
Copyright © 2009 Russell Smithers
Jan
4
Today I wanted to talk about the flow of life, attachment, aversion and our truth. In the yoga sutras truthfulness (II.36) is one of the niyamas which is one of the 5 attitudes towards ourselves. Truth has two main aspects, what you communicate and how you act.
Truthfulness very simply put, is where you communication the truth and don’t mislead others; however, in this article I am looking at the moment by moment truth of what is before you at any one moment. The truth of action which can be overlooked in discussions of truth but is an equally important facet of the overall concept of truth. This will help lead us to personal harmony, and the development of non-attachment and non-aversion.
What ever situation we seem to find ourselves in requires some sort of action (including in-action), it can be easy to avoid one course of action through aversion because we feel a desire to follow another course of action. In this way we enslave ourselves by strengthening unhealthy desires to shield us from things we would rather not face, therefore strengthening aversion. By favoring actions that help us avoid unpleasant courses of action achieves three things, all negative in the long run. Firstly it weakens us in terms of self control, we go along with our desires as if a slave, and also by not allowing us to develop strength in dealing with things we don’t like. Secondly we lose the ability to exert self control and discriminative powers that prevent a build up of karma which leads on to the third and final point, because things build up while we do something else, and this means we have wasted the time we could have dealt with the situation and caused a buildup of problems in the future which we still need to deal with, we become more enslaved. The third point can also be seen maybe not as a build up of something we have to do, but maybe problems caused for someone else that was involved in that moment, for example some one becomes upset because we were unkind.
When things come our way in the current moment, it is better to deal with unpleasant or neutral situations without succumbing to our desires or aversions, knowing that if something we like comes our way we can enjoy it fully all the more for knowing we have dealt with past events to the best of our ability. It’s perfectly acceptable to not like something, so long as we don’t shy away from it. This should not be confused with free will and saying no to something we have a choice in, but some times it may be wiser to choose what we would prefer not to be involved with even if we have free choice. This is termed as right action, what ever happens do the right thing. Thats not the right thing by yourself or in the expectation of another, but in terms of the situation itself.
Think of your life as a film passing in front a projector lens, each moment is a still that when animated produces motion. As each moment passes before you, try and deal with the moment appropriately and then let the moment go. The moment may be something difficult, or may be something pleasurable, either way acting appropriately will afford us the best future so long as we can let the moment go. Letting each moment go leaves us free to fully engage in the the next moment before us. Letting go of the expectation of results to each action allows us to be free no matter what course of action is open to us. We become free and liberated from all manor of things.
Obviously this topic could be written in to a small book, but this is the web so I shall end here.
Copyright © 2009 Russell Smithers
Dec
17
The effects of practice are felt most over an increasing length of time spent attending to your practice. This is something I can now see for myself, for those of you who follow the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali you will know this is Sutra I.14.
So how then do I see this in my own life, proving for myself the path of yoga to be fruitful?
Firstly I have seen it emerging within me during the years of my yoga practice. Little bit by little bit, obstacles falling by the way side freeing me up. This is a lesson in non-attachment as much as it is about staying with your own yoga practice, see Sutras II.30, II.32 and II.37 (although probably others too).
The other way I see it is when I see how others take their happiness from things external to themselves, and how that all goes horribly wrong for them when their expectations are not met. I am reminded of how more and more I am going within to that which is unchanging, to that which is not dependent on the external world. The longer I practice the bigger the chasm between my reactions (or lack of reaction) to external events in comparison to others. The difference in how external things affect me in comparison to how they effect others becomes a more obvious indicator of progress on the path.
Along the way I have found as Gregor Maehle discusses in his book “Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy“, that studying the Yoga Sutras, Upanishads and other yogic/spiritual texts are in balancing a daily asana practice. The two help each other, in fact Gregor says that these are “two sides of the same coin”.
Copyright © 2008 Russell Smithers
Nov
18
The sutras help illumine ever deeper and more expansive ways to live ones life for greater harmony and clarity. Eventually, leading us out of the labyrinth of illusion. The sutras are holographic in that they tackle self transformation (personal evolution) from several different perspectives, and in that one can always gain something no matter how many times they are read.
