SADHAKA & YOGI

SADHAKA is the CORRECT TERM for those who practice or attempt to practice YOGA-WHICH MAY RESULT IN ONE BECOMING A YOGI or YOGIN, as NOT EVERYONE WHO TRIES OR DOES YOGIC/YOGA PRACTICES OR EXERCISES EMERGES AS A 'YOGI'....let alone a swami or mahatma....contrary to much fantastic popular belief or conceptions.... The modern, contemporary notion that one is a 'yogi' by virtue of mere exercise has been fostered by well-meaning,trendy advocates along economic lines to partially offset the notion(s) that yoga is strictly 'Hindu" or 'religious' which, of course, it may be looked at from those particular perspectives..... YOGA CAN BE, and has, been looked at from THE OCCULT POINT OF VIEW by both those who are 'yogis' and those who are not....and by those who share the concept of RE-GENERATION of MANKIND or 'spiritual transformation(s)' of mankind...as well as mastery of certain things too numerous to detail or list here at the moment but are well known to readers of yoga books, magazines, and viewers of numerous and varied DVDs many of which blend all kinds of things into a special format that really should require more time to learn,study, and practice than most care to undertake, do, or spend, while they go in a variety of ways that are also somewhat, 'non-productive' or expect overnight results despite suggestions, hints, and warnings etc.... I shall place several books that I have found somewhat useful and also important to those who want to investigate THE WAY OF THE YOGI beyond the certified venues now available on nearly every street corner and byway...even in rural America....and also discuss more on all this....

IN THE ABSENCE OF THE GURU PART I

Most people who embrace some style, system, school, or method of YOGA do so under the guidance and direction(s) of someone called "GURU' which is usually translated as 'TEACHER', and so,like those on THE PATH OF THE MONK or THE PATH OF THE FAKIR,tend to rely and obey and follow the GURU. Some do it blindly, others do it well, and still others do it badly-the latter being selfishly and full of pride(ego),coated over with, of course, the best intentions......an excuse for much laziness, no doubt.... Since nearly of us start AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN rather than at the top, the GOAL(AIM)may seem clear at first and most alluring,if not tempting and glamourous,BUT then may become obscured,out-of-sight and out-of-mind, and the PATH treacherous,winding, hazardous, slippery,steep, or too easy...... This MOUNTAIN, which is often called 'FOOL'S MOUNTAIN' for obvious and also esoteric reasons,is only the beginning, an OBSTACLE to what lies 'ABOVE'... The ANALOGY of various PATHS to the top, the summit, the heights,etc. ( sometimes worn smooth by numerous travelers of different religions, sects and systems,etc.)usually wears THIN-because though you may well reach the top,you cannot as a rule remain there and must descend! Having to descend is what nearly all 'Pilgrims' & 'Prophets', 'Neophytes' & 'Chelas' forget or ignore.. One might well ascend as a 'Christian', a 'Buddhist', a 'Hindu' or a 'Daoists' and come down a 'Muslim',a 'Sufi', a 'Zoroastrian' or even an 'atheist'....or any other category you can think of or prefer- The choices of both ASCENDING & DESCENDING PATHS are not always free and easy or ours to take or choose......

थे 'योग वार्स' पार्ट III

The reasons for what I discussed in the last topic, number two, are not hard to find for this phenomena's popularity. It comes frm the fact that the US is no longer a rural, agricultural nation per se nor an industrial giant in the modern world as it was in the past but is on the pathway to the 3rd World, via gambling,increased government bureacracy and employment in some newer agencies,etc, top-heavy with management and supervisory personnel, and a number of paper-shuffling, computer-gazers, and a number of other unproductive or other non-productive positions and careers WHICH DO NOT CREATE NEW WEALTH..... Although these positions and careers still use the 'archaic' language to describe such in terms of the older industrial environment in the US, they really do not apply but refer to expenditures, consumption, and lower levels of such by shifting focus to a GROWING ELITE OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, STARTING WIT CONGRESS AND ENDING UP IN THE WHITE HOUSE(?) as well as the GROWTH OF CORPORATIONS that work hand-in-hand with all ADVOCATES OF SOCIAL CONTROL & SOCIALL COLLECTIVISM that began with COMPULSORY EDUCATION.....of which this discussion will not elaborate further since the topic is about systems of yoga and the frenzy to compete and dominate that systems and schools and various gurus/swamis/etc. all are seemingly attempting to do if this article is accurate in its statements on this...More on the systems involved when I have time to discuss this better...

'थे 'योग वार्स' पार्ट II

At the time of my youth and early adulthood, there weree very few practitioners and 'studios' and other places devoted to yoga and adjunct practices like Tai Chi,QiGong,Thai Massage(and other systems), aroma therapists, psychic consultants,karate/kungfu/martial arts, Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, and other things often labeled as 'New Age',which at that time were listed under 'dubious' practices and charlatanry by mainstream thinkers, medicos(save for a rare few) and academics. Nowadays, in my rambles and drives around Vermont & New Hampshire, in particular as well as a few other places, I find hardly a nook or cranny in the remotest rural areas where some type of 'certified' studio, dojo,and new-age curio shop ahs not penetrated and been erected. Moreover,elaborate spas, retreats, worshops, ashrams, temples,etc.exist-so in one sense, THE MOUNTAIN(omposed of all these esoteric, mystical practices and systems)HAS COME TO MOHAMMED-meaning one does not have to travel to India, The Far East,Egypt or any other exotic land or inaccessible area, to learn, study, practice or embrace any of these abstruse subjects. A casual visit to a bookstore,if you can find one in some places), a library(if they are still in existence at the time of this writing and not shutting down or completely switched to digitalization and electronic storage), a magazine rack in a super market of mall,focusing on the women's mag sections where a lot of this is shelved for sale or go on internet forays to multiple websites on all of these things that have proliferated or to search for such topics of a recondite nature, will often give the FALSE IMPRESSION that these things are a permanent fixture in aFICKLE 'civilizaton' and a changing Culture/Society.

थे योग WARS

An article,written by Emily Wax of the Washington Post, entitled 'YOGA WARS' SPOIL SPIRIT OF ANCIENT INDIAN( read Hindu, my take and word choice)SYSTEMS caught my eye. I will not repeat the gist of the article which gives a very brief outline of things, but enough to give ardent practitioners a whiff of things to come. At one time in the US, when I was growing up and in High School,people tended to think of YOGIS as people who 'STOOD ON THEIR HEADS',a notion made popular by a particular comedy movie(which involved as I recall some wresling), and by varous 'fakirs' &n 'yogis' in circuses, sideshows, carnivals, stage shows,etc. as well as various articles in magazines for the 'lower classes and males'. But I had been delving into yoga, spiritualism, Rosicrucianism,Buddhism, varous religions and philosophies,etc. along with many otehr subjects both mundane as well as occult, so my youthful enthusiasm was not discouraged or dimmed expcet for a few brief episodes of scepticism,cynicism, and 'scientific' doubts about everything.

THE THIRD ROOM OR HOUSE

The room before the FOURTH ROOM OR HOUSE is that of THE WAY OF THE YOGI. Those who enter this room first, without entering or knowing of the other two previous rooms, especially the 'introductory' room, are apt to find themselves confused if not stagnated and 'condemned' to spend everything in this room,unless they achieve what is often called, BLISS, NIRVANA, HAPPINESS, BRAHMAN,SATORI,ETC. and if they do, then they may find themselves or can enter the FOURTH ROOM. But even here entrance into the room is not enough, as the room may well be empty and devoid of what was wanted.