Oh my, talk about rabbit holes.
If you saw yesterday's post I was discussing this book The Gita as It Was: Rediscovering the Original Bhagavadgita Book by Phulgenda Sinha; 1987 where Sinha argues that most of the Gita was added later and that the original consisted of only 84 verses. My copy is still on the way from Amazon but Maya found one online at Scribd HERE. Now at the end of yesterdays post I wrote
'Oh and it seems there's an original Yoga Sutras too, all that about Ishvara, 100 slokas or so.... yep you guessed it, they added that too.......perhaps'.
Well flicking through Sinha's book on Scribd, I came across the section where he discusses the sutras and get this, the 'original' Yoga Sutras supposedly consisted of only 83 verses ( yes yes, i know begs the question... a lot of them in fact). You can forget about Chapter one, which is a bit of a bugger because that's the chapter I'm most comfortable chanting. Forget chapter four as well ( that's OK it's commonly thought to be a later addition) but also the first 27 verses of chapter 2.
Sinha is quoting J.W. Hauer book DER YOGA ( p238-239) in German. It's supposedly translated by G. J. Larson as Classical Samkhya see p150
OK, if you've spent any time in academia you know this goes on a lot. For every academic arguing that a couple of Shakespear's plays were written by Marlow you get another hundred arguing against it. Still, it's often interesting and keeps the pasty faced scholars off the streets.
Interestingly though it perhaps doesn't matter. Chapter one wasn't really for us anyway, it's talking about the born yoga who doesn't have to work at it. Chapter two that was for us mere mortals who have to work at it along with Chapter three on the good stuff. Best of all we can chant it in ten minutes and catch last orders.
Here it is below Translated by BonGiovanni from HERE just to give us an idea before we hit our own editions which I'll be doing right after practice.
The Original Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (?)
2.28 On the destruction of impurity by the sustained practice of the limbs of Union, the light of knowledge reveals the faculty of discrimination.
2.29 The eight limbs of Union are self-restraint in actions, fixed observance, posture, regulation of energy, mind-control in sense engagements, concentration, meditation, and realization.
2.30 Self-restraint in actions includes abstention from violence, from falsehoods, from stealing, from sexual engagements, and from acceptance of gifts.
2.31 These five willing abstentions are not limited by rank, place, time or circumstance and constitute the Great Vow.
2.32 The fixed observances are cleanliness, contentment, austerity, study and persevering devotion to God.
2.33 When improper thoughts disturb the mind, there should be constant pondering over the opposites.
2.34 Improper thoughts and emotions such as those of violence- whether done, caused to be done, or even approved of- indeed, any thought originating in desire, anger or delusion, whether mild medium or intense- do all result in endless pain and misery. Overcome such distractions by pondering on the opposites.
2.35 When one is confirmed in non-violence, hostility ceases in his presence.
2.36 When one is firmly established in speaking truth, the fruits of action become subservient to him.
2.37 All jewels approach him who is confirmed in honesty.
2.38 When one is confirmed in celibacy, spiritual vigor is gained.
2.39 When one is confirmed in non-possessiveness, the knowledge of the why and how of existence is attained.
2.40 From purity follows a withdrawal from enchantment over one's own body as well as a cessation of desire for physical contact with others.
2.41 As a result of contentment there is purity of mind, one-pointedness, control of the senses, and fitness for the vision of the self.
2.42 Supreme happiness is gained via contentment.
2.43 Through sanctification and the removal of impurities, there arise special powers in the body and senses.
2.44 By study comes communion with the Lord in the Form most admired.
2.45 Realization is experienced by making the Lord the motive of all actions.
2.46 The posture should be steady and comfortable.
2.47 In effortless relaxation, dwell mentally on the Endless with utter attention.
2.48 From that there is no disturbance from the dualities.
2.49 When that exists, control of incoming and outgoing energies is next.
2.50 It may be external, internal, or midway, regulated by time, place, or number, and of brief or long duration.
2.51 Energy-control which goes beyond the sphere of external and internal is the fourth level- the vital.
2.52 In this way, that which covers the light is destroyed.
2.53 Thus the mind becomes fit for concentration.
2.54 When the mind maintains awareness, yet does not mingle with the senses, nor the senses with sense impressions, then self-awareness blossoms.
2.55 In this way comes mastery over the senses.
End Part Two
Part Three
on Divine Powers
3.1 One-pointedness is steadfastness of the mind.
3.2 Unbroken continuation of that mental ability is meditation.
3.3 That same meditation when there is only consciousness of the object of meditation and not of the mind is realization.
3.4 The three appearing together are self-control.
3.5 By mastery comes wisdom.
3.6 The application of mastery is by stages.
3.7 The three are more efficacious than the restraints.
3.8 Even that is external to the seedless realization.
3.9 The significant aspect is the union of the mind with the moment of absorption, when the outgoing thought disappears and the absorptive experience appears.
3.10 From sublimation of this union comes the peaceful flow of unbroken unitive cognition.
3.11 The contemplative transformation of this is equalmindedness, witnessing the rise and destruction of distraction as well as one-pointedness itself.
3.12 The mind becomes one-pointed when the subsiding and rising thought-waves are exactly similar.
3.13 In this state, it passes beyond the changes of inherent characteristics, properties and the conditional modifications of object or sensory recognition.
3.14 The object is that which preserves the latent characteristic, the rising characteristic or the yet-to-be-named characteristic that establishes one entity as specific.
3.15 The succession of these changes in that entity is the cause of its modification.
3.16 By self-control over these three-fold changes (of property, character and condition), knowledge of the past and the future arises.
3.17 The sound of a word, the idea behind the word, and the object the idea signfies are often taken as being one thing and may be mistaken for one another. By self-control over their distinctions, understanding of all languages of all creatures arises.
3.18 By self-control on the perception of mental impressions, knowledge of previous lives arises.
3.19 By self-control on any mark of a body, the wisdom of the mind activating that body arises.
3.20 By self-control on the form of a body, by suspending perceptibility and separating effulgence therefrom, there arises invisibility and inaudibilty.
3.21 Action is of two kinds, dormant and fruitful. By self-control on such action, one portends the time of death.
3.22 By performing self-control on friendliness, the strength to grant joy arises.
3.23 By self-control over any kind of strength, such as that of the elephant, that very strength arises.
3.24 By self-control on the primal activator comes knowledge of the hidden, the subtle, and the distant.
3.25 By self-control on the Sun comes knowledge of spatial specificities.
3.26 By self-control on the Moon comes knowledge of the heavens.
3.27 By self-control on the Polestar arises knowledge of orbits.
3.28 By self-control on the navel arises knowledge of the constitution of the body.
3.29 By self-control on the pit of the throat one subdues hunger and thirst.
3.30 By self-control on the tube within the chest one acquires absolute steadiness.
3.31 By self-control on the light in the head one envisions perfected beings.
3.32 There is knowledge of everything from intuition.
3.33 Self-control on the heart brings knowledge of the mental entity.
3.34 Experience arises due to the inability of discerning the attributes of vitality from the indweller, even though they are indeed distinct from one another. Self-control brings true knowledge of the indweller by itself.
