Devlok With Devdutt Pattanaik: 3 Read online

  What has been written in the Gita about yoga?

  The Gita is told when a Kshatriya has doubts as he stands in battle against his brothers. As Krishna tries to dispel his doubts, he explains about yoga. He tells him his alignment is not right. ‘Let’s go to the basics since your understanding of the problem is skewed. Examine from where your sorrow is arising.’

  Three yogas have been talked about here—gyan yoga, bhakti yoga and karma yoga. Alignment by using your brain is gyan yoga, by emotion is bhakti yoga and by action is karma yoga—that is, aligning the head, heart and hands.

  What did Patanjali write?

  Patanjali has written the Yoga Sutra which contains short sentences for you to dwell on. The sutras are seeds for your mind’s soil from which a plant will gradually grow and you will get the fruits of knowledge. There is a nice definition of yoga here—yoga chitta vritti nirodha. The mind is seen as a lake which forms ripples when something is thrown in. The aim is to make the waves peaceful. So, broadly, yoga is the silencing of the whirlpools of the mind. Or your mind is like a rope whose many knots have to be untied one by one with patience. The Yoga Sutra is far more technical; the body has been given a lot of importance. It seems to be for ascetics who’ve renounced the world. The Bhagavad Gita is for worldly people.

  There is a story about how Patanjali gains knowledge of yoga. Once, Shesh Naga asks Vishnu to show him Shiva’s tandava that he has often described to him. Vishnu asks him to become a human in return for the favour. Shesh Naga becomes Patanjali and goes to Chidambaram to see Shiva. He is denied entry by Nanda, Shiva’s guard. So Patanjali assumes the form of a snake and enters Shiva’s territory, watches him do yogasanas and writes them down.

  This is a Puranic tale that imagines Patanjali as a snake, perhaps as Karkota (the snake around Shiva’s neck) or Shesh Naga on whom Vishnu rests. Shiva is known as Yogeshwara or Adinath (the source of yoga). The snake is significant because it is associated with the spinal cord which is the seat of the kundalinis—the spinal cord is very important in yoga.

  What exactly is raja yoga?

  Among the different schools of yoga, this is considered to be the best. Just as a king pays attention to all the areas of his kingdom, raja yoga considers all the points of yoga. Normally it is associated with ashtanga yoga and yoga sutra. Ashtanga means eight points which, starting from the bottom of the pyramid, are yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. Basically, it is about travelling from the outer world to the inner world.

  First is yama or discipline in relationships. So speak the truth, don’t be greedy, control your desires and so on. Second is niyama, which is about self-discipline, self-study, maintaining hygiene and cleanliness and being satisfied or content. Third is asana—which includes standing, sitting and lying-down poses like Bhadrasana, Sukhasana (sitting peacefully), Padmasana (lotus posture), etc. This is the external manifestation or what can be seen from the outside. When you see statues in these poses, you know they’re yogis. Fourth is pranayama, which is about the regularity of breath (prana). This is considered very important. Breath joins the body (which can be seen) and mind (which cannot be seen). For instance, when you are angry, your breathing pattern changes. Breath, emotion and mind have a strong correlation, and in our country, prana has been given a lot of value. ‘Prani’ are creatures that breathe. Pranayama has different exercises—breathing in and out, holding breath, kumbhaka, rechaka, etc. Some yoga schools focus only on pranayama.

  From here onwards the psychological world begins; the connection with the outside world breaks. This is pratyahara, which is about controlling your sense organs—eyes, nose, ears, tongue and skin. These are gyan indriya, senses that bring in information from the outside world. Everything that preceded this, including the asanas, focused on karma indriya or the organs of action—hands, legs, mouth, anus and genitals.

  After this we go one step inside. Dharana means gaining awareness and understanding the context and observing the world without trying to control it—just paying attention and having perspective. Then there’s dhyana or focus. Perspective is on a larger canvas while focus is on one small thing. It means you retreat further into yourself.

  Finally there is samadhi, which is a bit complex. It means union, absorption in the Almighty or bhagavan. This is in the spiritual zone, beyond the psychological. It has different meanings. One is, you give up the world, then your body and finally unite with the atma. Buddhists, who don’t believe in atma, call it nirvanaprapti. Your ego, sense of identity or aham gets finished. You don’t exist any more; you merge with the world. This is connected with death as well as there is voluntarily renunciation of the body, like a sage taking samadhi.

  Samadhi can have another interesting meaning from the two words ‘sama’ and ‘adi’. Adi means first. Sama in music is when you come back to the first note. Your starting point is the world—the source of all the disturbance and pain. After you’ve progressed deep into yourself and resolved the conflicts of worldly life within yourself (chitta vritti nirodha), you come back to the beginning and restart from a point of peace.

  Can you tell me the meaning of tantra yoga?

  Today, tantra evokes all kinds of images! In common language, tantra means technology. In India, there were different ‘technologies’ to manage various aspects of life. One was to use the mind to manage the world; the second was to use the body; and the third was to use instruments. These methods were mantra, tantra and yantra, respectively.

  In tantra yoga, the body or the physical aspect is important. Yogis keep the indriya (sense organs) at bay, but in tantra they are used through colour, smell, sound and touch to acquire knowledge of the world and atma. There are five ‘makars’ that are important to the rituals: mantra, mudra (bodily gestures), matsya (fish), mamsa (meat) and madira (alcohol). Everything that excites your indriya is accepted.

  Tantra is associated with yoga as the aim is the same: to achieve knowledge, siddhi, samadhi, to know the world and to seek release from maya. The approach here is very different as it is more physical. There is no dhyana or dharana here. There are many rituals, puja–paath, where gods and goddesses are invoked and so on. It’s a very external approach.

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  Eight Types of Marriage

  Marriage is a big subject in India. Parents are anxious about their children’s marriage and weddings are usually celebrated with a lot of pomp. Why is it such a big deal in India?

  Marriages are important in all cultures. It’s a sanskar, a rite of passage. In India, it perhaps became more important out of the fear that if people didn’t get married, they would become bhikkhus or sanyasis (ascetics). The Buddhist or Shraman parampara is a strong influence; the gurus of both traditions talk about the transience and sorrows of material life and that people should liberate themselves from moha, maya and the like. So when their children get married parents feel relieved as though their duty is done. They feel that their children’s own lives have begun. The second reason could be that parents feared their children would go astray, get ‘corrupted’, and would not become responsible. Marriage in India is associated with maturity and responsibility.

  Why is marriage considered a responsibility?

  In the Puranas, Shiva is called a destroyer. What does it mean? He destroys kama agni or vasana (desire) with his third eye. If all men became ascetics like Shiva and refused to procreate, what will happen to society? It will collapse. To prevent this, marriage is essential. There is a recurring story in the Puranas about a rishi meditating. His ancestors appear in his dream and they’re suspended upside down. They say they are in Pitr-loka (land of the dead) but will descend into Putta—into eternal oblivion—because he hasn’t produced a child. ‘We’ll be stuck and can never be reborn. You’re indebted to us (pitr rin).’ This concept of indebtedness is strongly associated with marriage.

  The other reason is very practical. With marriage, wealth and power are exchanged. The Pandavas do not have anything and are dependen