Vinyasa Krama Yoga Newsletters 2009

VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS
VOLUME 01-12 / 2009
Vinyasa Krama Yoga

Newsletters 2009
Disclaimer: This document was compiled from Srivatsa Ramaswami’s Vinyasa Krama Yoga
Newsletters and contains volume 1-12 from 2009 - http://www.vinyasakrama.com
January 2009 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami-Triguna

Dear Friends:
Warm New Year Greetings. May the year 2009 bring peace and prosperity to one and all. As
the old saying goes, “Sarve janaah sukhino bhavantu” (May all live happily).
Thanks to the efforts of my good friends and well-wishers like Yogi Dave, Ross Smith,
Neerad Reddy and others, I am trying to start a few activities to reach out a little bit. A
newsletter is being organized so that I can communicate with those who are interested in my
forthcoming programs and also write a short piece connected with yoga. Ross Smith is also
setting up a web based Vinyasakrama Group so that interested participants can post their
comments, or enter into a (hopefully) useful discussion. Neered Reddy has prepared a
beautiful advertisement to appear in the January issue of the Yoga Journal (see http://
vinyasakrama.com/images/7/7a/YJ_Final_web.jpg).
In January, I am teaching a weeklong program in New Delhi, organized by a friend, Mini
Thapar. In February, I will be teaching in Portland. OR and also in the UK where Steve
Brandon has organized several programs. For details, visit http://vinyasakrama.com/
Current_events.
The past year was satisfying. There are 17 people who have already completed the 200 Hour
Vinyasakrama Yoga Program organized at LMU, and registered with Yoga Alliance. Their
names and e-mail addresses can be found at http://vinyasakrama.com/Teachers.
Next year the Teacher Training Program is being conducted by LMU in June/July 2009.
For more details contact Amparo Denney at y...@lmu.edu. Efforts are being made by Steve
Brandon to organize the same program in the UK, in August 2009.
You may write to your friends who may be interested in these programs. If you have some
more time you may read the following piece.
The Three Gunas (Triguna) and the Four Human Goals (Purusharthas)
According to Yoga and other sibling philosophies, the entire universe is made of the three
Gunas, Satwa, Rajas and Tamas and these permeate everything (including all of us)
everywhere in dominating everything in varying degrees. Due to the preponderance of one of
these Gunas, in every individual, different human beings follow different goals. Even as
everyone’s desire is to get happiness and get rid of unhappiness, each one, depending upon his
or her guna temperament, pursues different means and goals (arthas) for one’s satisfaction or
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VOLUME 01-12 / 2009
happiness. The three gunas are satwa, rajas and tamas. The four purushartas or human goals
are dharma (order), artha (material possession), kama (sensual desires) and moksha (spiritual
freedom). A satwic person is inclined towards dharma, while the rajasic, tamasic and the one
who is able to go beyond the influence of all the gunas (gunaateeta) are attracted respectively
towards artha, kama and moksha. These four are called purusharthas or chatur- vidha-
purushartha (four different human endeavors/goals)
Persons whose personality is predominantly satwic, follow ‘dharma’ as a goal of their lives for
happiness. Dharma is the Law of Piety, Compassion, and orderly life. They follow the
benevolent dictates of the scriptures, the laws of the land, leading a life consistent with the
gods of nature. It is anathema for them to cross the Laws of Dharma. Such Dharmis are said
to lead a very peaceful life here and hereafter, as they, who are said to be in a small minority,
do and accumulate good karmas.
The Rajasic people are like the proverbial “A” type personalities. Highly energetic and mostly
restless, they pursue very down to earth policies and follow the goal of artha or material
possessions. More wealth and more power give them happiness and the means are less
important than the goals. Only a few who follow this life long pursuit of possessions and
power ever succeed and sustain, leading to collective unhappiness of this lot. The happiness
of the majority of them rises with the tide of increasing possessions and ebbs with the loss of
wealth and power.
We have then the third group of people who are dominated by tamas. It is said Tamas,
because it veils the intellect, makes such people short sighted. Their happiness lies in sensual
gratification. Tasty food, frequent tactile stimulus, attractive visual objects and captivating
sounds dominate their life. When the senses over a period of time lose their acuity, they have
less room to be happy and fall into a state of depression as they get older.
Then there are the spiritual Yogis who relentlessly follow the path of spiritual wisdom and
intuitively understand the nature of the ever present, non changing nature of their own Self
and reach a state of Kaivalya or Moksha or spiritual Freedom. In that state, according to
Yogis, the three Gunas reach a state of equilibrium. This, the yogis call a state of Nirodha of
the mind, or a state the Lord in the Gita calls Gunateeta or beyond the dominance of the
Gunas. This state leads to a permanent and irrevocable state of peace of mind and the yogis
aver that it is superior to the other variable and unstable states of happiness; superior to that
attained by sensual gratification of the tamasic personality or the happiness arising out of
possessions of the Rajasic, or even the dharmic life of a Satwic person. Though the satwic
state of happiness is superior to the other two, even that is said to be impermanent. Hence the
Lord urges everyone, through His disciple Arjuna in the Gita, to go from Tamas to Rajas
and then to Satwa and ultimately transcend all the Gunas. It is easier said then done.
But how is it done? Only Yoga comes with specific measures to change the individual
personalities. One can transform a Tamasic mind to a Rajasic bent by practice of Pranayama,
in addition to the observance Yamaniyamas. The observance of a well designed practice of
asanas will reduce the addictive influence of Rajas and hence a yogi who practices asana and
pranayama will become more and more Satwic, thanks the reduction of Tamas and Rajas.
And by spiritual meditation one will be able to transcend all the three Gunas.
So as Lord Krishna says, “Tatha yogi bhava Arjuna”, (Therefore become a Yogi). One should
practice Yoga. You will agree?
Best New Year wishes,
Srivasta Ramaswami
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VOLUME 01-12 / 2009
February 2009 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami

I hope January 2009 was a happy month. I was away in India for the last two months and
returned to USA on the 26th of January. I was mostly in Chennai, where I have been living
almost my entire life in my father’s house which is almost as old as I am. I went to Hyderabad
and also New Delhi where I did a five day yoga program. It was a good feeling to teach in
India again after a lapse of few years.
I have quite a few programs lined up for the coming months.
Thanks to our friend Steve Brandon, who himself came all the way from the UK to LMU
last year for the Teacher Training Program, I am going to the UK for about ten days at the
end of February, to do an intensive Vinyasakrama program and several weekend workshops.
In March, I am scheduled to do an intensive Vinyasakrama program, workshops on Sanskrit
Chanting for Yoga students, Sanskrit for Yoga students and also Taittiriya Upanishad. I
understand the response to these programs to be done at LMU in LA has been rather
lukewarm. If you, or some of your friends would be interested, think of registering for the
programs.
In April, I am doing several programs in New York.
In May, I am going to Portland for a few days.
Then I do a weeklong Practicum on Hatha and Raja Yoga at Esalen Institute in Big Sur,
CA.
In June/July, I am planning to return to LMU for a repeat of the 200- hour Teacher Training
Program on Vinyasakrama Yoga, which is registered with Yoga Alliance. The syllabus can be
viewed at http://www.vinyasakrama.com/Syllabus_Teacher_Training_200_Hr
In August, I am planning to go to the UK again to teach Hathayogapradeepika.
In September, I will be in Chicago for 10 days to do various programs on Yoga.
For more details on all of these programs, please visit http://www.vinyasakrama.com/Events.
I hope you will find one or another of the programs of interest to you or some of your friends.
*****************
The epic Ramayana is read, recited, played, discoursed, and discussed by thousands in India
every day, even today. The most popular version of the Ramayana is the one written by sage
Valmiki in Sanskrit. It consists of 24,000 verses. And one of the chapters is known as Sundara
Kanda and is made up of about 2,800 plus slokas. It is an important chapter of the Ramayana
in which Hanuman travels to Lanka in the South and finds the imprisoned Seeta. Many
people recite it, hear it or read it on different occasions, and it is said to remove obstacles and
save believers from utter despair. It takes about 9 to 10 hours to recite the entire chapter. I
recorded it a few years back for my recording company, but they could not release it because
at that time it required 10 CDs and marketing the highly expensive album of 10 CDs was a
problem. In 2008, however my recording company released it on 2 CDs in MP3 format and I
have brought a few copies of it with me when I left India.
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My book “The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga”, went out of stock last October. The
publisher will be publishing a 4th reprint, and they expect it will be available in about a
month’s time.
*************************
In the last newsletter, I had written about the three Gunas and the Four Human Goals
(purusharthas), looking from the point of a consummate yogi, whose goal is the fourth
purushartha which is Moksha or Kaivalya or absolute spiritual freedom. But for ordinary
mortals like us, the sense pleasures (kama) and possessions (artha) are appropriate human
goals provided they are pursued within the ambit of the third purusharta which is Dharma.
Pleasures and acquisitions without transgressing the laws of dharma, laws of piety and the
laws of the land are all permissible.
There is another interesting aspect to the Satwa Guna. Those who by birth, or by proper
practice of Yoga, and other yama / niyamas, become highly Satwic, follow four different
directions. First is the group who follow dharma, the law of piety, compassion, charity etc.
They find happiness by leading a pious life, doing charity, and as the word dharma indicates,
work to uplift themselves and others. There are other Satwic persons who follow the jnana
path and become wise men and women, like the great Patanjali and other Yogis. They use
their highly Satwic mind to transcend all the three gunas and attain Kaivalya. Then there are
those sensitive souls who become recluses or Bairagis and then there are those who by their
capacity for intense concentration become Sidhhas, or those who exhibit supernatural
powers. But the Samkhyas point out that of all the Satwic people only the jnani or the Raja
Yogi reaches Kaivalya while the rest do not transcend the Samsara cycle, even as they reach
higher and higher abodes.
With best wishes
Sincerely
Srivatsa Ramaswami
Dear Tony Pena: Thank you for your e mail. I used to read the
translations of great Sanskrit works like the Ramayana and Mahabharata
in Tamil, which is my mother tongue. I wonder if you may want to read
the Ramayana book written in English by C Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), a
freedom fighter, a former Governor General of India, a Statesman and
a well known literary figure. It is good book. If you want verse by
verse translation of Valmiki Ramayana,, it is available on line
http://www.valmikiramayan.net/
The translation is a bit terse. I am sure there are many many good
translations available.
I think I have enough material regarding the Internal Organ book and I
am finding it challenging to organize and present the material in a
user friendly way. I am working on it. Thank you for your letter.
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With best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami

Dear Tony Pena: Thank you for your e mail. I used to read the
translations of great Sanskrit works like the Ramayana and Mahabharata
in Tamil, which is my mother tongue. I wonder if you may want to read
the Ramayana book written by C Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), a freedom
fighter, a former Governor General of India, a Statesman and a well
known literary figure. It is good book. If you want verse by verse
translation of Valmiki Ramayana,, it is available on line
http://www.valmikiramayan.net/
The translation is a bit terse. I am sure there are many many good
translations available. There are also DVDs in Hindi available of the
whole Ramayana with English subtitles
I think I have enough material regarding the Internal Organ book and I
am finding it challenging to organize and present the material in a
user friendly way. I am working on it. Thank you for your letter.
With best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami
March 2009 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami

Srivatsa Ramaswami Mar 2,
2009
Dear Friend:
Warm Greetings. In the olden Days, it is said that March used to be the first month of the
calendar year. September was the seventh month as Sapta in Sanskrit is seven. October was
the eighth and ashta is eight in Sanskrit. November and December were the ninth and tenth
months, as nava and dasa are nine and ten in Sanskrit. So.., Happy New Year.
Towards end of February I was in UK doing several programs. Thanks to the diligent work
of Steve Brandon of Harmony Yoga, the programs went well. There was a 30 hour Core
Vinyasa Yoga Program, six hour workshops each on Overview of Yoga Sutras,
Krishnamacharya’s Teachings, Yoga for Internal Organs and Pranayama, Mantras and
Meditation. I enjoyed teaching in the UK, a very mild weather and excellent hospitality of
Steve and Sally. I also talked on the Basic Tenets of Patanjala Yoga at Paul Harvey’s
beautiful studio. It was nice meeting Paul Harvey after more than 2 ½ decades.
In March I am scheduled to teach at LMU, in LA and also at Yogashala in CT. For more
details please refer to my website vinyasakrama.com. In April I will be teaching at Esalen
Institute in CA.
What follows is an article. Please send your observations and comments to the google group
address or to info @vinyasakrama.com. I will post useful and informative comments from you
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in my next newsletter. If you wish you may forward the article to your yoga friends or post in
your website.
Sincerely
Srivatsa Ramaswami
**************************************************************************
A “Creative” Hypothesis
Charles Darwin’s 200th Birth Anniversary has—indirectly--energized many to restart the
debate about God, Creation and Evolution. This kind of discussion, though, has been going
on from time immemorial. Sayana, the well known commentator on the Vedas, starts his
commentary by pointing out that several of the sayings of the Vedas on Heaven and the less
favorable place and the details of how to get to the former and avoid the latter can never be
proved or disproved. Even if they debate for a billion years (sata koti varsa) the believer can
not prove to the nonbeliever the existence of these worlds and God, nor can the non-believer
disprove their existence to the believer. Recently, several Darwin believers have put up graffiti
billboards, etc., proclaiming—inter alia, -- “Probably there is no God, so go out and enjoy life”,
drawing an equally telling response from a believer —“God exists, so go out and enjoy life”.
The most popular theory of creation of modern science is the Big Bang theory. Great minds
have propounded this theory. Basically it asserts that the present Universe we experience
evolved out of a dime sized entity called “Singularity” that the universe has expanded from this
primordial hot and immensely dense initial condition at some finite time in the past, and
continues to expand to this day. The mathematicians would say that this singularity has no
dimension and infinite density. Then the Universe evolved out of it. I understand that the Big
Bang theory does not address the question whence the Singularity was formed and how.
Some speculate that these are formed from matter and energy sucked by the Black Hole(s),
which is the end chapter of the previous evolution. Implicitly there is no mention of the need
for an intelligent cause (Nimitta Karana) for the creation. It evolves by itself. Of course there
are many scientists who believe that there could be an intelligent principle behind it—though
they may not call it God. This view that the Universe evolved without God or an efficient
cause has been there along with the theistic view from time immemorial. An orthodox
philosophy, Samkhya avers that the entire Universe evolved out of a singular non-dimensional
entity called Mula Prakriti, without an efficient cause (nimitta karana) called God.
Both these views hold that the Universe, the macrocosm that we experience has a real,
material cause. And theists believe in a material cause which is also efficient/intelligent cause,
which is God. This macrocosmic view that out of the huge macrocosm, countless individual
entities like us have sprung up or were created, or evolved, is generally accepted. But there is
a third view less known, less straightforward, which tries to understand the whole evolution
from a different point of view, from the point of the individual microcosm.
Yoga looks at it from the individual viewpoint, as briefly explained below, which will help and
lead us to understand the third viewpoint about Creation, propounded by the Advaitic
School of the Upanishads. All my life I am the subject and the world around is the object. I
see objects, hear sounds, smell things etc. When I am awake and see an object, the sequence
as all of us know is as follows. Light falls on the object that I see, the light is reflected by the
object, and the light particles, reach my eyes and then the retina. The retina converts them
into electrical impulses and they reach some part of my brain. Then there may be some
chemical changes in my brain cells and communications among the brain cells resulting in my
seeing the object. But in physical terms all the information reaches my brain and is absorbed.
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With this the physical phenomena end. After these reach my brain, how do I see the object,
outside of me, in front of me? The information is in my head physically but how do I see it
outside of me? Nothing goes out of my head. The brain projects an image, not outside but in
the mental space according to Yogis, because the projection does not and cannot take place in
the physical space. My mind projects it and there has to be some awareness or consciousness
in me which sees or experiences this mental projection. The yogis call the projection a
chittavritti. The chittavritti is the projection of the mind made out of the information received
through the eyes.
Of course the projection is a little more involved. The mind not only gets information through
the eyes but also through the ears and other senses, and the mind collates the information and
makes a composite presentation which I see in the mental space, just as the objects appear to
be outside of me. I not only have the outside picture reproduced in my mind but also me, the
subject, as part of the experience. I am also aware that I am in the midst of the total picture as
the ‘subject’ experiencing the outside world. I also feel emotions attached to the mental
picture. I also react to the experience, sometimes with a happy or sometimes an unhappy
disposition. Anyway there is a composite picture I experience. The totality of what I
experience including that I am the observer, I like it, I don’t like it, evertything,-- this is the
chittavritti at a moment. In the next moment, the chittavritti changes. Moment after moment
there is a new chittavritti and the non-changing Self, the pure consciousness keeps observing
this changing flux of chittavrittis.
The chittavritti is not confined to objects outside that I see directly. Sometimes, I infer from
partial sensory perceptions or occasionally I try to picture on the basis merely of what I hear.
Then there are occasions when I close my eyes and produce my own chittavrittis, without
objects, like in dreams—day or night. Then I have chittavrittis produced purely from past
incidents which I remember. Then of course my mind completely closes shop when there is
an ‘experience of sleep’. So I have a variety of chittavrittis, all taking place in my head. My
chittavritti which is the totality of my experience at any given moment takes place not in
physical space but in mental space or in virtual space. So even though the objects I perceive
may be real, what I experience is virtual. This is what happens in all of us all the time. But
even as the experience may be with virtual objects, the objects of the outside world are real
according to Yogis.
But the Vedantins especially advaita vedantins ask a further question. If the experience we
have takes place in mental space or chitta akasa, the experience of the prior moment also
should be taking place in virtual space. So the objects that reflected light particles for my eyes
to perceive themselves are virtual objects. Thus going back they aver that our entire life
experience is only virtual and not ‘really’ real. We can extrapolate this to the entire outside
world and say the Universe is not really ‘real’, it is an illusion.
So we have three possibilities, following this line of reasoning. Firstly the universe is real even
though our experience, known as chittavritti is virtual. This is the position of the Yogis, and
we would agree with that. The second view is that it is not possible to say for sure if the
outside world exists or not (anirvachaniya) since our experience is limited to our virtual
chittavrittis. The third view is that there is no real outside world, there is no real creation and
the experience is virtual and the universe is illusory. But, one may assert that the objects are
real, we can see, we can feel them. But the Mayavadins or those who say that the world is only
an illusion, aver that just as we feel the dream space, dream objects and the dream self to be
real during dream but they are found to be an illusion when we wake up, likewise the waking
state experience also is virtual and there is no real world outside. They say that there is no real
creation, all our life we have a succession of virtual experiences.
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Let us get back to the ideas at the beginning of the article.So we have now three views about
creation of the universe. One is that it evolved from “Singularity” and that is the material cause
of the Universe. Like the modern scientist, Samkhya does not feel the need to agree to an
efficient cause like God, the creator. The second view is that God created the Universe and
He is both the material and the efficient cause. The third view is that the creation itself is an
illusion and hence there is no need to subscribe to a material cause, like the Singularity or the
Mulaprakriti. However since there is an experience, the experiencer (Atman or drashta),
which is non changing pure consciousness alone exists which observes the illusionary
experience. Some Buddhists schools find no need for even postulating the constantly
observing Self.
So, the Upanishads aver that there is an origin of the Universe, like the Singularity of the
Scientists or the Mulaprikriti of the Samkhyas, which ‘origin’ the Upanishads call as
Brahman, literally meaning “the principle that expanded into this Universe’. But the
comparison ends there. While the Singularity is inert, without consciousness, Brahman is
pure, non-changing consciousness. It is the considered view of the vedandins that matter
cannot produce or become consciousness; the object cannot become the subject. The advaita
vedantins further aver, likewise, Consciousness cannot produce or become matter, it can only
be an observer. So they postulate the theory that what evolved out of the Brahman is not
really real, but only an illusion. Brahman does not expand like the Singularity does as
postulated by the Big Bang Theory. In fact it is said that the zero dimension Brahman
contains the entire universe within itself, but the Universe appears to be outside of it-- like
during our dream state the dream objects are within our consciousness but appear to be
outside us. Or, it is like the thin film of the reflecting surface of a mirror giving the impression
of having the three dimensional space and objects behind it.
One may therefore examine theories of creation other than the most popular views of “God
created the Universe” or “the Universe evolved on its own”. The third view is that there is no
real creation. Uncomfortable? But this obviates the need to answer the rather difficult
questions, “Whence did all this material come to make this Universe.” Or “Why God created
this Universe” and many other questions. The theory of illusory evolution is plausible and
tantalizing. Some traditional theists (astikas) who are drawn towards the logic of this third
theory of Virtual Creation (maya vada), call the Lord a Mayavin, or the Creator of the Grand
Illusion.
April 2009 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami-Vajrasana