Due to the nature of the sutras (holographic/levels/perspectives) a single translation can be enhanced by cross referencing with several others. One translation isn’t better than another and having several different translations of the sutras is useful, I would say essential. I have about 6 different translations, and they each offer something different, together, providing a better understanding of the sutras than one translation alone would provide.
Copyright © Russell Smithers 2008
Sep
26
Being tangled, the opposite to being de -angled of course, is when your thoughts and actions are not 100% your own. Now this at first may sound like an odd thing to happen, but how exactly do you think advertising works. How do the attitudes of parents become encoded in their offspring, and how do you think charismatic people influence their followers, even if sometimes it’s not intentional. Not forgetting of course society and its group behaviours/thoughts/ideas. These are some examples, ideas and thoughts of others becoming entangled in our own outlook and behaviour patterns. I’m sure people with degrees can explain this in much more detail, and much more eloquently than I, but this is enough to get my point across, I hope.
Whilst we are tangled our identity is like a patchwork quilt made up of lots of other quilts. I think we all suffer from this to a greater and lesser extent. In fact in recent years I have de tangled myself considerably from other people’s wants and desires, although no doubt I am still under the influence. Fears and the ego play a large part in all this business and ego is a subject all of its own.
So how do you de-tangle yourself from other identities, those other thoughts and ideas that are not helpful and cloud your own self? Uncover your truth, what it is that you know for sure, not intellectual reasoning, although developing your own reasoning based on your truth is of course a good thing. The best way to find your truth, possibly the only way, is to spend time on your own. Take your attention away from your thoughts, you could try focusing on your breath, or maybe wonder at something in nature, of course there are many, many techniques for this sort of thing. Just look at all the forms of meditation and yogic practices, not mentioning some of the more useful religious ones – whatever they are.
During the process of uncovering your truth, you will eventually gain an understanding of your true identity; this will give you the strength and knowledge to move out of your present life situation and into a new more favourable one. You can then repeat this exercise in a similar way to climbing a ladder one rung at a time. The more you develop your intuition, the more sensitive (in a good way) you are to it, the more clearly you are able to see it.
As you become more attuned to your intuition, which is how your truth is communicated to you, you will find that you will need to let go of old ideas and attachments in the same way you would a hot coal that is put in your hand, why burn yourself when you can let go. This as you may imagine is easier said than done, but it is doable. In fact over time you will naturally do this, this process is a certainty, after all at some point the energy to fuel these non-truths will run out, and then you will rest in your own nature. It’s just a matter of when and how, and how deliberate you want to be about this de-tangling process, which is why I have taken the time to write this article. I think most people would like to do this sooner rather than later.
In order to express this new found intuition and the truth it reveals – which don’t forget, is who YOU are, not what someone else thinks through you – you will develop some skills. In fact just by practicing these skills you will help develop the intuition and find your truth. These skills are, in the words of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, as translated by T K V Desikachar “Right communication (speech, writing, gesture and actions)” (Sutra II.30, page 62) which I feel has it’s source in honesty and therefore truth, and as the right communication is coming from you, that would be your truth. To quote Sri Swami Satchidananda from his translation of the same sutras as T.KV, “ to one established in truthfulness, actions and their results become subservient.” (II.36, page 131) – in other words, the more you become intuitive and understand who you are (your truth – not someone else’s) the easier you will find it to be yourself and not be troubled by others.
Of all the sutras Sri Swami Satchidananda says “Whether you are interested in reaching samadhi [enlightenment, nirvana, freedom from bondage] or plan to ignore Yoga entirely, I would advise you to remember at least this one Sutra. It will be very helpful to you in keeping a peaceful mind in your daily life.“ (on page 54, in his commentary on Sutra I.33). His translation of I.33 is “By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains it’s undisturbed calmness.”, I recommend you read his commentary on this sutra.
