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For some reason, I had the time to sit down and watch a little television, and as luck would have it, Bikram Choudhury was being interviewed on 60 Minutes Wednesday.

My wife, Marie and I don’t often get home at that time of the night, as we are usually closing up the wellness center, so this was fate and a bit of luck.

Our center does not have 105 degree Bikram classes or hot Yoga classes, but we are familiar with Bikram’s style and his wife’s many accomplishments. Rajashree Choudhury is a five-time winner of the All-India Yoga Championship competition.

I am not a Bikram fan, but I am not swayed by some of the anti-Bikram articles that work their way into the world of Yoga.
Before I touch some of the finer points of his interview, I must concede that he snatched the lime light with exuberance and now I know why some love him, while others don’t feel so warm and furry about him.

I laughed at his rhetoric, equally, as much as watching Jerry Seinfeld or Ray Ramano, do a stand up comedy routine. The man is pure entertainment and he has a point.

In reference to his style of yoga, he said ” I don’t sell cheesecake, you know that.” The fact is anyone who visits a Bikram style Yoga class knows what they are getting into. How could you miss 105 degrees Fahrenheit?

More to the point, America is a country of extremes and there are estimates that only 10% of the population exercises regularly. While, another 35% of the population, drift in, and out, of exercise, depending upon the season, a fad, or a whim.

The remaining 55%, of America’s population, have taken a pledge to avoid exercise at all costs. Maybe the “couch potatoes” can only grasp the concept of a “kick in the pants.”

Some people need a drill instructor personality and as Bikram would say, “torture chamber” to understand Yoga. America made him the “Guru of the Stars,” and he understands public relations.

Let’s give credit, where credit is due. If you love Yoga and missed this interview, see if you can catch the re-run.
There is a strange need, on a massive scale, for “stern but loving parent” type teachers in Yoga classes.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I am about to organize the Extremely Hot Navy Seals Power Yoga Boot Camp.

Paul Jerard, is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center in, North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher.
http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org

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Most of us have heard the story of the centipede who, when asked how he managed to walk with so many legs, could no longer do so, but tangled his legs hopelessly in the attempt to intellectually figure it out and ended up on his back, helpless. This is not unlike the person who attempts to plumb the depths of oriental scriptures. Right away it becomes evident that they consist of incalculable layers, nearly all symbolic in nature. Furthermore, the meanings of the symbols are not consistent, changing according to the levels on which they occur. For example, on one level water symbolizes the mind, on another level the constant flux of samsara, and on another the subtle life-currents known as prana. This being the case, our Western
linear mode of thought becomes as entangled and disabled as the fabled centipede. Knowing this to be so, I have decided to avoid the Lorelei of subtle symbolism and concentrate instead on the obviously practical side of Krishna teachings in the Bhagavad Gita. Having stated this, in complete consistency with oriental thought, I shall contradict myself and consider the symbolism encountered in the first chapter of the Gita.

We find ourselves on Kurukshetra, a field of impending battle. It is not as vast as our
Hollywood-epic-shaped minds might imagine, as can be seen for oneself by a visit
to Kurukshetra, now also a sizeable modern city in Northern India, not very far from
Delhi. At one end is a hillock topped with a great tree under which the visitor finds a
life-sized reproduction in marble of the type of chariot used in the battle. This is
the vantage point from which Arjuna, the great warrior, and Sri Krishna looked out
over the field. Today its tranquillity is charming, despite the strong feeling in the air
that something tremendously momentous occurred there in the distant past. It is
both awesome and soothing.

For background information regarding how the battleground came to be thronged
with soldiers, chariots, elephants and the other paraphernalia of a deadly war, see
the introductory essay, “Gita and Mahabharata” in Swami Prabhavananda’s
unparalleled translation The Song of God. This is the translation I will
be using in these essays on the Gita. Suffice it to say that the two opposing armies
are very easy to morally identify. The Kauravas, led by the murderous Prince
Duryodhana, are fundamentally evil, although many honorable men have, through
various complicated alliances and obligations, found themselves among their ranks.
The Pandavas, headed by the virtuous and noble Yudhisthira, the eldest brother of
Arjuna, are embodiments of all that is good, among them being the divine Sri
Krishna himself who chose to be the charioteer of Arjuna.

The symbolism is not very hard to figure out (leaving aside the complex matter of
assigning a symbolic meaning to every person named in the battle narrative).
Kurukshetra is the personality-particularly the mind (intellect)-of the individual,
awakened seeker for higher consciousness. Such a seeker, determined to end the
whirling cycle of birth and death, finds that his aspiration itself has inspired
opposition from within his own mind and heart, where good and evil, truth and
falsehood, ignorance and wisdom, like the Kauravas and Pandavas, have drawn
themselves up in readiness for a conflict that must end in the annihilation of one
side or the other. Even more daunting is the fact that much considered “good” is
found lining up in support of negativity, and most of the “Pandava” side will also be
blotted out in the eventual transmutation of the individual into a higher state of
being itself, much as the endearing ways of infancy and childhood must be
eradicated at the advent of adulthood and replaced with completely different
virtues.

In the chariot set betwixt the two armies we find Arjuna and Krishna. Many
interpretations of these two pivotal figures are possible, nearly all of them correct,
but the words of the Mundaka Upanishad, written long before the Gita, are certainly
worthy of our attention.

“Like two birds of golden plumage, inseparable companions, the individual self and
the immortal Self are perched on the branches of the selfsame tree. The former
tastes of the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree; the latter, tasting of neither, calmly
observes.

“The individual self, deluded by forgetfulness of his identity with the divine Self,
bewildered by his ego, grieves and is sad. But when he recognizes the worshipful
Lord as his own true Self, and beholds his glory, he grieves no more.”

