Iswarapranidhana - Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami - January 2011

Quite a complex newsletter this month but I came across a speech Ramaswami gave a few days ago at the awards ceremony he mentions at the beginning of the letter. As the topic of the speech is the same as that of the newsletter I thought it could act as a nice introduction.

Grimmly

January 2011 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami—Iswarapranidhana

Wish you a very happy and prosperous New year, a New Decade.

December was India month. LMU had arranged a ten day retreat in New

Delhi the modern capital of India and Rishikesh the holy city along

the Ganga, About ten participants from the USA and six from India

attended the program. We had almost six hours instruction everyday,

three hours of asanas and pranayama and about three hours of Yoga

Sutras and Yoga for Health. I thought the programs went well. What was

remarkable was that despite some real difficulties and challenges,

everyone stayed to the end. I am beholden to all participants for

their interest, support and patience. Thank you Dr Chris Chapple and

Alana Bray of LMU for affording the opportunity.

I spent a couple of days in Hyderabad thanks to the invitation of

Saraswati Vasudevan of Yoga Vahini and Salil Ganeriwal of Shwaas,

both of whom have long experience in the Krishnamaharya tradition.

Saraswathy Vasudevan who has more than 17 years teaching experience in

the Krishnamacharya tradition was the director of a 500 hr Yoga

Therapy certification program. 14 very enthusiastic and knowledgeable

yoga teachers completed the program and I had the pleasant opportunity

to distribute the certificates and speak briefly. The teachers

included Amala Akkaneni, one of my first students. She studied yoga

with me for a few years as a student of Kalakshetra in the mid 1970s.

It was nice to meet her too. Salil gave me an opportunity to speak

about Yoga for Healing (Health) at his beautiful studio Shwaas.

ISWARAPRANIDHANA

Maybe I have written on this topic earlier.

Normally in Sutras, the same term/idea should not be repeated. But in

the yogasutras of Patanjali the term Iswarapranidhana is used three

times. It is acceptable if the term is used with different

connotations in different places/contexts.

According to my Guru, the yogasutra even as it deals with subject of

(Raja)Yoga, caters to the needs of three different groups or levels of

yoga aspirants. The first one the highest or the uttama adhikaris are

the intended group of aspirants in the first chapter called the

samadhi pada. Here Patanjali used the term Iswarapranidhana as an

independent means of achieving the goal of Kaivalya or spiritual

freedom the set goal of yoga. It is the complete quietening of the

mind or chitta vritii nirodha. According to Patanjali it is possible

to achieve this yogic goal by intense devotion to Iswara (pranidhana=

bhakti visesha) as indicated by the term Iswarapranidhana in this

context. By the proper Japa of pranava which would indicate the mystic

syllable or mantra “OM” the highest aspirant (adhikari) who already

has the ability to go into a stage of samadhi (hence dealt with in

Samadhi Pada) will be able to achieve this extraordinary result. An

intense faith and devotion to the eternal unfettered spirit,

Iswara,whose essence is pure consciousness and still endowed with

omniscience would do the trick and nothing else is needed. If however

this devotional fervor is lacking even if the samadhi capacity is

there, the more step by step process of going through stages of

mastering Prakriti (24 aspects ) may be resorted to following the

path of Niriswara Samkhyas who have difficulty in subscribing to a

nimitta karana or an efficient cause for creation..

In the second chapter, Sadhana Pada, Patanjali takes the case of those

who without the yogic skill of Samadhi, but still wish to start to go

along the path of Yoga, the first step in a 1000 mile long yoga

journey. To them, the absolute beginners, he would include

Iswarapranidhana as one of the steps in Kriya yoga . Here

Iswarapranidhana has a different application. It is not the use of

Pranava Japa as the Samadhi Yogi would do but Iswarapujana or worship

of Iswara as per many yogis. Simple to complicated rituals are

available for the interested to remain focused on Iswara for a period

of time every day. This in practical terms is much easier to resort to

following the well established procedures of puja (worship rituals) of

the Lord. This is possible for anyone with faith in God, but lack the

samadhi capability. One may not be able to achieve Samadhi with this

but it will slowly prepare the mind to go along the path of yogic

samadhi. Concurrently it will also reduce the mental pain caused by

several kleshas like avidya etc.

