Sringeri Days : Part 24
When the Ratha Yatra was over, we all retired to the choultry, while Umesha rushed to Guru Nivasa to perform guru seva before he retires to bed. We were all tired but very charged. The experience was one of its kind and now looking back, very few in the whole world population of billions got that chance.
But the thought of what will happen to us in general,and me in particular, was nagging me in the back of my mind. I would be completing my masters in a few months and what should I do ? We were not in Veda patashala; we were not garelu brahmacari either-as we spent all out time in adhyatma , shunning social events. In fact, with my exception, other members in the group had restrictions on food habits, movie going, books reading, family events. None of us were spending any time thinking of married life, yearning to meet a dream girl. None of us did any nukkad halts waiting to see pretty girls who pass by. Umesha and jyeshta Mahasannidhanam were the only two people in the whole world who occupies our mid.
In short, we were totally ill-prepared for a potential married life, mentally or psychologically.
But, unlike Umesh, we were not accomplished Yogis, and this was leaving us in a lmbo stage. Shri Bharthi Theertharu was very keen to develop us into a Hanuman Brigade of brahmacharis , devoting entire life to adhyatma. But jyeshta mahaa sannidhanam was not totally in support; he felt that given the times, this might put heavy burden on us. He was always compassionate, looking at it not only from our point of view, but also from our parents. He would never do anything against the wishes of parents or that would bring them grief. Parents were walking Gods for him.
My case was more complicated too; with a young widowed mother, coming from a Maadhwa community with historical connect with Rayaru family. How would this work out ? Dr.Subbaramaiyya always used to point out that I should listen to jyeshta mahasannidhanam, not aspire for any mutt brahmachari life.He felt the days of Mutt oriented bidi sanyasis were over; either you are a pitadipati or a gruhasta. Wandering monks are anachronism. With a great sigh , I went to sleep.
With the day break, we all rushed to Tunga River and had a great Anhikam. With the Vedic Chantings reverberating from the patashala yonder, our Gayatri japa and dhyana was terrific. It was time for us to be ADCs for the visiting Shankaracharyas.
So, I went to the quarters of my allocated Swamiji, Shri Swaroopananda Saraswathi Maharaj. There were dozens of his disciples in the small hall and it was visibly over crowded. I went in and offered my pranAms. Swamiji just smiled and looked at his Assistant. The assistant rattled a big list of demands that he wanted me to fulfill immediately. I ran to the Sringeri Mutt administrator and explained what the camp was expecting.
He looked at the list and smiled. In a stern voice he said he would do what was possible. He surely won’t be able to meet all that were in the list. “What do I do if the visiting swamiji’s assistant pester me about it?”, I asked with all my anxiety. I was scared what if Swarupananda were to get angry and curse me ? What if he were to convert me into a bumble bee and put me in his kamandalu ?
The administrator gave a big laugh. “ Just give them whatever I am able to provide. As for the rest, just promise them and get busy into something else. If they really need something badly, they will escalate to me and I will see what I can do. Mostly they won’t.”
He was right. They just did not escalate at all. It was a lesson in political management learnt, strangely in a Mutt. Over years I got to learn that such institutions have two parts - Gurukul and Mutt; the former is all spiritualism and the latter deal with politics of things . We deal with jnAni in the former & and administrator in the latter. No wonder Karapatri, Brahmananda , Narayananda and our own SS Narasimha Bharati wanted none of it.
Umesha was like that too; for all his achievements and status as the gnAnan puta of jyeshta Mahasannidhanam, he would stay away from Mutt administration, as far as possible. As his disciples we also chose to do our humble seva for the Mutt but keep a distance.
All of sudden the whole thing was over and the visiting Shankaracharya’s left the town. We were back to our blissful , peaceful, anhikas, discussions, and quiet darshan’s of Acharyas. We walked in tip toe to jyeshta mahasannidhanam’s room. He was there doing pranayama. Umesha beckoned us to sit down without making noise which we did and waited. It was a learning moment for us, watching jyeshta maha sannidhanam performing various types pf pranayama.
