The Bhagavad Gita and the Physical Yoga (Asanas)

Any yoga practitioner should read the Bhagavad Gita (Pedro Nonell)

Reflection by Pedro Nonell: The Bhagavad Gita and Yoga practitioners.

As a new Yoga practitioner, and for years greatly influenced by the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, the essence of Yoga Philosophy, I want to share with all Yoga practitioners and Teachers this book and the translation of the Bhagavad Gita according to Gandhi and with Comments by Swami Sivananda.

Bhagavad Gita y Yoga physical (Asanas) Ioga and Bagavadeguitá.

1. Yoga Shastra: Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and Bhagavad Gita
2. What is Yoga according to the Bhagavad Gita?

I do it for several reasons.

1- I consider the Bhagavad Gita to be a spiritual heritage of humanity. Its meditated reading enriches the person and in particular anyone related to Yoga.

Shlokas

2- The relationship between the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga is undeniable, just read the titles of the chapters: They all begin with “Yoga…”

Gita Chapters

3- The Bhagavad Gita is considered a sacred and revealed book by Hindus, compiled by Vyasa. And as such it must be respected

Swami Sarvapriyananda

4- The relationship between Hinduism / Vedanta and the Bhagavad Gita, and therefore with yoga, is undeniable.

Gandhi

5- There are few quality translations, in my humble opinion, the Bhagavad Gita into Spanish.

Therefore, I believe that any yoga practitioner should read and reflect on the Bhagavad Gita.

Buy Book (Gita in Spanish)

We must reflect on this, and realize that detachment must be part of yoga. The Bhagavad Gita explains the ways to achieve detachment.

Paths of Yoga

For example, the author of this book tried to do many of the Asanas beyond his possibilities, according to his Pitta personality according to Ayurvedic medicine. The teacher made him understand that practicing an Asana in this way was not correct, the ego dominated the action.

For Gandhi, Ahimsa (non-violence) long predates the Bhagavad Gita, but is essential in his teachings, Ahimsa is one of the pillars of the Bhagavad Gita, but it is not one of its conclusions. The first Yama in Patanjali's eight limbs is precisely Ahimsa. For me, many of the other Yamas, and also the Niyamas, are derived from Ahimsa, and all of them must be part of yoga.

Patanjali

Those who have most developed the Ahimsa concept are the Jains, and it is a fundamental pillar of all Asian religions. Perhaps the greatest expression of Ahimsa is found by applying the Zoroastrian maxim: “Ahimsa in thoughts, words and actions.”

I believe that these religions are the origin of Ahimsa, one of the most beautiful words of humanity. And as such it must be recognized.

Some of the teachers I have had spoke of the “prostitution of yoga”, implying that the yoga practiced to the West has been prostituted, in many cases it is just a marketing product, or that only the physical part is considered. and not spiritual-religious. I have even heard it said that the Bhagavad Gita was not a holy book, or that yoga does not arise from the Eternal Religion.

We are in a time when it seems incorrect to talk about religion, as if it were politically incorrect to affirm without a doubt the religious origin of Yoga. The thoughtful reading of any chapter of the Bhagavad Gita should confirm this to us.

Spirituality, religion and Bhagavad Gita

We are in a time when it seems incorrect to talk about religion, as if it were “politically incorrect” to affirm the religious origin of yoga as a path to unite with God, Allah, Brahman, Sat-Chit-Ananda or whatever you want to call him. The thoughtful reading of any chapter of the Bhagavad Gita should confirm this to us. When you start a yoga class, you usually chant the OM Mantra or Om Shanties, an invocation to God, usually chanting Om shanti shanti shanti (Peace, Peace, Peace) three times.

In Chapter 17- The Yoga of the Threefold Faith, verse 23, Sri Krishna tells Arjuna:  The infinite is the Truth (Supreme Absolute Truth, triple name of Brahman)

And Gandhi comments:

“Every action must be done in a spirit of complete dedication to God. Because OM alone is the only reality. Only that which is dedicated to Him counts.”

Every yoga practitioner should be aware that the first word of each class is dedicated to God, to Brahman. In my opinion, a meditated reading of the Bhagavad Gita, or several, demonstrates that Religion-Gita-Yoga relationship.

The teachings of the Bhagavad Gita are universal and timeless, it is not necessary to be a Hindu, nor a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, Zoroastrian, Jain, Sikh, follower of traditional African religions, atheist or agnostic.

But I believe that from an Ahimsa vision, which every yoga practitioner should follow, it is necessary to recognize this Hinduism-yoga relationship, and that in some way, when we participate in a yoga session it is in part thanks to the contributions of many wise men over several years. millennia.

Swami Vivekananda, disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, explained it this way:

I also think that any teacher should make this relationship very clear, even if they are an atheist or agnostic.

In my humble opinion, the Bhagavad Gita confirms the principle of inter-religious tolerance, enunciated for the first time in the Rigveda:

«Truth is One, sages call it by various names»

The Bhagavad Gita confirms this:

And in the 19th century, Sri Ramakrishna (for Gandhi he was an incarnation of divinity), the prophet of the Harmony of Religions, explained it with these beautiful words:

«God has created different religions to satisfy different aspirations, times and countries. Each of religions is a path, but none is, at all, God himself.
In reality, one can reach God by following any of the paths with complete devotion.. In the same way that the Imperishable is invoked by some as God, by others as Allah, by others, Jehovah and still by others, Brahman.
The Savior is the messenger of God. It is the same and only Savior who, having immersed himself in the ocean of life, emerges in one place and is known as Krishna and immersing himself again, emerges in another place and is known as Christ.
Each one should follow his own religion.
A Christian must follow Christianity, a Muslim must follow Islam and so on. For Hindus, the ancient path, the path of the Aryan sages, is the best.»

These are very personal Ahimsa reflections, and as Krishna tells Arjuna, and without wanting in any case to compare these reflections with those of Sri Krishna:

“I have explained the truth to you, then act as you want”

Finally a reflection from the English poet TS Elliot

Where is the knowledge that we have lost in the information?
Where is the wisdom that we have lost in knowledge?

I want to dedicate this translation to all my Yoga teachers and colleagues, I also want to thank the teachers Raquel, Gemma, Bárbara, Kira, Valeria.. all of them Yoga One teachers, for their tenderness, patience and willingness with all the students.

In particular I want to thank my teacher Toni Romero, a true Swami, his classes and above all his attitude are a reflection of the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.

Pedro Nonell.

Bhagavad Gita Course

Bhagavad Gita



(c) Gita Institute

Instagram
Top of page