Ki te miro, ki te raranga: to thread, to weave
I shall be interspersing te Reo Maori (Maori language) here and there, as so many Maori persons learn and love yoga.
I was writing about Patanjali's Sutras a few years ago, then stopped. Actually I stopped as Covid was happening, and I then blogged about breathing practices to help with immunity. My original intention regarding Patanjali was to make things very simple and user friendly. And I have not written about every sutra.
So what is a sutra? Sutra means thread. And sutras are akin to weaving brief sentences onto a thread. Of knowledge. Like pearls of wisdom making a thread of ancient truths. Patanjali was a great sage of Yoga. He put together sutras defining and explaining the yoga meditation journey. He explained about patterns of consciousness, levels of enlightenment, obstacles along the way, and so much more.
He created an eight step system starting with ethics, and taking us from this through to The Highest of The High.
Is his system the only way to achieve the utmost spirituality? I do not believe so. But it is infallible.
Due to some of the (strange) things that I've seen on social media about the first steps of yoga according to Patanjali, being guidelines which are restraints (yamas) and rules or observances (niyamas), I felt that I would resurrect discussing Patanjali's Sutras, here and there. There is a lack of understanding about them by many aspiring yogis.
Of course there is, for we are all only human. We start our spiritual journey full of hope, desire, wanting to do our best to make the world a better place. We care.
I know that there are also people who profess to be yogis, and yet are not decent people.
These are the ones who loudly proclaim things about truth, and living in your truth, yet are being dishonest and manipulative. And it's often done by misuse of the first steps of yoga, the ethics. I seriously recommend if people are trying to impose ethics upon you, that you avoid them. Words are cheap. (I too have been sucked in at times by those who say "the right things", but aren't actually doing them!!! Voice of experience, here)
Most of us start yoga by going to a yoga class. We learn postures, breathing, relaxation, and sometimes meditation. At the risk of upsetting yoga teachers, most people do not go to classes to have ethics promoted. Seriously, everybody, why do this? Particularly if we have students who have their own Path or religion. People go to a class to experience the effects of well-taught yoga.
The best way to "promote" ethics is by simply doing them oneself. It's not hard and it this that will lead yoga students to want to know more about the philosophy of Yoga.
Good yoga does lead to an increased awareness of oneself and what is happening around us. We (should) quite naturally become aware of when we (and others) are not being good people. Any spiritual path does this. In reality. And yet, so often this doesn't happen. Why? It is because the intent (kaupapa) is incorrect.
I would say that if our kaupapa with yoga, is to be a decent person, then we will automatically employ the yamas and niyamas. This is so easy to do, and makes us feel good about ourself.
Yama: self restraint. Te pupuri i a koe ano
Niyama: fixed observation. Maatakitaki puumau
Please feel free to make any comments. You might not agree with anything that I've written, and that's okay. To question as you proceed along any Path, is a really good thing to do.
post here about Patanjali and the 8 limbs of yoga
the start of his sutras here
post about yamas and niyamas here
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