Umesha had taught us the importance of Pranayama in the practices of Ashtanga Yoga. He would often quote Hatha Yoga Pradipika
चले वाते चलम् चित्तं निश्चले निश्चलम् भवेत्
योगी स्थाणुत्वम् आप्नोति ततो वायुं निरोधयेत्
वपुः कृशत्वं वदने प्रसन्नता नाद स्पुटत्वं नयने सुनिर्मले
अरोगता बिन्दुजयो अग्निदीपनम् नाडी विशुद्दि योग सिद्धिलक्षणम्
“Respiration being disturbed, the mind becomes disturbed. By restraining respiration, the Yogî gets steadiness of mind”
“When the body becomes lean, the face glows with delight, Anâhatanâda manifests, and eyes are clear, body is healthy, bindu under control, and appetite increases, then one should know that the Nâdîs are purified and success in Hatha Yoga is approaching”
Triggered by this statement, I spent decades researching on why classical Bhakti geethe, particularly Dasa sahitya gives us near samadhi anubhava. After deep analysis and connecting multiple dots it became clear that various ragas simulate various pranayama techniques that causes laya . Laya depends on Nada and so is logically called naada brahma. Again Hatha Yoga Pradipika asserts this
इन्द्रियाणां मनो नाथो मनो नाथस्तु मारुतः | मारुतस्य लयो नाथः स लयो नादं आश्रितः||
“Mind is the master of the senses, and the breath is the master of the mind. The breath in its turn is subordinate to the laya (absorption), and that laya depends on the nâda”
On the physiological level, the Melakarta raga are structured in such a manner, the various notes hit and induce different chakras in the body driving us to meditative experience by merely listening to the sound. This is because while the Raagas simulate various style of Pranayama, devotional component of the song facilitates Dharana concentration and the object of the song helps dhyana. The singer sitting cross legged holding back bone erect is sukhasana. Hence naadopaasna is hatha yoga.
A beautiful dasa pada delivered in deep devotion by Shri Vidyabhushana can explain all this by giving a direct experience of this concept.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDDcyKdsAfM
Sitting there , waiting for jyeshta mahasannidhanm to finish his anushtana did not appear a burden; rather we wished it would prolong for us to note and learn more.
He finished it , turned towards us and smiled. One of our group, Neelu, asked him with his typical humility, “ When I meditate I have a problem of saliva accumulation and have to swallow many times. Acharyal should help me with a solution”. We all fine tuned our ears as we faced similar issues too.
“What habit is this saliva swallowing during meditation?”, Acharya laughed heartily. He became serious next instant and said, “ This is a common problem. There is a technique in buddhist meditation which is based on Hatha yoga”. He turned towards Umesha, “You should help them learn Hatha Yoga”.
Umesha gave his usual benevolent smile.
When we saw Umesha’s benevolent smile, we understood that something life changing was waiting in store for us. Looking back some 40 years, I see this happen time and time again. This perhaps was the secret behind the concept of ‘Darshan’. It is not mere seeing the person; it is more about seeing the percept that the person espouses. The mistake we do is that we don’t see this fact. We rush to a great guru, fall at his feet, take photographs, post it on social media and declare we are blessed. I strongly felt it was not the case.
In fact, I was always almost disrespectfully amused to see some head of families come with big retinue and introduce each and every member of the family to jyeshta mahasannidhanam . Much to my surprise, jyeshta mahasannidhanm would smilingly acknowledge them, bless them and indulge in small talk with them.
