Month: December 2023

Dirk Gysels has travelled from Tervuren in Belgium to Thiruvannamalai to enjoy the many spiritual activities that occur in this beautiful season in the land of Sri Ramana Maharishi.

He marked Gita Jayanti with a powerful fire ritual. He writes in his social media post: For every verse of the Gita, including the Gita Dhyanam and Gita Mahatmyam, an oblation was offered in the fire. Six hours of continuous sitting and reciting.

Of the Ramana Ashram itself, he says: With the synergy of the Mountain, the living Presence of the Maharishi, the continuous Veda recitations and not in the least, the collective field generated by tens of thousands of hours of Self-Enquiry and Meditation over almost a century, it remains an ocean of sacredness and stillness.

Of touching the real India, and in his words, not the crazy life that goes on on its surface, he says on December 12 he had his third Brahma yajna, the last of the three one can have in one’s lifetime. For him and the other participants, it was one of the strongest fire rituals they had participated in.

Dirk is a retired teacher and HR consultant for the Belgian Government and says he is now in the grihasta stage of life.

At the end of this enlightening interview, he adds, “One last word, yogically speaking it not advisable to speak about subjective experiences unless it serves the purpose of inspiring people to walk the path. It is in this spirit that I gave these answers. Hari Om Tat Sat.”

How did your interest in India and Sanatana Dharma begin?

I was a teenager in the seventies. At that time Indian spirituality became enormously popular in the West. Among young people it became almost mainstream. This was fuelled by the missionary efforts of charismatic gurus like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Srila Prabhupad, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Swami Rama and others.

Like so many others I started with transcendental meditation, dabbled with Bhagwan (Osho), Sai Baba and Hare Krishna.

However there were some unexpected other experiences. One evening sitting on my bed, after I had been reading the life of Sri Ramakrishna, suddenly I felt and saw an enormously hot, brilliant light shooting up my spine and exploding in my head. Within this light, there was the transfigured and very lively face of Sri Ramakrishna.

In that period, along my spiritual interests, I was very much into extreme left politics. Then I went with my class of 17 year old boys to a Catholic monastery for a retreat. The nuns warned us that a mad recluse was living in a hut on the domain. But he was just crazy, not dangerous.

And indeed on my first walk I crossed a shabbily dressed skinny old man. Suddenly he turned and said to me: ‘Stop dividing the world into bad fascists and good communists.’ I was shocked and wanted to know more about him. So I went to his hut. The recluse, brother John, started to apologize. ‘I said this so that  you would come to me. The nuns may think I am mad but I lived for 20 years in a cave high up in the Himalayas. Then I came back to Europe. You have the etheric vibrations of a yogi. I want to teach you certain things.’

He gave me his writings which unfortunately got lost. I visited him again but never really followed him. It was all very ascetic with brahmacharya and all those rules and I was not willing to live like that.

But those two experiences really put me on the path.

Does academic study prepare one for the actual experience when one visits India?

It can be because it gives some broad information and it sharpens the mind and the reasoning faculty. But these things belong to the manas. What one needs is a training of the buddhi, the cultivation of willpower or sankalpa shakti and a purification of the heart. Academic studies won’t do that.

Moreover academic studies may strengthen our doubting nature and undermine shraddha. According the Bhagavad Gita, doubt is a serious enemy. At a certain moment, one has to trust and jump into the river.

You have done Yagnas, 3 Brahma Yagnas to be precise.  While there are phalas associated with doing them? What is your immediate take away?

In 2022, Swami Atmananda invited me to come for a longer period to his ashram for learning a not well-known set of prana techniques to open up the 14 main nadis. He taught these in person and was continuously monitoring my body-mind system.

As part of the training I had to sit as often as possible in Yagna kunds to make my pranas go upwards. This was a very powerful thing. Regardless of the phalas, I feel the psychic energy field changing and a continuous vibration of uprising energies. So an accurately done yagna has that effect. This makes yagna a part of yogic processes.

Do you think mainstream India has lost touch with its core? How do you access it?

Some years ago I was sitting with an aged yogini in her Ashram at Sapta Ganga in Haridwar. She said:  In India nothing becomes really lost. It only goes undercover.’  So yes, mainstream modernized Hindus have to a great extent lost touch with the spiritual vibrancy of their heritage. This is a danger because there are two very aggressive religions working brutally and skilfully to destroy the dharma. But I see a turn happening towards a reappraisal of the ancient dharmas. But a lot has to happen. Temples should be free and not under governmental control. Priests should be properly trained and rewarded. And the kshetrams should be cleaned up. I would also have a ban on all new commercial and housing projects in these places. I see this happening in Tiruvannamalai and my heart is weeping.

And of course accessing mainly happens after a proper training in an ashram under a qualified guru. Sadhana is the main key.

What in your opinion is the role of our great gurus in showing the path even years after they are gone?

There are two answers to this. Very likely their writings, pictures, maybe some video recordings are available and can serve as an ongoing inspiration. These gurus were great so their lives can serve as benchmarks for present day teachers.

