In Labanya Palit's book from 1955, we have instruction from yet another of Bishnu Ghosh's students. Much of the information is similar to the other instructors in the tradition, reinforcing our understanding of the goals and practices.
Some practices that Labanya instructs are less common, and it is illuminating to place them in the context of history. One of these peripheral postures is Standing Hand to Toe, pictured above. This posture involves balancing on one leg and holding the toe with the hand. It is a relatively less difficult version of the popular Standing Head to Knee, since Hand to Toe allows the body to be more upright and only one hand needs to reach forward. This makes balance a lot easier. In 1938, Buddha Bose (pictured above, right) instructed the posture with a little twist, holding the foot with the opposite hand. This adds an element of crossing the body, which can make balance more difficult. But it allows a little twist, so it doesn't require as much flexibility in the lifted leg/hamstring. Now, Labanya (pictured above, left) has a version where the toe is held by the hand of the same side. This is similar to the yoga traditions of South India like Krishnamacharya and Iyengar. It doesn't cross the body but requires a little more flexibility in the lifted leg. As mentioned above, either of these positions is useful for anyone who struggles with the full expression of Standing Head to Knee. They require less strength and control, so they are great for beginners and older students.
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History is never done being written. That much is clear as we discover new characters, beliefs and links that were unknown in years past. Our knowledge is always being updated and the story of history is always changing.
It is shocking how much is unknown about our past. Where does our knowledge come from? Where did our teachers learn? When and why did practices begin and evolve? We are passionate about finding the answers to these questions, which is why we have published and made available seven volumes in the past four years. MUSCLE CONTROL by BISHNU CHARAN GHOSH Originally published in 1930 as part of Muscle Control and Barbell Exercise, this is the first book by BC Ghosh. It doesn't deal with yogic values or practices, but its emphasis on muscular development and technique has trickled down through the decades into modern yoga practice. It has been available around the web before as a sort of bootleg, but the Ghosh family recently approved it for sale. Its proceeds go to Ghosh's Yoga College in Kolkata. 84 YOGA ASANAS by BUDDHA BOSE The manuscript of this volume was created in 1938, and a small section of 24 postures was published in 1939 as "Key To the Kingdom of Health Through Yoga, Volume 1." The rest was never published, lost to history through a fascinating series of events including a World War, an estate sale and an art exhibition. It was discovered by Jerome Armstrong in 2015 and published, shining a bright and powerful light into the yoga practices of the 1930s. YOGA CURE by BISHNU CHARAN GHOSH This is the only surviving yoga text we have from BC Ghosh. It is a small pamphlet that he wrote in 1961 in Bengali and English containing 32 postures and instructions. The photos are of his daughter Karuna. The pamphlet was recently discovered by a student (thanks Mukul!) of Ghosh, and the family approved it for sale. Proceeds go to Ghosh's Yoga College in Kolkata. 84 YOGA ASANAS by Dr. GOURI SHANKAR MUKERJI Based on an out-of-print German volume and unpublished Bengali manuscripts, this work from the 1960s illuminates a fully-realized yoga system. Mukerji was a prominent student of Ghosh as well as a medical doctor, so this text includes medical insight as well as yogic understanding. It was published with the blessing of Mukerji's nephew (thanks Rupen!). Proceeds go to Mukerji's school and gym in Kolkata. YOGA PANACEA by Dr. PS DAS This book is the most modern of the yoga texts from this lineage, published in 2004 by Dr. Das, who is still teaching and prescribing in Kolkata. It is difficult to find, even in India. It has been available in the US at times because Das came to teach at Bikram Choudhury's trainings. So some westerners have this book, but we are happy to make it available whenever we can get copies from Kolkata. CALCUTTA YOGA by JEROME ARMSTRONG The first history of this lineage, Calcutta Yoga covers the lives of Bishnu Ghosh, Buddha Bose and Paramhansa Yogananda. It was just published last year (2018), and has recently been picked up for publication in India. A necessary volume for anyone with interest in this lineage or modern yoga history in general. SHARIRAM ADHYAM by LABANYA PALIT This is the latest discovery in the research of this lineage. Written in 1955 by Palit, a knowledgable student of Ghosh (and a woman, finally!), the book is comprehensive with an introduction by BC Ghosh himself. It is written in Bengali, and we are in the process of translating it for publication in English. Very little has been known about the Ghosh lineage in the 50s, so this book will fill an important gap in our knowledge. Every new discovery and project surprises us. Of course we never know what we will stumble upon amid the great stacks of history. We are committed to uncovering the knowledge both inside and outside of this lineage. Greetings from Kolkata! I am nearly done with the first research trip exploring the forgotten women of yoga. It has been incredibly fruitful and already there is so much to piece together. We have discovered a complete work by Labanya Palit from 1955! She was a student of Bishnu Charan Ghosh and we were able to find a copy of her book in the National Library. In the 60 years it has been here, it has never been checked out before! Her time period, from about 1940-1960, has been somewhat of a mystery to us. This book by Labanya Palit fills an important gap in our knowledge and our history.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are known as the fundamental text for the system of yoga. They are brief and dense, only 195 short verses, and they can be difficult to understand by themselves.
