Yoga and The Natural World

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YOGA AND THE NATURAL WORLD A SYNTHESIS

EPISTEMOLOGY / METHODOLOGY ONTOLOGY / COSMOLOGY / COSMOGONY

OF VEDA, OF STRUCTURES, OF YOGA & OF THE TREE OF LIFE,

OF THE OUTER & THE INNER UNIVERSE, OF SCIENCE,

OF THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION,

OF INFINITIES & OF NOUGHTS, OF EVOLUTION & OF TURING MACHINES,

OF THE HEART & OF THE GAME OF LIFE & OF ALL THATS BRIGHT,

OF PURUSHA & PRAKRITI, OF PHOENIX & PANDORA, & OF TRUTH,

OF PERPLEXITIE & OF POETRIE, OF GENES & MEMES, OF GOD & NO GOD,

OF SINGLE CELL CONSCIOUSNESS, OF MONADS, OF PHONEMES,

OF ENLIGHTENMENT & OF THE RECURSIVE EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHM.

Always Look at the Bright Side of Life.

You Never Know When the Roman Inquisition Arrives.

Two sayings attributed to Brian.

Jur

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AN ATTEMPT TO AUGMENT THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF KNOWLEDGE

WITH THE POSSIBILITIES OFFERED BY A STUDY OF ITS RECURSIVE NATURE IN THE LIGHT OF

THE PARADIGM OF YOGA: REST & ACTIVITY.

All That is Full, All This is Full Upanishad

Point of view!

ALL IN TERMS OF THAT OLDE

ALGORHYTHMIE.

AAAP 36 N

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ALL THE WORLDS A JOY

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Business Cat, http://memegenerator.net/

This page is a temporary filler page for to make this cyber-book look like more of a proper book, especially when viewed in double page mode (in Adobe Acrobat Reader choose, View/Pageview/Two recommended).

and then, in Acrobat, do try Full Screen View mode (youll get the best result with a large wide screen monitor). one page width view over, say, a 19 or even a 17 screen, would also do well, Id say.

if this pdf is used for printing then page two here (this page) would become page five (page four would be a blank); sequentially after page one would come the inlay pages, with all the aums ( ), theyd be pages two and three;

for simplicity, for now, if you print this pdf simply dont print anything on the back of page one.

and, thusways, the page numbering for the pdf version of this document differs from the proper book version, the page numbering in the pdf should be upped one digit (for to agree with the numberings set in the contents pages),

and, I guess, there are some credits missing; as regards the contents pages, well, they are yet in quite a disarray.

ah, and yes, the latter part of this document is not just in a bit a disarray but is, belatedly, in quite some disorder bordering on the incoherent (getting closer to order now, though).

but, yet, this is work in progress.

Ill keep on updating.

Juri Aidas ( ... aka., Albatross of The Brights )

I mean business!

Document revised 24 June 2012, 12:03 GMT+01:00, Sundbyberg, Sweden.

Work in progress. The purpose of this document is to inform and entertain.

I n this compilation of thinkings and writings I have attempted, in hariolatory fashion, to collect a few of my different essays on the themes of yoga and nature, various responses I wrote

to articles on yoga in the news, some of my postings from

my favourite forum of The Brights, and a lil of this an that

(of artistic bent and with a view to entertain). These writings

Ive tried to arrange in a semblance of a sensible order though I

take a few snakes-hands * routes in my meanderings, thus this

collection of writings, in their happenstance order herein, repre-

sents the general paths of whatever Ive been thinking over the

years. Ive taken the liberty of using the same diagrams in many

places in the different sections of the texts here, they originated

for the essay on the yogic Paradigm, which is central to the

theme of this book and they thus bear to be repeated, Id hope,

if but for the pedagogic stance, but they, of course, are but visual

descriptions of my ideas. In discussing yoga the restating of

processual detail keeps the mind focused on the basics of yoga

and thus builds an understanding of its methodics, otherwise,

and especially during practice, it is easily left to drift away upon

tangential, plainly speculative or dubious metaphysics (of accele-

rated thinking) in the web of which it forlornly, at times, sways

in bewilderments of thought and will in that be prone to simply

lose itself in the multitudes of dualisms found in differing and

ever contesting world-views or in just plain inner ideation.

* There are always a thousand things to see and stop for along Path, snakes-hands to explore

and people to listen to.

Path is like a snake, it curls around the whole [...]

So when you run along Path, and here is something that looks to be Path, but you find it is only

rooms interlocking in a little maze that has no exits but back to Path thats a snakes-hand. It runs off the snake of Path like

a set of little fingers. It is also called a snakes-hand, because a snake has no hands, and likewise

there is only one Path.

* Engine Summer John Crowley, 1980, Bantam pocket ed., p. 26.

Cyber-links in this document are coloured, at times in different colours, but not underlined, like this, The Algorhythmies of An Another Albatross (this is the one of my various blogs which focuses on the things I write about here, though I do not update it all that much); font changes may occur over the links, like this An Another Albatross Goes Arundo! (an another blog of mine); and some coloured text does not represent links ... so there you go.

Enjoy.

by Nina Aidas Oil on Canvas, 15 x 15 cm.

Hibiscus

View of copyrights and title page, pages 14, 15, as viewed on my own screen of 24.

My view of the page of Homage to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, pages 18, 19. A double spread.

YOGA AND THE NATURAL WORLD

The sun teaches all things that grow

their longing for the light.

But it is night that raises them to the stars.

The Garden of the Prophet, Khalil Gibran

Filler page.

Who knows the truth? Who here will pronounce it

Whence this birth, whence this creation?

The Gods appeared afterward, with the creation of this.

Who then knows whence it arose?

Rig Veda X. 129.6 ca. 3-rd millennium B.C.

AN ANOTHER ALBATROSS PUBLICATION PUBLICATIONS PRODUCTIONS PERFORMANCES RECORDINGS

whatever

This document presently represents private undertakings of mine of yet no commercial character.

The intent here being to create interest in the themes of yoga and of science, and, perchance,

some day, eventually result in a professionally produced coherent publication of the works.

As this manuscript is still in a preliminary state all permissions have not yet been sought.

This will be done for the event of a sharp edition of the work.

Correspondence:

Juri Aidas

Sweden

[email protected]

ALL THE WORLDS A JOY, HEAVEN AND EARTH & WORDS, ETC. & ALL OTHER MATERIALS JURI AIDAS

Except:

SUN MOON LOGO & PIKEBOROS NINA AIDAS

LINE DRAWINGS; Cover, P. 4, 9, 14, 16, 18, 20, 23, 30, 32, 40, 52, 58 & Back Cover MAGNUS MALMSTEN SUN NOTE LOGO, LITTLE TREE, SEAL, ROSE, PIANO & CATS (of unknown origin) Clipart Composites (ed. by Juri Aidas)

AUM LOGO The Matavasis of Kauai's Hindu Monastery; www.himalayanacademy.com FOUR BASIC STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS DEMETRI P. KANNELAKOS / JEROME S. LUCAS

The Psychobiology of Transcendental Meditation A Literature Review (1974, p. xi)

KOCH CURVE after RUDY RUCKER (1982, p. 9) See: Larry Riddles webpage at http://ecademy.agnesscott.edu/~lriddle/ifs/kcurve/kcurve.htm

SCHEMATA OF THE NULL CONCEPT GEORGES IFRAH (BARROW, 2000, p. 43)

CREATION TIMELINE after PAUL BROCKELMAN (1999, p. 54)

THE GAME OF LIFE JOHN HORTON CONWAY (from DENNETT, 1995, pp. 166176 & 2003, pp. 3947)

COSMIC BACKGROUND RADIATION DATA See Barrow, 2005, pp. 191. The source is from First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations:

Preliminary Maps and Basic Results, by Charles L. Bennett and team, at: http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/map/pub_papers/firstyear/supplement/wmap_basic_data.pdf

FRONTISPIECE STARFIELD FURTHEST KNOWN GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE Credit: ESA, NASA, J.-P. Kneib (Caltech/Observatoire Midi-Pyrnes) and R. Ellis (Caltech)

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/08/

SINGLE CELL CONSCIOUSNESS JONATHAN C. W. EDWARDS (2005, www.ucl.ac.uk/~regfjxe/aw.htm) RIG VEDIC HYMNS Translations by R.T.H. GRIFFITH

(P. 5, Translation by FEUERSTEIN, KAK, FRAWLEY P. 34, RIG VEDA X: 61,7; Translation by STELLA KRAMRICH)

YOGA SUTRA OF PATANJALI, 1:2, 2:XX, 2:33-34 Translation by ALISTAIR SCHEARER POETICAL CITATIONS KAHLIL GIBRAN, WILLIAM BLAKE, BOB DYLAN, NEIL YOUNG & DYLAN THOMAS

COMIC STRIP SINFEST TATSUYA ISHIDA (used with permission once, permission for this reprint pending)

TURING MACHINE HARIOLATION from CRYPTONOMICON by NEAL STEPHENSON

LINGUISTIC CATEGORIES ROGETS INTERNATIONAL THESAURUS, 1977

CITATIONS See References in this Presentation and the Bibliography.

