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Summary of the Yoga Sutras.... in plain English. Update : The Siddhar's


Siddhar text Many of the oldest Siddhar texts are palm leaf manuscripts and not all of them are translated in English. - The earliest extant palm leaf manuscrips go back to the 4th century. See more at: http://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-religions/incredible-powers-ancient-siddhars-001447#sthash.4XiYBlEH.dpuf


Notes to Self

Summary of the Yoga Sutras.... in plain English.



I was trying to find my previous summary of the Yoga Sutras ( in plain English) to add to today's post but struggled to hunt it down. Here's the link to the original post.

Sunday, 14 December 2014
Has yoga evolved, really and is yoga  'Indian'?



1.    Reflect on and seek to practice the moral code of your culture.

2.    Work on your self discipline.

3.    Do some exercise of a non competitive nature to improve your health and flexibility if necessary (you might have a physical outdoorsy job for example).

4.    Calm your breathing (unless you have a stress free outdoorsy job).

5.   Turn inwards.

6.   Focus your attention on something worthy.

7.   Contemplate it, then contemplate what is contemplating what.

8.   See what happens next.



Of course if you don't have the luxury of time to practice much of that and are having to work every minute, falling into bed at the end of the day exhausted, then carrying the divine around with you throughout your day may do the job just as well.

But please if you know of a culture that's been around for any length of time that doesn't have a moral code and that's not a million miles away from the yama/niyamas or has no tradition of contemplation in it's history then please, let me know.


Note

Link to an early look at my Yoga sutra commentary of choice


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Update : The Siddhar's

While looking for a suitable palm leaf manuscript to go with this post i found this post on the Siddhar's, the old Tamil Saints.

"There is a debate as to who was the first Siddhar. Some legends talk about Sri Pathanjali, who was considered to be an incarnation of Adiseshan, the celestial five-headed snake associated with God Vishnu".

Ramaswami talked often about Tirumular, supposedly a favourite of Krishnamacharya's.



"The Incredible Powers of the Ancient Siddhars from HERE
Siddhars are a type of saint in India who are said to have had many powers and achieved a ‘god-like’ state through specific secret practices that were known only to them. These powers spanned from controlling time and space, to transforming the body, manipulating matter at the molecular level and achieving immortality.

The Siddhars were followers of the God Shiva and according to different texts there were 18 of them. Their teachings and findings were written in the form of poems in the Tamil language, a language spoken mainly by people in South India and parts of Sri Lanka. The poems were very difficult to interpret and were written in an encoded way so that only a few could understand them.

There is a debate as to who was the first Siddhar. Some legends talk about Sri Pathanjali, who was considered to be an incarnation of Adiseshan, the celestial five-headed snake associated with God Vishnu. But the prevailing tradition refers to Agasthya (or Agasthyar) as the first Siddhar, one of the seven sages (or Saptarshis) as mentioned in the Vedic texts, and he was the son of the god Brahma of the Hindu creation story. Agathiyar is considered to be the author of a lot of the first Siddhar literature and he was supposed to have lived in the 7th century BC. About 96 books are attributed to him and that includes writings in alchemy, medicine and spirituality. Apart from the legends that exist, the beginnings of the Siddhars’ are lost in time.

The powers that the Siddhars possessed were separated in categories. The main category included 8 powers called ashta siddhis:

1. To become tiny as the atom within the atom (Anima)
2. To become big in unshakeable proportions (Mahima)
3. To become as light as vapour in levitation (Laghima)
4. To become as heavy as the mountain (Garima)
5. To enter into other bodies in transmigration (Prapti)
6. To be in all things, omni-pervasive (Prakamya))
7. To be lord of all creation in omnipotence (Isatvam)
8. To be everywhere in omnipresence (Vasitvam)
Thirumandiram 1780

But if this is not enough, there are ten secondary siddhis as described in Bhagavata Purana that include the following:

1. Being undisturbed by hunger, thirst, and other bodily appetites
2. Hearing things far away
3. Seeing things far away
4. Moving the body wherever thought goes (teleportation/astral projection)
5. Assuming any form desired
6. Entering the bodies of others
7. Dying when one desires
8. Witnessing and participating in the past times of the gods
9. Perfect accomplishment of one's determination
10. Orders or commands being unimpeded

Siddhar StatuesAmazing as they sound, these abilities could allegedly be achieved with the help of simple tools like controlling breath, concentrating the mind and raising the power of the ‘Kundalini’, which is related to the sexual energy.

Furthermore, the system of healing that the Siddhars possessed was allegedly given to them by the god Murugan, son of the Hindu god Shiva.

Another famous Siddhar was Tirumular, who was a Tamil mystic and writer of 6th century AD and was also one of the 18 Siddhars according to the Tamil Siddha tradition. His main work is named “Tirumantiram”, a 3,000 verse text, which is the foundation of the Southern Shaiva Siddharta School of philosophy".



Link

Verse/23

Even the earth melts.

Tree melts.

Maya melts.

Delusion melts.

Woman melts.

Man melts.

Discords melt.

Father melts.

Mother melts.

I too melt thinking of Guru the Lord.

These are words uttered by Him to me.

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See my early post on