Ashtanga Yoga - The Intermediate Series. Gregor Maehle

your practice of yoga and thereby develop a personal relationship to the divine powers and ancient sages of yoga.

      In this chapter I first explain the various categories of posture names and provide a table (see p. 31) that shows which category each Intermediate Series posture falls into. (You may notice that a few postures fall into more than one category, which reflects the richness of Indian mythology, wherein many terms have more than one meaning or connotation.) Then I provide some mythological context for each of the postures of the Intermediate Series.

      The Categories of Postures

      There are four categories of posture names: postures dedicated to lifeless forms, postures representing animals, postures representing human forms, and postures representing divine forms. Each category has its own unique gunic makeup, as explained below. Postures of the Primary Series tend to represent tamas guna (mass particle), those of the Intermediate Series are generally an expression of rajas guna (energy particle), and Advanced Series postures appear to be permeated by sattva guna (intelligence particle).

       POSTURES DEDICATED TO LIFELESS FORMS

      Lifeless forms are primarily made up of tamas guna. Most of the postures of the Primary Series are dedicated to lifeless forms, while the Intermediate Series (consisting of twenty-seven postures) includes eight asanas that fall into this category. Seven of these represent ancient forms of weaponry: the noose (Pashasana), the weapon of Yama (the Lord of Death) and Varuna (the Lord of the Ocean); the thunderbolt (three variations of Vajrasana), the weapon of Indra; the iron beam (Parighasana), a weapon used by Lord Hanuman; and the bow (Dhanurasana and Parshva Dhanurasana). Only Vatayanasana (window posture) represents a lifeless form that is not a weapon.

       POSTURES REPRESENTING ANIMALS

      This category is the dominant one in the Intermediate Series, with twelve postures. Animals tend to be rajasic.¹ Many of the animals from which postures take their names are related to asuras (demons) of the same name. For example, Krounchasana takes its name from krouncha, the Sanskrit word for heron, but Krouncha is also the name of an asura. Both animals and demons are thought to identify primarily with the body (whereas humans have the capacity to access and identify with their divine selves). Like animals, asuras are primarily of rajasic nature. In animals the rajas tend to manifest as fear, whereas the asuras tend to make anger their downfall.

       POSTURES REPRESENTING HUMAN FORMS

      A third category of yoga postures includes those dedicated to human forms. We find in this category postures named after parts of the human anatomy and after ancient human masters. Human beings are at various times under the sway of tamas, rajas, or sattva. For this reason, asanas are named only after those humans who have gone beyond their animalistic and demonic natures and have awakened to their inherent divinity. These are typically Vedic rishis or in some cases illustrious Tantric yoga masters. The purpose of this category of postures is to remind us of the sacred exploits of these masters and also to remind us of the divine potential inherent in every human. There are six postures in the Intermediate Series that fall into this category, with two of them named for sages (Bharadvajasana and Ardha Matsyendrasana), but we will find many more in later sequences.

       LIGHT ON ASURAS

      Although the Sanskrit word asura is generally translated as “demon,” this is, of course, problematic. Alternative translations are demigod, titan, and devil. Like the so-called gods (devas) and humans, the asuras, or anti-gods, are subject to the law of karma. Not all asuras cast negative figures; some of them have been outstanding spiritual beings. The asura king Prahlada, for example, was a great devotee of the Supreme Being in the form of Lord Vishnu, and the asura Vibhishana was a devotee of Lord Rama. The asura Baka was a devotee of the Supreme Being in the form of the Lord Krishna. The asura Ghattotkatcha, son of Bhima, was one of the greatest fighters on the side of the Pandavas during the Mahabharata war, and consequently shed his life for them.²

      The Ramayana’s description of the asura fortress Lanka reads like that of a modern, sophisticated metropolis: Lanka is described as incredibly wealthy, beautiful, clean, and orderly, and its citizens learned, intelligent, and brave. The demons of Lanka, however, tend to make the wrong choices and follow a corrupt leader.

      We need to understand asura metaphorically as having the potential for negative traits; for us humans it is important to recognize asura as our own dark side, our shadow that is always there. Conversely, deva is the light within us. We should not smirk at the naïveté of ancient societies and their talk about demons; instead we should consider that our own demonic potential can surface in many ways in the course of one day. There is no point in seeing the dark side only in others, either. Each human being has in each moment the choice to follow his or her demonic or divine potential. Only if we can acknowledge our own asuric potential can we overcome it. If we deny our dark side, it will only get stronger and stronger and surface in the most unlikely and most unwanted situations.

       POSTURES REPRESENTING DIVINE FORMS

      The final category of postures is those named after divine forms. No postures in the Intermediate Series are named directly for a divine form, but several postures are related to celestial beings. These include Pashasana (the noose being the weapon of Varuna and Yama), Kapotasana (Kapota being one of the hundred names of Lord Shiva), the three Vajrasanas (the thunderbolt or vajra being the weapon of Lord Indra), and Yoganidrasana (which refers to the child form of the Lord Vishnu during the great deluge, Mahapralaya). There are many postures named after divine forms in the later, more advanced sequences.

      Table 2 summarizes the categories and locates each Intermediate Series posture within its category.

      Next we will take a closer look at the mythology behind the name of each posture.

      Mythology of Posture Names

      PASHASANA (NOOSE POSTURE)

      The Sanskrit term pasha means “noose.” Noose refers here to the position of the arms, which are thrown like a noose around the legs. Pasha is also one of the thousand names of the Lord Shiva, who is also called Pashaye, Lord with the noose.³ The Hatha Yoga Pradipika starts with the assertion that it was the Lord Shiva (known in this case as Adinatha, or “primeval master”) who first taught yoga.⁴ What could be more befitting than to start the Intermediate Series with an homage to the moon-crested Lord who is held to be the author of yoga?

      

       THE UNFATHOMABLE DIVINE

      Divine forms, also known as devas or celestials, are sometimes called gods, but as mentioned in chapter 2, this term is slippery and simplistic. As the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra convincingly state, there is only one Brahman. However, this abstract, formless Brahman is difficult to understand. For this reason, the pragmatic approach of the Vedic teaching is to form a close, intimate, personal relationship with one of the aspects or manifestations of the Divine.

      Divine forms are meditation images of the Supreme, but their function and importance do not end there. They are also aspects of our higher nature. Here deities are not so much independent