BKS Iyengar, Yoga Guru - NDTV Interview - May 2014
Here's a great, I would say must-read, recent interview of BKS Iyengar, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._K._S._Iyengar, by NDTV (I must also say I do not agree with everything Iyengar says but there is a lot one can learn from him): http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/god-has-assigned-a-job-to-every-individual-yogis-jumping-in-to-become-popular-and-entering-the-political-sphere-it-pains-me/99/
Some comments of mine:
Iyengar mentions that his Padma Vibhushan award from the govt. of India was for 80 years of practicing Yoga.
[Ravi: Hats off to BKS Iyengar for his dedication, guts and love for Yoga translated to spreading Yoga in the world to improve fitness of body and mind. 80 years of practice of yoga! Awesome, man, awesome!]
...
The interviewer states, "Anxiety is now the biggest lifestyle disease of our times — not diabetes, cholesterol or blood pressure."
Iyengar answers, "Yes, it is because of the stress factor. There are three remedies — work, word and wisdom. ‘Work’ means to keep oneself fit, ‘word’ is to be sincere and honest in your words and ‘wisdom’ is to surrender to God."
[Ravi: I think the above Q&A capture the most troubling problem of our times and one interesting solution to it. I would alter the last remedy 'wisdom' to mean love, prayer, worship and surrender to God who is the Antaryaami (the all-knowing and all-powerful controller within each and everyone of us).]
...
About Iyengar sleeping only three hours a day and knowing asanas that help him relax even without sleeping.
[Ravi: That is something! I need my eight hours of sleep everyday or almost everyday :).]
...
Iyengar reportedly started teaching yoga in 1936. During the initial years, he says he had to popularize yoga and so gave "self-satisfaction" to people as that is what they wanted, through yoga. He says that he taught them how to be satisfied while leading a worldly life.
[Ravi: During his initial years of making a living as a Yoga teacher, I think I had read somewhere that he had to cater to interests/tastes of his students/customers (including Western ones) some of which were against conventional Indian culture and I think that brought him some criticism. But that early history of Iyengar's yoga teaching seems to be forgotten now and anyway, even India has become a far more liberal place (about sexual aspects of life) than it was when Iyengar started teaching Yoga. For those who would like to read about some dangers of Yoga in terms of sexual licentiousness, here's a New York Times 2012 article which I think has failed to get a proper cultural background of Yoga but does report some real issues in terms of some US (based) Yoga teachers & students, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/health/nutrition/yoga-fans-sexual-flames-and-predictably-plenty-of-scandal.html.]
...
Iyengar mentions that yoga generates a lot of cosmic energy in the body and how yoga results in physical, chemical and physiological changes.
[Ravi: I think talking about cosmic energy or spiritual energy ... is fine. People into yoga and spirituality experience it, though it does not seem to have been measured objectively/scientifically, and so I think it is true. And that reflects in the positive face and body language of the yoga/spiritual practitioner by which people make a causal relationship between such practice and positive effects on the practitioner. But the moment one gets into physical, chemical (and perhaps physiological) territory one is in the realm where science is king! Unless one has strong scientific evidence to back such claims, one is bound to attract criticism from the scientists.]
...
The interview covers how Iyengar was very sick during his youth and how his yoga teacher turned him to yoga and through yoga to health.
[Ravi: It is very interesting that quite a few such evangelists of rejuvenation and even medical-cure 'alternative therapy' techniques have a personal rejuvenation experience which makes them a born-again person and later an evangelist.]
...
About his famous rejuvenation and even cure of famed violinist, Yehudi Menuhin:
[Ravi: That was a tremendous achievement. And the grateful student/patient helps Iyengar spread Yoga globally. Wonderful human give-and-take to benefit the world at large.]
...
About problems in popularising yoga abroad and in India:
[Ravi: Surviving on one meal a day! Very poor response in USA in 1956 which changed dramatically for the better in 1973! Hmm. So it took decades for him (and others) to popularize yoga in the USA!]