And the Shakti of the Master may still flow through their disciples and grand disciples. That is the meaning of Parampara. But there is not higher grace than to be physically present in the psychic field of a living yogi. At worst, they generate a very high level of sattva. At best, they may abide in the gunatita state. If one is open to this through sadhana, this would be a tremendous blessing. Properly maintained samadhis will to some extent fulfil the same function.

What aspects of Indian culture appeal to you and how do you do your Sadhana?

All that still echoes to Sathyam, Shivam, Sundaram.

I do my sadhana continuously, with faith and reverence over a long period of time as Patanjali tells yogic aspirants in the first pada of his sutras.

My basic sadhana is meditation and kriya. I was initiated by Swami Veda Bharati in meditation, by Sri M in kriya and by Sri Atmananda in Gita chanting, study and the 14 nadi kriyas. I also practise some japa’s and yoga asanas. So I know what to do and more importantly I enjoy it tremendously.

What does Yoga mean to you. How does it connect to the mantras, rituals, the sthalas, kshetras, the annam you eat, the temples you visit?

Yoga is getting the mind calm, transparent, silent so that the pure Self is able to shine through. My yoga guru Swami Veda always repeated from Vyasa’s commentary on the first yoga sutra: ‘Yoga is samadhi’. And so I aspire for samadhi.

I appreciate rituals but they are not that important to me. I practise the yogic food rules of being vegetarian but I am not a puritan.

Instead of going through the other aspects of this question, allow me to tell an experience. In about 2010 Swami Veda planned to inaugurate and practise the prana pratishtam of white Tara, Saumya Tara as Mother of Compassion in his ashram in Rishikesh. We arrived the day before the ceremony. The murti of Tara was stalled in the adjacent Shiva temple and blindfolded. The moment I came into Her presence something happened. As a very lively and calm presence of Consciousness, She entered through my sahasrara. This actually brought my sadhana to a higher level. So kshetrams and murtis are for real. They are part of the game and this makes India unique. I also like very much Sadhguru’s Linga Bhairava temple and his Dhyana lingam. Both are magnificent generators of Grace.

Dirk Gysels With Koenraad Elst At The Gates Of The Sri Ramana Ashram

Are there Indologists who inspire and guide you? 

One of my best friends is a famous Belgian Indologist. It is always great talking to him. But frankly, many Indologists have done great harm to Indian culture. Here and there they have offered some valuable insights and made some necessary corrections in the understanding of the dharma, but realize that they earn their bread by tearing down sacred traditions. They are mostly agnostic or atheist and have little feeling for the soul of Hinduism. But luckily there are exceptions.

Prof M Jayaraman, Dean Division of Yoga Spirituality, SVYASA Yoga University was recently felicitated by the Government of Tamil Nadu for his contribution to the Tamil language.  One of his works includes a translation of the Hatayoga Pradeepika, published by Indic Academy.  In this interview he speaks about his interest in translations and the implications of translating core Yoga texts from Sanskritam to Tamil.

What inspired you to translate core Yoga texts into Tamil? How does translation help in creating new audiences and meaning?

Yoga is now a global discipline. But in this global scenario we should not fail to cater the local. Global yet local should be the watch word. In this light when I looked at status of Tamil translations of core Yoga texts that are authentic, direct and scholarly, Tamil being my mother tongue,  I saw serious gap. There was no translation of Vyasabhashya – the first ever Samskrita commentary to Yogasutra (approx. 4^th century CE). Hathayoga Pradeepika’s Tamil Translation was a century old. The language of the translation is not accessible now. Similar is the case of other texts like Gheranda Samhita and Shiva Samhita. This impelled me and I started working on this.

I completed the translation of Vyasa Bhashya in three volumes published by Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (2014-16). Then I took up the translation of Hatayoga Pradeepika. The publications was supported by Indica (2022). One of the accounts of the life of Sage Patañjali- written in the form of a Samskrita Kavya (600 verses) called as Patanjali Charitam (17^th Century CE)  by Ramabhadra Dikshita was also abridged and translated into Tamil, earlier (2012).

Also, Yoga is now in mainstream academia and there is an emphasis on utilization of Bharatiya Bhashas in NEP in academics. These translations into Tamil also are intended to serve this cause.

Finally, in Yoga field there is an observable tendency to look into translations and interpretations from the west. Yoga teachers in India for Indian audience, due to proliferation of English medium education, tend to consult those translations for their teachings – which are written from a different civilizational and cultural context.  Absence of proper translations into regional language rooted in the Shastric tradition should not be an excuse for this westward gaze. To address this issues also these translations were undertaken.

Prof Jayaraman being felicitated for his contributions to Tamil language by Governor of Tamil Nadu

What were the main challenges you faced in the translation? Are the two languages easily translatable into each other?

Translation was not easy – not because of the perceived difficulty of both classical languages. Both Tamil and Samskrita are well structure languages with many millennia literature. But difficulty was for me, as an individual hugely concerned about maintaining the authenticity of the translation from Samskrita to Tamil.