Story
What follows is an article/story on Vajrasana. I hope you will find it useful and interesting.
VAJRASANA STORY
The Sanskrit word ‘aasana’ comes from the root ‘aas’ to sit, to sit quietly. Patanjali explains
aasana from the yogic point of view as sitting with comfort and steadiness. Even though
several ‘non-seated’ poses are called asanas in Yoga, ultimately one has to find a comfortable
pose to sit -- steady and quiet-- so that one can do Pranayama and meditate and hopefully get
into Samadhi,--all of which require a quiet pose in which the yogi can sit for a long time
steadily and without any discomfort. There are a few poses the yogis of yesteryears have
discovered which meet such requirements—say Padmasana, Siddhasana, Gomukhasana and
of course Vajrasana. In many of these poses, there is a certain degree of asymmetry—in
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Padmasana, Gomukhasana and Siddhasana, the legs are not kept perfectly symmetrical. But
Vajrasana is perfectly balanced and further it allows the body weight to be distributed equally
by the arches of the ankles. One sits snugly on the heels, the sit bones sitting on the heels. If
my ankles can stretch and my knees can flex well, Vajrasana is the best example of an asana—
perfectly comfortable and pleasantly steady.
There are many benefits attributed to Vajrasana. By perfectly acting as props, the heels and
the arches of the ankles support and nicely transfer the bodyweight to the ground. They
provide tremendous relief to the low back by perfectly supporting the pelvis and the low back.
What a relief.
It is also said to be a great posture for the digestive system. My Guru, Sri Krishnamacharya,
once during my class, mentioned an incident that happened when he was at the Mysore
Maharaja’s palace. It is common knowledge that Sri Krishnamacharya was running a
Yogashala in the Palace complex with the patronage of the Maharaja and had several
students including the Maharaja. The Acharya used to be requested to give demonstrations
and lectures on Yoga whenever dignitaries would visit the Maharaja. One afternoon it would
appear that Sri Krishnamacharya was resting at his home within the Palace Complex having
just had his lunch, when a messenger came to his house and said that the Maharaja wanted
him to come to the palace to give a talk/ demonstration of yogasanas for a few VVIPs visiting
the Maharaja. It is virtually impossible to do any of the difficult postures after lunch ( lunch is
the main meal), and doing difficult postures was what exactly was expected of him. My
teacher said to me, “I sat in Vajrasana for about half an hour and did some deep Pranayama,
and was ready to do any asana having by then digested my lunch”. And, Vajrasana is perhaps
the posture which best meets the parameters of steadiness and comfort for a good yogasana.
Vajrasana, and its variant Virasana, are mentioned in older texts also. In the Ramayana of
Valmiki, Sri Rama is said to be seated in Virasana (Hero’s Pose), sitting on his precious
throne embedded with rare stones and bedecked with flowers. There is a story about
Vajrasana that I heard when I was young. This is the version I remember from my childhood
days.
Brahman, the ultimate reality, the Pure Consciousness, One without a second, One without a
gender, felt It should become many. It contemplated deeply and then decided to ‘create’ this
complicated Universe only It could envision. Out of that Brahman evolved three entities, the
Trinity --, the Creator, the Sustainer and the Destroyer gods. The entire Universe created
was a masterpiece, only God could create it. There were myriads of objects and activities,
aspects of the Universe, interwoven and several gods were created to see that all functioned
well as per the Lord’s divine plan. A god for wind was created, one for fire, the earth had a
goddess, all controlling one aspect or the other of the Universe. According to the Vedas and
Puranas 330 million such gods were created. They had a supervising god, Indra. Human
Beings depended heavily on the grace of these gods, so that the natural forces, under the
suzerainty of the gods functioned to the benefit of Humanity. Wind blowing across gave life
to beings. Water flowing down quenched the thirst, and was life saving. Fire, always moving
up outside and inside the body maintained the temperature to live comfortably. There were
gods of love, order or dharma, of speech, of hearing, of intellect, memory etc.
There were also asuras, the antithesis of the gods that were created. Powerful and intelligent,
these asuras or demons coexisted (like feuding cousins in a joint family) with the gods in the
Universe, causing distress and corrupting the lives and minds of beings. Anger, lust, adharma
coexisted with the gods and there was a constant battle for supremacy, even as God
ultimately wanted good to triumph over evil.
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Now let us get to the story. The gods were ruling the Universe. The Asura boss at one point
in time decided that the Asuras should rule the Universe. He reasoned, “We, the asuras are
also the children of God, and why not WE rule the Universe? Firstly we have to defeat the
gods. But how could we defeat them?”
The Asura king was Vrittasura. He decided that the way the Universe was ruled should be
changed. He decided to approach the Lord. The procedure to get the vision of the Lord and
get a boon granted was to do Tapas or severe penance. He was adamant and obstinate and
was game for that arduous penance. He would do anything to get what he wanted. So he
went to a lonely spot and did intense Tapas. After a long time, the Lord appeared before him,
praised his Tapasya and asked him what he wanted. “I should not be killed by anybody, by
any cause”. The Lord was taken aback. “But such a boon can not be granted. The only one
who is immortal is Me”, the Lord said. Everyone else should die, this is how I wrote the
Constitution, I can not change it. Ask anything else that I can grant.” The Asura King
thought for a moment and came out with another prayer. Will the Lord give him immunity
from death from certain weapons and means? The Lord thought for a moment and said that
it was possible. Vrittasaura made a long list of weapons including those that would be
invented in the future. After a quick glance at the exhaustive list, the Lord approved it and
disappeared.
It was virtually a carte blanche for Vrittasura and his clan to do whatever they wanted to do
with the Universe. He drove the gods out of the heavens, took over all the powers of the gods
and started controlling the entire nature. Indra, the head of the clan of gods was chased from
his Indraloka. He hid himself in the tip of a grain (some say he hid himself in a molecule of
water in the ocean). The whole universe, especially the earth, was in enormous turmoil as
nature was made to function as per the new dictates of the Asuras. The Sun rose in the west,
water flowed up, fire burned downward, it was chaos all over the cosmos. Incalculable misery
prevailed under the Asuras.
Finally the displaced gods decided that it was time to look for actions that would restore the
power balance so that the gods would be back in charge. So they did severe tapas and prayed
to the Lord for mercy. The Lord in due course appeared before them and asked them what
they wanted. The gods narrated their woes and said, “We, the devas, are supposed to run the
universe doing our appointed tasks. Now the Asuras are in charge which is against the
scheme of things You Yourself contemplated when you created the Universe. So please take
back the boon you had granted to Vrttasura”. The Lord said, “I have no powers to take away
what I have given to someone after due Tapasya. Anything else I can do for you ?”, the Lord
asked. The devas thought for a while and asked, “Can you please show the details of the boon
you granted to Vrittasura—we can’t find it on your website, nowhere in Cyberspace”. The
Lord agreed and from thin air took out a huge document containing all the weapons and
means by which the Asura King could not be killed, gave it to the devas and then
disappeared. The Devas pored over the list again and again and could not find one single
means or one weapon, known or what would be developed in the future, like AK47 or
whatever, left out by the scheming Asura. The dejected Devas started slowly going back to
their wretched lives, brought about the Asura.
Enter Narada! Narada was a great sage. He is considered perhaps as the best of the devotees
of the Lord. His celestial music captivated every being, including the mighty Lord. He is
credited with an immortal text called “Bhakti Sutra” or Bhakti Aphorisms, an authoritative
text on Devotion. He is associated with many interesting episodes in the Puranas. Clever and
helpful, he is known for his unorthodox means to find solutions to knotty problems. He was
passing by the dejected Devas. Narada stopped and asked the devas why they were so
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dejected, and the devas narrated the whole story and expressed their helplessness. Narada
thought for a while and asked the Devas if he could see Vrittasura’s list given to them by the
Lord. Then perusing the list, he smiled and said that there appeared to be a loophole. It does
not contain any mention of a weapon made out of human bone. The devas were startled as
they never had a high opinion of human beings and never considered anything from those
human weaklings to be useful in their epic struggle. But the next problem was to find out
which human bone was strong enough that it could be used as a weapon. Most of the human
bones suffered from osteoporosis and hence were brittle.
Narada thought for a while and said that the backbone of a human being, made up of a string
of small bones, was both strong and also slightly flexible. It could absorb the shock of hitting
a hard object like the Asura and still not break. Other bones were either too soft or too brittle.
But then there was another problem to contend with when it came to the human backbone.
All human backbones were crooked and the curvature accentuated by bad postures and fused
vertebrae. How to find a human being with a backbone that was strong, with sufficient inter-
vertebral space and also straight, straight like an arrow?
Sage Narada thought for a while and said that only a Yogi in a posture that would keep the
back straight could have a backbone that would do the trick. He thought of several yogis in
various classical postures like Padmasana, Siddhasana, Gomukhasana or even Virasana but
these postures put a slight strain on the low back, and possibly did not provide a perfectly
straight backbone. Then he thought of a great sage sitting in a peculiar pose and remaining in
Nirodha or Nirvikalpa Samadhi. His face brightened and he told the Devas that they should
approach a sage, whom he knew was in Samadhi and then, and then.. He stumbled and
mumbled that they should procure his backbone. It was a ridiculous idea to get the backbone
of a living person, but that was the only way available.
The devas, the gods who give all the human beings what they need, now were going to a
human being with a begging bowl. They saw the Yogi. They stood in front of the Yogi who
was in a trance, sitting in a peculiar asana for a long time, and finally the Yogi opened his eyes.
Oozing peace and contentment, the Yogi asked the Devas “How can I help you?” It was hard
and cruel to ask someone to give up one’s life so that some part of the body can be made use of
for personal gain. It was not like asking for a kidney, but virtually asking for somebody’s life.
They hesitated and mumbled their request. Could the Rishi please give up his life so that they
could use his backbone as a weapon to kill the Asura and bring back welcome relief to the
whole universe? The yogi who had the spiritual realization about the nature of the Self and
was already in a state of Kaivalya or a Jivan mukta, agreed, closed his eyes and left the mortal
body peacefully.
They looked at the posture of the sage. His name was Dadhichi, rhymes with Marichi
another great Yogi, associated with Marichyasana. The posture was peculiar. Contemporary
yogis who do not particularly care for seated postures or who run for props to sit in a seated
pose would find that the posture the sage was seated, now known as Vajrasana, had a prop as
an integral aspect of the posture itself. Most of all seated poses like Padmasana, Virasana,
Siddhasana, Gomukhasana, etc., require one to sit with the sit bones placed on the floor.
Unless the pelvic girdle is pulled and the hip muscle stretched up, it is difficult to maintain the
low back straight and stress free, in these seated poses. But in this posture invented by
Dadhici, the arches of the ankles transmit the weight of the body uniformly and the heels
support the sit bones and the pelvis is kelp elevated. And in the process the low back is well
supported. Further, this posture does not put any strain on the low back obviating the need
for any artificial props. It is an excellent posture for Pranayama and Meditation, provided one
can prepare the knees and ankles appropriately.
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Then the devas harvested the backbone of the Yogi and the rest of the story is simple. Indra,
the chief of Devas, ultimately used the weapon made of the back bone of Dadichi and used it
as an arrow/thunderbolt to shoot at the Asura. Seeing a peculiar weapon aimed at him,
Vrittasura quickly ran through in his mind, the list of banned weapons he gave to the Lord
and found to his horror that the one that was directed at him was not one of them! Suddenly
the fear of death gripped him and he felt uncharacteristically very vulnerable and started
running away from the battlefield, at lightning speed, the same speed with which the weapon
was approaching him.. A small cluster of grass, in which a deva perhaps was hiding, stuck
between his toes and the mighty asura fell down on his face—he was felled by a weak weed.
The pursuing weapon caught up with the fallen villain and he was momentarily killed by
Indra’s new weapon which came to be known as Vajra-aayuda, or thunderbolt weapon. It
became the chief weapon associated with Indra from then on. The asana itself came to be
known as Vajrasana or Dadhicyasana. So Vajrasana is a fantastic and a wonderfully designed
yogic posture.
There are different versions of the story, so don’t rush to google to find out the different
versions. Some versions refer to Vajrayudha as disc shaped, so let us stick to this yoga-friendly
story.
Vajrasana lends itself to several graceful and useful Vinyasas. With the legs firmly on the
ground one can anchor the legs to do powerful backbend vinyasas like Ushtrasana(camel
pose) and Kapotasana (pigeon pose) and refreshing forward bends like Balasana and others.
If you want to know more vinyasas based on and built around Vajrasana, and also how to do
Vajrasana by the Vinyasakrama approach, please refer to the chapter on Meditative Poses in
my book, “Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga”. Sorry for the commercials. Thank you and
Good Luck!
Sincerely
Srivatsa Ramaswami
P S. Kindly acknowledge receipt of this e mail. If you have any comments, observations and/
or suggestions please write to i...@vinyasakrama.com. In the next newsletter I intend writing
on “Yoga for the Heart”. You may forward this to a friend or post it in your website if you
wish. If you have a list of friends or students who would like to receive the newsletter in future
please forward it to me and I can include the names as members.
Sanskrit Chants April 2009

April14,2009
Warm Greetings!
A few days back I stumbled on to a website in India which contained some of my recordings
made several years ago by a recording company. Sri Lalita Sahasranama from the
Brahmanda Purana on Goddess Shakti is a very popular Sanskrit chant which thousands of
devotees chant everyday, even today. This is one of my earliest records and was recorded in
1982 (Abt 45 mts). Swami Raghavendra was a great Vaishnavite saint in 16th century and
thousands of people still visit his shrine. Sri Raghavendra Sahasranamavali is the
Sahasranama (1000 names) of Sri Raghavendra (Abt 60 mts). This was recorded in early
1990s. The third, Srimat Anjaneya Sahasra namavali (Abt 45 mts), is the chanting of the 1000
names of Srimat Anjaneya (remember Anjaneya asana?), the well known and revered monkey
PAGE 12 OF 55
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god and a great devotee of Lord Rama. This was recorded in early 1990s. If you are interested
in listening to them please use the following links. I hope it works for you.
http://www.kannadaaudio.com/Songs/Devotional/SriMatAnjaneyyaSahasrana...
http://www.kannadaaudio.com/Songs/Devotional/SriLalithaSahasranamaSth...
http://www.kannadaaudio.com/Songs/Devotional/SriRagavendraSahasranama...
A couple of other recordings are available on several websites and one of the links is given
below. It contains parts of two cds, one on Gayatri and the other on Durga both different
forms of Shakti worship.
These were recorded in early 2000.
http://www.hummaa.com/music/artist/17331/Srivatsa+Ramaswami#
To my April Newsletter (Vajrasana), I received a few responses and am sharing some with
you. See below 1)Dear Teacher, Thank you for your delightful and informative article on
Vajrasana. I look forward to your next session at Yoga sutra in NYC. Yours, Kevin Ryder
************* 2)Dear Ramaswami,
I thought your story was quite engaging and pretty funny!
Devas and cyberspace, web sites and being felled by a weak weed! what fun!
VAJRASANA; When I think of this posture it has many of the qualities mentioned in the
story and is one of my favorite kramas. In the vajrasana group of movements the bowing
forward with the hasta vinyasas and it's pratikriya's (counter poses) allow the breath and
movement to become beautifully rhythmic and very satisfying. It allows the front of the body
to open the back of the body and vice versa with great ease, keeping the spine very supple but
strong.
The meditative sequence is also perfectly placed among the kramas. As one of the last groups
of movements, the ankles, knees thighs and spine have sufficient time through the preceding
asanas to gain flexibility and strength. It also facilitates quite safely the full and unusual
vinyasakrama camel walk series done with the foot placed in front; a very difficult and
challenging sequence...(commercial here- see this on page 182/183 The Complete Book of
Vinyasa Yoga)
Thinking of completing that Krama is a bit like the student fighting his own battle with the
devas, working hard to become nimble, letting the breath guide the intellect and surrendering
to the fear of going in a direction that is quite contrary to their nature...all require the
practitioner to have the kind of confidence needed to approach their god within, hopefully
finding balance and strength in their own true nature.
Thank you for this delightful and insightful story.
With much respect, Pam Johnson
********
3)On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 9:50 AM, jeffrey zweig <jef...@aol.com> wrote:
Dear S. Ramaswami, Thank you for the information and this great anecdote on the origin of
Vajrasana. I encourage students to use this posture often. I have a quick question regarding
foot cramps in Vajrasana. Asanas that require us to point the foot often cause strong and
painful cramps in the insole muscle. Do you have any suggestions that might help strengthen
the foot muscle and relieve cramping?
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Sincerely, Jeff PS: By the way, I thought the following passage was very funny. Yoga-
friendly is shall be.
On Apr 1, 2009, at 8:41 AM, Srivatsa Ramaswami wrote: There are different versions of the
story, so don’t rush to google to find out the different versions. Some versions refer to
Vajrayudha as disc shaped, so let us stick to this yoga-friendly story.
Dear Jeffrey Zweig: Thank you for your e mail. Actually this posture requires a good plantar
flexion, the line from the big toe through the inside of the dorsum to the ankle, and the inside
of the leg up to the knee, so that the ankles almost touch each other when you are finally in the
posture. If you allow the ankles to spread or buckle the insole muscles have to take the load
and the problems you mention arise. Actually the feet should be close to each other like you
see the gymnasts do. You may try to do movements -- sitting and getting up on your kness a
few times every day until the big toe-ankle line is well stretched. Thank you and with best
wishes Sincerely Srivats Ramaswami
On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 5:56 PM, jeffrey zweig <jef...@aol.com> wrote:
Hello, Srivats Ramasami,

I appreciate your response regarding foot cramping and vajarasana. I understand that this
asana asks for deep ankle flexibility and plantar flexion. I have been under the understanding
that the heels support the "sit" bones, and would thus be separated. I can keep my toes
together without difficulty in the posture, and can squat with toes and heels together. But
when I sit atop the soles of the feet (as in vajarasana) the ankles/heels do separate a little bit.
Should the feet should ultimately be parallel to each other, ie straight toe- ankle line?
I've been revisiting the Nadi Shodana pranayama variation with kumbhaka that you gave us
at the workshop in Connecticut. I'm not sure if I remembered it correctly as I have a few
inconsistancys of duration. I wonder if you could review my notation and make any
adjustments for accuracy.
This is what I notated from memory:
inhale ujjayi 5 sec. hold 5 sec. exhale right 8 sec. hold with bandha 5 sec. inhale right 5 sec. hold
5 sec. exhale ujjayi 8 sec. inhale ujjayi 5 sec. hold 5 sec. exhale left 8 sec hold with bandha 5 sec.
inhale left 5sec. hold 5 sec. exhale ujjayi 8 sec.
That would constitute one round. Any thoughts. I have been practicing the Vinyasa Krama
hasta sequence daily as a warm up for pranayama and meditation. It has proved an extremely
effective progression to get to a state were meditation begins more easily. As I have been
trained in Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, this has become a very positive balance to my asana
practice.
Thanks Jeff
Hello Jeffrey Zweig: Thank you for your e mail. Yes the Viloma Ujjaayi Pranayma as
sequenced by you is what I taught in the class, except you may include the bandhas after the
Ujjayi exhalation also. You may also consider extending exhalation from 8secs to 10 secs.
Regarding Vajrasana, what you say is right, the heels are slightly separated, but maybe I
should have made it clearer in my response,-- the ankle bones touch each other so that the
heels will be just under the sitbones. - Srivatsa Ramaswami
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*******************
4)Dear Teacher: Thank you for the wonderful story of Vajrasana. Squatting is second nature
to all Asians and sure is handy when there are no chairs around! I am once again touched by
your knowledge and commitment to Yoga. Until then, Ken Ng (LA, CA).
*******************
5)Hi Ramaswami,
It's great to hear from you. I'm glad to hear you are teaching at Esalen and at LMU. I was at
the yoga therapy by SYTAR a few weeks ago and knew you were at LMU that weekend.
And I see that you will in Chicago again in September. You are a busy guy!
Thank you for the story. I enjoyed learning the origins of Vajrasana.
Sharon Yoga Chicago ******************
Another New Year On April 14th, the New Year begins in Tamilnadu in India where I come
from. This New Year follows generally Nirayana vernal equinox and usually falls on the 14th
of April. The tropical equinox falls around Mar 22. If one adds 23 degrees of oscillation to it,
one gets the Hindu sidereal or what is known as Nirayana Mesha Sankaranthi. The Tamil
years follow a 60 year cycle, which is ancient and is observed by most traditional calendars of
India and China. According to general belief Jupiter takes 12 years for one revolution and the
60 year cycle represents five such revolutions of Jupiter considered a very auspicious planet or
graha . Well, I hear you saying “Happy New Year”, and thank you. You may please write to
i...@vinyasakrama.com Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami PS Please visit my website
www.vinyasakrama.com and open the chants page for more chants and learning some well
known chants. Also visit the Events page to know more about my forthcoming programs.
The Syllabus of my 200 Hr Teacher Training Program is available on a separate page in the
website. Thank you
May 2009 Newsletter- YOGA FOR THE HEART