[Ravi: I think it would really been challenging to popularize Yoga among the Indian populace, at least in most of the middle class and rich class (most of the poor class of India, unfortunately, IMHO, have too many challenges to handle to learn and then practise yoga, though there may be some exceptions), despite yoga being an ancient practice in India. I would not be surprised if such practices had remained confined to small groups/classes of people like ashram inmates, some Hindu social movements, and interested people from the warrior-type classes. Now, especially after Baba Ramdev and his TV yoga evangelism, yoga is all over India! And that's a great thing.]
...
About commercialism being the biggest threat to yoga:
[Ravi: I think those are very important observations. A culture of voluntary (not forced) donations from students based on their paying capacity and benefit received seems to be the safest for teaching yoga, spirituality and even religion, IMHO. It is when it becomes a fixed, and usually expensive, fee structure similar to, say, IT training business in India, that these fields become/get perceived as exploitative, business-like fields, which is a tragedy. From my point of view, unlike an IT trainer who can have a powerful motive of making a lot of money, the teacher of fields like yoga, spirituality and religion, has to be willing to live a modest life supported by modest contributions/voluntary payments from the community he/she serves. Yes, some rich patrons may provide a lot of money, or the teacher himself/herself may have inherited money or earned money from some other activities - that's OK. But using these fields to make a lot of money is not OK, IMHO. Wanting to make a lot of money is not the issue - that's fine (if done by righteous means). But then you should not get into fields like teaching of yoga, spirituality and/or religion.]
---- end comments on BKS Iyengar NDTV interview ---------------
Ravi: A correspondent noted (in response to a mail with similar content as the above) that he is interested in the 'releasing energy' part, and raised a question, releasing energy that was there or creating energy where none existed?
My response to him (edited):
My view, for all it is worth:
My personal experience, which is common knowledge and experience, but I felt it appropriate to mention it as a preface, is that Yoga as well as good, regular (not over strenuous) physical workouts, tend to improve the biological mechanisms which deliver energy and drive to the body (and mind or should I say, so mind?). So one digests food better and gets more energy from the same food which was not giving so much energy earlier, perhaps one gets more oxygen into the blood because the lungs do a better job of 'digesting' the same air that was not giving so much oxygen into the blood earlier. However, here one is not creating energy from 'nothing' - one is just making the process of extracting energy more efficient.
But I have had some fascinating experiences with feelings of powerful energy shooting up from the base of my spine during intense thoughtless-type meditation. Initially I was awestruck as I thought, and still think, that during these experiences the Kundalini energy was "getting released" from the base of the spine, where, according to some yogic literature, it is in a coiled-sort-of-form. I started focusing on this upwards movement of energy from the base of my spine during my meditations. However, some time later, I had some rather scary health problems (aggravated GERD, chest pain + sweating etc.) which resulted even in a brief hospitalization where they put me under observation and conducted tests (including a complicated procedure) to confirm that there was nothing seriously wrong. But I realized that my intense thoughtless-type meditations where I was focusing on these kind of "energy releases" may have something to do with these health problems, and put a stop to such type of intense meditations. And then these problems reduced!
My take away from these experiences are that a) there is truth to these experiences of energy shooting up from the base of the spine that some yogis have mentioned and b) however, these kundalini yoga type of exercises should be done under the direct supervision of a master of such techniques otherwise there could be serious bodily problems.
To go a little further on the topic of creating energy/something from nothing, I think that gets into the realm of mystics rather than Hatha Yoga practitioners like Iyengar or even Baba Ramdev. Mystics say that they just tap into the power of the will (Sankalpa shakti in Hindu scriptural jargon) to "will" something into 'material' existence from nothing. The difference, they say, between them and non-mystical people like me/us, is that we do not have that much faith in our ability to simply 'will' something into existence. We doubt it as we identify ourself with our limited mind-body complex.
[I must also say that the last three stages of Ashtanga Yoga (of Patanjali, if I got that right) are Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (oneness/non-dualistic state of consciousness, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samadhi). Dhyana and Samadhi are more in the realm of the mystics which the Hatha yogi types do not get into much (as I have understood it). But somebody who wants to go the whole Yoga route under a realized Guru would want to get into the higher stages of Dhyana and Samadhi, which may make him/her a mystic who can tap into these supernatural powers.]
