Love Laughter Inspiration Simplicity
R. Sharath Jois
"You should not be practicing to have a 'good' practice, but instead to keep steadiness within yourself. Practice happily regardless of whether it is 'good' or not. Sometimes some postures will not be possible, but when you accept the good and the bad and everything becomes equal for you, that is yoga."
- R. Sharath Jois
Burnt To Ash
"All Inquiry is meant for one purpose; to take you experientially into the unknown as efficiently as possible. Once you get there, simply be still because inquiry has delivered you to its destination. The rest is up to Grace. Do not hold onto any knowledge that comes your way. Even the greatest revelations much not be clung to, or you will end up with a head full of memories and a heart empty of substance. The truth is ever new, existing only in the now. The highest truth is beyond knowledge and experience. It is beyond time and space, and beyond beingness, consciousness, and oneness. Just remember that all direct path techniques are meant simply to undermine, to cut away, the one who is performing them. No matter what spiritual path you've walked or what teachings you've followed, they must lead you back to no path and no teaching. A true teaching is like a blazing fire that consumes the itself. The teaching must not only consume you, but consume itself as well. All must be burned to ash, and then the ash must be burned. The, and only then, is the Ultimate realized. True Enlightenment destroys enlightenment. As long as you can refer back to yourself and say, 'I'm enlightened', you not. Enlightenment is authentic only when there is no one left to be enlightened. Even to say 'I am nobody', is one too many. There's a point when you intuitively realize that to be Free you have to give up your attachment to Freedom. You have to quit asking yourself: Is it still there? Am I okay? You have to decide to never look over your shoulder again to see if you're free or if others know you're free. You just have to let yourself burn there - no matter what. This isn't something I can help you with. I can tell you what you need to do, but you have to do it. In the beginning, teachers can help a lot. But the deeper you go, all they can do is point, and clarify, and tell you what you need to do. Only you can take this step. Nobody can push you in to this place."
- Adyashanti
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About
"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could."
- Louise Erdrich
Hamsa
No Expectations
A spirit that lives in this world
and does not wear the shirt of love,
such an existence is a deep disgrace.
Be foolishly in love,
because love is all there is.
There is no way into presence
except through a love exchange.
If someone asks, But what is love?
answer, Dissolving the will.
True freedom comes to those
who have escaped the questions
of freewill and fate.
Love is an emperor.
The two worlds play across him.
He barely notices their tumbling game.
Love and lover live in eternity.
Other desires are substitutes
for that way of being.
How long do you lay embracing a corpse?
Love rather the soul, which cannot be held.
Anything born in spring dies in the fall,
but love is not seasonal.
With wine pressed from grapes,
expect a hangover.
But this love path has no expectations.
You are uneasy riding the body?
Dismount. Travel lighter.
Wings will be given.
Be clear like a mirror
reflecting nothing.
Be clean of pictures and the worry
that comes with images.
Gaze into what is not ashamed
or afraid of any truth.
Contain all human faces in your own
without any judgement of them.
Be pure emptiness.
What is inside that? you ask.
Silence is all I can say.
Lovers have some secrets
that they keep.
(Rumi)
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9 Insightful Comments:
Thanks for posting this video. I consider chanting a vital part of yoga, so how about all the chants we dedicate to Hindu Gods? We chant to Ganesha, Hanuman, Siva, Saraswati... how about our mantras for meditation? If we use Om Namah Sivaya, is that not linked to a religious belief? It's a bit like praying to God or Jesus but saying that it's got nothing to do with Christianity. Not sure if reality is as clear cut as she presents it here...
Hello. Yes, you definitely bring up valid points. From my understanding she is referring to asana practice, pranayama, as well as other concentration practices. Another thing that seems to differentiate yoga with religion is that yoga is centered around practice. We don't need to necessarily believe anything, we simply practice and come to know or experience certain truths. At least this is the way I see it. The thing is, yoga stems from India as well as Hinduism so often both seem to cross over from time to time depending on who you study with. I am not sure there is any clear cut explanation. More than anything, I think Kimberly is talking to those who misrepresent yoga wildly, often scaring people who may be connected to a certain religion, from trying it. Thanks for your comment.
Does seem overly simplistic. I agree that she's talking about asana practice but just seems to add to the problem of equating yoga with asana. Ramaswami would also suggest the you avoided chanting if you had another religion as it could be confusing, suggested using an equivalent from your own religion. He also suggested that although Patanjali mentions Ishvara, it was included (possibly even added later) for the religious minded, that you didn't need to be religious to follow Patamjali's method and of course Smakhya, yoga's ground, was non theistic..... and yet. I do wonder sometimes in our own context how Krishnamacharya and Jois would stress the devotional aspect of the practice employing the Gita and concepts of surrender, for example. Scratch the surface of ashtanga and you get the Gita, scratch it some more you get Samkhya, layers upon layers. Fascinating question though, thanks for posting it.
I hear you, but really, I feel it is simple. Our Western minds love to complicate things. Yes, I realize there is more to yoga than asana, but I always find it amusing when asana is downplayed. It's a concentration practice like anything else. Is it everything? No, obviously not, but also I don't see there being a hierarchy with the various disciplines. At the bottom of each well is the same thing anyway. Maybe, my contemplation is too limited, but I see everything as connected and interrelated anyway. Ultimately science and religion are ONE.
Interesting, though, I had a college professor, who had an Indian background and she said that you could practice Hinduism and follow the religion of your family origin. At the time I thought that was VERY interesting, and provocative for some. It came from her own mouth. A practicing Hindu.
Anyways . . . :)))))))
Hey Laruga;
I thought this might be interesting to add:
http://www.hafsite.org/media/pr/yoga-hindu-origins
It's complicated...
Ah-ha. Seem to be . . . Thanks for the link! Gonna check it out.
You can practice Hinduism and still belong to other religion because Hinduism is not a religion in the traditional sense but a way of life or philosophy that has evolved over thousands of years. There is no one founder or controlling authority! The correct name should be Sanatana Dharma or the Eternal Natural Way. The objective is self-realization or experience god and the four paths are Bhakti yoga, Gnana Yoga, Karma Yoga and Raja Yoga. Based on the proclivities of an individual, he or she can choose one path or a combination. What we call Yoga in the West is only a small part of the Raja Yoga tradition which consists of the eight (Ashtanga) steps. Therefore, it is more correct to say that yoga (asana) is a spiritual practice rather than a religion.
Thank you, Savim!
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