Srivatsa Ramaswami May 1, 2009
YOGA FOR THE HEART
Warm Greetings!
At the outset I want to express my sincere thanks to my good friend David Hurwitz (Yogi
Dave) for going through all these articles and correcting, wherever necessary, my Inglish to
acceptable English. Thank you David, for all your help, support and guidance all along..
I had the opportunity to teach at Yoga Sutra in NYC for their Teacher Trainees during
April. The subjects were a. Teachings of Sri Krishnamacharya b. Introduction to
Vinyasakrama c. Yoga Sutra chapters I and II (I am scheduled to do a 20hr , open “Core
Vinyasakrama asana” program spread over two August weekends). In May I am scheduled to
do an extended workshop at Yogashala, in Portland OR and later in the month I will be
teaching a Practicum on Hatayoga and Rajayoga at Esalen Institute, Big Sur,CA and a
weekend workshop in San Fransisco. In June and July I am scheduled to do the 200 Hr
Teacher Training Program at Loyola Marymount University LA.
Here is a response from Gyl Evans, from Bristol,UK. Thank you Gyl Evans.
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Happy New Year to you! Dear Sri Ramaswami, Many thanks for your emails & newsletters.
You write so very well and I enjoy learning from you - you shine a light into dim & dark areas
that would otherwise remain in shadow. On this email it was also interesting to see a few of
the replies and appreciate each other too. Thank you for sharing your insight, I look forward
to following some of the links and hearing your chants. May your New Year bring you and
your family much joy. Kind regards, Gyl Evans, Bristol. ********************************
YOGA FOR THE HEART
Sri Krishnamacharya, my Guru would characterize yoga as a Sarvanga Sadhana or a method
that is helpful for all parts of the body, not just the skeletal muscles. Every part of the body can
be accessed and treated, aver the yogis. Therefore some of Yoga’s influence on the heart may
be considered here. One of the views expressed repeatedly by my Guru was that the heart
should not be strained; that even while you exercise yoga procedures like asanas, the heart
rate should not increase significantly, which is markedly different from the ‘aerobic’ approach.
Further there is another aspect. There are six vital kosas or sacs in the body which are the six
important internal organs. The Heart is called the hrudaya Kosa or the Heart sac, which is in
the thoracic cavity and is responsible for the circulation of blood (rakta- sanchara) to all the
purificatory organs like the kidneys, the lungs etc., and also to all the tissues in the body. The
heart is surrounded by the twin walled heart covering or sac called pericardium, which allows
the heart to move smoothly within the thoracic cavity. This organ which is made up of
musculature is attached to the chest walls which are also made of muscles. These muscles,
due to our upright position most of the time, tend to sag due to gravity, over time, even
though they are well supported. This sagging of the Hrudaya Kosa according to Yogis has a
progressively debilitating effect on the Heart-- which becomes less efficient by the slow
downward displacement of the organ from its original intended position. This hypothesis of
the ‘heart sag’ engaged the attention of the yogis. So in this article let us examine what the
yogis of yesteryears did to 1. Help the heart in its function of pumping blood and also 2.
Correct the slow decline in its efficiency due to physical descent, albeit slight, of the heart and
also its elasticity.
There are two segments to rakta sanchara or blood circulation. First is the return of the blood
to the heart so that the heart can then pump blood to various parts of the body including the
purifying organs like lungs (svasa Kosa) and kidneys. All the blood that is received by the
various muscles and tissues will have to return to the heart. The muscles, especially the
skeletal muscles are partially contracted all the time so that they maintain a tone. This slight
contraction helps to squeeze some ‘used’ blood out of the muscles into the venous system.
The veins contain valves which prevent the blood from backtracking to the muscles. Further,
during the movements of these muscles the blood is pushed slowly towards the main vein
which carries all the return blood to the heart. In terms of skeletal muscles both the extensor
and flexor muscles under normal enervation maintain constant tone while at rest. Thus even a
‘couch potato’ is able to get the blood circulating, due to this phenomenon called ‘muscle
pump’ though such circulation is not very efficient. If the return blood to the heart is scanty or
below normal, the heart will have to pump more often to push out the same amount of blood
per unit time. If this ‘stroke volume’ is increased then the heart would be able to pump blood
more efficiently. It will beat a fewer number of times to circulate the same amount of blood,
which according to yogis will help to reduce the strain on the heart. It is considered desirable.
There are a few things the yogi does to improve this venous return. By doing a number of
vinyasas, she/he is able to squeeze out more blood out of the cells. In vinyasakrama, by a well
thought out regimen of vinyasas and asanas, one will be able to work out all the muscles,
tissues and cells of skeletal system, so much so that there is a more complete scavenging of the
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system. And as the ‘deoxygenated blood’ is wringed out of the tissues, fresh nourishing blood
enters the tissues.
What is equally important or more important is the effect of breathing on this venous return
of the blood. When we breathe in we do it by expanding the chest. When we expand the chest
during inhalation, the diaphragm also descends and there is a partial vacuum created in the
thoracic cavity, -- there is a significant pressure gradient between the thoracic cavity and the
outside atmosphere. So as the chest expands, due to the pressure difference, the air rushes
into the lungs through the nostrils, trachea etc. Normally this takes place for a couple of
seconds, then the involuntary inhalation stops, then the exhalation starts due to the relaxation
of the chest muscles and some air, say about 500ccs out of the 5 liters or so of air in the chest is
expelled. This is normal breathing. What is important in our discussion is that when the chest
expands, the partial vacuum created has also an effect on the heart which is in the same
thoracic cavity. The blood which is slowly moving through the main vein, the vena cava, is
sucked in by this partial vacuum and its suction has the effect of accelerating the flow of blood
to the heart chamber. The Yogis take advantage of this phenomenon, also called the
‘respiratory pump’ effect. By expanding the chest more, and more slowly, the negative
pressure in the chest cavity is increased and maintained longer, by holding the breath for a
period of time, during Kumbhaka. During the long inhalation and breath holding, the
suction pump effect is maintained and the flow of blood back to the heart is accelerated. Thus
a good Pranayama practice helps the venous return of the blood to the heart.
The Vinyasakrama method of doing yoga practice therefore has an additional advantage.
Performing the tens of scores of vinyasas helps squeeze out ‘bad blood’ from every muscle and
joint , the simultaneous synchronized slow breathing employed especially the inhalation helps
to suck more blood to the heart. As the vinyasas and asanas help to squeeze out blood, the
slow deeper inhalation by maintaining a negative pressure of the chest cavity for a much
longer period of time helps to return more blood to the heart, so much so that every time the
heart beats it is able to pump more blood, i.e., the stroke volume increases. In about half an
hour of Vinyasakrama practice one can do about 100 vinyasas taking the rest periods into
account and during this period there is a significant improvement in the blood circulation in
the entire system. This yoga method has a marked difference with aerobic workouts. In these
types of aerobic exercises-- which is what happens when people do yoga as a workout,
without any reference to slow breathing-- the blood circulation improves but due to faster
working of the heart and lungs. The same amount of blood circulation is achieved by a
greater number of heart beats, which according to Yogis is inefficient and strains the heart.
Further in the workouts, the body creates more waste products and creates more ‘bad blood’
due to substantially increased metabolism, whereas in Yoga where slow synchronized
breathing is involved as in Vinyasakrama taught by Sri Krishnamacharya, the increase in
metabolism is minimal.
Yoga also takes care of blood circulation to the internal organs. Whereas the asanas help
basically the skeletal muscles, Yogis have devised methods by which the vast amount of
muscles and tissues inside the body are also exercised so that the large quantity of blood in the
muscles and tissues inside the body also is squeezed out and brought into circulation. Deep
inhalation done during pranayama pushes the diaphragm down and puts useful pressure on
the abdominal and pelvic organs. Further some adept yogis also do mulabandha and some
Uddiyanabandha after inhalation (and holding the breath) so that there is pressure on the
internal organs (the abdominal and pelvic organs) from above, below and the anterior side,
virtually wringing more blood out of these organs and muscles. Again after exhalation more
powerful bandhas are employed by which the internal muscles and organs are exercised,
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squeezed and massaged. In Uddiyana bandha while doing bahya Kumbhaka, the adept Yogi,
like my Guru, is able to push the diaphragm pretty deep up into the thoracic cavity providing
a healthy external pressure on the heart muscles to squeeze out blood even from the heart
muscles and providing a gentle massage to the heart, thereby helping the elasticity of the
heart muscles in the process.
There is another unique procedure the yogis employ for the venous return of blood to the
heart. It is the inversion asanas, like Headstand, Shoulder stand and the various vinyasas in
these poses. The heart is way up in the body, almost 2/3rd or even higher up, in normal
upright position. While it helps the heart to pump out more blood efficiently to the 2/3rds of
the body like the visceral organs and the lower extremities, the return of the blood to the heart
is somewhat hampered due to gravitational resistance. So the inversions like Sarvangasana
help to drain fluids, especially blood from the lower extremities and also visceral muscles.
This is accentuated by doing a variety of Vinyasas in the inversions. The combination of
Vinyasas in inverted poses, synchronized breathing and employing the bandhas helps to
return more blood to the heart from the muscles and tissues below the heart. Again exercises
like Kapalabhati, Vanhi sara (agni sara) and the bandhas help in the process.
As mentioned earlier, another view that used to be strongly expressed by my Guru is that all
the internal organs get slowly displaced or tend to sag from their original positions and thus
become less efficient/ become diseased over a period of time due to partial loss of tone. The
muscle tone of the heart is very good when one is young but with age and gravity the muscles
start sagging--lose their tone a bit, become less elastic, like all other muscles. So the yogis
resorted to inversions or viparitakaranis. For the heart, Sarvangasana is ideal, and in that
position the heart snuggly rests in the upper portion of the chest cavity, well supported and
rested. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Sarvangasana is referred to as the Heart of the
Asanas. A ten minute stint in Sarvangasana, with the bandhas helps to restore -- or slightly
overcorrect-- the heart back to is original position. The Pranayama that is done thereafter is
said to normalize the position by neutralizing any over correction during the inversion. Deep
Uddiyanabandha and other abdominal exercises like Kapalabhati, Vahni Sara etc, help to
massage and strengthen the heart muscles, so that the heart can continue to pump blood to
all parts of the body efficiently.
Therefore, if the heart condition is normal for a person, then, it may be a good practice to do
exercises for the chest and the accessory muscles of the thorax first. Please refer to
hasthavinyasas in Tadasana chapter in my book “The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga”.
These help to exercise the accessory muscles of breathing and help to expand the chest
significantly. Then do as many vinyasas as possible in different asanas to cover the whole
body. Stay in Shoulder stand for a good ten minutes doing also a variety of Vinyasas. It is
better if one can do Headstand as well for several minutes. Do Pranayama for about ten
minutes preceded by Kapalabhati and accompanied by Bandhas. Do good meditation for
about 10 to 15 minutes so that the mind relaxes and the heart and the chest muscles relax. You
may also consider chanting aloud vedic or other laukika mantras like Sahasranamas etc. Or
read aloud from the scriptures for about 15 to 20 minutes everyday.
It is said that prayer is very efficacious. There is a vedic prayer addressed to Sun god (the sun
is the god of health) specifically for the good functioning of the heart.
“hrudrogam mama surya harimaananca nasaya”
Oh! Lord Sun. Do remove my heart ailment and the greenish patches in my skin (due to
improper oxygenation and blood circulation)
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In due course the rest heart rate itself comes down. Following my Guru’s advice, one should
avoid doing yoga as a workout as that substantially increases the heart rate. In
Hatayogapradipika, the author Svatmarama, quoting another great Hatayogi,
Gorkshanatha, mentions that the yogi should not do strenuous activities (kaaya klesa) and
these are detrimental to overall progress in Yoga. Brahmananda who has written a lucid
commentary on this text, gives examples that are considered to be strenuous exercises that are
fit to be eschewed by the Yogi. He specifically gives the examples like lifting and carrying
heavy weights and doing repeated Sun Salutations (bahu surynamaskara) as strenuous
exercise which a yogi should avoid doing. My teacher also would say that the yogi should be
thin (krisa) and not overweight. One could say, “Overweight is bad Lean or fat” as overweight
puts additional strain on the heart.
Aerobic Exercises are good in their own way; they help to strengthen the cardiovascular
system. Even so Yoga, as practiced by the Vinyasakrama system, is the antithesis of aerobic
exercises. The Breath-yoga deliberately reduces the breath rate and consequently the heart
rate, whereas the aerobic and the aerobic like yoga (like the continuous 108
Suryanamaskaras), significantly increase the breath rate and heart rate during exercise. While
workouts and practice of yoga as a workout help to reduce Rajas, they also accentuate
Tamas. But, breath-vinyasakrama-yoga done slowly, with synchronized breathing, followed
by deep Pranayama helps not only reduce Rajas but also Tamas. The reduction of these
Gunas makes the mind calmer and fresh or Satwic and a calmer mind is conducive to the
healthy functioning of the heart. Therefore it may be a good ‘Health Policy’ to encourage
youngsters, especially teenagers to practice yoga, the breath-asanas and vinyasas, pranayama,
various mudras, vipatitakaranis and appropriate meditation, eat moderate and satwic food
and thereby they can take lifelong care of the heart.
Srivatsa Ramaswami
P S.Please acknowledge receipt by e mailing i...@vinyasakrama.com. Send also your
comments, observations and suggestions. If any of your yoga friends would like to receive the
emails, please send me the e mail address and I can include them as a member. Thank you for
the support.
www.vinyasakrama.com
June 2009 Newsletter-Vedic Convocation/

June 2009 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami
Warm Greetings!
In May I did an extended weekend workshop at the friendly Yogashala of Portland,OR. I
taught a 13 hr Vinyasakrama program and a 10 hr program on Yoga for Internal Organs. It
was a very happy experience to teach at the wonderful facility with very nice participants and a
very gracious host, Jody Kurilla. I also did a 26hr five day program at the Esalen Institute,
Big Sur California. I taught a practicum on Hata Yoga and Raja Yoga. Again it was a very
happy experience teaching to very receptive and interested participants. I also did a short
workshop in San Francisco organized by Alan Reynolds and I thought the program went
well.
In June and July I am scheduled to do a five week long 200 hr Vinyasakrama Yoga program
(registered with Yoga Alliance) at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.
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I look forward to teaching at LMU. For more information and registration, the contact
person is Amparo Denney at y...@lmu.edu I will also be doing a workshop during the last
weekend at The Yoga Center at Rodando Beach in California. di...@theyogacenter.com
**********************
Here are some letters received during the month
Thank you! The article is very interesting!! Sabin ****** Thank you so much for your
commentary on the wisdom of yoga for the heart. I teach cardiac yoga (gentle/chair and
chair- assisted) to older patients. This will be a great help in explaining how they will benefit
form the class. Some of these patients can not do inversions due to a weak heart muscle, fluid
accumulation in the lungs, extremities, and heart. For these people are breathing exercises
the next best thing to improve heart tone and increase venous return and the purification of
the blood? I look forward to attending your workshop in Chicago. With great respect, OM
Shanti,
Terri Drummond, RN. ******** Dear Teacher, The day I was able to attend part of your
workshop (5-9) was the best day I've had all year. It was a miracle to experience relief from
some of the physical and mental aches associated with aging. I only wish you were in
Portland more often, but it will be a great gift to receive your very informative newsletters. I
also appreciate your 3 books and am hoping for another. Looking forward to your next
Portland visit. Warm Regards,
Sharon Hascall ********
Thank you for the article on the heart. I am very happy to read this as I have always
questioned the vigorous exercise that doctors say is needed to strengthen the heart.
Everything you suggested makes complete sense to me and feels right. As I age, and am now
59, I find that the intense walking and any intense exercises just exhaust me. I feel no ill effects
from yoga, unless I push too far in an asana.
My family has a history of heart disease and I want to remain healthy. I have a family member
with high blood pressure, should he still do inversions or not? Deborah Steffen P.S. I
attended your Vinyasa Krama training a couple of years ago and teach it.
Dear Deborah Steffen: Thank you for your e mail. As you could observe I had mentioned
about the inversions for normal healthy persons but if there are specific health conditions one
has to modify the practice accordingly. Persons with high blood pressure should be careful
about doing inversions especially Headstand. But if someone has been doing inversions from
early age and if the hypertension is brought under control by diet, weight reduction lifestyle
changes, meditation and even medication etc., it may be ok to do Sarvangasana, or the easier
inversion as viparitakarani though head stand may be avoided. It is better to assess the
condition of the individual and prescribe yoga routine and then modify the practice from time
to time. Thank you very much for your interest and support. Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami
********* Namaskara, I liked the explanation you gave about Yoga for the Heart. Thanks for
the Newsletter. I honor your knowledge. Thanks Ketna Shah. ********* Thanks! Shannon
Callan Please keep writing and sending emails! I read them and think about them. Thank
you, thank you!
****** Heather Westendarp Thank you so much for these informative emails. I feel so lucky to
be taught by three of your students in Houston, Pam,Debbie and my son Lance. Lance is
building interest in his classes at Yoga Yoga and Pure Austin. He loves learning from you and
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is bringing your teachings to many new students. Thank you for inspiring him to do this. I am
very grateful to you. You are always in my prayers. Sent from my iPhone
ARTICLE OF THE MONTH
Vedic Convocation/ Commencement Address
I started studying with my Guru Sri Pandit Krishnamacharya in 1955. By about the middle of
the 70s I started teaching at the behest of my Guru even as I was continuing my studies with
him. By then he had started teaching several portions of the Vedas and also teaching many
texts. Sri Krishnamacharya was very particular that we should learn vedic chanting in depth.
He said that svadhyaya, a vedic term, also found in Yoga Sutras, referred to studying one’s
own scriptures. Sva- sakha-adhyaya is svadhyaya, studying one’s own branch of veda is
svadhyaya.
One day as we were chanting the sikshavalli chapter of Taittiriya Upanishad, my Guru
stopped abruptly, looked at me and said, “You have studied English. Why don’t you translate
into English this last passage of Sikshavalli, have it printed and give it to your friends and
Yoga Students? I did exactly that. Now after so many decades, I thought I could write in a
little more detail on this section of the Upanishad. It is the convocation/ commencement
address to the students at the end of their study, and it forms part of the Vedas.
“VEDAMANUCHYA ACHAARYONTEVAASINAMANUSHASTI”
The opening commandment is “SATYAM VADA”” or Speak the True. Truth is that which
one comes to know by proper evidence and also what is worthy of utterance. It will forbid
saying anything that is asatya or that is untrue. What is untruth? Motivated half truths, back
biting- talking behind one’s back, gossiping, speaking ill of someone, hypercritical talk,
flattery or ‘expeditious talk’-- all fall in this category (samkusika). Spreading rumors
(vikusuka)/ fear mongering also belong to this category. Then we have blatant lies (nirruta) to
complete the list of untruths. Asatya or untruth could become habitual and so the teacher
exhorts the student to develop the habit of Truth saying and avoid the asatya, so that one
does not add this toxic bad karma to one’s karma bundle over the span of a long life. The
Acharya tells the ward that one should take the vow early in life to speak the truth and
nothing but the truth, so that corrupting influence of speaking untruth does not pollute the
mind and body of the student who is about to embark on a life as an adult. There are stories of
great beings who take the vow to speak always the Truth, called Satyavans or Satyavratas.
The story of King Harischandra is a well known—despite all odds he sticks to Truth and
ultimately triumphs. It is the vedic saying “Satyam eva jayate” or “Only Truth triumphs” which
is a national motto in India. The Vedas emphasize the point by saying “na anrutam”, falsehood
never succeeds. Patanjali’s Yama is consistent with this vedic order.
The next advice is “DHARMAM CHARA” or Tread the path of righteousness. One should
do one’s duties as per the stage and station in life. The generic meaning of the word Dharma
is ‘that which supports and uplifts”. Those who follow dharma as prescribed in the scriptures,
reach higher worlds. In general use, the word dharma is considered synonymous with charity
as it supports and uplifts others in distress. Those who do their dharmic duties and works,
accumulate good karmas. It is said that dharma protects those who‘protect’ or observe it
(dharmo rakshati rakshitah). Ahimsa or non-harming is considered the highest dharma
(ahimsa paramo dharmah). And Patanjali in the yogasutras considers ahimsa as the foremost
yama. Dharma is the term for all that is to be practiced.
Svadhyaya, a term found in the yogi’s yama, is a vedic expression. “SWADHYAAYAAT
MAA PRAMADAH” Here the teacher exhorts the student to continue to study and never
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deviate from that duty. Svadhyaya is the study, memorizing and understanding of the
scriptures. One should never be careless about chanting the scriptures daily, lest one forgets
the scriptures. Since Vedas in the olden days were not available in books as they were not
written, once one forgets it, it is almost impossible to get it back. Every generation had a few
who memorized the Vedas and passed on to the next generation of vedic students who
themselves studied and memorized the scriptures and the knowledge chain was maintained.
Then the student should properly pay the fees to the teacher, before returning home. In the
olden days most of the vedic scholars were poor, coming from abjectly poor families, and so
were the teachers. Not invariably, but typically, the student, after the completion of the
studies (samavartana) would go out to participate in debates and other forums and exhibit his
knowledge in the assembly of scholars and rich patrons like the chieftain or the king. The
assembly of scholars in the King’s court, and the Chief himself, would assess the scholarship
of the student and then the Chief/King would award some gifts, which the student uses to
pay appropriately the teacher. He would retain a portion of it and then settle down in life.
There was an inbuilt incentive for the teacher to teach well and graduate outstanding
students so that he could be well recognized and paid. After making the payment to the
teacher the student is mandated to get married and start a family. “ACHAARYAAYA
PRIYAM DHANAMAAHRUTYA PRAJAATANTUM MAA VYAVACHETSIH”
He should see to it that the continuity of the family (lineage string) is not broken by his being
without progeny (prajatantum maa vyavachetsih). If perchance one does not have children
one should resort to other means available at that time like herbal treatment or doing
religious ceremonies like putra-ishti that is performed to the gods for progeny. Lord Rama,
the hero of Ramayana was born only after such religious rites were performed by his father
King Dasarata. If that too fails, some even recommend adopting a suitable child.
The next few commandments are to be followed without any exception. All your life never
deviate from the vow to speak only what can be strictly considered as True “SATYAAT
NAADITAVYAM” Never ever deviate from the path of Dharma. “DHARMAAT NA
PRAMADITAVYAM” Always take all necessary steps to keep your body and mind healthy.
“KUSHALAAT NA PRAMADITAVYAM”. Never deviate from the vow to be
compassionate to all beings BHUTYAI NA PRAMADITAVYAM And take all necessary
steps to remember everything you studied of the scriptures and also never shirk from the duty
of teaching to appropriate students the Vedas you have studied. This instruction was
unexceptional as in the olden days the scriptures were never written and were transmitted
orally by the teacher and the student memorized them and hence it was the bound duty of the
student to take all steps like daily chanting (svadhyaya) of the Vedas, lest he forgets the vedas.
There was an additional duty to faithfully transmit the knowledge to the next generation as all
the Vedas were memorized but never written down “SVAADHYAAYA
PRAVACHANAABHYAAM NA PRAMADITAVYAM” And then, never ever refrain
from doing the religious duties to ancestors and gods. “DEVA PITRU
KAARYAABHYAAM NA PRAMADITAVYAM”
Then the Teacher identifies four beings as fit to be considered as divine. These individuals
should not be treated as other human beings but ones worthy of divine love and veneration.
Firstly one should revere one’s mother as an incarnation of God. “MAATRU DEVO
BHAVA” Then one should consider one’s father in a similar vein. “PITRU DEVO
BHAVA” Thirdly one’s teacher, the spiritual teacher who himself leads an exemplary life as
prescribed by the scriptures, should be revered as God Himself. “ACHHARYA DEVO
BHAVA”
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Finally one’s guest (atithi, unannounced stranger who comes at meal time!) also should be
treated with respect and love. “ATITHI DEVO BHAVA”
Further orders include doing all prescribed duties, not shirking from them ever. And one
should refrain from doing all activities proscribed by the scriptures. Follow the well
documented good acts of your teachers faithfully. Others not approved by the sastras, even if
done by your teachers and elders, should be eschewed. “YAANYANAVADYAANI
KARMAANI| TAANI TVAYOPAAYAANI|NO ITARAANI| In life you will come
across great outstanding scholars, even better than your teachers. In their presence, maintain
silence and listen to them carefully, without interrupting. It is the time to listen and learn
rather than ‘interrupting’ to make an ‘impression’. The Upanishad says ‘don’t even breathe, in
their presence!’ KECHASMACHREYAAMSO BRAHMNAAH| TESHAAM
TVAAYAASANEEYA PRASVASITAVYAM| YE
One of the main duties of the vedic scholar is to give charity, it is one of the six prescribed
duties. (Studying, teaching, doing prescribed rituals, help others do the rituals, receive
payment for teaching and for the services rendered for others are the other five) . Any charity
or gifts given should be done with earnestness (sraddha), never carelessly. One should do
charity willingly, without any reservation or feeling any compulsion. One should give with the
feeling that it is a noble activity-- a good karma. Charity should be done with humility—giving
charity with the feeling of being empowered is Rajasic. One should give charity with a sense
of trepidation— careful not to offend the sensibilities or make the recipient cringe. It should
be consistent with the needs or the worthiness of the recipient. SRADDHAYA DEYAM\
ASRADDHAYA DEAYAM| SRIYAA DEYAM|HRIYAA DEYAM|BHIYAA
DEYAM|SAMVIDAA DEYAM| It is said by the dharmashastas that one should give a
sixth of the earnings as charity.
No scripture, no constitution, no law can take care of all the situations. Here the Teacher
advises the student that while sticking to the dos and don’ts of the Vedas one may be
confronted with differing interpretations or conflicting factors in a given situation. In such
occasions, one should follow the examples and advice of great stalwarts who have completely
got rid themselves of personal deficiencies of rajas and tamas like desires, hatred and envy,
who completely and wholeheartedly follow the dictates of the scriptures, without a trace of
enmity and stubbornness, and who love to follow the path of virtue or Dharma. Follow their
example and do what they would do in such situations and avoid those courses of action such
eminent persons refrain from. ATHA YADI TE KARMAVICHIKITSAA VAA VRITTA
VICHIKITSAA VAA SYAAT| YE TATRA BRAAHMANAAH SAMMARSINAH|
YUKTAA VAA AAYUKTAAH| ALOOKSHAA DHARMAKAAMESYUH|
YATHAA TE TESHU VARTERAN| TATHAA TESHU VARTETAAH|
The teacher completes the address by saying that these are his orders or commandments.
And these are also his advice given for the well being of his wards. These are the essential
teachings of the vedic Upanishads. These should be followed invariably, without any
exception. This should be kept deep in one’s mind. These should verily be the guiding
principles of your life, commands the vedic teacher. YESHA AADESAHA| YESHA
UPADESHAH| YESHAA VEDOPANISHAD|YETADANUSAASANAM|
YEVAMUPAASITAVYAM| YEVAMUCAI TADUPAASYAM|
The Yamaniyamas of the Yogasutras are in line with the vedic injunctions. Since Yoga of
Patanjali is an orthodox vedic philosophy, Sri Krishnamacharya wanted his students to study
and follow to the extent possible the yamaniyamas of the Sutras and also the vedic advice.
Click on the following link to listen to the “Convocation address mantras”.
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VOLUME 01-12 / 2009
Vedic Convocation Mantras (128kbps MP3)