MANDALA PRIVATE OWNERSHIP (used with permission)

Copyrights 2012 Page-numbering to be amended. Listing to be corrected & completed.

An Another Albatross Publication

AAAP 36 N

Revised: 24 June 2012

All contents copyright Juri Aidas, 2012. Except where explicitly stated.

( For a full list of referential materials see end of document [fragmentary at the moment]. )

M u d ra s ?

sh v a r a p r a n id h n a

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in te g r ity

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in w a rd s

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a n d o th e r s a s th e co b ra

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.

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S a m d h i

D y n a m ic B l is s

D h ra n F o c u s in g

R e tra c t in g o f th e S e n se s

P ra ty h ra

sa n a

P o s tu re

P r n y m a

T h e B re a th in g

N iy a m a

M o ra ls , T h e L a w s o f L ife Y a m a

E th ic s , T h e R u le s fo r L iv in g

D h y n a

M e d ita t io n

S a t , C h it , A n a n d a

E x is te n c e , In te l lig e n ce , B lis s

N irb ja S a m d h i

S a m d h i w ith o u t o b je c t

S a m d h i w ith o b je c t

P ra k r it i

M a n ife s t

U n m a n ife s t

P u ru sh a

T ra n sc e n d e n t

V irtu a l S e lf - re fe re n t ia l F ie ld

The Tree of Life

sense of wonder

The Deep Beyond

The exerpts from an exposition on Single Cell Consciousness by Jonathan C.W. Edwards used with permission (see: http://ww.ucl.ac.uk/~regfjxe/awnew.htm).

This excerpt below awaits permission to use. The Logic of Inconsistency: A Study in Non-Standard Possible-World Semantics and Ontology,

by Nicolas Rescher & Robert Brandom (Blackwell, 1979, pp. 5861).

THE PHILOSOPHY OF YOGA

YOGA DARANA, THE VISION OF YOGA

THE PARADIGM OF YOGA: REST & ACTIVITY

A NATURALISTIC OVERVIEW

Juri Aidas

THE EIGHT ASPECTS OF YOGA IN RECURSIVE LIGHT, ON THE BASIS OF THE METAPHOR:

THE TREE OF LIFE.

Pikeboros

A collection of ideas, framed in the context of algorhythmy in yoga.

Work In Progress!

YOGA AND THE NATURAL WORLD A SYNTHESIS

A compilation on the Mechanisms in Yoga and in Nature presented in a portmanteau format so as to entertain and inform.

.

APPLES GALORE!

BOUNTY

... alluded to by the metaphor of

THE TREE OF LIFE.

Herein, to be found, are a few Ideas & Thoughts:

Gathered, Collected, Derived & Construed, as from an

Abundancy of Expression growing out of the Ideational Power of this

Metaphor of Subjective Creation (parallelled by objective analogues) and its

Distinct Reflection of the Inherent Virtual Dynamic (Consciousness)

Structured from the Reality of Our Physical Brains, or perchance even

present in The Single Individual Neuronal Cell (in Monadic Fashion).

The Tree

Flower Power

Roses there are,

Being where you are.

For dear partners,

For the sunshine years,

Of memories,

Of wonder,

For the tender ones,

For undying love,

For the heart.

So I yearn again my love.

Lilies galore,

Everywhere they fall,

For companions,

For halcyon days

Of play,

Havin fun all day.

For the gentle,

For anyone who cares,

For everyone,

An for all of what it be worth.

O! Asters overflow!

I say, Its a show!.

Yeah. The tide will turn

As earth an sky,

As wind unseen.

The years, O Muse,

Never fade,

Never go away,

No, no!

As long as I, as I hear true love on the way.

AN HOMAGE TO MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI.

Listen to this song as performed by An Another Albatross at: http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_2029498

Clipart

Microsoft

Sun/M

oon N

ina Aidas

An Daffodils I know

Abound in Summers glow,

Stuff everywhere.

Oh! Enoughs enough,

But how could that be enough?

Yeah, the river flows,

Amongst the flowers of a thousand shows,

In meadows, in forests,

An being with you,

You, you tune up the Wild Mountain Thyme.

Yea! Roses there are,

Being where you are.

For dear partners,

For the sunshine years,

Of memories,

Of wonder,

For the tender ones,

For undying love,

For the heart.

So I yearn again my love.

Juri Aidas 13 January 2008

AN HOMAGE TO MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI.

Originator: Albatross Theme: The Teacher

Style: Folk Ballad

22

FLIGHT Frontispiece & P. 14; HERON P. 1; LITTLE SUN P. 14, HORSE and UFO P. 18; LIGHT BEARER P. 25; HIGH VIEW P. 26; BIRD UP HIGH P. 29; SENTINEL P. 38; INTO THE DEEP P. 41; BIRD IN BUSH P. 9, 39; TURTLE P. 13; FLOWER P. 34;

SINGING FISH P. 38; YOGI P. 39; ANEMONE P. 51; SMILE P. 52; SMILES P. 70; HAPPY MAN P. 56; SINGER P. 57; ROADSIDE BIRD P. 58; FAR AWAY BIRD Back cover.

LINE DRAWINGS BY MAGNUS MALMSTEN

YOGA & THE NATURAL WORLD

A SYNTHESIS

The page numbering here is distinctly off.

23

The page numbering

here is quite unreliable,

... definitely unreliable,

... and its not just the page numbering, most of the

stuff oriented towards the

natural sciences has not yet been inserted here,

for now those pages may be found in older editions of this

document.

COSMOLOGY P. 96 CREATION TIMELINE P. 70, OF THE OUTER & THE INNER UNIVERSE P. 95

COSMOGONY P. 95 OF PURUSHA P. 95, PRAKRITI P. 95, PHOENIX P. 95 & PANDORA P. 95

ONTOLOGY P. 67 OF STRUCTURES IN YOGA P. 44, OF WORD P. 68

EPISTEMOLOGY P. 48 OF THE TREE OF LIFE AS METAPHOR OF THE YOGA-DARANA P. 46

OF STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS PP. 91, 92 OF THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION P. 74

OF INFINITY P. 89 & OF THE NULL CONCEPT P. 90 OF ALGORITHMS P. XX & OF THE GAME OF LIFE P. 76

METHODOLOGY PP. 29, 46 OF THE RECURSIVE EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHM P. 49

CONSIDERATIONS OF MEMES AND GENES P. XX, & OF COGNITIVE SCIENCE P. 82

OF QUANTUM UNCERTAINITIES P. 83, OF SINGLE CELL CONSCIOUSNESS P. 78 OF PHONEMES P. 87, & OF THE TURING MACHINE P. 88

RIG VEDIC HYMNS

CREATION P. 116, AGNI P. 141 & TWO BIRDS P. 175

MANDALA P. 116 PATANJALI P. 37

OF CA. 2000 YEARS AGO P. 38 & OF THE YOGA-STRA P. 38

ALL THE WORLDS A JOY P. 65

CONTENTS (overview)

PREAMBLE P. 25, CREDO P. 27, THE BRIGHT BLUE P. 29, PREFACE P. 38,

INTRODUCING THE SCHEMATA P. 43.

AFTERWORD P. 120

MISCELLANEOUS P. 129

LITERATURE P. 130

24

This is getting closer!

Order & page #s almost

correct here.

In the pdf version: add one digit for

every # in the list for those #s

to concur.

CONTENTS (details) FROM ONE END OF THE UNIVERSE

Section Art / Songs Line Drawings Page

Sun/Moon 1

Sun/Note 1

Flight 1

Business Cat 3

AUM-signs 4-5

Khalil Gibran quote 11

Rig Vedic quote 13

Copyrights page 14

Little Sun 14

Pikeboros 15

AUM-sign (Blue) 15

Introductory 17-34

Apples Galore 17

Contents pages 18-23

Horse & UFO 18

Preamble 25

Light Bearer 25

Cat 25

High View 26

Credo 27

Applemore Under the Umbrell 28

Once in a Blue Moon The Bright Blue 29

Science / Edward O. Wilson 30

Atha! Now! Bright Light 31

Alignment / Sarvepelli Radhakrishnan 32

A Vista The Morning Promenade 33

PART I The Yoga 35-238

The Framework 53

Sentinel 38

To be updated as time allows.

* See literature reference From Big Bang

25

Not complete!

Pge #s to be corrected

here & there.

In the pdf version: add one digit for

every # in the list for those #s

to concur.


