Sriman Caitanya deva tvam
vande Gauranga sundaram
Sacinandana mantra he
Yadi chudamani prabho
Lately I’ve been reading a few of the articles on yogadangers.com. I first came across this site a few months ago when it popped up in the Google ads I was trialling on my blog. I read through it then, but revisited it the other day after a recent incident.
On Friday night on the bus home from Atma Yoga I got chatting with a guy who told me he had not been back to the Sunday Feast since I last saw him there because his digestion was “cactus” (Australian for b0rked). When I enquired what was wrong and how it had happened, he explained that it was “tantric misadventure” and then gave me a bone-chilling account that mirrored some of the ones I had read on yogadangers.com about Kundalini awakening gone wrong.
He told me that he had done tantric practices (he didn’t say if they were of the left or right-hand path) “without even believing that they’d do anything”. Next thing he knew, it was like someone was holding a blowtorch to his meridians, one after another for 30 minutes each, like clockwork, every time he ate. All his hair fell out. His energetic system is now completely disturbed.
Two things arise from this:
First of all, yoga practice is not a joke. Most people are not going to experience a partial or complete Kundalini awakening, but some people, due to past activities or whatever predisposition, are susceptible to it. Without the complete practice of yoga, a complete framework that gives you a context to experience and interpret the psycho-physical changes that will take place, Kundalini awakening will be a very disturbing and dangerous event.
Simply doing a few postures, some breathing, and a bit of meditation without the complete orientation and lifestyle that go with yoga practice, while statistically speaking safe, does leave a person open to the possibility of misfortune. Again, most people are going to be perfectly safe, but there are some people who are predisposed to Kundalini awakening. Definitely yoga practices which are designed to awaken the Kundalini should not be taught indiscriminately. Do you know what to do to help someone whose Kundalini energy partially awakens?
If not, don’t play around with it.
One more time for clarity. Most people are going to be fine. Most people will never experience the things described on yogadangers.com. There are 76 case studies on one site - for the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people around the world who practice yoga in one form or another. At the same time you mitigate the risk by practicing yoga holistically and doing things gradually and under guidance, and by not teaching or practicing Kundalini practices unless you know what you are doing and are ready to take full responsibility for the possible outcomes.
Kundalini awakening is a sideshow on the road of yoga practice, however. And when yoga is practiced properly, you might not even notice it happen.
The second thing comes from reading a number of Christian experts commenting on yoga on that site.
I’m a Christian, and I’ve taken the time to research deeply yoga and the philosophy behind it. Unfortunately many Christians commenting on yoga mistakenly identify yoga philosophy with the philosophy of Sankaracharya, not that most of them would know that, or even know who Sankaracarya is.
Sripada Sankaracarya was a 9th century AD philosopher who preached kevaladvaita philosophy - the idea that the soul (atma) and God (param-atma or Brahman) are identical and non-different.
According to the kevaladvaita philosophy of Sankaracarya, the apparent difference between ourselves and each other, and ourselves and God, is due to illusion only, and when this illusion is overcome by yoga practice, then we again realize our oneness with God and merge into that non-dual existence.
This makes a nice strawman to tilt at. It’s a strawman because Sankaracarya’s philosophy originated in the 9th century AD as a response to the philosophy of Gautama Buddha, who said basically the same thing, but substituting “the void” for “God”. Buddhist philosophy is technically atheism as it denies the existence of a persistent soul or God. At liberation the living entity merges into the void, like a candle going out. Sankaracarya’s philosophy is point for point equal to Buddhism except that he says that there is a soul, but it merges into the Supreme at liberation, like a drop of water returning to the ocean.
Buddha preached around 500 BC. Sankaracarya preached around 800 AD.
Yoga practice, on the other hand, predates both of them by thousands of years. Figurines found in excavations in Mohendro-daro depict yogis practicing asanas. The civilisation of Mohendro-daro is over 4000 years old.