Here are the convocation (anushasana) mantras
VEDAMANUCHYA ACHAARYONTEVAASINAMANUSHASTI | SATYAM
VADA DHARMAM CHARA SWADHYAAYAAT MAA PRAMADAH
ACHAARYAAYA PRIYAM DHANAMAAHRUTYA PRAJAATANTUM MAA
VYAVACHETSIH SATYAAT NAADITAVYAM DHARMAAT NA
PRAMADITAVYAM KUSHALAAT NA PRAMADITAVYAM BHUTYAI NA
PRAMADITAVYAM SVAADHYAAYA PRAVACHANAABHYAAM NA
PRAMADITAVYAM DEVA PITRU KAARYAABHYAAM NA
PRAMADITAVYAM MAATRU DEVO BHAVA” PITRU DEVO BHAVA
ACHHARYA DEVO BHAVA ATITHI DEVO BHAVA YAANYANAVADYAANI
KARMAANI| TAANI TVAYOPAAYAANI| NO ITARAANI|
YEKECHASMACHREYAAMSO BRAHMNAAH| TESHAAM
TVAAYAASANEEYA PRASVASITAVYAM| SRADDHAYA DEYAM\
ASRADDHAYA DEAYAM| SRIYAA DEYAM |HRIYAA DEYAM| BHIYAA
DEYAM| SAMVIDAA DEYAM ATHA YADI TE KARMAVICHIKITSAA VAA
VRITTA VICHIKITSAA VAA SYAAT| YE TATRA BRAAHMANAAH
SAMMARSINAH| YUKTAA VAA AAYUKTAAH| ALOOKSHAA
DHARMAKAAMESYUH| YATHAA TE TESHU VARTERAN| TATHAA TESHU
VARTETAAH| YESHA AADESAHA| YESHA UPADESHAH| YESHAA
VEDOPANISHAD| YETADANUSAASANAM| YEVAMUPAASITAVYAM|
YEVAMUCAI TADUPAASYAM|
Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami PS Please send an acknowledgement with any comments you
may have to i...@vinyasakrama.com Thank you very much for the support.
1.SRI PATTABHI JOIS--- 2. Between Death and Birth

SRI PATTABHI JOIS
Three of the disciples of my Guru, Sri Pattabhi Jois, Sri B K S Iyengar and Sri T K V
Desikachar propagated Yoga in the modern times and their influences have been
phenomenal. The oldest of them Sri Pattabhi Jois, taught the unique adaptation of my
Acharya’s asana teaching, christened Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. It has caught the imagination
of hundreds of thousands of Yogis all over the world and is practiced with tremendous
enthusiasm. His passing away at the ripe old age of 94 leaves a void in the Yoga World. A
tremendous teacher, Guruji was dearly loved and highly respected in the Yoga world. I had
not met him but am aware that he was an ideal student of my Guru. The debt to a father is
repaid by the offspring by exemplary conduct. “What good karmas the father should have
done to get such a wonderful offspring”, people should say of the son/daughter. Likewise it is
said that a student should bring out the glory of the teacher, by his teachings. “Acharyam
praksayeth” People should wonder, “Who was his teacher?” Sri Jois by his relentless and
pioneering work on Yoga brought name, fame and respect to the legacy of his teacher Sri
Krishnamacharya. Om Shanti.
***************
Gyl Evans writes:
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Dear Srivatsa Ramaswami,

Many thanks for the June newsletter - you seem to have been busy with
plenty of travelling!
I thought the article on the Taittiriya Upanishad was very interesting, practical and uplifting -
if difficult to adhere to at times, I guess that's the point of dispassionate practice on the very
basic elements to then uphold the rest. I will try. I'm aware that Pattabhi Jois has recently
died and I wondered if it might be timely for a newsletter at some stage regarding our
understanding of loss-attachment/grief/death and possibly birth/ conception in light of the
texts although I do appreciate you may have other directions for your future newsletters.
Kind regards,
Gyl Evans
Bristol
******************
BETWEEN DEATH AND BIRTH.
All the orthodox philosophies which accept the authority of the Vedas subscribe to the
Theory of Karma, even as they have significant differences in the interpretation of the Vedas.
According to the Vedas, the individual soul surrounded by the vasanas or impressions of the
past lives and also the remainder of the accumulated subtle karma bundle, gets attached to
the subtle body of the individual. The subtle body itself, according to Sankhyas, is made of 18
aspects, the three internal organs of the chitta, viz., mind, ego and intellect, the ten indriyas
and five tanmatras. When a person dies, the non changing pure consciousness –the soul or self
also known as purusha or jiva along with the subtle body undergoes the first transformation
when it goes through ‘fire’, as the physical body is consigned to the fire after death. Then the
subtle body goes up the sky space and approaches the heaven, but due to the avidya and the
power of the accumulated karmas, stagnates and then is absorbed by the rain clouds, which is
the second transformation due to the ‘fire’ of water. The subtle body then descends to earth
with the drops of rain and is absorbed by a plant which is the third transformation through
fire of earth. Then when the plant or the plant product is eaten by a being, it is absorbed and
becomes the generative fluid of that person. This is the fourth transformation through the fire
of the being, or gastric fire. Then when it is transferred to the female being, it undergoes
another transformation through fire of the womb and become an embryo. Then according to
Samkhyas the embryo has the subtle body and the genes/ genetic body. The subtle body
which went through five changes now gets the second body or the body given by the parents
(mata pitruja sarira). This embryo then gets nourishment through the mother and develops
another body known as bhuta sarira (the physical body) or a body made of the five elements—
earth,water,fire,air and space. And then one is born again. These five fire transformations is in
the panchagni vidya of the Upanishads, and the samkhyas talk about the subtle body, the
genetic body and the physical body to complete the story of the journey from death to birth.
But those yogis who have attained Kaivalya or Moksha or Nirvana, have their souls liberated
and are able to shed the subtle body when they attain liberation and are able to break this
cycle of samsara or transmigration. One who is able to clearly understand the process of
transmigration through meditation and understanding of the panchagni vidya briefly narrated
above are able to attain liberation (For better understanding, read the panchagni vidya from
Chandogya Upanishad). Such a person is able to see the distinction between the changing
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body going through all the transformation between birth and death and then between death
and birth and the non changing pure consciousness or the Self. Such a person is able to
identify with the non-changing consciousness as ‘oneself’, the immortal self and becomes
immortal. The rest, considering themselves to be mortal go through the cycle of samsara
repeatedly and endlessly say the Upanishads.
**********
My friend Steve Brandon in the UK, had kindly arranged several teaching programs for me,
teacher training, workshops, summer school etc for the next two or three years. But when I
applied for the Visa, the Visa officer rejected my application as he/she was not convinced that
I would not seek employment once in the UK. No appeal. I find the Visa sutras more
complicated than the Yoga Sutras. We had to cancel my future programs in the UK.
JULY 2009 NEWSLETTER-A TALE OF TWO BHAKTI YOGIS

Warm Greetings. Hope this finds you well. I would appreciate your comments and
observations, so please e mail to i...@vinyasakrama.com
I started a 200 hr teacher training program on Vinyasakrama Yoga at Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles, California. It is a five week 200 Hr Program registered with
Yoga Alliance. 16 people have registered and about another 6 are taking parts of the program.
It is a very nice group of dedicated Yogabhyasis. I also did a weekend workshop at the lovely
studio (The Yoga Center ) of Diane at Redondo Beach. It was again a very good group of
Yogis. I taught a five hour workshop on Vinyasakrama and a 5 hr program on Yoga for
Internal Organs.
A TALE OF TWO BHAKTI YOGIS
My Guru Sri Krishnamacharya was like a many faceted diamond, each aspect brilliant in its
own way. He was an outstanding Hata Yogi as the Yoga world knows. He was also a great
scholar of the various vedic philosophies like Nyaya, Samkhya, Mimamsa, Yoga and Vedanta.
A Sanskrit scholar, he had studied many Puranas and epics like the Ramayana and
Mahabharata. He had a working knowledge of Ayurveda and also Indian astrology and
music. But above all if one would describe him, he would be characterized as a consummate
Bhakti Yogi. So, even though he taught Patanjali’s yoga sutra and explained the nuances of
meditation and Samadhi, he would aver that ultimately the one unfailing yoga is the
meditation on the Lord. “There is only one dhyana and that is Bhagavat dhyana”, he would
say echoing the sentiment of sage Yagnyavalkya who defined yoga as the union of the
individual soul with the ultimate reality, the Brahman. For every Raja Yogi, there are
hundreds of Hata Yogis. And for every Hata Yogi there are hundreds of Bhakti Yogis.
According to the Deva rishi (divine sage) Narada, who wrote a unique text called “Bhakti
Sutra”, the one who can transcend the sea of samsara or transmigratory existence is the one
who is a Bhakti Yogi. We love a myriad things—my favorite place, person, time, food,
weather, whatever. Bhakti yoga is to sublimate all these fragmented attachments to loving the
one supreme Lord that transcends everything. There are many such devotees of the Lord
whose stories are narrated in the Puranas. The stories of two such devotees are here.
In ancient India, polygamy was legal. Though uncommon, it was practiced by some in the
ruling class, as they could afford to have more wives. Emperor Dasaratha, father of Lord
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Rama of Ramayana, is said to have married 60,000 times, though his pious son Sri Rama
practiced “ekapatni vrata”, that is, he stuck to one wife, Sri Sita all his life.
King Uttanapada had two spouses. The first one was the satwic Suniiti and, as the name
would indicate, she was very pious (dharmic). She had a son, Dhruva, the steadfast one.
Customarily the elder wife of the King is the Queen, entitled to all the regal rights, and so her
son was the crown prince. The King’s second wife, Suruchi, as the name would indicate, was
extremely beautiful, but highly rajasic, totally after power, possession and position. Over a
short period of time, she managed to bring the King to dance to her tunes. She became the
Queen herself and manipulated the King to agree to make her son Uttama the crown prince.
Soon Suniiti and her son were banished from the palace and remained in a secluded place.
The toddler Dhruva and his pious single mother lived without any contact with the King.
To cut the story short, one day the child Dhruva aimlessly wandered into the court of the
King. His father was on the throne, his stepmother occupied the seat next to the King and
Uttama, his half brother was sitting cozily in the lap of his father. Impulsively the four year old
ran towards his father to sit on his already occupied lap. Everyone including the King was
paralyzed by this unexpected event. Suddenly the King felt a swell of filial affection towards
his son and stretched his arms to embrace the child. But Suruchi saw what was coming and
did not like it at all. She saw the charming majestic child running with glee towards the father
and felt a tinge of jealousy. “Why is my son Uttama so dull and tamasic while this child even
though not born to me is so captivating?” She regretted that Dhruva was not her baby and
soon the jealousy grew into an uncontrollable rage. She stopped the child violently and sternly
told her stepson that only her child could sit on the King’s lap. She mockingly said that he
should pray to God to be born as her son if he wanted that privilege. The henpecked King did
nothing to alleviate the remorse of the child who could not have the legitimate and simple
desire to sit on the father’s lap fulfilled. Feeling like a total stranger in his own rightful abode,
the child, crying inconsolably, ran towards his own small apartment and fell on his mother’s
lap. Suniiti became distraught at the plight of her son and tried to console him. The sobbing
child narrated what happened and expressed his anger at the deeds of his stepmother. Suniiti
tried to reason with him. “Oh my Child! Everyone gets what one deserves depending upon
previous Karmas. Your stepmother and your stepbrother must have done exceptionally punya
deeds in their previous births and accumulated a favorable karma bundle. No one can enjoy
the luxuries of a queen or the crown prince without having done punya karmas in their
previous births. Wise ones are always content with what they have(santosha). You should
ponder over this and should learn to do great Karmas so that you also will enjoy the fruits of
good deeds. So pray to God. There is no Karma more pious than worshipping the Lord”, she
advised her son of 4 to5 years. Dhruva, with a renewed resolve, said to his mother that he
does not hanker after what does not belong to him. He would pray and do penance to God
and achieve what none had achieved. One definition of Yoga is ‘achieving the
impossible’ (apraapya praapanam yogam).
Pondering deeply over the incidents and his mother’s words, the child decided to approach
the Almighty- Lord. He went out of the house into the wilderness in search of the Lord. On
the way he was met by Narada, the great divine sage, a consummate devotee of the Lord.
Looking at the prince with an innocent face going into the forest, he stopped the child and
said that he appeared to have lost his way and that he, Narada, would take him back to his
home. Dhruva said that he was determined to do penance to please the Lord and achieve
what none had achieved. Narada tried further to dissuade him by saying that penance was
very difficult, one should go without food, water, sleep or shelter for a long time, but Dhruva
which means ‘the steadfast’ hardly budged. Then Narada decided to help the child in its
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arduous task. He asked him if he knew how to pray to the Lord, how to meditate, how to do
penance and the child said ‘no’ to everything. The sage decided to teach the child the practice
of rituals and meditation. He taught him the twelve syllable vasudeva mantra “OM NAMO
BHAGAVATE VASUDEVAAYA”. Narada also explained to him in detail the form of the
Lord to meditate upon as he knew it. The child carefully heard Narada’s words and started
his penance standing on one leg. Then he closed his eyes and focused his attention on the
enchanting form of the Lord as detailed by Narada. Soon his mind was in total dhyana of the
Lord (Bhagavat dhyaana). He used the mantra effectively to prop his meditation on the form
of the Lord, as if following the classic instruction of the Raja Yogi Patanjali—tat japah tat
arthabhhavanam.
During the several months Dhruva was in Bhagavat dhyana, Indra the boss of the gods was
unnerved. He felt that Dhruva was after his position and hence tried to distract the child by
creating many a disturbance. But Dhruva remained totally concentrated.
Finally the Lord, so pleased with the penance and meditation of the child devotee, decided to
appear before him. The formless Lord took the enchanting form the child was meditating on
and appeared before him and called out to him to draw his attention. But the child’s ekagrata
stayed unwavering. Then the Lord decided to get him out of his trance and withdrew His
form from the child’s meditating mind and absorbed it into His own. Finding suddenly the
captivating object he was meditating upon disappearing, the startled child opened his eyes
only to see the Lord just in front of him. For a moment the child thought that the Lord was
leaving him. He cried out and pleaded to Him not to leave him. The Lord consoled him and
said that he had appeared before him to answer his prayers and asked what boon he wanted.
Completely captivated by the Lord the child wanted nothing except to see the Lord in his
mind for ever. The Lord reminded him of his initial resolve to achieve what none had
achieved and promised him an exalted position in the galaxy, a star that never wavered, the
Pole Star or the North Star. But the Lord said that Dhruva should first complete his
obligations. He should return to the kingdom where his father would welcome him back with
all the love and respect due to a crown prince. He should then succeed his father to the throne
and rule the kingdom justly. Dhruva returned home to a warm welcome from his father and
the whole country. The Lord had by then appeared in the dream of the King Uttanapada and
reminded him of his filial responsibilities and chided him for his cowardice. Dhruva later
ruled the Kingdom with rare maturity and fairness and was hailed as one of the greatest
emperors. Then he attained his exalted position as the Pole Star. Dhruva with total
dedication and Bhakti to the Lord attained what was considered impossible to start with.
Let us turn our attention to the story of another great devotee of the Lord, Prahlaada, the
immensely blissful one, as the name indicates.
The childhood days are considered formative years. In ancient times, the intrauterine time
was considered equally important in the personality development. Krishnamacharya used to
emphasize the importance of healthy environment to the expectant mother for the proper
physical and psychological development of the fetus, like perfect harmony between the
expectant parents, calmness and prayers. There are puranic stories of children getting several
innate skills during the fetal days, when the mother listens to or practices certain skills. So
when Hiranyakasipu, the demon King went out to do penance for getting the boon of
invincibility, his pregnant wife was taken away by sage Narada to protect the mother and the
fetus from possible harm from the devas. During the confinement, Narada told a number of
stories about the Lord to Hiranyakasipu’s wife Leelavati who was then carrying Prahlada,
our hero in this second story. Narada mentioned the famous eight syllable divine mantra “OM
NAMO NARAYANAYA”, and also described the enchanting form of the Lord. It is said
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that the infant in the womb would also listen to these and was born as an unflappable devotee
of the Lord and consequently in perfect bliss.
In the meantime Prahlada’s father obtained a boon from Brahma, one of the Trinity. The
boon provided that he would not be destroyed under many of the possible circumstances:. by
no creature, neither during night nor day, neither inside or outside a house could he be killed.
He thus became the ruler of the Universe and proclaimed himself to be god. He changed the
syllabus in all the schools and the texts mentioned Hiranyakasipu as the lord of the Universe
and not God Narayana. Even as the whole world started worshipping Hiranyakasipu as the
lord, Prahlada who had learnt about God’s stories when still in his mother’s womb could not
be changed. Even as Prahlada went through the class lectures, he would, during the breaks,
speak to the other children about the grace of the Lord. Over time, the demon King found it
impossible to change the child’s mind and decided to prove to the child that the Lord was not
that powerful after all. The demonic pride and cruelty came to the fore suppressing the
natural parental love. He ordered elephants to trample on the child, threw him deep into the
ocean and used several other torture methods. Through all this the child kept his smile,
muttering the name of the Lord, the ashtakshari mantra. He came out of all the ordeals
unscathed. The demon father even drafted his sister Holika who had a unique gift of a dress
which was absolutely fireproof. She lit a bonfire, took the child Prahalada in her lap and into
the bonfire, thinking that the fire would burn the child and she would be spared because of
the unique fireproof power. Prahlada kept chanting the mantra all through the ordeal and he
came out unharmed even as the fire burnt Holika to ashes before dying out itself. In India
that day every year is celebrated by lighting a bonfire and burning the effigy of Holika as a
mark of proverbial triumph of good over evil. People in India celebrate her death anniversary
as Holi, which is a public holiday.
Desperate and furious the demon turned to the blissful son and said for the last time that
there was no God. The child insisted that God exists. “Show me where your God is” yelled
the demon, show me if He really exists. The child seeing the Lord everywhere said, “Can’t you
see dad? He is everywhere. He is in the iron pillar in front of you and the small dust particle
floating in front of you. Choose your pick of the spot to find the Lord”. The furious demon
then swung his mighty mace and smote the iron pillar in front of him. The Lord, who was
waiting in the wings all along, thought “enough is enough’. The uniquely ferocious figure of
an ‘uncreated being’, half man and half lion (narasimha) burst out of the pillar. The Lord then
dragged the demon to the threshold of the palace, placed him on his lap, and using His
diamond hard nails tore open the abdomen and pulled the guts out. It was a gory end to the
vicious demon. The whole universe trembled at the unsettling form, vibrations and energy
created by the wrath of the Lord. But Prahlada, ever blissful, praised the Lord and
momentarily the Lord calmed down and took the form of Yoga Narsaimha. The Lord took
the unprecedented form of man-lion because the demon had received the boon by which he
could not be killed by any creature. The Lord, the Uncreated, took a form that was not part
of creation. The Lord chose dusk for the operation because the demon could not be killed
during day or night, and dusk is neither day nor night. He used His sharp nails as the demon
was immune from being killed by any manufactured weapon. He was killed at the threshold
as he could not be killed either inside or outside an abode. Prahlada came to be known as
Bhakta Prahala and his story told and retold to hundreds of people every day. The Bhakta
Prahalada play, also known as Lord Narasimha or Man-Lion incarnation, is, even today, as
popular in India as the Lion King in USA.
People can be divided into those who have faith in God and those who do not. Among
believers, many pray to the Lord for various reasons. I pray for good health, prosperity,
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removal of obstacles. Dhruva prayed to the Lord first as a child so that he could sit on the lap
of his father, then wanted to reach the highest position in the Universe. Even Patanjali
recognizes the power of Bhakti. He prods the Yogi to pray to the Lord if the Yogi has Bhakti
or devotion. He suggests that instead of praying to God for perishable objects, material or the
supernatural siddhis, one should pray to the Lord (Iswarapranidhana) for the spiritual
knowledge of the Self leading to irrevocable freedom. All these come under Kamya Bhakti or
devotion to the Lord with a motive or goal. I pray to God for the happiness of myself, my
family, my community, my country, my world. But the Bhakti of Prahlada had no personal
agenda. Bhakti was the means and the end. His is called Nishkamya Bhakti or devotion to
the Lord without any personal motive or agenda.
Tailspin
There was a great Yogi by name Thirumular, said to be a contemporary of sage Patanjali.
(His is an interesting story by itself). He was a Dravidian Yogi and poet and he wrote a work
called Tirumandiram in Tamil, my mother tongue, which contains one whole chapter on
Yoga. He advocates complete desirelessness and contentment for consummate peace
of mind. He wrote:
‘aasai arumingal, aasai arumingal,