3.35 This spontaneous enlightenment results in intuitional perception of hearing, touching, seeing and smelling.
3.36 To the outward turned mind, the sensory organs are perfections, but are obstacles to realization.
3.37 When the bonds of the mind caused by action have been loosened, one may enter the body of another by knowledge of how the nerve-currents function.
3.38 By self-control of the nerve-currents utilising the lifebreath, one may levitate, walk on water, swamps, thorns, or the like.
3.39 By self-control over the maintenance of breath, one may radiate light.
3.40 By self-control on the relation of the ear to the ether one gains distant hearing.
3.41 By self-control over the relation of the body to the ether, and maintaining at the same time the thought of the lightness of cotton, one is able to pass through space.
3.42 By self-control on the mind when it is separated from the body- the state known as the Great Transcorporeal- all coverings are removed from the Light.
3.43 Mastery over the elements arises when their gross and subtle forms,as well as their essential characteristics, and the inherent attributes and experiences they produce, is examined in self-control.
3.44 Thereby one may become as tiny as an atom as well as having many other abilities, such as perfection of the body, and non-resistence to duty.
3.45 Perfection of the body consists in beauty, grace, strength and adamantine hardness.
3.46 By self-control on the changes that the sense-organs endure when contacting objects, and on the power of the sense of identity, and of the influence of the attributes, and the experience all these produce- one masters the senses.
3.47 From that come swiftness of mind, independence of perception, and mastery over primoridal matter.
3.48 To one who recognizes the distinctive relation between vitality and indweller comes omnipotence and omniscience.
3.49 Even for the destruction of the seed of bondage by desirelessness there comes absolute independence.
3.50 When invited by invisible beings one should be neither flattered nor satisfied, for there is yet a possibility of ignorance rising up.
3.51 By self-control over single moments and their succession there is wisdom born of discrimination.
3.52 From that there is recognition of two similars when that difference cannot be distinguished by class, characteristic or position.
3.53 Intuition, which is the entire discriminative knowledge, relates to all objects at all times, and is without succession.
3.54 Liberation is attained when there is equal purity between vitality and the indweller.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps just as interesting as what stays in is what gets discarded, forgetting about chapter four for now, here are the verses from Chapter one to verse 27 of Chapter Two. Any favourites?
1.1 Now, instruction in Union.
1.2. Union is restraining the thought-streams natural to the mind.
1.3. Then the seer dwells in his own nature.
1.4. Otherwise he is of the same form as the thought-streams.
1.5. The thought-streams are five-fold, painful and not painful.
1.6. Right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fancy, sleep and memory.
1.7. Right knowledge is inference, tradition and genuine cognition.
1.8. Wrong knowledge is false, illusory, erroneous beliefs or notions.
1.9. Fancy is following after word-knowledge empty of substance.
1.10. Deep sleep is the modification of the mind which has for its substratum nothingness.
1.11. Memory is not allowing mental impressions to escape.
1.12. These thought-streams are controlled by practice and non-attachment.
1.13. Practice is the effort to secure steadiness.
1.14. This practice becomes well-grounded when continued with reverent devotion and without interruption over a long period of time.
1.15. Desirelessness towards the seen and the unseen gives the consciousness of mastery.
1.16. This is signified by an indifference to the three attributes, due to knowledge of the Indweller.
1.17. Cognitive meditation is accompanied by reasoning, discrimination, bliss and the sense of 'I am.'
1.18. There is another meditation which is attained by the practice of alert mental suspension until only subtle impressions remain.
1.19. For those beings who are formless and for those beings who are merged in unitive consciousness, the world is the cause.
1.20. For others, clarity is preceded by faith, energy, memory and equalminded contemplation.
1.21. Equalminded contemplation is nearest to those whose desire is most ardent.
1.22. There is further distinction on account of the mild, moderate or intense means employed.
1.23. Or by surrender to God.
1.24. God is a particular yet universal indweller, untouched by afflictions, actions, impressions and their results.
1.25. In God, the seed of omniscience is unsurpassed.
1.26. Not being conditioned by time, God is the teacher of even the ancients.
1.27. God's voice is Om.
1.28. The repetition of Om should be made with an understanding of its meaning.
1.29. From that is gained introspection and also the disappearance of obstacles.
1.30. Disease, inertia, doubt, lack of enthusiasm, laziness, sensuality, mind-wandering, missing the point, instability- these distractions of the mind are the obstacles.
1.31. Pain, despair, nervousness, and disordered inspiration and expiration are co-existent with these obstacles.
1.32. For the prevention of the obstacles, one truth should be practiced constantly.
1.33. By cultivating friendliness towards happiness and compassion towards misery, gladness towards virtue and indifference towards vice, the mind becomes pure.
1.34. Optionally, mental equanimity may be gained by the even expulsion and retention of energy.
1.35. Or activity of the higher senses causes mental steadiness.
1.36. Or the state of sorrowless Light.
1.37. Or the mind taking as an object of concentration those who are freed of compulsion.
1.38. Or depending on the knowledge of dreams and sleep.
1.39. Or by meditation as desired.
1.40. The mastery of one in Union extends from the finest atomic particle to the greatest infinity.
1.41. When the agitations of the mind are under control, the mind becomes like a transparent crystal and has the power of becoming whatever form is presented. knower, act of knowing, or what is known.
1.42. The argumentative condition is the confused mixing of the word, its right meaning, and knowledge.
1.43. When the memory is purified and the mind shines forth as the object alone, it is called non-argumentative.
1.44. In this way the meditative and the ultra-meditative having the subtle for their objects are also described.
1.45. The province of the subtle terminates with pure matter that has no pattern or distinguishing mark.
1.46. These constitute seeded contemplations.
1.47. On attaining the purity of the ultra-meditative state there is the pure flow of spiritual consciousness.
1.48. Therein is the faculty of supreme wisdom.
1.49. The wisdom obtained in the higher states of consciousness is different from that obtained by inference and testimony as it refers to particulars.
1.50. The habitual pattern of thought stands in the way of other impressions.
1.51. With the suppression of even that through the suspension of all modifications of the mind, contemplation without seed is attained.
End Part One.
Part Two
on Spiritual Disciplines
2.1 Austerity, the study of sacred texts, and the dedication of action to God constitute the discipline of Mystic Union.
2.2 This discipline is practised for the purpose of acquiring fixity of mind on the Lord, free from all impurities and agitations, or on One's Own Reality, and for attenuating the afflictions.
2.3 The five afflictions are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and the desire to cling to life.
2.4 Ignorance is the breeding place for all the others whether they are dormant or attenuated, partially overcome or fully operative.
