Also published in French, German, Greek, Italian and Spanish september 2020 #17 |
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Interview with Sri Acharya T K Sribhashyam (n°1) By Aurelia Debenedetti published in 2000 in the Italian magazine Arti Translated from italian by Chiara Ghirond’Oriente Master, Your training was rooted in tradition and aimed at enabling you to transmit the teachings of yoga, of Indian philosophy and of Ayurveda. The authority of Your Master was compounded by the fact that he was also Your Father. Could you give us an insight on how your training was organized? Did it start with asana and pranayama? How did Your Father transmit the teachings of different philosophies? We should not mix together the teaching of yoga, of philosophy and of medicine. I started when I was a child, so teachings were focused on physical postures. Later, I was taught pranayama. My father had the gift of being able to tailor teachings based on the student’s age. He mostly taught us mornings and afternoons, but as we were children, he would also talk to us during daily activities and in the evening. As we grew older, things changed. He used a different approach for philosophy; in order to start its study, I needed to receive religious initiation to the Veda-s, which took place when I turned eight. After initiation, he started to tell me Indian stories, which were useful to grasp philosophical concepts before receiving formal theoretical training. At the same time, he asked me to learn philosophical texts by heart, which is what we call ‘recitation’. This included parts of the Veda-s and Darshana-s. As for Ayurveda, my training started with the observation of the urine, sweat and stools of his patients. He asked me to help him in the preparation of medicinal ingredients and herbs and I also helped him receiving patients in pulse-reading. Medical consultations were completely silent. Only at the end he would give me explanations. He taught me how to observe patients from their arrival, we had to watch their eyes, their voice, their walk even before they entered the house. Once he was convinced of the earnestness of my intentions, he started to teach me the theory from the texts. When I reached 15, in Madras, he started to give me a more academic and rigorous training with regular and frequent tests. When I started university, as soon as I finished with the classes I would continue my philosophical training with him. At two in the afternoon he would teach me the psychological and therapeutic aspects of yoga, while the evenings were reserved for the study of Indian medicine. The sacred texts were studied in the morning, as in the afternoon he would receive his students. Many of the teachings were imparted as I accompanied him to his patients, who were often unable to walk. I would go with him by train, to the restaurant, and every time we were together, on the train, at dinner, at the seaside in the evening, he would teach me – everything gave him an opportunity to teach me something. As my knowledge increased, he would give me practical tasks to complete on the subject I had studied. Every time we had a patient in front of us, he would test me, asking me what I thought the diagnosis was. Teachings continued also during patients’ attendance. In the years 1958-59 he started to have many Western students – he would first instruct me on how to teach Indian students, and then on how to teach Westerners, showing me the variations necessary to introduce them to devotion. What is the difference in attitude between Indian and Western people with respect to yoga? In the ‘60s and ‘70s, Indians would not practice yoga with the same lightheartedness that Westerners have now. They knew that yoga is learnt from a teacher. Yoga was not as popular then, as it is today in the West. Later, when Indians realized that Westerners were very interested in yoga, they also started to be interested. My father always said that Indians would be interested in yoga once this discipline was imported from the West. On one hand, Indians are aware that yoga is an extremely profound discipline, on the other hand they are stimulated to practice it because Westerners do so. In India today, you can find yoga classes everywhere, even in hotels. Once, before the ‘60s, an Indian person approached yoga primarily to get closer to God and spirituality, knowing that yoga could offer much in this respect. Secondarily, yoga was sought for its therapeutic benefits. Nowadays, I would not say that all Indian practitioners approach yoga with this spirit. I know Westerners since the ‘50s. They now know that there is something deep in yoga and they know that this discipline gives deep answers to some fundamental questions they did not even dare ask. The physical postures and the breathing techniques immediately captured the interest of Western people, who are always attracted by anything related to the body and love physical exercise, so it was this aspect that initially fascinated them. Only in a second phase they realized that yoga offers something going beyond the physical aspects. It is also possible that there has been an evolution in Western attitude, it is possible that some people now approach yoga directly for its spiritual aspects. But since I started teaching Western students, I have invariably observed that their real goal is not exclusively physical, even though their initial interest may have been prompted by the physical aspect of yoga, which also includes a component of relaxation. Original version written in Italian To be continued …. |
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THE ESSENCE OF YOGA (n°2) Estelle Lefebvre Translated from French by Brigitte Khan “Today, we no longer know what yoga is. If anyone talks about true yoga, they would be questioned ” Sri T K Sribhashyam
The study of the texts of Indian philosophy reveals the three essential components in our spiritual process.
