January 2023 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--Samkhya Karika

[Srivatsa Ramaswami]

January 2023 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--Samkhya Karika

Wishing all a Very Happy Prosperous and Peaceful New Year

In December 2022, I taught two on line programs. The first one during Dec 9 to 11 I taught seated asanas for pranayama and meditation including padmasana vajrasana sidhhasana and others. It was hosted by Atmayogashala in Chennai

During Dec 17 to19 2022, I taught a short practicum on Ashtanga Yoga with particular emphasis on the less emphasised angas viz., yama and niyama. It was organized by Omyogashala in New Delhi

Samkhya Karika

Sri Krishnamacharya taught many yoga and yoga related texts to me in the course of my studies with him. One was Samkhyakarika written by Iswarkrishna. Sri Krishnamacharya would teach very closely following the text with elaborate explanations for better understanding. Samkhya Karika is hailed as a masterpiece by some Sanskrit scholars for its literary and philosophical content. Iswarkrishna himself is considered to be an avatara of Poet Kalidasa. Sri Krishnmacharya taught this text of 72 slokas word by word over a long period of time. I have been able to teach this text at different places to interested yoga students. One such lecture series at Yoga Vahini in Chennai in 2018 was videographed. This has been meticulously and aesthetically edited by my friend Jacquelin Sonderling with good help from Vidhya Vasudevan. Many thanks to Jacquelin and Vidhya. The whole lecture series running to about 16 hrs  in 10 volumes/videos covering the entire text is now available for viewing.  Familiarity with Samkhya would help understand yoga sutras of Patanjali better. Here is the link

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN9tS6ehGx5_fiv3JmJwQdclR_DAR6Tvl