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The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice
by TKV Desikachar
List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $15.96
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Paperback - 272 pages (March 1, 1999)
TKV Desikachar is the authority of the Viniyoga Tradition. Having
studied with his father 30 years the knowledge he brings to the
subject is without parallel. Many aspects found in the covers
of this book are just not found elsewhere in such simplicity and
correlation to our everyday situation.
This book is recommended first to all of my students.
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Religiousness in Yoga
by TKV Desikachar
Our Price: $67.50
Availability: Usually ships within 4-6 weeks.
hardcover - 314 pages (January 1, 1980)
It's great that you can even find a copy of this one. The only
reason we don't recommend this to people is because we thought
it to be too difficult to find. We feel this to be the best resource
on the practices of Krishnamacharya.
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Excerpt from The Heart of Yoga, by TKV Desikachar
If we want to understand hatha, kundalini, and tantra yoga, we
must look closely at a concept that is central to all three, namely,
the concept of kundalini. The fundamental idea, shored by all
types of yoga that talk about kundalini, is that there are certain
channels or nadi in the body through which prana can enter and
leave. There are many nadi, but in the context of kundalini we
need only concern ourselves with the three most important ones:
ida , pingala, and sushumna, all three of which run along the
spine. Sushumna runs straight up the spinal column, whereas ida
and pingala cross over the spinal column and back a number of
times. The ida nadi passes the left nostril and the pingala nadi
passes the right nostril. Both have other names such as ha and
tha, the two syllables that make up the word hatha. Ha represents
ida and the cool energy of the moon (candra); tha represents pingala
and the hot energy of the sun (surya). The nadi meet at the six
points in the body recognized as the cakras. Figure 33 (see book) shows the locations of the cakras along the central axis of the
spine. There is one between the eyebrows, one in the throat, one
in the heart region, one in the navel, one just above the base
of the trunk, and one at the base of the spine.
Ideally, prana flows unhindered along all these passages, but
this can only happen when they are not blocked by impurities and
rubbish. Normally prana cannot reach sushumna but only flows through
the ida (ha) and pingala (tha) nadi, and often insufficiently
at that. When it is possible for the prana to enter the sushumna
nadi, the prana of ha and tha unite (yoga), which is why we call
the process of getting there hatha yoga.
The sushumna or central nadi is regarded as the ideal path for
prana. If prana flows through this central passage, it is concentrated
in the body to such a large degree that its effects can spread
throughout the body in an ideal way. None of it gets lost outside
the body. When I was describing the purpose and effect of pranayama,
I said that the state in which prana leaks out of the body is
one in which avidya prevails. How and where prana flows in the
body, therefore, has direct consequences for our state of mind:
if we cannot keep enough prana in the nadi, if blocks hinder its
flow and it cannot keep flowing in the right direction, it dissipates
outside the body and results in the mind becoming dark and restless.
Conversely, the collection of prana in the body brings about inner
peace and true understanding. The free flow of prana in the sushumna
is not normally possible because something blocks the passage.
This block is symbolized by a coiled snake, the kundalini.
The concept of kundalini is confused by many imprecise definitions,
and even a text such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika contains contradictory
descriptions of it. The definition that follows is derived from
what in my opinion is the best, the clearest, and the most coherent
text on this subject, the Yoga Yajnavalkya. There kundalini is
defined unambiguously as an obstacle. What is to enter the sushumna
at some stage or other through your yoga practice is, according
to this text, not the kundalini itself, but simply prana. Many
books say that it is the kundalini itself that rises up through
the sushumna, but this does not make sense if we follow the Yoga
Yajnavalkya, one of the oldest texts that deals with this aspect
of yoga. One of its central concepts is that prana and the various
forms it takes in the body are linked to the practice of yoga,
and it says that if we are successful in our practice, the kundalini
is burned up, making the way clear for prana.
A snake killed while lying in a curled position unfolds and stretches
out, the muscles no longer able to keep it coiled. It is said
that when the fire in the body, agni, has killed the snake, the
kundalini unrolls and the passage is open to the flow of prana.
This does not happen overnight. Even when parts of the kundalini
are destroyed, it remains capable of blocking sushumna for a long
time.
If you closely consider this image, it becomes clear that kundalini
is another way of depicting what we call avidya. In the same way
that avidya can become so powerful that it totally prevents us
from seeing purusa, kundalini blocks the prana and prevents it
from rising through the sushumna. The moment the kundalini is
burned is the same moment that avidya ceases to exist. Then prana
is able to enter the sushumna and slowly move upward. We can also
understand hatha yoga as part of raja yoga, which is defined as
the process in which prana, the friend of purusa, gradually rises
upward. When it gets to the top, purusa unfolds and the king within
us emerges. When the emphasis is primarily on the concept of kundalini,
then we speak of the practice as kundalini yoga. Hatha yoga is
so named when our practice focuses on removing the division between
ha and tha.
Lastly, the term tantra yoga may be used in describing a yoga
practice based on kundalini. In tantra yoga the emphasis is on
certain energies that are normally squandered being directed in
such a way that they can reduce the blocks that stand in the way
of the prana. The practices of tantra yoga are distinctive; indeed,
the word tantra translates as "technique" in the positive sense,
meaning a skill or craft. In tantra yoga the focus is on the body,
and a wide range of connections and relationships between the
body and other aspects of the world and cosmos is made. |
