On October 28, RIMYI had a special Divali celebration (Patanjali Jayanti) where Prashantji answered questions raised by students. It was a colourful event with students dressed in bright clothes (saris or otherwise). There was a big photograph of Guruji on one side of the stage and many paid their respects to him. The Patanjali statue in the main hall was bedecked with a beautiful garland.
2 questions stood out for me.
1. I am a stiff person. Why do I have to master all the asanas?
According to Prashant, there is nothing in the yoga texts that you have to master all the asanas. In Light on Yoga, Guruji demonstrated about 200 asanas but there are actually 8.4 million asanas, said Prashant.
Different asanas have different effects and objectives. What are the resources available to you? What are your age, physical condition, and mental make-up? Also, your condition changes from one day to another, from morning to afternoon and from one hour to the next. These factors determine your practice. A 25-yr old practicing is going to be different from a 70-year old practicing. Asanas that the former has access to are different from that of the latter. The zeal will be different.
2. Why did Guruji use a timer when he practiced?
Prashant said Guruji did not use a timer. He used a stopwatch. When he clarified this, there was a sense of surprise in the audience. Why?
When a timer is used, we are looking at endurance…to stay as long as we set the timer (for eg, 5 or 10 minutes in sirsasana).
Guruji used a stopwatch because he wanted to monitor the changes he experienced when he stayed in the asana; at what point did changes happen, and why. Maybe yesterday, a change happened at the 5-minute mark and 2 days ago at the 7-minute mark.
During pranayama week, Prashant talked about change and transformation. There is a difference. Transformation (parinama) is more than a change; it involves an evolution of consciousness.
