Comments on: Quacks R Us

By: Sraddha

Sraddha — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:33:11 +0000

UK to crack down on tantriks, babas selling false remedies.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/indians-abroad/UK-to-crack-down-on-tantriks-babas/articleshow/4877560.cms

and yoga instructors, who promote soy bean : ) Apparently, blind leading the blind is not acceptable : )

By: Sraddha

Sraddha — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:59:59 +0000

I wanted to add this to Visvas’s comment. I don’t expect the teacher to be as grand as Sri Krishnamacharya. I would like the teacher to be experienced, grounded and not just speak from some paper knowledge. It is very different from practical life. The difference between the student and the instructor is just a little extra information that one accrued over a few weekends, which to me is ridiculous.

By: Sraddha

Sraddha — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:58:22 +0000

I agree with Vishvas, one hundred percent!

By: Sraddha

Sraddha — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:26:31 +0000

I agree with you on that artichokes being living beings too. I know someone who wants to start PETB, people for ethical treatment of Broccoli : )

My point is that the advice being given is not balanced, if tofu is all it takes to practice ahimsa. I do not agree with this. There is also this peer pressure to be a vegan if one is a yogi. The teachers and the students are constantly talking about it, the vegan restaurants, the raw food habits. Sometimes I feel they are psyched into this and it is only a matter of time they will snap out of this unbalance.

I find your comment interesting that harming humans is worse than harming chickens. I agree with you that ahimsa is not just a narrow definition of being a vegan. There are so many other aspects of yoga and life otherwise, where a lot of violence is involved.

By: Hanuman

Hanuman — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:49:46 +0000

Patañjali also said (YS II.34) that ahimsa (and others) shouldn’t be done, caused to be done or approved. I think it’s ok if somebody wants to be vegan because ahimsa, but one should be able to keep in mind all the ways that we have to harm living beings; when we shop fancy yoga outfits produced in sweatshops in third world countries we are approving and supporting this practices, and personally I think that it’s worst to harm people than chickens… Maybe we decided to not eat meat because we don’t like to harm living beings; the bad news is that artichokes and lettuces are living beings also.

On this point, I used to remember a quote from Kularnava Tantra (9.29): “For him who sees himself as Aum or as the Self, there is neither checking of breath nor closing of nostrils, neither Yama nor Niyama, neither Yoga based Padmasana nor fixing the gaze on the tip of the nose.”

By: Vishvas

Vishvas — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:37:25 +0000

“I am of the opinion that yoga instructors should not give any advice regarding diet, vitamins, rajas, tamas, chakras and gem stones. For one, yoga instructors are not qualified in that field.” Unless, that person happens to be Sāṃkhya-yoga-śikhāmaṇi, Mīmāṃsā-ratna, Mīmāṃsā-thīrtha, Nyāyācārya, Vedāntavāgīśa, Veda-kesari and Yogācārya.