Sankaracarya’s philosophical sleight of hand was useful in that it was used to reestablish the traditional authority of the Vedas, and drive Buddhism out of India to where it survived in China. The philosophical basis that was used for argument was secondary however, to the social egalitarianism that had given Buddhism its foothold in caste-conscious India, and that Sankaracarya co-opted when he asserted that birth was not the only criteria for social standing.
The reason that Buddhism had found such favor with the mass of people in India was the repressive caste system based on birth. Buddha threw this out, and with the bath water the baby of God, the soul, and the scriptures that describe both. Sankaracarya made adjustments to the doctrines surrounding the caste system, asserting that birth does not limit one to a particular social standing, then reintroduced the scriptures describing God and the soul, using a layer of philosophical interpretation that he wrote in his commentaries on these scriptures to make them appear more Buddhist-like in their conclusions.
This social egalitarianism, which was also a hallmark of a later reformer, Sri Krishna Caitanya, has been the basis of religious reformations and revolutionary philosophical movements throughout Indian history.
Due to his triumph over the Buddhist school, and his reestablishing traditional Indian cultural norms and scriptural canon on a basis of greater social egalitarianism, Sripada Sankaracarya and his philosophical conclusions have enjoyed wide spread support, and continue to do so today.
Later commentators, such as Ramanujacarya and Madhvacarya, further reformed the tradition and explained the theistic conclusions of the scriptures that Sankaracarya had reintroduced, continuing with his conclusions on social organization and explaining that his kevaladvaita commentary had actually been a ruse to make the scriptural canon more acceptable to a people who had been accustomed to the conclusions of Buddhism for over one thousand years.
Sankaracarya’s doctrine of saguna and nirguna brahman, on which he bases his monistic interpretation, are not found anywhere in the scriptural canon, but are in fact constructs that he describes in his commentary Sariraka-bhasya. Most Christians and the majority of followers of the “Hindu” religion generally do not know these facts about Sankaracarya and his place in the history of religion and philosophy in India.
Many Christians who have commented on yoga have cited as evidence the expert testimony of “followers of Hinduism” who have confirmed that yoga is part of their “Hindu religion” and that the philosophy of Sankaracarya is in fact what “Hinduism” is all about.
Unfortuately, letting Sankaracarya speak for “Hinduism” is about as valid as letting Sam Kekovich speak for “Australianism”. I’ve got a lot of time for both of them, and I’m sure that you could find some Australians as expert witnesses who would quote Keka chapter and verse, but Australia is a big place with a lot of people in it, and so is Hindustan (India).
Sankaracarya’s philosophy is not what yoga is about. It’s not what “Hinduism” is about. “Hinduism” is an invention of the British. “Australianism” is the invention of the marketing company behind Keka’s ads. How long until we have dedicated followers of that?
The real purpose of yoga is described by Lord Kapiladeva in Srimad Bhagavatam. The purpose of the asanas is to clarify the body and make it a suitable vehicle for spiritual practice. A healthy body and mind make for a powerful instrument for spiritual practice and service. The ultimate goal of yoga is union between atma and param-atma, the soul and the Supreme.
One commentator, identifying yoga with Sankaracarya’s philosophy, cited as further proof of the kevaladvaita (monistic) goal of yoga the fact that yoga means “union” (it gives us the English yoke). Unfortunately for that argument word religion means the same thing - the latin ligare means “to bind”. When you yoke, or join or bind, two things together, they become one in a sense, but they also retain their individual identity, and so it is with yoga and religion. Simultaneous oneness and difference - understanding yourself as a part of the whole in an intimate personal relationship.
Lord Kapila, the Personality of Godhead, who is the highest authority on yoga, here explains the yoga system known as ashtanga-yoga, which comprises eight different practices, namely yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. By all these stages of practice one must realize Lord Vishnu, who is the target of all yoga. There are so-called yoga practices in which one concentrates the mind on voidness or on the impersonal, but this is not approved by the authorized yoga system as explained by Kapiladeva. Even Patanjali explains that the target of all yoga is Vishnu. Ashtanga-yoga is therefore part of Vaishnava practice because its ultimate goal is realization of Vishnu.
