This week I shall be mainly thinking about responding to events in the moment.
'Simples'
Friday, 10 July 2009
Now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga...
When I think about yoga I know there is something drawing me towards a personal experience of consciousness. How do I begin to express that experience? Fortunately I am not the only person to have asked; Patanjali threaded together a systematic explanation over 2000 years ago.
“With prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga...”
When I started teaching people one-to-one, and then classes, I was obsessed with having enough work planned to fill the time allotted. I planned the class minute-by-minute to have an elegant flow of postures; a good balance of types of posture and counter-posture. I tried to challenge experienced students, and yet also give easier options for beginners with plenty of detailed instructions and adjustments. I wanted to take people to the edge of their conscious ability and allow them to feel their other-than-conscious ability beyond; asking them to “be present”. I must make time for Pranayama and relaxation at the end of the class… Wait a minute. Did I say that? The one thing no one can do is to make time.
Time is such an elusive concept. We can observe time: we can measure it…the clock ticks. But we can’t control it. We can predict it at a gross level, but at a sub-atomic scale events have a bizarre random nature predictable only by statistical average. We have no direct knowledge of time other than our own physical and mental experience of events in the present moment. It may be that it is the propagation of events that is the reality and time is only a secondary comparative measure after the event. As a pre-supposition, a working definition of time might be as an experience of the unfolding of events.
We are just a formation of seething, boiling, random events unfolding at the microscopic level; blood flows, synapses connect; and at the macroscopic level? We can be agitated and self-conscious; or we can be detached observers. Consciousness is this strange process in time of self-observation. Simple recursive rules can lead to complex behavior, and self-reference leads to our introspective awareness of our own inner states.
So how should I approach the teaching of Yoga? Fortunately I am not the first person to have been concerned about this. Patanjali sewed together this formula over 2000 years ago:
“With prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga.
Yoga is the cessation of movements in the consciousness.
Then, the seer dwells in his own true splendor.
At other times, the seer identifies with the fluctuating consciousness.”
[Ref. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, verses I.1 to I.4 Iyengar’s translation]
“With prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga...”
When I started teaching people one-to-one, and then classes, I was obsessed with having enough work planned to fill the time allotted. I planned the class minute-by-minute to have an elegant flow of postures; a good balance of types of posture and counter-posture. I tried to challenge experienced students, and yet also give easier options for beginners with plenty of detailed instructions and adjustments. I wanted to take people to the edge of their conscious ability and allow them to feel their other-than-conscious ability beyond; asking them to “be present”. I must make time for Pranayama and relaxation at the end of the class… Wait a minute. Did I say that? The one thing no one can do is to make time.
Time is such an elusive concept. We can observe time: we can measure it…the clock ticks. But we can’t control it. We can predict it at a gross level, but at a sub-atomic scale events have a bizarre random nature predictable only by statistical average. We have no direct knowledge of time other than our own physical and mental experience of events in the present moment. It may be that it is the propagation of events that is the reality and time is only a secondary comparative measure after the event. As a pre-supposition, a working definition of time might be as an experience of the unfolding of events.
We are just a formation of seething, boiling, random events unfolding at the microscopic level; blood flows, synapses connect; and at the macroscopic level? We can be agitated and self-conscious; or we can be detached observers. Consciousness is this strange process in time of self-observation. Simple recursive rules can lead to complex behavior, and self-reference leads to our introspective awareness of our own inner states.
So how should I approach the teaching of Yoga? Fortunately I am not the first person to have been concerned about this. Patanjali sewed together this formula over 2000 years ago:
“With prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga.
Yoga is the cessation of movements in the consciousness.
Then, the seer dwells in his own true splendor.
At other times, the seer identifies with the fluctuating consciousness.”
[Ref. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, verses I.1 to I.4 Iyengar’s translation]
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
My web site is updated with details of my Sandhurst Class.
Wednesday Evenings 7:30
Sandhurst Community Hall
GU47 9BJ
Drop-in class, beginners welcome
http://www.bobburtonyoga.com
Friday, 6 February 2009
Silence
"Hear the silence, see the Silence, taste, touch and smell the Silence. Silence is truth, Silence is God, Silence is the peace that passeth all understanding. Close your eyes and become one with the Silence" Swami Vishnu-devananda, founder, International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres
Sunday, 28 December 2008
MANDUKYA UPANISHAD
MANDUKYA UPANISHAD
OM. This eternal Word is all: what was, what is and what shall be, and what beyond is in eternity. All is OM.
Brahman is all and Atman is Brahman. Atman, the Self, has four conditions.
The first condition is the waking life of outward-moving consciousness, enjoying the seven outer gross elements.
The second condition is the dreaming life of inner-moving consciousness, enjoying the seven subtle inner elements in its own light and solitude.
The third condition is the sleeping life of silent consciousness when a person has no desires and beholds no dreams. That condition of deep sleep is one of oneness, a mass of silent consciousness made of peace and enjoying peace.
