Ancient yoga was not about postures FYI

[Matt8800]

There is a modern misconception that real yoga involves body postures as a way to help achieve enlightenment.

If you read the sacred Yoga texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patangali, The Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, you will find nothing on body postures. Yoga focused on meditation and breathing as ways to transcend the self. 

The body postures were fairly recent inventions. They were initially invented by the yogis as a way of keeping their bodies strong so that they can sit in meditation for long lengths of time without pain. Most of the postures were taken from Swedish and British calisthenics.

People might be able to meditate WHILE holding postures but it is the meditation itself, not the posture, that leads to awakening. Some of the modern yogis emphasize postures but that is divergent from the original wisdom of yoga. I suppose if you look long enough, you can find a "guru" that will say just about anything to build the belief the guru has something special that other gurus dont.

The ancient enlightened sages and mystics were shown great wisdom and knowledge but they showed no interest in body postures. They didnt care about "lineages" or guru ass-kissing either. Those are all distractions. We should all be good students of people that are further along but groveling like a worm to another human being is not recognizing the divinity in oneself.

Edited June 30, 2019 by Matt8800

[Jkris]

@Matt8800 

The meaning of Yoga - Yoga means union.

Any practice done for Self Realisation is said to be Yoga.

Its a misconception that Yoga = Asanas.

But Asanas are part of Yoga.

Patanjalis Raja Yoga or Ashtanga Yogas  third step is Asanas.

Yoga Sashthras predates Patanjali.

4th is Pranayama. - the various pranayamas.

Patanjali just formulated the then various practices prevailing then.

Regarding  Upanishads - They are path of Gnana not Raja Yoga path.

Regarding Gita it is a mix of all the four Gnana,Yoga,Bhakthi,Karma.I.e it touches certain aspects of all four but mainly Gnana,Karma.

Though the practioners of Gnana too do Pranayama its part of the daily routine plus Surya Namaskaram - The various body postures - Not part of the Hatha Yoga postures.

Satvik food,Asanas,Pranayama,Prathyagara are part of taming the Tamo,Rajo Gunas.

--------------------------------

Regarding Gurus - Gurus have very high importance in Indian Traditions.

Guru is treated as God.

Mother,Father,Guru and God.God is only given the last place in the order.

Its part of the culture to worship Guru.

Bowing touching feet before Elders,Parents,Guru,God is part of culture,tradition.

Gurus didnt care about lineages - The wisdom was transfered generations by generations by the Gurus.Lineages have very high importance.

The ego-pride-arrogance of one is surrendered by groveling like a worm to the Guru.

No one is supposed to ask money for imparting the knowledge of self.

But now everything is commercialised so finding Real Guru is very difficult.

Edited July 1, 2019 by Jkris

[pluto]

The postures are there so your body can fall into alignment so meditation is more efficient and effective. If the vessel(physical body) is not flexible, healthy, aligned ect.. it becomes far more challenging to enter a deep state of meditation which is why the meditation(Savasana) in most yoga sessions is at the end of the physical movements and exercise. The combination of the stretching and breathing allows one to align the mind and body in harmonic resonance so that connection to source at the end of the session becomes more and more effortless.

Why be a conductor when you can be a superconductor?

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by pluto

[Matt8800]

17 hours ago, Jkris said:

@Matt8800 

The meaning of Yoga - Yoga means union.

Any practice done for Self Realisation is said to be Yoga.

Its a misconception that Yoga = Asanas.

But Asanas are part of Yoga.

Patanjalis Raja Yoga or Ashtanga Yogas  third step is Asanas.

Yoga Sashthras predates Patanjali.

4th is Pranayama. - the various pranayamas.

Patanjali just formulated the then various practices prevailing then.

Regarding  Upanishads - They are path of Gnana not Raja Yoga path.

Regarding Gita it is a mix of all the four Gnana,Yoga,Bhakthi,Karma.I.e it touches certain aspects of all four but mainly Gnana,Karma.

Though the practioners of Gnana too do Pranayama its part of the daily routine plus Surya Namaskaram - The various body postures - Not part of the Hatha Yoga postures.

Satvik food,Asanas,Pranayama,Prathyagara are part of taming the Tamo,Rajo Gunas.

--------------------------------

Regarding Gurus - Gurus have very high importance in Indian Traditions.

Guru is treated as God.

Mother,Father,Guru and God.God is only given the last place in the order.

Its part of the culture to worship Guru.

Bowing touching feet before Elders,Parents,Guru,God is part of culture,tradition.

Gurus didnt care about lineages - The wisdom was transfered generations by generations by the Gurus.Lineages have very high importance.

The ego-pride-arrogance of one is surrendered by groveling like a worm to the Guru.

No one is supposed to ask money for imparting the knowledge of self.

But now everything is commercialised so finding Real Guru is very difficult.

@Jkris Asana originally simply meant a sitting prose for meditation. The Yoga Sutras define an Asana as a position that is steady and comfortable (for meditating). If you think Patanjali was ignorant of a critical part of using Yoga to achieve enlightenment, we will have to agree to disagree.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asana

If you believe body contortions are going to give you an awakening experience, that is what you will experience. It is not because of the body position but your belief that something will happen. If you worship your guru and he tells you sticking a finger in your butt will cause a powerful mystical experience AND you believe it, you will have a powerful mystical experience when you insert your finger in your butt. Western Mysticism has a lot to teach on belief and how to use it.

Regarding guru worship, that is where Indian tradition falls short. If a guru is telling you that you must worship a guru, doesnt your bulllshit detector go off even a little? Western mysticism says divinity is in you and that groveling at another human's feet is unworthy of that divinity. If you think you are a worm, you are a worm until you stop thinking that. When you dissolve the ego, the divinity of the Atman/True Self shines forth to express itself through a human animal body.

That is a great example of why studying multiple traditions can be beneficial. Take the gold and integrate it and leave the delusion and imposed limits.

Edited July 1, 2019 by Matt8800