Conversation between Edwin Bryant and Rosa Santana (Iyengar Yoga)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 มี.ค. 2015
- Rosa Santana conduct a revealing interview on the deeper tradition of Yoga and the spirituality of BKS Iyengar. with scholar Edwin Bryant, author of "The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary" with a foreword by B.K.S. Iyengar.
Professor Bryant is a rare combination of authenticity, liveliness, vast knowledge and devotion. I learned so much from him... I owe him a lot, on many levels!
thanx for your good contribution to the world towards peace.
Asanas were meant to steady one's body for meditation. It is incidental that it also has physical benefits but the primary purpose is spiritual.
To open the Western culture to the deep tradition of Yoga and spirituality, the Western culture needs more enlightened people like Professor Bryant to talk the talk and make the talk more accessible to the Western mind. In 2021 I am one of the Western culture that is now listening more deeply to this deep tradition of Yoga that Professor Bryant is speaking about as the speaker of this talk.
Iyengars are the priestly Brahmin castes of South India(Kaveri river delta belts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and also South Andhra). They follow Sri Vaishnavism of Ramanujacharya one of my favourite philosophers and master of Vaishnavism. Iyengars are the chief hereditary priests in the mega Vaishnav temples of South India like Tirupati and SriRangam. BKS Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois belonged to this tradition. The Shaiva equivalent of Iyengars were Iyers. These were custodians of Vedic traditions of Hinduism..
very informative thanks
Here is my understanding...
Guruji taught Bakhti within the practice of asana and pranayama.
Asanas connect the mind to body with breath complementing this process. Using this basis the asana is used to refine the conscious mind towards sattvas. Although starting with refined awareness of mind/body alignment, Guruji taught that from this refined state of awareness the egoistic mind should then be drawn towards surrender (Isvara Pranidhana).
This is why in our practice we hold asanas for longer periods of time with effort going towards transforming the mind into predominantly sattva condition, then making this surrender possible. In this way asanas become prayers or a way to connect with the Divine.
As practitioners we may be caught in the initial stage of the process and therefore think of asanas as a mind/body experience. In fact Guruji taught asana as a transformational process incorporating all of the 8 limbs.
With all gratitude to Sri BKS Iyengar, Geetaji and Prashantji and many thanks to Edwin for his wonderful work.
thanks Ray for your contribution!!
It's logical that Asana has to be an only one aspect of spirituality....Infact in our practice of devotional service and wordship we are seldom told about these asanas😂
BKS Iyengar was as much a Yoga guru as Krishnamachari was . Both were Iyengar. BKS Iyengar taught hatha yogs
:) funny how we can be so certain that we 'know' advaita vendanta :)
+Ramesh Ramloll
what do you mean prabhu ?
Sri Harsa had destroyed knowing and epistemology but it is an extreme position. Prof. Byrant I'm sure is aware of that.
In an effort to be welcoming by removing a picture or not chanting "OM", is a watering down the traditions which have kept this practice alive for thousands of years. All for one skeptical student? Is it really about making a skeptical student comfortable, or because the teacher is playing a roll and doesn't embody the traditions for themselves? Or is it to keep the studio full and avoid bad reviews? Perhaps let the masses go and allow time do the heavy lifting for the skeptic...
some people follow west asian religions have hard time understanding easterns philospohy.