Time and time again a novelty arrives. CONTENTS (details) TO THE OTHER

to Violet Whole and the presentations. *

Preface 39-40

Introducing The Scematas 43-49

Above Us Only Sky Heaven And Earth 50

Out of the Blue 51 Signals

The Paradigm of Yoga Introductory 52-53

Definition of Yoga 54

Yoga Sutra I:2 55

Yoga: The Practice 56-61

Yogi 55

Hedgehog 61

Beyond Waking, Dreaming and Sleeping 62

Falling Free (Smile) 62

Three Categories of Meditation 63

Origins 64-65

Roots & Shoots 64

Back in Time 65

The Artefacts 66-69

Springs n Things Mohenjo-daro Seal 72

Evocative Headgear Steatite Seal 73

The Heuristic - - 68

Prototype - - 69

Smiling Faces 70

All the Worlds a Joy 71

The Road Goes Ever On The Journey 72

On The Yoga / The Algorhythmy 77-86

Comic strip by Tasuya Ishida Chaos Butterfly 69

The Tree of Life 71

The Eightfold Yoga / Yoga Sutra 2:29 12

Meditation, Contemplation & Concentration 13

Roadside Bird 14

26

All arrangement of content here is but temporary.

... meaning that all the things

listed here are to be

structured into this document.

CONTENTS (details) THEN ON TO FURTHER SHORES

To be updated as time allows.

* See literature reference The Bang Goes On

The Eightfold Yoga

Practical Relevance 30

1. Attitude / Ethics Yama 30

2. Behaviour / Morals Niyama 33

3. Posture / Stability / Suppleness Asana 33

4. Breath / Natural Flow Pranayama 35

5. Withdrawal Pratyahara 35

6. Focusing Dharana 36

7. Meditation (Algorhytmic Process) Dhyana 36

8. The Deep / Equilibrium Samadhi 37


Implications

Yoga Sutra 2:33-34 Deer at Pond 27

A Couple 28

Aurora Borealis * 25 Orions Inner Beauty *

Three Metaphors of Yoga 22

A New Perspective 23

Turning It All Right Side Up 24

Bliss 38

Flowers in a Round Field 41

Ontology 42

Words 43

Furthest Galaxies * 44

Creation Timeline * 45

Creation 46

Mandala 47

PART II Nature 239

Riverrun 20

Patanjali & The Yoga Sutra 21

Epistemology of the Recursive Evolutionary Algorythm 19

Structures in Yoga 15

Flight 16

The Tree of Life 17

27

... Dito.

Time and time again a novelty arrives. CONTENTS (details) AND, AT TIMES, QUITE FAR OUT

on, yet on. and the presentations. *

The Game of Life * Toy model 51

Neurophysiological Correlates Anemones 52

Single Cell Consciousness *

Jonathan C. W. Edwards 53

Genes & Memes 56

Cognitive Consternation 57

The Turing Machine

Phonosemantics

Monadology

The Logic of Inconcistency *

Robert Brandom & Nicholas Rescher 58

Infinity * 254

Nothing * 255

Four States of Consciousness 62

Emergence of Deep Structure 63

Cosmogony 64

Cosmolony 65

Background 66

The Six systems of Indian Philosophy 216

Happy 70

Medical Considerations

Afterword 71

Miscellaneous 72

Literature 73

Snakes-hand 74

Faraways 75

Watch it on the Telly 48

Cosmic Microwawe Background Radiation * 258

A Look-Out 50


31

Amateur philosopher that I am, alas, with no formal

credentials to my name, neither in scolarship nor science, yet,

with over 40 busy years of lecturing and teaching experience

in the field of Yoga as specific background, and with a rather

large, by now, library of reference at hand, I do think some

of the speculative ramblings you will find presented in the

following thesis to be worthy of at least some consideration.

In this work I, in a meandering fashion, attempt to traverse

the extremes of the abstract from pole to pole, so to say, of

its subjective and objective ranges, and then I get into relating

the resulting metaphorical construct, The Tree of Life, to

the structure of consciousness as understood both by modern

science and the age old philosophy of Yoga. From this wide,

quite immense panorama I derive a connection, a link of

deep resonance, a philosophy of the creative, a dynamic of

relevance that puts the significance of the depths of inner life

on a level a par with the understanding and advances offered

by our slick whirlpool world of today. Whatever far out con-

jecture, guesswork or supposition, whatever wild assumption

Ive employed in the stretching, bending and realigning of

ideas held by others to the specifics of my own theorizing,

whatever hariolation proffered herein it is espoused in a

benign spirit of imaginative form, it is all of my own making

and no shadow, nor the weight of any presumption of mine

should therefore be cast on the exquisite work done by great

people much smarter than me.

Juri Aidas

PREAMBLE

32

CREDO

33

Herein my aim is to share what I believe myself to

have learned of the tight connection between understanding

and experience within the subtle mind/body dynamic, of the

unity of intellect and heart, and of the implications of these

characte-ristics as evolutionary forces to be grasped and utilized

by man in our strivings to comprehend meaning and relevance

in life what its all about! In this presentation on conscious-

ness, as seen through the eyes of both modern science and the

philosophy of Yoga, my own platform, the approach I have

found myself to tend to, is the holding of a world view, such as

that held by naturalistic philosophers, and what has particularly

inspired me is a wiev close unto that of professor Daniel C.

Dennett, whom I will refer to now and then herein to cite

Mr. Dennetts definition of naturalism:

*+ naturalism, the idea that philosophical investi-

gations are not superior to, or prior to, investigations in

the natural sciences, but in partnership with those truth

-seeking enterprises, and that the proper job for

philosophers here is to clarify and unify the often

warring perspectives into a single vision of the universe.

That means welcoming the bounty of well-worn

scientific discoveries and theories as raw material for

philosophical theorizing, so that informed, constructive

criticism of both science and philosophy is possible.

(Daniel C. Dennett, Freedom Evolves, 2003, p. 15)

CREDO

ABUNDANCE from THE TREE OF LIFE.

Dharma Megha Samadhi

Raincloud of Dharma *

Now! If I just drop me umbrella ?

Effortlessly!

* The Naturally Overwhelming Great Order of The Deep

Dharma ~ The Natural Order Megha ~ Great ... Overwhelmingly so Samadhi ~ The Deep

APPLEMORE!

... approximately.

The sky is falling.

Do you know what I mean?

From Misfits; Neil Young *

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON

The Bright Blue

Who made the birds that sing in the sky?

Who made the apples that grow from trees?

Who made all the stuff, the stuff I see?

Who made the who who asks these things?

A Blue Moon, perchance it was, banging away at a dream,

Who from bright beginnings still spins a turn or two.

Yea, a blue moon to sail the mind as it does its slow motion time,

And every breath it takes makes lovers go "O Woo!"

Who knows anything, anything on that for sure?

Who can tell while caught up in the whirly gig?

Whomever kicked the starter might not even by self know how?

Yea, a blue moon, say, of momentary equilibrium lapse.

There's a faits accomplis now, and a sense of wonder thereto.

Yet I scratch my brow as my lines here ebb and flow.

Who knows the answer to all construcs of The Deep?

Who knows what words to use? What more to say?

Yet as ever that seductive question is beyond our control,

Theres no referent for backup but its fun to reflect upon,

It shimmers in the smoky haze of a vision oh so bright,

As the sun falls into the ocean at the great end of the world.

So I do my thing, another chair I provide. Sit. Rest. Enjoy.

Take a seat, made of atoms galore from the switchback unknown,

Of dynamics of past, present and of what's ahead.

A blue moon I say, keyed up. Now I turn its bright shaft.

O, mysterious are my ways. An Oh How So!

Yet deeply I dig The Deep Field and, My Oh My!,

I unearth yet another trinket from a forgotten shore;

I tune in, and take my step out into The Bright Blue.

Juri Aidas ,6 June 2011

Originator: Albatross Theme: The Big Question

Style: Folk Ballad

Listen to The Bright Blue here: http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_9264348 Blue Moon: see page 83, Daniel Dennett on John Conways The Game of Life (a deterministic toy model of the Universe ).

Whomever kicked the starter might not even by self know how?: see page 76, the Vedic Creation poem.

36

Science, to put its warrant as concisely as possible, is the organized, systematic enterprise that gathers knowledge about the world and condenses the knowledge into testable laws and principles. The diagnos-tic features of science that distinguish it from pseudoscience are first, repeatability: The same phenomenon is sought again, preferably by inde-pendent investigation, and the interpretation given to it is confirmed or discarded by means of novel analysis and experimentation. Second, economy: Scientists attempt to abstract the information into the form that is both simplest and aesthetically most pleasing the combination called elegance while yielding the largest amount of information with the least amount of effort. Third, mensuration: If something can be prop-erly measured, using universally accepted scales, generalizations about it are rendered unambiguous. Fourth, heuristics: The best science stimulates further discovery, often in unpredictable new directions; and the new knowledge provides an additional test of the original principles that led to its discovery. Fifth and finally, consilience: The explanations of different phenomena most likely to survive are those that can be connected and proved consistent with one another.

Edward O. Wilson

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, Knopf, 1998, pp. 58-59.

repeatability / economy / mensuration / heuristics / consilience

Science: the organized, systematic enterprise that gathers knowledge about the world

and condenses the knowledge into testable laws and principles. (As per above.)

Id love it if my ramblings were as structured as the demands of proper science require,

but even if I may be way way off here and there those boundaries are my guidelines.

