Continued from Part I..
[Part 2 of 3, based on a talk given by Saraswathi Vasudevan in Hyderabad]
It is easy to be caught up in the powers of yoga. The simple powers of being able to touch the floor, of people complimenting you on a glowing face, of at some level, being able to read somebody’s mind….We can get really caught up… but we need to focus on achieving the quiet mind. A mind that can completely show me who I am.
Krishnamacharya used to say about shraddha, “Aham graha upasana.” To be close to understanding, or enquiring into who I am. That which will take me to myself.
So can yoga take us deeper and deeper into self-enquiry and hold us there?
The tools of yoga are meant to take us there. It is easy to get lost in asanas or meditation without keeping track of why we are doing it. They cannot be ends to themselves. So “Aham graha upasana” will help us to hold on…
Mandela, Gandhi, Ramana Maharishi, all had strong shraddhas.
*
So what weakens our shraddha or inner conviction?
Illness can weaken or strengthen it. Pain can be debilitating. Doubt can weaken it. People are commitment-phobic these days, even to a yoga practice :)
Yet they want results quickly. Students come and say, “I’ve had this problem for 15 years but can your practice improve it in a week?!” Or they get better and get complacent. They should come back [to us] to strengthen [their muscles], but don’t. Only when the pain comes back, they come back. When they are ok, there is no news :)
*
So how can we strengthen shraddha?
We can teach and guide but the students have to tap their shraddha to practice. As a teacher we can give them a practice – that’s easy, breath is 50% of the work, then diet or nutrition, and listening to their life. But yoga therapy is not chat therapy. We can’t do the practice for them. So how can we awaken their shraddha?
*
If yoga has chosen me then there is something in it that I need to explore. Even in our teaching, we as teachers are constantly learning. Every student is such a wonderful teacher. Teaching reminds us of what we have forgotten.
How can we tap into this energy that is within us? Shraddha is not in the mind, it’s beyond, it is in the deeper mind. Shraddha is the key. It knows the direction, it knows the way.
If I can quieten the intellectual mind down and listen, then shraddha will guide me. It will guide each one of us. That is the promise of yoga.
I will stay with my abhyasa, my perseverance, my practice, without thinking, “What will I get out of it?” I need to stay with my enquiry, my study, my service….If I can do that, and hold onto that thread, then I will be shown the way.
(Q & A from this talk will follow in the next article)
[Part 2 of 3, based on a talk given by Saraswathi Vasudevan in Hyderabad]
It is easy to be caught up in the powers of yoga. The simple powers of being able to touch the floor, of people complimenting you on a glowing face, of at some level, being able to read somebody’s mind….We can get really caught up… but we need to focus on achieving the quiet mind. A mind that can completely show me who I am.
Krishnamacharya used to say about shraddha, “Aham graha upasana.” To be close to understanding, or enquiring into who I am. That which will take me to myself.
So can yoga take us deeper and deeper into self-enquiry and hold us there?
The tools of yoga are meant to take us there. It is easy to get lost in asanas or meditation without keeping track of why we are doing it. They cannot be ends to themselves. So “Aham graha upasana” will help us to hold on…
Mandela, Gandhi, Ramana Maharishi, all had strong shraddhas.
*
So what weakens our shraddha or inner conviction?
Illness can weaken or strengthen it. Pain can be debilitating. Doubt can weaken it. People are commitment-phobic these days, even to a yoga practice :)
Yet they want results quickly. Students come and say, “I’ve had this problem for 15 years but can your practice improve it in a week?!” Or they get better and get complacent. They should come back [to us] to strengthen [their muscles], but don’t. Only when the pain comes back, they come back. When they are ok, there is no news :)
*
So how can we strengthen shraddha?
We can teach and guide but the students have to tap their shraddha to practice. As a teacher we can give them a practice – that’s easy, breath is 50% of the work, then diet or nutrition, and listening to their life. But yoga therapy is not chat therapy. We can’t do the practice for them. So how can we awaken their shraddha?
*
If yoga has chosen me then there is something in it that I need to explore. Even in our teaching, we as teachers are constantly learning. Every student is such a wonderful teacher. Teaching reminds us of what we have forgotten.
How can we tap into this energy that is within us? Shraddha is not in the mind, it’s beyond, it is in the deeper mind. Shraddha is the key. It knows the direction, it knows the way.
If I can quieten the intellectual mind down and listen, then shraddha will guide me. It will guide each one of us. That is the promise of yoga.
I will stay with my abhyasa, my perseverance, my practice, without thinking, “What will I get out of it?” I need to stay with my enquiry, my study, my service….If I can do that, and hold onto that thread, then I will be shown the way.
(Q & A from this talk will follow in the next article)
