Guest guest Report post Posted March 7, 2000 Does anyone know where one might obtain a copy of SKPJ's now-out-of-print Yoga Mala? Our local library system does not have access to it. How valuable is it as a reference for daily practice? Does it focus asana and pranayama more than the other 6 limbs? Thanks for any info. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 7, 2000 The 2nd printing of the Yoga Mala is now available online from Jivamukti Yoga Center <a href=http://www.jivamuktiyoga.com/fms/boutq_fm.html target=new>http://www.jivamuktiyoga.com/fms/boutq_fm.html</a> or from Eddie Stern at Patanjali Yoga Shala, 611 Broadway, Suite 203, NYC, NY 10012; Tel (212) 982-0753; Fax (212) 966-3947. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 24, 2001 Sorry, but you can't dismiss the Yoga Mala as "but one text" in this forum. It is authored by none other than K Pattabhi Jois himself. It is to his ashtanga vinyasa yoga that this board is oriented.<br>Interesting that so many of KPJ's loyal soldiers sidestep the brahmacharya issue. I'd be pleased if you could convince me otherwise, but to me his message is clear on its face. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 24, 2001 not dismissed ... simply described. your reference to the yoga mala was in the context of a discussion of gay men. would be useful if you could explain -- is it your contention that k. pattabhi jois specifically means to promulgate a prohibition of gay sex? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 24, 2001 It's interesting how many folks who "study" eastern religions (I've met many "Tibetan" Buddhist practioners like this--meaning white folks who've rejected their inherited religions) cling to the teachings (via texts "authorized" by a particular "wise being") as desperately as many of the fundamentalist Christians and Muslims do to theirs.<br><br>Although I find the eight limbs of Ashtanga a very good template for a healthy life, I think it's always good to have a certain amount of skepticism, or at least a willingness to let go of what I currently believe.<br><br>I don't see much difference in attitude between many right wing Christian Fundamentalists and Tibetan Buddhists (that is the western practioners) and even many Yoga practioners in the sense that they rigidly cling to the dogma of whatever "authoratative" text or Guru backs up (or inspires) their current belief. The reality is, what my Guru teaches to be proper for me, may not be proper for everyone. The Buddha called this "expidient means" (Upaya) meaning everyone has different obstacles (and different means) to liberation. <br><br>Needing a universal "solution", I think, is rooted in the natural human desire of wanting something "solid" to hang on to, i.e. a "truthful" or "correct" path.<br><br>Check out "I Am That" by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Your insistence that anything is fixed including the way "one should live" may be thrown into question.<br><br>PM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 25, 2001 Read the book--specifically the section on brahmacharya and the retention of vital fluid--and you decide. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 25, 2001 My insistence? I believe your suggestion is meant for for Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Perhaps he will indeed check out "I Am That" by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and thus enlightened, amend the Yoga Mala.<br><br>Meanwhile, since you are posting on what purports to be an ashtanga board, why don't you check out Yoga Mala? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 25, 2001 I am not disputing the authority of Sri K. Patabbhi Jois, nor am I disputing your account of his teaching. <br>I'm wondering if some of his students (and I wonder this of many students of any religion or philosophy) insist on the truth of what he says without actually putting those claims to the test of thier own life experience.<br>The Buddha is said to have admonished people to verify for themselves the truth (or lack thereof) of his (ar any) teaching rather than believe it simply because he said it. <br>You state Patabbhi Jois' position on Bramacharya without giving any indication of your experience regarding this interesting subject. <br>Personally, I've found his interpretation (as you've relayed it) of Bramacharya to work very well for me, though I wouldn't make that claim for everyone (particulary someone I've never met).<br>I do study several texts--Yoga Mala is in the mail-- and prefer to use them as suggestive outlines rather that seeing them as the irrefutable gospel. Maybe this is my weakness. So be it. <br><br>PM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 26, 2001 an interpretation open to interpretation. what's yours? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted March 26, 2001 Seems pretty clear to me, too. (Not likely to help<br>popularize yoga though.)<br><br>p.s. Are you in fact an "esq."? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