Whenever I witnessed this, I would think, ‘What is wrong with these people! Here we have a jnAna Chakravarti who has renounced everything, and these people come with entire clan ! They sing Bhaja govindam with great fervor and yet don’t the see the meaning of what they sing –
yaavadvittopaarjana saktah, staavannija parivaaro raktah
pashchaajjiivati jarjara dehe, vaartaam koapi na prichchhati gehe
yaavatpavano nivasati dehe, taavatprichchhati kushalam gehe
gatavati vaayau dehaapaaye, bhaaryaa bibhyati tasminkaaye
punarapi jananaM punarapi maraNaM, punarapi jananii jaThare shayanam.h
iha saMsaare bahudustaare, kripayaa.apaare paahi muraare
“So long as a man is fit and able to support his family, affection all those around him show. But no one cares to even have a word when his body totters due to old age.
When one is alive, his family members enquire kindly about his welfare. But when the soul departs from the body, even his wife runs away in fear of the corpse.
Born again, dead again, only to be imprisoned in the mother’s womb! It is indeed hard to cross this boundless ocean of samsAra. Oh Murari! Redeem me through Thy mercy “.
It appeared to me that this vairagya enhancing composition was converted to Bhakti Geete by Smt.MS Subbalakshmi. To hear this song being played in all homes in the morning and yet see the family members go on with their life as usual is the best example for cognitive dissonance.
This type of behavior troubled me a lot. Why go to great jnanins and seek worldly boons? I could very well understand the lament of Shri Sacchidananda Shiva Abhinva Nrasimha Bharati:
आगतयास्चैव तत्तत्प्रशमन पटुताम् मन्यमान जनेस्मि
न्याचन्ते किं प्रकुर्याम् वद तुहिनगिरी शानपुत्री दुमौले
“People with all sorts of illness and under the bond of evil spirits seek me out to have them cured. What do I know, oh mother, you advice me”
I continued to be very critical of samsaaris who seek blessings for a successful marriage, a progeny, good job, promotion, a house, wealth.. the list would go on. But no one would seek help in getting away from the tugs of samsara. It looked as if the very purpose of aadya shankara establishing the institution was lost. Honestly I could not find one Advaithi among the hundreds who lined up. Aren’t they better off accepting Dwaitha instead, I wondered. In my immaturity I did not realize the end goal is end and not the current situation; nor did I understand that aspiration is a commitment to struggle and not rub an Aladdin lamp and receive an instant gift.
More importantly, little did I realize all these negative thoughts about samsaaris were only waiting to come back , haunt me and sit on my shoulders like the demon of Vikramaditya. How could I guess that jyeshta mahasannidhanam would deliver a direction that would literally take away the ground on which I was standing?
This is where jyeshta Maha Sannidhanam demonstrated the Bhagvat Gita’s dictum that those who have purified the heart winning over the senses may as well be engaged in all activities but are never involved in them
Yoga Yukto vishuddatma vijitaatma jitendriya
Sarvabhutaatmabhutaatmaa kurvannapi na lipyate (BG 5.7)
He had all the time and patience to speak to address all the members of the family who the devotes bring along. His entire life and conduct was a practical demo of what Krishna assured in Gita 5.25 ,
“ those sages who have banished all blemishes of mind, firm in their convictions, compassionate to all beings, and always immersed in self are sure to be liberated “
Labante brahma nirvana rushayah ksheena kalmasham
China dwaidhah yataatmanah sarva bhuta hita ratah
The time to depart arri
ved and so we reluctantly offered our namaskara and left Sringeri. We all felt we received a joy in the visit that was perhaps million times we get in any marriage function.
Umesha decided that we all would meet in Bangalore so that we could be taught Yoga. After all Acharya had advised him to do it and he would not break one command of Acharya. Who would be the Yoga teacher?
“This is Paappaa Kannan”, he introduced us to one of his disciples from Chennai. “He is a master of Yoga and he will be your teacher”. Paappaa Kannan was a young man in our age group. He told us his real name was Ramasubramanian and he also went by Ram. It seemed to me that next to Vishnu, Paappaa Kanna had the most number of names!
