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The Yoga Sutras were outlined by the sage Patanjali
over 2,000 years ago. It is a collection of 196
aphorisms that covers all aspects of life, beginning
with a prescribed code of conduct and ending with
a man’s vision of his true Self.
Historically, Patanjali may have lived sometime
between 500 and 200 B.C., but much of what we know
of the master of yoga is drawn from legends. He
is often referred to as SVAYAMBHU, an avatar, an
evolved soul incarnated out of his own will to help
humanity. (This is very similar to bodhisattva,
a being whose Buddha hood is assured but who postpones
his/her own entry to Nibbana to help other sentient
beings attain it first. Patanjali assumes human
form, experienced our sorrows and joys, and learned
to transcend them. (Similar to Christ)
He chose to write on three subjects, grammar, medicine
and yoga. However, what remains of Patanjali’s
yoga poses are various carvings on temple walls
and a few sketchy descriptions from various text.
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ASHTANGA:
THE 8 LIMBS OF YOGA
BKS Iyengar studies and teaches yoga as unfolded
in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Hatha Yoga
Pradipika among other classical text. Thus asana
are taught as one of the eight limbs or branches
of yoga defined by Patanjali.
The Eight limbs of yoga or Ashtanga Yoga, are all
interconnected and has numerous facets revealed
through study of the texts and through practice
in daily life. They lead progressively to the highest
stages of awareness and to a more spiritual life.
The eight limbs include:
1. Yama – Ethical Precepts of non-violence
(ahimsa), truth (satya), non-stealing (asteya),
moderation (brahmacharya) and non-coveting (aparigraha)
2. Niyama – Prescribed Individual Practices
of purity (saucha), contentment (santosa), discipline
(tapas), self-study (svadhyaya) and devotion (Isvara
Pranidhana)
3. Asana – The yoga postures. Asana brings
steadiness, health and lightness of limb. A steady
and pleasant posture produces mental equilibrium
and prevents fickleness of mind.
4. Pranayama – Breath and energy practices,
consisting of the regulation and refinement of the
inhalation, exhalation and retention of breath.
5. Pratyahara – Emancipation of the mind from
the domination of the senses
6. Dharana – Uninterrupted concentration,
with the mind focused steadily on a particular point
or object.
7. Dhyana – This is meditation.
8. Samadhi – True Yoga, a state of truth and
bliss. Union of self and Paranatma, the universal
spirit of consciousness. Meditator and object of
mediation are integrated and whole
(Light on Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar and Yoga the Iyengar
way, Silva, Mira and Shyam Mehta)
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BELLUR KRISHNAMACHAR SUNDARARAJA (BKS) IYENGAR was
recently named by Time Magazine as one of the most
influential people in the world, and one of the
few living yoga masters who continue to practice
what they preach.
He was born on December 14, 1918, in the midst of
a world flu epidemic, and grew up a sickly child
plagued by ills such as malaria, typhoid and tuberculosis.
When his sister married the renowned yoga teacher
Krishnamacharya in 1934, Iyengar was put on a strict
yoga regime to improve his health.
By 1937, he was sent to Pune to teach, and this
is where he would eventually put up the Ramamani
Iyengar Memorial Institute in 1975. The institute
was named after his late wife Ramaa, who passed
away in 1973. Today, Iyengar yoga has followers
and practitioners all over the world and is widely
considered the most practiced style of yoga in the
West.
Two of Guruji’s six children, Geeta and Prashant,
are now the directors of the institute, where the
87-year-old Iyengar still practices daily uninterrupted
for 4 hours.
BKS Iyengar spent
most of his life decoding this lost tradition and
art of yoga by Patanjali.
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