To conclude, my understanding now is that the human will has the capacity to create energy as well as matter from only its will and nothing else, but that very, very few people achieve/tap into that sort of capability.
Some comments of mine:
Iyengar mentions that his Padma Vibhushan award from the govt. of India was for 80 years of practicing Yoga.
[Ravi: Hats off to BKS Iyengar for his dedication, guts and love for Yoga translated to spreading Yoga in the world to improve fitness of body and mind. 80 years of practice of yoga! Awesome, man, awesome!]
...
The interviewer states, "Anxiety is now the biggest lifestyle disease of our times — not diabetes, cholesterol or blood pressure."
Iyengar answers, "Yes, it is because of the stress factor. There are three remedies — work, word and wisdom. ‘Work’ means to keep oneself fit, ‘word’ is to be sincere and honest in your words and ‘wisdom’ is to surrender to God."
[Ravi: I think the above Q&A capture the most troubling problem of our times and one interesting solution to it. I would alter the last remedy 'wisdom' to mean love, prayer, worship and surrender to God who is the Antaryaami (the all-knowing and all-powerful controller within each and everyone of us).]
...
About Iyengar sleeping only three hours a day and knowing asanas that help him relax even without sleeping.
[Ravi: That is something! I need my eight hours of sleep everyday or almost everyday :).]
...
Iyengar reportedly started teaching yoga in 1936. During the initial years, he says he had to popularize yoga and so gave "self-satisfaction" to people as that is what they wanted, through yoga. He says that he taught them how to be satisfied while leading a worldly life.
[Ravi: During his initial years of making a living as a Yoga teacher, I think I had read somewhere that he had to cater to interests/tastes of his students/customers (including Western ones) some of which were against conventional Indian culture and I think that brought him some criticism. But that early history of Iyengar's yoga teaching seems to be forgotten now and anyway, even India has become a far more liberal place (about sexual aspects of life) than it was when Iyengar started teaching Yoga. For those who would like to read about some dangers of Yoga in terms of sexual licentiousness, here's a New York Times 2012 article which I think has failed to get a proper cultural background of Yoga but does report some real issues in terms of some US (based) Yoga teachers & students, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/health/nutrition/yoga-fans-sexual-flames-and-predictably-plenty-of-scandal.html.]
...
Iyengar mentions that yoga generates a lot of cosmic energy in the body and how yoga results in physical, chemical and physiological changes.
[Ravi: I think talking about cosmic energy or spiritual energy ... is fine. People into yoga and spirituality experience it, though it does not seem to have been measured objectively/scientifically, and so I think it is true. And that reflects in the positive face and body language of the yoga/spiritual practitioner by which people make a causal relationship between such practice and positive effects on the practitioner. But the moment one gets into physical, chemical (and perhaps physiological) territory one is in the realm where science is king! Unless one has strong scientific evidence to back such claims, one is bound to attract criticism from the scientists.]
...
The interview covers how Iyengar was very sick during his youth and how his yoga teacher turned him to yoga and through yoga to health.
[Ravi: It is very interesting that quite a few such evangelists of rejuvenation and even medical-cure 'alternative therapy' techniques have a personal rejuvenation experience which makes them a born-again person and later an evangelist.]
...
About his famous rejuvenation and even cure of famed violinist, Yehudi Menuhin:
[Ravi: That was a tremendous achievement. And the grateful student/patient helps Iyengar spread Yoga globally. Wonderful human give-and-take to benefit the world at large.]
...
About problems in popularising yoga abroad and in India:
[Ravi: Surviving on one meal a day! Very poor response in USA in 1956 which changed dramatically for the better in 1973! Hmm. So it took decades for him (and others) to popularize yoga in the USA!]
[Ravi: I think it would really been challenging to popularize Yoga among the Indian populace, at least in most of the middle class and rich class (most of the poor class of India, unfortunately, IMHO, have too many challenges to handle to learn and then practise yoga, though there may be some exceptions), despite yoga being an ancient practice in India. I would not be surprised if such practices had remained confined to small groups/classes of people like ashram inmates, some Hindu social movements, and interested people from the warrior-type classes. Now, especially after Baba Ramdev and his TV yoga evangelism, yoga is all over India! And that's a great thing.]