“Hatha Yoga fosters the mind to be stable and when we seek the Truth with vairagya we are rewarded with Turiya anubhava. This state is also called unmanee among other names”, Umesha had told me during one of our conversations.
tatva beejam kshetram audaaseenyam jalam thribhih
unmanee kalpalatika sadhya eva pravartate
"Tatva is seed; idifference is field and hatha is water
these three help the creepr unamanee flourish".
“Hatha Yoga protects a saadhaka from afflictions the way a house protects people from heat or the way a shell protects a tortoise” Umesha had quoted Hatha Yoga Pradipika “ .
aseha Taapa taptaanam smashraya mato hatah
asesha yoga yuktanam aadhara kamto hatah
All these conversations flooded my mind as we stood in front of our Yoga teacher ‘Paappaa Kannan’. He was an affable person and humble like all the disciples of Umesha. He first took us through sitting postures of sukhasana, padmasana, siddhasana ; helped us execute some complex ones Shvanasana, Veerabhadrasana, Bakasana; more difficult ones chakra, bhujanga, dhanur; regaled in laughter as we stumbled in adventurous ones; kapaal bhati made us bray like donkeys. And no trying nauli ! …He Taught us variants of pranayama too.
It was such a fun. I am forever indebted to ‘Paappaa Kannan’ for I continued to build on what he taught and been practicing for forty years. The benefits this gave me have been enormous. At 60+ , I don’t have any health issues nor do I take even vitamin tablets. The only time I was hospitalized was for mandatory colonoscopy in US as you hit 50.
This complimented the dhyana regimen that Umesha taught us and has driven my immune system to be very strong. The Chakra system corresponds to endocrine gland system delivering healthy dose of protective hormones every day. “When you practice the Yoga coupled with dhyana for a few weeks, I will tell you how the sidhhasana can trigger Kundalini to rise. I will also tell you how to create a virtual sticky mat between eyebrows for you to hold the object of meditation for long”, Umesha said when the training concluded.
“ Of course you don’t need it”, he looked at me and smiled.“ Acharya has given you nirguna dhyana as method and so there is nothing to stick”. There were peels of laughter.
But the blue wave materialized nevertheless and spread across my inner vision.
When the Ratha Yatra was over, we all retired to the choultry, while Umesha rushed to Guru Nivasa to perform guru seva before he retires to bed. We were all tired but very charged. The experience was one of its kind and now looking back, very few in the whole world population of billions got that chance.
But the thought of what will happen to us in general,and me in particular, was nagging me in the back of my mind. I would be completing my masters in a few months and what should I do ? We were not in Veda patashala; we were not garelu brahmacari either-as we spent all out time in adhyatma , shunning social events. In fact, with my exception, other members in the group had restrictions on food habits, movie going, books reading, family events. None of us were spending any time thinking of married life, yearning to meet a dream girl. None of us did any nukkad halts waiting to see pretty girls who pass by. Umesha and jyeshta Mahasannidhanam were the only two people in the whole world who occupies our mid.
In short, we were totally ill-prepared for a potential married life, mentally or psychologically.
But, unlike Umesh, we were not accomplished Yogis, and this was leaving us in a lmbo stage. Shri Bharthi Theertharu was very keen to develop us into a Hanuman Brigade of brahmacharis , devoting entire life to adhyatma. But jyeshta mahaa sannidhanam was not totally in support; he felt that given the times, this might put heavy burden on us. He was always compassionate, looking at it not only from our point of view, but also from our parents. He would never do anything against the wishes of parents or that would bring them grief. Parents were walking Gods for him.
My case was more complicated too; with a young widowed mother, coming from a Maadhwa community with historical connect with Rayaru family. How would this work out ? Dr.Subbaramaiyya always used to point out that I should listen to jyeshta mahasannidhanam, not aspire for any mutt brahmachari life.He felt the days of Mutt oriented bidi sanyasis were over; either you are a pitadipati or a gruhasta. Wandering monks are anachronism. With a great sigh , I went to sleep.
With the day break, we all rushed to Tunga River and had a great Anhikam. With the Vedic Chantings reverberating from the patashala yonder, our Gayatri japa and dhyana was terrific. It was time for us to be ADCs for the visiting Shankaracharyas.
