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Alex: Tracing the Source
We are all students of life and Yoga puts us in contact with who we truly are - beyond our wildest imagination, expectations and fears - and hopefully instils an integration of something that is uncluttered by our conditioning, something that is real at all times. But we live in a world of ups and downs, time and space, name and form so any definition we give to Yoga will naturally be coloured by our environment, exposure and context. I feel grateful to Pure Yoga for the invitation to join their Teaching Faculty. But I'm first and foremost a student of Yoga who lives nine months of the year in Mysore, India where I study Sanskrit and Yoga, and where the legendary T. Krisnamacharya began to teach Pattabhi Jois, BKS Iyengar, Indra Devi etc.
All of these blogs may be personal reflections, wild ramblings and fancy, but they will also give an account of interviews with other Yoga teachers, as well as common practitioners and seekers of Yoga. Yoga displays a great diversity all over the world, but hopefully in our shared efforts to articulate it, maybe we can all become a little wiser to what the great heritage of Yoga truly has to offer us?
For Alex's bio, please click here |
| 17.04.08 Hong Kong Sri Vatsa Ramaswami |
 | | Sri Vatsa Ramaswami | One of the reasons for going to America this time was to meet Sri Vatsa Ramaswami, a long-time student of Krishnamacharya for 33 years. I met up with him in San Francisco and after some good conversations with him on various aspects on Yoga and Indian philosophy I'd like to share some of his views with you.
Whether it's been my curse or great fortune I've been exceedingly interested in trying to become a little clearer about the legends and myths surrounding Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, and as one happen to scratch the surface of this enigmatic figure, more and more interesting tales, stories and facts surface relating to his life and persona. What is probably most fascinating is how he could plant such fertile seeds of growth in his students and although many of them may differ on aspects of teaching, most of them display similar features when it comes to their dedication towards yoga and how it may inspire and heal our lives on many levels. Krishnamacharya may have certainly thought them in various ways, but one thing is certain is that whatever he thought them have been instrumental in shaping the amazing growth of yoga all around the globe
Sri Vatsa Ramaswami tells me how he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and although he was in the top of the class at school, had a privilege life, numerous friends and felt great support from his parents, something was always missing in his life. Like a deep seated sadness and discontent he could never really figure out why. Well until he met Krishnamacharya. When they first met he was inspired by his great knowledge and strong presence, but as he spent more time with him, Krishnamacharya helped him realize something about his true nature that was infinite joyful and full of content at all times and it was just a matter of removing the obstacles that prevented him from experiencing this on a deeper level. Krishnamacharya was therefore the teacher that filled an empty space in him and for that Ramaswami is eternally grateful and now at a ripe age dedicates his life to spreading some of the teachings of Krishnamacharya according to the ways he understood it.
So when Ramaswami speaks about KM (Krishnamacharya) it is naturally with a great sense of awe and tremendous respect for what he received from him, because as he says, "It was not just all the Yoga and purity of the Vedic recitations I got from him, it was rather the awakening to my true nature and the realization of the missing link in my life". Ramaswami said further that he had certainly studied parts of the Vedas and tried a little Yoga before he met KM, but the great skill of KM was that he could awaken a direct practical experience of Yoga within the individual, something beyond all the textbook learning and for this very reason, Ramaswami believes KM became such an inspiring grandfather to the awakening of Yoga all around the world. Simply because embodied Yoga on a practical level and had ample means and methods to convey this to his students.
Ramaswami met KM first time in 1955, shortly after KM had had moved from Mysore and came to settle in Madras, now Chennai until he left his body in 1989. During the 33 years they studied together he learnt numerous yoga postures and various breathing exercises and that which always remained constant he remember was the particular Vinyasas - a way of interlinking each breath with particular movement while entering and exiting each asana proper. Now the classical Vinyasa sequence we may assume to be the one written down in the book "Yoga Makarandam" by KM, in 1935 and later refined and preserved for history by the sequencing of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and the so-called Ashtanga Yoga. But if anybody thought this was the end all to the Vinyasa sequence, please think again. Ramaswami claims that KM's teaching changed drastically since his early years in Mysore and while he lived in Chennai he would develop various Vinyasas on the spot to suit the needs of the various individual. Ramaswami claims he learnt as many as seven different Vinyasa sequences just to come in and out of the Tadasana (Mountain posture) and has further categorized and systematized all these numerous sequences in "The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga" (2005, Marlove). His most famous book is "Yoga for the three stages of life" (2000, Inner Tradition) where he speaks about the various styles of Yoga KM would teach depending on what age the practitioner was in. In the early part of life the student would learn Yoga as an art form to boost confidence and distill discipline within the individual. In the middle part of life, a greater focus would be on physical therapy and maintaining good health. In the last stages of life, the practitioner should learn to focus on the ultimate goal - a greater understanding of the underlying philosophies of yoga and a greater realization of truth.
