Replacing Knowledge with Revelation. Sutras Easing Doubts

"To hear Dr. Jayashree chant the Yoga Sutras in Sanskrit is to be transported to the time when this great text was transmitted in the oral tradition..." - Thus starts an interview by Integral Yoga Magazine.

I relate. I have been studying the sutras with her I-Pod file and find that in the vibration there is an ancient magic, a reverberation that touches some inexplicable chord. I feel a part of the living tradition.

The article deals with a critical issue: Doubt.

How many times do we wonder:  Is this the right path? Will this really take me to liberation? will I be able to uncover the veils that stop me from seeing the diamond I already am?  Jayashree says:

" ...memorization helps in recalling the appropriate sutra in times of doubt—whether you have a doubt about your own experience or you are down because your Ashtanga practice is not progressing well...will help in getting a flash of real meaning and produce the “Aha” experience" 

When discussing what is so unique about using both Sanskrit  and an maintaining an oral tradition, she says:

"...the ancient seers were not satisfied to have a language that was just a means of daily communication... They created an oral tradition wherein a strictly prescribed way of listening and pronouncing ... enabled the transfer from the teacher to the pupil without distortions."

"The Vedic seers were also interested in chanting as the basic means of modifying the spirit, so they perfected the language, namely Sanskrit."

Here is how she separates three levels on how to learn the Yoga Sutras:

The first is the regular practice of Ashtanga Yoga... for a long time...

Level Two involves the memorization of the Yoga Sutras through chanting, whereby a deeper understanding of the blueprint of the journey to reach liberation, or kaivalya, will occur. 

Thirdly, the repeated chanting done religiously, helps in catalyzing the process of evolution, with knowledge being replaced with revelation...

I missed MA Jayashree for a few days on my last trip to Mysore. She was travelling around India teaching during my visit.

However, if you are in Mysore, or if you plan to go, here is the info on how to study and chant with her, or her senior student James, (Under the Chanting title) as well as many other things to do while in Mysore.

Here is the Full Interview.

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