indian culture Archives - yogawithpragya

Practice Yoga Like You Practice Life

May 21, 2018

A few weekends ago I attended a friend’s house warming party. In India there is always an element of ritual. So while a housewarming can be a little party for a bunch of close friends, here it becomes an event of larger significance. So a purohit is called. You get the stuff for the puja together, you plan for caterers, you send out invites….

When we celebrate a house warming or a ‘griha pravesh‘ we celebrate new beginnings. We hope that the new abode brings the owners good luck and prosperity. Some incense, a few mantras, a coconut and some ‘lucky’ plants and we actually start to feel better about the house. These are all the accoutrements of the ritual of cleansing a space of any negative vibes so that the new owners can live peacefully.

Big celebrations so dressed to the nines.

A yogi’s abode is the body and mind. Since we get only one body and mind per lifetime, we need to exist within them peacefully and authentically. A yogi is constantly torn between one more drink or slice of pizza and an early morning twists or backbend practice. You control yourself from snapping at a pesky sibling and try to stop fuming at the guy who just cut you off in traffic. But the disturbances in the mind have already been created, and they now impact your being.

How can we maintain equanimity while living in a world designed to trouble us?

The answer lies, as usual, in the practice. Every morning when you step on your mat and start at the beginning, you create a new story. Each day gives you a chance to start at the beginning and go somewhere different. Yesterday’s limitations don’t exist today and today’s won’t exist tomorrow. This impermanence can be a deterrent for many, but for the yogi it means hope. You return to your practice throughout a constantly changing life. You practice life like you practice yoga, with a spirit of exploration and the core belief that this too shall pass.

Practice and detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness. (PYS 1.12) Picture taken at the Bhoga Nandishwara temple at the foot of Nandi Hills.

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Enquiries Into Yogic Philosophy

Yoga is a light…A Yogi’s Diwali

October 19, 2017

pc: Geetanjali Joshi

From ignorance, lead me to truth;
From darkness, lead me to light;
From death, lead me to immortality
Om peace, peace, peace

I learned the above shloka in the year 2009 when I went to SVYASA to do my Teacher’s Training Course. I found that I was the only one unfamiliar with it. When I went on to star teaching yoga myself, I learned from my students that this is a shloka taught widely in schools here in India. This shloka is found in the Upanishads and is a prayer to Light.

If you look at this shloka closely, you can see the definition of the word ‘guru’ in the second line. ‘Gu’ means darkness and ‘ru’ means light. A guru is someone who enlightens you; takes you from the darkness to the light. A guru gives you the strength to recognize your own ignorance and guides you towards your truth.

Diwali is then, perhaps, also a celebration of moving towards the light of truth and peace. We celebrate the triumph of good over evil, but we should also reflect on the inner darkness that exists in all of us and pray for it to be illuminated.

During Diwali we perform the Lakshmi puja, and many people also worship Ganesha and Saraswati during this puja. Ganesha is worshipped at the beginning of any puja and symbolizes that which clears the way to our goal. Saraswati is the goddess of books and learning.

A yogi carries the light (deep) of yoga within. As yogis we are on the path to truth, to the light, to peace in every moment of every day. When we unroll our mats we are lighting a diya to a practice that is our path to a higher truth. When we practice we are paying tribute to goddess Saraswati because the practice is a study of ourselves and humanity. And when we resolve that we will continue the practice no matter what, it is an invocation to Ganesha to clear the hurdles that may stand in our way.

For a yogi, every day is Diwali.

The colors of the Festival of Lights.

Happy Diwali!

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Travels

Dhanteras – Relevant to a Yogi

October 17, 2017

The markets are a riot of colors.

A few years ago I spent three days in the Sivananda Ashram near Neyyar Dam (Kerala). I found out later that the ashram is called ‘Dhanwantri’ Ashram. And in passing someone told me Dhanwantri was a sage in Indian mythology.

Fast forward a few years and I’m in Delhi looking for topics to write about and helping with Diwali preps. A common question in most Hindu households during this time is what to buy for Dhanteras. Delhi markets are in stampede mode. The police are deployed everywhere and their loudspeakers only add to the confusion.

I started to wonder why we celebrate the acquisition of wealth. Our culture is known for its vast array of literature, for its scientific approach, for its philosophy. A day marked by going out and buying jewellery or household vessels seems incongruous with the ethos of our culture.

Turns out that Dhanwantri was the physician to the gods, and the god of Ayurveda. Until now I assumed that ‘dhan’ meant wealth, but my mother (the Hindi literature expert) told me the word refers to any kind of wealth. And since Dhanwantri is the god of Ayurveda, Dhanteras is also a day to celebrate ‘health is wealth’.

“But why do we go out and buy jewellery and utensils,” I asked. “How is that related to health?”

Practice hall at the Sivananda Ashram, Neyyar Dam.

She explained that the idea is to buy a metal. Metals have healing qualities. I have a friend who drank water stored in a silver jug through both her pregnancies. Copper jugs and glasses are commonly found in our kitchens. In fact, a couple of years ago I bought this bracelet made of the ‘panchdhatus’ at Dilli Haat. Panch = five, dhatus = metals and wearing a combination of five metals is considered auspicious because they improve the overall health and wellbeing of the wearer.

Dhanteras has also been declared as National Ayurveda Day. I got my blood test reports yesterday and it’s a negative for the Dengue virus and my platelets continue to be in the normal range. We can probably trace the roots of the papaya leaf and giloy juice back to Sage Dhanwantri and it’s apt that I’m hale and hearty on Dhanteras 2017. Also, while we were out shopping I found a beautiful nose pin and decided to buy it for Dhanteras. I feel I deserve a reward for patiently drinking all that papaya leaf juice! I tried to get a good picture of the pin. Can you see the mina work on it and the pretty flower design?

Probably the prettiest nose pin I own.

So a day when everyone goes out to acquire material wealth is also relevant to us yogis. Go figure!

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