Thread by @Telugutalli

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi Thank you @Koenraad_Elst ji for taking us through the whole gamut of the history of Yoga and all that it entails in the current scenario, learnt a lot. We are indebted to your scholarship. Happy Travels!

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi From running notes some importance points:
1. Whether Gayatri Mantra or Mrityunjaya Mantra the mention of 'dhee which is awareness', and outgrowing of attachments et al points to a deep insight of the peoples. Not 'mere tapas' as is usually belittled.

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi 2. Kesin Hymn Rg veda 10:136 is the oldest mention of such 'tapas' practiced by Naga Sadhus - the combo of martial arts n asceticism seen also in Shaolin temples and the Samurai practices.
3. Arjuna's penance is in the vrikshaasana...
3. Godhuhaasana - cow milking pose +

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi + 4. Mahaveera is said to have perfected the cow milking pose and attained self realization in this aasana...(had never before heard of this, nor the aasana itself!)
5. Upanishads of course have mentioned naaDi shodana, alternate nostril breathing, we know of 1000 yr old sources

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi 6. one goal of which is attainment of siddhis
7. kaThOpanishad 2.3.10-11 talks of silencing the mind, 5 senses are withdrawn etc
9. no place in Xianity and Islam for Self Realization in that there is no 'supreme state of consciousness'
10. yoga's mental goal is 'zero experience'

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi 11. But Xianity and Islam are not about zero mental experience at the most they are 'dhaaraNa' - concentration not kaivalyam
12. Patanjali is worshipped in South, the West tried to brush him off as not popular/ not worshipped in India, hence yoga not Hindu etc
13. mind here n now

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi 14. Patanjali accepts practitioners to choose a deity, accepts reincarnation, as also value of studying the Vedas
15. although the entire Yoga system is not about god/deities, or veda, nor reincarnation
16. yoga is isolating/kaivalyam the spirit/purusha from absorption in matter

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi 17. vedanta initially all about aatmavaada defined avidya as identification with objects forgetting the real self, hence mukti is knowing truth of oneself
18. saying that moksha/ mukti is about getting out of cycle of birth-death is a later theory
19. reincarnation not in Rg Veda

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi 20. Reincarnation as a concept starts appearing first in Chandogya Up.
21. punarjanma brings in karma and is tied to it, ie past lives determine next lives - used by evangelists to berate Hindus as justifying caste
22. Stoic, Theosis, Fana, Ungrund, Cusanus similar concepts

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi 23. could have been borrowed from India..from Buddhism in Central Asia
24. main takeaway for me was that mukti is not about aatma paramaatma union or release from birth death cycle but REMOVAL OF AVIDYA,
25. self knowledge is the key!

@rasita @Koenraad_Elst @IndicAcademy @avatans @VMuppi 26. also important is that Buddhism is not a separate religion, there is nothing in Buddhism that does not already previously exist in Hindu texts.
27. Buddha himself learnt from Sankhyas and consulted with sadhus
28. Buddha simply invented his own order...and created a sangha