2.5 Ignorance is taking the non-eternal for the eternal, the impure for the pure, evil for good and non-self as self.
2.6 Egoism is the identification of the power that knows with the instruments of knowing.
2.7 Attachment is that magnetic pattern which clusters in pleasure and pulls one towards such experience.
2.8 Aversion is the magnetic pattern which clusters in misery and pushes one from such experience.
2.9 Flowing by its own energy, established even in the wise and in the foolish, is the unending desire for life.
2.10 These patterns when subtle may be removed by developing their contraries.
2.11 Their active afflictions are to be destroyed by meditation.
2.12 The impressions of works have their roots in afflictions and arise as experience in the present and the future births.
2.13 When the root exists, its fruition is birth, life and experience.
2.14 They have pleasure or pain as their fruit, according as their cause be virtue or vice.
2.15 All is misery to the wise because of the pains of change, anxiety, and purificatory acts.
2.16 The grief which has not yet come may be avoided.
2.17 The cause of the avoidable is the superimposition of the external world onto the unseen world.
2.18 The experienced world consists of the elements and the senses in play. It is of the nature of cognition, activity and rest, and is for the purpose of experience and realization.
2.19 The stages of the attributes effecting the experienced world are the specialized and the unspecialized, the differentiated and the undifferentiated.
2.20 The indweller is pure consciousness only, which though pure, sees through the mind and is identified by ego as being only the mind.
2.21 The very existence of the seen is for the sake of the seer.
2.22 Although Creation is discerned as not real for the one who has achieved the goal, it is yet real in that Creation remains the common experience to others.
2.23 The association of the seer with Creation is for the distinct recognition of the objective world, as well as for the recognition of the distinct nature of the seer.
2.24 The cause of the association is ignorance.
2.25 Liberation of the seer is the result of the dissassociation of the seer and the seen, with the disappearance of ignorance.
2.26 The continuous practice of discrimination is the means of attaining liberation.
2.27 Steady wisdom manifests in seven stages.
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Tuesday, 6 September 2011
The Original Gita. No Surrender! ( Updated with the original Gita? )
"...there are many things in that poem (the Gita ) that my poor understanding cannot fathom. There are many things in it many things which are obvious interpolations. It is not a treasure chest. It is a mine which needs to be explored, which needs to be dug deep and from which diamonds have to be extracted after removing much foreign matter." Mohandas K. Gandhi, The Teachings of the Gita (1962)
I know I know, I keep coming back to this question of Surrender in yoga. Something just doesn't smell right, sets my old philosophers spidy sense a tingling, surrendering what, to what ( and that's without even starting on the preposition).
I could be completely wrong of course but for now I want to keep teasing it, picking away at it, testing it.
1-7 Pratyaksha anumana agamah pramanani
Right knowledge is that by which a thing is made clear to you. It is these three things: direct perception, inference and/or scriptures.
So my thinking went like this.
Surrender is currently associated with yoga but has this always been the case. Is it perhaps a modern preoccupation, an Ashtanga thing, something Jois stressed or perhaps Krishnamacharya.
No such luck, wherever I seemed to turn there was surrender, started to feel I might have been on dodgy ground.
Back it goes all the way to the Gita. The Gita..... ever thought there was something ....fishy about the Gita. Beautiful beautiful book but doesn't it also sound a little too .... familiar?
Apocrypha..... I kind of have this image of a handful of scrolls turning up. 'The Book of Thomas' perhaps, Old suspicious Tom having a chat with Jesus who then reveals himself in all his glory.
Axial Age, not surprising.
OK. So surrender goes back to the Gita but what about before then, the Yoga Upanishads, the Veda's. Sometimes it appears sometimes not which makes me think it might have something to do with the preoccupations of the translator.
By the way, Juan Mascaro, the famous early translator of the Gita was supposedly much influenced by the King James version of the bible, all that praise him praise him we come across in his version, no wonder my spidy sense was set a tingling, for example ( from his penguin classic translation )
Offer all thy works to God, throw off selfish bonds, and do thy work. No sin can then stain thee, even as waters do not stain the leaf of the lotus. (p. 28; chapter 5: 10)
And do thy duty, even if it be humble, rather than another's, even if it be great. To die in one's duty is life: to live in another's is death. (p. 20. Ch. 3: 35)
and this on surrender from his introduction
All life is action, but every little finite action should be a surrender to the Infinite, even as breathing in seems to be receiving of the gift of life, and the breathing out a surrender into the infinite Life. Every little work in life, however humble, can become an act of creation and therefore a means of salvation, because in all true creation we reconcile the finite with the Infinite, hence the joy of creation. (from the introduction)
No wonder we're so fixated on surrender in yoga, lays it on pretty thick.
...there I paused.
Until this week when I heard a BBC Radio 4 'In our Time' show on the Gita itself. I've added a link but I'm not sure you can listen to it outside the UK. The format is a discussion with three scholars on a different topic each week. Last week was on The Minoans, the week before was on the poem In Memoriam, past shows have been on the Cogito, Custer, The anatomy of melancholy.... you get the idea. Anyway, in the show, right at the end Jessica Frazier who\s now my alma mata mentioned that the idea of Yoga had changed in different periods, at the time of the vedas, the Upanishads and ....the Gita.
So I'm not necessarily in denial or intricate avoidance it seems.... well I might be but there's a genuine discourse, a debate, spidy sense feels a little justified.
This weekend I've been doing a little research, came across the Anugita, did you know, there's a second Gita, comes at the end of the Mahabharata.
I also came across reference to a book The Gita as It Was: Rediscovering the Original Bhagavadgita Book by Phulgenda Sinha; 1987. It's out of print but there are still used copies floating around Amazon, I have one on the way. ( turns out it's available on scribd HERE, Thanks Maya).
There's a discussion of it over at Indiadivine
'... According to Sinha the Gita is based upon the Karika of Kapila. On page 130, Phulgenda writes:
"The total number of versus of the original Gita is 84. The original begins with verse number 28 of the Bhagavadgita and ends with verse 43 in Chapter III. Thus, the content of the original Gita is found within the first three chapters of the extant Bhagavadgita. The remaining fifteen chapters (from Ch. IV to XVIII), containing 538 versus, have been interpolated.
...There are 162 verses in the first three chapters of the Bhagavadgita, of which 78 verses are additions and only 84 are original.
... Sinha lists the sequence as: Chapter I, 28-34, 37, 40, 46, and 47. Chapter II, 3, 11-31, 34-36, 39-41, 48, 50, 53, 56-58, 60, and 64-70. Sinha says: "Verse 39 explains the difference between Samkhya and Yoga. Upon hearing the inspiring reply of Krishna, Arjuna raises the question in two verses (Ch. III, 1-2) about the superiority of knowledge or action. In answering Arjuna's question, Krishna explains the paramount importance of action in life and the means of performing one's dut, acheiving social justice, and setting an honorable precedent. the teaching of Krishna is based on Samkhya and Yoga and takes up 31 verses of Ch. III, 3-9, 16-21, 23-29, 32-35, 38-40, and 42-43".'
