As the COVID-19 pandemic takes on its toll on nations and its people, the need to go back to the basics of healthy living is our priority these days. Cleanliness takes top priority. Strengthening the immune system, restoring the respiratory system, are other areas that need our attention. This advice came from Agathiyar sometime back. Prior to that, he had expressed his disappointment that very few these days adopt the Siddhar Neri Vazhgai Murai or way of the Siddhas in their daily lives and for a start went on to teach us the proper way to take a bath. We have forgotten the basics I suppose so that the Maha Muni has to come to remind us. Agathiyar spoke about good hygiene and health, giving general tips on hygiene and several techniques in Yoga to adopt too. But we were never forewarned of the danger that lurked around the corner then. We have come to understand the message underlying his advise today as we face the reality that this potentially dangerous virus can wreak havoc on nations and its people, crippling its economies and killing innocents alike. It has brought almost all things to a halt. The one outstanding known fact in the attack of this virus is that it creates difficulty in breathing.
In COVID-19 cases, it is the lungs which come under attack, with patients struggling to get enough oxygen, often deteriorating very quickly as a result. This deterioration "can happen very quickly between the eighth and tenth day of the illness, often in the space of just a few hours," Dr. Albrice Levrat, head of intensive care in the eastern French city of nnecy, explained to Le Point weekly.How is the patient aided then?
In the first instance, the patient is given oxygen through tubes to the nose, progressing to a pressurised full face mask. If that does not work, then medical staff with turn to mechanical ventilation, which requires the patient to be sedated heavily. A tube is then inserted through the trachea to carry oxygen directly into the lungs as a machine effectively takes over the patient's breathing.
Intubation is a major medical procedure which can last for several weeks, requiring an entire medical team to monitor and adjust as required until the patient can breath on their own again unaided. (Source: https://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-intensive-care-involved-184725043.html)
The fear of not being able to breath makes us appreciate the breath even more while we can. The need has arisen for us to take to Yoga in lieu of these dangers. The green light to continue Yoga, selective techniques this time, came through Agathiyar in September of last year. My Yoga practice was halted by Agathiyar, taking into account the extreme pain in my lower back that he explained was a result of subtle energies arising within the chakras, with all the years' practice. Just as all the forms of reading and worship to the Gods came to a halt after Lord Shiva spoke in a dream in 1988, and after a period of hibernation, for some 13 years, I was drawn by mysterious circumstances to make a comeback to it in 2001 that took on a frenzy mode till I was made to observe a cooling down period again.
I started reading books on Yoga and ventured to put into practice the asanas and pranayama, since the eighties. This went on simultaneously with the frantic and feverish worship of the Gods and Goddesses in the Hindy pantheon both at dawn and dusk in my bachelor room followed by daily visits to the temple. My practice then was basically based on the knowledge of Yoga accumulated from self-study, research and lots of reading. But all these were done without a physical guru initiating, pointing the way, tutoring and guiding me. Today we have come to understand the need for a proper initiation into all things be it academic or spiritual. That guru came through the Nadi in 2002. Agathiyar came as the guru, inviting me to the worship of the Siddhas. I took it up. Immediately after the Nadi reading, I was shown the way of worship of the Siddhas by the Nadi Guru who had read the contents of my Nadi. After I took up their worship, Agathiyar came to guide me further in the numerous Nadi readings I had. For a start, he led me on Nadi Suddhi and Dega Suddhi. In 2005 Agathiyar sent Tavayogi to officially initiate me on his mantra and start me literally walking the path of the Siddhas, by taking me on an adventure into the realm of the Siddhas, right here running parallel to ours. In 2008 Tavayogi officially teaches us Asanas and Pranayama that I put into practice diligently. In May of 2008, Patanjali comes in the Nadi to spell out more details on Yoga going into the details and intricacies of taking the right sattvic diet to fully realize the benefits of Yoga. Then Acharya Gurudasan or Master Gowri from Bangalore, who we lovingly address, during his working stint in Malaysia was kind enough to set aside his personal time and space to teach us Kriya Yoga.
Sending great gurus and upagurus and masters along, Agathiyar introduced us to Sariyai, Kriyai, and Yogam. He asks that Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) that observed Sariyai and Kriyai taking worship, rituals, and charity as tools to progress on the path, move to Yogam and Gnanam, giving us a new identity too, Gnanakottam. Agathiyar after taking us by the hand through various stages of external approaches to bring on internal awareness, giving us the tools Sariyai and Kriya, has now brought us to go within and become aware of the subtle that works within. Today he has asked that we begin our adventure going into the self to attain Gnanam the last stage on this path. But the tool to Gnanam is Yogam. Taking on Yogam we shall slowly slip into Gnanam. He asks that we bring seekers now to go within, just as we brought them to carry out the external worship of the Siddhas in the past. Yoga practiced at any age or under any circumstances is said to be transformative in many ways. We understood this since Agathiyar had asked my 82-year-old father-in-law to do the Surya Namaskar asanas recently.
