On May 6, 2009, at 8:56 AM, Richard M wrote:
I think Vaj meant the 'angas' in Patanjali's Ashtanga (8 limbs)
Yoga, "With the practice of ALL of these limbs, **or means**,
simultaneously, the state of Yoga grows simultaneously in all the
eight spheres of life, eventually to become permanent." MMY Gita
appendix under Yoga!
Well - may well be so. But my point is that to assert with great
authority that "The Yogic Tradition" asserts such and such of these
thingies is a con (i.e. a claim to some privileged *insight*
into the tradition). After all, if these angas are too arcane a
subject for Wikipedia, it is hardly sensible to imply that there
can be no ambiguity of interpretation hanging over them.
In other words it is an instance, to go by flavour of the day, of a
"thought stopper".
What, when you think about, IS "The Yoga Tradition" (singular)?
Just to be clearer for you Rich, these angas exist in BOTH Hindu and
Buddhist traditions of samadhi, and while the number of angas does
vary, the insistence of their sequential performance in all Hindu
yogic literature is quite notable, so much so that the "mechanics" of
it has been delineated. And thus the yogic saying 'Those who skip the
prerequisites of samadhi (i.e. the angas), even if they meditate for
hundreds of years, will never attain samadhi.'