isanodaayinum aasai arumingal.
Aasaii miha miha aiy varum tunbangal
Aasai vida vida aanandamaame.
Root out desire, root out desire, Even to be with the Lord, root out desire. More the desire,
more grows the pain, Give up, give up desire, it leads to perfect bliss.
Echoing the same sentiment, here is a quote from Mahabharata
Yeccha Kaama sukham loke, yeccha divyam mahat sukham| trishnaakshaya sukhasyete
naarhati shodaseem kalaam||
Whatever sensuous pleasures the world can give, And whatever divine happiness one gets in
heavens, Compared to the well being one feels by reduction of desires Are not equal to even
one sixteenth part of the latter.
Once the wife of a poor man told her husband “This never ending poverty is sapping all our
energy and happiness. You said that the King was your childhood friend, why don’t you ask
him for some help. He has so much we need so little, so he could help”. Reluctantly the poor
man went to the palace and saw the King in his puja room praying. He heard the king
praying for more wealth, more tax collections from his subjects, so that he can fight with the
neighbors and become an emperor. The poor man decided to come home. He told his wife
that the secret of the entire King’s wealth was his prayer. ‘The king himself is a beggar and I
don’t want to beg from someone who is a beggar himself.” Said he to his wife. So he started
praying to God and when the Lord appeared before him, he was about to hand over a huge
wish list his whole family had drawn up over a period of time. Then in a flash a thought
occurred to him. When I get all I want I will want more like the King and so I will have to be
a beggar all my life. So he, instead, prayed to the Lord for a boon (for the whole family) of
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contentment (santosha) with whatever he and his family already had. He ended up being
happier than the king himself.
Well, a petite point to ponder I guess
Srivatsa Ramaswami
AUGUST 2009-HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE……

July was a good month. I turned 70. More importantly it was a very satisfying experience
teaching the Yoga Alliance registered 200 hr Vinyasakrama Yoga Teacher Training Program
to a group of very dedicated and talented Yoga Teachers to be, at Loyola Marymount
University in LA. Almost all the ‘sweet 16’ participants showed incredible commitment not
only with respect to learning the hundreds of asanas and vinyasas but also all the other aspects
of yoga, be it chanting, yoga sutras,Sri Krishnamacharya’s works, therapeutic applications,
meditation and even the generally none too popular Pranayama. I found several participants
showing genuine interest in and intently pracitising Pranayama and doing the full quota of
the maximum 80 pranayamas mentioned in many old yoga classics. They did this 80
pranayamas of the rather involved Viloma Ujjayi version, not once, I found for the first time as
a Yoga Teacher, but several times during the program. They also patiently stayed for long
periods of time in poses like Paschimatanasana, Sirshasana and Sarvangasana that are slow
acting but highly beneficial health givers. Thank you my friends, it was great working with
you all, all through the five weeks. Please keep practicing and if possible start teaching. My
best wishes. And thank you LMU.
I am more encouraged to repeat the program around the same time in 2010 at LMU. (This
line is the commercial!)
*************************
HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE ……
The two important inversion poses, Sirasasana and its better half Sarvangasana, called the
King and Queen of yogasanas are a unique contribution of Yoga towards physical culture and
physical therapy. Several contemporary yogis have disputed the place of these poses and have
claimed that they perhaps are later day inventions. But in Hatayoga they are considered as
viparita karani mudras.
Hatayogapradipika refers to inversions as follows “ There is a wonderful karana or procedure
which helps to starve the sun,( here the gastric fire). One may learn it only from a Guru, and
not from the books. If the position of the sun(stomach) is above and the moon(the head)
below (i.e., upside down) it is called viparitakarani(inversion). Learn it from a Guru “
The pelvic area—kandasthana-, according to some yogis is a breeding ground for many
ailments. It is also the area from where 72.000 nadis are said to emanate and also Kundalini.
This area should be kept clean. The dross should be burnt and blown away, figuratively
speaking. How does the Yogi do it?
We have an air principle in that area which is Apana Vayu. We have also the fire principle in
us in the abdominal area in the form of gastric fire or Jataraagni. This flame is flowing
upwards and in the normal upright position the gastric fire is above the pelvic area, flowing
upward, sometimes when overactive, produces a burning sensation in the esophagus
producing the typical ‘heart burn”. The Yogi by resorting to the inversions, as Headstand and
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Sarvangasana, is able to place the pelvic area above the gastric area. Now the gastric fire or
jataragni,-- figuratively speaking—flows towards the pelvic area and heats and purifies the
Nadias and the Kandasthan, arouses the Kundalini with the heat. The fire is further
supposed to be fanned and intensified by directing the air tatwa or apana by Mula bandh; it
draws the apana closer to the fire principle and thereby the apana air also becomes hotter and
in turn melts away the dross of the kandasthana and arouses the sleeping kundalini. So
headstand and shoulderstand, the mulabandha and the intense gastric fire help to cleanse the
nadis and the rogasthana or the disease prone area is cleaned and spruced up.
There is another interesting concept associated with the inversions of which I may have
referred to in one of the earlier letters/articles. It is said that our head contains a liquid called
amrita which may be translated as nectar. This nectar gives us life and drips drop by drop
through the uvula into the stomach where it is consumed by the gastric fire to provide the life
energy to live. This reservoir of nectar is slowly used up and with its total depletion comes the
end of one’s life. The Yogi tries to ration the flow of the nectar, by remaining in inverted
position for a length of time every day—say between half an hour to an hour or so. During the
period of time the yogi is in head stand and shoulder stand, the amrita remains stored in the
head without dripping down. The Hatayogapradika has this to say
The Hatayogapradipika explains the inversion mudra as follows. “The cool nectar that flows
from the moon (here the head) is swallowed by the hot sun (the gastric fire). Hence one’s body
becomes aged. There is a wonderful karana or procedure which helps to starve the sun, (here
the gastric fire). One may learn it only from a Guru, and not from the books. If the position of
the sun is above and the moon below (i.e., upside down) it is called viparitakarani(inversion).
Learn it from a Guru. Do abhyaa of this inverted pose and increase the duration every day.
One who practices this for a yaama (3 hrs) daily will conquer death”. When I was young I
came across a Yogi who was said to be practising sirsasana for three hours every day. His face
had a unique bluish tinge. He also practised Mouna or silence.
So by this daily practice, the Yogi is able to increase, so to say, his/her lifespan by 5%, or say
between 3 to 5 years. Normally after Headstand the yogi is supposed to spend equal time in
shoulder stand as well. In shoulder stand, amrita while still confined to the skull/ brain
portion, now is allowed to flow to the entire head portion above the neck and nourish all the
sensitive sense organs, the two eyes, the two ears, the mouth and the nose (shanmukha). This
is also considered necessary to maintain the acuity of the sense organs as they are way up in
the body and may not get the full nourishment . Sarvangasana therefore is considered good
for the sense organs whereas the headstand is good for the brain.
The normal upright position and the chin up position in which we keep our head, both result
in a wasteful free flow of the limited amrita in the head down the uvula to the gastric fire, like
a free flowing tap. The Yogis found it necessary to constantly control the flow of this nectar
and even temporarily stop it. They developed a simple technique called Jalandhara bandha to
temporarily stop and control the flow. The term Jalandhara-bandha itself indicates the effect
it is said to produce. Jala means water and here it refers to the amrita or nectar which is said
to be in the liquid form. Dhara is to hold, here holding the amrita in the head itself and
bandha is the lock, the procedure which helps to achieve the holding operation. So
Jalandharabandha means the lock that enables holding the nectar in the head. Of course
while we do asanas and pranayama we adjust the bandha in such a way that we allow only a
small and necessary amount of amrita to flow and also maintain a good ujjayi control over the
breath. That is why the default position of the head in asana practice whether it is tadasana or
the seated Padmasana or Vajrasana is the head down position. One could see the pictures of
my Guru doing asanas and one could see his head down position in most of them—even in
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asanas like urdhvamukha svanasana or the well known upward facing dog pose. In the entire
vinyasakrama one would find the relaxed default head down position is resorted to control the
flow of amrita and the ujjayi breath.
Some contemporary yogis may read these metaphorical narrations with a wry smile. However
these inversions should be considered as unique contributions of Yoga, for health. Within the
first few minutes of Sirsasana practice, the leg and thigh muscles, the gluteal muscles, relax.
The chest, back, shoulders and neck muscles also relax as all these are not required to
maintain the postural tone as in the upright position. It has been found that due to the
relaxation of the leg muscles, the blood pressure in the legs drop to about 30mm.There is no
great rush of blood to the head among the adept yogis due to auto regulation; yet the gravity
helps to open up many capillaries in the brain, head and face which may otherwise remain
partially closed. People with high blood pressure and retinal problems will have to be careful.
However persons with mild hypertension and under control with diet, life style change and
even medication could benefit from this posture if they had learnt it from early life. It appears
to increase pressure on the shoulders which would result in the brain trying to reduce the
blood pressure. Therefore if one would practice Sirshasana regularly for a sufficient duration,
one’s pulse rate tends to reduce, thereby reducing the strain on the heart. Gradually there is a
reduction in the blood pressure.
What is equally important is that Sirsasana helps improve circulation of the cerebro spinal
fluid, which is helpful to the brain and also for the spinal nerve bundles—the chakras. Because
of the increased pressure in the brain due to this fluid, the pituitary secretions increase helping
the better functioning of the sympathetic nervous system which will help in many ways
including the dilatation of the bronchial tubes giving great relief to asthmatics. There is
draining of the bronchial tubes, giving some welcome relief for those with chronic chest
congestion. Many feel increased memory power and general better brain capacity. There are
cases of even some correction of the eyesight. The vinyasas like the twists, Akunchanasana,
the backbends like Viparitadandasana in Sirsasana and Uttanamayurasana in Sarvangasana
help the spine considerably, by not only maintaining the flexibility of this structure but also
nourish the nadis and chakras or nerve fibers and nerve bundles in the spinal chord.
In the inversions, as mentioned in earlier articles, the internal organs get positional
correction. Pregnant yoginis may find the inversions help relieve pelvic congestion, oedema of
the legs, conditions that are prevalent during pregnancy. Practising the inverted poses with
the variety of vinyasas gives a complete massage to all the muscles, organs and considerably
increases the blood circulation. Perhaps equally important is the effect of the twin poses on
the major joints-- the ankles, the knees, the hips and the spine. The intra-articular space
within the joints improves and hence the joint movements when one does the various vinyasas
also will improve. Dorsal and plantar flexions performed in the ankle joints while in these
asanas help the ankles significantly. Asanas like Akunchanasana in inversions give good relief
to the knees, while inversions help to open the hips by dragging the big pelvic girdle down a
bit and giving more space for the femur to move and rotate nicely within the hip socket(pl
refer to Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga for headstand and shoulder stand vinyasas). Perhaps
the most benefit accrues to the entire spine. The inter-vertebral space is enhanced and person
who practises these inversions and the vinyasas like akunchanasana and backbends will find
the spine stretching nicely and becoming more flexible. The narrowing of the inter-vertebral
space can be tackled positively and the low back pain reduces significantly. I would say that
the inversions are the best yoga postures to alleviate low back pain. Overall these inversions
and the vinyasas in them help to keep the spine supple and strong. It is said one is as old as
the condition of the spine. Further, because of the relaxation of the lower extremities
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Sarvangasana is a good pose to help overcome insomnia. These twin poses are very good for
health.
Contemporary Yogis find the other important inversion, viz., the Handstand or
Vipritvrukshasna very popular. This is a great pose, with a number of variations possible.
However since the head is not fixed in this group of poses, some of the finer aspects of the
other two head- fixed inversions (sarvangasana and sirshasana) may be missing. One finds it
more difficult to maintain balance and also stay for a sufficiently long time in
viparitavrikshasana or inverted tree pose (Hand Stand) and other similar poses like scorpion
pose etc. These two regal poses stand ‘head and shoulders’ above the rest in conferring health
benefits to the yogabhyasis.
*****************
A muddled Yogi’s Riddle
I see CVs I see my CVs I see only my CVs I always see my CVs I always see only my CVs I
only see my CVs
What is a CV? Who am I?
Thank you Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami
P. S. Those who have joined the group recently and would like to refer to the earlier
newsletters and articles please visit the website using the following link. The earlier articles
include The Three Gunas, A Creative Hypothesis, Vedic Commencement Address, The
Story of Vajrasana, Yoga for the Heart, Tale of Two Bhakti Yogis, Between Death and Birth
and Yoga For the Heart.
September 2009 Newsletter—Vinyasakrama Practice