The sutras are not really intended to be understood without the explanation of a knowledgable teacher, and there is a long tradition of great teachers writing commentaries and explanations of each individual sutra. "Our understanding of Patanjali's text is completely dependent on the interpretations of later commentaries; it is incomprehensible, in places, in its own terms." (1) The first and best-known commentator to explain the sutras was Vyasa, from around the 4th or 5th century CE. Vyasa's commentary is practically inextricable from the sutras themselves and known as the bhashya, which means "commentary." "It cannot be overstated that Yoga philosophy is Patanjali's philosophy as understood and articulated by Vyasa." (2) It has been about 1600 years since the Yoga Sutras were created. In just the past 100-200 years, the understanding of yoga and the sutras themselves has changed somewhat, mostly due to modernization and recent philosophical developments. But in the prior 1500 years the Yoga Sutras were "remarkably consistent in their interpretations of the essential metaphysics of the system." (3) Modern yoga has gotten far from the values of the Yoga Sutras, which focus on the concentration of the mind and emptying its constructed identities to find its underlying reality. Modern interpretations of the Sutras can be shaded by Vedanta---an old Indian belief system that is separate from the Samkhya system of the Yoga Sutras---new-age philosophies and Western modalities. As yogis, the Yoga Sutras have a lot of insight to offer, and the accompanying commentaries are vital to understanding the sutras themselves. So when you pick up a copy of the sutras, try to find one with a traditional commentary. It will help you understand the intended meaning of this important text. 1. Bryant, Edwin. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, North Point Press, New York, 2009, p.xxxviii. 2. Ibid. p.xl 3. Ibid. p.xxxix So many yoga words are from Sanskrit, an ancient language that is an ancestor to modern-day Hindi and many others. When we use these words as English speakers and translate them into English, we have to convert them into our alphabet, since Sanskrit uses a different one.
We end up having to approximate some of the Sanskrit sounds since we don't necessarily have them in English. Also a system of marks, like accents, lines and dots (called diacritics), has been developed to clarify the sounds of the Sanskrit language. If we don't read these marks correctly, we can end up pronouncing a word wrong. Let's look at two commonly mispronounced yoga words: shavasana and chakra. SHAVASANA Shavasana means Corpse Posture, since the word shava means corpse. The first letter of the word is श, pronounced sha. When it is written in English, the word usually gets a little accent mark over the "s", śavāsana. This is the official, scholarly way to write the word. But as you can see, if you don't read the accent, the word looks like "savasana", with the "s" sounding like "sedan" instead of "sh" like "shirt". So the word is commonly mispronounced as savasana, when the proper pronunciation is shavasana. CHAKRA Chakra means wheel. In the yoga world it often refers to visualizations or energy centers of a "subtle body". The first letter of the word is च, pronounced cha, with the "ch" sound like "chair". It often gets mispronounced as shakra, with an "sh" sound like "shout" or "chandelier". The same is true of the common Sanskrit word chandra, which means "moon". It is commonly mispronounced as shandra, but the correct pronunciation is cha-ndra with the "ch" like chair. Sometimes it is suggested that the pronunciation can vary, like toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe. Or that a different pronunciation suggests a different meaning. That is not the case here, where the mispronunciation happens as a result of translating the Sanskrit sounds into English letters, and then reading them. The sound and spelling of these words in Sanskrit is quite clear. One of the essential---and I mean ESSENTIAL---elements of yoga is humility: searching for and recognizing the true nature of who we are. As such, ego is a fundamental enemy of yoga. This isn't necessarily ego as in: "he or she has a big ego", but rather mistaking our true identity with our body and mind.