Here's a clearer layout in case you want to read for yourself, the Gita..... as it was.
Ch. I 28-34,37,40, 46-47.
Ch. II 3, 11-31, 34-36, 39-41, 48, 50, 53, 56-58, 60, 64-70.
Ch. III 1-9, 16-21, 23-29, 32-35, 38-40, 42-43.
Now what I find particularly interesting is that when you read the Gita in this way it seems to fit much more clearly with Ramaswami's alternative derivation of yoga as coming from yuja....
'... yoga can also be derived from the root yuja and mean samadhi or samadhana, "to put in place perfectly".... Thus yoga by this definition, would mean putting all mental energies in place, or harnessing mental energies without any dissipation. This definition is different from the earlier derivation of the word yoga from the root yujir, meaning "unity" (yujir yoga).
Based on this interpretation the yoga of Patanjali is a system of practices that lead to the total harnessing of mental energy without any dissipation whatsoever (nirodha "completely contained") One can note that it is not unity with a higher principle that is aimed for in this form of yoga, but rather the removal of all the distractions of the mind.... One system talks of unity the other of freedom'
Yoga for the Three stages of Life. Chapter III, What is yoga. p34-35 Srivatsa Ramaswami
Which was one of the reasons I went to study with him in the first place ( See this post ).
I should point out here that I have no idea of Ramaswami's thoughts on this, for all I know he's happy with the Gita as it is now rather than as it supposedly was and of course the academics are having a field day asserting and disputing the validity of what is or isn't the original Gita anyway.
And surrender has been wrapped up with yoga for a thousand years or more, so you can go along with that. My point though is that perhaps it doesn't necessarily have to be, Yoga got along quite nicely thank you very much without the concept of surrender, just as I seem to be.
Oh and it seems there's an original Yoga Sutras too, all that about Ishvara, 100 slokas or so.... yep you guessed it, they added that too.......perhaps.
NB trying to make up a version of how the Gita would read in this 'format' hope to post it tomorrow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE
So here it is, the supposed original Bhagavad Gita
Ch. I 28-34,37,40, 46-47.
Ch. II 3, 11-31, 34-36, 39-41, 48, 50, 53, 56-58, 60, 64-70.
Ch. III 1-9, 16-21, 23-29, 32-35, 38-40, 42-43.
I know I know, I keep coming back to this question of Surrender in yoga. Something just doesn't smell right, sets my old philosophers spidy sense a tingling, surrendering what, to what ( and that's without even starting on the preposition).
I could be completely wrong of course but for now I want to keep teasing it, picking away at it, testing it.
1-7 Pratyaksha anumana agamah pramanani
Right knowledge is that by which a thing is made clear to you. It is these three things: direct perception, inference and/or scriptures.
So my thinking went like this.
Surrender is currently associated with yoga but has this always been the case. Is it perhaps a modern preoccupation, an Ashtanga thing, something Jois stressed or perhaps Krishnamacharya.
No such luck, wherever I seemed to turn there was surrender, started to feel I might have been on dodgy ground.
Back it goes all the way to the Gita. The Gita..... ever thought there was something ....fishy about the Gita. Beautiful beautiful book but doesn't it also sound a little too .... familiar?
Apocrypha..... I kind of have this image of a handful of scrolls turning up. 'The Book of Thomas' perhaps, Old suspicious Tom having a chat with Jesus who then reveals himself in all his glory.
Axial Age, not surprising.
OK. So surrender goes back to the Gita but what about before then, the Yoga Upanishads, the Veda's. Sometimes it appears sometimes not which makes me think it might have something to do with the preoccupations of the translator.
By the way, Juan Mascaro, the famous early translator of the Gita was supposedly much influenced by the King James version of the bible, all that praise him praise him we come across in his version, no wonder my spidy sense was set a tingling, for example ( from his penguin classic translation )
Offer all thy works to God, throw off selfish bonds, and do thy work. No sin can then stain thee, even as waters do not stain the leaf of the lotus. (p. 28; chapter 5: 10)
And do thy duty, even if it be humble, rather than another's, even if it be great. To die in one's duty is life: to live in another's is death. (p. 20. Ch. 3: 35)
and this on surrender from his introduction
All life is action, but every little finite action should be a surrender to the Infinite, even as breathing in seems to be receiving of the gift of life, and the breathing out a surrender into the infinite Life. Every little work in life, however humble, can become an act of creation and therefore a means of salvation, because in all true creation we reconcile the finite with the Infinite, hence the joy of creation. (from the introduction)
No wonder we're so fixated on surrender in yoga, lays it on pretty thick.
...there I paused.
Until this week when I heard a BBC Radio 4 'In our Time' show on the Gita itself. I've added a link but I'm not sure you can listen to it outside the UK. The format is a discussion with three scholars on a different topic each week. Last week was on The Minoans, the week before was on the poem In Memoriam, past shows have been on the Cogito, Custer, The anatomy of melancholy.... you get the idea. Anyway, in the show, right at the end Jessica Frazier who\s now my alma mata mentioned that the idea of Yoga had changed in different periods, at the time of the vedas, the Upanishads and ....the Gita.
So I'm not necessarily in denial or intricate avoidance it seems.... well I might be but there's a genuine discourse, a debate, spidy sense feels a little justified.
This weekend I've been doing a little research, came across the Anugita, did you know, there's a second Gita, comes at the end of the Mahabharata.
I also came across reference to a book The Gita as It Was: Rediscovering the Original Bhagavadgita Book by Phulgenda Sinha; 1987. It's out of print but there are still used copies floating around Amazon, I have one on the way. ( turns out it's available on scribd HERE, Thanks Maya).
There's a discussion of it over at Indiadivine
'... According to Sinha the Gita is based upon the Karika of Kapila. On page 130, Phulgenda writes:
"The total number of versus of the original Gita is 84. The original begins with verse number 28 of the Bhagavadgita and ends with verse 43 in Chapter III. Thus, the content of the original Gita is found within the first three chapters of the extant Bhagavadgita. The remaining fifteen chapters (from Ch. IV to XVIII), containing 538 versus, have been interpolated.
...There are 162 verses in the first three chapters of the Bhagavadgita, of which 78 verses are additions and only 84 are original.
... Sinha lists the sequence as: Chapter I, 28-34, 37, 40, 46, and 47. Chapter II, 3, 11-31, 34-36, 39-41, 48, 50, 53, 56-58, 60, and 64-70. Sinha says: "Verse 39 explains the difference between Samkhya and Yoga. Upon hearing the inspiring reply of Krishna, Arjuna raises the question in two verses (Ch. III, 1-2) about the superiority of knowledge or action. In answering Arjuna's question, Krishna explains the paramount importance of action in life and the means of performing one's dut, acheiving social justice, and setting an honorable precedent. the teaching of Krishna is based on Samkhya and Yoga and takes up 31 verses of Ch. III, 3-9, 16-21, 23-29, 32-35, 38-40, and 42-43".'