August was blissfully quiet. Both my programs in UK and New York City got dismissed for
‘non-cricketing’ reasons. I spent real quality weekend time playing with my three, two- year-
old grandsons. I was reminded of a Tamizh saying. Translated, it would be
‘Music from the flute and veena is enchanting’, say those Who have not heard the sweet
prattle of a toddler!!
I also spent some time thinking about the course for further teaching. I now feel that the 200
hr Teacher Training Program which gives a comprehensive coverage of my understanding of
Sri Krishnamacharya’s Yoga is best done when conducted in one go, rather than splitting into
two or more modules. It affords an opportunity to make a complete presentation and build it
as a cohesive program even as it is somewhat tedious. LMU has agreed to let me offer the
next Teacher Training Program in Vinyasakrama from June 14, 2010 onwards for five weeks.
I will also be doing a few workshops in February 2010 at LMU. We have so far about 35
people who have completed the 200 hr program in Vinyasakrama Yoga. http://
vinyasakrama.com/Teachers Maybe 108 will be good number to reach, before calling it quits.
I am also interested in doing a one off TT program in Europe and in the Northeast like
NYC. I wonder if someone would be interested in organizing it and get about 25 to 30
people, take care of the Visa hassles etc.
The 200 hour program allows those who complete it to register with Yoga Alliance and
teach. But it is not sufficient, according to Yoga Alliance for the graduate to teach a ‘Teacher
Training Program’ and YA requires one to complete a 500 hr program and register with YA
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to do that. So, I am also contemplating offering further studies so that those who are
interested in teaching a Teacher Training Program in VK, may be able to do so. I am
thinking of offering further studies in three different areas, one in Vinyasakrama in which one
may specialize in the various aspects of hatayoga (asana vinyasas, pranayama etc) following
the Vinyas Krama methodology. The second stream will have a few programs including
experimental work like validation of some of the concepts of Yoga Therapy which would be
“Cikitsa krama” and thirdly it could be a major in theoretical studies of Yoga and Yoga related
subjects, like YS, Bhagavat Gita, Samkhya, Nyaya, Upanishads, other classics and also
independent studies and chanting. One can do these programs depending upon one’s main
focus and after completing 500 hrs of study and research, could register with YA and then
teach Teacher Training Programs. If about a dozen senior teachers could be interested, we
can have that many “Vinyasakrama Teacher Trainers”. How easy it is to write about it?
In September, I will be teaching two weekend workshops and a weeklong Core
Vinyasakrama Certificate Program at Suddha Weixler’s Chicago Yoga Center. http://
www.yogamind.com/index.shtml#schedule I will also be doing a weekend Workshop on
Vinyasakrama and Internal Organs at Connie Routh’s “I am yoga” in Atlanta,GA. Please refer
to the following for more details, http://www.iamyogaatlanta.com/Events.html
VINYASAKRAMA PRACTICE
Most of the readers of this newsletter have studied Vinyasakrama Asana practice with me for
varying durations, a weekend program, a weeklong Core Vinyasa program, a 60 hour
complete Vinyasa Yoga program or the 200 hour Teacher Training Schedule. Many people
see something unique about this system, somewhat different from the contemporary
mainstream yoga. Most have read the “Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga” book and finally ask
the question, what next? How can I do a daily practice from these sequences? There are more
than 700 asanas/vinyasas and I normally recommend doing each vinyasa three times. At the
rate of about 4/5 movements per minute (it could be even 3 per minute for good breathers), it
could take about 8 to 9 hours to do the complete vinyasakrama. Then my Guru would
commend doing a short stint of Pranayama, say for about 15 to 30 mts and then chanting or
meditation for another 15 to 30 mts, daily. We also have to consider that in asana practice,
there are a few heavy weight poses which require one to stay for a long time. So it is almost
impossible to practice all of it everyday even by a full time ‘practice-live-and-sleep-in-yoga mat’
yogi. The book was written to give as complete as possible, a presentation of all the vinyasas
in a series of sequences that is logical and easy to learn, as I learnt from my Guru. It is a book
for learning the system. Any serious student of yoga who would spend years studying and
teaching yoga should have in one’s repertoire as many asanas, vinyasas and logical sequences
(krama) as possible. So, one should firstly study the entire range of asanas and vinyasas of the
vinyasakrama system from a teacher say in the 60 hr vinyasakrama program. Then note down
all the vinyasas that are a bit difficult to do. One should practice daily for half hour to one hour
as many vinyasas as possible following the recommended sequence, with special emphasis on
the difficult ones. In about six months to one year of consistent practice one would be
comfortable with the system, the sequences and especially the required synchronous
breathing. This would complete the learning process. Then one may prepare a green list of
asanas and vinyasas one would be able to do and wants to practice regularly. There will be
another list, amber list which would contain those vinyasas which are difficult now but one
would like to practice them even if they are somewhat imperfect. Then there would be
another red list which will contain procedures that are not appropriate or possible for the
practitioner—which could probably be taken up in the next janma. Then it would be time for
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concentrating on using vinyasakrama for daily practice and also teaching to individuals for
their daily yoga practice.
Adapting yoga to individual requirements is an art by itself. We must understand that there is
no one standard practice that is suitable to everyone. In medicine you have to give different
treatment to different patients; what is suitable to one suffering from digestive problem
would be different from the one that is suitable for one who is suffering from some low back
pain. According to an important motto of Krishnamacharya, yoga for children and the
adolescents (growth stage) is different from yoga practice in their midlife which again is
different from the practice in old age. The body, mind and goals change during different
stages of life. Sri Krishnamacharya’s teaching is based on this principle as we could discern
from his works, Yoga Makaranda and Yoga Rahasya. Basically yoga for kids and young
adults will have a considerable amount of asana vinyasa practice -- many vinyasas, difficult
poses, etc. It will help them to work out the considerable rajas in their system and proper
growth (vriddhi). Of course they should also practice some pranayama and meditation or
chanting. For the midlife yogi, the practice will still include some asana, but specifically some
of the health giving and restorative postures like the Inversions, Paschimatanasana,
Mahamudra, etc., in which poses one may be required to stay for a longer period of time.
There will be more emphasis on Pranayama and then more meditation, chanting, worship
etc. When I started studying with my Guru I was 15 years old. During the beginning years of
my study it was mostly difficult asanas and vinyasas. Swing throughs, jump arounds, utplutis
etc and other fun filled unique sequences were the order of the day. As I grew up, my teacher
slowly but surely changed the mix, focus and direction of my yoga practice. On the last day I
was with him (I was close to 50 then) it was just chanting of Surya Namaskara (Aruna)
mantras for the entire duration with him. During the third stage of life, the old age, the
emphasis is usually spiritual and/or devotional even as one is required to do some simple
movements and pranayama. And within the group, the daily practice can be varying
depending upon the requirements and goals set forth by the yogi for herself/himself. For
instance, for the midlife yogi, the main goal will be to maintain good physical and mental
health, rather than being able to stand, say, on one leg or even on one hand (Of course the
child in me wants to do that). He/She would like to avoid risky movements so that the
practice would be safe and does not cause injuries—immediate or cumulative. Too much
exertion (kayaklesa), like several rounds of continuous, breathless Suryanamaskaras again
should be avoided, says Brahmananda in his commentary on Hatayogapadipika. A few may
be more inclined to have some spirituality thrown in. Many would like to develop the ability
to and the habit of visiting the peace zone of the mind daily. There are some who are more
rajasic or tamasic in which case the mix of asana and pranayama should be properly adjusted,
sometimes taking care of even the day to day variations of the gunas. It requires some careful
attention in deciding a particular day’s practice. Hence, to suggest a practice of a set of asanas
or a routine for everyone irrespective of the age, condition, temperament and goal is incorrect.
Such an approach does not take into consideration not only the versatility and richness of
orthodox, traditional vinyasakrama yoga practice but also does not take the varying factors of
individual requirements. Sri Krishnamacharya’s yoga can appropriately be termed as
‘Appropriate Yoga’. However, as a general rule, for the serious mid-life yogi, a daily practice of
about 90 mts to 2 hrs will be necessary and sufficient. Here is modifiable one. After a short
prayer, one could do a brief stint of Tadasana doing the main vinyasas two or preferably three
times each. It should take about ten minutes. Then one subsequence in the asymmetric could
be taken up, say Marichyasana or Triyangmukha or the half lotus. The choice may be varied
on a daily basis. Five minute stay in Paschimatanasana and the counter poses may be
practiced. Then one may do preparation of Sarvangasana and a brief stay in it, followed by
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headstand stay for about 5 to 10 minutes or more and then staying in Sarvangasana for 5 to 10
more minutes, if one can do inversions. Paschimatanasana, Sarvangaana and Headstand are
to be practiced preferably daily for their health benefits. If time permits one may do few
vinyasas in these inversions. One may do a subsequence of Triangle pose like warrior pose
and /or one sequence in one legged pose. Mahamudra for about 5 minutes each on both sides
can then be practiced. Why are these important? In an earlier article I had tried to explain the
unique health benefits of the twin inversions. . In fact the inversions, Sirsasana and
Sarvangasana are mudras, the viparitakarani mudras. I remember my Guru asking us to do
Paschimatanasana sequence quite often-- it is said to be an important pose for Kundalini
Prabhoda, especially when the bandhas are also done and the pelvic muscles/floor are drawn
towards the back. You could also observe that Paschimatanasan helps to stretch all the
muscles and tissues in the posterior portion (as the name of the asana indicates) of the body
where there are heavy muscles--thighs calves, glutei etc. Mahamudra as the name indicates is
considered to be the best/great of Mudras. It is believed that it helps to direct the prana into
the sushumna as it is supposed to block the ida and pingala separately. Aided by
Jalandharabandha, it also helps to keep the spine straight Then sitting in Vajrasana or
Padmasana after doing some movements one should do a suitable variant of Kapalabhati, say
for about 108 times and then an appropriate Pranayama, Ujjayi, Nadisodhana or Viloma with
or without mantras for about 15 minutes to be followed by five minutes Shanmukhimudra and
then chanting or meditation of about 15 minutes. The efficacy of Pranayama on the whole
system and mind cannot be overemphasized. Please read the article on “Yoga for the Heart”,
in an earlier newsletter... It refers to the benefits of Pranayama to the heart and the circulatory
system. If interested, one may allocate an additional 30 minutes (or practice at another time in
the day, say, in the evening) during which time one may practice a few subroutines from the
other scores of sequences that have not been included in this core yoga practice. Even though
the book contains 10 main sequences, the reader will be able to discern more than a hundred
asana sequences, each one having a unique structure. In fact each chapter is a major sequence
(wave) of many specific sequences (ripples), which itself is made up of a few vinyaas (dops of
water). Then the whole book is a mega sequence (tide) of major sequences in the ocean of
Yoga. If you take Tadasana itself, there are firstly the hasta vinyasas, then, parsva bhangis,
different uttanasanas, utkatasana, pasasana and finally the tadasana. Each subroutine itself
may have anywhere between 3 to even 20 vinyasas. So there is considerable versatility in the
system. It is better to stick to the integrity of the subroutines (like Ushtrasana,
Virabhadrasana or Vrikshasana for instance), as enunciated in the book. Thus we have a
variable component and a fixed component in the daily practice. Everyday before the start of
the practice the yogi should take a minute and decide on a definite agenda and as far as
possible try to stick to the agenda. What asanas and vinyasas, which pranayama and how
many rounds and other details should be determined before hand and one should adhere to it.
It brings some discipline and coherence to one’s practice. It is customary to end the practice
with peace chant.
Adapting vinyasakrama to individual requirements can be termed as viniyoga krama. For
instance when my Guru gets a middle aged person or a nine year old with specific condition
like scoliosis, he would design a specific program to the individual requirement. Almost
everyone who comes to him will have a routine developed which will not be the one that is
given to someone else. I have written about the family class we had with my Guru when we
started learning from him. During the same time period he would teach different vinyasas,
poses and procedures to each one of us, my older father, my somewhat heavy- set mother, my
supple, talented younger sister, my more challenged brother and me. One reason why people
nowadays look for a definite routine is because a few of the more popular vinyasa systems
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have a very small number of regimented sequences which are taught over and over again
almost to all students. So there is a mindset that there should be a rigid sequence that is
applicable for everyone, but that is not the way we learnt yoga from my Guru. Firstly the
teacher should learn the whole system and then apply it to individuals as per the requirements
-- pick and choose those vinyasa sequences, pranayama and meditation practices, dietary
requirements, etc.. The question that is to be answered is what does the practitioner want/
need and how should the yoga routine be designed to get the required benefit. Vinyasakrama
is like a yoga supermarket, and each one should put into the cart what one needs. And the
term Vinyasakrama includes not just asanas but also other aspects of yoga like pranayama,
meditation, etc. It is a progression of different aspects of Yoga. The Vinyasakrama has a huge
collection of asana vinyasas, a well stocked section on Pranayama, then the meditation
department and a spiritual study/contemplation section as well. So a lot of initiative should be
taken by the individual consumer, like our practitioner who should take the responsibility of
working out with the teacher how to design an intelligent purposeful yoga practice pertaining
to oneself. To reduce Vinyasakrama to a standard routine as is done with several other
contemporary Vinyasa systems and put it in a straight jacket is not desirable. I have explained
these ideas to many participants of the longer versions of the programs and thought to touch
upon them for the general reader who would be wondering how to force the VK elephant (or
a camel) into the needle’s eye of daily practice.
There are some friends who after completing the program take a few private lessons to tailor-
make the VK system to their requirements. We discuss about their physical conditions and
mental makeup, age, obesity, pulse rate, blood pressure, breath rate and breathing
constraints, general disposition, time availability, stress levels, etc., and design a routine for
their benefit. Because there is a bewildering array of vinyasas, pranayama methods, mantras,
etc., we have a better choice of designing and fine-tune a program suitable to the particular
individual. If there is problem with VK it is a problem of plenty. There are a few serious
practitioners who have their daily routine cut out, but then do the complete vinyasakrama
separately say in the evening for about an hour so that they could go through all the vinyasa
sequences in a span of one week. In vedic chanting, the Taittiriya saka , consists of about 80+
chapters and it would take about 40 to 45 hours to chant the whole. Those who have learnt
the entire Taittiriya Saka duing their childhood, have to keep chanting them all their lives.
They do it by doing chanting for about 1 to 1 ½ hours per day so that they could complete it in
a Mandala or about 40 days. Similarly Carnatic musicians learn several songs, but for their
practice they take a few songs per day and over a period of several weeks they would cover all
the songs they had learnt. Likewise the yoga practice can be varied and rich. The rich variety
makes it possible to maintain abiding interest in a personal Yoga Practice at home. It does
not become a chore. A list of more than 120 asana vinyasa routines contained in the book,
“The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga” is added as a post script. Based on the discussion
above on the criteria for daily practice you may decide on your daily routine by picking specific
asana sequences and have a unique program made specifically for you and by you every day.
Please stick to the integrity of the sequences in the asana. If you teach, you may modify them
for persons who are sick or physically challenged. Pranayama, inversions, paschimatana
mahamudra and meditation may be included for sure. You have myriad possibilities. There is
no one rigid universal daily practice routine in Vinyasakrama as I have explained.
I would request our friends to kindly consider the possibility of videographing (good quality)
of themselves doing an asana sequence or two (see post script for choices) they enjoy and
load it on You Tube. It will be good to have the audio of breathing added and brief
instruction/introduction. You may give the caption “Vinyasakrama Yoga---********* asana
sequence and your name. Have it linked to your website and let me know the link; I can
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include it my next newsletter. Tailpiece: Q: Why did God design the human body the way He
created it? Ans: ..so that one can do and enjoy the hundreds of beautiful movements and
postures contained in the Vinyasakrama yoga system. Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami
PS List of individual Asana sequences in the book. “The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga”
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Vinyasa-Yoga-Presentation-Based/d... ChI. 1.
Samasthitis 2. hasta vinyasas (arm movements). 3.parsva bhangis (side poses) 4.
ardhauttanasana 5. uttanasana 6.ardha utkatasana 7. utkatasana 8 malasana 9 pasasana 10.
tadasana. (special sequences from 11th chapter)11.uttanasana-utkatasan routine 12. khagasana
13. suryanamaskara 14. dingnamaskara Ch II. 15 Lead sequence 16. dandasana 17.
marichyasana 18.mahamudra 19. ardhapadmasana 20. akarnadhanurasana/cakorasana 21.
ekapadasirsasana 22. triyangmukha 23. marichyasana(advanced) 24. bharadwajasana 26.
Mahabandha 26. matyendrasana 27.return sequence ChIII. 28.Suptasana/paschimatanasana
29. paschimatanasana 30. purvatanasana 31. chatushpadapeetam 32. upavishtakonasana 33.
pratikriya 34. samakonasana. 35. baddhakonasana 36 siddhasana 37.gomukkhasana
38.yoganrisimhasana Ch IV. 39. bhagiratasana 40. vrikshasana 41. standing mariachi 42.
uttita-padangushtasana 43. virabharasana 44. trivikramasana 45 natarajasana 46.
durvasasana. 47.utplutis Ch V. 48. advanced lead sequence 49. tatakamudra
50.jataraparivritti (simple) 51. apanasana 52. dvipadapitam 53.madhyasetu 54.
urdhvadhanurasana 55. advanced dvipadapitam 56.urdhva-prasarita-pada- hasta asana 57.
supta padangushtasana 58. supta trivikramasana 59. yoganidrasana 60. jataraparivritti
advanced 61. jataraparivritti advanced II 62. sarvangasana preparation sequence 63.
sarvangasana- advanced lead sequence 64. akunchanasana 65. halasana 66. urdhvakonasana
67.urdhvapadmasana 68.niralamba sarvangasana 69.halasana-uttana mayurasana 70
sarvangasana-mandala 71.karnapidasana 72. savasana
Ch VI. 73. makrarasana 74. mandukasana 75.bhujangasana 76. rajakapotanasana
77.salabhasana asymmetric 78. salabhasana 79. vimanasana 80. viparita salabhasana 81.
bherundasana 82. dhanurasana- asymmeric 83. dhanurasana Ch.VII. 84. Uttita trikonasana
85. parivritta trikonasana 86. uttita parsvakonasana 87. parsvakonasana 88. virabhadrasana
89. prasarita padottanasana 90. samakonasana Ch VIII 91. sirsasana 92. sirsasana vinyasas
93.urdhva padmasana 94. urdhvadandasana 95. viparitadandasana 96. mandala 97.
niralamba sirsasana 98. vriscikasana 99. viparita vrikshasana (hand stands) Ch. IX 100.
vajrasana lead sequences 101. vajrasana 102. balasana 103. ushtra nishada 104. advanced
ushtrasana 105. kapotasana 106. virasana 107. simhasana Ch X 108.ardhapadmasana 109.
padmasana 110. utpluti 111. baddhapadmasana 112. matsyasana 113. urdhvapadmasana 114.
suptapadmasana-simhasana dynamic sequence 115. garbhapindasana 116. arm balancing
poses 117. padmasana-inversions 118. Ch. XI 119. vasishtasana 120. anjaneyasana 121. halasana-
pascimatana- uttanamayura sequence 122. utplutis
October 2009 Newsletter-Svadhyaya and Story of Tirumular

October 2009 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami
During September I taught for ten days at Suddha Weixler’s Chicago Yoga Center in
Chicago. The program included a 25 hour Core Vinyasakrama Certificate program, and
workshops on Mantras, Visesha Vinyasas, Yoga for Internal Organs and Sri
Krishnamacharua’s tachings. Teaching at Suddha’s place to a group of very committed and
talented yogis is always satisfying. I also did a weekend workshop in Atlanta at Connie
Routh’s Iamyoga. There was a talk on Yoga Sutras, workshops on Yoga for Internal organs,
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Sri Krishnamacharya’s yoga and Vinyasa kram Yoga. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Atlanta,
especially teaching to a compact but very observant, interested participants. Thank you
Suddha and Connie, for affording me these wonderful opportunities.
I am scheduled to do a weekend workshop at Jody Kurilla’s Yogashala in Portland during
Oct 9 to 11. It will be a long workshop on Asanas, Pranayama, Mantras and Meditation. I
hope to drive home the importance of developing a comprehensive and balanced daily yoga
practice consisting of vinyasas, important asanas, pranayama and meditation, in order to
enrich the daily practice and get the full benefits of yoga.
503-963-YOGA http://www.yogashalapdx.com/workshops.html i...@yogashalapdx.com
Any comments or suggestions, you may write to me at i...@vinyasakrama.com You may
access the earlier newsletters and read articles from http://groups.google.com/group/vinyasa-
krama-announce?hl=en
Svadhyaya and Thirumular
Svadhyaya is a Sanskrit word many yogis are familiar with. It is a samasa or a compound
word. It can be split into sva meaning ‘own’, and adhyaya or study; therefore svadhyaya would
mean own study. It is open to different interpretations. It could mean study by oneself or
study of the Self or as my Guru would interpret based on tradition, study of one’s own
scriptures. In his case it was studying his branch of the Vedas, or sakha. It was Taittiriya saka
of the Yajur veda, which also happens to be my sakha or branch of the Vedas. It became easy
to study vedic chanting with him. The term svadhyaya is found in the Taittiriya Upansihad
and there is a chapter in the same rendition (in aranyaka), called svadhyaya prakarana which
extols the efficacy of vedic chanting especially the venerated Gayatri.
Some scholars refer to svadhyaya with a more generalized interpretation. Since sva is own,
svadhyaya could mean study of the Self:or the atma vidya or adhyatma vidya which is the
subject matter of the Upanishadic portion of the Vedas. It could include other philosophies
which help to understand the nature of the Self, like Yoga and Samkhya. Hence all studies in
which the main goal is realization of the Self or Soul can be termed as svadhyaya. Sri
Krishnamacharya made it a point to teach several Upanishad vidyas and other adhyatma
vidyas as Yoga, the Gita, samkhya etc.
But what does Patanjali indicate by Svadhyaya in the Niyamas? It is the study and practice of
the devotional rituals of the Vedas. This can be inferred from the benefits Patanjali says
would accrue by svadhyaya. It is the communion with one’s own ishtadevata or personal
deity, “svadhyayat ishta devata samprayogah”. Sri Krishnamacharya spent a lot of time
teaching the Vedas and vedic philosophies. Svadhyaya is a perpetual niyama. So every year on
the full moon day during the month July15 to August 14th, orthodox Indians renew their
pledge to study the Vedas, and follow it up on the following day by the chanting of the
Gayatri mantra 1008 times. They continue the minimum practice of svadhyaya by chanting
gayatri every day at least 108 times. Many chant the Vedas, like the Sun Salutation mantras or
the vedic hymns of Siva or the Upanishad etc., every day. This is orthodox svadhyaya which
Patanjali seems to include as a Niyama.
If we take a wider interpretation of the word svadhyaya to mean study of the adhyatma vidyas
or study about the Self, we have a number of texts that compete for the Yogi’s attention.
Apart from the main philosophies like Yoga, Samkhya and Vedanta on this subject, almost all
the old texts like the Puranas and individual works have a portion on Yoga, as “yogic
discipline” was considered a prerequisite for the study, understanding and meditation of the
Self.
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Such texts are many in number. They are not limited to Sanskrit alone. In fact there are many
classic texts on spirituality in a Dravidian language called Tamil (Tamizh), which is my
mother tongue. Several Tamil scholars consider Tamil to be even older than Sanskrit and it is
one of the few Indian languages with a minimum of Sanskrit- derived words. The
philosophical works in Tamil are many. There is a beautiful small text called “Kaivalya
Navaneetam” or the butter of Spiritual Freedom. It indicates that if one studies that book,
spiritual Freedom takes place instantaneously, like the time taken to swallow a piece of
butter. Or kaivalya or spiritual freedom will appear to be as delicious to the spiritual aspirant
as butter would be to a child. Children love butter and Lord Krishna as a child was said to be
very fond of butter.
Perhaps one of the best known Tamil works on spirituality is the one written by a Sivayogi
called Tirumular. He says in his work Thirumandiram that he was a contemporary of
Patanjali and by implication witnessed the dance of Lord Siva in Chidambaram. (For the
story of Patanjali please read the chapter “Story of Patanjali” in my book “Yoga for the Three
Stages of Life”). Some scholars consider Tirumandiram, the 3000 verse monumental work, as
equivalent to the works of the Bhagavatgita, Patanjali’s Yogautra and another Yoga classic,
Yogavasishta combined. It is hard to disagree.
Tirumular says:
By receiving Nandhi's grace we sought the feet of the Lord The Four Nandhis (Sanagar,
Santhanar, Sanath Sujatar, Sanath Kumarar), Siva Yoga Maamuni, Patañjali,
Vyakramapadar and I (Thirumoolar) We were thus eight disciples.
The story of Tirumular is also interesting. He was a Sivayogi and a siddha yogi, one who had
attained siddhis—like what you find in the Vibhuti Pada of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. Here is the
story.
It is said that the Siva Yogi, Sundaranatha, who was one of the eight direct disciples of Lord
Siva, having received the blessings of Lord Siva and also having become a Sidhha and being a
great Vedic scholar, decided to visit the South Indian sage Agastya (rhymes with Augustus?)
who was living in the Podihai mountains of Tamil Nadu in South India. He worshipped the
Lord in Kedhar and Pasupati in Nepal. He took a holy dip in the Ganga and proceeded
towards the South. He visited the mountain range of Shrisailam, on the banks of the great
Southern river Krishna and worshipped Sivasankara. Travelling further south he reached
Kalahasti, another venerated hill temple of Siva. Then he went to the dancing Siva’s
(Nataraja) temple Alavanam and then went to Kancheepuram and worshipped the Lord in
the Ekambresvara temple, about 50 miles from the city of Madras (Chennai). Then he
reached the great temple in Tillai or Chidambaram and witnessed the primordial dance of
Lord Siva, the same place where Patanjali also had the vision of the divine dance. His heart
was full of immense divine joy on seeing the dance of the Lord. Then he slowly moved further
south and reached the banks of the river Kaviri.
One day, after taking his bath in the holy river Kaveri, he went to another Siva temple in
Aduthurai. He worshipped the icon of the Lord in that temple and never felt like leaving the
beautiful form and the spiritual environs of the place. But he collected himself and started
proceeding towards the Podihai mountains to meet with the short statured Agastya. As he
was slowly treading along the bank of Kaveri, he saw a herd of cows standing around a spot,
not moving, not grazing as expected. He went near them and saw to his dismay, the cowherd
lying dead in front of the cows. The orphaned cows which seemed to be unable to bear the
loss of their friendly cowherd were weeping with their heads down. It was also time for the
cows to return to their habitats to be milked and such milch cows were struggling to stay in
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place with their heavy udders. The Yogi, who considers ‘Love is the Lord’ (anbe Sivam), took
pity on the cows. He used his yogic powers called “para kaya pravesa” and transmigrated into
the body of the cowherd, known as Mula. In an instant Mula woke up as if from sleep and the
cows instantly looked happy. The Yogi, now a cowherd, kept his own body aside under a
banyan tree-planning to re-enter his own body a short while afterwards- and led the cows
back to their habitats. He waited for the cows to return to their respective spots and then
decided to get back to the forest where his original body was. Reaching the spot where he
had left his body, he was shocked to find that his body was missing. Actually the King’s
servants finding an unclaimed body decided to dispose of it by cremating it as per the custom.
Now the Yogi who had renounced everything had now renounced his own body. Though he
was taken aback by the turn of events, he realized that the Lord Siva was directing him to
propagate Sivayoga through him in the Sothern part of India through the medium of the
Southern language, Tamizh . Shortly thereafter, some of the villagers not finding Mula with
the returning cows came in search of him in the forest and brought him back to the village
and left him in his house. Mulan’s wife who herself was an orphan and childless found the
behavior of her husband odd. He said to her that he had renounced the world and would not
come back home and went into a Mutt and remained there for the night, planning to leave the
place the following day. Mulan’s wife was restless all night. She had no relatives or grown up
children to take care of her. Early in the morning she approached the elders of the village and
narrated her plight and requested them to persuade Mulan to return home. The elders after
talking to him for a few minutes realized that a transformation had taken place in Mula and
that he was not the illiterate cowherd anymore but an accomplished Yogi and they thought it
was due to the grace of Lord Siva. They went back and consoled Mulan’s wife, telling her
that her husband has transformed himself to a Yogi and she should feel happy and proud of
her husband. They also persuaded the Yogi to stay near the village so that his wife would feel
more secure even though he would be separated from her. The Yogi sat under a tree and
meditated for one year and at the end woke up from his Samadhi and composed one verse.
Again he went into Samadhi and at the end of the second year he opened his eyes and
composed the second verse and went on to compose three thousand verses, it is believed in
the following 3000 years! Thirumantiram (lit., the sacred mantras) became a classic in Siva
Yoga and there is no one who would not be touched deeply by one verse or the other.
Here are a few verses translated, pertaining to Ashtanga Yoga. 1. Certain constraints and
prescribed duties (dont’s and do’s), countless postures, breath control, sense control,
concentration, meditation, and absorption are the eight aspects of yoga. 2. One who is
steadfast in Yama, the first Anga, will never cause injuries to anyone by word or deed (nor
abet). Thoroughly truthful, he never covets; possesses exemplary qualities, and is pious.
Modest and neutral he shares his possessions with others. Pure he abjures use of intoxicants.
3. The Niyamas (vows) are cleanliness, both outward and inward, compassion, dieting,
forbearance, truth, sensitiveness and a mind free from lust, greed, or sadism. 4. Further,
austerity, chanting, contentment, faith, charity, religiousness, scriptural study and its
propagation, and worship are the aspects of Niyama. 5. Asanas are many hundreds. The
important ones are Bhadrasana, Gomukhasana, Padmasana, Simhasana, Siddhasana,
Veerasana, Sukhasana and Swastikasana. 6. By the proper control of Prana (Pranayama)
bliss arises in one automatically. Why resort to intoxicating drinks? The gait becomes
sprightly and laziness vanishes. This is the truth, oh sensible one, of the efficacy of
Pranayama. 7. Usually Prana circulates in the body without control. If one, by proper
practice purifies and controls it, the complexion will become golden, grey hair will turn black,
and ultimately/untimely death will be prevented. 8. Thirumular indicates that he, by the aid
of Yoga lived long (3, 000 years). Knowledge of life and long life are essential, he says, to
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attain spiritual knowledge. He says “Once I was under the impression that the body need not
be protected since it is perishable. Of late I found that something is inside it, and that
something is the all- pervading entity, which is inside my body as though my body is its
temple. After finding that truth I have taken a vow to protect and preserve my body temple
and keep perfect.”
Here is Ganesa Prayer from Tirumular’s Tirumandiram, which I usually chant at the
beginning of my Yoga classes
Aindu karattanai Aanai muhattanai Indin ilampirai pondra eyitrinai Nandi mahandanai
Jnaanakkozhundinai Pundiyil vaittadi potruhinrene.
Him, who has arms five, Him, who has an elephant face Him, whose single tusk equals the
charm of the crescent moon, Him, who is the offspring of the Blissful Lord, Him, who is
wisdom overflowing I worship (by) keeping His feet In my consciousness (mind)
Here are a couple of gems
There is but one Race There is but one God
The ignorant considers Love and God as different And many consider Love and God
separate When one finds out Love and God to be identical One becomes an embodiment of
Love/Compassion
The entire text is published. I think there is a translation of it in Indian English, with which
you are now familiar.
Sri Krishnamacharya was an innovative yogi. He adapted yoga, using the physical,
physiological, psychological, devotional and spiritual aspects to the requirements of
individuals. But these adaptations were based on solid footing in traditional yoga. There is a
view among a few yoga practitioners that Yoga is evolving and so they become inventors of
Yoga, without studying the huge amount of yogic wisdom already available. My Guru spent
the first four decades of his life, went around different parts of the country studied under
different teachers different subjects before settling down to teach Yoga. In the olden days,
classical subjects like traditional music, grammar and literature, vedic chanting, Ayurveda
and Yoga were supposed to be studied full time for at least seven years before one can claim to
work in that specific areas. Even in modern times, subjects like Medicine, Law, Engineering
and others require solid study for a number of years before one can practice as a doctor or a
lawyer or design a bridge. So when Krishnamacharya taught Yoga or treated a patient with
yoga procedures, you could be sure that even as he would adapt to individual requirements it
was based on solid, thorough traditional knowledge. He had one foot firmly grounded in
orthodox approach. He even would exhort his students to go around villages and approach
agraharamas (elite communities) and look for works of obscure yogis that would be available
with their families and bring them out and study them. He used to quote sometimes from
unusual sources, mainly because he took efforts to unearth hidden treasures of yogic
knowledge. In Yoga Makaranda you come across references to many works which we are not
able to find nowadays, but which he had studied. Many of the works remained unpublished
like the Yogakuranta, for instance. So svadhyaya is a vey important aspect of a Yogi’s
development. Without that, without those moorings, the yogi becomes rudderless and could
waste perhaps a lot of valuable time either with ineffective innovations or lopsided practices
within a narrow spectrum. Sri Krishnamacharya was an orthodox Yogi with a lot of
conventional, traditional study (svadhyaya) and that was the secret of his innovations. He
made the obscure Yoga of yesteryears accessible to modern times.
The Art Of Saying Nothing
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I was waiting for my flight to Chicago on Sep11, 2009. The older and wiser man sitting next
to me just folded the Newspaper he was browsing. His bored wife sitting next to him asked
what was in the paper. He said, “There is good news and bad news”. The good news was that
there was no bad news and the bad news was that there was no good news. May be you have
all heard this before, but for me it was the first time. I was reminded of a story I heard in India
when I was young. There was a stranger who came to a village beating a drum. All the
villagers gathered around him with curious looks. He told them, “Meet me at the banyan tree
today at sunset. I have something important to say.” The villagers gathered at the place at
sunset and the stranger told them, “Do you know what I am going to talk about today?”. “No,
said the villagers in chorus. With an annoyed look the stranger said, “Without knowing what I
am going to say, why did you come”, and left in a huff. Next day the stranger came again
beating his drum and asked the villagers to come to the banyan tree location by sunset if they
wanted to listen to some important information. As the villagers gathered again, the stranger
repeated the same question he asked the previous day. The villagers who had talked about
this among themselves said aloud in one voice “Yes, we know what you are going to say.
“With a surprised look the stranger admonished them saying, “If you know what I am going
to talk about, why did you comel” and left with feigned annoyance. The villagers were clearly
upset and left. The stranger came again the third day and repeated his offer to the annoyed
villagers. At dusk the villages were ready to confront the strange stranger. So when the
stranger repeated by then well known question, half of the villagers said that “Yes, we know
what you are going to talk about” and the other half said that they did not know what he was
going to say. The villagers thought that the stranger would then be compelled to reveal the
information he was supposed to share. With a cheeky smile the stranger said, “In that case
those of you who know, tell it to those who do not know” and left..
Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami
November 2009 Newsletter--Meditating on Meditation