So any action or practice that encourages us to think of our body or mind as our true self is going to take us in the wrong direction. The same is true for any entity that we create, a brand, a product, a philosophy or a system of yogic practice. Confusing our accomplishments with the true nature of our being is a mistake and leads us away from contentment. (This is admittedly difficult because we want to build up our egos to create a worldly sense of security and value.) CREATING A YOGA METHOD There is no problem at all with developing or revising a method of yoga. Each culture and time period has its own language and tendencies, so the methods of communication and practice necessarily change, even if the goal is the same. Great teachers are usually ones who can communicate clearly to a population that others have failed to reach. It is of course vital that the goal of yoga---recognition and experience of the true self---remains regardless of the practices to achieve it. So...what should one name a system of yoga? Many name their systems after concepts or terms from yogic history or philosophy, like Ashtanga Vinyasa or Kundalini. These names have the benefit of referring to concepts that are bigger than the originator and any individual teacher, but have the drawback of being misleading, especially if you understand the meaning of the terms. Others name their systems after their teacher. This is a sign of humility and respect while also recognizing the uniqueness and specificity of the teachings. The drawback here is that each teacher will inevitably put his or her own interpretation on the teachings, so they will naturally evolve even when the name suggests that the teachings are from a specific teacher in the past. A good example of this is Sivananda Yoga, which was developed and named by Swami Vishnudevananda, a student of Sivananda. Sivananda's own organization is called the Divine Life Society. (We at Ghosh Yoga fall into this category, teaching a yoga system named after the teacher of our teachers.) Some name their systems after themselves, including Iyengar, Bikram, Forrest and Baptiste. This has the advantage of being quite specific about the practices and beliefs therein, even with the implied statement that "this is yoga as I see and teach it." It is very personal. The main problem with this is not in its clarity about the system, but in its danger to the founder. By naming a system after oneself and then dedicating years to building it up, it is almost inevitable that the name, the character and the ego get built too. This takes one very far indeed from the goals of yogic practice. It seems that history is littered with holy men and yogis who have been disgraced by acts immoral and illegal. In their youth they may have been full of skill, insight, light and promise, but as the years passed they somehow lost their purity and path, becoming attached to fame, riches, power and the adoration of their followers.
We are left to wonder how we missed the signs of evil. Were they there all along, even when they were so young and seemed so pure? Were they hiding their true intentions, duping us into trust and faith? Is their evil misunderstood? Are they the victims of circumstance? In truth, a yogi can be pure, realized and glorious at one point and then become overrun by worldly desires and corruption at another point. The two are not mutually exclusive, and presence of one does not mean that the other never existed or never will exist. The mind of a yogi---or an ordinary person, for that matter---is like a garden. It begins as a wild forest, overrun with natural growth until it is cultivated by disciplined practice and study. If we practice with dedication, we can turn the mind into a beautiful, lush and organized garden. But a garden takes constant attention, tending to the plants that are growing and removing the resurgent weeds that will never stop coming. Even a few weeks of neglect allow the wild weeds of the mind to grow and gain traction. If we neglect our practice and discipline for years or decades, even the finest mind will be overrun just as a garden neglected for years or decades will turn back to wilderness. Regardless of how pure or holy we may be, we are never beyond the need for discipline, practice and study. We must constantly tend our gardens, because the weeds will always grow. Even a great yogi can be overwhelmed by the desires and attachments of the mind. One of the simplest movements in the body is bending forward to touch the toes (not that it is necessarily easy!). This position is often called Padahastasana, which means "Foot Hand Posture", basically putting the hands by the feet. It has been around for nearly as long as any standing, athletic yoga posture, which is to say about 100 years. Its instruction, even within this lineage, has varied slightly. This is an exploration of the evolution of the posture from its earliest known iteration in 1938 to the present day.