Now personally I believe all of the above may be cultivated in whatever stage of life one is in, with proper practice and commitment, Yoga is certainly one and although it manifest in various ways, when the essence of Yoga awakens within us it creates expansion within the totally of being. Ok, we need to recognize the state of life we are in, but a genuine practice of yoga should help us realize all of the above.
From conversations with many of the famous students of KM one thing becomes quite apparent. Whenever asked about the essence of KM teaching, they all in unison proclaim: "To awaken the love of God and awaken the individual to his/her inmost potential". This was the remarkable feature of KM, he guided his students in various ways and gave them methods and means for continual growth and transformation to awaken to their inmost core of Yoga. This is my no means something that normally awakens in an instant so Ramaswami is very particular when he speaks about the various stages that one may go true in ones journey to greater clarity in yoga.
A good grounding in the Yamas and Niyamas he considered should be implicit for any serious seeker of yoga, without them the aspirant will never raise beyond the horizon of his own delusion, but when they are well established and a proper asana practice equally becomes established the individual has the potential to develop a whole new energetic body pregnant with great vitality, vigor and strength. The body, brain and nervous system may further develop to its utmost potential with proper Pranayama practices, but the end goal of all Hatha Yoga practices is not to grow a body like superman or gain super natural powers. These exercises, according to him, are rather means to greater Knowledge of our true identity and a solid method to come to gain the practical experience of what we truly are. The practice of Hatha Yoga, he claims KM told him, should eventually lead to Bhakti Yoga. When no other thing is important, than to see, worship and experience the love of the Divine in everything that exists and everything we do. Then a greater sense of union; Yoga is certainly to take place within us.
Ok we all need to file off our rough edges and work on our various stuff, but it was truly interesting to hear what Ramaswami had to say about the practice of asanas and how they are designed to just create greater health and well being from within. He spoke about the six Koshas, the inner organs of the heart, lungs, kidneys, bladder, sexual organs and large intestine and how a practice of asanas will help a proper re-balancing of these organs and prevent their collapse and decay within the body and rather promote greater longevity, strength and well being. He further spoke about ways of retaining the breath (kumbhakas) for the awakening of the inner bandhas, the locks that seals the energy in certain areas of the body to exhilarate the awakening of our core. He finally talked about the aspects of the three gunas, viz. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas and how they are all to be balanced for a greater insight and experience of the actual yoga that lies beyond.
In my limited experience of the practice sometimes I feel truly refreshed and clear headed, but other times I may feel equally stupefied, scatter brained or totally lost in the clouds after a practice. He told me that depending on what practices I do certain gunas will always be predominant and others may take a downer, so it's important to learn to better listen to the body/mind organism and don't go to any extremes, but rather learn to observe our process and gradually become more discriminating to what works and don't' work. Eventually we all need to embody more Sattvic qualities for a greater experience of Yoga to rise within us, but we also need balance and without that all our practices may be futile The final peak of yogic awareness Ramaswami claims can only be reached in high stages of meditation, but for that to actually happen, there is plenty of work to do in order to remove many of the obstructing layers that prevents us from seeing it.
The most important aspect of the practice of Yoga he consider to be Dhyana, the uninterrupted flow of one-pointedness that gives the mind the focus it needs to experience its inert nature. But for this to happen we need proper practice, then it will all gradually be revealed to us.
When we talk further about the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali he is quick to admit that he shares the view of his great mentor that "Ishvara Pranidhaanaad vaa" (Yoga may also arise from a total surrender to God) is the easiest way to experience the true meaning of Yoga and refer to how KM made a paraphrase of the sutra and simply called it "Ishwara Eva" (Only God [is Yoga]).
Ok the essence of Yoga may certainly vary for us all, but what is certain many of KM's student has a beautiful glow on their faces that certainly reflect some of their own experiences in the matter. I can only say Hail to Krishnamacharya, for all the great work he did and thank you, again and again, for preserving the essence of it and distributing it in numerous ways to all his dedicated students. |
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Awesome. Thank you.
Posted by: Laurel | 2008-04-20 12:13:59 |
Hail to Krishnamacharya and Hail to Alex for your posts!
Posted by: Gabe | 2008-04-25 18:54:12 |
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