vinyasa krama yoga newslettes 2012

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Vinyasa Krama Yoga

Newsletters 2012 fromSrivatsa RamaswamiDisclaimer: This document was compiled from Srivatsa Ramaswamis Vinyasa Krama YogaNewsletters and contains volume 1-12 from 2012 - http://www.vinyasakrama.com

Index

January 2012 Newsletter Yoga, Knowing the Unknown 2

February 2012 Newsletter Mantra Pranayama 7

March 2012 Newsletter Chanting with Sri Krishnamacharya 12

Mid March 2012 Message from Sri Krishnamacharya's Daughter 18

Vinyasakrama Yoga Videos 20

April 2012 Newsletter Yoga Sutra Quartet--VK Yoga 22

May 2012 Newsletter My Facebook Phase 26

June 2012 Newsletter Asana and vinyasa 34

July 2012 Newsletter - YOGAGATE VISWAMITRA 41

August 2012 Newsletter Divine Mother (Sakthi) Chants 47

October 2012 Use of Voluntary Breath Control in Asanas 51

November 2012 Newsletter Chittavritti,an Illusion 56

Mid November 2012 Newsletter An Interview 61

December 2012 Newsletter RISHIS 103

VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS VOLUME 01-12 / 2012

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January 2012 Newsletter Yoga, Knowing the Unknown

Wish you a very happy and prosperous New year, a New Decade. Warm New YearGreetings from Chennai, India. Wish you a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2012!

On a Sunday in early December I spoke at the Vishnumohan Foundation on Vishnu

Sahasranama. I have a recording of the chanting of this popular work from the Mahabharata(in which the Bhagavat Gita also is found) made in the mid 80s by a recording company,Sangeetha. I chanted a few slokas from this work and also explained the meaning of the first14 of the 1000 mantras. These 14 are said to give the quintessence of Vedanta.

For 2012, I plan to teach at the following places:

Feb 25 to Mar 4 Mexico City, Mexico

Apr 14 to 16 Ridgefield, CT

Apr 20 to 22 Houston TX

Apr 27 to 29 Dallas, TXMay 6 to 11 Esalen, Big Sur,CA

May28 to Jun 3 Vancouver, Canada

Jul 6 to Aug 11 TT PROGRAM, LMU, CA

Syllabus: http://vinyasakrama.com/Syllabus_Teacher_Training_200_Hr

Impressions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lhIKIfSk4

contact; [email protected]

Sep 6 to 12 Chicago, IL

Oct 5 to 14 Somerset, UK

For more details please visit the Events Page of my website

www.vinyasakrama.com/Events

*****

YOGA, KNOWING THE UNKNOWN

There is an interesting saying in Indian philosophy to indicate that there is a purpose in everyactivity one deliberately undertakes. Samkhyas and some schools of Buddhism also use thissaying, prayojanam anuddhisya mando pi na pravartate meaning that even a dimwit will not

do anything without an idea of what benefit one would get out of the effort.So what is the goal of all these systems like Yoga, Vedanta, Samkhya and others? Yes one maywant to know the ultimate goal and also the intermediate goals before starting suchendeavors.

I heard the following story from my great aunt when I was young. Even as I read moreauthentic versions subsequently, I am sticking to my grandma's tale.

The Lord created the Universe and decided to populate the Universe. He created four younghumen beings and asked them to populate the Universe. He implied that the lives in theUniverse would be happy provided one would stick to Dharma. The four mind-children of

the Lord (manasa putras) did not move. They could not take their wide eyes offthebewitching form of the Lord They could not tear themselves away from the immensely


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satisfying immediate presence of the Lord, the formless Brahman. Their countenanceindicated that they were perfectly happy. Looking at the Lord, the ultimate reality, they werebrimming with bliss. The Lord realized that neither the normal nocturnal pleasures nor thehuge heavenly happiness would anymore interest these beings. They had Kaivalya or Mokshaeven before they could be in bondage. They came to be known as nitya suris or perennial

enlightened ones.The Lord still wanted to go ahead with his pet project of creating a Universe with differentcreatures and experiences. So he created the four-headed Brahma, one of the Indian Trinity,and bade him to create beings including human beings. But the Lord created Brahma thistime with Brahma's back to Him so that Brahma would not see Him and attain instantnirvana like the earlier ones. Brahma duly chanted OM', the pranava mantra, and created theuniverse and the creatures . All beings thereafter went about their life cycles feverishly lookingfor some crumbs of happiness here and there in the midst of widespread unhappiness. Therewas never a chance to escape this unending cycle of births and deaths. Since everyone fromBrahma downwards had never experienced the ultimate reality, people were looking outward

for happiness. Thus even though the Lord is said to have entered every being and resided aspure consciousness in everyone, nobody knew what was behind the back as it were.Someone had to say Look Inward.

The Lord decided that there should be an escape route (nivritti marga) for some of those whowere earnestly looking for liberation. He then asked one of the Nitya suris, Sanatkumara tohelp the deserving human beings to achieve moksha or liberation. Sanatkumara then wasborn to Siva, the third of the Trinity, as Kumara or Skanda. Because he had the directexperience of the Lord, the ultimate reality, he was astonished at the complete ignorance of allthe beings about the ultimate reality. He even went up to Brahma, the creator aspect of theTrinity, and asked about how he started creation and if he knew the ultimate reality. Brahma

said that he did it after chanting OM as mentioned in the vedas. Then Kumara promptlyasked him for the meaning of OM, the pranava mantra and Brahma fumbled. No, I do notknow that said Brahma sheepishly. Kumara became angry and said that Brahma wasincompetent. Promptly Kumara imprisoned Brahma and took over creation himself. Soonenough all those he created were like him and quickly the original scheme of the Lord ofsustainable creation was coming to naught. Siva, the third of the Trinity and father ofKumara, then went up to him and asked him to release Brahma and let him do his work. ButKumara refused and said that the person who does not know the meaning of OM, the name/mantra of the Ultimate Reality, Brahman, is incompetent to do such an important task ascreation. Siva said that he himself did not know the meaning of OM and casually asked theenlightened son for the meaning of Pranava. Kumara said that he would teach him, provided

his father would study under him following strictly all the rules of a student. Siva agreed andbecame a disciple of his own son. Skanda taught him the meaning of OM and Siva becameenlightened. Skanda then came to be known as 'tahappan swami (Tamil) or lord/preceptor/guru of one's own father. Brahma also learnt it and was then released by Kumara tocontinue his work. Siva then devised a method of understanding the ultimate reality, theBrahman or Purusha. It came to be known as Yoga, a very arduous procedure which only afew were able or willing to undertake and they came to be called as Yogis. Siva then badePatanjali to formulate the yogia system which became the source book for all those whowould like to take the 'spiritual' path and realize the ultimate reality which according to theUpanishad is Brahman.

But the desire for liberation (mumukshatva) does not come about easily. It needs rightinformation and a lot of persuasion and convincing. Even the most cultured intellectual


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(vidusha) has a thick veil of avidya in so far as 'spiritual' goal is concerned, the old texts aver asin the case of even the four headed Brahma. So the old foundation texts like the Upanishads,the Bhagavat Gita, the Yoga Sutra, the Samkhya philosophy, several puranas like theBhagavata Purana, try multiple methods to wean away the disgruntled from the mundaneexistence to the 'spiritual' path. One method is to lead them from the known to the unknown.

We all know both happiness and unhappiness. So the upanishads start from knownhappiness and compare it to the bliss of 'spiritual' knowledge/experience, the unknown at thepresent. We all experience limited happiness. Who is the happiest human being? Theupanishad talks of a perfect human being. Take the case of a young person, a noble soul -adharmic person, an exceptional scholar, a great leader with an excellent physique, perfect andstrong limbs and senses, very rich and propertied, like an emperor. Such a person would bethe happiest human being. Let us mark it as one unit of human happiness, the limit of humanhappiness. All other human beings will have less than one unit of human happiness.

Is there more than one unit or measure of happiness? Yes, says the upanishad.

One hundred times happier will be the Gandharvas. So also those human beings who haveknown the scriptures (and the Pranava) and who have given up all desires, say theupanishads. Gandharvas are considered to be the lowest in the hierarchy of gods and arebasically excellent singers.

But then the leader of this divine tribe, a deva gandharva, the celestial singer is capable of onehundred times more happiness than the ordinary Manushya Gandharvas. So is the one whohas mastered the scriptures (and the Pranava or OM) and is absolutely not tormented bydesires.

One hundred times happier than the deva Gandharvas are the pitrus (manes), so also the oneswho have mastered the scriptures (and OM) and are absolutely free of all desires.

One hundred times happier are the ajana devas and the ones who have mastered thescriptures (and OM) and are free from all desires.

Then there are the gods like the fire, wind, water, etc., who are propitiated by vedic sacrificesand who are a hundred times happier than the previous lot; and those who are well versed inthe scriptures and free from all desires

Indra, the boss of the gods is said to be one hundred times happier than the gods, so alsothose who are proficient in the vedas and pranava and are absolute Vairagis.

