Читать книгу Ashtanga Yoga - The Intermediate Series - Gregor Maehle - Страница 40

In this chapter I explain the importance of studying the mythological tradition that underlies all yogic practice.¹ In the course of this discussion, I show how the study of myth can change the way you practice yoga and live your life. I also explain how, through myth and divine forms, you can create your own private hotline to and from the Supreme Being.

In chapter 1, I explained that for the majority of modern people, Karma/Ashtanga Yoga — the yoga of techniques and actions — is the most promising method to pursue. I also showed that those who practice this yoga face the danger of getting completely absorbed in techniques such as practicing asana, forgetting that the underlying purpose of all yoga is either to obtain self-knowledge (Jnana) or to realize yourself as a child of God (Bhakti) — which ultimately become the same thing once the mind is transcended in the state of infinite consciousness.

The best way to keep one’s practice whole, to avoid the pitfalls of obsession with technique and neglect of the ultimate purpose of yoga, is to connect deeply with the spiritual roots of yoga. The modern Ashtanga Yogi has two pathways available by which he or she may integrate the ancient spiritual roots of yoga into his or her practice. Path 1 — studying Indian philosophy — will connect you with your Jnanic roots. Path 2 — studying Indian myth — will connect you with your Bhaktic roots. Although these are different paths, they share the same origin and destination. For this reason, it is also possible for the Karma yogi to follow both paths simultaneously, creating an approach with three prongs — Karma, Bhakti, and Jnana Yoga — like the trident of the Lord Shiva.

What is the right path for you? That depends on your pranic constitution. The study of philosophy is the tool of choice if you have an academic and intellectual inclination, which is usually the case if your subtle body has a preponderance of prana flowing in the solar nadi. Philosophy often consists of causal chains in which arguments and positions are strung on a logical thread, as flowers are strung together to form malas in India. Practitioners grasp it slowly by means of rational understanding. Mythology, in contrast, is for those more intuitively endowed, those who have a preponderance of prana flowing in the lunar nadi. Myth expresses complex, multilateral connections. Often multiple paradoxes are encrypted in myth; the listener or reader grasps them spontaneously by means of intuition.

My first book, Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy, discusses in detail the subject of Indian philosophy as well as the ancient branch of Indian psychology. Readers who have a solar, or rational, constitution may refer to that work. The present chapter, which focuses on Indian myth, is for those readers who have a lunar, intuitive constitution, those who want at least an introduction to the fascinating world of Indian mythology, and those who want to benefit from the fact that reading myth helps develop the intuitive, right side of the brain, which allows you to spontaneously understand connections.

As philosophy was compiled in terse texts called sutras, mythology was collected in extensive tales called Puranas. Purana means “ancient.” Today, eighteen main Puranas, called Maha Puranas, and eighteen ancillary Puranas, called Upa Puranas, exist. Since there was no tradition established to preserve their accuracy, as was the case with the Vedas, the Upanishads, and many of the sutras, much material was added to the Puranas over time. Although their cores are ancient, the Puranas are interspersed with modern, occasionally dubious material. For this reason, they need to be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, they constitute a rich encyclopedia of the myths of India.