I did my last scheduled program for 2009 at Jody Kurilla’s beautiful Yogashala in Portland,
OR. It was a 15 hour weekend workshop in which we attempted to develop a daily balanced
Vinyasakrama yoga practice of asanas, pranayama, mantras and meditation. A compact,
interested group of nice yogabhyasis attended the program. I am planning to go Madras
(Chennai) in late November and return by the end of January. For the year 2010, I have plans
of doing a 200 hr Teacher Training Program in June/ July and a few courses in Feb 2010 at
Loyola Marymount University --contact Amparo Denney at y...@lmu.edu (Feb courses 1.
Developing an integrated daily practice of asanas, pranayama and meditation (30hrs) 2.
Sanskrit for Yoga Students (20hrs) and 3. Samkhya,yoga and Vedanta, orthodox
philosophies of spiritual freedom-30hrs). Other plans include a weeklong program at Esalen
Institute in Big Sur, CA (Practicum on Hata and Raja Yoga) in May and a ten day program
at Suddha Weixler’s Chicago Yoga Center in September.
In the October Newsletter I had written an article on Svadhyaya and the story of Thirumular.
Namarupa magazine has kindly published it in the latest issue. They have added a few
wonderful drawings of Thirumular and several Siddhas of the South. Namarupa publishes
very interesting and informative articles (mine included?) with eye- catching illustrations and
photographs. You may access their site www.namarupa.org
Meditating on Meditation
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I was watching a live television program in India some 30 years back when TV had just been
introduced in India. It was a program in which an elderly yogi was pitted against a leading
cardiologist. It was virtually a war. The yogi was trying to impress with some unusual poses
which were dubbed as potentially dangerous by the doctor. Almost everything the yogi
claimed was contested by the non-yogi and soon the dialogue degenerated. The yogi stressed
that headstand will increase longevity by retaining the amrita in the sahasrara in the head and
the medical expert countered it by saying that there was no scientific basis for such claims and
dubbed it as a pose which was unnatural and dangerous and will lead to a stroke. The Yogi
replied by saying that Yoga had stood the test of time for centuries; it had been in vogue much
before modern medicine became popular. Thank God it was a black and white program; else
you would have seen blood splashed all over the screen.
Things have become more civil in these three decades. Now neti pot, asanas, yogic breathing
exercises and yogic meditation have all become part of the medical vocabulary. There is a
grudging appreciation of yoga within the medical profession. Many times doctors suggest a
few yogic procedures, especially Meditation, in several conditions like hypertension, anxiety,
depression and other psychosomatic ailments.
Ah! Meditation. The Yoga world is divided into two camps. On one side we have
enthusiastic hata yogis who specialize in asanas and the other group which believes fervently
in meditation as a panacea for all the ills.
But how should one meditate? Many start meditation and give it up after a few days or weeks
as they fail to see any appreciable benefit or perceivable progress. The drop out rate is quite
high among meditators. The mind continues to be agitated and does not get into the
meditating routine. Or quite often one tends to take petit naps while meditating. Why does
this happen? It is due to lack of adequate preparation. Basically one has to prepare oneself
properly for meditation. The Yogis mention two sadhanas or two yogic procedures as
preparations. They are asanas and pranayama. Asanas, as we have seen earlier, reduce rajas
which manifests as restlessness of the mind, an inability to remain focused for an appreciable
amount of time. But another guna, tamas also is not helpful during meditation, manifesting as
laziness, lethargy and sloth and this also should be brought under control if one wants to
meditate. Patanjali, Tirumular and several old Yogis advocate the practice of Pranayama to
reduce the effects of Tamas. Patanjali says Pranayama helps to reduce avarana or Tamas. He
along with conventional ashtanga yogis also mentions that Pranayama makes the mind
capable of Dharana or the first stage of meditation. Pranayama is an important prerequisite of
meditation.
There is evidence that pranayama has a salutary effect on the whole system. In an earlier
article I had explained the beneficial effects of deep pranayama on the heart and the
circulatory system. Further, when it is done correctly, it helps to draw in anywhere between 3
to 4 liters of atmospheric air compared to just about ½ liter of air during normal breathing.
This helps to stretch the air sacs of the lungs affording an excellent exchange of oxygen and
gaseous waste products. These waste products are proactively thrown out of the system by
deep pranayama, which yogis refer to as reduction of tamas. Thus soon after pranayama, the
yogi feels refreshed and calm and becomes fit for the first stage of meditation which is called
Dharana.
What should one meditate on? Several works talk about meditating on cakras, mantras,
auspicious icons, various tatwas and on the spirit/ soul etc. But, the method of meditating,
only a few works detail. Perhaps the most precise is that of Patanjali in Yoga Sutras. Patanjali
details not only a step by step methodology of meditation but also the various objects of
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prakriti and ultimately the spirit within to meditate on. Hence his work may be considered as
the most detailed, complete and rigorous on meditation
For a start Patanjali would like the abhyasi to get the technique right. So he does not initially
specify the object but merely says that the Yogi after the preliminary practices of asana,
pranayama and pratyahara, should sit down in a comfortable yogasana and start the
meditation. Tying the mind to a spot is dharana. Which spot? Vyasa in his commentary
suggests going by tradition, a few spots, firstly inside the body, like the chakras as the
Kundalini Yogi would do,, or the heart lotus as the bhakti yogi would do, or the mid-brows as
a sidhha yogi would do or even an icon outside as a kriya yogi would do. The icon should be
an auspicious object like the image of one’s favorite deity. Many find it easier to choose a
mantra and focus attention on that. Thousands everyday meditate on the Gayatri mantra
visualizing the sun in the middle of the eyebrows or the heart as part of their daily
Sandhyavandana** routine. It is also an ancient practice followed even today to meditate on
the breath with or without using the Pranayama Mantra.
(** Namarupa published my article “Sandhyavandanam-Ritualistic Gayatri Meditation”
with all the routines, mantras, meanings, about 40 pictures, and also an audio with the
chanting of the mantras in the Sep/Oct 2008 issue).
What of the technique?
The Yogabhyasi starts the antaranga sadhana or the internal practice by bringing the mind to
the same object again and again even as the mind tends to move away from the chosen object
of meditation. The active, repeated attempts to bring the mind back to the simple, single
object again and again is the first stage of meditation (samyama) called dharana. Even though
one has done everything possible to make the body/mind system more satwic, because of the
accumulated samskaras or habits, the mind continues to drift away from the object chosen for
meditation. The mind starts with the focus on the object but within a short time it swiftly
drifts to another related thought then a third one and within a short time this train of
thoughts leads to a stage which has no connection whatsoever with the object one started
with. Then suddenly the meditator remembers that one is drifting and soon brings the mind
back to the object and resumes remaining with the “object”. This process repeats over and
over again. This repeated attempts to coax and bring the mind to the same object is dharana.
At the end of the session lasting for about 15 minutes, the meditator may (may means must)
take a short time to review the quality of meditation. How often was the mind drifting away
from the object and how long on an average the mind wandered? And further what were the
kinds of interfering thoughts? The meditator takes note of these. If they are recurrent and
strong then one may take efforts to sort out the problem that interferes with the meditation
repeatedly or at least decide to accept and endure the situation but may decide to take efforts
to keep those thoughts away at least during the time one meditates.
If during the dharana period, the mind gets distracted too often and this does not change
over days of practice, perhaps it may indicate that the rajas is still dominant and one may want
to reduce the systemic rajas by doing more asanas in the practice. On the other hand if the
rajas is due to influences from outside, one may take special efforts to adhere to the
yamaniyamas more scrupulously. Perhaps every night before going to sleep one may review
the day’s activities and see if one had willfully violated the tenets of yamaniyamas like “did I
hurt someone by deed, word or derive satisfaction at the expense of others’ pain”. Or did I say
untruths and so on. On the other hand if one tends to go to sleep during the meditation
minutes, one may consider increasing the pranayama practice and also consider reducing
tamasic interactions, foods etc.
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Then one may continue the practice daily and also review the progress on a daily basis and
also make the necessary adjustments in practice and interactions with the outside world.
Theoretically and practically when this practice is continued diligently and regularly, slowly
the practitioner of dharana will find that the frequency and duration of these extraneous
interferences start reducing and one day, the abhyasi may find that for the entire duration one
stayed with the object. When this takes place, when the mind is completely with the object
moment after moment in a continuous flow of attention, then one may say that the abhyasi has
graduated into the next stage of meditation known as dhyana. Many meditators are happy to
have reached this stage. Then one has to continue with the practice so that the dhyana habits
or samskaras get strengthened. The following day may not be as interruption free, but
Patanjali says conscious practice will make it more successful. “dhyana heyat tad vrittayah”. If
one continues with this practice for sufficiently long time meditating on the same object
diligently, one would hopefully reach the next stage of meditation called Samadhi. In this
state only the object remains occupying the mind and the abhyasi even forgets herself/himself.
Naturally if one continues the meditation practice one would master the technique of
meditation. Almost every time the yagabhasi gets into meditation practice, one would get into
Samadhi. Once one gets this capability one is a yogi—a technically competent yogi-- and one
may be able to use the skill on any other yoga worthy object and make further progress in
Yoga. (tatra bhumishu viniyogah)
The consummate yogi could make a further refinement. An object has a name and one has a
memory of the object, apart from the object itself (sabda, artha gnyana). If a Yogi is able to
further refine the meditation by focusing attention on one aspect like the name of the object
such a meditation is considered superior. For instance when the sound ‘gow” is heard (gow is
cow ), if the meditiator intently maintains the word ‘gow’ alone in his mind without bringing
the impression(form) of a cow in his mind then that is considered a refined meditation. Or
when he sees the cow, he does not bring the name ‘gow’ in the meditation process, it is a
refined meditation.
The next aspect-after mastering meditation— one may consider is, what should be the object
one should meditate upon. For Bhakti Yogis it is the Lord one should meditate upon.
According to my teacher, a great Bhakti Yogi, there is only one dhyana or meditation and that
is bhagavat dhyana or meditating upon the Lord. There is a difference between a religious
person and a devotee. A devotee loves the Lord and meditates on the Lord, all through life.
The Vedas refer to the Pararmatman or the Supreme Lord and bhakti yogis meditate on the
Lord. The Vedas also refer to several gods and some may meditate on these as well. By
meditating on the Lord one may transcend the cycle of transmigration. At the end of the
bhakti yogi’s life one reaches the same world of the Lord (saloka), the heaven. Some attain the
same form as the Lord. Some stay in the proximity of the Lord and some merge with the
Lord. The Puranas which are the later creation of poet seers personify the Lord and the vedic
gods. Thus we have several puranas as Agni purana, Vayu purana and then those of the Lord
Himself like the Bhagavata Purana , Siva Purana , Vishnu Purana. Running to thousands of
slokas and pages the puranic age helped to worship the Lord more easily as these stories
helped to visualize the Lord as a person, which was rather difficult to do from the Vedas.
Later on Agamas made the Lord more accessible by allowing idols to be made of the Lord
and divine beings and consecrating them in temples. Thus these various methods helped the
general populace remain rooted to religion and religious worship. So meditating upon the
charming idol/icon of the Lord made it possible for many to worship and meditate . Of course
many traditional Brahmins belonging to the vedic practices stuck to the vedic fire rituals,
frowned upon and refrained from any ‘form worship’, but millions of others found form
worship a great boon.
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Meditating on the form of the chosen deity either in a temple or at one’s own home has made
it possible to sidestep the intermediate priestly class to a great extent. One can become
responsible for one’s own religious practice, including meditation. The ultimate reality is
meditated on in different forms, in any form as Siva Vishnu etc or as Father, Mother,
Preceptor or even a Friend. Some idol meditators define meditating on the whole form as
dharana, then meditating on each aspect of the form as the toe or head or the arms or the
bewitching eyes as dhyana and thus giving a different interpretation to meditation. Some,
after meditating on the icon, close the eyes and meditate on the form in their mind’s eye
(manasika).
Darshanas like Samkhya and Yoga which do not subscribe to the theory of a Creator
commended ‘the understanding of one’s own Self’ as a means of liberation. The Self which is
non-changing is pure consciousness and by deep unwavering meditation after getting the
technique right, one can realize the nature of oneself and be liberated. Following this
approach, the Samkhyas commend meditating on each and every of the 24 aspects of prakriti
in the body-mind complex of oneself and transcend them to directly know the true nature of
oneself, and that will be Freedom or Kaivalya. Similarly the Yogis would say that the true
nature of the self is known when the mind transcends(nirodha) the five types of its activities
called vrittis to reach kaivalya, by a process of subtler and subtler meditation.
The Upanishads on the other hand while agreeing with the other Nivritti sastras like Yoga
and Samkhya in so far as the nature of the self is concerned, indicate that the individual and
the Supreme Being are one and the same and meditating on this identity leads to liberation.
They would like the spiritual aspirant to first follow a disciplined life to get an unwavering
satwic state of the mind. Then one would study the upanishadic texts (sravana), by analysis
(manana) understand them and realize the nature of the self through several step by step
meditation approaches (nidhidhyasana). The Vedas, for the sake of the spiritual aspirant, have
several Upanishad vidyas to study and understand It from several viewpoints. For instance,
the panchkosa vidya indicates that the real self is beyond (or within) the five koshas (sheaths).
It could also be considered as the pure consciousness which is beyond the three states of
awareness (avasta) of waking, dream and deep sleep, as the Pranava(Om) vidya would
indicate. The understanding and conviction that Self and the Supreme Self are one and the
same is what one needs to get, before doing Upanishadic meditation following the advaitic
interpretation.
Summarizing one may say that traditional meditation warrants proper preparation so that the
mind becomes irrevocably satwic and thus fit for and capable of meditation. Secondly it
requires practice on a simple object until the meditation technique is mastered and such
meditatin samskaras developed. Then the Yogi should set the goal of meditation based on the
conviction of a solid philosophy—bhakti, samkhya, yoga, vedanta, kundalini (or if
comfortable, nirvana) or whatever.
*******
A successful but highly stressed businessman was advised rest and vacation by his doctors.
He decided to buy a largely uninhabited island for say $ 400 million (good price?), so that he
would vacation, relax. He went to the island and saw a young fellow sitting under a tree
apparently doing nothing. The businessman went to him and asked what he was doing.
“Nothing”, the young man said, ‘nothing at all that may be of interest to you Sir’. Then the
successful businessman narrated his own story of how he worked hard all his life and became
very rich, and described himself as an example of one who rose from rags to riches. The young
man heard him intently and said “so what?” The businessman asked, ”How do you make a
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living, how do you get money to buy food ?” The young man said “I drink the water available
in the nearby stream and eat some fruits falling from the trees and breathe this wonderful,
fresh air.” The businessman was unimpressed and told the young man, “Come and work with
me. You can make some money and have a good life”. The young man was not impressed.
“What if I have a different way of life?” He asked. The older man said “Then you can become
a successful man. You can start a business and become a millionaire in about 10 years. And
then you can start a chain and become a multimillionaire. Then you can start a hedge fund,
take other people’s money to work for you and become a billionaire. Then you can acquire
other companies, do financial engineering and become a multibillionaire like me. I am telling
you that you should also work hard like me and become really superrich and successful in life.”
said the businessman with all earnestness. Then the young man asked what if he became rich
and successful. The rich man was taken aback but managed to tell him that if he became rich
he could do anything he wanted to do. For instance he could come to a secluded spot like that
island and relax and maybe meditate. “I am already doing that, then why should I go through
all this”. Then the young yogi, full of contentment and brimming with confidence, got into his
Padmasana effortlessly, did a few rounds of deep Pranayama, closed his eyes and meditated.
Soon, he went into a trance/samadhi as the speechless businessman watched. The older man
slowly started seeing how impoverished he was in the midst of all his super riches.
December 2009-One legged poses and story of Bhagirata