Brihaspati the preceptor of the devas is said to enjoy hundred times more happiness thanIndra himself, so also those who have mastered the vedas and remain absolutely desireless.

Prajapati, a son of Brahma, is said to be a hundred times happier than Brihaspati along withthose who have mastered the vedas and are untouched by any kind of desire.

A hundred times happier is Brahma, the four faced creator aspect of the Trinity, the one whowe came across earlier in the story. Those who are well versed in the scriptures and absolutelydesireless with respect to the entire creation are also as happy as Brahma.

Then the one who is able to see the in-dweller of all beings and the one in the sun yonder asone and the same Brahman-the ultimate reality- is happier than even four faced Brahma(catur mukha), like the Nitya suris referred to earlier. His/Her bliss, the bliss of theenlightened one like the nitya suris we came across in the beginning is unsurpassed, eternal

and infinite. The Upanishad from the known facts about happiness, skillfully leads to theunsurpassed bliss of the Brahman awareness. It emphatically states that the one who knows




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the Brahman, the ultimate reality, the pure consciousness unaffected by space (akasa) andtime (avakasa), attains the highest state (brahmavit aapnoti param).

How does Patanjali handle this, leading the yogabhyasi from what is known to what isunknown and superior? He refers to five states or five activities of the mind or chitta, fivestates we are all familiar with. All our lives we move through these five chitta vrittis. Sometimes the chitta is engaged in collecting information and sifting the facts from that, which isknown as pramana vritti. More often the chitta from the information received misses the factsand comes to wrong conclusions, known to yogis as viparyaya vrithis. A lot of times the chittaimagines a number of things without any solid base called vikalpa vrittis. Our dreamsincluding day dreams will come under this category. Then a lot of time is spent in deep sleepwhen one forgets everything including oneself due to the dominance of Tamas. Then thereare occasions when we ruminate over the past, remember facts stored in the mind calledsmriti vrittis. Our vrittis fall into one group or the other. But the Yogi's vritti nirodha is a stateof the chitta which is none of the above. Patanjali refers to this state of the mind callednirodha state which is none of the five vrittis we are all familiar with. The sixth state of the

mind, the vritti nirodha state, according to Patanjali is one every chitta potentially has, buthas never experienced. It is a state of absolute peace or irrevocable and complete satisfaction.Again here the Sutras lead the yogi from known states to a state unknown but withineveryone's reach through Yoga. In that state of Kaivalya or chitta vritti Nirodha the mind is ina state of absolute objectless samadhi and the three gunas are in a state of equilibrium..

Patanjali again mentions this state as something beyond the seven motives/ stimuli that driveus to act variously. They are the desire to possess (prepsa), desire to rid (jihasa), desire toknow (jignyasa), desire for action (chikirsha), fear (bhaya), depression (soka) and distraction(vikshepa). We are familiar with these states of mind, but the state of Kaivalya/nirodha isbeyond these known states.

But how can we trust the upanishads or philosophies like Samkhya or Yoga? Yes that is themain problem for many. These thought systems are called Agamas or traditional authenticsystems indicating that they are given to human beings for the general good and the primafacie view is that they are valid. The first information is gotten from these works and thatknowledge is known as paroksha or indirect, usually highly academic. Many stop at that andexcel in that intellectual indirect experience. Then one contemplates and then possibly getsconvinced about the correctness when it is known as anumana or inferential knowledge. Andfinally by deep meditation, one pointedness (ekeagrata chitta), and Samadhi one is able todirectly experience the state that was not there to start with which these works talk about. Itis then known as pratyaksha or yougika pratyaksha or direct perception through Yoga. Thusthe old texts lead us, slowly but surely, from the known to the superior unknown .

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In the olden days, in India,especially in the South, women would not say the name of thehusbands as it was considered disrespectful. A census inspector will have a difficult timegetting the name of the spouse from the wife. One has to ask the other family members thename of one's husband. Likewise, many of the potent mantras are not directly mentioned butonly through the name of the mantra. If one wants to say the OM mantra one would morelikely say the pranava mantra than just OM mantra, as Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutras.The meditation or chanting of the mantra would be referred to as pranava dhyana or pranavajapa. Pranava itself is a beautiful word. Scholars refer to it as a word derived from the root

Nam or nam to bow (Nam prahvi bhave) as used in namah or namaste. 'Prakarshena nautisthouti iti pranavah', meaning pranava is the highest praise or obeisance to the highest




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principle, here Iswara or Brahman. Another interesting interpretation of this word comesfrom deriving the word from another root 'nav' (or nava) to begin or new like 'novo'. SinceBrahman is said to be pure consciousness and never changes it is always new, always 'nava'and hence pranava.

There are other important mantras who have separate names. The Gayatri mantra which is ofthe gayatri meter refers to the mantra starting with 'tat savitur..' and even though there aremany other mantras in the Gayatri meter, only this particular mantra, the brain child ofViswamitra is referred to as gayatri. Then we have another famous mantra namassivaya.This namassivaya mantra is more often referred to as 'panchakshari' or five syllable mantraeven as there are scores of other mantras which have five syllables. 'Om namo narayanaya' myGuru's favorite mantra is known as ashtakshari as it has eight syllables. 'Om namo bhagavatevasudevaya' is a very popular Krishna mantra and is known as 'dwadasakshari' as there are 12syllables in it.

The mantras especially pranava were chanted, meditated upon and referred to withconsiderable devotion and respect in the olden days. Contemporary use of 'OM' on tea shirts,vests and other casual wares is sometimes difficult to put up with.

But what is the meaning of the mantra OM? It is grist for another article.

******

The entire Universe

Even as it is awesome

Is but a grand illusion (maya kalpita)

Like the space and objects in a mirror

Like the space and objects in a dreamLike those created by a magician

Or like the creation of a (siddha) yogi*

From Dakshinamurti Ashtaka

of Adi Sankara

*Like Sage Viswamitr a who is said to have used his yogic powers to create an illusoryheaven for his disciple King Trisanku.

*****My old news letters with several articles can be accessed by visiting my websitewww.vinyasakrama.com and clicking on the Newsletter tab.

Thank you for reading up to here And again, a happy new year!!

Best Wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami


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February 2012 Newsletter Mantra Pranayama

After a four month stay in Chennai, India I am planning to come to USA by middle ofFebruary. Thanks to the good efforts of Roxana Letechipia who attended my last TeacherTraining Program at LMU, Los Angeles, I will be teaching three programs in Mexico City

during the last week of February. There will be two weekend workshops and a week longcertificate program, Core Vinyasa Krama Yoga. My next newsletter may have a few Spanishwords.

MANTRA PRANAYAMA

Considerable amount of literature is now available on Pranayama (from ancient andcontemporary yogis), an important anga of Yoga, even though a smaller and smaller numberof Hatha yogis do a smaller and smaller number of pranayamas. In fact according toBrahmananda who wrote an important commentary of Hathayogapradeepika, Hatha yoga isindeed Pranayama. Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras succinctly gives the parameters of pranayamaalong with the benefits. Hathayoga pradeepika and several other hatha yohga texts talk about

a variety of pranayamas with different ratios in considerable detail and as I said enoughliterature is available on pranayama. However since it is also the anga prior to the antarangaor meditation, parts of yoga pranayama has been used to prepare oneself for meditation. If inpranayama you can introduce some noble thoughts for meditation like an uplifting mantra,bhava thought or an image such pranayamas are called sagarbha pranayama or pranayamapregnant with lofty ideas. Sri Krishnamacharya in his Nathamini's Yoga Rahasya says thatsagarbha pranayama is several times more beneficial; more than the mechanical pranayamadone generally by hatha yogis.

Sagarbha pranayama done with pranayama mantra from the vedas, which also includes thepotent gayatri as a part of it, has been in vogue since the vedic times. Sri Krishnamacharya in

his yoga work Nathamuni's Yoga Rahasya gives a number of instructions for doingpranayama towards the end of the first chapter. He commends the use of Pranava and thepranayama mantra with gayatri while doing pranayama practice. Usually pranava (OM), themost potent mantra and the mother of all mantras, as a stand alone mantra is used byrenunciates like consummate yogis and advaitins. And the gayatri impregnated vedicpranayama mantra is used by householders and others in all pranayama. In fact Manu in hisfamous Manusmriti says that the pranayama mantra which consists of prnava, the sevenvyahritis, the gayatri and the head or siras portion should be recited while holding the breathin Kumbhaka three times to be called as pranayama. Sri Krishnamacharya also emphasizesthe need to meditate on the meaning of the mantras like the suggestion of Patanjali in YS.

Most people who do ritualistic pranayama in India use the pranayama mantra referred toearlier. Manusmiti says as follows

sa vyahritim sa pranavaam

gayatriim sirasa saha

trifpateth ayataf pranah

pranayamassa uchyate

Here is the transla tionPranayama is that in which the seven vyahritis (bhuh bhuvaha...) eachpreceded by pranava (OM) then the gayatri, then the siris are (silently) recited.




