Yoga vs. Tantra

  • Kdeejah: I ♥ kundalini yoga.
  • December 6 at 9: 33pm via Facebook for BlackBerry · Comment · LikeUnlike
  • Singh: either love kundalini or love yoga... don't mix cold coffee with hot... the entire world has been making this mistake since long.
  • Kdeejah: The class is called kundalini yoga...but its not exactly a yoga class....its more of an energy work session with simple postures and movements
  • Singh: calling every energy bodywork session 'yoga' seems to have become a fashion in America! :D
  • Kdeejah: Haha yeah ur right
  • Kdeejah: i love how i feel after this kundalini class....its very different from any yoga class i go to...but i have to admit i like doing both. by saying 'dont mix cold coffee with hot' do you mean to say that you think practicing both is a bad idea and we should just stick to one? why?
  • st: Isn't a yoga basically a 'technique?' there can be a yoga of knitting if it is systemic enough...
  • Singh: the difference between yoga and kundalini is like that between compromise and adjustment. While I would love to make all adjustments in life, I would never want to compromise ever, which I never did.
  • Steven, yoga is not a mere technique... it's a whole philosophy in itself... which I never found conducive to energy in life.
  • Yes, tantra is a technique that stands 180 degree opposite to yoga in its approach... and though it's only a technique, it has a much wider canvas than the entire philosophy of yoga has at its disposal....
  • Somehow, tragically, in today's world, almost whatever you see as 'established', has someway or the other done it through this corrupt means or that. Yoga also did it so.
  • Kdeejah: i can definitely see how kundalini is conducive to energy in life, but i don't see why yoga is not at all...could you explain what you find to be negative about the philosophy?
  • Singh: Yoga 'controls' in order to 'unite' what has fallen apart.
  • Kundalini (or tantra) expresses spontaneously (not impulsively) in order to awaken the 'whole' from its slumber.
  • st: I found an illustrative, humorous website by a tantrika from Byron Bay:
  • "'Tantra' is derived from the sanskrit "tantrum" which is how Krishna first attracted God's attention. Practising tantrum yoga he held his breath until he turned blue thus uniting forever with the infinite.
  • Also known as the yoga of passion and desire, Tantra has a very bad name in certain circles because of its relationship to sects. In fact, tantra is not about sects or sex, it is about 'the harmonious weaving of forces' although there is not a tantra teacher west of the Ganges that will admit this because weaving seldom makes a prophet and sects sell.
  • The tantric path is said to be littered with the bones of saints. There are rigors on this short path to enlightenment.
  • It is one thing to be a saint on a mountain (yoga) and quite another to be a saint in Las Vegas (tantra)..."
  • 2 seconds ago · Delete

posted : Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

tags : yoga_tantra_spirituality_sects

“ When we truly discover love, capitalism will not be possible and Marxism will not be necessary.
— Will O’Brien

posted : Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

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“ I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.
— Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC), In “Apology,” by Plato

posted : Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

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“ With all our philosophy, with all our grand and enhancing ideas, we cannot escape life as we live it. Star-gazers are still walking on the solid earth.
— D.T. Suzuki

posted : Friday, November 27th, 2009

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“

Are the mystics and sages insane? Because they all tell variations on the same story, don’t they? The story of awakening one morning and discovering you are one with the All, in a timeless and eternal and infinite fashion. Yes, maybe they are crazy, these divine fools. Maybe they are mumbling idiots in the face of the Abyss. Maybe they need a nice, understanding therapist. Yes, I’m sure that would help.

But then, I wonder. Maybe the evolutionary sequence really is from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit, each transcending and including, each with a greater depth and greater consciousness and wider embrace. And in the highest reaches of evolution, maybe, just maybe, an individual’s consciousness does indeed touch infinity—a total embrace of the entire Kosmos—a Kosmic consciousness that is Spirit awakened to its own true nature. It’s at least plausible. And tell me: is that story, sung by mystics and sages the world over, any crazier than the scientific materialism story, which is that the entire sequence is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying absolutely nothing?

Listen very carefully: just which of those two stories actually sounds totally insane?

— Ken Wilber

posted : Friday, November 27th, 2009

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“ You are wise to climb Mt. Fuji, but a fool to do it twice.
— Nipponese proverb

posted : Friday, November 27th, 2009

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“

By three methods we may learn wisdom:

First, by reflection, which is noblest;

Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and

Third by experience, which is the bitterest.

— Confucius

posted : Friday, November 27th, 2009

tags :

I am guy who dropped out from the rat race. Didn't have a job in about 5 years, and yet I keep a middle class facade. I am 90% self sufficient food-wise and energy-wise. Ask me anything. »

  • It took me about 8/10 years to reach this point. I’ve been frugal, disciplined, and focused on this exact goal: dropping out from the rat race, and live in peace and quiet for the rest of my life. Hopefully, of course. It was gradual, planned, and full of trial and error.
  • My yearly expenses rarely reach the $2,000 mark. That’s in a very bad year. Thanks to my savings, and the fact that I own my home, I can afford to work only when strictly “necessary”. (which is never, but I like to keep my stash intact.)
  • I basically just have to buy stuff I cannot produce or procure by myself: soap, oil, some tools, sometimes soil.
  • There’s no ideological reason behind what I am doing. I am not an anarchist, survivalist, hippie, or whatever label is usually associated with people aiming for self-sufficiency. If you met me, you would never suspect I was living like this. I keep a middle class facade. I am just a very, very low maintenance guy who grew up tired by the rat race. I find much easier and satisfying to live this way.
  • I do have, of course, my views on the current state of society and world in general - like everyone else - and they of course influenced my decisions, but there’s no political-philosophical framework I would strictly identify with.
  • It’s Hakuna Matata (almost) all the way!
  • I produce my own food and even my own meat. I have chickens giving me eggs, and rabbits giving me meat. I cultivate my own vegetables. I dry both vegetables and meat. I would say that I am 90% self sufficient food-wise. Anyone could live like this, if s/he wanted. It’s mostly about state of mind first, and skills second.
  • Ask me anything. I will answer any question that won’t reveal my exact location and background.
  • EDIT: Lots of comments to reply to. If I don’t reply to yours, it’s either because it is low priority (ie. I already answered the question somewhere else) or because I am still replying to earlier comments. I am sure I missed some too. Don’t take it personally. :)

(some pretty interesting replies on this Reddit)

posted : Friday, November 27th, 2009

tags : reblog

reblogged from : Ta Ch'u

“ Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.
— Kahlil Gibran

posted : Friday, November 27th, 2009

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“ It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
— Walter Lippmann

posted : Friday, November 27th, 2009

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“ Love is the cure,
for your pain will keep giving birth to more pain
until your eyes constantly exhale love
as effortlessly as your body yields its scent.
— Rumi

posted : Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

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“ …the Indian yogi, striving for release, identifies himself with the Light and never returns. But no one with a will to the service of others would permit himself such an escape. This ultimate aim of the quest must neither be release nor ecstasy for oneself, but the wisdom and the power to serve others.
— JC

posted : Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

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“ The origin of form is 7-fold: ● ● ● ●● ●● ●● ●●●
— Seven Senses

posted : Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

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“ We must escape & help others to escape the two ready-made formulas of the pure sexual encounter, and the lovers’ fusion of identities.
— from Friendship As A Way of Life by Michel Foucault

posted : Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

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