One way of distinguishing requirements of stringency is set out below.

SCIENCE

37

Bright Light Oil on Canvas, 41 x 41 cm.

ATHA! NOW!

38

The truth which claims to be universal requires to be continually re-created. It cannot be something already possessed that only needs to be re-transmitted. In every generation, it has to be renewed. Otherwise it tends to become dogma which soothes us and induces complacency but does not encourage the supreme personal adventure. Tradition should be a principle not of conservatism but of growth and regeneration. We cannot keep the rays of the sun while we put out the sun itself. Petrified tradition is a disease from which societies seldom recover. By the free use of reason and experience we appropriate truth and keep tradition in a continuous process of evolution. If it is to have a hold on peoples minds, it must recon with the vast reorientation of thought that has taken place.

Sarvepelli Radhakrishnan *

ALIGNMENT

The poets dream speaks way out yonder.

* "The Brahma Sutra - The Philosophy of Spiritual Life", 1960, Georg Allen & Unwin Ltd., second impr. 1971, p. 8

The poet is the interpreter of the soul. We all are poets.

If youre not prepared to be wrong youll never come up with anything original!

Sir Ken Robinson at TedTalks, 2006.

If The Deep were to express itself like that, surely, that is what it would say!

39

A VISTA

The Morning Promenade Oil on Canvas, 116 x 75 cm.

41

I WOULD HERE LIKE TO INTRODUCE THE SCHEMATAS AND COLLECTIONS of discursive and referential materials regarding Life, Creation, Being, God and No God,

Evolution, Science and much else which I have collected herein. Of these ideas some I

have originated myself, they have grown out of the cognition of the structure of the

metaphor of The Tree of Life (as per the yogic perspective), others I have collected

and set forth in diverse contextual settings revolving around the dynamics embedded in

the idea of this centrally balanced and tuned metaphor; in these schematas they are

presented for referential ease, comprehension of overall view, the memory of main

points of eventual coherence of ideational thinking & for entertainment.

I prepared these many graphics and diagrams and other stuff while writing my book

The Tree of Life A Theory of Consciousness. A New Perspective, Modern Science on the Yoga

Darana; New light on the philosophy of Yoga, (2005, yet unpublished, see p. 219). Herein,

though, I have arranged the material somewhat graphically (and even expanded on it

here and there) to explain, to make the metaphor Ive developed, The Tree of Life,

more discernible to the eye, so to say, or should I say to the mind, or to the conscious

structure of the neuronal cell itself as it registers, listens to, experiences the story of its

natural domain (see the section on Single Cell Consciousness, p. 265) within the

algorithmic, genetic, memetic unfolding of evolution.

Schema I Structures in Yoga

The structure of the philosophy of Yoga in list form, p. 107 (this is traditional, though I make a few technical distinctions): this list is usually

presented with the idea of the metaphor of a ladder, eight steps of Yoga,

Asthanga-Yoga (astha, eight) thus implying a difficult journey with an

alluring finale to motivate the undertaking. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

turned the ladder upside down (see the section Three Metaphors,

p. 108), thus implying that the journey is not that hard after all if one

starts with the most important thing, the establishing of restful alertness,

which comes about as a result of a rather surprising take on the idea of

meditation, dhyana, of how this practice develops familiarity with the

preactive state of consciousness. The extension of this idea is that it

INTRODUCING THE SCHEMATAS

42

should be possible to apply the methods of Yoga from whatever level of

the ladder one prefers, or is bound to use due to the necessities and

demands of life (look at the physical Yoga, the yoga-asana, asana means

Posture of the body; its ability towards a dynamic balance in action as

well as at rest. Yoga-asanas are very good to practice if the body is tense,

and these postures, these asanas, also, in the long run, help make the

body both supple and strong, thus bringing a solid physical platform for

added sensitivity of the mind into play allowing it freedom of physical

distraction. Coupled with the Yoga of breathing, prana-yama, prana

meaning the flow of the breath, The Breathing, health and strength are

available to the body); in life mundane circumstances may at times

change quite radically so different approaches may be appropriate at

different stages in life. Yet if the overall view of Yoga is lost (the point

that these aspects of Yoga all go together), if we lose the connection to

the main trunk of this philosophy, if the perspective narrows down to

billions of rules and strange observances galore were quite off the mark.

Yoga is not difficult.

Into this list of the eight aspects of Yoga I have woven a few

important philosophical concepts from Maharishi Patanjalis analysis of

the implications of Yoga (see the sections on the Yoga-Stra, p. 60 & 91)

for developing of our perspectives on consciousness. By taking all the

eight aspects into consideration Maharishi Patanjali weaves a masterful

panorama of the evolution of the Subject, the persona.

The namings of some of these eight aspects have been slightly

modified by me. I have my own preferences on how to express these

steps: as with Withdraval, pratyahara, which sometimes is referred to by

the more cumbersome construction Retraction of the Senses (this

would be the sensation we may have while e.g. reading, being engrossed,

and not noticing somebody talking to us). The Rules of Life, yama,

become Ethics in my parlance, and The Rules for Living, niyama,

become Morals, Dharana, often translated as concentration is

preferrably referred to by me as Focusing. The Bliss of samadhi

beomes Dynamic Bliss (for examples of differences in these namings by


43

different translators of the Yoga-Stra see the section called Asthanga-

Yoga, p. 139). Yet all injunction bearing upon life and living construed

out of this dynamic structure of interrelations, the aspects of Yoga, must

be looked upon as referring to the processes of Yoga as such and are not

to be taken as ideologically defining dos and donts of action. The

results of Yoga take their own due time, and then out of these results

there appear standards to support all life, spontaneously bringing life

into balance, allowing for life-supporting action, dharma, to gain

momentum.

In all these presented schemas there are a boxes here and there with

highly speculative thinkings going on, imaginative flights sensing wild

alluring spin-offs, much rampaging guesswork and hariolation, theres a

bit of brainstorming going on hoping for brainchildren!

The Tree of Life

Schema II: The Tree of Life (p. 114, 167 & 219): in a way the yoga community traditionally does not expand the metaphor of the ladder into that of a

tree when talking about the aspects of Yoga, on account of the thought

that viewing the philosophy of Yoga in this fashion might be confusing

as the branchings of a tree commonly often represent schools of yoga.

The schools may be depicted in the form of a geneological tree with the

offshoots being different schools such as: Rja Yoga, Kria Yoga, Hatha

Yoga [this being the aspect where much focus is put on the proper

functioning of the body parts], Laya Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti yoga etc.

(a very general categorisation), all stemming from the great ancient Vedic

background. One would presumably not wish to mix metaphors. But

think it through (as I wish to do in this work) and the biases of many

different ideologies in different schools of Yoga may be held at bay.

In The Deeper Dimension of Yoga by Mr. Georg Feuerstein there is

a good description of the linkage of Yoga and Veda. As this description

also illustrates one of the traditional concepts of a Tree of Yoga, in

contrast to the perspective to be illumined with this metaphor, the idea


Schema II

44

of a Tree of Life, representing not only the growth of Yoga but its

intrinsic mechanisms as well.

This Tree of Life is my main diagram relating all the aspects of

Yoga, showing how abstract bliss is coupled to dynamic activity and

accessible even in the midst of all the goings on of the world. In the

crown of this tree of the philosophy of Yoga we find the meditative

process and we can see in the diagram how directly Meditation and

Dynamic Bliss are connected, and how the span they generate, by being

extremes, contains all the other aspects (that also allow entrance to

Yoga).

Maybe nobody thought of putting the aspect of meditation on top

before (I havent seen this structure of mine anywhere else in the yogic

literature), and then on the other side of the galaxy (to use Isaac

Asimovs construction from his novel Foundation) of the being, the

person containing all capacities imaginable, that Dynamic Bliss. Its as if

a magnifying glass is being put on the relationship of the two subtlest

aspects of Yoga that are usually hard to separate discriminatively as they

are so close really, and so affiliated that its hard to see their relationship,

how they interact, and thus this view easily identifies all the possible

branchings of the dynamics of the whole structure that is implied in this

relationship (this tree contains all of the structure of man defined by

this eightfold harmony that are to be tuned by the process of Yoga).

All the eight aspects of Yoga are, in this diagram, seen as relating to

the process of Yoga as such and are not to be interpreted ideologically

(in Yoga the mind and body are tuned to be able to express inner

potential in terms supportive to nature). For example the precepts Yama

and Niyama, the first two aspects, traditionally Observances and Rules

of Life, become Ethics and Morals in my parlance, and here they are

seen as pertaining to the actual methods of Yoga rather than serving as

ideological foundations of conduct. The end result turns out, if the

hypothesis of restful-alertness can be sustained, to be even better

generators of life supporting conduct, as the tuned and refreshed system

enmeshes itself dynamically in the active world. This kind of activity is


45

usually referred to as activity in accordance with Dharma, natural law

(this would have to bottom out in natural science or all this would be

only flights of fancy) giving rise to life-supporting action. Established in

Yoga, Perform Action is really the only message in regard to the world

that this philosophy of Yoga directs us to observe. In the other

instances, regarding the other aspects, what I mean might become much

clearer by looking at the example of brahmacharya, one of the sub-

structures of yama, Attitude (or, say, the yogic Ethics, as regards the

process of yoga as such); brahmacharya is usually thought of as sexual

abstinence, celibacy but in my opinion this only applies in the setting

of the performance of Yoga. Everybody becomes aware of the bodys

drives if one takes a moment to calm down, and the brahmacharya

concept is there to remind that theres no necessity for sex while one is

engaged in Yoga, and the technique itself has the inherent mechanism to

distract us from taking an active part in that activity, at that moment.

