The Faces on the Shala Wall Part 2

Asana Lineage





The roots of the living tradition of Ashtanga Yoga
http://ashtangayoga.info/ashtanga-yoga/living-yoga-tradition.html

The tradition of Ashtanga Yoga is a living one. It goes back from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Sri Tirumali Krishnamacharya, to Patanjali and Vamana Rishi. At its source you will find Lord Vishnu.

The way Sri K. Pattabhi Jois teaches Ashtanga Yoga today is exactly the way he learned it from his guru Krishnamacharya. Pattabhi Jois met Krishnamacharya in 1927, studied with him for over 25 years and learned Ashtanga Yoga during this time.
(reported from Pattabhi Jois, February 2004)

Pattabhi Jois wrote a small book, called "Yoga Mala" (Mala = garland), about Ashtanga Yoga from 1958 to 1960. It was published in India in 1962, by one of his students, a coffee planter from Coorg. The first English translation was published in 1999 by Eddie Stern, an senior student of Pattabhi Jois, in the United States. It is still available. This book was finished long before the first western student (the Belgian Andre van Lysbeth) came to Pattabhi Jois in 1964. So the book contains a very pure and authentic Ashtaga Yoga.
(Yoga Mala)

If you follow the Ashtanga Yoga tradition one step further back from Pattabhi Jois, you come to Sri Tirumali Krishnamacharya. This great sage and yogi travelled to the Himalayas around 1916 to learn Yoga. There he met his guru Rama Mohan Brahmachari, and spent seven and a half years living with him, learning the Ashtanga Yoga system. In that time he learned (beyond some other scriptures) the "Yoga Karunta" by heart. This ancient manuscript is the basis on which the Asana -, Vinyasa - and Bhanda - System of Ashtanga Yoga is founded. He also learned the Yoga Sutra, which ise the spiritual and philosophical foundation of Ashtanga Yoga.
(reported from Pattabhi Jois, February 2004)

After Krishnamacharya left his guru around 1924, he began searching for the Yoga Karunta. After a great deal of effort he finally tracked down a copy at the Calcutta University library. Unfortunately, soon after he found it, the book got badly damaged by ants and Krishnamarchaya wasn't able to preserve it. So it may be impossible to verify its authenticity. "Karunta" means "groups" and it is said that its text contained the exact groupings of Asana. Everything about Vinyasa, Bhanda, Drishti, Asana and the whole six sequences as they are taught up to now was contained within this manuscript. The "Yoga Karunta" thus forms the foundation of the practical part of Ashtanga Yoga.
(reported from Pattabhi Jois, February 2004)

The "Yoga Karunta" is attributed to the sage Vamana Rishi. He is said to have come to earth when Ashtanga Yoga was forgotten, and a sage was needed to bring it back to mankind. Vamana Rishi incarnated for this task and learned the whole Ashtanga Yoga system from lord Vishnu while in the womb of his mother. After the normal time of pregnancy was over, Vamana was still not finished with his learning. According to legend, he refused to be born until he had finished his studies of Ashtanga Yoga.
(reported from Pattabhi Jois, February 2004)

...The roots of the Vinyasa System of Ashtanga Yoga can be found much earlier. They reach back to the first written documents of mankind - the Vedas.
There are four Vedas: The Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvanaveda. Two contain hints about the Asthanga Vinyasa Yoga practice and to the Vinyasa system.
The first to be written was the Rigveda, which is believed to date back to 8000 BC. Yajurveda came a bit later, but is still a very ancient text. In both you can find explanations of moving and breathing, especially in Suryanamaskara. The physical and spiritual benefits are also detailed.
In Yajurveda there is a mantra called Aruna Mantra, which puts the Vinyasa Count for Suryanamaskara A at nine.
In the Maha Saura Mantra of Rigveda the Vinyasa count of Suryanamskara B is numbered through to seventeen - just as it is now.
(reported from Pattabhi Jois, February 2004)