Day 4 (Aug 24)

I did not get enough sleep last night. It was too hot (Ivana and I had not figured out how to use the A/C yet), and my thoughts were on the sad news on the hostage tragedy in Manila. When I finally got some sleep, I had two nightmares. By the time I recovered, it was time to shower and so I did.

I'm really enjoying the morning ritual and I love being able to practice with Paul around. Having a small number of people in the class gives us more time with him. I got adjusted in my Supta Kurmasana (very hard to run away when you're a turtle trying to get into a shell, Paul...) and Supta Padangusthasana and I had to redo my roll up to Ubhaya Padangusthasana. :)

My headstand was too short and not quite there but I let it go. I felt very mellow after practice. The lack of sleep begun to set in. I had a rather late lunch by myself after showering, laundry and email and got to talk to 2 more people (Natalie from Perth and Amra from Bosnia). I love that I get to meet so many people from around the world. It's fascinating to connect with people along the journey. At the end of my lunch, I had a cup of organic tribe hill coffee and promptly fell asleep in the lounge, curled by a big triangle. I woke up just in time for Chanting at 2:30.

It was another good class and I can still hear Professor Jayashree's beautiful chanting in my head now as I write this (remembering her eyes full of expression and how we always smile at each other). After we chanted the Gita, Professor Rao gave his lecture on the passages. He teaches with so much passion, like an orator who has perfected commanding the audience.

Meditation (jnana) is bringing the same thing in front of the mind again and again.
The soul (atman) is pure - never tainted. It is the mind/intellect (buddhi) that needs to be cleansed and purified.
What we want is to make the citta completely inactive - not harm, hurt or destroy it. Like a candle flame without wind. We use the mind to make the mind inactive.
In jnana, there is no fear - we find everything in ourselves and ourselves in everything.
Place the mind in your Lord.

After chanting the sutras (we're up to 20 already) with Professor Jayashree, Professor Narasimha shed lght on the practical aspect of yoga. I like his very candid, very practical, humorous approach. He shared the debate between the theories and the applications (where Professor Rao talked about following strictly the steps - yama first then niyama then asana....as prescribed by the Gita). In the practical perspective, ashtanga is defined as limbs and not necessarily steps and so, "as in a table we are trying to drag to ourselves, we pull the leg closest to us."

Though the "Truth in the Gita remains to be the harsh and ultimate truth", he sums it up by saying -

Wherever you are, yoga catches you and puts you in the middle. Back to yourself.