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It should be chanted (silently) while holding the breath (kumbhaka). When it is done threetimes it is called panayama. The pranayama mantra is 64 syllables and takes about 20 secondsto chant, more or less. The verse quoted above says three times and some interpret it aschanting the mantra three times while holding the breath, but generally it is chanted once andthree such pranayamas will make one bundle of pranayama. If you try to do the chant thrice in

one go it would taken a minute and holding the breath for one minute could be a realchallenge to most and so most people stick to the earlier option.

What about the duration for inhalation and exhalation? Sri Krishnamacharya says in YogaRahasya that it should be vishamavritti indicating that the time duration for inhalationexhalation and breath holding would vary. So many go by the 1:4:2 ratio.

One may inhale for 5 seconds then chant the mantra during internal holding for 20 secondsand then exhale for 10 seconds. The breath holding after exhalation is considered a hathayogapractice and many orthodox people who do pranayama as part of the Puja or Japa ritualdispense with bahya kumbhaka and the bandhas. The quickie pranayama is three times but itis recommended that on should do 10 times the samantra pranayama. (Contrast this with thehathayoga approach of going up to 80 times mantraless pranayama).

Since children sometimes as young as 5 were initiated into vedic studies, it becomesobligatory for them to do sandhya and hence mantra pranayama and silent gayatri chant. Butthen because they are young they may not be taught to do calibrated pranayama. Usually incourse of time they would learn to do long inhalation and exhalation say in nadishodhana.Later they will be taught the whole vishamavritti pranayama as explained earlier.

So the mantra is chanted silently in pranayama. But most people just chant the mantrawithout the pranayama--they may merely touch the nose but not do the pranayama. So wehave one set of people who do pranayama without mantras as most hatha yogis do and

another group especially in India who chant the mantra faithfully but do not do the prnayamaat all and thus both lose out. It even led the much revered previous Sankaracharya of Kanchito remark that if only Indians would hold the breath (kumbhaka) rather than just touch/holdthe nose they would all become great yogis and spiritual persons.

My Guru also said that when doing any mantra in japa, in pranayama or meditation, oneshould think of the meaning or import of the mantra. That makes it lot more powerful andmeaningful. What does this mantra signify, many times we get initiated into a mantra routinewithout knowing what it means. All yogis know that Patanjali insists on contemplating onthe meaning of pranava when doing pranava japa to get the grace of Iswara.

Om Bhuh, om bhuvah, om suvah, om mahah, om janah, om tapah, om satyam;then the gayatri and then the siras which runs like this,

om apah jyoti rasah amrtam brahma bhurbhuvassuvarom is the pranayama mantra.

This mantra appears in Mahanarayana Upanishad, the last chapter of Yajur veda. Thisupanishad also contains several beautif ul mantras used on a daily basis like the offering to thefive pranas (before taking food), meditating within the heart etc. I got the whole chapter(about 45 minutes of continuous chanting) recorded some 25 years back by Sangeetha and Ibelieve it is available in some stores in Chennai, India.

You may learn the pranayama mantravisit my website www.vinyasakrama.com/chants andclick on the Learn Pranayama Mantra chant tab.


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So what is the meaning of this wonderful pranayama mantra? Again there are differentinterpretations. The conventional meaning for the seven vyahritis is seven different worldsstarting with the world we live in to six other higher worlds. But the word loka is interpretedin a more esoteric sense by a few scholars. They say that the words loka and look are derivedfrom the same root . And the seven lokas are the seven perceptions of the ultimate reality

which is Brahman the pure non changing consciousness.So this approach which gels with the advaita philosophy would be as follows: According tothe Upanishads, Brahman in its pristine state is alone and there was no time or space (akshaand avakasha) in contention. The Brahman once thought that it should become many(bahusyam praja yeyeti). Then in the next stage It deeply contemplated as to how it shouldcreate the universe and make many microcosmic individual consciousness. This state wasknown as the stage of tapas of the Brahman (sa tapo tapyata). Then after deep contemplationand planning It created the entire Universe (idam sarvam asrujata). After this creation theBrahman entered and permeated the entire Universe (tat eva anupravisat) and every being asthe individual Self.

The seven vyahrutis are considered as representing the seven states of the same consciousnessfour at the microcosmic level and three at the cosmic level. So when doing pranayama duringbreath holding internally, one would say

'om bhuh', contemplate on the consciousness, represented by pranava or 'om during thewaking state. Then as the second vyahriti

'om bhuvah ' is recited, one would think of the same consciousness being aware of theindividual dream state.

'om suvah would refer to the same consciousness witnessing the deep sleep stage.

Om mahah, the fourth vyahriti is the consciousness beyond the three earlier mentionedknown amongst the vedantins as the fourth state of the mind (turiya) or the yogi's kaivalyastate. The same consciousness now is identified with the Brahmana that created the Universe(Om Janah).

Then the next mantra, the sixth Om tapah would represent the Brahman as one deeplycontemplating and

finally the pristine state of consciousness Om satyam the one and only Brahaman.

With this the abhyasi is able to identify and meditate up on the same one Brahaman as seen indifferent states. The theory that there is only one consciousness that exists both at the cosmicand at the microcosmic level is the bedrock of the advaita (No two conciousnesses)

viewpoint. So an advaitin while doing pranayama is able to reinforce the advaitic conviction.Then the second part of the pranayama mantra is the gayatri mantra. It again refers to theultimate reality as the inner light. Just as the sun with its lustrous orb lights the entire world,the Brahman/Self lights the entire chitta or the internal world of the meditator, so that thechitta vrittis are experienced or 'seen' in the mind's eye .

The last portion known as the siras or the head, is an encomium to the ultimate Brahman. Itrefers to It as OM., pure consciousness, the universal light, the essence of the entire Universe,immortal (unchanging), the source of the universe, and is known to the individual as the innerSelf during the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep.

This meaning of the pranayama mantra is vividly brought to the mind as the pranayamamantra is recited silently during antah kumbhaka. Then it is known as samantraka or




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sagarbha pranayama. According to Manu this samantra pranayama is the greatest Tapas/meditation.

It is said that those who are well versed in the chakras are able to identify the seven vyahritiswith the seven chakras in the body using the respective bijakshara or seed mantras. Somemake an effort to visualize the cosmic Brahman in the seven chakras in the microcosm itself.

There are other types of mantras used. For instance saivaites tend to chant the siva mantras asthey hold the breath as mentioned in the Tamil Saiva classic Tirumandiram. The mantrasivasiva of four syllables is chanted 16 times during one breath hold corresponding to 64syllables as in the pranayama mantra referred to earlier.

Here is a pranayama for renunciates:

While doing puraka or inhalation the thought would be that the entire universe is ultimatelydrawn into the Brahman. Then while in antahkumbhaka the contemplation would be thatthe outside Universe and I are no different from the Brahman. Then while exhaling the egoI' with the entire Universe is discarded as nothing but an illusion, not real, not significant.

And in bahya kumbhaka one would contemplate that pure Brahman alone is real, It aloneexists.

Those who believe in the reality of world and the trinity (Brahma, Vishnu and Siva), woulduse pranayama to reinforce their faith.

Inhaling through the left nostril one should think of the four faced Brahma the creator aspectof the trinity and of blood red hue (rajas guna) while chanting Om 16 times. Then closingboth the nostrils and holding the breath in kumbhaka one should think of the white colored(satva guna) Hari, the protector/sustainer chanting pranava 64 times. Then while exhalingthrough the right nostril one should meditate on Siva of dark color (tamo guna) chantingpranava 32 times. Then one should start inhaling through the right nostril for 16 matraschanting pranava 16 times and continue the pranayama for a predetermined number of timeswith both mantra and bhava.

Different smritis and very old yoga texts refer to a variety of pranayamas with and withoutmantras. Almost all the puranas have a section on yoga which describe different asanas andpranayamas. (I think with all this evidence one may say with some conviction that Yoga ismore than 100 years old). For more information on pranayama you may consider referring tomy book Yoga for the Three Stages of Life pages 189 to 211.

Sri Krsishnamacharya's Yoga teachings were unique and very rich. In Vinyasakrama asanapractice, breath synchronization with slow movements is an essential element. One would

start the movement with the beginning of inhalation or exhalation and complete themovement with the completion of that breathing phase. The time taken in actual practice maybe between 5 to 10 or 12 seconds depending on one's capacity and control. If it goes below 5seconds one would stop the practice and rest to regain the vinyasa krama acceptable breath.My Guru, Sri T Krishnamacharya would say 'breathe with hissing sound' (a la cobra, refer toananta samapatti in YS) or 'with a mild rubbing sensation in the throat'.