Postural Yoga keeps the body strong and healthy, but only accounts for 10% of the study. According to Indian tradition, the body is essential for spiritual research. Posture is no longer just an instrument of limbering up or relaxation, but a key to transcending matter, to transmute "energies" so that harmony reigns. Where yoga looks on, the body stretches, unfolds, and strengthens. More deeply, it nourishes the heart of each cell supporting each of our vital functions. The abilities of the body tinge the mind. When the body is strengthened, the mind regains will, perseverance and courage, three qualities essential to approach the mental exercises of yoga. These exercises soothe the mind, reduce its dispersion, calm its hyperactivity, and help to better control the emotions. Ultimately, these regular practices bring distance from what is fleeting and teach us detachment. The silence regains its dimension. Silence is Satya, the Real. We are entering the real world. Psychology, philosophy and devotion share the remaining 90%. “The body is essential, it can however become an obstacle if one is attracted by sensations. In spiritual life, one must know how to put aside bodily sensations.” Sri T K Sribhashyam. To better manage this attraction and our emotional overload, the breathing techniques or Prāṇāyāma and the concentrations or Dhāraṇa help to clear the mind from our experiences, thoughts, feelings, and our emotions. Breathing techniques or Prāṇāyāma help reduce the flow of thoughts. “Breathing is closely linked to our thinking. The slower the breathing, the fewer thoughts there are. Each thought awakens an emotional value. Slow breathing reduces the impact between a thought and its emotional value.” Sri T K Sribhashyam. "First, we sit down, we take a moment to check that the mind is calm. This can take 2 minutes or more depending on the mental load." Sri T K Sribhashyam. "A monk who has his eyes closed is the only one to know what he is thinking. Others think he is meditating " Teaching of Buddha. "It is not the world that comes to us, it is we who go towards it. In a second phase, verify that you are not attracted by the world.” Sri T K Sribhashyam. "In India we never meditate without evoking our ancestors, spiritual masters, and the God." Sri T K Sribhashyam. Dhāraṇa concentration, a teaching specific to the Yogakshemam school, deeply purifies the mind so that it can accommodate your meditation. "Concentration, Dhāraṇa, re-educates our vision so that it goes beyond this dimension in which we are conditioned." Sri T K Sribhashyam. "To complete the meditation, we thank the two lineages" such as a praise of gratitude. Introspection and reflection allow us to better reassess emotional stress. "The texts call for introspection, reflection, application and interior transformation". Sri T K Sribhashyam. A few moments of mental silence then introduce a sutra, a teaching and meditate. Let these teachings live in us. They are Ariadne's thread of infinite knowledge existing in each of us. The study of Indian philosophy teaches us the nature of the world and of human beings to better understand life. It provides the means to change. "To rectify our way of seeing the world, to modify our behavior towards others, without hatred or resentment towards any being ... Our society injects resentment. We can avoid unnecessary grudges.” Sri T K Sribhashyam. Let us give ourselves the means to live these moments. "We can by chance read a chapter of the Bhagavad Gîta and reflect on it." Sri T K Sribhashyam. Sribhashyam asked his students to reflect on the notions of God outside religion, on what is immutable in each of us, the Soul, on peace ... "As long as we are not happy to have a Soul, we are not happy with life ” Indian proverb. "The contentment of our Soul allows us to go through trials". Sri T K Sribhashyam To no longer be led by the tip of the nose, by fear, or anger ..., in each of our actions. To find serenity, unchanging contentment. The path of Yoga opens a path to our childhood dreams to support our search for the unchanging. These dreams bring light in our daily life and constantly inspire us not to forget the immutable. "The truth can change many things in our life" Sri T K Sribhashyam. The doors of truth open when the practitioner explores all the facets of Yoga and makes the effort to apply this art of living at all times. In the morning upon waking, at breakfast, in his relationship with his family, friends, colleagues, in his work, when facing the events of life. Step by step, the essence of Yoga leads us to God. The non-conceptual God, the One perceived by the child facing the landscape, the One who touches our childhood dreams with the tip of a finger. Original version written in French End. |