This silent consciousness is all-powerful, all-knowing, the inner ruler, the source of all, the beginning and end of all beings.
The fourth condition is Atman in his own pure state: the awakened life of supreme consciousness. It is neither outer nor inner consciousness, neither semi-consciousness, nor sleeping-consciousness, neither consciousness nor unconsciousness. He is Atman, the Spirit himself, that cannot be seen or touched, that is above all distinction, beyond thought and ineffable. In the union with him is the supreme proof of his reality. He is the end of evolution and non-duality. He is peace and love.
This Atman is the eternal Word OM. Its three sounds, A, U, and M, are the first three states of consciousness, and these three states are the three sounds.
The first sound A is the first state of waking consciousness, common to all men. It is found in the words Apti, ‘attaining’, and Adimatvam, ‘being first’. Who knows this attains in truth all his desires, and in all things become first.
The second sound U is the second state of dreaming consciousness. It is found in the words Utkarsha, ‘uprising’, and Ubhayatvaom, ‘bothness’. Who knows this raises the tradition of knowledge and attains equilibrium. In his family is never born any one who knows not Brahman.
The third sound M is the third state of sleeping consciousness. It is found in the words Miti, ‘measure’, and in the root Mi, ‘to end’, that gives Apiti, ‘final end’. Who knows this measures all with his mind and attains the final End.
The word OM as one sound is the fourth state of supreme consciousness. It is beyond the senses and is the end of evolution. It is non-duality and love. He goes with his self to the supreme Self who knows this, who knows this.
OM. This eternal Word is all: what was, what is and what shall be, and what beyond is in eternity. All is OM.
Brahman is all and Atman is Brahman. Atman, the Self, has four conditions.
The first condition is the waking life of outward-moving consciousness, enjoying the seven outer gross elements.
The second condition is the dreaming life of inner-moving consciousness, enjoying the seven subtle inner elements in its own light and solitude.
The third condition is the sleeping life of silent consciousness when a person has no desires and beholds no dreams. That condition of deep sleep is one of oneness, a mass of silent consciousness made of peace and enjoying peace.
This silent consciousness is all-powerful, all-knowing, the inner ruler, the source of all, the beginning and end of all beings.
The fourth condition is Atman in his own pure state: the awakened life of supreme consciousness. It is neither outer nor inner consciousness, neither semi-consciousness, nor sleeping-consciousness, neither consciousness nor unconsciousness. He is Atman, the Spirit himself, that cannot be seen or touched, that is above all distinction, beyond thought and ineffable. In the union with him is the supreme proof of his reality. He is the end of evolution and non-duality. He is peace and love.
This Atman is the eternal Word OM. Its three sounds, A, U, and M, are the first three states of consciousness, and these three states are the three sounds.
The first sound A is the first state of waking consciousness, common to all men. It is found in the words Apti, ‘attaining’, and Adimatvam, ‘being first’. Who knows this attains in truth all his desires, and in all things become first.
The second sound U is the second state of dreaming consciousness. It is found in the words Utkarsha, ‘uprising’, and Ubhayatvaom, ‘bothness’. Who knows this raises the tradition of knowledge and attains equilibrium. In his family is never born any one who knows not Brahman.
The third sound M is the third state of sleeping consciousness. It is found in the words Miti, ‘measure’, and in the root Mi, ‘to end’, that gives Apiti, ‘final end’. Who knows this measures all with his mind and attains the final End.
The word OM as one sound is the fourth state of supreme consciousness. It is beyond the senses and is the end of evolution. It is non-duality and love. He goes with his self to the supreme Self who knows this, who knows this.
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Gayatri Mantra Translations
We meditate upon that divine sun,
the true light of the shining ones.
May it illuminate our minds.
the true light of the shining ones.
May it illuminate our minds.
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Yoga is skill in action
" Yoga is skill in action." This is a quotation from the Bhagavad Gita. (Reference The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, by Eknath Easwaran.)
"Yoga is wisdom in work." Is another translation. (Reference: The Bhagavad Gita, Penguin Classics, translated by Juan Mascaro. Chapter 2, verse 50.)
If we look forward to the results of our action we can be obsessed with the difficulties and obstructions.
When we become detached from the outcome and focus on the present then deeper resources become accessible.
This principle is embodied in Karma Yoga, described as a way of acting, thinking and willing by which one acts in accordance with one's duty (dharma) without consideration of personal selfish desires, likes or dislikes: acting without being attached to the fruits of one's deeds.
It's interesting, too, how the poetic language of the Bhagavad Gita is open to interpretation in the translation, as seen in the two examples above. This very ambiguity is ironically the subject of the following Chapter 2 Verse 53:
"When thy mind, that may be wavering in the contradictions of many scriptures, shall rest unshaken in divine contemplation, then the goal of Yoga is thine."
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