So, I went to the quarters of my allocated Swamiji, Shri Swaroopananda Saraswathi Maharaj. There were dozens of his disciples in the small hall and it was visibly over crowded. I went in and offered my pranAms. Swamiji just smiled and looked at his Assistant. The assistant rattled a big list of demands that he wanted me to fulfill immediately. I ran to the Sringeri Mutt administrator and explained what the camp was expecting.
He looked at the list and smiled. In a stern voice he said he would do what was possible. He surely won’t be able to meet all that were in the list. “What do I do if the visiting swamiji’s assistant pester me about it?”, I asked with all my anxiety. I was scared what if Swarupananda were to get angry and curse me ? What if he were to convert me into a bumble bee and put me in his kamandalu ?
The administrator gave a big laugh. “ Just give them whatever I am able to provide. As for the rest, just promise them and get busy into something else. If they really need something badly, they will escalate to me and I will see what I can do. Mostly they won’t.”
He was right. They just did not escalate at all. It was a lesson in political management learnt, strangely in a Mutt. Over years I got to learn that such institutions have two parts - Gurukul and Mutt; the former is all spiritualism and the latter deal with politics of things . We deal with jnAni in the former & and administrator in the latter. No wonder Karapatri, Brahmananda , Narayananda and our own SS Narasimha Bharati wanted none of it.
Umesha was like that too; for all his achievements and status as the gnAnan puta of jyeshta Mahasannidhanam, he would stay away from Mutt administration, as far as possible. As his disciples we also chose to do our humble seva for the Mutt but keep a distance.
All of sudden the whole thing was over and the visiting Shankaracharya’s left the town. We were back to our blissful , peaceful, anhikas, discussions, and quiet darshan’s of Acharyas. We walked in tip toe to jyeshta mahasannidhanam’s room. He was there doing pranayama. Umesha beckoned us to sit down without making noise which we did and waited. It was a learning moment for us, watching jyeshta maha sannidhanam performing various types pf pranayama.
Umesha had taught us the importance of Pranayama in the practices of Ashtanga Yoga. He would often quote Hatha Yoga Pradipika
चले वाते चलम् चित्तं निश्चले निश्चलम् भवेत्
योगी स्थाणुत्वम् आप्नोति ततो वायुं निरोधयेत्
वपुः कृशत्वं वदने प्रसन्नता नाद स्पुटत्वं नयने सुनिर्मले
अरोगता बिन्दुजयो अग्निदीपनम् नाडी विशुद्दि योग सिद्धिलक्षणम्
“Respiration being disturbed, the mind becomes disturbed. By restraining respiration, the Yogî gets steadiness of mind”
“When the body becomes lean, the face glows with delight, Anâhatanâda manifests, and eyes are clear, body is healthy, bindu under control, and appetite increases, then one should know that the Nâdîs are purified and success in Hatha Yoga is approaching”
Triggered by this statement, I spent decades researching on why classical Bhakti geethe, particularly Dasa sahitya gives us near samadhi anubhava. After deep analysis and connecting multiple dots it became clear that various ragas simulate various pranayama techniques that causes laya . Laya depends on Nada and so is logically called naada brahma. Again Hatha Yoga Pradipika asserts this
इन्द्रियाणां मनो नाथो मनो नाथस्तु मारुतः | मारुतस्य लयो नाथः स लयो नादं आश्रितः||
“Mind is the master of the senses, and the breath is the master of the mind. The breath in its turn is subordinate to the laya (absorption), and that laya depends on the nâda”
On the physiological level, the Melakarta raga are structured in such a manner, the various notes hit and induce different chakras in the body driving us to meditative experience by merely listening to the sound. This is because while the Raagas simulate various style of Pranayama, devotional component of the song facilitates Dharana concentration and the object of the song helps dhyana. The singer sitting cross legged holding back bone erect is sukhasana. Hence naadopaasna is hatha yoga.