BIKRAM CHOUDHURY, 2000 In 2000, Choudhury published a second edition of his 26-posture sequence. The written instructions are the same, but the position in the accompanying photograph is slightly different, especially the position of the fingers, which are now underneath the heels. THINGS WORTH NOTING Buddha Bose and Dr. Gouri Shankar Mukerji instruct the posture almost identically, with the palms on the floor in front of the feet and the forehead or nose against the knees. Interestingly, they suggest two different methods for anyone with difficulty. Bose suggest slightly bending the legs while Mukerji recommends grasping the ankles with the hands to pull the head toward the legs. Ghosh's 1961 instruction to hold the heels and "pull your body" is almost identical to Choudhury's method. These match Mukerji's instruction when there is difficulty putting the palms on the floor, to "grasp both ankles with the hands" and pull the body down more. The photograph in Choudhury 2000, with the fingers underneath the heels, seems to be an innovation designed to gain more leverage to pull the body down. Interestingly, his written instructions did not change at all from the 1978 version. It is as if there are two different postures being instructed here, clearly distinguished by the distance of the upper body from the legs. Bose and Mukerji emphasize placing the head close to the legs, but their bodies have visible distance from the thighs. Ghosh and Choudhury have instructed postures with the torso touching the legs and using the arms to pull the body into the position. The Dattatreyayogashastra, Dattatreya's Discourse on Yoga, is the first known text to explain a system of hathayoga. There are other descriptions of many of its practices in previous texts, but this is the first time when they are given the title hathayoga. Hathayoga is described alongside three other forms of yoga: mantrayoga, layayoga and rajayoga. Dattātreya said: “Yoga has many forms, o brahmin. I shall explain all that to you: the Yoga of Mantras (mantrayoga), the Yoga of Dissolution (layayoga) and the Yoga of Force (hathayoga). The fourth is the Royal Yoga (rājayoga); it is the best of yogas." - verses 8-11 The sections on the other three forms are brief, but Dattatreya writes in depth about the practices of hathayoga, the yoga of force. Not only that, but the text describes two separate forms of hathayoga: "the yoga of eight auxiliaries known by Yājñavalkya and others" (29), and "the doctrine of adepts such as Kapila" (131). THE YOGA OF EIGHT AUXILIARIES Yajnavalkya's yoga of eight auxiliaries is closely related to the well-known eight part system of Patanjali. It begins with Rules (yama) and Restraints (niyama) and proceeds to Posture (asana), Breath-control (pranayama), Fixation (dharana), Meditation (dhyana) and Absorption (samadhi). It is interesting the Dattatreya references Yajnavalkya but not Patanjali. Of the rules (yamas), "a moderate diet is the single most important, not any of the others. Of the restraints, non-violence is the single most important, not any of the others" (33). Posture (asana) is afforded a healthy couple of paragraphs, mentioning the sacred "84 lakh postures" (34) but describing only one: the Lotus Posture. Breath-control gets the most attention with more than 30 verses. The section describes alternate nostril breathing, advising 20 breath retentions in the morning, 20 at midday, 20 in the evening and 20 at midnight. The final three auxiliaries get relatively brief treatment before the text moves on to the second form of hathayoga. THE WAY OF KAPILA Separate from the above methods are the methods of Kapila, also called hathayoga. "Adepts such as Kapila, on the other hand, practised Force [hatha] in a different manner" (29). "The difference is a difference in practice, but the reward is one and the same" (131). Kapila's methods entail several mudras and bandhas, which involve the combination of physical position---"He should stretch out his right foot and hold it firmly with both hands" (133)---with breath-control---"he should hold [his breath] for as long as he can before exhaling" (134). The purpose of these practices is to move the winds and sacred fluids around the body. PRACTICE It is not stated explicitly if the two forms of hathayoga can be practiced together or whether they should be kept separate. Over the ensuing centuries hathayoga became consolidated, combining the practices of the eight auxiliaries with the mudra practices of Kapila. In modern decades, hathayoga has evolved into a non-specific term meaning "the physical practices of yoga". We will leave you with a final thought from Dattatreya: "[If] diligent, everyone, even the young or the old or the diseased, gradually obtains success in yoga through practice...the wise man endowed with faith who is constantly devoted to his practice obtains complete success. Success happens for he who performs the practices - how could it happen for one who does not?" (40-42). - All quotations are from: James Mallinson, Dattatreya's Discourse on Yoga, 2013.
On our recent trip to India we visited Kaivalyadhama, the oldest yoga research facility in the world. It was founded by a yogi named Kuvalayananda, who dedicated his life to the three-fold mission of healing people through yoga, teaching the next generation of teachers and researching the scientific impact of the practices. The Kaivalyadhama campus now covers about 200 acres. It has grown from its humble beginnings as a small room for conducting research. As we walked the grounds, we were struck by a quotation from Kuvalayananda: "I have brought up this institute out of nothing. If it goes to nothing, I do not mind, but Yoga should not be diluted." It is a bold statement that shows clear values. Success---in terms of reach, money acquired or people reached---is not important. He goes so far as to say that he doesn't mind if the whole thing disappears!
What was vital to Kuvalayananda was the integrity of the teachings: "Yoga must not be diluted." It takes a strong vision and a strong will to carry out this mission, because it is far too easy to compromise our goals when survival or popularity enter the picture. This shows the intent of a yogi who's thoughts and actions are not swayed by worldly desires. Money comes and goes. Popularity comes and goes. Happiness comes and goes. Even our lives come and go. But knowledge and truth remain. We must not dilute knowledge for the sake of temporary things, even if our institutes go "to nothing". |
AUTHORSScott & Ida are Yoga Acharyas (Masters of Yoga). They are scholars as well as practitioners of yogic postures, breath control and meditation. They are the head teachers of Ghosh Yoga.
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