One may ask if Iswarapranidhana or Iswarapujana as it is said in Kriya

yoga can by itself lead to samadhi bhavana or is it part of a whole

practice called Kriya yoga. Another corollary question would be what

if one has difficulty believing in God, could one still take advantage

of kriyayoga? There are references to practices of kriya yoga used

without the Iswarapranidhana component. The great epic Ramayana

describes a sage as one established in austerity and scriptural

studies. The Ramayana opens with the two traits of Kriaya yoga viz.,

tapas and swadhyaya. (tapas swadhyaya nirataam). So we may see that

there are occasions where the first two traits are mentioned

independent of Iswarapranidhana. Of course it would be best to use all

the three parts of kriya yoga.

When a start up yogi belonging to the iswarapranidhana stream

practices iswara pujana assiduously, the mental klesas come down and

she/he will be well on the path of conditioning the mind for samadhi.

Then we have the next yoga stage called ashtanga yoga a more elaborate

and complete yoga sadhana or yoga practice. Herein also is

Iswarapranidhana mentioned and the result of this practice as part of

niyama would be Samadhi itself, which also is the goal of the entire

ashtanga yoga as samadhi is the last anga. Commentators give a

different interpretation of Iswarapranidhana here in ashtanga yoga

than what is found in first chapter and in kriya yoga.. They would

say that it would refer to doing one's prescribed duties diligently as

God's work and surrendering oneself to the Lord and also the fruits of

all actions. This intermediate stage yogi or madhyama adhikari the

one not having the skill of going into samadhi but is totally

committed to yoga as a life long pursuit. For her/him Patanjali

suggests the classical ashtanga yoga. Here as per my Guru and several

commentators it would mean total surrender to the Lord or Saranagati

or prapatti. One may say that the prescribed duties would also imply

practicing the stipulated duties in ashtanga yoga and doing them as

God's work with a complete sense of surrender to the Lord. This “karma

Yoga” in which the results of the practices do not cloud the yogi's

mind is “karma phala tyaga”. This devotional path will lead to Samadhi

the necessary skill to take the last lap in the yoga journey.

My teacher being a devout Bhakti Yogi stressed the importance of the

Iswarapranidhana stream in the Yoga Sutras. The Yogis who have an

intense devotional fervor could do well to follow the devotional path.

For most yogis a judicious combination of samkhya yoga and bhakti yoga

would be helpful as is the direction of the sutras. But it is also

necessary to point out that Iswarapranidhana even though it is

mentioned just three times in the whole text forms an independent and

complete system of Yoga in the Yoga sutras. For the start up Yogi it

prepares the mind for samadhi and also simultaneously reduces the

mental klesas. At the intermediate level it leads to dawn of Samadhi a

necessary tool for both Siddhis and Kaivalya and a reduction in

impurities of the mind, the Rajas and Tamas.. At the highest level

Isawarapranidhana leads to understanding the true nature of oneself

(pratyak cetana)and also the removal of all spiritual obstacles

(antaraya).

Many other acharyas also have taken the efforts to stress the

importance of both the streams. Adi Sankara the advocate of Advaita

or nondualism, wrote great works not only on the intellectually

challenging subjects as advaita like the Brahma Sutra Bhashya,

Vivekachudaani etc., but also wrote such wonderful devotional works as

Bhaja Govindam, Soundarya Lahari and several others. Sri Sankara apart

from being the most revered exponent of Advaita also came to be known

as one who established the six methods of orthodox worship of the

divine in India (shan-mata-sthapana-acahrya), The six methods are

worship of Ganesa (Ganapatya), Kumara (Kaumara), of Mother Sakti

(Saakta), of Siva (Saiva), of Vishnu (Vaishnava) and of the Sun

(Saura). He wrote numerous works of poetry on all these deities.

Patanjali, Adi Sankara, my own Guru Sri Krishnamacharya and several

orthodox teachers of yesteryear were at considerable ease with both

the paths of wisdom and of devotion.

Again, I wish you a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

It is two years since I started sending these Newsletters and thank

you all for the kind support.

The earlier newsletters and articles may be accessed by going to my

website www.vinyasakrama.com and then clicking on the Newsletter tab or click HERE.

For reply or comments please send to info@vinyasakrama.com

With best wishes

Sincerely

Srivatsa Ramaswami