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A Practitioner Of Yoga

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ŚU 1.15: Like oil in sesame seeds and butter in curds, like water in the river- bed and fire in the fire-drills, so, when one seeks it with truth and austerity, one grasps the self (ātman) in the body (ātman) - that all- pervading self, which is contained [in the body], like butter in milk. ŚU 1.16: That is brahman, the highest objects of the teachings on hidden connections (Upaniṣad), an object rooted in austerity and the knowledge of self. BhG 5.28: The sage whose highest path is release, whose sense, mind and insight are controlled, whose anger, fear and longing have …show more content…

BhG 6.13: One is firm, unmoving, holding in the balance the head, the neck And body, looking at the tip of the nose, not looking in any other direction. YS 2.46: Posture should be steady and comfortable. Both, the ŚU and BhG are very specific that the head, neck and trunk should be aligned. In contrast, YS is more general in the correct meditating posture description. One reason, as I proposed previously, for that could be that it was accustomed that the guru is present to demonstrate and teach the student the physical postures, or as Bryant suggests: ‘One could also suppose that other extant texts concerned themselves with the specifics of asana [posture].’ While numerous modern yoga traditions, especially in the West, accentuate the attainment of the physical posture as the highest aim of yoga, the old texts treat the physical posture as only a preparation to the body (physically and energetically) to serve the long meditation practice. As Bryant

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