Happy Birthday Guruji!
Thursday the 14th is the full moon day of July and both the birthday of Sri K Pattabhi Jois and the day to celebrate the birth of all guru’s. Come celebrate this once a year event with the Near East Yoga community.
Bring a small, vegetarian offering of food, or flowers for the altar. We will be reciting rounds of Hanuman Chalisa and Sri Ram kirtan starting at 730AM . Then we will eat and visit, finishing in time to get to work or class. Everyone is welcome.
Below is my personal reflection on the Moon Day and celebrating Guruji-
In our daily practice of ashtanga yoga vinyasa krama the spirit of Guruji lives on. What he intended for us as yogis is embedded in this magnificent vehicle. The practice gives us direct access to the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali and the full manifestation of ashtanga yoga, if we choose to surrender to it- what a profound gift to be given and surely one worthy of a day devoted entirely to a Guru.
Resting from daily asana, combined with the opportunity for personal reflection, the full and new moon days give light to a simple yet elegant teaching- asana or no asana, we are the seer. The “seer” or drashtu to borrow from Patanjali, of sun, earth and moon, body, mind and soul.
Via a practice of being the direct witness of the churning of those heavenly bodies and the churning of our earthly bodies we can experience the churning of our mind which is infinite, un-fillable, spacious and the window of being aware when the mind is clear and settled. We discover that beyond mind there is no churning and we can rest there. Practice is a choice and once executed is thereby the cessation of all other possibilities- this is nirodah, the beginning elements anyway.
In practice we are both observing the churning and aware of it at the same time. We can get close to understanding there is a foundation to ourselves that is untainted, the part that does not churn. It is in the vision of the cosmic churning that we can recognize we are fully aware and that the churning is within us if by “us” we mean the part that is not churning- wow. I love that I can access this logic and direct my energy toward abiding in it in this lifetime. Thank you Guruji for your life and work.
All the great masters make this point in one way or another and offer us a vehicle for attaining such an experience- so we will also celebrate them on the 14th. Guruji, Sri K Pattabhi Jois, our guru, for his part, offered us a fire to light our way and to offer to others. If you are touched by this fire and now are on fire yourself, then please celebrate his auspicious birth and life and your auspicious connection with him in this life where ever you are. Please feel very welcome to join the Near East Yoga community in celebration if you can.
Peace, Casey