...
About commercialism being the biggest threat to yoga:
[Ravi: I think those are very important observations. A culture of voluntary (not forced) donations from students based on their paying capacity and benefit received seems to be the safest for teaching yoga, spirituality and even religion, IMHO. It is when it becomes a fixed, and usually expensive, fee structure similar to, say, IT training business in India, that these fields become/get perceived as exploitative, business-like fields, which is a tragedy. From my point of view, unlike an IT trainer who can have a powerful motive of making a lot of money, the teacher of fields like yoga, spirituality and religion, has to be willing to live a modest life supported by modest contributions/voluntary payments from the community he/she serves. Yes, some rich patrons may provide a lot of money, or the teacher himself/herself may have inherited money or earned money from some other activities - that's OK. But using these fields to make a lot of money is not OK, IMHO. Wanting to make a lot of money is not the issue - that's fine (if done by righteous means). But then you should not get into fields like teaching of yoga, spirituality and/or religion.]
---- end comments on BKS Iyengar NDTV interview ---------------
Ravi: A correspondent noted (in response to a mail with similar content as the above) that he is interested in the 'releasing energy' part, and raised a question, releasing energy that was there or creating energy where none existed?
My response to him (edited):
My view, for all it is worth:
My personal experience, which is common knowledge and experience, but I felt it appropriate to mention it as a preface, is that Yoga as well as good, regular (not over strenuous) physical workouts, tend to improve the biological mechanisms which deliver energy and drive to the body (and mind or should I say, so mind?). So one digests food better and gets more energy from the same food which was not giving so much energy earlier, perhaps one gets more oxygen into the blood because the lungs do a better job of 'digesting' the same air that was not giving so much oxygen into the blood earlier. However, here one is not creating energy from 'nothing' - one is just making the process of extracting energy more efficient.
But I have had some fascinating experiences with feelings of powerful energy shooting up from the base of my spine during intense thoughtless-type meditation. Initially I was awestruck as I thought, and still think, that during these experiences the Kundalini energy was "getting released" from the base of the spine, where, according to some yogic literature, it is in a coiled-sort-of-form. I started focusing on this upwards movement of energy from the base of my spine during my meditations. However, some time later, I had some rather scary health problems (aggravated GERD, chest pain + sweating etc.) which resulted even in a brief hospitalization where they put me under observation and conducted tests (including a complicated procedure) to confirm that there was nothing seriously wrong. But I realized that my intense thoughtless-type meditations where I was focusing on these kind of "energy releases" may have something to do with these health problems, and put a stop to such type of intense meditations. And then these problems reduced!
My take away from these experiences are that a) there is truth to these experiences of energy shooting up from the base of the spine that some yogis have mentioned and b) however, these kundalini yoga type of exercises should be done under the direct supervision of a master of such techniques otherwise there could be serious bodily problems.
To go a little further on the topic of creating energy/something from nothing, I think that gets into the realm of mystics rather than Hatha Yoga practitioners like Iyengar or even Baba Ramdev. Mystics say that they just tap into the power of the will (Sankalpa shakti in Hindu scriptural jargon) to "will" something into 'material' existence from nothing. The difference, they say, between them and non-mystical people like me/us, is that we do not have that much faith in our ability to simply 'will' something into existence. We doubt it as we identify ourself with our limited mind-body complex.
[I must also say that the last three stages of Ashtanga Yoga (of Patanjali, if I got that right) are Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (oneness/non-dualistic state of consciousness, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samadhi). Dhyana and Samadhi are more in the realm of the mystics which the Hatha yogi types do not get into much (as I have understood it). But somebody who wants to go the whole Yoga route under a realized Guru would want to get into the higher stages of Dhyana and Samadhi, which may make him/her a mystic who can tap into these supernatural powers.]
To conclude, my understanding now is that the human will has the capacity to create energy as well as matter from only its will and nothing else, but that very, very few people achieve/tap into that sort of capability.
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