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| AHYMSIN newsletter, Issue - August 2011 | ||||||||
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The Patañjali Course in Budapest, June 2011by László MészárosNow Swamiji has been for the 7th time in Hungary to continue the course about the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali. Always Swamiji, Swami Ritavan and Dr. Stoma Parker have taught the texts, and the Hatha Yoga hours have held up to the first one which was guided by Anna Mezősi and Ashu. The course was held for the first time not on the week-end, but in the middle of the week, because on the week-end the Eastern Europe Retreat with a course about Yoga Nidra took place in Budapest. Nevertheless, the course was attended very well. This has also become apparent in Ashu's Hatha Yoga hours when we always had to fight with place problems. Finally, it was not insignificant that Swamiji begins in 2013 his long-standing Silence. The talks were, as usual, not only theoretical introductions, but were also accompanied by practical exercises. Concerning the contents, it was about one of the most important and always topical parts of the Sutras: the Yamas and the Niyamas. These, in every regard, were treated in the usual precision and - for our level – with depth. Because it would burst the frame of this article to come properly on the details, I would like to summarize the highlights. Above all, it has become clear again that the meaning in particular of the Yamas can be estimated, actually, almost not at all high enough. Patañjali has placed, as everybody knows, a special value on effectiveness; in the Sutras nothing is superfluous, and we can almost really feel the weight of every word. Patañjali has nevertheless used more than ten Sutras on the Yamas and Niyamas. This was emphasized in the talks; and it is I find important, very important! Since the more one does “of advanced applying“, the more the danger exists that maybe one’s - only supposed - knowledge goes to one’s head. Thus one can shoot rather easily to the temptation not to judge the Yamas as being so important anymore, because they are there "only" for the beginners, they are not valid for the advanced any more in the severity. This would be the biggest mistake which one could make! Accordingly, Swamiji has stressed that Yoga is ahimsa! This tersely appearing sentence has it, of course, in itself; actually; it amounts in his meaning to the sentence: Yoga is samâdhi. All the other Yamas, as well as the Niyamas are to be understood, in the end, only as complementary exercises which serve the achievement ahimsa! If one has reached ahimsa, one has reached practically everything. Vyasa says that ahimsa is a matter to preserve for good, in every situation, all the time. Panditji has called Yoga Mahatma Gandhi probably the best known "representative" of the ahimsa. With his hardly understandable achievement, a world empire being forced without violence to its knees, he has impressively shown for us all the infinite the strength (shakti) of ahimsa. It is no coincidence that no passages of the Sutras agree more with world religions than the Yamas and in particular ahimsa! We must never lose sight of this! Regarding "angas" Swamiji, Swami Ritavan and Panditji have explained clearly that and also how the Yamas and the Niyamas are closely intertwined into each other and with each other. While it must be understood that the Yamas and Niyamas embody a certain step result, they are also to be understood rather like the limbs of a body which support, strengthen and also complement each other. This is valid, in the end, also for "other" angas, the “other six limbs” of the Yoga of Patañjali. Particularly, this is valid for the "teamwork" of ahimsa and satya. It is important not only for our Yoga practice, but also for Brahmanaviharas (I.33), for our everyday life, life with our contemporaries, with our whole environment, and also for the development of citta prasadana. In this sense, ahimsa and satya are connected very closely with each other: The truth should be said pleasantly, and all that is not stated pleasantly cannot be the truth. Vice versa is valid: an unpleasant truth is not ahimsa/satya, and also pleasantly expressed untruthfulness is to be avoided. With asteya, it is primarily about what really belongs to us and what does not. It is here, actually, about our wishes: what we would like to have instead of what we would like to be. Brahmacarya means not only celibacy, but "simply" the averting of the (purely) sensuous joys. One could say: it is the marriage between transitoriness and eternity. With aparigrahah the circle practically shuts to ahimsa since all this that we do not really have is inevitably violence - at least against the environment. Concerning aparigrahah, the principle of “let it go" at one moment will become: I want it to let go. Finally, Swamiji has stressed as maybe most important once more that we should carry out our 2-minute meditations possibly every three hours. Finally I would like to thank - in the name of all participants - in particular Swamiji that, as it has been said by Swami Ritavan at first, India and Patañjali was brought so perfectly to Hungary. Many thanks once again! Editor’s note:Himalayan Yoga Meditation Group of Hungary (Himalájai Jóga Meditáció Közhasznú Egyesület) is an affiliate center within AHYMSIN. We invite you to visit their website at http://www.himalayanyoga.hu/ and their Facebook page. Swami Veda is scheduled to visit Hungary again in June 2012. |
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