B.K.S. Iyengar says that if he could have three qualities in a yoga seeker they would be:
- To be on an investigative quest
- To pursue cleansing and purifying aspects of mind body and self
- Alert attentive awareness.
B.K.S. has recently been named president of the Indian Yoga Association, not only that, he is the FIRST president. The organization just came into being and he was even reluctant to be the lead.
The intent of the association is (copied from what I can get in their not so techi-savy website):
To promote and publicize ancient Indian yoga culture and authentic yoga education system through international communication and cooperation with other yoga organizations and institutions all over the world. To advocate yoga academic exchanges and yoga health movement, so as to make a contribution....
As I read the newsletter from Kayvaladhama (where the interview with Iyengar as first president of the IYA comes from), I try to imagine what it must be like to walk on his shoes.
I imagine that after "Light on Yoga" he has really given us his all, he has set out all the foundations of what he learned from the early Krishnamacharya's years plus his life experience of teaching and going within. But the legacy of yoga, he may feel, needs to be "unified" "truthified", especially perhaps with the threat of the west going in all sorts of strange directions (Rollerblade/naked yoga?).
I feel a sincere desire in him to set ego aside, and to truly make an effort to preserve what is vital about yoga, what is integral, what is the essence, what is... Indian? what is... true?
No small task is left for our generation, it is in our hands, the yogis of today, to preserve, define, teach, pass along, the truth.
My guess is that the only truth we can pass along is that which we experience, first hand, after intense seeking of what works, trial and error, investigation. Our Westerner mind is good for this, (not so much on the emotional side as Iyengar puts it in the interview, where apparently we are good only if "things are going smoothly", he is not any easier on the Indians by the way, he calls them intellectually slow).
We have all the resources at hand, we have great masters who led the way up to a point, up to perhaps the formation of a general organization. What will we do with it? Will truth persevere?
It's a difficult path to be a teacher!! I had to correct and Indian man who was taking the pranayama / meditation class at Venki's. I said I'm from New York and he said something about American yoga teachers being rich. I told him, "That's only here. Yoga teachers in the United States often have trouble paying their rent." He looked confused and walked away.
ReplyDelete""Whatever "truth" was, I wanted to find out."" así como lo expresaste suena raro, casi absurdo, pero es lo que sucede con las palabras, no sirven para hablar de eso...
ReplyDeleteno es algo que pueda ser hallado "afuera" (find out)... y ya sé que ya lo sabés.
me pregunto cómo se sentirá un abrazo con toda la energía que vibra en vos.
beso, Señora, mis respetos y hasta siempre.
Yes B, I would say it is a lot of responsibility to be a teacher... yoga is so deep, there is so much to it!
ReplyDeleteDaniel si es verdad, a veces las palabras no son suficientes para explicar cosas profundas como la verdad.
Well written article about our BKS Iyengar.Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dhana :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Claudia:
ReplyDeleteThere is a documentary by the great French director Louis Malle entitled "L'inde fatome" (Phantom India) (1969) in which B.K.S. Iyengar appears almost by accident. Malle catches him teaching at his studio. Iyengar was then a relatively young man and virtually unknown, but his characteristic features make him unmistakable. This film also features a couple of stunning examples of traditional Indian dances.
Netflix has the documentary as a two disc set. It is definitely worth watching.
Dennis