Here's a clearer layout in case you want to read for yourself, the Gita..... as it was.
Ch. I 28-34,37,40, 46-47.
Ch. II 3, 11-31, 34-36, 39-41, 48, 50, 53, 56-58, 60, 64-70.
Ch. III 1-9, 16-21, 23-29, 32-35, 38-40, 42-43.
Now what I find particularly interesting is that when you read the Gita in this way it seems to fit much more clearly with Ramaswami's alternative derivation of yoga as coming from yuja....
'... yoga can also be derived from the root yuja and mean samadhi or samadhana, "to put in place perfectly".... Thus yoga by this definition, would mean putting all mental energies in place, or harnessing mental energies without any dissipation. This definition is different from the earlier derivation of the word yoga from the root yujir, meaning "unity" (yujir yoga).
Based on this interpretation the yoga of Patanjali is a system of practices that lead to the total harnessing of mental energy without any dissipation whatsoever (nirodha "completely contained") One can note that it is not unity with a higher principle that is aimed for in this form of yoga, but rather the removal of all the distractions of the mind.... One system talks of unity the other of freedom'
Yoga for the Three stages of Life. Chapter III, What is yoga. p34-35 Srivatsa Ramaswami
Which was one of the reasons I went to study with him in the first place ( See this post ).
I should point out here that I have no idea of Ramaswami's thoughts on this, for all I know he's happy with the Gita as it is now rather than as it supposedly was and of course the academics are having a field day asserting and disputing the validity of what is or isn't the original Gita anyway.
And surrender has been wrapped up with yoga for a thousand years or more, so you can go along with that. My point though is that perhaps it doesn't necessarily have to be, Yoga got along quite nicely thank you very much without the concept of surrender, just as I seem to be.
Oh and it seems there's an original Yoga Sutras too, all that about Ishvara, 100 slokas or so.... yep you guessed it, they added that too.......perhaps.
NB trying to make up a version of how the Gita would read in this 'format' hope to post it tomorrow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE
So here it is, the supposed original Bhagavad Gita
Ch. I 28-34,37,40, 46-47.
Ch. II 3, 11-31, 34-36, 39-41, 48, 50, 53, 56-58, 60, 64-70.
Ch. III 1-9, 16-21, 23-29, 32-35, 38-40, 42-43.
Bhagavad gita, as it was?
Sinha's verses outlined above taken from the online edition HERE ( but remember this is not Sinha's own translation, still waiting for his book to arrive, this should give us a general idea however).Chapter 1
28.
Arjuna was overcome with great compassion
And sorrowfully said:
O Krishna, seeing my kinsmen standing
With a desire to fight,
29.
My limbs fail and my mouth becomes dry.
My body quivers
And my hairs stand on end.
30.
The bow, Gaandeeva, slips from my hand
And my skin intensely burns.
My head turns,
I am unable to stand steady
31.
And, O Krishna,
I see bad omens.
I see no use of killing my kinsmen in battle.
32
I desire neither victory
Nor pleasure nor kingdom,
O Krishna.
What is the use of the kingdom,
Or enjoyment, or even life, O Krishna?
33
Because all those, for whom we desire kingdom,
Enjoyments, and pleasures,
Are standing here for the battle,
Giving up their lives and wealth.
34
Teachers, uncles, sons, grandfathers,
Maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons,
Brothers-in-law, and other relatives.
37.
Therefore, we should not kill our brothers,
The sons of Dhritaraashtra.
How can we be happy
After killing our kinsmen, O Krishna?
40.
With the destruction of the family,
The eternal family traditions are destroyed,
And immorality prevails
Due to the destruction of family traditions.
46.
It would be far better for me
If the sons of Dhritaraashtra should kill me
With their weapons in battle
While I am unarmed and unresisting.
47.
Sanjaya said:
Having said this in the battle field
And casting aside his bow and arrow,
Arjuna sat down on the seat of the chariot
with his mind overwhelmed with sorrow.
Chapter II
3.
Do not become a coward, O Arjuna,
Because it does not befit you.
Shake off this weakness of your heart
And get up (for the battle), O Arjuna.
11.
Krishna said:
You grieve for those who are not worthy of grief,
And yet speak the words of wisdom.
The wise grieve neither
For the living nor for the dead.
12.
There was never a time when I, you,
Or these kings did not exist;
Nor shall we ever cease to exist in the future.
13.
Just as the Atma acquires a childhood body,
A youth body, and an old age body during this life,
Similarly Atma acquires another body after death.
The wise are not deluded by this.
14.
The contacts of the senses with the sense objects
Give rise to the feelings of heat and cold,
And pain and pleasure.
They are transitory and impermanent.
Therefore, endure them, O Arjuna.
15.
Because the calm person,
Who is not afflicted by these feelings
And is steady in pain and pleasure,
Becomes fit for immortality, O Arjuna.
16.
There is no nonexistence of the Sat
And no existence of the Asat.
The reality of these two
Is indeed certainly seen by the seers of truth.
17.
Know That, by which all this is pervaded,
To be indestructible.
No one can destroy the indestructible.
18.
Bodies of the eternal, imperishable,
And incomprehensible soul
Are said to be perishable.
Therefore, fight, O Arjuna.
19.
The one who thinks that Atma is a slayer,
And the one who thinks that Atma is slain,
Both are ignorant,
Because Atma neither slays nor is slain.
20.
The Atma is neither born
Nor does it die at any time,
nor having been it will cease to exist again.
I
t is unborn, eternal, permanent, and primeval.
The Atma is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.
21.
O Arjuna, how can a person
Who knows that the Atma is indestructible, eternal,
Unborn, and imperishable,
kill anyone or cause anyone to be killed?
22.
Just as a person puts on new garments
After discarding the old ones,
Similarly Atma acquires new bodies
After casting away the old bodies.
23.
Weapons do not cut this Atma,
Fire does not burn it,
Water does not make it wet,
And the wind does not make it dry.
24.
This Atma cannot be cut, burned, wetted, or dried up.
It is eternal, all pervading,
Unchanging, immovable, and primeval.
25.
The Atma is said to be unmanifest,
Unthinkable, and unchanging.
Knowing this Atma as such you should not grieve.
26.
If you think that this (body) takes birth
And dies perpetually, even then, O Arjuna,
You should not grieve like this.
27.
Because, death is certain for the one who is born,
And birth is certain for the one who dies.
Therefore, you should not lament over the inevitable.
28.
All beings, O Arjuna, are unmanifest
Before birth and after death.
They are manifest between birth and death only.
