"We can clearly state that the blame for this is that while we have read the books required for the knowledge of yoga to shine, we have not understood or studied the concepts or brought them into our experience". T. Krishnamacharya. Yoga Makaranda
Interesting and 'chewy' new blog
Lens Cap Refractions
It has this quote from Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda transated supposedly by Mark Singleton of Yoga Body fame
"For such achievements in yoga, we do not need to send our country’s money elsewhere to procure any items. Whatever money we get, there is plenty of place in our country to store it. The foreigners have stolen all the skills and knowledge and treasures of mother India, either right in front of us or in a hidden way. They pretend that they have discovered all this by themselves, bundle it together, and then bring it back here as though doing us a favour and in exchange take all the money and things we have saved up for our family’s welfare. After some time passes, they will try and do the same thing with yogavidya. We can clearly state that the blame for this is that while we have read the books required for the knowledge of yoga to shine, we have not understood or studied the concepts or brought them into our experience. If we still sleep and keep our eyes closed, then the foreigners will become our gurus in yogavidya.
We have already given the gold vessels we had to them and bought vessels from them made from bad-smelling skin and have started using these. This is a very sad state. Our descendents do not need these sorts of bad habits.
The physical exercise that is yoga, this asana kriya that is with us is more than enough for us. The hut that we live in is enough. We don’t need excessive amounts of money for that. What yoga mata wishes for us is that we eat only the sattvic food that Bharatmata can give us. The ability that our youngsters have to follow outsiders can also be used to follow the knowledge and skills of our country. I have complete faith in this. In schools, it is very important to have this yoga vidya in the curriculum. I do not need to emphasize this specifically to the great scholars who know the secrets of vidya.
For the achievement of all the five angas, the means is yoga. That which gives us good health and good fortune is yoga. That which gives us long life is yoga. That which gives us power of intellect is yoga. That which makes us wealthy is yoga. That which makes us human is yoga. That which makes our Bharatmata virtuous and faithful is yoga. That which gives us the power of discernment to know what we should do and what we should not is yoga. The knowledge that helps us understand why we have taken on this life is yoga. That which gives us the answer to the question — where is our god? — is yoga and not anything else. We can say this confidently.
“Yoga is the foundation
for both siddhi and liberation""
T. Krishnamacharya Yoga Makaranda 1934
Interesting and 'chewy' new blog
Lens Cap Refractions
It has this quote from Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda transated supposedly by Mark Singleton of Yoga Body fame
"Perhaps T. Krishnamacharya was already feeling an astute sense of the encroaching difficulties when he warned in 1934 (translation by Singleton):
By falling prey to the advertisements of those same foreigners who stole so much of our indigenous knowledge, we have indeed paid a high price. Now they claim it was their own discovery! Perhaps in the future they will also sell back to us the science of yoga. The reason for this is that most of us have neither studied nor put into practice the texts of yoga. If we remain quiet, the foreigners will become our yoga gurus! It is nothing short of a tragedy that we have thrown away our golden cup and are drinking instead from this foul smelling leather flask brought from abroad. I sincerely hope that such ill fortune will not fall on future generations. [i]"
...reminded me of the section from which this quote is taken, too good not to share in full. Krishnamacharya lays it on quite thick (even thicker in Singleton's translation, make of that what you will).
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| Krishnamacharya standing on left under pictures from Yoga makaranda |
We have already given the gold vessels we had to them and bought vessels from them made from bad-smelling skin and have started using these. This is a very sad state. Our descendents do not need these sorts of bad habits.
The physical exercise that is yoga, this asana kriya that is with us is more than enough for us. The hut that we live in is enough. We don’t need excessive amounts of money for that. What yoga mata wishes for us is that we eat only the sattvic food that Bharatmata can give us. The ability that our youngsters have to follow outsiders can also be used to follow the knowledge and skills of our country. I have complete faith in this. In schools, it is very important to have this yoga vidya in the curriculum. I do not need to emphasize this specifically to the great scholars who know the secrets of vidya.
For the achievement of all the five angas, the means is yoga. That which gives us good health and good fortune is yoga. That which gives us long life is yoga. That which gives us power of intellect is yoga. That which makes us wealthy is yoga. That which makes us human is yoga. That which makes our Bharatmata virtuous and faithful is yoga. That which gives us the power of discernment to know what we should do and what we should not is yoga. The knowledge that helps us understand why we have taken on this life is yoga. That which gives us the answer to the question — where is our god? — is yoga and not anything else. We can say this confidently.
“Yoga is the foundation
for both siddhi and liberation""
T. Krishnamacharya Yoga Makaranda 1934