I find comparing different translations of the Yoga sutras most beneficial and helpful, therefore I feel compelled to include T.K.V. Desikachar’s translation of I.33 “In daily life, we see around us people who are happier than we are and people who are less happy. Some may be doing things worthy of praise and others may be causing problems. Whatever be our usual attitudes towards such people and their actions, if we can be happy for those who are happier than ourselves, compassionate towards those who are not as happy, pleased with those whose activities are praiseworthy and remain undisturbed by the errors of others, our mind will be very tranquil.”
It is important to mention that both translations mentioned also contain a commentary on the sutras, so you will get for each sutra the Sanskrit, the English meanings for each Sanskrit word, the translated sutra and the commentary which explains the sutra.
You will probably find both versions very handy to have, but the Sri Swami Satchidananda version has more descriptive commentary. Not forgetting you might want to look at the other translations and works based on the Yoga sutras. The yoga sutras are probably one of the single most central of pieces writing in the yogic tradition, and there is much written about them.
Copyright © 2008 Russell Smithers
May
20
An important aspect, no, lets say a central aspect of yoga practice, physical and mental, is the process of transforming oneself. Many people manage to transform their bodies through yoga asana practice (postures), how many look inside at themselves and work on true transformation?
This is a question that I find myself pondering. It seems that most people, and I say seems because I do not know and I do not want to judge, are distracted and not even the slightest bit interested. A certain amount of slow transformation occurs through life’s knocks, but sometimes these knocks transform us in negative ways.
There is a lovely quote in “Autobiography of a Yogi - Paramahansa Yogananda” which realy needs to be read in it’s fuller context, but is still significant;
“Is the world going to change for you? Change yourself …”, page 126
Which I thought works well with; “Make it a way of life to observe yourself, for by being aware of your behavior you will be your own guru.” Kevin and Venika Kingsland from the book Cassandra Powers/page 82
Which links nicely into yoga sutra I.33; “By cultivating attitudes of friendliness towards the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.” taken from the book The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Translation and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda).
I also like I.33 as presented by TKV Desikachar from the book “Reflections on Yoga Sutra-s of Patanjali”; “… if we can be happy for those who are happier than ourselves, compassionate towards those who are not as happy, pleased with those whose activities are praiseworthy and remain undisturbed by the errors of others, our minds will be very tranquil.” page 35
And also I.33 from the book “Ashtanga Yoga Practice and Philosophy”; “Clarity of mind is produced by meditating on friendliness towards the happy, compassion towards the miserable, joy towards the virtuous and indifference towards the wicked.” page 168
Copyright © 2008 Russell Smithers
May
17
The aim of science and yoga is the search for the truth by understanding reality. Science allows new understanding to be gained and others to prove new ideas through empirical analysis. These ideas can be verified by other scientists. Science continually refines its intellectual knowledge (scientific view) of reality and by doing so is able to uncover deception, confirm truths and find new truths.
The title of this post takes it’s name and inspiration from the book Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins. I’m not sure I will do justice, so you may want to read this book, at least the chapter “Reweaving the World” for the benefit of this post. In this book Richard looks at how the mind perceives the world, practical experiments are presented that need no equipment and can be done whilst reading, these help demonstrate the points he makes.
Richard explains we see the world through an abstract view that is constructed to represent reality, a virtual world we perceive even though we act in the real world. The brain is constantly receiving information which it uses to construct an internal view of the world. Therefore basing our perception on a model and not reality itself, to quote Richard,“… has a darkside. A brain that is good at simulating models in imagination is also, almost invariably, in danger of self-delusion.”
Yoga and science are similar in that they ask you to prove to yourself what is true and what is not, the difference is that science doesn’t know the ultimate truth. Yoga states that deep reality is beyond intellectual understanding which has it’s limits and can only take you so far. Yoga is based on the knowledge of others who have found the fundamental truth and, yogic philosophy provides a map we can use to guide us, but we must walk the path and prove things for ourselves.
Sutra I.8 states“Misconception occurs when knowledge of something is not based upon its true form.” and the example; “In the twilight you see a coiled rope and mistake it for a snake. You get frightened. There is no snake there in reality; there is a false understanding. But still it created a terror in your mind. It is not only valid knowledge that creates thought waves, but erroneous impressions”. Taken from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Translation and Commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda.
Copyright © Russell Smithers 2008
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