Where did that come from?
Core Power Yoga, which is based on Baron Baptiste’s Power Yoga and Bikram’s Hot Yoga, has it. 50% of the people absolutely love it, 50% hate it (read some reviews). If you are going to appeal strongly to some people, then other people are not going to like it. That’s the natural result of the fact that people are different.
Core Power Yoga was started by former-IT executive Trevor Trice. He was obviously on the dark side (some would say he still is) - the full functionality of the website is only available to users of Windows using Internet Explorer.
I feel dirty for even having said that…
This is an interesting article that I’d like to bookmark for myself, and thought I’d share it with you.
In the same way, leadership can also be demonstrated in a number of contexts, whether as the head of an organization, or as the unassuming Everyman (or Woman) who may not have an official title but who still wields tremendous influence through relationships.
For Boomers, this means being open to more fluid systemic models. “Emergents tend to emphasize organic process over linear organization, and relational networks or webs over hierarchies,” Irving notes. And Bruce Butterfield, CEO of the Forbes Group, agrees. “Leadership ladders have to give way to leadership bridges.” In ministry, this is currently reflected in the greater use of “strengths-based” job descriptions (à la Marcus Buckingham) rather than static hierarchical roles, and the preference for ministry coaching instead of consulting.
Today is the 2nd anniversary of this blog.
Today in history:
2004
We’d been in Australia for about six months.
This blog is launched with the identity “The Virtual Pen of Sita-pati das” and the mission statement: “What I’m doing - What I’m thinking”
Welcome to my new blog. I will keep this blog up to date with information about what I am doing, for those who are interested in that, and also what I am thinking, for those who are interested in that.
We were looking for a new house. We found one a few days later and Acyuta Bhava moved in with us.
A photo of Prahlad on the lawn outside our first place of residence in Brisbane, on the corner near the temple. Prahlad is now four.
I’d recently started work at Red Hat and gained my Red Hat Certified Technician qualification. Two years to the day later, I started in a new position in Red Hat, in Engineering Content Services as a writer, with a Red Hat Certified Engineer cert under my belt.
2005
I changed the design of the Virtual Pen to something similar to the one we have now, albeit with a different name.
The mission of ISKCON News.Net is to generate forward momentum in fulfilling Srila Prabhupadas objectives for ISKCON through information sharing. The vision is “more nectar than you can drink”. I’m happy with the way that it has evolved since its inception.
Ph.D. shortcourse in Leadership
A reader contributed article on leadership.
2006
Currently executing on The Plan
An interesting special report in the Guardian that looks at how soya has traditionally been consumed, and how it has been prepared and presented for the past 50 years in the West, as the result of economic and technological changes precipitated by the Second World War:
Dawson, a lifelong vegetarian, does not drink soya milk and only eats tofu in moderation. “I will only use a product for my family if there is 200 years of tradition behind it. You are asking for trouble if you take an isolate from soya - yet so much effort seems to go into taking industry’s waste and turning it into new food.”
The effort that has gone into creating the global soya market has indeed been enormous. Today it is dominated by a handful of American trading companies. Three of them - Bunge, ADM and Cargill - control 80% of the European soya bean crushing industry. These three, together with allied companies, are also estimated to control up to 80% of European animal feed manufacturing. They dominate the US soya market, and also account for 60% of Brazil’s soya export
Look at the weaknesses of others with compassion, not accusation. It’s not what they’re not doing or should be doing that’s the issue. The issue is our own chosen response to them and what WE should be doing.
