See How Names
find your tongue
faces find light
see as long as we breathe
the world gives us company
a childhood memory
a man
walking in the verandah
lolling in the afternoon sun
or a sofa
in someone’s home
sleeping in the shade
see these lives become a part of you
blink and everything
comes flooding into the mind
like rain
like these dreams in neem
when the sparrows burst forth
and sing away the blue.
- Dominic Alapat
Like this:
Hatha Yoga: A Much Misunderstood Spiritual Discipline
Some people consider a particular form of physical exercise as Hatha Yoga. It is a grave error to consider Hot Yoga, Power Yoga or any of such fads present around the world as belonging to any tradition of Hatha Yoga. They can be gymnastics, aerobics or anaerobics but not yoga. In Hatha Yoga, Asana is meant for Sthairya (steadiness) and Mudra is meant for Dridhata (Sturdiness). A body exercise qualifies as Hatha Yogic exercise only if three conditions are met: the posture should be maintained for a long period of time ; Prana should be regulated during the practice and the mind should focused on certain important points in the body.
Hatha Yoga is not about building a strong and supple body. It is about developing the highest level of control over the body, senses, Prana and mind in order to transcend them at will. Hatha Yoga is vitally important because the Veda declares, “नायमात्मा बलहीनेन लभ्यः”. No spiritual path is for the weak. Brahmcharya and abstinence from sensual pleasures are the non-negotiable pre-requisites of Hatha Yoga. Only self-deluded people can take up these practices to increase their bodily pleasures! Basic practices of Hatha Yoga cure diseases, dispel flab and make the body both strong and supple. If people remain stuck at this level without going beyond, it is their choice. However, such people must know that they are not practising Yoga if they fail to grow spiritually. They are not practising Yoga if their practices do not develop any yearning for the Divine. They are not practising Yoga if all forms of attchments do not leave them one by one over a period of time. The first symptom of correct practice of any Yoga Asana or Pranayama is the unmistakable experience of peace and purity. Such peace and purity becomes our nature with long practice and sustains us in whatever path we take, Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, Mantra, Laya or Raja.
Yoga and Vedanta are two separate systems of Indian thought. Different systems of Indian thought differ from each-other in theory; however, they all consider Yoga as the practical way to realize their stated aims. For Advait Vedanta, Yoga is to dispel ignorance (Avidya) to realize the essential oneness of reality. The ultimate objective of practising Yoga is to unite the soul with the Divine – to make two distinct realities like iron and fire one common entity. A piece of iron and fire appear to be one when in contact; however, the iron manifests its properties the moment it is removed from the fire. Thus the distinction is eternal. Vedanta doesn’t focus much on body, whereas, Yoga uses body as an instrument for its stated end. Therefore, when some people get confused wondering whether it is right to follow the popupar form of Yoga while the likes of Swami Vivekananda emphasized only the spirit. The confusion arises because of equating the two distinct schools of thought: Vedanta and Yoga (as philosophy).
Hatha Yoga is propounded by Bhagavan Shiva himself as Adinath. It is meant for overcoming Tamas by Rajas and then both by Sattwa. Those who would like to persist with Hatha Yoga itsself they can be assured to have found one way to enlightenment. Those who would like to take different practices under the influence of Sattva can take up Raja Yoga and Vedanta. Raman Maharshi, the famous Jnani of Arunachal, used to do Tratak, a prominent Hatha Kriya. This tradition has produced the greatest of Yogis such as Matsendranath, Gorakhnath, Jalandharnath, Baba Balaknath, Bhartrihari (who gave us ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’), Gopichand (of Bengal), Gambhirnath and many modern great names such as Trailang Swami (whom Ramakrishna describes as ‘Sakshat Vishwanath’), Loknath Brahmchari, B. K. S. Iyenger, Swami Shivanada of Rishikesh, Swami Satyanadna of Munger (from Vedantic tradition). This system pertains to the Tantrik School of Yoga.
Hatha Yoga is often glorified in the popular media for what it can do for the body. Nothing can be more misleading! Hatha Yoga emphasizes on Prana (as its name suggests) and not body. Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the classic text of Hatha Yoga declares that Hatha Yoga is like the ladder to climb the heights of Raja Yoga. It has devised various methods that leverage physical body to manipulate Prana. Thus mudra and Pranayama is the most critical part of Hatha Yoga, not Asanas. Asanas are there to awaken the body to make manipulation of Prana easy. This point is time and again emphasized in one of the most important Vedantic scriptures, the Yoga Vashistha, where Vashishtha preaches Rama that it is not necessary for the mind to obey the intellect that Vedanta leverages unless it is highly purified. However, like a falcon tied by rope, mind is bound to be pulled by Prana that ties it like rope. Therefore, even Vedanta has some place for Hatha Yoga.