In this way, with long deep inhalation and exhalation, the intercostal muscles are stretchedand toned up and by the time pranayama is started the accessory muscles of breathing are wellexercised so that one has a well oiled breathing apparatus for a very productive pranayamapractice. And while doing pranayam introduction of mantras and bhavas helps to bring themind to a focus which will be of considerable help when one starts the meditation process.Thus Sri Krishnamacharya following the tradition of yoga described in old yoga texts like the




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yoga sutras, the puranas, smritis and other ancient texts helped to understand and achieve thebest of an outstanding ancient system called Yoga.

You may access the earlier Newsletter by visiting my website

www,vinyasakrama.com and clicking on the Newsletter tab. Any comments

or suggestions please e mail to

[email protected]

Best wishes

Sincerely

Srivatsa Ramaswami


http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://vinyasakrama.com/http://vinyasakrama.com/


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March 2012 Newsletter Chanting with Sri Krishnamacharya

On Feb 24t h I participated in the inauguration of the yoga studio of my friend RoxanaLetechipia here in Mexico City, called tvameva yoga. It was nice function and scores of herfriends were there. Roxana completed my 200 hr Teacher training program at LMU last

July. On the wall of the studio was inscribed this old famous Sanskrit sloka

tvameva mata cha pita tvameva

tvameva bandhuscha sakha tvameva

tvameva vidya dravinam tvameva

tvameva sarvam mamadevadeva

You are the Mother, and the Father,

You are the Relative and the Friend.

You are Wisdom so are You Wealth.

You are indeed all, my Supreme Lord.

Nice prayer from the Mahabharata.

I am here in M exico City and am enjoying my stay and teaching. I taught a well attended two

day workshop at Gabriela Tavera's Inspira Yoga and am now doing a 25 hour certificationcourse in Core Vinyasakrama Yoga at Jorge Espionaz's Centro Kiai Yoga with a goodturnout and lively participation. Next weekend I will be teaching at Mukta Yoga in MexicoCity before returning to New Jersey. Thank you Roxana for all your kind efforts, interest andsupport.

After a four month sojourn in Chennai, India I returned to USA middle of February. Duringmy stay I managed to lay my hands on an old video cassette of a series of TV programs onYoga I had done in Chennai in early 1980s. The programs were done over a period of aboutten weeks. They consisted of asanas and short interviews in Tamil my mother tongue. My 10year old son, Badri had then managed to record all the programs. The quality of the videocassette had deteriorated over time and disuse. I took the video to Konica Laboratories inChennai and they managed to make a DVD with occasional jumpy and bumpy pictures. Iwas tickled seeing the programs after so many years and how I was teaching at that time. Iwas still studying with my Guru at that time and teaching simultaneously in Kalakshetra. Iwas not fully exposed to all the vinyasas that Sri Krishnamacharya would eventually teach.And considering the limitations of TV programs, the time constraints, and others parametersI thought the programs had come out well with the cooperation of excellent students fromKalakshetra. Since the program was in Tamil I thought I should have the commentary to theasana portion in English. My friends Srimathy and Ravi in Chennai arranged for the audiorecording at Prasad Studios, the best film studio in the country and I thought the audiorecording came out well. They said that they would 'stitch' the audio and video and I am

expecting to receive the product soon. I think I may have to add English captions to theinterviews so that it can be useful. The program runs for about an hour or so.




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I have also been wanting to start working on A Complete DVD on Vinyasa krama Yoga.Thanks again to the help of my friends Srimathy and Ravi, I managed to shoot twosequences, the core vinyasas of Tadasana and Vajrasana in their new Yogashala. One of theirstudents Sundar did the Tadasana sequence. The Vajrasana sequence was done by my friendRanjit Babu, my former Kalakshetra student who was a model for several asanas in my

Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga. I thought the asanas were good but the audio sufferedbadly due to the environmental noise as some construction work was going on in the vicinity.I think it can be salvaged if I can redo the audio track. Now I am more confident of shootingthe rest of the sequences without much fuss.

During the eighties one day when I came to the class my Guru was not in his room. Whilewaiting for him in his room I saw a couple of old small photo albums on his table. As I wasleafing through them my Guru came into the room and said Take it home if you want,indicating that I should be ready to start the class. I took it home and saw it contained a fewof my Guru's asana pictures. I found the album in my Chennai home and brought it to USA.

******

CHANTING WITH SRI KRISHNAMACHARYA

Betw een 1980 and 1995 I recorded for a recording company, Sangeetha, many chants Ilearnt from Sri Krishnamacharya and more. During my recent visit to Chennai I talked to HM SriKrishna, a partner of the firm, and he said that they were about to make available onlineabout 18 of my titleshope it works out. A list of my programs is available, in the followingsite.

www.sangeethamusic.com

Open th e site and type Srivatsa Ramaswami in the search window for the complete list. Youmay click on individual titles for more information on each program and some have aLISTEN button to listen to a clip. The total chant time of all the program may be about 30hrs. I hope they will be able to organize the on line downloading soon.

(I just got a message saying that 18 of my programs are now available on line and are down-loadable. I have not tested the sites and I hope they work. Two of the main works SundaraKanda (10hrs) and Aswamedha (3hrs) appear missing though)

One of the highlights of the time I spent studying with Sri Krishnamacharya was learningvedic chanting. I had, when I was about ten, started having private training in Vedic chantingat home (for about 3 to 4 years I guess) and so was familiar with Vedic Chanting. So when theopportunity arose to learn more chants I took it with considerable enthusiasm. SriKrishnamacharya's chanting was very similar to the way others chanted in South India buthad a superior quality. His chanting encompassed all the parameters of vedic chanting. Thefirst one is varna or the letters. In Sanskrit the consonants and vowels have a definitecharacter and they can not be changed and there are no silent letters in Sanskrit words. In facteach character has a distinct place of origin in the body and many experts have defined them.The next parameter is maatra or the time duration for each letter, the short and long syllablesand a few having more than 2 matras like the pranava. Bala is strength of the chanting. Samais modulation, usually the chanting should be in the middle tone not high pitched nor low.

Santana is the observance of all rules of conjunction.


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I studied chanting with Sri Krishnamacharya for several years. I think I must have spent over1500 hrs learning and then chanting with him. It was a great experience listening to his chantsand also chanting with him long passages like Suryanamaskara or Mahanarayana Upanishador Pravargya sometimes running for an hour or more at a stretch. The otherwise drabchanting appeared to have life and buoyancy coming from him. While Sri Krishnamacharya is

known for his contribution to Hatayoga especially asanas, his willingness to teach vedicchanting or svadhyaya as he would call it to those interested, even breaking the conventionalrestrictions of vedic chanting, is not that well known.

On the strength of my learning chanting from Sri Krishnamacharya I was able to recordalmost all the vedic chants I had learnt from him. Suryanamaskara (Arunam) or SunSalutation was one of his favorites and one of the most popular chants in South India. It runsfor an hour and in every Teacher Training program I chant this text consisting of 32 sectionsand the participants do one Suryanamaskara at the end of the chanting of each section. Ittakes about two hours for the entire exercise. I have included Varuna Puja along with this inmy cd, chanting of Suryanamaskara. This chant is said to bestow good health to all those who

chant or listen. Sun is the deity for health. One may consider listening to the chant onSundays and doing suryanamaskara at the end of each of the 32 stanzas. It may not be toostrenuous as one rests for two minutes listening to the chants and does one Namaskara for letus say 1 to 2 mts. This is the first chapter in Taittiriya Aranyaka.

The second chapter is called swadhyaya chapter and is also known as Kushmanda Homa. Itis contained in my program called Aditya Hridaya and Vedic chanting. Aditya hridaya is avery famous chant, a loukika chant which can be chanted by everyone without anyrestrictions. The orthodox view is that vedic chanting should be done only by those who areinitiated by a vedic rite called upanayana but, there are other chants like in the Ramayana,Mahabharata, the puranas and other later day works. Aditya hridaym takes hardly 8 mts to

chant and it is recommended that one should do it everyday before undertaking the day'swork. Lord Rama in Ramayana is said to have chanted before the final assault on Ravana.Kushmanda Homa or the swadhyaya chapter offers an encomium to the famous Gayatrimantra and its efficacy. It is said to remove the blemishes of the mind. I have also chanted thethird chapter of Taittiriya Aranyaka along with a laukika work called Indrakshi and SivaKavacha. The vedic portion is very nice to hear. Indrakshi and sivakavacha are prayers to Sivaand Sakthi and is very popular in the state of Kerala.