There are no more injunctions. Well Take care! would be one. All

precepts and rules can be seen in this manner.

Now Im thinking that this structure of a tree is composed of 7 Higgs

Fields (thats two more postulated here by me to the five theorized see

Scientific American, July 2005, The Mysteries of Mass, by Gordon

Kane the eight [yet unnamed, but for a provisional name I suggest

Perplexity Field, this field would represent another qualitative domain,

of the basic origin of all 7 fields yet carrying all their properties and

paradoxes, thus perplexity, and might all these fields together be of

such expression that they are able to be represented by the single cell [Is

Consciousness Only a Property of Individual Cells, Jonathan C.W.

Edwards, 2005, Journal of Cognitive Phhilosophy, April 2005]. They

would have to carry different complex structures, allowing for

resonances of these to propagate throughout the whole structure of the

cell). Might be these fields provide the basis of the branchings of the

dendritic tree of the neurone, as from a totally abstract level, yet

physically imprinting this dynamic of Higgs Fields and the perplexity

dynamic in the cell as an evolutionary possibility for the resulting cellular

awareness to find life-supporting expressions of different kinds for its


46

survival and enjoyment), mediated by forces that in their buildup could

in the final end interpreted as sounds, (see Scientific American, August

2005, Is the Universe out of tune, by Glenn D. Starkman and Dominic

Schwartz), becoming the SAMEDI of the cell. The cell bell!

This metaphor grew and grew, developed branches, leaves, a larger

frame, and thus it stands. I had a dream once when I was 19, I happened

to open a door in my dream, a door that wasnt there a moment before,

and I saw a great field with a great tree on a little knoll growing,

sprouting everything imaginable from its multitudes of branches and

leaves. This dream has stayed with me till this day.

Schema III Epistemology

This schema, I think, could be called An Epistemology of the

Recursive Evolutionary Algorithm. This represents my understanding

of how the process of introspection works in its most refined

appearance, as a process of meditation. I do not say the word meditation

as such only, as this word Ive noticed, means whatever people want it to

mean, therefore I talk about the meditative process instead. This schema

(may be read from wherever one may want, start anywhere) discusses, in

what I think may be a non-subjective language, the process that makes it

possible to shut off the processes of conceptual thinking and yet remain

awake (which experience is empirically stated by anyone who ever went

into a deeper inner state the Heterophenomenology of Daniel Dennett

may find something to work with in the expressions of meditative

experience), thus allowing for the bodys normalizing processes to take

over and provide whatever is necessary for the life-supporting features

matrixed in its inner structure, in its cells, to stabilize, collect themselves

and afterwards provide for a greater awareness and focus in life (if one is

tired while doing a meditation one naturally falls asleep). As natures own

master plan unfolds from the collective ambition towards the greater

clarity of this inner seeing (which may in itself be the latent potentiality

of naked consciousness the alertness part) of every Singular Cell

Consciousness of the whole system simultaneously.


47

The Tree of Life goes decoratively in the centre of this presen-

tation, surrounded by general structures, symbolically representing

centeredness (with the membrane of life surrounding all). Here we find a

paradoxical experience, that of experiencing the story of every cell yet not

being forced thereby to act in any specific matter. A witnessing of

potential as in Arjuna's vision above.

Ontology

While looking through Rogets Thesaurus I was looking at its

categories and perceived a pattern, I think, ranging from existential

abstractness, being and non-being, to affections and religion, this I also

applied to the structure of a tree. I am wondering if this could be

regarded as an Ontology of Word?, p. 250. (I slipped in my rendition of

The Tree of Life as background decoration.)

Cosmology / Cosmogony

Schema V/V I will also present this my whirling and spinning, graphically over-

indulgent, kaleidoscopic, electrical mercury schema that attempts to

integrate all of the foregoing into a complete cosmology/cosmogony

of emergence, not only of the consciousness part in abstracto but of the

whole great universe, including that of the emergence of the living cell

(due to your theorizing on Single Cell Consciousness I now may have to

revise some aspects of this presentation). I will not attempt to explain this

schema here, that I do in my book.

Creation Timeline / Emergence

Schema VII: Finally I present a final schema, a creation timeline of emergence (in

the wide sense of schematically taking all my thinkings on creation and

evolution from Alpha to Omega, so to say. This timeline is based upon

the same in Paul Brockelmans book Cosmology and Creation, 1999, p.

54. Ive had some fun with it,.*


* I have placed that Single Cell Consciousness thingy in level 4 in this my hariolatory flow.

Schema V/VI

Schema VII

Schema IV

48


I t is my hope that you, dear reader, shall at least find something of interest and value in all this verbiage. But why shouldnt there be something in here? If nothing else then may there, at the least, be brought forth a semblance of the colours of the cosmos,

a swirl of that which is hard to fathom, a traverse of the nerve of the transversal that

acts like a membrane to our understandings, of both the inner and the outer.

49


Morning Haze Over The Deep Oil on Canvas, 54 x 65 cm.

Filler page.

Yoga is one of the six systems of Indian philosophy.

the fourth, its main concern therein being personal experience

via the practical application of method.

The philosophy of Yoga has its roots in Vedic culture,

of ca. 25001700 BC,

and gets its first expos by Patanjali in the Yoga-Stra,

of ca. 200 BC100 AD.

Yoga offers the experience of a deep quiet,

in terms of both mind & body.

Yoga, as method, is process.

Its different methods thereby synergistically lead to a deep,

wakeful, refreshing rest.

Yoga relies on the spontaneity of the mind

as it journeys to rest & cognizes bliss when opportunity is given.

In Yoga an inner recursive algorhythmy is revealed.

The practitioner of Yoga, by rhythmic continuity over time,

establishes an inner sense of ease in the subjective

experience of a gravitating towards rest and then on to activity.

The application of Yoga stabilises mind & body.

This engenders dynamic activity.

The wholity of Yoga is, by metaphor, a Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life: a recursive heuristic metaphor

with which to grasp the wholity of the philosophy of yoga.

Yoga:

The Framework

Sentinel

55

O NE FINE MORNING in November 2004, a very nice quiet Sunday morning actually, while in meditation (doing my Yoga, so to say: early morning practice being very conducive to mental clarity as one naturally ought to be rested after a good

nights sleep, which I had had) anyway, I really had this deep deep moment of inner

relevance, of quietness, clarity and bliss, as time expanded, and in rays of joy I suddenly

realized how to format an expression to the experiences of life and the insights of

solitude in meditation, often going deep, that I, in my time, have had the good fortune

to partake of.

I have been teaching the methods of Yoga since 1971, and have devoted some time,

to say the least, to the study of the Yoga-Stra, the basic and quintessential text on Yoga

compiled by Maharishi Patanjali, of the 1st century A.D. (or maybe from the 3rd B.C.).

A while ago I translated a splendid English translation, by Mr. Alistair Schearer

(Effortless Being The Yoga-Stra of Patanjali, 1981), of said Sanskrit text, into

Swedish (my own command of Sanskrit being some-what sketchy though Im not

totally in the dark what regards Sanskrit usage, having become accquainted with the age

-old Sanskrit terminology of Yoga in the many years now that Ive had the opportunity

and pleasure to study with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi), and right after my translation was

done an interesting idea cropped up, enticing me: the metaphor of The Tree of Life,

a graphic representation of the Object/Subject fusion gendered by Yoga.

I have also had an ongoing affair, a bit of romance, all my life, with the sciences of

Mathematics and Philosophy and these last few years I have been delving deep deep

into the works of modern philosopher Daniel C. Dennett (of the multiple drafts model of

consciousness) and Dr. Jonathan Edwards & Dr. Sevush (of the single cell consciousness

suggestion, the Single Neurron Theory of Consciousness) who set things straight in

their writings on what consciousness is in terms of the hard sciences, in terms of

verified understanding of how nature works. The concept used herein to indicate the

Self as a Centre of Narrative Gravity I have borrowed from Mr. Dennett. In my

manifest here, though, all responsibility for considerations and conclusions drawn and

quartered, shredded, sundered, blasted, rent askew, or distorted is solely my own

everybody else is absolved. Well, that particular morning, in all quietness, I realized how

these two streams of mental survey, Science and Yoga (that clarify our roles in the

fabric of cosmos), entwine, support and actually strengthen each other. Looking back a

bit: in November 2002, with the translation of the Yoga-Stra bundled tight, I perceived

PREFACE

56

Juri Aidas

an idea of how both the structure and method of Yoga can be metaphorically presented

as a distinct Tree of Life, in all harmony too with the cosmic sea of modern science. I

drew a diagram to illustrate this but didnt then really know how to present the idea

further then, that beautiful Sunday morning, in 2004, I just knew I could express a

wholeness, as seen from perspective (paradoxical but possible), and I knew I had the

tools, the words, the concepts and the ideas to accomplish a telling, from one end of

the abstract to the other, an exposition, a world-view. So I started writing.