I started reading books on Yoga and ventured to put into practice the asanas and pranayama, since the eighties. This went on simultaneously with the frantic and feverish worship of the Gods and Goddesses in the Hindy pantheon both at dawn and dusk in my bachelor room followed by daily visits to the temple. My practice then was basically based on the knowledge of Yoga accumulated from self-study, research and lots of reading. But all these were done without a physical guru initiating, pointing the way, tutoring and guiding me. Today we have come to understand the need for a proper initiation into all things be it academic or spiritual. That guru came through the Nadi in 2002. Agathiyar came as the guru, inviting me to the worship of the Siddhas. I took it up. Immediately after the Nadi reading, I was shown the way of worship of the Siddhas by the Nadi Guru who had read the contents of my Nadi. After I took up their worship, Agathiyar came to guide me further in the numerous Nadi readings I had. For a start, he led me on Nadi Suddhi and Dega Suddhi. In 2005 Agathiyar sent Tavayogi to officially initiate me on his mantra and start me literally walking the path of the Siddhas, by taking me on an adventure into the realm of the Siddhas, right here running parallel to ours. In 2008 Tavayogi officially teaches us Asanas and Pranayama that I put into practice diligently. In May of 2008, Patanjali comes in the Nadi to spell out more details on Yoga going into the details and intricacies of taking the right sattvic diet to fully realize the benefits of Yoga. Then Acharya Gurudasan or Master Gowri from Bangalore, who we lovingly address, during his working stint in Malaysia was kind enough to set aside his personal time and space to teach us Kriya Yoga.
Sending great gurus and upagurus and masters along, Agathiyar introduced us to Sariyai, Kriyai, and Yogam. He asks that Agathiyar Vanam Malaysia (AVM) that observed Sariyai and Kriyai taking worship, rituals, and charity as tools to progress on the path, move to Yogam and Gnanam, giving us a new identity too, Gnanakottam. Agathiyar after taking us by the hand through various stages of external approaches to bring on internal awareness, giving us the tools Sariyai and Kriya, has now brought us to go within and become aware of the subtle that works within. Today he has asked that we begin our adventure going into the self to attain Gnanam the last stage on this path. But the tool to Gnanam is Yogam. Taking on Yogam we shall slowly slip into Gnanam. He asks that we bring seekers now to go within, just as we brought them to carry out the external worship of the Siddhas in the past. Yoga practiced at any age or under any circumstances is said to be transformative in many ways. We understood this since Agathiyar had asked my 82-year-old father-in-law to do the Surya Namaskar asanas recently.
Patanjali authored the "Yoga Sutras", a comprehensive study of the human psyche, some 2,000 years ago. If Patanjali is the father of Yoga, BKS Iyenger is considered the world's greatest teacher of yoga. Let us watch what he has to say, considering we have quoted him extensively in numerous posts in this blog.
It is interesting to note the timely reminders that we receive or perceive in these times of a much-awaited and needed deliverance from a common enemy, the Coronavirus. Rajesh Sarma posted a comment, an excerpt I suppose from a book by Iyengar, below this video some 7 months ago even before the virus came to be known to all.
Iyengar's home town, Bellur, was in the grip of the influenza pandemic at the time of his birth, and an attack of that disease left the young boy sickly and weak for many years. Throughout his childhood, he struggled with malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and general malnutrition. "My arms were thin, my legs were spindly, and my stomach protruded in an ungainly manner," he wrote. "My head used to hang down, and I had to lift it with great effort." This should help people understand his achievements better.
BKS Iyengar had reversed his fate with sheer determination and effort. Today he stands as a godly and fatherly figure to all who pursue Yoga. Maybe it was Patanjali incarnated as him to come again to teach this science that keeps us alive.
Iyengar says that sage Patanjali listed ways to attain Yoga or union, beginning with the control and mastery of external issues and finally brings one within. The eight aspects or limbs of Yoga of which the first five namely,
Yama - restraints or ethics of behavior
Niyama - observances
Āsana - physical postures
Prāṇāyāma - control of the prana (breath)
Pratyahara - withdrawal of the senses
are known as a forward journey from the body towards the soul, says Iyengar. Then Patanjali takes us on a reverse path, or a return journey now moving inwards, from the body towards the soul, that is termed as the true renunciation, contrary to the common belief and understanding that of renouncing the world, says Iyengar. Knowing the seed of consciousness and having realized it Patanjali shows the way to,
Āsana - physical postures
Prāṇāyāma - control of the prana (breath)
Pratyahara - withdrawal of the senses
are known as a forward journey from the body towards the soul, says Iyengar. Then Patanjali takes us on a reverse path, or a return journey now moving inwards, from the body towards the soul, that is termed as the true renunciation, contrary to the common belief and understanding that of renouncing the world, says Iyengar. Knowing the seed of consciousness and having realized it Patanjali shows the way to,
Dhāraṇa - concentration
Dhyāna - meditation
Samādhi - absorption
Patanjali shows the way to how one can reach the abode of the soul forever so that all the actions he performs in the world, will not reflect any reaction, hence severing the fine thread of birth and rebirth.