Sri Ramakrishna himself practiced Hatha Yoga to a very advanced level. Acharya Govindpad taught Adi Shankaracharya Hatha Yoga first and then Raja Yoga and Vedanta. Sri Hanuman is an epitome of the Hatha Yoga. Sant Jnaneshwar of Maharastra was an adept in Hatha Yoga. In the Kriya Yoga tradition also, Hatha Yoga forms the base. Sufism draws heavily from Hatha Yoga. In fact most existing spiritual traditions in India take Hatha Yogic practices as preparatory. Even Bhakti traditions prescribe methods such as Tratak on the Ishta Deva to develop concentration and devotion.
Contrary to the popular misconception, Hatha Yoga doesn’t consider difficult Asanas requiring incredible flexibility as its greatest forms. The greatest Asanas in Hatha Yoga are sitting postures such as Siddhasana and Padmasana. All Hindu deities are shown using these postures. Seekers in all Indian spiritual traditions, whether they are theists or atheists, have adopted these postures. Musical and martial arts traditions also use several of such postures.Stable Asanas are considered as a prerequisite for meditation in Raja Yoga (“Sthiram Sukhamasanam” Paatanjal Yoga Sutra) and Atma Vichar in Vedanta (“Aaseenah Sambhavat”, Brahmsutra). No true follower of Yoga will oppose Hatha Yoga; however, depending on his or her tradition, he or she may continue with it or leave it after a certain stage in Sadhana.
- Kumar Alok
Like this:
Watching
chairs
voices in
oranges of black gloom
there is no room
you can
take
blueskycloud
of blue
only
knows
again
it is not
the same thing.
- Dominic Alapat
Like this:
Darkness and Light Dance
That in itself tells you
what much of the music
is going to be like.
Darkness
weaving through walls.
Fireleaves in trance
browngold mountains
meditating
on the
moonpieces
in the nightsea
flowing.
- Dominic Alapat
Like this:
The World Outside
has turned thinner than smoke
a skyscraper dreams of escape
weary beyond its fading
and a yellow crane has its arms outstretched
like Jesus Christ
beyond this the water flows into the ocean
with no one really thinking of it
O how will we know if our minds don’t open
into the coming moons
what can we say when we are nothing
there are two owls outside someone’s
telephone window
in this dark there are no more invitations.
- Dominic Alapat
Like this:
In Search
of rhythm
the old poems tumble out
of the mind.
Like the black cupboard
in the green wall
I would climb
to sample the darkness
through the shelves
I would crawl
opening boxes
entranced by the silence
and lulled
by the softness there
lie back and dream
I guess I may have wanted
to be one of them
know what it is like
that sweet little red tin box
with the blue bird on its lid
quiet sitting in some cosy tree
in the sun
and the rows of medicines
with their intoxicating smell
taking me half a world away
until I begin to recognise
the bedsheets stacked till
the dark triangular roof
standing full of the softness
of welcome
the world called home
calling out to me this is it
this is it
the real thing
the real universe
like a mother telling
her child
come
come home.
- Dominic Alapat
Like this:
Going By
the look of things
daylight’s lazy
sprawl
its warm embrace
I think I’ll be air
for life
sun lover
carrier of moondreams
starwalks in the gardenrivers
full of flowerbirds
where I am
the butterfly’s escape
between
my own fingers.
- Dominic Alapat
Like this:
The Rush
will string
these beads of thought.
In the day’s shops
you have hair and meat
that people watch, mad.
Long lines of buses wait
in the sun
while the buildings run
out of colour
out of faces
in the streets
where the noise
refuses to budge
from the fire
where it is howling.
- Dominic Alapat
My Soul
“You allow yourself
to be tormented”,
the Holy Mother is pensive,
“Like you” – I bury the
rough sea inside.
It repeats every time,
you
leave me in abyss,
an audience jeers at the drama
and you walk in
from the audience -
to take turns.
I have frozen your credits
to plastic cards
in my wallet,
bulging and red,
one day
I will let them float -
confetti covering
my soul.
- Amitava Nag
The Mind
has grown thin
like smoke
words are water
planting
words
that grow
in the silence
some become poems
some fade away.
-Dominic Alapat