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Evocation of Sri T.K. Sribhashyam (n° 3)
Translated from French by : Marilyn Koan, and Dominique Amsallem
by Isabelle de Montmollin So this is how we begin to refocus, in order to live closer to our soul and perhaps to God ... but if the terms "soul" and "God" shock, intellectuals having decreed that God is dead and that the soul is only a primitive representation, different terms can be used. What is important is the reality which is revealed and Sribhashyam insisted on this ... To summarize, our immense responsibility is therefore always to rekindle the flame of this incomparable something, in a world which essentially denies the possibility of it, and such is the difficulty with which we are confronted! A long time ago Elie Wiesel wrote: "I see ... A day will come and it scares me. The world will lose its stability and man will lose his reason ... Tell them that no one will be spared that day, not even men like me or you. We will have to search in the deepest part of our being to find the spark." Seek in us the spark: we could not be closer to the heart of the teaching received, and that is a responsibility for us, all the more so since we are not far from the day that Wiesel spoke about. In conclusion, the teaching we received concerns a general attitude towards life that it induces in us, and I would summarize it by the word respect. In the West, when respect was valued, it did not have quite the same meaning which, in my opinion, is part of the tradition that we celebrate today, because it was, above all, a moral teaching: we were taught to respect, and we obeyed. Here, on the contrary, it seems to me to stem from the very essence of the teaching we received, which awakens the soul that we have just spoken about ... When we are open up to the truest part of ourselves, everything is filled with a subtle life and becomes sacred. It is not romanticism or idealism but the overcoming, even fleeting, of the mental limits that restrict space. We are one with the recognition of the fundamental unity of the world in God. So the flower is no longer a simple botanical or decorative object and the tree itself becomes worthy of love and attention. We can no longer be careless. Saint Francis of Assisi knew this well, he "fraternized" with the sun and the moon, and talked with the birds. It seems to me that this is what Sribhashyam transmitted to us, as well as devotion! Sribhashyam, when teaching in the West, even in Yoga circles, encountered and was hurt by this lack of respect. This is why he drew our attention to the fact that the "mat" is not enough. Respect at all levels, whether it is the care we take of our soul and body, or the loving attention we develop for all life, even for objects - this is one of the words that I think best sums up the teaching, as well as the attitude of Sribhashyam, and could not be more opposed to the nihilism of our time. For example, if the ecologist is stirred in many people to respect the various species, it is above all because man knows that he will not survive them. Here everything is different: when we realize that these things that surround us and that we believed could be used indefinitely, are so many expressions of God, respect becomes one of the branches of love ... a delicacy that will exist forever. This respect expresses one of the important effects of devotion in our life, devotion which is the good that, faithful to his ancestors, Sribhashyam transmitted to us. That it shines forth, at the same as devotion, is perhaps an urgent task in a world where the opposite current has turned out to be of unprecedented strength - and threatening. To love, to respect, ultimately means also to take care, sometimes - and perhaps often - in an invisible and very fine way. In one of his last courses Sribhashyam drew our attention to the fact that in a Pranayama such as Nadi Shodana, carried out on the spiritual plane, it is not only a question of taking, but also of giving ... So we receive during inspiration, then we offer what we have received in the expiration ... This is perhaps what we can also do in order to act around us at the subtle level. Dostoevsky said: "beauty will save the world" but he also said that the world was likely to die in a yawn of boredom. In my opinion, this invisible gift that our master asked us to make at a significant time in his teaching, since he felt close to the end, is perhaps also a way of working, at a humble level, for the beauty of which Dostoevsky spoke - which can save the world. This, is probably also our responsibility, as expression of our gratitude … Original version written in French End. |
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