Sharath discussion on Ishvara, Japa Mantra Religion, God at Sunday Conference in Mysore

image from http://joisyoga.com

I thought this was an interesting discussion/exchange with Sharath on Ishvara, Japa Mantra Religion, God etc. the whole shebang   at Sunday Conference in Mysore, picking up on questions five and eight here as they seem to go together well.  

I'm particularly interested in this as japa mantra is something Ramaswami encourages at the the end of practice after pratyahara, pranayama and of course your asana ( perhaps a shorter asana practice in the evening with more time for pranayama and  japa. I've also been including manta in my actual asana practice recently, it started with a kind of loving kindness mantra 'May I (she,he,they, Ramaswami, all living beings etc,) be safe, may I be well, may I be peaceful, may I be happy (different line of the mantra on each inhalation and exhalation throughout the practice) now I'm constructing mantra's based on Lamrim meditation, a different, meditation for each day, the asana practice as a kind of carrier for the mantra, it's an interesting approach.

The transcript is from Suzy's Mysore blog

Question 5
With surrendering to Ishvara, who is Ishvara?

Sharath– Ishvara is the existence, the nature, the energy who is making this world work.

Student– but how do we surrender to that energy?

Sharath– in your practice, by following yama and niyama. If you follow that, that means you are surrendering. Humans gave the name god to god. Humans see god as human. Tigers see god as tiger. Birds see god as a big bird, bigger than him. God means some energy, which is running this, the whole show.

How do you feel that? through your yoga practice. You have to apply yama and niyama to get to proper meaning, to understand what yoga is. If you follow that your mind gets very calm. If you follow ahimsa your mind gets very calm, there is no conflict with anyone.

Why everyone talks about spirituality? They need something to stop themselves to do bad things. So they go to a teacher, a master, he will guide you. If teacher says go and do anything, smoke cigarettes, go to party… he is spoiling you. It’s all fake the joy you are getting from outside. You have to get inner joy. When you get there’s nothing like that. Everything looks different. Everything looks joyful for you.

Now you want to see the internet, Facebook, Twitter, what this guy is doing… But instead if you sit for 15 minutes and try to understand how to bring inner joy. Do japa (mantra repetition) for 15 minutes, take one mantra – any mantra you want, chant it at home. Then you will see how this thing will change. Don’t think anything, just do japa.


Question 8
If a person doesn’t have a religion, how do they go about seeking a mantra?

Sharath– you have to have something. What is your taste? You can’t say I don’t believe in that supreme energy, you have to believe in one.

Student– it’s not so much not believing in one, it’s just not having a preference.

Sharath– you should have one. How old are you?

Student– 24.

Sharath– [laughs] see this is the problem. Later, when you get wiser the things change. When I was practising 23 years back I was just bending my body. But when I got wiser then I realised that yoga is beyond asanas. Many things I had to discover. Maybe in ten years you will know.

Part of svadhyaya (self-study) is getting connected to one god. We have to believe in someone otherwise we won’t exist. Your mother, your father can be your god. Your teacher, your guru can be your god. You can feel that energy through your mother or your guru. Do you believe in this practice, what you’re doing?

Student– yes.

Sharath– so that belief can be god.
Someone asked me long back, in the old shala… my grandmother gave me a ring. I was wearing that ring. I was wearing here [indicates ring finger] so many people thought I was married. So one lady asked me, “are you married?”. I said, “yes”. “So where is your wife?”, I replied, “yoga is my wife” [laughs]. I was so involved in yoga. Your first wife is your practice.

Student– is your wife jealous?

Sharath– no, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.
But sometimes we can see something different in our teacher. Many people believed Guruji as their god. They felt some energy through him. Once I had back pain lifting too many students. My challenge from day one was practice and helping. When you lift students your body becomes stiff. I got this pain in my lower back. And everyday Guruji used to make me catch in back-bending here [indicates mid-thigh]. So I told my grandfather, “I can’t do today”. My grandfather he said, “just do it, just breathe”. He made me catch and after that all the pain was gone. That day it was a totally meditative practice.

That was the energy that he had within him.

That energy only comes from a proper sadhana (spiritual practice). Yogasadhana is not easy, it takes a lot of sacrifice. To master something you have to leave many things. If you are forced to do something it won’t be the same. When you like to do some work it is totally different. When you do something willingly the energy is totally different. And sometimes you need that push from your teacher.
We see many attitudes here also. When a student comes and thinks he knows everything, he wants to prove that. I say I have to learn so many things still. It doesn’t end. The person who knows everything he doesn’t say he knows everything.

You can only experience yoga through your practice. If I eat masala dosa that doesn’t mean you have relished masala dosa. You have to go and eat. Yoga is also like that. You have to do it.