My Iyengar Yoga: "Organic Farming Of The Self and Eradicating the Worm Within"

"Yoga does not look on greed, violence, sloth, excess, pride, lust, and fear as ineradicable forms of original sin that exist to wreck our happiness – or indeed on which to found our happiness. They are seen as natural, if unwelcome, manifestations of the human disposition and predicament that are to be solved, not suppressed or denied. Our flawed mechanisms of perception and thought are not a cause for grief (though they bring us grief), but an opportunity to evolve, for an internal evolution of consciousness that will also make possible in a sustainable form our aspirations toward what we call individual success and global progress."

"The whole educative thrust of yoga is to make things go right in our lives. But we all know that an apple that appears perfect on the outside can have been eaten away by an invisible worm on the inside. Yoga is not about appearances. It is about finding and eradicating the worm, so that the whole apple, from skin inward, can be perfect and a healthy one. That is why yoga, and indeed all spiritual philosophies, seems to harp on the negative -- grasping desires, weaknesses, faults, and imbalances. They are trying to catch the worm before it devours and corrupts the whole apple from inside. This is not a struggle between good and evil. It is natural for worms to eat apples. In yoga we simply do not want to be the apple that is rotted from inside. So yoga insists on examining, scientifically and without value judgment, what can go wrong, and why, and how to stop it. It is organic farming of the self -- for the Self."   ---BKS Iyengar, Light on Life

Sutra 11:34  Vitarkah himsadayah Krta Karita anumoditah lobha krodha mona purvaka mrdu madhya adhimatra duhkha ajnana anantaphala iti pratipaksabhavanam  - Uncertain knowledge giving rise to violence, whether done directly or indirectly, or condoned, is caused by greed, anger or delusion in mild, moderate or intense degree.  It results in endless pain and ignorance.  Through introspection comes the end of pain and ignorance.  --BKS Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali

As many Iyengar students know, in the books written by the Iyengars there is usually a section called, HINTS and CAUTIONS.  In Light on Yoga, this section goes on for almost ten pages to cover the hints and cautions needed for pranayama practice alone. Yoga is capable of shedding great light, which is why it can't be taken lightly.

Many people come to yoga for its physical benefits and needless to say there are many. But when as Iyengar says we "let the yoga do the yoga", our consciousness slowly begins to move from the outer most sheath of the body to the inner sheaths.  These sheaths are known as Koshas.  There are five Koshas:

Annamaya Kosha (physical body)
Pranamaya Kosha (energetic body)
Manamaya Kosha (mental body)
Vijnanamays Kosha (wisdom body)
Anandamaya Kosha (bliss body)

The people who leave yoga are those who may have hit an inner sheath and perhaps their own place of caution ---a glimpse of a possible worm inside themselves.  Instead of wanting to dig deeper and potentially clear it from their garden, they run away from it. I know. I have found myself running away on more than one occasion even though I always come back. Recently, I could even say I made myself sick with kidney and bladder issues as one of these lovely worms came to the surface in all its glory.

I know some people don't like Louise Hay and her ideas that we have some control over illness or disease.  However, it's interesting to note in her You Can Heal Your Life book she ascribes kidney problems to a sense of shame, failure, disappointment, and being over-critical and bladder problems to excess anxiety, fear of letting go, being pissed off, and incontinence to emotional overflow and years of controlling the emotions. If you look at the Chinese Five Element Theory: kidney problems (Yin Water Element) indicate excessive fear and anxiety and bladder problems (Yang Water Element) come from excess fear, anxiety, terror, frustration, inadequate courage.

I'm not opposed to Louise Hay and the Chinese Five Element Theory. I have worried myself sick. I figure I come by it honest.  My father is a marathon worrier.  So, I could blame it all on him and say  it's adhidaivika roga - or genetic disease with hereditary origin.  Although, it could also be considered adhyatmika roga - a self inflicted disease.  Iyengar explains in Light on the Sutras of Patanajali in his commentary on sutra 11:34 that disease, pain and distress come in three types 1) overindulgence in pleasure through desire 2) lust 3) pride. He continues saying that these can also come from non-deliberate habits and behaviors rising from imbalances of five elements --- I'm assuming we could probably draw parallels to the Chinese five Element Theory.

There are 20 Sanskrit words in Patanjali's Sutra 11:34. While studying Sutras 11:29-11:46, I'd have to come up against this long Sutra and like any good Southerner I'd turn the page. I'd think to myself, how am I ever going to get this one, it takes almost a half a page to write it. Then, low and behold I get the opportunity to truly understand it through a special "teachable moment".  Thank you Patanjali for yet another fallen oblation.

To clarify Sutra 11:34, Kquvien DeWeese encourages us to look at other interpretations. Mukunda Stiles interpreted the Sutra as "Negative thoughts and emotions are violent, in that they cause injury to yourself and others, regardless of whether they are performed by you, done by others or you permit them to be done. They arise from greed, anger, or delusion regardless of whether they arise from mild, moderate, or excessive emotional intensity.  They result in endless misery and ignorance. Therefore, when you consistently cultivate the opposite thoughts and emotions, the unwholesome tendencies are gradually destroyed."

We hear it all the time, "I think therefore I am." Cogito ergo sum as Rene Descartes put it.  How we think about ourself or others or what we believe have a lot of power and like my meditation teacher, Alice Franklin says, "We like to prove ourselves right". Patanjali's Sutra suggests a remedy:  When you have or experience a negative thought, belief, or emotion cultivate the opposite --cultivate the positive.
That (like every other aspect in the practice of yoga as Nancy Mau mentioned in class Saturday) takes faith, courage, mindfulness, concentration, and true vision:

Sutra 1:20 Sraddha Virya Smriti Smadhi Prajnapurvaka Itaresam.  "The concentration of the true spiritual aspirant is attained through faith, courage, mindfulness, concentration, and true vision." BKS Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali.  

Needless to say, I've still got a lot of work to do, but I'm going to keep at it.

I hope you will, too.

Namaste.