I also recorded the last four chapters of the Yajur veda, (1) the Taittiriya Upanishad (3chapters) and also (2) Mahanarayana upanishad (the last chapter). Taitiriya upanishad is oneof the masterpieces on Vedanta and several acharyas have written detailed commentaries onthem. It is a good work to help understand the thought process involved in the enquiry intothe ultimate reality. Both these upanishads are currently in vogue and many chant them.These two chants are very absorbing if we know the general import and follow the trendwhile we chant or hear them I also recorded another vedic masterpiece called Aswamedha.This is said to be the highest religious rite of the vedas and only emperors could do the actualritual. But everyone can chant or listen to this three hour chant. It is normally chanted in theafternoon of the Ekadasi or the 11th day after New moon or Full moon days. The 11th day issaid to be the day of fasting and cleansing the body and mind. So those who fast on these dayschant this. Then on the following morning they have early lunch and prior to that they chantor listen to the three chapters of Taittiriya Upanishad. There are three chapters in Aswamedavolume along with achidra and all of them take about three hours. Fasting on ekadasi and

doing chanting for 3 hours in the afternoon could have a deep cleansing effect on the mind-body system There were a few other beautiful chants that I learnt from Krishnmacharya that I




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did not record. One was the three chapters of Taittiriya Kataka running for about two hoursand another the Pravargya portion which has two chapters and take about two hours. Iwanted to record them and also the Bhagavat Gita but could not get the opportunity.

I had spent hundreds of hours chanting these vedic chants with my Guru SriKrishnamacharya. For several years Sri Desikachar and myself would chant with him inchorus. This was a very satisfying time of my life. Thereafter I used to chant with my Guru.The last class I had with my Guru was one afternoon when we chanted Suryanamaskaratogether. Even though I learnt vedic chanting from my Guru and was able to record themthere were a number of other chants, the laukika chants, which any one can chant and whichare very popular in India. My recording company asked me to do a series of such chants.According to Sankara there are 6 forms of orthodox worship in India. They are Ganapati,Subramanya, Siva, Sakti, Vishnu and Surya. There are innumerable works in Sanskrit andalso in regional languages. I was able to record a number of such works. On Siva, I hadVedasara Sivasahasranama or 1000 names of Lord consistent with vedic tradition. ThenIndakshi Siva kavacha in which Sivakavacha is said to be a mantra to protect oneself from

external dangers. I had also chanted the famous vedic chant on Siva Rudrama and chamakamwhich contains the famous mrityunjaya mantra and it was part of the cd (now discontinued)that we added to the Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga..However the Spanish edition of mybook contains the cd

Ganesa Sahasranama is the work from Ganesa Purana. I think it is a very charming work inpraise of Lord Ganesa. I also did the Sahasranama in the form of namavali for Subramania,the six headed son of Siva, a very popular deity in the South. I have also recorded theSaharanamavali of Anjaneya, Hariharaputra (ayyappa) and Sage Raghavendra.

There are two works which are very popular among devotees. One is Vishnu Sahasranama orthe thousand names of Vishnu from the Mahabharata, the same text that contains the

Bhagavat Gita. This is chanted by many every day. It takes about half an hour to chant thisbut it is sad that many people because of pressure of time try to do it in 15 or 20 minutes, in agreat hurry, virtually mutilating the beautiful names of the Lord.

The other Sahasranama which is also quite popular is Lalita Sahasranama, from a Purana. Itis very beautiful to chant and hear. A few years back when I was in Los Angeles teaching atLMU, I received a mail from someone in India inquiring where he could find a cassette of mychanting of Lalita Sahasranama. I think I had recorded it in 1981 or 1982. He said inter aliathat his father used to listen to this cassette and chant along with it as part of his daily worshipof Mother Sakti. He said that his father had since died and the family wanted to continue thepractice of chanting the work and wanted to get a cassette because the one his father had

used had become defective with overuse.I also recorded a number of other works on sakthi. One is called Devi Mahatmya which runsfor about three hours and has about 700 verses. It is chanted during the Navaratri or Dasaracelebrations. My grandmother used to chant a Tamil versions of this during every Navaratri.Another work on Mother is the work called Mooka Pancha Sati (The five hundred slokasfrom Mooka). It is an outpouring of Bhakti by a mute dumb devotee who became a poet dueto the grace of Kamakshi the presiding deity in the famous temple in Kancheepuram about40 miles from Chennai. It is written in some difficult meters and has 100 slokas for each of thefive chapters. It takes about 3 hrs to chant the entire work. One can see the slokas inscribed inthe walls of this famous Kamakshi temple. I had also recited two other works on Sakthi for

another company and I find these are available still in some musical stores in Chennai. One isGayatri Sahasranama and the other is Durga Sahasranama, which again is a popular chant




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during Navaratri. Lalita Sahasranam mentioned earlier is often chanted on Friday eveningsand also on Full moon days. When I was young my mother used to arrange for theSaharanama archana of Lalita in our house every Friday for a number of years.

Other works I had recorded included Ramodantam or the story of Rama from birth to end. Inamed it Balaramayana or Ramayana for children because in the olden days this text used tobe taught to school children to learn Sanskrit and also familiarize them with Ramayana.Another work, that perhaps sold the maximum number of cassettes, was Sandhyavandanaor the prayer ritual done at dawn, dusk, and midday by thousands of people in India. I wrotean article with many pictures about this subject in Namarupa magazine a few years back.

The last program I did for Sangeetha was the recitation of Sundara Kanda of the epicValmiki Ramayana. Many households arrange for the recitation of the same in one go or overa week. Those who are afflicted by the adverse effects of Saturn or Sani try to get solace fromSundara Kanda. It is said to revive a person from the jaws of death or desperate situation asSita was. It is a ten hour program.

Yoga is a subject which whatever be the entry point reveals its richness slowly (yogena yogajnatavyah) Sri Krishnamacharya was a Guru who always had something more to givesomething different something higher uplifting always. I loved chanting with him. Chantingis helpful, it cleanses the mind. Listening to those vedic and old chants is very uplifting.

The earlier newsletters with the artic les can be accessed by visiting my websitewww.vinyasakrama.com and opening the Newsletter tab. Any comments or suggestionsplease write to [email protected]

The Spanish Editions ofmy books Yoga for the Three Stages ofLife ( Yoga para las tres etapas de la vida/ Yoga for the Three

Stages of Life (Spanish Edition)

and Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga with an audio cd( OBRA COMPLETA

SOBRE EL VINYASA YOGA, LA (Libro+CD - Color) (Spanish Edition)

are available from Amazon, as given below

http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?

s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.amazon.com/OBRA-COMPLETA-SOBRE-VINYASA-Libro/dp/8480199709/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-10

Sincerely

Srivatsa Ramaswami


http://www.amazon.com/OBRA-COMPLETA-SOBRE-VINYASA-Libro/dp/8480199709/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-10http://www.amazon.com/OBRA-COMPLETA-SOBRE-VINYASA-Libro/dp/8480199709/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-10http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.amazon.com/OBRA-COMPLETA-SOBRE-VINYASA-Libro/dp/8480199709/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-10http://www.amazon.com/OBRA-COMPLETA-SOBRE-VINYASA-Libro/dp/8480199709/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-10http://www.amazon.com/OBRA-COMPLETA-SOBRE-VINYASA-Libro/dp/8480199709/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-10http://www.amazon.com/OBRA-COMPLETA-SOBRE-VINYASA-Libro/dp/8480199709/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-10http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-etapas-Three-Stages-Spanish/dp/9707751932/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330527098&sr=1-12http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/


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What is the purpose of Life?

The purpose of life is to realize that

There is no purpose to Life.

That's weird, but what after this 'realization'?

One would work to avoid another birth

Supposing I don't believe in rebirth?

Supposing rebirth does not depend on your belief?

That is even more crazy Guruji..

Have to find another teacher-

Comforting, not unsettling.




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Mid March 2012 Message from Sri Krishnamacharya'sDaughter

Last week when I was in Me xico, I received a message on my Facebook account from MsSrishubha, daughter of Sri Krishnamacharya, my Guru and his last child. When I first met

her she was about 5 or 6 years old and the last time I met her was more than 30 years back atmy Guru's residence, she had just then got married. Since there is a general interest in SriKrishnamacharya's life and his family I requested SriShubha for permission to circulate herletter among friends and she kindly agreed. Here is the correspondence. I did not want todelay it and club with the regular Newsletter due by April 1st and hence this out of turn letter.Thank you and with best wishes

Sincerely

Srivatsa Ramaswami

**********

On 3/11/12 , Srishubha Mohankumar wrote:

Respected Ramaswami,

Sorry for the del ay in responding, we had a couple of families with us over the last few daysand we were extremely busy.

I am delighted to see your mail and to see that everything is going well with you. If you

decide to publish my letter, I sincerely request you to publish this slightly modified versionbelow. Since, it is going to be for public consumption, I just wanted to highlight the impactthat my parents teachings has had on me and my special needs child. Feel free to publish myemail address as well, I am more than happy to answer any questions about by father thatpeople may have. I would really appreciate it if you would also send me a copy of thenewsletter.

Also, it looks like I might not be in town when you are in Dallas. However, my son would bemore than happy to briefly visit you, if you have the time. Thank you once again for yourresponse. Hopefully, we can meet on my next visit to my son.

