Today we discussed notes I had taken from the first Yoga and Sound I attended at Arsha Vidya Gurukulum in Saylorsburg, PA, with Ramanand Patel, Mukesh Desai, and Pujiya Swami Dayananda Saraswathi. This was September 4, 2002 - September 11, 2002.
Swami D. began by defining terms from the Vedanta tradition. Nishta or sthairya = to abide. Bhava, Bhavana = to have a command of abiding attitudes. Laya = absorption.
Niyama (first limb of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga) is a lifestyle conducive to accomplishing yoga, living a committed life, a life which leads to a desirable end.
Things to be done - niyama: purity, contentment, austerity, self-study, surrender to Isvara.
Things not to be done- yama: non-harming, non-lying, non-stealing, non-greediness, non-excessivness.
A yogic life is regulated and disciplined.
Tapah, svadhyaya, and isvara-pranidhanah constitute niyama.
Tapah - being totally committed, involved, dedicated. he remarked that in India, waiting is considered tapas. People say, "I've been doing tapas for you for 10 minutes."
Svadhyaya - he recommended studying the Vedas by studying one Upanishad.
Isvara- Pranidhanah - "God" is an abused word. "Isvara" is better. How does one worship Isvara? Pranidhana means "placing oneself". This is not a matter of "belief" in God; it is a matter of understanding.
There are two ways of knowing: (1) direct perception, (2) indirect perception. Direct perception is seeing with your own eyes. Indirect perception is like reading an x-ray, knowing you have a flat tire by the way the car drives, inferring that you have gasoline from the gas gauge.
Belief: if you have a green light, the cars on the cross street have a red light and they will stop.
Only these two kinds of knowledge - there is no such thing as theoretical knowledge. (for a good discussion of theory, see this short discussion from the American Museum of Natural History).
All that exists is Brahman (Brahman is a word of neutral gender representing the ultimate reality underlying all phenomena). All that is known or unknown is Brahman. Isvara is to be understood and known. All knowledge, all karma, all dharma is Isvara. Isvara is the maker and material cause of everything.
Swami D. began by defining terms from the Vedanta tradition. Nishta or sthairya = to abide. Bhava, Bhavana = to have a command of abiding attitudes. Laya = absorption.
Niyama (first limb of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga) is a lifestyle conducive to accomplishing yoga, living a committed life, a life which leads to a desirable end.
Things to be done - niyama: purity, contentment, austerity, self-study, surrender to Isvara.
Things not to be done- yama: non-harming, non-lying, non-stealing, non-greediness, non-excessivness.
A yogic life is regulated and disciplined.
Tapah, svadhyaya, and isvara-pranidhanah constitute niyama.
Tapah - being totally committed, involved, dedicated. he remarked that in India, waiting is considered tapas. People say, "I've been doing tapas for you for 10 minutes."
Svadhyaya - he recommended studying the Vedas by studying one Upanishad.
Isvara- Pranidhanah - "God" is an abused word. "Isvara" is better. How does one worship Isvara? Pranidhana means "placing oneself". This is not a matter of "belief" in God; it is a matter of understanding.
There are two ways of knowing: (1) direct perception, (2) indirect perception. Direct perception is seeing with your own eyes. Indirect perception is like reading an x-ray, knowing you have a flat tire by the way the car drives, inferring that you have gasoline from the gas gauge.
Belief: if you have a green light, the cars on the cross street have a red light and they will stop.
Only these two kinds of knowledge - there is no such thing as theoretical knowledge. (for a good discussion of theory, see this short discussion from the American Museum of Natural History).
All that exists is Brahman (Brahman is a word of neutral gender representing the ultimate reality underlying all phenomena). All that is known or unknown is Brahman. Isvara is to be understood and known. All knowledge, all karma, all dharma is Isvara. Isvara is the maker and material cause of everything.
