Why I Do Not Train Yoga Teachers and…Yoga? Dangerous?! ~ Ben Ralston

Why I Do Not Train Yoga Teachers and…Yoga? Dangerous?! ~ Ben Ralston.

Yoga is that state where you are missing nothing

Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati

Le 19 Septembre 1993, le Dr Ramamurti Mishra, également connu sous le nom de  Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati a, comme disent les yogis, pris Mahasamadi. Il a quitté son corps de façon tout à fait délibérée, entouré de nombreux disciples dans la chaleur de son ashram à une heure de NYC. Fondé en 1964, Ananda Ashram abrite la Yoga Society of New York.

Je me sens toute petite en écrivant ce billet tant ce saint homme m’impressionne et m’inspire. J’essaie de puiser un peu dans son savoir encyclopédique éblouissant en lisant régulièrement  Fundamentals of Yoga and The Textbook of Yoga Psychology

L’histoire de Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati est fascinante. A l’âge de 6 ans, il meurt suite à une maladie et à la surprise de tous, l’enfant “se lève et parle à son père” à quelques secondes de sa crémation. Dans ses écrits, Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati écrit que ce 6 Mars là, est le jour véritable de sa naissance. Il fera de brillantes études de médecine générale et ayurvédique avant d’émigrer aux USA. Il a exercé en tant qu’ophtalmologue, endocrinologue, psychiatre et neurochirurgien dans un grand hôpital de New-York. Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati  incarne  le pont entre l’Inde et l’Occident. Sa vie et ses écrits témoignent de la synthèse des deux mondes. A la fin de sa vie, il était difficile de comprendre ce qu’il disait suite à un accident vasculaire cérébral, mais l’homme ne cessait de plaisanter et les élèves qui ont eu le privilège de l’entourer les dernières années de sa vie ont une gaieté particulière quand ils parlent de lui.

Manorama D’alvia, sanskritiste de renom qui fut une de ses élèves et proches durant près de 20 ans a réalisé une série de quatre vidéos (d’environ 30 min)  disponibles sur googlevideo. Lorsqu’il parle, Manorama traduit (car elle le comprend). C’est un documentaire précieux … et bouleversant.

The First Night With Guruji 5/2/93 Sri Brahmananda Sarasvati Part 1

The First Night With Guruji 5/2/93 Sri Brahmananda Sarasvati Part 2

The First Night With Guruji 5/2/93 Sri Brahmananda Sarasvati Part 3

The First Night With Guruji 5/2/93 Sri Brahmananda Sarasvati Part 4

The ignorant one believes that God is in some far off place called Heaven. The enlightened one beholds God at the core of his own being. He is in the hearts of all. The seeker of God therefore realizes Him first within himself. ~ Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati

Jai Gurudev!

A case of mistaken identity

A couple of weeks or so ago, Donna de Lory blessed AOMYOGA with her divine presence.We practiced asana and sang together.It was a small, almost intimate class led by David Newbery exploring the theme of “the song of your heart”. Donna is a petite woman and humble yogini whose mighty voice reaches right to your heart. After chanting sanskrit mantras the essence of the sounds remains inside you…their vibes enter your body cells. We started by chanting AHAM PREMA (I am divine) , SO HAM (I am that)….Then we had Donna sometimes practicing asana, sometimes singing while we were practicing, and mOMents we sang altogether … I am short of words to tell you how powerful and uplifting this experience was… There was magic in the air.Pure bhav!

I AM THAT was the main message of Sri Brahmananda Saraswati, founder of Ananda Ashram. http://www.anandaashram.org/peacefulCoexistence.pdf. 

Yoga works and yet I (the fake “I”) am always aumazed that it works…

Well, you well know how much I love Ram Dass… he is a big inspiration. As weird as it might sound, I have often felt the presence of his guru, Sri Neem Baba Karoli(affectionately called Maharaji or babaji). The first time it happened I thought I was dreaming… but I was not. I did not do anything special but it happened, it still does sometimes…. I know the thing might feel too big to grab… . Anyways, I highly recommend Ram Dass’s books, articles and videos, they are invaluable resources. Though I’ve never met him in person and I’ve never been to the holy city of Vrindavan, through Ram Dass and his fellow gurubais‘ work (Krishna Das and Shyamdas, to name a few), seekers are blessed to experience Maharaji’s darshan  (It’s good to know that it happens to other people). As Ram Dass would say: “this is Maharaji’s grace ….”

Anyways, more recently, Vrindavan and the “SO HAM” mantra/meditation were brought back again while watching Suzanne Bryant’s insightful documentary: Yoga Is. Of all the documentaries on yoga, this is probably the film that touched me the most as I could relate to Suzanne Bryant’s experience on a deep level. With his soothing voice, David Life reminded us that: ”(…)we all suffer from a case of mistaken identity, we do even have ID cards to proove who we are and that we were born.Yoga says this is a case of mistaken identity, who we really are is beyond any passeport ID, beyond any driver license, that we are in this temporary costumes and these containers in order to work out our karmas, and that work is inter connected work, it’s interconnected to the Earth and to all beings that we share this planet with” (David Life in Yoga Is).”Ultimately, we cannot do Yoga, Yoga is our true nature”  added Sharon Gannon. Many other contemporary great teachers and yogi(ni)s are featured in Yoga Is. We hope to host a screening in Geneva soon…

It is of first and outmost importance to never lose sight of the big picture, to never confuse the practices and Yoga itself.

Namaste,

Jeanine

PS: check out these two links

1) a very well articulated piece by Ramesh Bjonnes published in Elephant Journal

2)Ram Dass last newsletter:  http://ramdass.org/stretching-our-concept-of-humanity