You are NOT your own best teacher

[Guest guest]

So often on this board folks say "you are your

own teacher" or "do what feels right, you know best"

and "don't follow traditions, after all its really up

to you." All that advice is sweet but it is in NO

way applicable to yoga. Yoga is an arduous path, it

requires enormous effort and commitment. The very

foundation of yoga practice is tapas, which is the

performance of prescribed austerities. To the newcomer,yoga

seems like groovy, improvisational, feel-good fitness

(it isn't). After the initial novelty wears off, and

the obstacles quickly increase, the newbie's

enthiusiasm falters. After all, who the heck wants to be this

uncomfortable day after day? It is much easier to quit. But

missy says "yoga is the tightening of the screws."

Certainly any yoga student that has read Hatha Yoga

Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita or Yoga Mala would have a

glimpse of the nature of yoga and know that the oft

posted above statements have nothing to do with the

tradition or practice of yoga. Looking at pictures of yoga,

talking about yoga, attempting to grasp religious

philosophy by reading overviews or intellectual descriptions

- are a pretense at yoga, a charade. One who waxes

poetic on yoga, while his or her practice fluctuates

according to personal whims and vaguaries, is not yet on

the path. To those folks missy says "face up, admit

it - I am standing alongside the path, but I just

don't have the courage, the discipline, the desire -

yet..." Or go ahead, be a great pretender, but you are

only fooling yourself. <br><br>missy pinky<br><br>ps

oh, and good luck without a guru

[Guest guest]

MP, I personally have been an absolute purist

with my yoga for some time. And I did so on a basis of

assumption. Suggesting 'I govern my own direction',is

egoistic has a part truth. MP perscribes submission to a

master. Choosing a master is perhaps one of the most

serious decisions influencing one for this life and those

to follow. You,MP, feel full confidence in KPJ. I

want to discover this for myself, and have made

arrangement to travel to Mysore as my collective experience

with him amounts to led group practice. I have hope

that I will learn much from him, but I will work not

to expect too much as I can't see the future.

<br><br>One of my teachers experienced their teacher in

samadhi state, realized it happened often to them. I do

not feel affinity for this teacher as they do for the

paramatma guru. <br><br><<very foundation of yoga

practice is tapas, which is the performance of prescribed

austerities>><br><br>I've read the Hatha Yoga Pradapika, and regulary

study

the Sutras as an ADJUNCT to practice,(agreeing Yoga

is for doing, and experience is the most valuable

knowledge) But Tapas means "to burn" to pursue zealously,

religiously. <br><br>Missy, I have made mistakes in keeping my

own council in yoga. As I advanced I learned that I

need guidance. But making a mere teacher one's guru is

full of considerable problems. And I've seen and read

about "austeries" and approach austeries under the

guidence of a teacher now. However there are finer aspects

that need resolution in the moment. Lacking the

intimacy of a proper Guru/Shisha relationship (as they are

now confined within this tradition to a two hour

hoe-down) is leaving one to some personal responsibility.

[Guest guest]

Missy Pinky<br><br>I agree with much of your post

about the necessity of practicing hatha yoga. The

Bhagavad Gita tells us (XVIII 7-9):<br><br>"Verily the

renunciation of obligatory action is not proper; the

abandonment of the same from delusion is declared to be

Tamasic.<br><br>"He who abandons action on account of the fear of

bodily trouble (because it is painful), he does not

obtain the merit of renunciation by doing such Rajasic

renunciation.<br><br>"Whatever obligatory action is done, O Arjuna, merely

because it ought to be done, abandoning attachment and

also the desire for reward, that renunciation is

regarder as Sattwic.”<br><br>I might add that ‘obligatory

action’ includes hatha yoga but does not stop at hatha

yoga. It is clear from the quotes from the Gita below

that ‘obligatory action’ refers to all of the eight

angas of Patanjali<br><br>I believe, however, that you

are incorrect when you claim that ‘the very

foundation of yoga is based on tapas’ defined by you as ‘the

performance of prescribed austerities’ in the sense of

‘arduous effort’. Tapas has nothing to do with the

performance of arduousness.Tapas has everything to do with

openness, serenity, humility, and devotion.<br><br>The

Bhagavad Gita describes the three-fold nature of tapas

very well (XVII, 14-17):<br><br>“Worship of the gods,

the twice-born, the teachers and the wise,

straightforwardness, celibacy and non-injury - these are called the

austerities of the body.<br><br>"Speech which causes no

excitement and is truthful, pleasant and beneficial, the

practice of the study of the Vedas, are called austerity

of speech.<br><br>"Serenity of mind,

good-heartedness, purity of mind, self-control - this is called

mental austerity.<br><br>"This three-fold austerity

practised by steadfast men with the utmost faith, desiring

no reward, they call Sattwic.”<br><br>You will have

noticed that there is no mention or hint of arduousness.

However, the Gita does deal with (and condemn) the type of

arduous austerities that you refer to:<br><br>“The

austerity which is practised out of a foolish notion, with

self-torture, or for the purpose of destroying another, is

declared to be Tamasic." (XVII. 19)<br><br>Also, “The

austerity which is practised with the object of gaining

good reception, honour, and worship, and with

hypocrisy, is here said to be Rajasic, unstable and

transitory.” (XVII. 18)<br><br>It is clear that arduousness is

not to be considered useful. <br><br>If you want to

think of tapas as self-discipline as Patanjali does,

then you are a little closer to its true meaning.

Self-discipline means control of the senses, refusing to meet the

demand of the senses for pleasure so that the senses

eventually stop their outward focus and turn inward instead.

But even here, self-discipline will only create

arduousness when the mind doesn’t want to submit to whatever

practice is being followed to still the mind. There is no

arduousness in the practice, there is only arduousness in the

resistance of the mind to following the practice. Similarly,

the Tattva-Vaisharadi (II.1) says that tapas should

only be practised as long as it does not imbalance the

bodily humours, the dhatus.<br><br>I agree unreservedly

with your suggestion that one should have a guru for

their spiritual journey. A flesh-and-blood guru is the

easiest but I do know people who have astral gurus or

inner gurus. These last 2 cases are very difficult

because they are fraught with misuse and abuse. One must

be a highly evolved soul to recognize and respond to

a non-physical guru

appropriately.<br><br>just4amusement.