Friday, August 27, 2004


the yoga sutras, sort of

so busy today! but i have to write about yesterday evening, when i went to see geshe michael roach chat about patanjali's yoga sutras from a tibetan buddhist perspective at jivamukti. i didn't expect to see so many people i knew there!

it turned out it was a big deal, part of a long course, but i just dropped in for one session. he and his sanskrit-writing pal, christine, were discussing the last portion of the second book, or pada, which outlines some of the karmic rewards of the yoga practice.

let me just say that i was a tad displeased that he started late, making us stand for a long time for a big entrance, like a rockstar. but he is a charming, engaging, original, and really quirky -- very very topanga canyon, you might say -- speaker, so i forgave him that.

what really threw me for a loop was the poor quality of the sanskrit pronounciation. people who are really into sanskrit make a big deal about saying it correctly.

the tantric yoga tradition believes that our bodies contain 3 main channels or "nadis" for life energy: the ida, pingala, and susumma. and the flow of prana, "bioenergy" -- or however you want to say that -- is said to "sing" or "chant" sanskrit as it moves thru these nadi.

so proper pronounciation is crucial if you want to get yourself hooked up in tune with your own singing body. it's a charming metaphor, no doubt; rather "music of the spheres."

but at this class, students in the audience just mumbled their way thru it, and there wasn't any correction or emphasis on correct sound. christine would choose an important word or two from each verse, write it in sanskrit, and discuss its roots, and english cognates.

that was very interesting, to see the sanskrit or proto-indo-european roots, and see how they related to english and latin words.

the translations or interpretations of the sutras also gave me pause. i'm not expert, but some of them were so loose to be really peculiar.

for example, let's take pada 2, sutra 45: samadhi siddhir ishvara pranidhanat. this is straight-forward even for those without deep sanskrit ability.

samadhi is the highest state of meditation, or "union with the absolute." siddhir is the verb of siddhi, attainment; thus "to attain."

ishvara is "the absolute" as you understand it, which for some will be god, for others, nature, (for me, chocolate! ) etc. pranidhanat is "surrendering," or turning yourself over to the wisdom of the absolute.

so this simple sutra is an equation: surrendering to the absolute brings you to samadhi. the verse encourages some sense of deep humility or devotion before that which is greater than yourself.

roach translates this as: "if you seek your master's blessing, you attain final meditation." while at first it doesn't seem too bad a rendering, i think this really shrinks the meaning of the sutra.

"your master" sounds like it is a human person, a guru; but i think the verse is aiming much higher than just getting a pat on the head from a guy in purple robes, you know?

and as it refers to the absolute, i'm not sure our relationship with that -- whatever that means to you personally -- is one of master-servant, you know? i like mark whitwell's explanation of our relationship to the absolute much better. . .

i also take a little issue with the previous sutra, pada 2, sutra 44: svadhyayad ista devata samprayogah.

again, not a toughie. svadhyayad is "self-study" in all senses of the term; it means devoting time at home to reading important or spiritual texts, and this traditionally includes chanting them, or using them as mantras.

ista devata is the "divine form of your choice" so to speak, again referencing your personal understanding of the absolute. samprayogah is roughly to be "in union with" or to experience "the state of yoga with."

christian people might choose the word "communion" here. the meaning of this sutra is also pretty simple: read (or chant) holy books to experience oneness with the absolute.

roach translates this as "if you engage in regular study, then you come to be with the angel of your deepest dreams."

let's ignore the new-age feel of this interpretation, and once again, i have an uneasy sense of shrinkage here. . ."angel" seems too small for ista devata, while "be with" doesn't at all convey the same sense of blissing out or almost dissolving into a divine presence.

am i having tea with some blonde guy in a dress and big white feathers? i really don't mean to nitpick!

and lastly, i found his version of pada 2, sutra 37 unusual: "asteya pratishthayam sarva ratnopasthanam." this one is a little harder.

asteya is "non-stealing;" ratno is a form of the word "jewel;" pasthanam is very roughly "present" or "appear."

roach translates this as "if you make it a way of life never to steal from another, then there will come a time when people just come to you and offer you all the money you need."

whoa! halt! i think the meaning of this sutra isn't too hard: if you don't steal, you'll be rewarded with jewels. but surely roach knows that these jewels aren't actually "money!"

clearly the sutra is discussing what you might call "moral or spiritual adornments." this isn't some kind of make-millions-by-leveraging-real-estate seminar here, is it? people aren't just going to start mailing me checks in some kind of yogic ponzi scheme, right?

i think this translation is just too flip. i do appreciate roach's humor, overall. really, i do.

what roach did say that was completely valuable was this: "the only real source of wealth is what you do for other people." which instantly reminded me of a famous saying by scaa chief ted lingle: "you only get to keep what you give away."

i actually recommend roach's course -- as my companion carl "upside down" horowitz remarked, it was pretty entertaining due to the geshe's personal style, but not at all serious as a sanskrit study group.

one thing roach said that i really took to heart: "you can choose to see a subway full of weird crazy drunk homeless people or you can choose to see them as beautiful blessed tantric deities, shining beyond compare." from now one, i'll be imagining them all as barista champions. . .

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