Hello Yogi,
Welcome to my podcast.
I'm Aiko and on this show we explore ways to put spiritual theory into sustainable practice.
And here we are again after a summer break.
Welcome Shamananda.
It feels like yesterday.
Yes,
So let's get started.
We finished the Bhagavad Gita which took us over a year if I remember correctly.
And now we decided to start a podcast about the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
And as when Brian said,
If you claim yourself to be a Yogi,
A Yogini or a Yogi,
Then you should at least have the book of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali in your bookshelf,
Even if you didn't read it yet.
Yes,
That was a funny part when he said that in his seminar,
That you may have to just like dust it off when you have to show it to someone,
But yeah,
It should be there.
And I think it's true that books have power,
Even if you don't read them,
But then what to speak of if you read them,
Even more power.
Yeah,
Of course.
And also it's helpful,
Like if someone mentioned something,
Then you can go there and take a look and read maybe the part that is interested in that moment of your life and eventually read it all in the future.
Yeah,
Yeah,
Definitely.
So let's introduce this book.
Can you say something about what this book is actually,
Why we are studying it?
Yes,
So it has become a very central book for yoga practitioners around the world.
It was a bit of a surprise to hear when we were listening to this seminar that he said that it's actually more studied in the West than in India nowadays.
But it was,
It seems to be the first time that yoga was,
The teachings of yoga were like written down all in one place,
Like about the kind of metaphysics and philosophy behind yoga.
But it existed before,
Like in a tradition where it was just spoken,
But this was the first time it was like written down in a systematic way in one place.
Yeah,
Yoga was mentioned also in the Korma Purana.
That was maybe before Patanjali,
Wasn't it?
Yeah,
I believe so.
So like maybe what Patanjali has done is to kind of put it in a very systematic and Patanjali did some very substantial editing to make it all kind of systematic,
Brief and clear.
So what do we find in this book and why it is so important?
Yeah,
So in the Yoga Sutras you find a definition of yoga and what yoga is meant for and then it goes very deep into that and elaborates like,
Because for example,
We will hear the definition once we start with the first sutras,
But it's like yoga is meant for stopping the movements of the mind,
For example.
So then what is the mind?
And then it goes deeply into that and what are those movements of the mind and talks about different levels of absorption and then like the ultimate goal of the type of absorption that you don't come back out from,
That you remain in that absorption.
Yeah,
Exactly.
It explains the deeper meaning of yoga,
Which is not only the asana part,
This is a very small part of it that fortunately it evolved a lot in the West,
But Yoga Sutras of Patanjali speaks about the root and why we are doing that.
Correct.
Yes,
People can have many different reasons for doing yoga and that's all fine.
And if they want something deeper,
Then that's also available.
Yeah.
So there are many stories about Patanjali,
But there is one that is kind of more,
Most used and yeah,
Would you like to narrate that?
Yeah,
You may have to help me with some details.
We heard this story together.
So if I remember right,
And this is said to be around 2000 years ago,
And of course this is the traditional story,
May not be historically verifiable,
But we are in it for the teaching,
Like what we can learn from this.
So there was a lady named Gónica who had been practicing yoga since her very early childhood and on her hundredth birthday she was thinking,
Soon I'm going to pass away because the human body doesn't live forever.
Yeah,
Well,
She was not just practicing yoga since birth,
She had developed like the deepest knowledge and realization about yoga.
So she was the most knowledgeable yogini on earth at that time.
Oh yes.
Not just that she had been doing yoga since birth,
But she had,
Early childhood,
But she had been exclusively dedicated to that.
So she didn't,
You know,
Really own anything other than the rags on her body.
It was sad,
I'm assuming she either lived by begging or just accepted whatever fruits would fall from a nearby tree or something like that,
You know,
For her sustenance.
So she had an incredible amount of insight and she was not afraid to pass on,
She knew she was going towards a very bright future in her next life.
Yeah,
But of course every story,
As we heard,
Needs some kind of dilemma to have a point to it.
So she was a bit concerned that she couldn't teach this to anyone because in her culture at that time,
Women could practice yoga but were not usually allowed.