What would happen to your life if you lived in close geographical community and relationship with other people; if you lived in submission to authority; if you practiced silence and simplicity and discipline; if you regularly read the scriptures and prayed and meditated on what you read; if you made study part of your life; and if you worked hard in some daily occupation, seeing your labor as full of dignity and offering it to God?
“But not everyone can move into a monastery,” they said. True, but we already have the solution: they’re called oblates or tertiaries, people who live outside the monastery but who in their daily lives follow the same ideals of sacrifice, simplicity, and service.
Spiritual Formation: we’ve already got a proven model, but do we want it?
I picked up this book yesterday for $9.95: Beyond Power Yoga by Beryl Bender Bircher, whose 1995 book “Power Yoga” named the genre.
Another book that I bought at an earlier sale and have found very useful is this one: Yoga and Pilates for Everyone, multiple authors. It has 1500 source photos in it, and has comprehensive sections on Iyengar Yoga, Pilates, Yoga Therapy (asanas grouped by ailments), Yoga in Pregnancy, and Childrens Yoga.
The most useful section for me so far has been Jonathan Monks‘ section on Yoga - Pilates fusion, especially his introductory body awareness / postural alignment stuff.
This and the alignment focus of my Iyengar classes has been helping me a lot in my power classes.
Speaking of which, check out this CBS 60 minutes report on Bikram: Bikram on CBS (.mov, 28 MB).
Evil is the new good… 
Here are some more resources on Bikram to help you get a fix on the phenomenon:
- Bikram Update- A blog entry by a Bikram student that highlights some of the advantages, including the fixed sequence.
- Bend It Like Bikram - A short article from Yahoo! India.
- Helter Swelter - featured quote: “Many people don’t know this, but Bikram yoga is actually the black sheep of yoga practices. Whenever I find myself sipping chai and chatting with a group of yogis, as soon as I confess my love for Bikram, the conversation pauses, as if I’ve just told a group of Christians that, funnily enough, satanism has me feeling better than I’ve felt in years.” (ha!
) - Bend It Like Bikram - The Guardian Observer (UK)’s expose on Bikram.
- The Money Pose - People either love this guy or hate him…
- New twist to yoga positions as guru sues - Bikram copyrights his sequence.
- Open Source Yoga Unity - The left-wing hippie organization that formed to oppose Bikram’s copyright claims.
- Yoga Suit Settlement Beggars Open Source Ideals - “OSYU’s apparently altruistic act of draping itself with the mantel of the open source movement now seems crafty and disingenuous. The true state of matters has emerged and it’s just business as usual. The OSYU is just another set of pragmatic business people who cut the best deal they could for themselves. When it was time to reach a settlement, openness was the first casualty.” Oh dear… I guess they weren’t such left-wing hippies after all
- Wikipedia on Bikram Yoga, and Bikram Choudhury himself.
Here is the latest evolution of my thinking: a talk that I gave at the Saturday night program at the temple last night. I didn’t have time to structure it, so it’s a little loose. The presentation doesn’t have much preparation, but the content basically represents the realization that is the outcome of my activities so far.
Download Spiritual Family (mp3, 14MB)
Check out this book - The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga.
O My Mind
Bhaja hure Mana
by Govinda das Kaviraja
O my mind, just worship the lotus feet of the son of Nanda, which make one fearless
Having obtained this very rare form of human birth, please make sure you realize its true worth
Taking shelter of saintly persons to cross over this material ocean
O my mind, just worship the lotus feet of the son of Nanda, which make one fearless
Day and night I am burning from heat, freezing from the cold - not realizing the spirit soul
Wasting my time in work for a miserly man, to fulfil his miserly plan for happiness that flickers like a candle
O my mind, just worship the lotus feet of the son of Nanda, which make one fearless
Health and wealth, friends and family - of what use to me are all of these, ultimately?