Best wishes,

Srishubha

*******

March 2, 2012

Respected Ramaswami,




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I am Srishubha, dau ghter of T.Krishnamacharya (Appa for me). I happened to read one ofyour articles and was deeply touched by it. Your article took me back to good old days in theGopalapuram house and to the time when Appa used to take me along with him to teach afew of his students. Those were some of the very precious moments with father. We used torefer to your house as Chitra Subramaniyam Mama's house. I very fondly remember your

mother, Mami, as we called her, who was always smiling like my own mother did. Every day,when I practice or teach, I imagine Appa sitting in his chair and teaching me. The way youdescribed Appa's inhalation and exhalation technique in your article brought a smile to myface because that's the way he used to teach me. I told my son that this is the exact way Appaused to take my class; keeping an eye out for any mistakes that I might make.

I am also touched by your mention of the names of my siblings in your article. It was a verynice gesture on your part. This shows the respect you have for Appa.

After coming back from Indonesia, due to my husband's job we traveled a lot. I have lived in

Shimla district, Kullu district, and now shuttling between Bangalore and Karnataka'sHassan district. We have a small coffee plantation there. I feel a special connection withAppa when I think of how he too lived in the Himalayas and also managed a coffee estate inChikmagalur district in his youth. I feel that his blessings made all this possible for me.

I am now in Dallas, Texas with my son Deepak. I will be here till 6th April and then headback to India. I came to Dallas to be with my newly born granddaughter, born on 26th ofJanuary this year. I don't know if you remember, I also have a daughter, Harsha, who needsspecial attention. Her physical and cognitive skills have significantly improved over theyears, thanks to teachings of my father and also my mother (her own depth of knowledge in

yoga and philosophy is vastly unknown to the world). *

If you happen to be in Dallas during this time we can surely meet. Me, my son and his familywould like it very much. Thanks once again for taking me back to those very precious days. Inever realized how great Appa was, I am also learning more and more about him fromarticles such as yours. I am amazed by the impact he has even after so many years of hisdeath.*

Like Appa would recite his very favourite prayer-

Om Namo Narayanaya Namaha

Sri Gurbhyo Namaha.

Kind regards to you and your family,

Srishubha




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Vinyasakrama Yoga Videos

Dear Friends:

I am sending separately the newsletter for April 2012. For some strange reason I could notcombine the two.

VINYASAKRAMA YOGAVIDEOS

In my March ne wsletter I had mentioned about the DVD I had made in India. Here are thelinks to them. The first five clips pertain to Vajrasana (performed by Ranjit Babu) and therest to Tadasana (Sunder) following the Vinyasakrama methodology. It contains sequenceadaptation of main vinyasas and asanas. Th frist is my introduction to VK.The next contains

the lead sequences the third oneVajrasana/ Ushtrasana/Kapotasana, the fourth one containsVirasana, as an extension of the sequence and the last one the return sequence. Then we haveseven subsequences in Tadasana main sequence. In all the total viewing time is close to anhour. Pardon me for the poorquality of the audio, I hope to redo the audio and upload itlater.

Vajrasana Sequence

Introduction to VK Yoga Srivatsa Ramaswami http://youtu.be/g7fgpuGkgCA

Vajrasana Lead Seqence http://youtu.be/QZvRk16QHD8

Vajrasana/Ushtra/Kapotasana http://youtu.be/XnTYJf4nPmY

Virasana http://youtu.be/7qxHQUo3L7o

Vajrasana Return Sequence http://youtu.be/aw1UYXk3NFE

Tadasana Sequence

Hasta vinyasas http://youtu.be/JebfDyw0JV8

Parsva Bhangi http://youtu.be/ZgwThU9Z4Fs

Uttanasana http://youtu.be/w0iOkAI6nBw

Utkatasana/Khagasana http://youtu.be/An4JcW7Sxp4

Malasana http://youtu.be/StZHtQVn5Ys

Pasasana http://youtu.be/WvyYDmUkFGs

Tadasana-On the Toes http://youtu.be/e_0R__5po60


http://youtu.be/WvyYDmUkFGsTadasana-Onhttp://youtu.be/StZHtQVn5Yshttp://youtu.be/w0iOkAI6nBwUtkatasana/Khagasanahttp://youtu.be/ZgwThU9Z4Fshttp://youtu.be/aw1UYXk3NFEhttp://youtu.be/aw1UYXk3NFEhttp://youtu.be/7qxHQUo3L7ohttp://youtu.be/QZvRk16QHD8Vajrasana/Ushtra/Kapotasanahttp://youtu.be/XnTYJf4nPmYhttp://youtu.be/QZvRk16QHD8Vajrasana/Ushtra/Kapotasanahttp://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://youtu.be/e_0R__5po60http://youtu.be/e_0R__5po60http://youtu.be/WvyYDmUkFGsTadasana-Onhttp://youtu.be/WvyYDmUkFGsTadasana-Onhttp://youtu.be/WvyYDmUkFGsTadasana-Onhttp://youtu.be/WvyYDmUkFGsTadasana-Onhttp://youtu.be/StZHtQVn5Yshttp://youtu.be/StZHtQVn5Yshttp://youtu.be/An4JcW7Sxp4http://youtu.be/An4JcW7Sxp4http://youtu.be/w0iOkAI6nBwUtkatasana/Khagasanahttp://youtu.be/w0iOkAI6nBwUtkatasana/Khagasanahttp://youtu.be/w0iOkAI6nBwUtkatasana/Khagasanahttp://youtu.be/w0iOkAI6nBwUtkatasana/Khagasanahttp://youtu.be/ZgwThU9Z4Fshttp://youtu.be/ZgwThU9Z4Fshttp://youtu.be/JebfDyw0JV8http://youtu.be/JebfDyw0JV8http://youtu.be/aw1UYXk3NFEhttp://youtu.be/aw1UYXk3NFEhttp://youtu.be/7qxHQUo3L7ohttp://youtu.be/7qxHQUo3L7ohttp://youtu.be/XnTYJf4nPmYhttp://youtu.be/XnTYJf4nPmYhttp://youtu.be/QZvRk16QHD8Vajrasana/Ushtra/Kapotasanahttp://youtu.be/QZvRk16QHD8Vajrasana/Ushtra/Kapotasanahttp://youtu.be/QZvRk16QHD8Vajrasana/Ushtra/Kapotasanahttp://youtu.be/QZvRk16QHD8Vajrasana/Ushtra/Kapotasanahttp://youtu.be/g7fgpuGkgCAhttp://youtu.be/g7fgpuGkgCA


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Many are not fa miliar with Vinyasakrama and I hope this may give an opportunity for someto have a glimpse of Vinyasakrama yoga I learnt from my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya. Eventhough my book Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga contains most of the vinyasas and asanas,to appreciate the slow and deliberate movements, breathing etc it requires actual study in aclass or some video introduction. I have been requesting those who have participated in

Vinyasakrama programs to post short videos on some subroutines. I am beholden to AnthonyHall for the massive work he has done to write about videogrpah and post so manysequences of Vinyasakrama. My friend Debbie Mills has also posted a few sequences. Theremay be a few more. I would still request friends to post videos of Vinyasakrama. It has a verylogical structure and yet immensely adaptable so that almost anyone and everyone can doyoga. I hope these videos I have posted will be helpful. I hope to be able to come out withcomplete vinyasakrama in DVD faithfully following the sequencing from my book.

Please have a look and send your suggestions to [email protected]

Thank you and with best wishesSincerely

Srivatsa Ramaswami

P.S My old newsletters may be accessed by visiting my website www.vinyasakrama.com andclicking on the newsletter tab. Please send your comments, suggestions [email protected].


http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/


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April 2012 Newsletter Yoga Sutra Quartet--VK Yoga

Dear Friend:

During the first w eek of March I stayed in Mexico City and completed teaching thecertificate program in Vinyasa Krama Yoga at Centro Kiai Yoga. I also taught at Mukti Yogafor a weekend. It was a very satisfying experience in Mexico City.

During April I will be teaching a weekend workshop at Ridgefield CT, at ValerieSchneiderman's Yogashala. Here is the link

http://www.theyogashalact.com/The_Yoga_Shala/workshops.html

Later in April I will be teaching extended weekend workshop s in Houston at HeightsSchool of Yoga of Pam Johnson Here is the link

http://www.heightsschoolofyoga.com/eventsworkshops/753-2/

and then at Ricky Trans Kramayoga Center in Dallas

http://www.kramayogacenter.com/3/post/2012/02/registration-is-now-open.html

YOGA SUTRA QUARTET

There are three important texts for Vedanta philosophy, the Bhagavat Gita, the Upanishadsand the very special text, Brahma Sutra. The first four sutras of Brahma Sutra, calledcatussutri, are considered very important. In fact Vachaspati Misra, a disciple ofSankaracharya, wrote an exhaustive full length work called Brahmasutra catussutri orBhamati just for the four sutras, four out of the five hundred odd Brahma sutras. It is held inhigh regard by followers of Advaita Vedanta and is considered only next in importance toSankara's Brahmasutra commentary. English translations of both the books are available.