Here is a letter I received from a friend and my reply thereof
Dear Ramaswami,
I always look forward to reading your monthly emails. I appreciate the thoughts you share
with the yoga community.
I have a concern about yoga that I would like to share with you and would appreciate any
feedback you may be able to provide. I have been practicing yoga for almost 6 years, but I am
not a diligent student. I started to take your class on Hatha Pradipika but I discontinued the
class after 2 or 3 lessons. I recall that during the class as you went through the Hatha
Pradipka, you mentioned how crucially important it is for students to be devoted to God. In
fact, yogis were not supposed to teach students who did not have faith in God.
After learning that, I felt I should drop your class because I am agnostic with beliefs that lean
toward atheism. I cannot be sure that there is no God, but feel that most likely God does not
exist. I also don’t believe that there is one spirit or life force that we should be praying to. I
think there are actions that are inherently good, rather than religiously good, and that the
human race desires to follow a path of “goodness”. I think that Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is at the
very least a tremendously useful guide to living an effective life, and perhaps much more.
At the time I was taking your class, …….. was my teacher. When I asked …. about these issues
that bothered me, she advised me to just practice the pieces of yoga that are helpful to me and
to not worry about the bigger picture. That seemed like reasonable advice and I have been
following it. She did advise me that unless I change my beliefs, I would not be able to
experience certain aspects of yoga.
I love to practice yoga and have become an enthusiastic advocate of yoga asanas and
meditation. Perhaps I am enthusiastic about something that is a misinterpretation of yoga,
since one might argue that one does not really practice yoga unless one believes in God.
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I have heard it said that once you experience yoga, you feel that it is a gift that you want to
pass on to others. I do feel that I would like to teach yoga---not as a primary occupation, but
more as a service that I can provide to others. But I am bothered by the religious issue.
Should I abandon yoga and seek out a more atheistic- friendly discipline? Should I just keep
practicing and learning, and teaching what I know? Do you have any thoughts on this?
Sincerely *****
Dear ****: Thank you for your e mail. I really do not remember the context in which I said
that. I might have mentioned that some orthodox yogis consider faith in God as a
prerequisite for yoga. In a way Patanjali includes iswarapranidhana as one of the niyamas.
But then when I teach I do not check whether the person coming to the class believes in God
or not. So this should be considered in the correct light. There are many orthodox Hindu
philosophies like Sankhya (Yoga borrows heavily on it) which proclaim that there is no need
to postulate a Creator to explain creation of the universe. While I teach Yoga sutras I stress
that Patanjali takes care of both believers and non believers, only thing is that believers have a
positive psychological advantage which may of course be contested. I think belief in God or
the lack of it is pretty deep, maybe it is in the genes. The problem comes when the believer
yogis try to convert the nonbeliever yogis or vice versa. Even the vedas address this question.
The commentator on Vedas, Sayana says that even if you debate for a billion years the believer
and the nonbeliever will not be able to convince each other, there will be no consensus. When
many people argue for or against the belief, it is mainly to fortify their own convictions. Hence
it is perhaps futile to indulge in this discussion --Creator or no Creator. So I would say that
since yoga is good for everyone, it has something very positive to both believers and non
believers, one should practice accordingly. I think your practice as it is, is very good and you
may teach the way you have learnt from your teacher and practiced and experienced yourself.
One has to be good yogi and follow as many yamas and niyamas as possible. There are good
'nonbelievers' and 'not so good' believers. I am sorry if I had created a serious doubt in you
which you seem to carry. I wish you had stayed on with the program that you started with me.
Thank you and with best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami
P S Maybe you would consider revisiting the article “A Creative Hypothesis” contained in an
earlier Newsletter, click the link below http://groups.google.com/group/vinyasa-krama-
announce/browse_thread/t...
Here is a letter I received from Shawn Drummond
Dear Ramaswami:
I hope this finds you well. It was good to see you in Chicago in September. Thank you for
recommending Yoga Rahasya. I received it from KYM, and I have been studying it.
I also ordered from Amazon an English translation of Thirumandiram. It comes in a three-
volume boxed set. I just received it today, and I look forward to reading it. Here is the link at
Amazon, in case any of your other students are interested:
http://www.amazon.com/Thirumandiram-Classic-Tantra-Three-Vollume/dp/1895 383021/
ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257820286&sr=1-1
Thanks again, and take care.
Regards,
Shawn Drummond
Here is one from Michael Tibbs
PAGE 50 OF 55
VOLUME 01-12 / 2009
Head stand with fused C7 - T1 spinal disc. Yoga works!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_GfIRUQUYA
Michael Tibbs R.Y.T. Certified Yoga Teacher
TREE POSES AND STORY OF BHAGIRATA
The Sanskrit root ‘tap’ means to heat up (tapa daahe) and there are a couple of words derived
from the root that are found even in the Vedas. They are ‘taapa’ and ‘tapas’ both of which are
used by Patanjali in the Yoga sutras. The word taapa means to be under intense heat or
pressure and hence uncomfortable, like the ‘cat on a hot tin roof’ or walking barefoot in the
sands of Sahara around midday in midsummer. The word taapa as used by Patanjali and the
Vedas indicates the taapa mood as one in which the mind feels intense pain, like the inability
to get what one wants and the inability to get rid of what one does not want. So taapa is a
negative feeling, of being tormented. Whereas the word tapas, which also means intense heat,
indicates self purification or a self discipline imposed by the person (yogi or tapasvi) to be able
to attain something out of the ordinary. Tapas will indicate channelizing one’s energies
without distractions and wastage toward the main goal. The Vedas refer to intense study of
the Vedas (srutam), charity all through one’s life (danam), remaining peaceful and maintaining
equanimity all through life (saantam), leading a austere religious life (yagnyam), meditating
on Brahman the ultimate reality (brahma Upasya) as tapas. So while taapa refers to an
unbearable negative heat, tapas refer to heat generated by positive uplifting effort. Tapas has
a cleansing effect, like using heat to remove dross from precious metal like gold.
During the time I was a kid, teenage pregnancies in India were the order of the day, especially
within my Brahmin community. It was mainly because parents would arrange the marriage of
their young daughters very early, almost around puberty. I was born when my mother was 19
and then I was the third child. Because the mothers were young, medical facilities were
limited and medical science had not advanced as of now, infant mortality and the death of the
mother at childbirth were unacceptably high. Later on the Central Government passed a law
raising the legal age of marriage bringing some sanity to this abhorrent situation. Even so,
parents still had a complete hold over the grown up children especially with regard to whom
they would marry.
The practice of the parents arranging the marriage of the offspring continued and continues
even today, though to a lesser extent. It is common even now for a young Indian software
engineer with a doctoral degree from Stanford or a medical doctor from Harvard Medical
School working in USA or UK to go on a fortnight’s trip to India, interview half a dozen girls
the parents have shortlisted, choose one, marry and return to USA with his bride, a happy
married man.
The hold of the parents on their children regarding marriage is still quite strong. So when I
was young one of my distant cousins fell in love with a young man in the same neighborhood,
it was considered a reckless act. The parents of both of them disapproved the proposition and
tried all means to stop the marriage, like talking reason to them (sama), promising goodies if
they would break the friendship (dana) then attempted to create rift between them (bheda)
and even threatened them with dire consequences (danda), but nothing worked. The girl was
steadfast in her resolve, persisted with her mission and ultimately they got married. “She
stood on one leg” as the expression goes and got things her way, everyone said. Standing on
one leg is an expression used in my language to indicate goal oriented perseverance, and a
never say die attitude.
PAGE 51 OF 55
VOLUME 01-12 / 2009
So we have a number of instances quoted in the Puranas, where someone would do penance
standing on one leg until one gets the vision of God or Goddess. I have written about the
story of the kid, Dhruva who did Tapas standing on one leg to please Lord Vishnu/
Narayana. The one legged postures are said to create a great sense of balance—physical and
mental—and also create tolerance, patience and perseverance and goal orientation and fine
tunes the sense of balance. One legged poses group are sometimes known by the general
term, vrikshasana or tree pose sequence. It looks like one standing like a tree standing on
(one) trunk. The one legged poses are known as Tapasvin postures or poses of penance /
austerity.
There are many beautiful poses and vinyasas in this sequence and some of them bear the
names of sages. We have asanas named after Bhagirata a royal sage, Durvasasana named after
a sage called Durvasa. There is also another pose called Trivikramasana which is the form
said to have been taken by the Lord as an incarnation. For more information of these poses
you may please refer to the chapter on one legged poses in my book “The Complete Book of
Vinyasa Yoga”. It has an array of asanas with multiple vinyasas.
Bhagiratasana named after King Bhagirata is a one legged pose which, nowadays, many call
as Vrikshasana. There is an ancient temple city near Chennai in South India, said to have
been constructed around 700 AD. It is a shore temple city with a number of beautiful ancient
structures. It also contains a sculpture of Bhagirata standing in one- legged Bhagiratasana.
The story of Bhagirata is interesting.
The Sun Dynasty (Suryavamsa) of the Puranic age was a dominant one and could boast of
outstanding kings and emperors. When the Lord decided to incarnate as a human being—a
perfect example a human who followed Dharma—He chose to be born as Rama into this
dynasty ruling from Ayodhya in the northern part of India. Our hero Bhagirata, a forefather of
Lord Rama, was an outstanding one from the Sun dynasty (Surys vamsa)
Sagara was a king of this dynasty ruling well and comfortably in Ayodhya. But he wanted to
expand his kingdom; he wanted to become an emperor. In the olden days it was considered
that the responsibility of each king was to expand the kingdom. There is an interesting
saying: A contented king and a discontented brahmin (scholar) will come to grief. In the
olden days the king who had territorial ambitions will take a thoroughbred, nicely decorate it,
and go through extensive religious ritual called Aswamedha or horse worship. Then the
horse will be let loose, driven out of the country followed by the King’s army. The deal is this.
When the horse goes through other countries the king of the countries through which the
horse wanders will have to take a calculated decision. Should one fight the invading army
following the horse or let it go through thereby accepting the suzerainty of the invader? If he
chooses to fight, he would order the arrest of the horse which will be signal that this
aggression would not be taken lying down. Then there will be a war. If the invading King
loses that signals the end of the mission. If he wins the conquered kingdom will be annexed.
It is said that Sagara had 60,000 children—(Really? Yes, it was puranic time)—who formed
the bulk of his army. These boys were good fighters, but short tempered blockheads. So, the
horse properly venerated was sent out of the country followed by the king’s army made up
mostly of the princes. The horse trotted far and wide and met with no resistance whatsoever;
all the heads of the neighboring states felt that discretion was the better part of valor.
But then there was a small principality whose ruler knew he had no chance against the mighty
invading army; even so, he felt he should do something. So when the horse for a brief moment
went out of the sight of the following army, he quickly abducted the horse, took it away and
PAGE 52 OF 55
VOLUME 01-12 / 2009
tied it to a tree close to the ashram of a pious sage, known as Kapila. The name Kapila is
associated with Samkhya philosophy and also a famous yoga pose, Kapilasana, a vinyasa of
Ekapadasirshasana. The princes finding the horse missing panicked and started running in
circles.
There is another version of this incident. It is said that Indra, the boss of the ‘gods’ panicked
at the possible success of the Aswameda expedition. There is a belief that if anyone can do 100
aswamedas in one’s lifetime, he would ascend the throne of the devaloka or the world of the
gods replacing the incumbent. So it is said that to thwart the aswamedha attempts of king
Sagara, Indra himself stole the horse and deposited it in the sage’s ashram.
Anyway, the king’s army finally located the horse and immediately concluded that the sage
had stolen the horse. Since the Sage Kapila himself was in deep samadhi, the boys concluded
that after stealing the horse, the old man was faking a nap. They shook him violently but the
sage could not be brought out of Samadhi. After a while they lost further interest in the sage
but wanted to teach him a lesson. As a worst form of insult, they made a garland out of old
torn shoes and put it around the neck of the sage. Then they took the horse and started
walking away from the Ashram. Just then the sage came out of his Samadhi and immediately
realized what had happened. In an unyogic fit of anger, he converted all his accumulated
yogic powers into yogi fire and with a stern look burnt all the intemperate boys to ashes. In a
moment, in place of 60,000 soldiers, there were 60,000 heaps of human ashes. In an instant
the sage regained his composure and regretted that he lost his temper resulting in the loss of
all the yogic powers he had accumulated over a long period of time and considerable effort.
He was also remorseful.
The horse returned to the country, by itself after a while. The King seeing the horse alone
realized that something amiss had taken place. He panicked and immediately left the country
in search of his boys. Soon he reached Kapila’s ashram and saw to his horror all his army,
made up of mostly his offspring, reduced to ashes. He felt a deep sense of sorrow at the
pitiable end to his sons all because of his own ambition. It is said that one of the most heart
wrenching dukkhas or sorrows of anyone is the loss of a young adult offspring, especially due
to untimely/unnatural death (akala marana). He approached the sage Kapila, prostrated
before him and profusely apologized for the despicable acts of his sons. He begged him to
pardon his children and bring them back to life. The sage in turn apologized for his non-yogic
rage but replied that it was beyond his capabilities to revive the dead. But according to
traditional view, when there is unnatural death, the disembodied soul suffers until it is
liberated so that it can go on with its journey to the next birth. So the King requested the sage
to help save the souls of his children. The sage suggested that the only way to have it done is
to sprinkle the ashes with the holy waters of Ganga and then continued with his own
meditation.
The remedy the sage suggested was easier said than done. The problem at that time was that
the Ganga was not flowing down the plains and was confined to the upper reaches of the
Himalayas. It is said that Lord Siva was holding the Ganga on his head which surely made
Ganga a proud entity. So the problem for King Sagara was to get the waters of Ganga to
flow down the mountains. He neither had the engineering skills nor was able to please Siva to
release Ganga to flow down the Himalayan mountain range. Disheartened, he returned to
the country. A dispirited king, the curse of wrong doing of the sons, the disembodied spirits
all spelt gloom to the country. Kings of the neighboring countries become emboldened and
attacked; there were natural calamities due to the acts of angered gods. The country suffered
with pestilence, draught and strife. The King died a broken man.
PAGE 53 OF 55
VOLUME 01-12 / 2009
One of the surviving princes who did not take part in the aswamedha misadventure ascended
the throne and ruled over a weaker and smaller kingdom. Several weak generations later
Bhagirata took over the reigns and immediately felt that he had to do something to change
the country’s fortunes. He consulted various wise men and they all indicated that the main
cause of the misery was the disembodied spirits of the forefathers and until the curse of the
sage was eschewed the people will continue to suffer. So King Bhagirata asked his ministers
to take care of the administration when he would be gone to find a permanent solution to the
chronic condition. He approached sage Kapila (the sages lived much longer than the Kings, I
guess) and made the same request King Sagara had made. Kapila asked Bhagirata to get the
waters of the Ganga. Bhagirata pointed out that the Ganga was not flowing in the plains.
The sage then suggested that he should pray to Ganga to come down from the exalted
position she was in, on top of the Siva’s head, top of the world so to say. So to please goddess
Ganga, Bhagirata decided to do intense penance. He decided to stand in one of the tree
poses that is, stand on one leg and keep the other leg bent and placing the foot on the other
thigh, the foot position a la Mahamudra/Janusirshasana. (Please refer to my book The
Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga). He stood in the posture for a long time, some works refer
to it as 1000 years. After all this effort Ganga did not relent. She abhorred the idea of flowing
down the plains, she was at the most exalted position, the crest of the Lord Himself. She
would not give it up, would any one do it, she thought and decided to ignore the fervent pleas
of Bhagirata.
Even as he was pious, Bhagirata was a Tapasvi, a determined one. He then went back to the
sage and said that Ganga will not accede to his request. The sage suggested in that case, he
should consider appealing to Lord Siva Himself who had given the high position to Ganga.
Again Bhagirata stood in the one legged position and preyed to Lord Siva, who also has
another name Asutoshi, or one who is quickly pleased. So Lord Siva quickly responded to the
penance of Bhagirata and appeared before him. “I am pleased Bhagirata with your devotion
and determination, the Lord said, “Now what can I do for you?’ King Bhagirata narrated the
story which Siva as Sarvagnya (all-knowing) already knew. He gladly acceded to his request,
looked up to Ganga and said to her “Come on now, come down and flow over the plains to
help out devotee Bhagirata” and disappeared.
Like an angry kid ordered by the parent to clean the room and unable to disobey, Ganga
grudgingly did what she was ordered to do. But she was very upset too. She showed her
anger by flowing down the Himalayas in a torrent. Suddenly Bhagirata could see a huge
column of water flowing down at great speed. Instantly he realized that the huge column of
water when it would hit the ground would create a wide crater and disappear into it as an
underground river and he would get nothing out of his entire herculean task. He virtually
became distraught and found a Himalayan sage named Janhu in a nearby ashram. He went to
him and briefly explained his predicament. Janhu, an unusual Sidhha, had a unique Siddhi.
He went near the foot of the Himalayas, stood just under the Ganga stream slamming down
and opened his mouth. Lo and behold! All the waters of the Ganga now flowed into the
mouth of the sage and ended up in the stomach of the sage. (You may want to tell this story to
your children and they would listen to it with open mouth. I remember that is what I did
when I heard this story the first time when I was a child.) From the crest of the Lord to the
stomach of a sage, it was a great fall for Ganga.
Now Bhagirata had another problem. The waters of Ganga would have to be taken out of
the sage’s stomach unpolluted; he could not wait for the water to take the natural course from
then on. He again pleaded with the sage to release the waters. The sage then allowed a small
portion of Ganga to flow out through his right ear. The placid Ganga flowed gently out of
PAGE 54 OF 55
VOLUME 01-12 / 2009
Jahnu’s right ear. Then Bhagirata mounted his horse and led the waters of Ganga to Kapila’s
ashram. He then directed the waters over the ashes of his forefathers. The curses were
exorcised by the holy waters of Ganga. The released spirits stopped haunting the citizens of
Ayodhya and continued with their journey. Bhagirata returned to his country and is a said to
have ruled justly and led his people to prosperity. Thus ends the story of Bhagirata on a happy
note. There are slightly different versions of the story I have heard over the years but this is
the version I like most.
Because of this episode, many people continue to consider Ganga as a holy river. Everyone
would like to travel to Banares/Varanashi and take a dip in the holy river Ganga so that one’s
sins are washed away. Similarly it is the custom among many Indians to collect the ashes after
cremation of the body of dead dear ones and deposit the ashes into Ganga. Because
Bhagirata brought the holy Ganga to the world, the river also was named Bhagirati. Another
name for Ganga is Jhanhavi (Jahnu’s daughter) as she came out of Jahnu’s stomach (and ear).
It is a practice among a section of Indians to name their daughters after perennial rivers.
Apart from Bhagirati and Jahnavi other names include Narmada, Cauvery, Yamuna,
Godavari, etc.
Bhagirata came to be known for his perseverance and the never say die attitude. Despite
many monumental obstacles he stood steadfast in his mission. So the one legged posture of
Bhagirata also known as Tree Pose or Vrikshasana among many modern Yogis is a unique
pose for penance. There are a few other postures belonging to the vrikshasana sequence like
Durvasasana, Trivikramasana, etc. There are interesting stories about these asanas as well.
Maybe we can go into them sometime in the future.
Tail Piece
The human body has 9 ports (nava dwara). They are the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils,
mouth all in the face and two others. All of them are considered unclean as they secrete fluids
and waste products. But the right ear is considered always cleansed and pure, because holy
Ganga is said to flow through the right ear, like Jahnu’s right ear. So, many people when they
do nadisodhana Pranayama especially during a ritual will touch the right ear after doing a
mantra pranayama holding the nostrils with the fingers of the right hand in Mrigi Mudra,
thus symbolically washing and cleaning the fingers and right hand.
******
On Santosha (contentment) a yogic trait (niyama) - "The happiness one gets by the fulfillment
of worldly desires and the joy one may get by reaching the heavenly abodes mentioned in the
scriptures are not comparable to even a sixteenth part of the great internal space ( sukha) one
gets by the eradication of the very desires." - the Mahabharata, a great Sanskrit epic
PAGE 55 OF 55

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VINYASA KRAMA YOGA NEWSLETTERS

VOLUME 01-12 / 2009

Vinyasa Krama Yoga

January 2009 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami-Triguna

February 2009 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami

With best wishes Sincerely Srivatsa Ramaswami

March 2009 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami

April 2009 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami-Vajrasana

Sanskrit Chants April 2009

On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 5:56 PM, jeﬀrey zweig <jef...@aol.com> wrote:

Hello, Srivats Ramasami,

May 2009 Newsletter- YOGA FOR THE HEART

June 2009 Newsletter-Vedic Convocation/

Vedic Convocation Mantras (128kbps MP3)

1.SRI PATTABHI JOIS--- 2. Between Death and Birth

Gyl Evans writes:

Dear Srivatsa Ramaswami,

JULY 2009 NEWSLETTER-A TALE OF TWO BHAKTI YOGIS

‘aasai arumingal, aasai arumingal,

AUGUST 2009-HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE……

September 2009 Newsletter—Vinyasakrama Practice

October 2009 Newsletter-Svadhyaya and Story of Tirumular

November 2009 Newsletter--Meditating on Meditation

December 2009-One legged poses and story of Bhagirata

Head stand with fused C7 - T1 spinal disc. Yoga works!!!!

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