What is there to grieve about?
29.
Some look upon this Atma as a wonder,
Another describes it as wonderful,
And others hear of it as a wonder.
Even after hearing about it no one actually knows it.
30
O Arjuna, the Atma that dwells in the body of all (beings)
Is eternally indestructible.
Therefore, you should not mourn for any body.
31.
Considering also your duty as a warrior
You should not waver.
Because there is nothing more auspicious
For a warrior than a righteous war.
34.
People will talk about your disgrace forever.
To the honored, dishonor is worse than death.
35.
The great warriors will think
That you have retreated from the battle out of fear.
Those who have greatly esteemed you
Will lose respect for you.
36.
Your enemies will speak many unmentionable words
And scorn your ability.
What could be more painful than this?
39.
The wisdom of Saamkhya
Has been imparted to you, O Arjuna.
Now listen to the wisdom of Karma-yoga
Endowed with which you will free yourself
From the bondage of Karma.
40.
In Karma-yoga no effort is ever lost,
And there is no harm.
Even a little practice of this discipline
Protects one from great fear.
41.
Those who are resolute
Have only one thought (of Self-realization),
But the thoughts of the irresolute
Are endless and many-branched, O Arjuna.
48
Do your duty to the best of your ability, O Arjuna,
With your mind attached to the Lord,
Abandoning (worry and) attachment to the results,
And remaining calm in both success and failure.
The equanimity of mind is called Karma-yoga.
50
A Karma-yogi gets freedom
From both vice and virtue in this life itself.
Therefore, strive for Karma-yoga.
Working to the best of one's abilities
Without getting attached to the fruits of work
Is called (Nishkaama) Karma-yoga.
53.
When your intellect,
That is confused by the conflicting opinions
And the ritualistic doctrine of the Vedas,
Shall stay steady and firm with the Self,
Then you shall attain Self-realization.
56.
A person whose mind is unperturbed by sorrow,
Who does not crave pleasures, and who is free
From attachment, fear, and anger;
Such a person is called a sage of steady Prajna.
57.
Those who are not attached to anything,
Who are neither elated by getting desired results
Nor troubled by undesired results,
Their Prajna is deemed steady.
58.
When one can completely withdraw
The senses from the sense objects
As a tortoise withdraws its limbs,
Then the Prajna of such a person
Is considered steady.
60.
Restless senses, O Arjuna,
Forcibly carry away the mind
Of even a wise person
Striving for perfection.
64.
A disciplined person, enjoying sense objects
With senses that are under control
And free from likes and dislikes,
Attains tranquillity.
65.
All sorrows are destroyed
Upon attainment of tranquillity.
The intellect of such a tranquil person
Soon becomes completely steady.
66.
There is neither Self-knowledge nor Self-perception
To those whose senses are not under control.
Without Self-perception there is no peace;
And without peace there can be no happiness.
67.
The mind, when controlled by the roving senses,
Steals away the Prajna as a storm takes away a boat
On the sea from its destination, the spiritual shore.
68.
Therefore, O Arjuna,
One's Prajna becomes steady
Whose senses are completely withdrawn
From the sense objects.
69.
A yogi is aware of the thing (or Atma)
About which others are unaware.
A sage who sees is unaware
Of the experience (of sense objects)
About which others are aware.
70.
One attains peace in whose mind
All desires enter without creating any disturbance,
As river waters enter the full ocean
Without creating a disturbance.
One who desires material objects is never peaceful.
Chapter III
1.
Arjuna said:
If You consider that transcendental knowledge
is better than work
Then why do You want me to engage
in this horrible war, O Krishna?
2.
You seem to confuse my mind by apparently conflicting words.
Tell me, decisively, one thing by which I may attain the Supreme.
3.
Krishna said:
In this world, O Arjuna, a twofold path of Sadhana has been stated by Me in the past.
The path of Self-knowledge (Jnana-yoga) for the contemplative,
And the path of unselfish work (Karma-yoga) for the active.
4.
One does not attain freedom from the bondage of Karma
by merely abstaining from work.
No one attains perfection by merely giving up work.
5.
Because no one can remain actionless even for a moment.
Everyone is driven to action, helplessly indeed,
by the Gunas of nature.
6.
The deluded ones, who restrain their organs of action
but mentally dwell upon the sense enjoyment,
are called hypocrites.
7.
The one who controls the senses by the mind and intellect,
and engages the organs of action to Nishkaama Karma-yoga,
is superior, O Arjuna.
8.
Perform your obligatory duty,
because action is indeed better than inaction.
Even the maintenance of your body
would not be possible by inaction.
9.
Human beings are bound by Karma
other than those done as Yajna (sacrifice).
Therefore, O Arjuna, do your duty efficiently
as a service or Seva to Me,
free from attachment to the fruits of work.
16.
The one who does not help to keep the wheel of creation
in motion by sacrificial duty, and who rejoices in sense pleasures,
that sinful person lives in vain, O Arjuna.
17.
The one who rejoices in the Self only,
who is satisfied with the Self,
who is content in the Self alone,
for such a (Self-realized) person there is no duty.
18.
Such a person has no interest, whatsoever,
in what is done or what is not done.
A Self-realized person does not depend on anybody for anything.
19.
Therefore, always perform your duty efficiently
and without attachment to the results,
because by doing work without attachment one attains the Supreme.
20.
King Janaka and others attained perfection
by Karma-yoga alone.
You should perform your duty with a view to guide people
and for the universal welfare (of the society).
21.
Because, whatever noble persons do, others follow.
Whatever standard they set up, the world follows.
23.
Because, if I do not engage in action relentlessly,
O Arjuna, people would follow My path in every way.
24.
These worlds would perish if I do not work,
and I shall be the cause of confusion and
destruction of all these people.
25.
As the ignorant work, O Arjuna,
with attachment (to the fruits of work),
so the wise should work without attachment,
for the welfare of the society.
26.
The wise should not unsettle the mind of the ignorant
who is attached to the fruits of work,
but the enlightened one should inspire others
by performing all works efficiently without attachment.
27.
All works are being done by the Gunas of nature,
but due to delusion of ego
people assume themselves to be the doer.
28.
The one who knows the truth, O Arjuna,
about the role of Guna and action
does not get attached to the work,
knowing that it is the Gunas that work
with their instruments, the organs.
29.
Those who are deluded by the Gunas of nature
get attached to the works of the Gunas.
The wise should not disturb the mind of the ignorant
whose knowledge is imperfect.
32.
But, those who carp at My teaching and do not practice it,
consider them as ignorant of all knowledge, senseless, and lost.
33.
All beings follow their nature.
Even the wise act according to their own nature.
What, then, is the value of sense restraint?
34.
Raga and Dvesha (or the attachments and aversions)
for the sense objects remain in the senses.
One should not come under the control of these two,
because they are two stumbling blocks, indeed,
on one's path of Self-realization.