This little pamphlet may be taken as a companion to the writing Im alluding to

above The Tree of Life A Theory of Consciousness. A New Perspective, Modern Science on

the Yoga Darana; New light on the philosophy of Yoga., An Another Albatross Publication, 2006

(AAAP 36), where I present the background and connexion of ideas I express in graphic

format here. After having written quite an hefty portion of speculative thinking, filled

with flashy imaginings, dense thought, and a surprising vision, and after coordinating

the ideational matter into comprehensibility I felt the need to outline further chapters

and this here is what popped up, as if out of thin air.

So, in as unpretentious a manner as possible I here invite the reader to a few

moments of hazardous theoretical supposition and surmise. Maybe theres something

of value in all this? The Yoga is there, as ever, of course, but all the rest well?

Take a while. Enjoy.

57

Into The Deep

58

THE PARADIGM OF YOGA REST & ACTIVITY

Y OGA: a balancing, a unifying, an integration, a concilience of deep silence with the impulse to act. A yoke with which to carry both this an that.

I do think, yes, I think that I have managed to define the idea of

yoga in a simple paradigmatic form,

The Paradigm of Yoga: Rest & Activity.

a formulation that sort of popped up as my traverse at writing on

this topic has trawled its course. I take my cue from Master Patanjali

of long ago (of ca. 200 B.C. 100 A.D.) who composed a first compre-

hensive treatise, in four short chapters, on the wholity of the philoso-

phy of yoga, The Yoga-Stra *, it was written in a cultural milieu where

that philosophy was a long time growing, as per its Vedic roots.

In this work Patanjali defines yoga (Y.S., 1:2) with the exact state-

ment, "Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence"*; a flow for

to lead the yogi deep into The Deep, bringing rest, peacefulness, sere-

nity, and, really, its all about the obtaining of some surety and tranquil-

ity in life, refreshing.

Well, that's one of the vectors of the paradigm, the inward stance.

The corollary to this definition, the outward stance, one finds in the

BhagavadGita, "Established in yoga perform action" (B.G., 2:48,

paraphrased), obviously an injunction for one to act. Life demands

action, of course, the other extreme vector of life as we live it (not

talking life and/or death, but of life as it is being lived, as it but rolls

along, in flows an surges). There are two strong dynamics to life, one

into rest, while the other streams in the outwards direction towards

activity. Paradigmatic.

The Yoga-Stra is, as said, a short little text written in memnonic

form (stra means 'thread', as, say, in the syntactic thread that keeps the

* Effortless Being: The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. Translation by Alistair Shearer, 1981.

59

THE PARADIGM OF YOGA REST & ACTIVITY

context attuned). I compare this little work of four short chapters of

about 50 statements per chapter (196 all in all) with, say, the axiomatic

works of Euclid, short, to the point, precise, neat. Patanjalis work is a

deep synthesis of the elements of yoga as assigned to categories as per

processual considerations.

So. From Patanjali we get a full description of yoga, as concerns its

inward stance, and we also get a glint at what lies in wait, at what may

manifest, way over, in amongst the multifarious possibilites in the field

of action. (See, Yoga Sutra, Ch., III.)

(These two pages I regard as an introductory to this presentation

on the subject of yoga. Look to their origin on page 77, right at the

beginning of the section titled On The Yoga: An Algorhythmy.)

60

On the definition of Yoga in translation and interpretation.

The ida about and the definition of a stilling of the many activities

of the mind is treated quite somewhat differently (to so say) by the

many different interpreters.

The definition of Yoga, in translations from the Sanskrit, thus

carries perspectives formed of two opposite criteria:

1. Allowing 2. Restrictive

In the following overview of the definition of yoga as per the Yoga

Sutra we find many similarities in the gestalts of the different transla-

tions but we also find qute divergent stances on how the stilling of the

mind comes about. Alistair Shearer holds forth the process of stilling

the mind as a naturalness, an effortlessness, yet in some other transla-

tions the effort of a subjugation of the mind is rather distinct; in this

theres the arc of a span but illustrating the extremes.

Do compare the highlighted word in each of the translations I

quote from. If one takes a look in some of the available translations of

the Yoga-Stra it is interesting to find that within those pages we will

find a great variety of interpretation, of gestalt, of the same original

ideas. But they come in two flavours, one of ease, effortlessness, natu-

ralness, the allowing of the process of yoga to flow in its application

and then come those views that take a harsher, more restrictive view of

the process and its methodics there is an historic progression here to

be recognized (see overview on next page) from restrictive to allowing

that begins to unfold from the 1970s and onwards until today. **

DEFINITION OF YOGA THE SETTLING OF MIND INTO SILENCE

* Patanjali, Yoga Stra, 1:2; translation by Alistair Shearer. ** See page 90 where I compare Y.S. 2:29, The Eight Aspects of Yoga, in this same manner,

Yoga-chitta-vritti-nirodahah

Method in a context the mind its expressions quitening

Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence.*

61

Allowing

Alistair Schearer

Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. (The Yoga-Stra of Patanjali Effortless Being, 1982; ed. 2002, p. 107.)

Barbara Stoler Miller

Yoga is the cessation of the turnings of thought. (Yoga Discipline of Freedom The Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patanjali, 1995, p. 29.)

Chip Hartranft

Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness. (The Yoga-Stra of Patanjali A New Translation with Commentary, 2003, p. 2.)

P. Y. Deshpande

Yoga is that state of being in which the ideational choice-making movement of the mind slows down and comes to a stop.

(The Authentic Yoga Patanjalis Yoga Sutras, 1978, p. 19.)

B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga is the cessation of movements in the consciousness. (Light on the Yoga Stras of Patajali, 1993, p. 50.)

Restrictive

Georg Feuerstein

Yoga is the restriction of the fluctuations of consciousness. (The Yoga-Stra of Patanjali A New Translation and Commentary, 1979B, p. 26.)

Swami Hariharnanda Aranya

Yoga is the suppression of the modifications of the mind. (Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali, 1963, p. 7.)

W.Y. Evans

Yoga is the inhibition of the mental processes. (The Yoga-System of Patanjali - Or the Ancient Hindu Doctrine of Concentration of Mind, 1927, p. xx.)

Trevor Leggett:

Yoga is inhibition of the mental processes. (ankara on the Yoga-Sutras, Volume 1, 1981, p. 14.)

I.K. Taimini

Yoga is the inhibition of the modifications of the mind. (The Science of Yoga, 1961; ed. 1975, p. 6.)

Alice A. Bailey

This Union (or Yoga) is achieved through the subjugation of the psychic nature and the restraint of the chitta (or mind).

(The Light of The Soul, 1927; ed. 1975, p. 9.)

- YOGA SUTRA 1:2 THE SETTLING OF MIND INTO SILENCE

62

YOGA: THE PACTICE AN INWARDS AND AN OUTWARDS STANCE

Y EAH, DON'T LIFE HAVE IT'S UPS AN' DOWNS. Surely ... and we rush about, do this, do that, another experience, another moment in time filled with wondrous stuff and gyrating tangibles.

Spinnin' wheel, tumblin' dice, mucho enterprise ... and where does it

all lead? "When considering travel for sightseeing, remember: Always

See Home First."* Yes. Home! Don't we all want to have peace reign

at home, and from there have it spread out into the world in a

compassionate flow? Surely. That inner peace that offers us a buffer to

the ups an' downs of life, how does one access it, how do we make it a

permanent fixture, a day to day reality?

Myself I have the background of having studied with the great

teacher Maharishi Mahesh Yogi since 1969, and teaching since 1971,

yet my aim here is to modernize the nomenclature of yoga and to draw

attention to a new way of looking at the wholity of it as paradigmatic,

as said, and by making use of the metaphor of a tree, in delineating its

mechanics. I use the recursive algorhythmy of the yogic paradigm of

rest and activity to stabilize my being (that intangibility), both the inner

and outer. What I wish to say is that the concept 'yoga' must be looked

upon in the context of its wholity. Mostly nowadays it is regarded as

some form of excercise, a supple aerobics perchance, but, yet, that

practice is really a part of a wholity for to make the full impact of

'yoga' a fact. Taken out of context that yoga, of the body, becomes but

another training, but an activity among activities. Yoga as a wholity is a

philosophy of the practical as regards the basis of all activity, one foot

rests as the other takes a step. Rest is the basis of activity, a rest that

provides a deep wakeful exprienced alertness of the still consciousness

(like a candle in a room where no wind blows), when no questions rise

and no answers of the blowing wind need intrude to set yet another

conceptual train in motion. The physical aspect of yoga (which is not

to be underestimated) is not an end in itself, it needs to be integrated

with all the other parts of the philosopy of experience, yoga.