A beautiful dasa pada delivered in deep devotion by Shri Vidyabhushana can explain all this by giving a direct experience of this concept.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDDcyKdsAfM
Sitting there , waiting for jyeshta mahasannidhanm to finish his anushtana did not appear a burden; rather we wished it would prolong for us to note and learn more.
He finished it , turned towards us and smiled. One of our group, Neelu, asked him with his typical humility, “ When I meditate I have a problem of saliva accumulation and have to swallow many times. Acharyal should help me with a solution”. We all fine tuned our ears as we faced similar issues too.
“What habit is this saliva swallowing during meditation?”, Acharya laughed heartily. He became serious next instant and said, “ This is a common problem. There is a technique in buddhist meditation which is based on Hatha yoga”. He turned towards Umesha, “You should help them learn Hatha Yoga”.
Umesha gave his usual benevolent smile.
When we saw Umesha’s benevolent smile, we understood that something life changing was waiting in store for us. Looking back some 40 years, I see this happen time and time again. This perhaps was the secret behind the concept of ‘Darshan’. It is not mere seeing the person; it is more about seeing the percept that the person espouses. The mistake we do is that we don’t see this fact. We rush to a great guru, fall at his feet, take photographs, post it on social media and declare we are blessed. I strongly felt it was not the case.In fact, I was always almost disrespectfully amused to see some head of families come with big retinue and introduce each and every member of the family to jyeshta mahasannidhanam . Much to my surprise, jyeshta mahasannidhanm would smilingly acknowledge them, bless them and indulge in small talk with them.
Whenever I witnessed this, I would think, ‘What is wrong with these people! Here we have a jnAna Chakravarti who has renounced everything, and these people come with entire clan ! They sing Bhaja govindam with great fervor and yet don’t the see the meaning of what they sing –
yaavadvittopaarjana saktah, staavannija parivaaro raktah
pashchaajjiivati jarjara dehe, vaartaam koapi na prichchhati gehe
yaavatpavano nivasati dehe, taavatprichchhati kushalam gehe
gatavati vaayau dehaapaaye, bhaaryaa bibhyati tasminkaaye
punarapi jananaM punarapi maraNaM, punarapi jananii jaThare shayanam.h
iha saMsaare bahudustaare, kripayaa.apaare paahi muraare
“So long as a man is fit and able to support his family, affection all those around him show. But no one cares to even have a word when his body totters due to old age.
When one is alive, his family members enquire kindly about his welfare. But when the soul departs from the body, even his wife runs away in fear of the corpse.
Born again, dead again, only to be imprisoned in the mother’s womb! It is indeed hard to cross this boundless ocean of samsAra. Oh Murari! Redeem me through Thy mercy “.
It appeared to me that this vairagya enhancing composition was converted to Bhakti Geete by Smt.MS Subbalakshmi. To hear this song being played in all homes in the morning and yet see the family members go on with their life as usual is the best example for cognitive dissonance.This type of behavior troubled me a lot. Why go to great jnanins and seek worldly boons? I could very well understand the lament of Shri Sacchidananda Shiva Abhinva Nrasimha Bharati:
आगतयास्चैव तत्तत्प्रशमन पटुताम् मन्यमान जनेस्मि
न्याचन्ते किं प्रकुर्याम् वद तुहिनगिरी शानपुत्री दुमौले
“People with all sorts of illness and under the bond of evil spirits seek me out to have them cured. What do I know, oh mother, you advice me”
I continued to be very critical of samsaaris who seek blessings for a successful marriage, a progeny, good job, promotion, a house, wealth.. the list would go on. But no one would seek help in getting away from the tugs of samsara. It looked as if the very purpose of aadya shankara establishing the institution was lost. Honestly I could not find one Advaithi among the hundreds who lined up. Aren’t they better off accepting Dwaitha instead, I wondered. In my immaturity I did not realize the end goal is end and not the current situation; nor did I understand that aspiration is a commitment to struggle and not rub an Aladdin lamp and receive an instant gift.