Samskrita is a multi-layered language and hence many legitimate interpretations are possible. A literal translation of the sentences into Tamil would not serve the purpose. But due to unbroken tradition of commentary literature century after century in the case of Yogasutras – many layers of meanings have already been brought out in those Samskrita commentaries. I only had to patiently look into those interpretations and present the closest views and give the alternative ideas as footnotes.

Also, though my mother tongue is Tamil, my exposure to classical Tamil literature is limited. But because of the penchant for writing and translating in the contemporary Tamil and emboldened by the traditional systematic Gurukula education, I gained in confidence as I proceeded from volume to volume,though I had initial hiccups.

Wherever I did not find the exact translation for certain Samskrita words I used the Samskrita words as such and clarified the meanings in the notes.

Also Tamil translations a century ago will have lot of Samskrita words as it is – as the spoken Tamil also had lot of Samskrita words then. Now with the changes in current spoken and written Tamil, expression should be attuned to that.

These were the challenges, the encouragement of publishing institutions and visionary authorities therein – like Yogacharya Sri S Sridharanji (my Yoga Mentor, Krishnamacharya Yoga Manidram) and Sri Hari Kiran Vadlamaniji (Founder INDICA), helped me persist with the job and complete the task taken up.

Would a yoga dictionary be a useful offering?

A Yoga dictionary in all Bharatiya languages, including Tamil, will certainly be of help. But again care should be taken to ensure authenticity in creating the entries in the dictionary.

Hatayoga Pradeepika translation into Tamil, published by INDICA

Are there are unique references to Yoga in Tamil devotional texts which people recite daily but don't necessarily see as Yoga?

Like Samskritam, Tamil is also the language of Yoga. For a recent monograph project that I completed and submitted to Central Government Organization, I had to look into references to Yoga in Tamil literature. The study was very educative for me as I understood that right from the most ancient Tamil work Tolkappiam, through Sangam literature, the Shaiva Vaishnava Bhakti  literature of Azhvars and Nayanmars, the Tamil Siddha teachings  that appeared from time to time – there are a lot of original Yogic thoughts in Tamil. In popular, yet ancient Tamil texts, that are recited even now such as Tirukkural and Avviyars Vinayagar Akaval there are a lot of Yogic teachings. Moreover, Tamil Nadu is a land of devotion and Tamil language abounds in Bhakti literature and Bhakti Yoga is an inseparable aspect of Yoga.

You have spoken about the role of Samskritam in Yoga therapy.  Would it be different in Tamil?

Not at all. If we are looking into Yogic insights of Tamil texts, we have to go the originals and the commentaries written in Tamil language.

You have researched a lot of texts. What is the connection between texts as learning resources as different from learning orally from a guru?

In the tradition of Bhratiya knowledge systems, which includes Yoga Shastra also, text construction is governed by the Pada (grammar), Vakya (Mimamsa) and Pramana  (epistemology) Shastras, hence the knowledge handed down through the texts are very well structured. Learning of these well-structured texts itself need a Guru. Needless to say that practice also needs a trained Guru. In many places in the texts – especially in the Jyotnsa commentary to Hathayoga Pradeepika  - we could see the commentator mentioning that – etatrahasyamgurumukhaadavagantavyam - the intricacies are to be learnt from a Guru. Texts help the teachers to remember the essential truths. The years of patient, focused practice of the Gurus throws light on the intricacies of the outlines given in the text. Hence Guru Parampara and Granthaparampara are complementary to each other and not competing with each other.

You have done several courses on Mantras and their meanings. What has been the response of people who have chanted for many years but gone into meaning only recently?

This is yet another desideratum that I noticed especially in the field of Yoga. Like Kirtan, Vedic chanting has become an integral part of Yogic practices. But again when it comes to the meaning of the Vedic Mantras - interpretations true to tradition of Guru and Grantha Parampara are lacking. Unlike the simple devotion soaked words of the kirtans – Vedic Mantras need to be carefully approached. The traditional commentaries to the Vedas by Acharya Sayana and others guide us. This is the purpose of the Mantra Artha Initiative (https://mantrartha.blogspot.com/2023/08/mantra-artha-150-hours.html), which started humbly during the Covid times – but now has steadily grown into a reasonably large repository of 190+ hours of explanation of the Vedic Mantras, Stotras and selections of Bhagavad Gita staying closer to the tradition. I give below one of the views of the participants of my weekly lectures which conveys how Vedic Mantras and their meaning based on traditional commentary literature, deeply touch the mind and soul of people of our times even –

“To even be interested in the Veda Mantras is a Grace from above. The timeless, ageless, deeply profound always relevant nature of the Vedas is so powerful that anyone who has the fortune to be exposed to it, can only surrender to it totally. And you Sir, are the conduit of realization for all of us, helping us to elevate our minds to a higher plane.”

What is your next project?

I propose to take up the translation of Gheranda Samhita and selections from Yoga Vasistha into Tamil. Along with translating the texts, I also propose to start textual immersion workshops, in Tamil based on these publications.