* Comment by Ronald in the Sinfest Forum.

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A COMPLETE YOGA SESSION concerns itself with and handles all of its eight aspects: (I.) attitude (the willingness to learn and discuss the subject); (II.) behaviour (as regards the practice itself, not

as an ideological determinate); the body, (III.) posture (the physical

yoga is termed hatha-yoga wherein one practices postures, asanas,

these make the body supple and smooth, but they do not train

strength, there's no weightlifting going on in this, one checks the

functionality of the body and establishes a balance to movements and,

yes, posture); (IV.) the breath, breathing (breath should flow naturally,

it goes out, it goes in, and in the extremes of that flow it rests, it turns

around by itself, trust the autonomy of the physical system to take care

of that, when one is stressed it's harder to breathe, it becomes

irregular, it jerks back an' forth, jumps hither an' thither and

destabilizes the system even more, in yoga one goes for the natural

flow of it which means allowing the inbreath and the outbreath to find

their still fulcrums where the flow turns around naturally ... there's

really no need to count seconds this, seconds that, seconds what, one

takes conscious control of the breathing for a little while and guides it

into a natural flow, this will calm the mind somewhat and set the stage

for the next aspect of the recursive algorhythmy of the yogic process;

(V.) withdrawal, or say absorption (in this the mind starts its settling

down and leaves the objects of the senses to their fates, to their causal

reverberations, which will fade as the yogic process deepens ... a simile

for this is a turtle that withdraws its limbs, (where'd they go?), this

state of absorption is recognized in the almost universal experience

of being engrossed in a book and someone speaks and we do not

take note but yet a moment later we may be somewhat bewildered

an' befuddled as to what was said (did someone speak? um, what'd

ya say?); in the recognition of that initial absortption, or withdrawal,

the yogic process induces a spark of activity, a slight, effortless

(VI.) focusing, this very subtly alerts the mind as it drifts, an

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unhurried effortless application of such a spark over some time will

distract the ideational choice-making movement of the mind and lead

it to the non-participation in any further activity, the mind will start to

settle down; and that is (VII.) meditation, a natural falling inward,

away from the field of activity; into (VIII.) the deep (at times

conceptualized as pure consciousness, but I won't an' I shan't stick my

finger into that nest of epistemological labeling diversity, so, for unitys

sake I but term it 'the deep'. And therein, in The Deep one rests

deeply, yet with consciousness retained, alertness remains, but one

does not 'do' anything, that's why one cannot put ones finger on that

utmost of subjective experiences (though it has it's physical correlates

[see reference below]), to, figuratively, put ones finger into the

experience would be activity and thus contradict that experience. We

but close in on that depth and just like we may sense the sea even

before we see it we head towards it ever attracted by the deep serenity

and restful peace that lies in wait to engulf us as we arrive.

The text here above and what will follow I wrote on The-Brights

Forum in a general discussion on how to handle stress.

Diversions are good for destressing. I play my guitar and I love to

read them olde Carl Barks Donald Duck comics. And I must say that I

find that guy Tasuya Ishida of Sinfest to have something of the same

liberating attitude to life as I see in the very humane behaviour of the

Ducks of Barks. They are all good people, even though Donald is

prone to lose his temper quite so often there's always a sequence of

happenings that lead into the absurd that'd make most anyone hit the

wall. I get a laugh out of that kind of stuff and that mostly sets me up

for a fine day.

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All those ordinary diversions one usually recommends for relief

from the burdens of life are good, very good. Walks in the forest,

bicycling, honing of the physical skills, all the good stuffs of life. I

concur. I take a walk around the local lake an' I feel fine. Though with

the yoga it is a different thing for me. I do that as a regular daily

practice (early mornings and afternoons, that's twice a day) and the

point of it is that when I go deep and the inner clouds roll away and

my I ceases it's constant grab for attention and I'm neither here or

there or anywhere and I don't even try then I rest, deeply. Coming out

of that I feel a deep peace envelop me, my body feels coordinated and

I'm set do to into the world, and then to lose that and then to go back

for more. The purpose of yoga is activity, engagement in the demands

of life, being a part of it all, and to enjoy that. The practice of yoga is a

preparation for that. One goes in, one goes out. Simple. It is that back

an' forthing that builds strength in all, and not just in this an' that.

For me the practice of yoga in my daily structures starts with, of

course, my attitude to it all, my willingness to learn and then to

experience. Knowledge and experience go hand in hand, so to say,

there's a feedback mechanism in that. Then of course I check my

behaviour in the practice as such, I choose a spot where I may be free

from interference, I don't wish to provoke anyone to have to be

extremely quiet either as I do my practice, in this I withdraw some (a

whiff of the later stages of the process) to a secluded spot, and I drink

my coffe after the practice (or I'd just be full of the speed of that).

Then I do a few minutes of a physical yoga sequence, stretch, roll,

massage, an' so on. When one participates in a class for the physical

yoga one, sort of, learns a sequence of movements but at home there

may not be time for an hour of rolling on the floor. In the day to day

thingy I do, say, five ten minutes of that. I don't want to get into an

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excess of physical activity as I wish to progress with the recursive

algorhythmy into a state of deep, deep wakeful rest. So I continue by

taking a seat, allowing my head to be free on top of me shoulders. If

the back is not strong enough one may lean it, but of course if one

leans ones head a dullness reflex will take over and one will drift into

some state of torpor. If I do get tired during the practice I stop it and

lie down and rest for a little while, then I continue, if time allows. So

when I have taken a set in a comfortable manner I do a few minutes

of the breathing excercise, but in this situation I do a simple one,

wherein I take concious control of the rhythm of the flow of it and

then I gradually let that slip away as the breathing normalizes and the

need to establish the flow vanishes. The breathing becomes more and

more autonomic in this and falls into the background. These four

parts of the yogic sequence are the outer limbs of yoga. From there on

one will most certainly find a slight absorption with the inner to have

made its entrance, one forgets about the demands that circulate in the

worldie and as that deepening is felt I introduce a meaningless word

(that I have received from someone else so that I do not fill that up

with my own associative matrix), just an impulse of it, a slight

focusing. That kind of word-sound is what is termed a 'mantra'. But I

don't repeat it an any manneristic way, I but introduce that into the

flow of the summer clouds of thoughts and it drops away, when I

realize that I do that again (this is where the 'recursivity' of the

algorhythmy is specific). After a while the whole process of this fades

away and as my ideational thinking has become distracted to the point

of thoughts not bothering to arrive there is as if a pull, the meditative

falling, towards the ocean of the deep (which I regard as a subjective

silence and not as any state of epistemological or ontological

characteristic, pure consciousness is a flowery word for it, for me it's

but subjective quiet). These final four aspects of yoga are called the

inner limbs of yoga.

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Then I act. Then I return to the world of cause and effect.

Good luck to you my readers with your life and your ambitions ...

and may you stay forever young.

I'd like to add that the whole sequence of this practice takes me

about 20 to 40 minutes depending on whether I have time on my

hands or not; a few minutes of the yoga, e.g. a slight breating excerzise

or a very short meditation can at times be refreshing when action

really start spinnin over wings an things. When I have no other obli-

gations to fulfill I may take to longer stretches of the yoga, wallowing

in the deep, as the waves of clarity roll in, bowl me over, make me

happy inside. Then I go for action and enjoy that too.

Hedgehog

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BEYOND WAKING, DREAMING AND SLEEPING GOING DEEPER

I found a collection of treatsies on consciousness the other day: States of Consciousness: Experimental Insights into Meditation, Waking, Sleep and Dreams (The whole book is downloadable from

here, link, I found this on a Facebook page, Neuroscience library,

covering books on neuroscience, consciousness studies, psychology,

et al.) In chapter 10 of that book some different categorizations of

meditative processes are quite well conceptualized as: focused attention

meditations, open monitoring meditations and automatic self-transcending

meditations. Quite an interesting terminology, might be that that may

clear the nomenclature of different meditational practices (I have my

quips though with the concept pure consciousness as the ontological

and epistemological sense of that concept is yet to be determined).

Falling Free

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THREE CATEGORIES OF MEDITATION REST & ACTIVITY

In chapter 10, authored by Frederick Travis, States of Consci-

ousness Beyond Waking, Dreaming and Sleeping: Perspectives from

Research on Meditation Experiences, the distinctions are discussed.