35.
One's inferior natural work is better
than superior unnatural work.
Death in carrying out one's natural work is useful.
Unnatural work produces too much stress.
38.
Kama, the passionate desire
for all sensual and material pleasures,
becomes anger if it is unfulfilled. As the fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, and as an embryo by the amnion,
similarly the Self-knowledge gets obscured by Kama.
39.
O Arjuna, Jnana gets covered by this insatiable fire of Kaama,
the eternal enemy of Jnani.
40.
The senses, the mind, and the intellect
are said to be the seat of Kaama.
Kama, with the help of the senses,
deludes a person by veiling Jnana.
42.
The senses are said to be superior,
the mind is superior to the senses,
the intellect is superior to the mind,
and Atma is superior to the intellect.
43.
Thus, knowing the Atma to be superior to the intellect,
and controlling the mind by the intellect,
one must kill this mighty enemy, Kama, O Arjuna.
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Summer Solstice : 108 dropbacks. UPDATE: Morning after
See this post from last Friday for context When a Blog post comes back to bite you Iyengar 108 dropbacks challenge
from today's comments
Q: Were you generally satisfied with them?
A: I think I feel glad to get the 108 out of the way, to know it could be done now it's more a question of can it be done well ( by me). All these thing, tricky poses, long holds, 108 sury's or drop backs , every time you nail them you see a little more clearly that it's not what it's all about. We know this of course but need a reminder every now and again.
That said, there's nothing wrong with having some fun and giving yourself a little extra motivation and besides, the Will, like the body, needs exercising too.
Like you I want to work on the breath more, I think I was happy with a couple of sets of ten got a nice rhythm then lost it, fifteen to twenty is a nice number to play with, perhaps thirty-six. I do want to keep exploring this for a while and yes let's still do it for our birthdays as an incentive. After then I think I'd rather save it for a holy day or somebody elses birthday, certainly not Thursdays. I did 108 sury's when SKPJ died, kind of feel that things like this should be saved for such occasions, perhaps when you need to ask a boon, tapas, no?
Still can't get over Iyengar's feet how close together, straight and solid they were, 108 like that would be something to celebrate.
Q: Do your knees or ankles ever hurt from having them turned out for so many dropbacks?
A: No feet don't hurt, back feels fine too though a slight crick in the neck. When I started this experiment, what Friday, I was keeping my feet straight, lifting my heels, been using that approach for the last few months, I like it a lot better. Trouble was after twenty or thirty your thighs are like jelly, switched back to having my feet turned out and much easier for large sets, right at the end of this though my legs were quaking a bit. Want those straight, flat, rooted feet of Iyengar
UPDATE : Morning after
Was expecting the worst, a lot of stiffness perhaps but as it happens I'm feeling pretty good. No stiffness in the back, the little crick in the neck has gone and legs don't feel like jelly. Stomach muscles are... not sore exactly but feel as if I've done some serious crunches, a Pilates work-out from those crazy twins perhaps.
Practice this morning was supposed to be built around the Asymmetric series but I ended up doing the seated sequence again for all the forward bends; long paschimottanasana and it's variations interspersed with Tatakamudra ( see this post ). I did the paschi/tatkamudra combo yesterday as a counterpose, perhaps it helped to iron out the dropbacks.
What else, a couple of goes at taking the lotus back up higher in Karandavasana and a look at jumping to Urdhava kukkutasana (post to come on that) then long stays in the inversions and on to pranayama etc.
A nice morning after practice.
from today's comments
Q: Were you generally satisfied with them?
A: I think I feel glad to get the 108 out of the way, to know it could be done now it's more a question of can it be done well ( by me). All these thing, tricky poses, long holds, 108 sury's or drop backs , every time you nail them you see a little more clearly that it's not what it's all about. We know this of course but need a reminder every now and again.
That said, there's nothing wrong with having some fun and giving yourself a little extra motivation and besides, the Will, like the body, needs exercising too.
Like you I want to work on the breath more, I think I was happy with a couple of sets of ten got a nice rhythm then lost it, fifteen to twenty is a nice number to play with, perhaps thirty-six. I do want to keep exploring this for a while and yes let's still do it for our birthdays as an incentive. After then I think I'd rather save it for a holy day or somebody elses birthday, certainly not Thursdays. I did 108 sury's when SKPJ died, kind of feel that things like this should be saved for such occasions, perhaps when you need to ask a boon, tapas, no?
Still can't get over Iyengar's feet how close together, straight and solid they were, 108 like that would be something to celebrate.
Q: Do your knees or ankles ever hurt from having them turned out for so many dropbacks?
A: No feet don't hurt, back feels fine too though a slight crick in the neck. When I started this experiment, what Friday, I was keeping my feet straight, lifting my heels, been using that approach for the last few months, I like it a lot better. Trouble was after twenty or thirty your thighs are like jelly, switched back to having my feet turned out and much easier for large sets, right at the end of this though my legs were quaking a bit. Want those straight, flat, rooted feet of Iyengar
UPDATE : Morning after
Was expecting the worst, a lot of stiffness perhaps but as it happens I'm feeling pretty good. No stiffness in the back, the little crick in the neck has gone and legs don't feel like jelly. Stomach muscles are... not sore exactly but feel as if I've done some serious crunches, a Pilates work-out from those crazy twins perhaps.
Practice this morning was supposed to be built around the Asymmetric series but I ended up doing the seated sequence again for all the forward bends; long paschimottanasana and it's variations interspersed with Tatakamudra ( see this post ). I did the paschi/tatkamudra combo yesterday as a counterpose, perhaps it helped to iron out the dropbacks.
What else, a couple of goes at taking the lotus back up higher in Karandavasana and a look at jumping to Urdhava kukkutasana (post to come on that) then long stays in the inversions and on to pranayama etc.
A nice morning after practice.
Saturday, 18 June 2011
When a blog post comes back to bite you : 108 Dropback challenge
And of all the post to come back and bite you.....
So this goes back to a string on comments on this post about Iyengar. I'd come across the wonderful video below on youtube, forty-two seconds in Iyengar starts popping out these dropbacks one after another and in comments to the post we found out that he did 108 and that this wasn't so unusual in Iyengar circles, a birthday treat as it were.
Struck by the rhythm and working on my dropbacks at the time I decided to launch the '1 week Iyengar 108 dropback challenge'. Here's the first post. Funny enough I can't for the life of me remember what happened to that, lets have a look. Here it is, Day 7 OK so I got up to twenty, think I carried on doing multiple dropbacks for a little while but then changed my approach. Now I tend to do five to seven.
So anyway, why am I bringing this back up? A comment turned up out of the blue this morning...
Grim
To go back to Iyengar challenge.
I did finally learn to standup from dropbacks this time last year.
Anyway, last few days at shala I've been doing 15-20 on the breath. Today I did 30 which just felt awesome.
108 for our birthdays right? I'm in!!