More importantly, little did I realize all these negative thoughts about samsaaris were only waiting to come back , haunt me and sit on my shoulders like the demon of Vikramaditya. How could I guess that jyeshta mahasannidhanam would deliver a direction that would literally take away the ground on which I was standing?
This is where jyeshta Maha Sannidhanam demonstrated the Bhagvat Gita’s dictum that those who have purified the heart winning over the senses may as well be engaged in all activities but are never involved in them
Yoga Yukto vishuddatma vijitaatma jitendriya
Sarvabhutaatmabhutaatmaa kurvannapi na lipyate (BG 5.7)
He had all the time and patience to speak to address all the members of the family who the devotes bring along. His entire life and conduct was a practical demo of what Krishna assured in Gita 5.25 ,
“ those sages who have banished all blemishes of mind, firm in their convictions, compassionate to all beings, and always immersed in self are sure to be liberated “
Labante brahma nirvana rushayah ksheena kalmasham
China dwaidhah yataatmanah sarva bhuta hita ratah
The time to depart arri
ved and so we reluctantly offered our namaskara and left Sringeri. We all felt we received a joy in the visit that was perhaps million times we get in any marriage function.
Umesha decided that we all would meet in Bangalore so that we could be taught Yoga. After all Acharya had advised him to do it and he would not break one command of Acharya. Who would be the Yoga teacher?
“This is Paappaa Kannan”, he introduced us to one of his disciples from Chennai. “He is a master of Yoga and he will be your teacher”. Paappaa Kannan was a young man in our age group. He told us his real name was Ramasubramanian and he also went by Ram. It seemed to me that next to Vishnu, Paappaa Kanna had the most number of names!
“Hatha Yoga fosters the mind to be stable and when we seek the Truth with vairagya we are rewarded with Turiya anubhava. This state is also called unmanee among other names”, Umesha had told me during one of our conversations.
tatva beejam kshetram audaaseenyam jalam thribhih
unmanee kalpalatika sadhya eva pravartate
"Tatva is seed; idifference is field and hatha is water
these three help the creepr unamanee flourish".
“Hatha Yoga protects a saadhaka from afflictions the way a house protects people from heat or the way a shell protects a tortoise” Umesha had quoted Hatha Yoga Pradipika “ .
aseha Taapa taptaanam smashraya mato hatah
asesha yoga yuktanam aadhara kamto hatah
All these conversations flooded my mind as we stood in front of our Yoga teacher ‘Paappaa Kannan’. He was an affable person and humble like all the disciples of Umesha. He first took us through sitting postures of sukhasana, padmasana, siddhasana ; helped us execute some complex ones Shvanasana, Veerabhadrasana, Bakasana; more difficult ones chakra, bhujanga, dhanur; regaled in laughter as we stumbled in adventurous ones; kapaal bhati made us bray like donkeys. And no trying nauli ! …He Taught us variants of pranayama too.
It was such a fun. I am forever indebted to ‘Paappaa Kannan’ for I continued to build on what he taught and been practicing for forty years. The benefits this gave me have been enormous. At 60+ , I don’t have any health issues nor do I take even vitamin tablets. The only time I was hospitalized was for mandatory colonoscopy in US as you hit 50. This complimented the dhyana regimen that Umesha taught us and has driven my immune system to be very strong. The Chakra system corresponds to endocrine gland system delivering healthy dose of protective hormones every day. “When you practice the Yoga coupled with dhyana for a few weeks, I will tell you how the sidhhasana can trigger Kundalini to rise. I will also tell you how to create a virtual sticky mat between eyebrows for you to hold the object of meditation for long”, Umesha said when the training concluded.
“ Of course you don’t need it”, he looked at me and smiled.“ Acharya has given you nirguna dhyana as method and so there is nothing to stick”. There were peels of laughter.
But the blue wave materialized nevertheless and spread across my inner vision.
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