Abstract *

Three categories of meditation practices have been

proposed: focused attention meditations, which involve

voluntary and sustained attention on a chosen object;

open monitoring meditations, which involve non-reactive

monitoring of moment-to-moment content of experience; and

automatic self-transcending meditations, which are designed

to transcend their own activity. While focused attention and

open monitoring meditations explore the nature of individual

cognitive, affective, and perceptual processes and experiences,

automatic self-transcending meditations explore the state

when conscious processing and experiences are transcended, a

state called pure consciousness. This paper reports unique

pheno-menological and physiological patterns during the state

of pure consciousness, as experienced during Transcendental

Meditation(TM) practice, a meditation in the automatic self-

transcending category. These data support the description of

pure consciousness as a fourth state of consciousness with

unique phenomenological and physiological correlates. This

paper also discusses the Junction Point Model that integrates

meditation experiences with the three ordinary states of

waking, sleeping, and dreaming. The Junction Point Model is

supported by EEG data and provides a structure to integrate

ordinary experience during waking, sleeping, and dreaming

with meditation experiences and so can serve as a foundation

for investigating the full range of human consciousness.

* Frederic Travis, chapter 10 (p. 223, in the pdf)

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ORIGINS BEYOND THE BEYOND

Roots & Shoots

I n a topic-thread on The Brights Forum on the meaning of the word zen I commented on a mention as to the meaning of said word, zen, as in zen-buddhism: Zen is a Japanese translation of Chan

which is a chinese translation of the sanskrit word Dhyana. (This was from a

post by mushin, of The Brights, and the same has also been stated

more extensively by Prof.M of The Brights. Ill try to come up with a

link.)

Now, dhyana is a concept of the meditative process in yoga,

dubbed 'meditation' for short (which generally causes much confusion

as meditation seemingly may mean anything to anybody) - meditation

in yoga is a processual movement of cognatory apprehending from

more active platforms of engagement to less active such without loss of

the cognitory faculty. So. I'd like to get in a few words on the tradition

of Yoga and its Vedic foundations as I think that would be appropriate

here, as that background also touches on the roots of Buddhism.

In "The Deeper Dimension of Yoga", 2003, p. 39, by Georg

Feuerstein, there is a good description of the linkage of Yoga and

Veda - as this description also illustrates the traditional concept of a

"Tree of Yoga" (where the metaphor of a tree is used the traditional

way as referring to schools of yoga, that I contrast with the

perspective I have spent some time in developing and which I present

in this work here in this collection of ideas, "The Tree of Life", mine

own way of using the metaphor of a tree represents not only the

growth of Yoga but it's intrinsic mechanisms as well, which I herein

shall endeavour to clarify), so, I think it may be fitting to cite this

paragraph of Mr. Feuerstein's more fully.

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ORIGINS OF ANCIENT HISTORY

Back in Time

Yoga may be pictured as a major branch of a gigantic

tree whose roots are anchored deep in the Neolithic

age, with the highest branch of its canopy still growing in

our era. The base of its stem is formed by the Vedic

culture, as we know it from the surviving four

hymnodies: the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sma-Veda, and

Atharva-Veda. Careful study of these works reveals that

the seers (rishi) who composed them were steeped in

Yoga, which they still call tapas, often rendered as

ascetism (from the verbal root tap to glow). Their

Yoga was entirely a solar Yoga, with the Sun being the

focus of their spiritual aspirations. Much later, in the

Bhagavad-Gita (4.1) the Sun is remembered as the

original teacher of Yoga.

[ ... ]

Shortly after the time of the Upanishads of the middle

period ... the trunk of our figurative tree split in three.

The thick middle trunk continued the Vedic tradition

leading to what came to be called Hinduism; the second

trunk evolved the small but ramifying tradition of

Jainism; and the third trunk unfolded the complex

tradition of Buddhism. *

* Georg Feuerstein, "The Deeper Dimension of Yoga", 2003, p. 39.

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THE ARTEFACTS HARAPPA & MOHENJO-DARO

Springs & Things

T he first glimpse of Yoga to be seen in the history of mankind glimmers subtly suggestive among archeological artefacts from the land of the Indus valley, from 2500 years before the Yoga-Stra; a

fascinating vista to reach us, well & hale.

These artefacts are a remnant of a culture called Harappa,

localised to numerous sites around the area of Mohenjo-daro

(a district of what is now Pakistan). At these locations many seals of

hard clay have been found, eg. the Mohenjo-daro seal *, upon which

one sees the figure of a Shaman(?). seated in a traditional yogic posture.

Mohenjo-daro seal

http://www.yogagalaxy.com/history-of-yoga

( * for more on the Mohenjo-daro seal as prototype for the basic idea of a metaphor of a Tree of Life with which to reference the philosophy of yoga see page 90.)

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THE ARTEFACTS PROTOTYPES

See further at http://www.pitt.edu/~asian/week-1/week-1.html

Evocative Headgear

The seals here depicted can be dated from between ca. 2500-1500

BC and have been found in great numbers at sites in the Indus valley

of Pakistan. They are lettered in a yet unciphered script; figurines and

animals have been carved in intaglio against the background.

Steatite-seal Paupati

http://www.yogajournal.com/history/s1.html

The one above here, the Steatite-seal (of steatite-clay) carries a

representation of a male figure, with strange headgear, in what might

be a traditional yoga-posture. The association with the surrounding

animals and the posture suggest that this motif might depict a respec-

ted person (shaman/yogi?).

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* Heuristic (hy-rs'tk); The teaching on methods of finding new scientific insight.

[From Greek heuriskein, to find.]

adj.

Of or relating to a usually speculative formulation serving as a guide in the investigation or solution of a problem: The historian discovers the past by the judicious use of such a heuristic device as the ideal type (Karl J. Weintraub).

Of or constituting an educational method in which learning takes place through discoveries that result from investigations made by the student.

Computer Science. Relating to or using a problem-solving technique in which the most appropriate solution of several found by alternative methods is selected at successive stages of a program for use in the next step of the program.

n.

An heuristic method or process;

Heuristics (used with a sing. verb); The study and application of heuristic methods and processes.

THE HEURISTIC FROM FAR AWAY

* Heuristic http://www.answers.com/topic/heuristic

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Heuristically speaking ...

The ancient symbolism of a eightfold branching structure springing from its roots in

the human consciousness, as seen in the Mohenjo-daro seal, may be regarded as

an early prototype of the metaphor of The Tree of Life *

which finds its expression in the philosophy and practice of the yogic stance, by the

effective application of the yogic paradigm of rest and activity. Applied algorhythmy

of yogic method brings the dynamic of deep wakeful rest into the field of activity to

thus stabilize its ever rising and falling and rising and falling flows.

he ideas in this presentation intend the exploration of a wholistic

view of the philosophy of Yoga and endeavour in this to develop an

heuristic metaphor (with an inner recursive dynamic) for all of Yoga.

PROTOTYPE OF THE TREE OF LIFE FROM LONG AGO

Prototype

T

* The Tree of Life: see page 105 for the details to this metaphor.

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Smiles

77

All the worlds a joy And all the stars are bright.

Come runaway child Be my pleasure, my delight. I love the song you strum,

I love that rhyme, Be mine awhile.

And all the ways of love

Whirl that firmament above. O! Blessed abode!

O! Blessed child of God! Everywhere you go

Flowers bloom all around, And I will sing with you.

I will sing with you

For all tygers of the night, When soft and lean

Their paws embrace us here! Peace of mind, peace of mind!

And the beacon of your eye Calm this soul of mine.

I soar rifts and ridges

I scale the heights. Yea my love,

Fall free with me awhile. Share holy wine,

Heaven and Earth entwine, May love abide.

Ah! Take me to the valley

And love me there. Where honey and roses

Pour fragrance on the air. Like paradise I guess,

Yea, Ill sing it all here. To sing with you.

Juri Aidas 28 February 2003

ALL THE WORLDS A JOY

FROM THE INNER WELL

Originator: Albatross Theme: Song of Life Style: Folk Ballad

Listen to this song as performed by An Another Albatross at: http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_2049431

I will sing with you

For all tygers of the night, When soft and lean

Their paws embrace us here! Peace of mind, peace of mind!

And the beacon of your eye Calm this soul of mine.

Yea! All the worlds a joy

And all the stars are bright. Come runaway child

Be my pleasure, my delight. I love the song you strum,

I love that rhyme, Be mine awhile. Be mine awhile. Be mine awhile.

78

The Journey Oil on Canvas, 54 x 65 cm.

THE ROAD GOES EVER ON STEP LIGHTLY

( Permission to use kindly granted by Tommy Dahln.)

79

Y oga: a balancing, a unifying, an integration, a concilience of deep silence with the impulse to act. A yoke with which to carry both this an that.

a formulation that sort of popped up as my traverse at writing on this topic has

trawled its course. I take my cue from Master Patanjali of long ago (of ca. 200 B.C. 100

A.D.) who composed a first comprehensive treatsie on the philosophy of yoga, The Yoga-

Stra *, in a cultural milieu where that philosophy was a long time growing, as per its

Vedic roots. In this work Patanjali defines yoga (Y.S., 1:2) with the statement, "Yoga is

the settling of the mind into silence"; a flow for to lead the yogi deep into The Deep,

bringing rest, peacefulness, serenity, and, really, its all about the obtaining of some

surety and tranquility in life, refreshing.

Well, that's one of the vectors of the paradigm, the inward stance. The corollary to

this definition, the outward stance, on

Yoga and The Natural World

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