These two paragraphs are a perfect summary of the entire Gita. Arjuna is the
bewildered and sorrowing atma, the individual self, and Krishna is the divine
Paramatma, the Supreme Self from which the atma derives its very being and
existence. Forgetful of its true nature as part of the Infinite Spirit, the finite spirit
passes through countless experiences that confuse and pain it, producing utterly
false conclusions that compound and perpetuate the confusion and pain. Only when
the perspective of the Divine Self is entered into, can its troubles cease. We can also
think of Arjuna as our lower mortal self, and Krishna as our higher immortal self.
Krishna and Arjuna thus represent both God and Man and our own (presently) dual
nature as mortal and immortal. Keeping this perspective before us, the ensuing
dialogue which forms the Gita is to be seen both as God’s communication to human
beings and the communication of our own divine self with our human self-liberation
of the spirit (moksha) being their sole intention.

In the opening verse of the Gita, King Dhritarashtra, father of Prince Duryodhana,
asks his minister and charioteer, Sanjaya: “Tell me, Sanjaya, what my sons and the
sons of Pandu did, when they gathered on the sacred field of Kurukshetra, eager for
battle?

The word Swami Prabhavananda renders “sacred field” is
dharmakshetra-the field of dharma. Dharma usually means the right
way of thought and action, but it can also mean the accurate expression of one’s
own dominant character, for dharma also means “quality.” This entire world is a
dharmakshetra, a field upon which we act out the character of our inner
makeup-i.e., the quality of our emotions, mind, intellect, and will (not our ultimate
being as spirit). We as individuals are each a dharmic field, expressing the actuality
of our present level of evolution.

As already said, when we take stock of the inner conflict, we identify with both
sides. Thinking that if they are dissolved or destroyed “we” will cease to exist, we
are appalled and feel that our very existence is threatened. Then, like all human
beings who do not like the truth when they see or hear it, we become “confused”
and try to avoid the unpleasant prospect. Bitter as death seems the inner battle, so
we shrink from it and desperately try to find a way out.

So does Arjuna. In a lengthy and impassioned monologue he presents to Krishna his
“confusion,” which is really a plea to inaction, to avoidance of conflict, thinking that
such a negative condition is peace, whereas peace is a positive state, not the mere
absence of unrest and conflict. It is also reached only through unrest and conflict,
however little we like the fact.

Running away from spiritual obligation-and therefore spiritual life itself-is a
common activity of the awakening soul, which brings all its ingenuity to bear on
justification of such avoidance. Arjuna veils his aversion with words of compassion
for others, when in actuality he is the sole object of his “compassion.” He simply
does not wish to see others suffer because that will make him suffer-and feel guilty
for their suffering. Krishna makes this clear to him. The Stoic, Epictetus, was once
visited by a man who told him that he loved his daughter so much he had run from
the house rather than see her suffering from illness. Carefully, gently yet firmly,
Epictetus led him to understand that it was his self-love that motivated him, not
love for his child.

It is the same with us; ego-involvement-addiction, actually-grips us, and we are the
only ones who can free ourselves from it. And battle is the only means.

Swami Nirmalananda Giri is the abbot of Atma Jyoti Ashram, a traditional
Hindu monastery in the small desert town of Borrego Springs in southern
California. He has written extensively on spiritual subjects, especially about
meditation and
about the inner, practical
side of the world’s religions. More of his writings may be found at the
Ashram’s website, http://www.atmajyoti.org.

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Dhauti is a shuddhikriya which means the act of cleaning. It specifically cleans the stomach. Since is one of the main organ in the human body and the health of the human being is dependent on the condition of the stomach. Hence it becomes very important for you to clean your stomach. Dhauti is the useful activity for this cleansing.

Dhauti is of three types:

Vamana-dhauti: This is the easiest of all the three types. In this process you have to drink about six glasses of water and then vomit it out by putting the index and the middle fingers in the mouth till uvula. You throw up the water, which brings along with it the impurities in the stomach.

Danda-dhauti: Repeat the above process but instead of inserting the fingers, you insert a rubber tube of about three feet in length and the width slightly more than the lead pencil. It is gulped down slowly so that one end of the tube reaches the stomach while the other end is held outside the mouth. Bend the trunk forward and this siphoning action will bring out the water from the stomach. When all the water is thrown out, bring out the rubber tube. Before using the tube, clean and disinfect it by inserting it in the boiling water for a few minutes. It is difficult for a lot of people to insert the tube without vomiting because the throat is sensitive to the touch stimuli. For them it is advisable to go for the vamana-dhauti since it is the simpler of the two. The advantage of danda-dhauti is that there is no spasm of the stomach wall and the water is thrown out very smoothly.

Vastra-dhauti: This is the most difficult but useful dhauti. Here a strip of fine muslin cloth of about three inches in width and twenty feet in length is taken. It is washed and disinfected by dipping it in boiling water for some time and rolled up. Hold one end of it between the two fingers and insert it into the mouth. Gulp it down slowly. Stop gulping when only six inches of the cloth remain outside the mouth. Take care to ensure that you do not let the other end go into the mouth. Churn the abdomen by Nauli with the cloth inside the stomach. Now remove the strip slowly by pulling out the other end of the cloth. This dhauti cleanses the stomach by rubbing itself against the inner lining of the stomach wall and removing all the impurities from the stomach.

Dhauti has a great therapeutic value. You can use it as a part of yogic treatment of disorders like acidity and asthma.

Kevin Pederson is the webmaster of Yogawiz,that provides loads of information on basics of yoga, the need to do yoga and usage of accessories like rugs, yoga chairs and cushions. Dhauti is a therapeutic process of cleansing the stomach.

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