This life is fleeting, uncertain the final hour. Just like a drop of water sitting on the lotus flower
O my mind, just worship the lotus feet of the son of Nanda, which make one fearless
Hearing and chanting, remembering and praying, offering service and submissively obeying, worshiping a dear friend, offering everything - this song of Govinda dasa from my heart I sing
O my mind, just worship the lotus feet of the son of Nanda, which make one fearless
Download: O My Mind (mp3, 19MB) Brisbane Sunday Feast
One hundred and eight is an abundant number and a tetranacci number.
It is the hyperfactorial of 3 since it is of the form 
108 is a number that is divisible by the value of its φ function, which is 36. 108 is also divisible by the total number of its divisors (12), hence it is a refactorable number.
In normal space, the interior angles of an equilateral pentagon measure 108 degrees each.
There are 108 free polyominoes of order 7.
108 is a Harshad number (Sanskrit: “Great Joy”). This means that it is evenly divisible by the sum of the digits, i.e: 1+0+8 =9. 108/9 = 12.
108 = 6² + 6² + 6², the sum of the squares of the three equal numerals making up the Biblical-Apocalyptic “number of the Beast”, 666. (just thought I’d throw that one in there… )
It so happens that the distance between the earth and the sun equals about 108 (actually 107-odd) times the sun’s diameter. Likewise, it so happens that the distance between the earth and the moon equals about 108 (actually 109-odd) times the moon’s diameter. That sun and moon look equally big in the earthly sky is the immediate result of their having the same ratio between distance and diameter. Moreover, it so happens that the sun’s diameter approximately equals 108 times the earth’s diameter.
Read more at: Why 108? by Dr Koenraad ELST, Ph.D., and at Wikipedia.
Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.
William Feather
It’s a fact.
Here is an article on the world’s first Hindu Mega-temple.
“There is no doubt about it — we have taken the concept from Disneyland,” said Jyotindra Dave, the chief public relations officer for the organization that built the temple, which opened in November. “We visited five or six times. As tourists, I mean. And then we went away and worked out how they did everything.”
Stefan Trellenkamp, a University of Kaiserslauten researcher, engraved a tiny soccer field on a tiny piece of acrylic glass using an electron beam. It took him an entire day to make it precise in every detail at 500 nanometers by 380 nanometers - meaning that it and 19,999 others just like it would fit on the tip of a human hair. Trellenkamp is “really, really proud” of his achievement.
But there is just one problem: Since no one can see it, there’s no point in putting it on display. So? “I guess,” he told reporters, “it’ll just stay in my drawer for the time being.”
20,000 on the tip of the hair makes it “half the size of the human soul”. The old preaching line of: “They can’t see the soul because it’s too small” is now out.
The Svetasvatara Upanishad (5.9) confirms (…):
balagra-sata-bhagasya
satadha kalpitasya ca
bhago jivah vijneyah
sa canantyaya kalpate“When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each of such parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the spirit soul.” Similarly the same version is stated:
kesagra-sata-bhagasya
satamsah sadrisatmakah
jivah sukshma-svarupo ‘yam
sankhyatito hi cit-kanah[Cc. Madya 19.140]
“There are innumerable particles of spiritual atoms, which are measured as one ten-thousandth of the upper portion of the hair.”
Bhagavad-gita 2.17 purport
The essential idea is that the soul is “outside the range of sense perception”. It may be that size in one sense, but it’s also imperceptible in another sense. That means that even if they can see things of that magnitude, they still can’t (as yet) directly perceive it.
7 Days, 8 classes down.
I went over a hump on day 5 - Passion threatened to degrade to ignorance and I had to look within for another motivation to continue with the transforming process.
The morning’s Bhagavatam verse helped me through:
sivaya lokasya bhavaya bhutaye
ya uttama-sloka-parayana janahThose who are devoted to the cause of the Personality of Godhead live only for the welfare, development and happiness of others. They do not live for any selfish interest.
-SB. 1.4.12
Heated Power Vinyasa @ Atma here we come….
Today is Day 1 of the writing gig, Day 5 of the Bikram program.