AC
I checked when her birthday was, mine being quite soon on the 24th of next month...
Grim,
Mine's some 6 wks today.
This morning I just trotted out some 50 dropbacks, so although 108 is for b'day if it comes quicker then I'm going for it!
When it's done on the breath it's such a joy and there's 'ease' to it.
108 WE MUST DO IT!!
AC
And so I said why not...
Grim
Great, I have a partner in 'crime'!
I started doing more than x3 dropbacks in order to rid myself of my hand waving habit on standing up and its seems to be working.
Mon it was 13 dropbacks, Tue. 15, Wed. 21, Thu. 30 and today 50. Sat. I rest from dropbacks but on Sun. I'll probably start the fun again.
Let the fun begin.
AC
Fun?
Got home this evening at 6pm, quick Vinyasa Krama Bow sequence as a warm up and then off I went. The video below is speeded up, I count 52 ( I thought I'd managed 54) in three lots. I took a breather after twenty of so to see how I was doing it as I wasn't sure about the rhythm and then another for a couple of minutes after another twenty to remind myself how Iyengar was doing them.
It's hard work, legs ache and the breath is tricky to keep steady but then if you look at Iyengar he's not really moving his feet at all and ....well... he's Iyengar isn't he.
I started off with my current way of dropping back, raising the heels then went back to trying my old feet turned out, still hard work.
As it happens my back feels perfectly fine, no stiffness, I did a couple of counter postures, long paschi, see how it feels in the morning. A bit of work on this to get my leg strength back and it should be possible..... shouldn't it?
Now is it silly, pointless or is there something to be gained from this. The rhythm Iyengar achieves is interesting, the steadiness of breath and perhaps that action is stimulating for the spine, we'll see.
My birthday is in five and a half weeks, A's in six.
Morning after Update
Back's a little stiff but nothing to write home about, thighs really ache though, need to reintroduce some of those squats from the Vinyasa Krama 'On one leg sequence', have been saying for a while that strong legs help your dropbacks.
So this goes back to a string on comments on this post about Iyengar. I'd come across the wonderful video below on youtube, forty-two seconds in Iyengar starts popping out these dropbacks one after another and in comments to the post we found out that he did 108 and that this wasn't so unusual in Iyengar circles, a birthday treat as it were.
Struck by the rhythm and working on my dropbacks at the time I decided to launch the '1 week Iyengar 108 dropback challenge'. Here's the first post. Funny enough I can't for the life of me remember what happened to that, lets have a look. Here it is, Day 7 OK so I got up to twenty, think I carried on doing multiple dropbacks for a little while but then changed my approach. Now I tend to do five to seven.
So anyway, why am I bringing this back up? A comment turned up out of the blue this morning...
Grim
To go back to Iyengar challenge.
I did finally learn to standup from dropbacks this time last year.
Anyway, last few days at shala I've been doing 15-20 on the breath. Today I did 30 which just felt awesome.
108 for our birthdays right? I'm in!!
AC
I checked when her birthday was, mine being quite soon on the 24th of next month...
Grim,
Mine's some 6 wks today.
This morning I just trotted out some 50 dropbacks, so although 108 is for b'day if it comes quicker then I'm going for it!
When it's done on the breath it's such a joy and there's 'ease' to it.
108 WE MUST DO IT!!
AC
And so I said why not...
Grim
Great, I have a partner in 'crime'!
I started doing more than x3 dropbacks in order to rid myself of my hand waving habit on standing up and its seems to be working.
Mon it was 13 dropbacks, Tue. 15, Wed. 21, Thu. 30 and today 50. Sat. I rest from dropbacks but on Sun. I'll probably start the fun again.
Let the fun begin.
AC
Fun?
Got home this evening at 6pm, quick Vinyasa Krama Bow sequence as a warm up and then off I went. The video below is speeded up, I count 52 ( I thought I'd managed 54) in three lots. I took a breather after twenty of so to see how I was doing it as I wasn't sure about the rhythm and then another for a couple of minutes after another twenty to remind myself how Iyengar was doing them.
It's hard work, legs ache and the breath is tricky to keep steady but then if you look at Iyengar he's not really moving his feet at all and ....well... he's Iyengar isn't he.
I started off with my current way of dropping back, raising the heels then went back to trying my old feet turned out, still hard work.
As it happens my back feels perfectly fine, no stiffness, I did a couple of counter postures, long paschi, see how it feels in the morning. A bit of work on this to get my leg strength back and it should be possible..... shouldn't it?
Now is it silly, pointless or is there something to be gained from this. The rhythm Iyengar achieves is interesting, the steadiness of breath and perhaps that action is stimulating for the spine, we'll see.
My birthday is in five and a half weeks, A's in six.
Morning after Update
Back's a little stiff but nothing to write home about, thighs really ache though, need to reintroduce some of those squats from the Vinyasa Krama 'On one leg sequence', have been saying for a while that strong legs help your dropbacks.
Friday, 22 April 2011
Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda .....at last.

The Yoga Makaranda was Krishnamacharya's first book, it was written in 1932, supposedly over four days and published in the Kanada language in 1934 and later translated into Tamil. It was clearly a major influence on Krishanamacharya's student Sri K Patarbhi Jois's own book Yoga Mala and of the Ashtanga practice we know and love, as well as many of the current popular styles of Yoga.
Last Summer I was fortunate enough to study the text, line-by-line with Ramaswami, Krishnamacharya's student of over thirty years, on his 200 hour Vinyasa Krama TT course.
This book may well be considered the source, the holy grail and thanks to the generosity of Lakshmi & Nandini Ranganathan the text has now been made freely available such that we can decide for ourselves, enjoy.
'...I ask that you do not sell it but you are welcome to put it on a website for anybody to download, to email further, or to lend your manuscript to be copied by anybody. It does have typos (remember, we did this in 2006 and planned to do a final revision or new edition later) but I think it is actually otherwise reasonable (we would welcome corrections and comments). Most importantly, it will accomplish our goal that people read what Krishnamacarya had to say without interruption and without censorship. The book is powerful and wonderful and I hope any of you that reads it finds it as meaningful and relevant as we did.'
Nandini (Ranganathan).
Another version of the text has just been published by Media Garuda, I ordered a copy, which arrived this week, before I was aware of a dispute regarding their edition. The background to this dispute can be found HERE, I leave you to make up your own minds about it.
The Media Garudu edition is, it has to be said, a nicely produced book. The pictures are beautiful and it has a nice layout. At the back are a series of line drawings showing the vinyasas in and out of the postures as outlined in the text. It also has footnotes. My first impression of these were that they often seemed to seek to bring the 1930's text in line with a more recent conception of Yoga possibly held by the publishers that did not seem necessarily in keeping with the original text, but perhaps I'm being unfair.
In the next few days I'll be doing a parallel reading of the texts to see how they compare and get back to you.
