--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "BillyG." <wg...@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Richard M" <compost1uk@> wrote: > > 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)? > > Probably Maharishi Patanjali, considered by some to be the Father of Yoga. >
I think that's like saying "THE Christian tradition is the Bible". That's obviosly true- but there are many alternative "traditions" of interpreting the Bible, as we all know. > MMY defaulted the other limbs to one's own Religion (or didn't you know?), unfortunately for many, if not most, TM has become 'TM in lieu of Religion', a big mistake IMO. > Yes I know you're hot on this Billy. And I sometimes wonder if you may be on to something. However I can't quite see how MMY "defaulted" limb 3, for example (posture/asanas) to religion! Interestingly, my 'Concordance' does not have an entry for angas. MMY seems to say that ANY limb will do (not just dhyana/meditation). All roads lead to Rome, but you don't need to toil on all of them: "A close scrutiny of Patanjali's exposition of Yoga reveals that the actual process of attaining the state of Yoga belongs not only to dhyana, or meditation...but to all the other limbs of his eightfold Yoga....these different limbs have been mistakenly regarded as different steps...whereas in truth each limb is designed to create the state of Yoga in the sphere of life to which it relates" (BG p.486). > "Ritual and the dogmatic aspects of religion are certainly *necessary*, because for the soul to exist so must the body." MMY SOB Religion > > "The rituals of the various religions represent the body, and the practice of directly experiencing Being represents the spirit. *Both* are necessary and should go hand in hand. One will not survive without the other." MMY SOB Religion page 256 >
