One of the many things I've decided to do for myself and my practice of yoga is to study The Eightfold Yoga from Patanjali's Yoga Sutra. I'm going to start by taking one of the Yamas each month and reading about it and trying to bring it to a new place in my life. Once I get through all the Yamas I'll move on to the Niyamas. You're welcome to join in the study and practice with me.
This month is Ahimsa. Sutra II.35 ahimsa-pratisthayam tat-samnidhau vaira-tyagah
When the yogin is grounded in the virtue of non-harming, all enmity is abandoned in his presence. Georg Feuerstein's translation from his book the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali.
take not of the word non-harming, not non-violence or non-killing. I've heard Dr Douglas Brooks talk about this and he teaches it is a violent world. The act of child birth is violent. You hear discussions about can you be a yogi and eat meat. Here's my spin, yes. As long as you only eat what truly serves your health and you honor the animal you choose to consume for giving their life to sustain yours. For me I eat birds and some fish, red meat doesn't serve me right now. If I found out I needed to eat red meat, I'd select wisely and honor, most likely the bison I was eating.
I know there is so much more to non-harming but that's where I'm starting. Love to hear your thoughts or if you have other translations you want to share that would be great.
I need to do a couple things. I want to find a copy of Mr. Iyengar's Light on Yoga Sutras to see what he has to say. Then I need to figure out how to do all the special characters used in Sanskrit.
Peace!
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