The first four sutras of Patanjali's work likewise are considered important and contain thequintessence of Raja Yoga. The first sutra can be considered to be the title of the book, Athayoga anusasanam. Atha means now, or what is in the text . Then there is the phraseyogaanusaasanam. There are two words in it, Yoga and then Sasana with prefix 'anu' This isa samasa or a compound phrase. The Sutras for the sake of brevity are bereft of verbs. Theword sasana indicates something that is authentic, authoritative, the final word. In fact sasanais used to indicate something 'written in stone'. In the olden days Kings when they denotedlanded property or secede territory to someone would have the gift deed or agreement writtenin stone and it was called sasana. In India the Constitution is called Sasana, a document thatcannot be changed (amended easily that is). The preposition anu indicates that which isconsistent with. Anusasana therefore means something which scrupulously follows theauthoritative text, the scriptures or vedas here. So atha yoganusasanam means Yoga as perscriptures. This is the title of the book and we may make it Authentic Yoga or OrthodoxYoga or one may say Yoga written in Stone and perhaps that is why the text is still very

fresh--(a)live and kicking. My Guru used to say that Yoga Sutra is the most authentic yoga


http://www.kramayogacenter.com/3/post/2012/02/registration-is-now-open.htmlhttp://www.kramayogacenter.com/3/post/2012/02/registration-is-now-open.htmlhttp://www.heightsschoolofyoga.com/eventsworkshops/753-2/http://www.heightsschoolofyoga.com/eventsworkshops/753-2/http://www.theyogashalact.com/The_Yoga_Shala/workshops.htmlhttp://www.theyogashalact.com/The_Yoga_Shala/workshops.htmlhttp://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.kramayogacenter.com/3/post/2012/02/registration-is-now-open.htmlhttp://www.kramayogacenter.com/3/post/2012/02/registration-is-now-open.htmlhttp://www.heightsschoolofyoga.com/eventsworkshops/753-2/http://www.heightsschoolofyoga.com/eventsworkshops/753-2/http://www.theyogashalact.com/The_Yoga_Shala/workshops.htmlhttp://www.theyogashalact.com/The_Yoga_Shala/workshops.html


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text and if one wants to follow traditional yoga one should observe Patanjali's system whollyand should eschew any yoga practice that is inconsistent with the tenets of Patanjali's Yoga.

The second sutra defines Yoga. Yoga according to Patanjali is cittavrittinirodha. This phraseis perhaps the best known in Yogasutras. It consists of three words, citta, vritti and nirodha.Citta is the mind, the mindstuff-- find the most appropriate word or term to explain it. Theword itself is defined as the one that masquerades as consciousness(cit iva bhavayiti itcittam) even though it is just matter. The next word is vritti which is variously translated asmovement, fluctuation, etc. This word is a very common one and in olden days was used toindicate one's avocation or main activity, like it is said vritti jivane meaning vritti has themeaning as in the word jivana. Jivana means one's occupation or the means by which onemakes a living. Moreover vritti here refers to a group of mental activities and these are listedby Patanjali in the sixth sutra. So vritti may be considered as the totality of mental activity atany given moment. Now let us take the whole bunch of vrittis and relate them to the nextword which means stoppage. Nirodha is rodha with a prefix ni. Ni (nitaram) indicatespermanence. Rodha is to prevent. Nirodha would be to always prevent the chitta from

getting into the vrittis. In a state of nirodha the mind will not be engaged in any consciousactivity (chitta vritti) be it knowing something correctly(pramana) or wrongly (viparyaya),dreaming (day or night), deep sleep(nidra) or mulling over or remembering the past(smriti) .Is there a state of mind which will not fall into any of the above categories? None. That is whyit is difficult to imagine the state of nirodha samadhi of the Yogis. But by knowing what thatstate is not, one will be able to have an indirect understanding of it. Many times vritti nirodhais explained as stopping the fluctuations of the mind. When the fluctuations of the mind areprevented the mind, we could infer, will be in a state of one pointedness or focused which ofcourse is included in Yoga but it is not Nirodha the ultimate goal. Norodha transcends allvrittis including ekeagrata or one pointedness; a state of ekagrata is without any fluctuationsin the mind. By remaining in a state of nirodha for longer and longer periods of time the chitta

undergoes a complete transformation known as nirodha parinama. What about thephysiological functions like breathing, etc.? Here Patanjali refers to the five chitta vrittisreferred to earlier. He does not refer to the life maintaining activity of the brain or chitta. Theyare called samanya or samanya karana vritti by Sankhyas . Thus the Yogi in a state of Chittavritti nirodha becomes completely oblivious to outside objects and also herself/himself, butthe life functions like breathing continue, until death takes place in natural course. It can beseen that Patanjali's definition of Yoga does not suggest the usual connotation of Yoga asunion. Yoga meaning union requires at least two separate principles to come together andultimately unite, like prana and apana in Hatayoga, but in this sutra only cittavritti is dealtwith and no union with another principle is suggested. Vyasa in his commentary says Yoga is

samadhi, or a state of mind and not union. Sankara in his exposition of Yogasutras refers toyoga as samadhana or unalloyed peace. He says that Patanjali has used the word not in themeaning of yoga as union (yukti) but as samadhana or peace of mind. The word Yoga can bederived from two different roots yujir meaning yoga as in union and yuja as in samadhimeaning absolute peace of mind and the sutras use Yoga in the (second) sense, that ofabsolute peace.

The third sutra talks about the benefit of cittavrittinirodha. It is said that not even a dimwitwould undertake a project without considering the benefit of such an endeavor. It isespecially true of the Yogi who is highly evolved. tada drashtuh svrupe avastanam is thesutra. Tada means then or consequently. It means the result of the cittvrittinirodha. Whathappens then? The next word is drastuh. It is possessive case, singular of the word drashtr,the seer (drashta is singular nominative case). So drashtuh will mean 'of the seer'. What is ofit? The next word we have to contend with is svarupa, this word is rupa meaning form/nature




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with the prefix sva, meaning own or one's own. One's own what? Ones own form or nature.Svarupe means 'one's own innate nature or form'. The next word is avasthanam, again thisword is sthanam with the prefix ava. Sthana could mean position or stand. Ava would mean'in it', and hence avasthana would mean 'in oneself' or 'in one's own innate nature'. Now hereagain there is no verb, so we have to find the most appropriate verb to complete the sentence.

The meaning of the sutra so far would be Then the seer in its own nature...To say that the seer gets established in its own form may be ok, but it gives the impressionthat it had moved out or somehow altered and is now back in its own nature. But thePurusha according to yoga and samkhya is immutable, it has got only one nature or svarupaand it is pure, immutable (aparinamitva) consciousness. This is emphasized by commentatorslike Vyasa, Sankara, and several others. So we have to interpret the sutra slightly differently,say, In the stage of Yoga or chittavrittinirodha, the Purusha's own form becomes known tothe peaceful chittathe mind understands the real nature of purusha and thereafter havingbeen satisfied about the real nature of oneself, the purusha/drashtr remains in the state ofnirodha samadhi. Hence the sutra would indicate that only in the state of Yoga is the real

nature of oneself, the purusha known to every being.

The next sutra, the fourth of the quartet reemphasizes this conclusion by pointing out whathappens to the understanding of Purusha in the non yogic state of mind, 'vritti saarupyamitaratra. Vritti we all know is chittavritti, a particular vritti in this context. Saarupya. isderived from the sarupa (rhymes with svarupa?). Sarupa is rupa with a prefix sa. Rupa wehave come across in the previous sutra as form or nature. The prefix sa is samana orsomething similar to. Sarupa means another which has the similar form as the other, just acopy, but not the original. 'Saarupya' is something which is having the nature of a copy andtends to pose as the original. The main purpose of this word 'sarupa' here is not to find out

the similarity between what is presumed to be the self and the real self but to point out thatthe sarupa idea of the self is not the nature of the real self. Now let us bring in the other worditaratra which means at other (non yogic) times. At other times saarupya vritti or the mind'simperfect copy of the Purusha exists. Let us now supply a verb and make it At othertimes(itaratra) a copy of the purusha (sarupya) is projected(vritti) by chitta. When the chittadoes not know the true nature of the Self or Purusha it creates a poor model known variouslyas asmita etc. Many times sarupya is translated as an image or a replica, but if that be the casePatanjali would have used the term 'taadrupya instead of sarupya to mean an exact replicalike the mirror image. How can the chitta produce an exact copy without ever knowing thepurusha? The lazy mind creates such a copy almost every night during dream. Even thedream self is a sarupa of the waking stage 'self' which it knows. So the mind is capable ofcreating wrong impressions (viparyaya) and here it creates a wrong impression about oneself.The lazy mind misleads not only about ordinary things in day to day life but makes afundamental mistake about the nature of oneself and only the Yogi in that state of Yogarealizes the true nature of herself/himself. This tendency of the mind to create wrongimpressions about anything is known as viparyaya vritti or avidya. Patanjali takes pains toexplain viparyaya further in the 8th sutra by saying mithyajnana (an understanding which is amyth).' atadrupa prathishta (not established in the exact form)'. Avidya, mythyajnana,adadrupapratishtha, viparyaya are all words/ terms which are synonyms. In this non yogicstate the chitta not only is ignorant of the true nature of the Self but posits a wrong image ofit and attempts to satisfy the insatiable imposter endlessly, day after day,life after life.




