March 2021 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--Shades of Bhakti Yoga

[Srivatsa Ramaswami]

March 2021 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--Shades of Bhakti Yoga

It is slowly getting warm in Chennai. Thanks to copious rains this monsoon there may not be water scarcity in Chennai going through the usual hot summer. Covid vaccination  becomes available to senior citizens . 

In February I taught an introductory program on Vinyasakrama yoga, taking Tadasana as an example. Ashtanga yoga Montreal in Canada hosted the program facilitated by our friend Mike De Masi. Continuing with the Bhagavatgita I taught the second segment "Bhakti Yoga" containing chapters 7 to 12. Again, the program was hosted by Liz Richards of Ananta Yoga from Ireland. The last portion, jnana yoga. is scheduled for April 2021 and again hosted on line by Ananta Yoga. 

In March 2021 I am scheduled to teach for 8 days on line yoga programs hosted by One Yoga situated  all over Canada. There will be a 2 hr program on Pranayama on Mar 2, then a 2 hr program on the first 4 sutras of yoga darsana. From Mar 4 to 10th it will be complete study of my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya's Sanskrit work "Nathamuni's Yoga Rahasya". It contains considerable information about Sri Krishnamacharya's teaching of yoga, cikitsa, bhakti and more. In between I will be teaching a one-day program (2 1/2 hrs)- on line- hosted by Mini Shastri's Om Yoga in New Delhi. It will be on Mar 6th on meditation as enunciated by Patanjali. Then from March 18th for 8 days is scheduled a eight-day program on upanishad vidyas from Chandogya Upanished which I studied with Sri Krishnamacharya. It is hosted by Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles. Here are the links

https://www.oneyoga.ca/ramaswami

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https://registration.xenegrade.com/lmucrs/courseDisplay.cfm?schID=6950

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfCXTYCrK_xoCK6i80Jp9QfIN5kZNKIEtmGRzN7c1db1c7cbg/viewform?fbclid=IwAR30q8SqfgoKl7_UMPKJYGU1Oi0ssLVzIkro3mzae6ql75rWZOGR8qc5buU

 

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Shades of Bhakti Yoga

All activities (vritti) may be broadly classified into two categories,. One is pravritti (pra+vritti) or activities done for getting what one wants. Then we have another set of activities termed nivritti (ni+ vritti) activities we do to avoid or get rid of what we do not want. In fact the activities of not only human beings but all creatures fall under these two broad categories. Sankara in a famous example talks about a cow when it sees someone with a bunch of grass in the stretched hand will approach the person. On the other hand if it sees a person with a stick in a raised hand approaching it, will quickly run away from that person.

We put a lot of effort to get what we want or get rid of what we do not want. In fact, many do various religious rites so that they may get not only what they want in this world but also for what they want after leaving the body, they would like to go to other higher worlds. They also would do a lot of rituals and good deeds so that they will avoid going to the lower worlds. 

Lord Krishna syas that many people do not have Bhakti --some may not believe in God. However even among those bhaktas or devotees, not all aspire for the final goal of Bhakti which is to realize the Lord and merge with the Lord ,lest one takes innumerable repeated births or samsara, full of pain. Many worship the Lord for the lower benefits of overcoming difficulties and/or getting what one wants for more worldly or other worldly happiness. 

People who worship the Lord for removal of pain and difficulties are known as Artis. Almost all bhaktas pray to the Lord for the removal of pain, difficulties. The Lord would like the devotees to love Him without reservation and would accept any offering given to Him with devotion, maybe a leaf (basil), a flower, an inexpensive fruit or just a spoonful (uddharani) of water. Youngsters going for their examination pray to their deity and promise a small contribution if they succeed. Here is a story about an Arti.

There was a farmer tilling a small patch of land and was maintaining his family with yield from the land, He also had a cow which would yield milk and also a hen. Once his wife suddenly fell ill and would not recover. So, he went to the local temple and prayed to the presiding deity for the recovery of his wife. He also pledged that he would donate the precious cow to the temple once his wife would get well.

The power of prayer. Soon enough, his wife got well. He was happy. Now it was a question of fulfilling his pledge to the Lord. He took his cow reluctantly to the temple to hand it over. But the temple authorities refused to take the cow as they were not wanting the responsibility of maintaining one more cow in the temple. So, they suggested that he could sell the cow and donate the proceeds to the temple.

Our farmer went home and contemplated. The cow was his prized possession and once he gives it away, he would have nothing to fall back upon. So, he took the cow and the hen to the market and offered to sell both of them. He offered the cow for Rs 500 and there were so many people wanting to buy it as it was not the price of a cow. Then he said that he would sell the cow only along with the hen whose price he said was Rs 50,000. The crowd melted away but one buyer figured that Rs 50,500 for both the cow and the hen was a fair price and bought both of them-- the hen for an exorbitant Rs 50,000 and the cow for a ridiculous Rs 500. The farmer went home with Rs 50,000 after donating Rs 500, the price of the cow to the temple. As he was depositing the Rs 500 in the temple drop box, he felt a bit uneasy. But he closed his eyes and told the Lord whom he loved dearly that he needed the Rs 50,000. He also said that the Lord may be pleased with his small contribution as He would be pleased with a basil leaf, a flower,  a banana or just a spoonful of water. He felt better. He thought that the Lord would understand and he had fulfilled his vow and also salvaged money. The Lord smiled and blessed His devotee. Then the farmer went out and bought another cow with that money

There are those who pray to the Lord for more material benefits, wealth, general prosperity, power, fame. Such devotees are Artharthis or those who pray to the Lord for Artha or materials. Many businessmen in India are Artharthis. Many start the day with short puja and offering to the Lord. In fact, the new accounting year starts with an elaborate puja to goddess of wealth.  So, there are artharthis all over who worship the Lord.

Then we have, according to Lord Krishna, jignyasus or those who are desirous of getting knowledge. Desire to know the ultimate reality, the Lord, Brahman and their identity. Many jnanis are also great bhaktas of the Lord. Adi Sankara even as he was an advaitin dubbed as mayavadin, composed innumerable bhakti works of almost all the godheads. His Soundarya Lahari, Sivanandalahari, Vihsnu padadi kesanta stotra are great works of bhakti. They were great jnanis and also great bhaktas like my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya. Patanjali recognizes the immense value of Bhakti when he says Iswarapranidhana. Pranidhana is bhakti Visesha or intense devotion to the unique purusha, Iswara

And then there are those who have realized the Lord in their mind's eye like sage Narada, the admirable prahlada of immense bliss with the vision of the Lord and the nityasuris. They are jnanis 

When I was young, people who used to practice yoga asanas were there but not too many. When someone, many years back when I started teaching yoga outside India, someone asked me if Indians practice yoga, I hesitated for a moment and then blurted out "Yes, surely. There are millions of yogis , bhakti yogis, in India who start and end each day with a loving, lovely short prayer to the Lord."

 But Sayujya or union with the Lord is the highest goal of a bhakta/devotee. Interestingly Yagnyavalkya in his Yoga work, Yoga Yagnyavalkya defines Yoga as the union of jivatma  and paramatma (Samyogo yoga uchyate jivaatma paramaatmanoH). My Guru was an outstanding bhakti yogi. Once he said there is only one relevant dhyana or meditation and that is bhagavat dhyana (meditation on the Lord)