Samadhi?

So I started reading the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. If you are not familiar with it, it is a text written by the Indian yogi Svatmarama in the fifteenth century C.E. The text describes specific asana, pranayama, cleansing practices (such as swallowing a long piece of cloth and pulling it back up, threading string through your nose till it comes out your mouth, and I wont even describe the self enema), dietary suggestions and various concentration techniques on attaining Samadhi.

It is a short text, packs a powerful punch and makes you realize true bliss is a long and not so pleasant process. Not to mention messy and requires you to live in a hut. Which is why most American westerners don’t attempt the process. And then there is the question of “what happens after you reach Samadhi”? Do you sit motionless in a cave the rest of your 500 years? Not very practical to the very practical western way of life. So instead of attaining true enlightenment we work out. We move our bodies with asana, breath a lot and move lots of energy around. Guess what? That is Tantric yoga, very powerful, fun to do and makes us feel really good. It can be said, and some famous yogi teachers do say (other than me) that all styles of yoga practiced in the modern world are really Tantric, because we move lots of energy around and end up feeling really good. I like this idea because feeling good translates into positive thoughts and doing good things, and doing good things makes our world a better place. Besides, it’s not so messy.   

Comments

[sfauthor]

Nice posting. Do you know about these yoga books?

http://www.YogaVidya.com/ss.html