Highly unlikely he said.
As one progresses in the path of yoga insights dawn on the practitioners and her or his discriminative knowledge increases. In Sutra 2.27 it says that "seven kinds of ultimate insight come to one who has attained a high level of discrimination".
These are the seven signs:
1) The desire to know is no longer present for this yogi, because she is able to see the true nature of everything
2) The desire to do is no longer there
3) The desire to achieve things, even heaven is no longer present for him
4) The desire to get rid of something, anything, goes away
5) Because of 1-4 the mind is no longer distracted
6) There is no fear whatsoever
7) The yogi is never depressed
See Also:
10 Things to Know About Pratyahara -sense withdrawal-, The Pivotal Moment in Yoga's Path
3 Signs That Kundalini is Awakenig
thanks for this post
ReplyDeleteHi Lila, long time no read! good to hear from you :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm doing pretty damned good except sometimes I get depressed and I do occasional purges.
ReplyDeleteNice post Claudia, had forgotten about this one. Wonder if i'm desiring 1-4 a little less, perhaps. Except number 4 though, that cave looks tempting.
ReplyDeleteDoes "not caring to become a realized yogi as this state" count as "The desire to achieve things, even heaven is no longer present for him"? :p
ReplyDeleteBecause a realized yogi in this state is kind of out of sync with the rest of society. I'm mean I'm sure the yogi will stay happy all the time, but it kind sounds like the realized yogi is on a permanent drug high :)
Boodiba, I hear you, me too... get depressed sometimes... we do live in a hectic time!
ReplyDeleteGrimmly, I know that the cave sounds tempting to you, I had forgotten THAT hee hee, but you know? I also asked Ramaswami why didn't Krishnamacharya just retire to a cave... and he said, that there was no need, he just kept living where he lived all his life and only expanding his practice longer and longer... so even the cage is not necessary, just to focus more on the practice. I know you probably disagree
YYogini, you had me laughing, yes, true, even THAT desire goes, and it does, but then you are completely at peace, completely detached from everything, not sure it would make you out of sync with society, perhaps it would make you act from a more discriminative perspective and with no desire of gain, so maybe it could be very efficient... I doubt the feeling would be one of drug high.. although that could be nice. The way Ramaswami talked it seemed all very VERY down to earth, just boring peace, non affected peace.
Good point.
ReplyDeleteno desire to do? who takes care of the sick, infirm, and children? Who make sure there is food to eat and shelter? These things are not even linked to a functioning society but basic human survival.
I guess theoretically not everyone gets to be a realized yogi, because someone would have to keep those slackers fed too.
hhma, yeah, that is why is highly unlikely, among other things...
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, traditionally being a yogi is just one option - like it says in the Gita, one can choose action over contemplation (i.e. to engage with the world and follow one's own dharma). Withdrawal would come later, after career, kids, etc.
ReplyDeleteAlso amuses me a little that there an awful lot of aggressive super-competitive types doing ashtanga (people who are unlikely to fit into the 'turn on, tune in, drop out' mentality expressed above), and the form of the practice (working through the series, with each new one being an 'achievement') probably doesn't help with this. Then you have the attachment that ashtangis have to their teachers - 'notice me', 'adjust me' - which doesn't seem all that consistent with removing desires. This exists at all levels too - often hear stuff about how Guruji smiled at me, or how Sharath told me that that or the other thing. Then there are the people who have 'my' spot in the practice room - people attached to a piece of floor aren't that likely to drop their attachment to anything else.
A cynic might say that the philosophy doesn't really correspond much to the physical practice.
Anon, I guess there are people like that and people not like that, like with everything, there is all kinds of people :-)... I know cause I used to be just like you describe, but I find that the discipline of the practice little by little chirped away those things, and these days I find myself wanting to balance the practice so that the eight limbs are practiced every day, guess that is why it is called a "path" or a journey...
ReplyDeleteMy view on it is that every student that seems to be in just for the poses is really a seeker at heart, maybe he or she just does not know it yet.... and asana and the desire to thrive is just the door opener...
This is a very interesting topic, I might write more cause there is so much there! I appreciate the inspiration
somehow the desire to not know anythng, to not do anything etc ... well. strikes me as odd. if we no longer pursue knowledhge of anything in life, what good are we to ourselves while we are alive?
ReplyDeleteYoginicory, yes that is a good point, I asked about that, and the answer is that you would already know the nature of all things, that is why you would not want to know, cause you already know...
ReplyDeleteI sooo need to work on that step 5. Love your blog
ReplyDeleteThank you Yogamama... yeah that is a good one to work on!
ReplyDeleteУou talk about good things but at the same time you use my image without permission (=steal it). Yoga teaches to steal images?
ReplyDeleteThe image has been removed Dmitry.
ReplyDelete