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So these four sutras are important and contain the quintessence of Yoga. Some say athorough understanding of the first four sutras is necessary and sufficient to understandPatanjali's entire Raja Yoga.

Briefly the sutra quartet can be summariz ed as follows

1. Here is Authentic Yoga

2. Yoga is the complete cessation of all projections of the mind

3. Then the mind realizes the true nature of the Self

4. Else the mind creates a pseudo self (and works for it slav ishly)

***********

I have experienced innumerable ups and downs, many an agony and ecstasy, hope anddespair, pleasure and pain, bliss and depression, courage and fear, praise and ridicule,acceptance and rejection, success and failure, warmth and cold, clarity and confusion andmany more pairs of opposites (dvanda). I have incessantly been trying to get the favorable one(anukula) of the pairs and get rid of the other unfavorable (pratikula) all my life and perhapsthe lives before and am really tired. As I pull myself through my present journey, Oh LordIswara, give me the uninterrupted and unalloyed peace (prasanta vahita) as promised in Yoga.With focused mind, whole heart and full, open throat, I chant Your name 'AUM'!!

Thank Yo and with best Wishes

Sincerely

Srivatsa Ramaswami

PS I have separately sent to you one e mail letter with the details of about a dozenVinyasakrama Yoga videos I have uploaded on YouTube. Please have a look when you havethe time ******




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May 2012 Newsletter My Facebook Phase

Warm Greetings!!

During April I did three extended weekend workshops, all very purposeful and satisfying.The participation in all the three places was very heart warming. I was teaching at ValerieSchneiderman's Yoga Shala in Ridgefield Connecticut, Pam Johnson's Heights School ofYoga in Houston and the ebullient Ricky Tran's Krama Yoga Center near Dallas in Texas.Yoga for Internal Organs, Vinyasakrama Yoga Practice, Krishnamacharya's Teachings,Pranayama and Mantra Meditation Practice, Introductory talk on Upanishad, The YogaSutras, many privates and some chantingit was comprehensive. Many thanks to Valerie,Pam, Ricky and the host of nice yogis who attended the programs and supported the effort.

I am going to Esalen Institute at Big Sur in California during May 6 to 11, 2012 to teach a 26hour program titled Practicum on Hatayoga and Raja Yoga

http://webapp.esalen.org/workshops/11111/

I am scheduled to go to One Y oga in Vancouver,, Canada about the end of the month toteach a certificate program on Core Vinyasakrama yoga, a 25 hour program

http://oneyogaforthepeople.ca/events/srivatsa-ramaswami-vinyasa-krama.

Of course the next involved program scheduled will be the 200 hour Teacher TrainingProgram at LMU in July/ August and the registration has opened

http://www.lmu.edu/pagefactory.aspx?PageID=34949&PageMode=View,

I am also contemp lating doing the 25 hour Core Vinyasakrama Asana Certificate programin different places so that more yoga teachers may get exposed to Vinyasakrama asana as Ilearnt from my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya and incorporate the beautiful but laggardVinyasakrama Yoga into their teaching and practice..

MY FACEBOOK PHASE

Since Aug 2009 I have been us ing or rather overusing Facebook to make some observationson Yoga and related topics. (I hope to post more selectively in facebook henceforth) . Ithought that I may share some of the postings already made with friends in the GoogleGroup.

And here are some.

1.Keeping the legs t ogether in Tadasana, Dhanurasna, Ushtrasana and others, jumpingthrough and back with legs together in lead sequences and suryanamaskara (rather than

crossing the legs or moving the legs one after the other), taking the legs up together ininversions like headstand instead of kicking one leg up and then the other,jumping gently to


http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.lmu.edu/pagefactory.aspx?PageID=34949&PageMode=Viewhttp://www.lmu.edu/pagefactory.aspx?PageID=34949&PageMode=Viewhttp://oneyogaforthepeople.ca/events/srivatsa-ramaswami-vinyasa-kramahttp://oneyogaforthepeople.ca/events/srivatsa-ramaswami-vinyasa-kramahttp://webapp.esalen.org/workshops/11111/http://webapp.esalen.org/workshops/11111/


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Trikonasana from Samastiti rather than side-stepping are all aimed at maintaining bodysymmetry during the transition.

2. When a Yogabhyasi 'attains' a difficult posture with ease and steadiness, then one may

attempt to increase the length of stay in the posture bit by bit and also simultaneously attemptto reduce the number of breaths taken per unit time.

3. Deep thoracic puraka (inhalation) and antahkumbhaka ( breath holding) help to drawincreased venous blood to the heart. Thorough (complete) exhalation aided by the deepdrawing of muscles of the rectum, pelvis, abdomen and the diaphragm in tandem helps tosqueeze upward venous blood to the heart. A few rounds of involved pranayama everydayhelps the heart by improving the venous return of the blood through a very efficientrespiratory pump effect and hence raktasanchara (blood circulation) to the whole body.Pranayama is central to the health of both the respiratory and the circulatory systems. Sri

Krishnamacharya exhibited an exceptional control over the breathing apparatus.

4. The olden day Indian philosophers recognized three kinds of space or 'akasa'. Firstly is Cit-akasa or the space of consciousness the Vedantins (esp advaita) discuss about extensively.According to them in the one atomic consciousness everything-- including the universe and allof us-- exists but appear to be outside of it.. so much so consciousness appears to be inside usin our hearts where we may by meditation find It, the Cit. The second space is the chitta-akasa or the mind-space which the Yogis deal with extensively. According to them all ourexperiences take place in the chitta akasa as different kinds of chitta vrittis and by controllingthem in the mental space or chitta akasa one can have a control over one's experiences orchittavrittis (good and mostly painful according to them) and even stop them.. Of course thethird Bhuta akasa or the physical space is known to all of us and we spend our lifetime dealingwith it and of which the scientists are extremely knowledgeable.

5. As per the way I learnt asanas (esp., vinyasakrama) from my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya,the default position of the head in asana practice is 'head-down'. It helps maintain goodcontrol over breathing in asana practice ( an essential ingredient of Krishnmacharya's Yoga),keep the back straighter and stretch the spine more freely for getting more inter-vertebralspace and also maintain good balance (sthira). See his asana pictures in his book Yoga

Makarandahttp://yogash alapdx.com/teachertraining/yogamakg.pdf

6. I have experienced innumerable ups and downs, many an agony and ecstasy, hope anddespair, pleasure and pain, bliss and depression, courage and fear, praise and ridicule,acceptance and rejection, success and failure, warmth and cold, clarity and confusion andmany more pairs of opposites (dvanda). I have incessantly been trying to get the favorable one(anukula)of the pairs and get rid of the other unfavorable (pratikula) all my life and perhapsthe lives before and am really tired. As I pull myself through the last lap of my present journey,Oh Lord Iswara, give me the uninterrupted and unalloyed peace (prasanta vahita) aspromised in Yoga. With a focused mind, the whole heart and full, open throat, I chant Yourname ' AUM'!!


http://yogashalapdx.com/teachertraining/yogamakg.pdfhttp://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://www.vinyasakrama.com/http://yogashalapdx.com/teachertraining/yogamakg.pdfhttp://yogashalapdx.com/teachertraining/yogamakg.pdf


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7. Blessed is the Yogi who is able to undertake the arduous lifelong journey in thecomplicated outside world and the uncharted inward journey with consummate ease andequal grace.

8. The Vinyasa system (krama) of asana I learnt from Sri Krishnamacharya has hundreds ofvinyasas, scores of asanas arranged into a few major sequences. It has a solid core but highlyadaptable to the requirements of different individuals and different groups. The way I teachSarvangasana or any major sequence is similar to how I taught it in the last years TTprograms but not identical. In Vinyasakrama the asanas and vinyasas are practised slowly,'mindfully' with the breath, very conscious of one's range/limitations, usually singly in anuncompetitive environment thus reducing the unnecessary risks of voluntary/ self-inflictedinjuries.

9. As we get older the respiratory sytem muscles weaken like other muscles and hence one'svital capacity comes down. It is therefore necessary to maintain the tone of these muscles bypracticing yogic breathing exercises like pranayama and one can not learn them and practiceeffectively if started late in life. All yogis should consider strengthening the respiratory systemeven as they practice asanas. Even simple pranayama would be helpful and there is no reasonto postpone pranayama to a unplanned future date.

10.Yoga Heals the body Frees the mind

11. Sri Krishnamacharya used to mention that orthodox yoga was a Sarvanga sadhana. Itimplies that as a system it helps maintain the health all aspects of the human being, theskeletal system, the vital internal organs, the brain... . Exercises regimen which tend toabuse,disuse or lopsided use of various parts and thu

vinyasa krama yoga newslettes 2012

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