[Advaita-l] waking, dreaming, sleeping, as mutually supportive

[Kathirasan K]

Namaste,

The acarya referred in my previous post (last para) is Abhinava Vidyatirtha
Swamiji and his account of having practised the bandhas. .

2009/10/15 Kathirasan K <brahmasatyam at gmail.com>

> Namaste Vidyashankarji,
>
> My earlier comment was made having studied, practiced and taught some the
> teachings of Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and also other Hatha Yoga shastras
> (gheranda samhita, shiva samhita, hatharatnavali etc). From the standpoint
> that you come from, obviously any practice can be fused into Advaita
> Vedanta, even if it may be islamic or christian. To me this is the plight of
> modern vedanta where you don't find an uncompromising Shankara anymore.
>
> But I am in complete agreement that Shankara had no issues with Yoga
> Sadhana but it is obvious that he had issues with Yoga Darshana as a
> soteriological system compiled/taught by Patanjali.
>
> I would be very interested to know if Jalandhara, Uddiyana & mula bandhas
> were taught by shankara in his Bhasyas as a valid means to advaita atma
> darshana or citta shuddhi. Or was it that the acarya realised that the
> prasthana traya lacked teachings/practices to bring about mental
> tranquility?
>
> 2009/10/14 Vidyasankar Sundaresan <svidyasankar at hotmail.com>
>
>
>> > Swamiji is an example of a Vedantin who has fused the practices of Hatha
>> > Yoga which is part of the Shaiva Natha Sampradaya into Vedanta. It is
>> very
>> > interesting to note how Vedanta and Tantra have merged in spite of its
>> > teachings being mutually exclusive during the times of Shankara and
>> > Matsyendranatha (the principal teacher of the Hatha Yoga School).
>>
>>
>> This opinion seems to be based altogether on the artificial boundaries
>> created by a section of modern academic scholarship on Indian traditions.
>> Can you tell me where haTha yoga begins and ends, whether it was exclusive
>> to the Saiva Natha Sampradaya and whether it came to influence Advaita
>> Vedanta from some external source at some point of time?
>>
>>
>>
>> Please read the brahmasUtra bhAshya under the sUtras "AsInas sambhavAt"
>>  etc, where Sankara bhagavatpAda concludes that the yoga SAstras teach many
>> Asana-s, beginning with padmAsana, as a means to promote ease of
>> concentration in brahmavicAra. I have had multiple occasions to point out
>> the various references in the sUtrabhAshya, gItAbhAshya and the major
>> upanishad bhAshyas, which exhibit an intimate familiarity with and even
>> approval of yoga practices and traditions. I have also pointed out numerous
>> times that this is not limited to pAtanjala yoga sUtras and the "official"
>> yoga-darSana.
>>
>>
>>
>> I will leave the question of Vedanta and Tantra and their fusion aside for
>> the time being. Here is a parallel point to ponder. Take the taittirIya
>> upanishat reference - sa ya esho'ntar hRdaya AkASaH | tasminn ayaM purusho
>> ... vyapohya SIrshakapAle | ... Please read Sankara bhagavatpAda's
>> commentary on this passage. What kind of upAsana do you think is being
>> described here? What would you imagine are the physical correlates of the
>> description in this source text of vedAnta? Is such upAsana then
>> upanishadic-vedAntic or tAntric/haTha yogic?
>>
>>
>>
>> Suffice it to say that if you think you can identify boundaries based on
>> textual references, you had better read the texts in the original in great
>> depth and not rely on secondary or derivative scholarship. And don't you
>> think someone like Swami Abhinava Vidyatirtha, the Sringeri Sankaracharya,
>> had more knowledge of the various traditions to know what is mutually
>> exclusive and therefore contradictory versus what is acceptable and
>> traditionally part of the life of a genuine vedAntin?
>>
>>
>>
>> Vidyasankar
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Kathirasan
>
>
>


-- 
Kathirasan