WHO IS THE FOUNDER OF ASTANG YOGA?THE FOUR PATHS OF YOGA-16

WHO IS GURU DATTATREYA?---

05 POINTS--

Gurudeva Datta gave Ashtanga Yoga (eight fold path of Yoga) to the world thousands of years ago. Patanjali codified this knowledge in sootra forms. HIS Birth:--

1-Dattatreya had descended into the realm of world as progeny of Atri and Anusuya, a sage couple of the Vedic age. Anusuya became very famous for her devotion to her husband. She was the embodiment of chastity.

2-Such was her spiritual power that, even hard earth turned soft and smooth for her as she walked about. This pious woman induced jealousy and envy in others, however, and the three Gods decided to prove these doubting elements. How wrong they were-----the elderly guests became babies! 3-Sage Atri on his return to the hermitage saw his wife Anusuya fondling three babies. Anusuya said “These children are the gift of God to us who have been childless so far”. Sage Atri was overjoyed and named them Datta, which means ‘given’.

4-At this the three Gods reverted to their real forms and disclosed the truth. They extolled the power of chastity and purity of Anusuya which vanquished the combined and colossal powers of all three of them. Sage Atri and Anusuya prayed that they should remain as their sons. They consented and the three Gods merged into one body. 5-This is how Shri Dattatreya incarnated and is known as Gurudeva Datta – the Guru of all Gurus. He is the embodiment of total Godhead. All the aspects of Godhead are fully manifest in Him. His faces and form are ever radiant with peace and divine charm.

EIGHT FACTS ABOUT GURU DATTATREYA----- 1- The Cow, which is always with Him, represents the Mother Earth and Dharma. She is the wish fulfilling cow ‘Kamadhenu‘. 2- The four dogs symbolise the four Vedas – the external repositories of Spiritual Wisdom. 3- The Trident indicates that He has transcended the three gunas, which constitute the illusory world: Sattva-illumination, Rajas-activity and Tamas-inertia. 4- The ‘Sudharshana chakra‘ , disc indicates that He is beyond the cycles of time i.e. the past, present and future and His holding of ‘chakra’ means .He is the controller of time. 5- The Conch represents the eternal sound ‘AUM’ – which is the manifestation of the Spirit. It is also the life principle in us and the cosmos. 6- The ‘Bhasma‘ ashes indicated His ‘Vairaagya‘ dispassion as well as His purity. Ashes indicate the evanescent nature of all created nature of all created objects and the ultimate state of all matter. 7- He always carries a begging bowl so as to teach us the lesson that we will have to share our wealth and food with others. 8- The Japa-mala, rosary He wears reminds us that our primary duty is chanting the sacred name of the Lord and meditating on the feet of the Lord, and our redemption depends on this discipline alone. Shri Dattatreya, in order to bless His devotees and the righteous ones, wanders about in the guise of a random guest at the lunch hour. That’s why it is said that a random guest has to be treated as the very embodiment of Lord Dattaterya. God’s creation was His Guru: He had twenty four Gurus. Shri Dattatreya had twenty four teachers from nature “many are my preceptors,” he told King Yadu, “selected by my keen sense, from whom acquiring wisdom freely, I wander in the world…. NAME OF HIS 24 GURUS-- 1-The earth,2- air/breeze,3- sky, fire, 4-the sun,5- pigeon, 6-python, 7-sea, 8-moth, 9-elephant, 10-ant, 11-fish, 12-Pingala13- the courtesan, 14-arrow-maker,15- infant/playful boy,16- the moon, 17-honeybee, 18-deer, 19-bird of prey,20-maiden, 21-serpent, 22-spider,23- caterpillar 24-water

THESE ARE HIS 24 PRECEPTORS. MENTION HIS TEACHINGS---- Guru Dattatreya gave Ashtanga Yoga.

It comprises:----- 1. Yama – non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-receiving of any gifts. Moral discipline. 2. Niyama – cleanliness, contentment, austerity, study and self-surrender to God. Moral discipline Yama and Niyama are moral training and form the basis of Yoga. As these two become established, the Yogi will begin to realize the fruits of his practice. 3. Asana – posture 4. Pranayama – ‘Prana’ is the life-force, ‘yama’ is control. ‘Pranayama’ consists of breath control exercises. 5. Pratyahara – withdrawal of senses from sense objects. 6. Dharana – concentration. 7. Dhyana – meditation. 8. Samadhi – the transcendental or super conscious state of being one with God: Principle tenets of the Dattatreya tradition. MENTION THE PRINCIPLE TENETS OF GURU DATTATREYA-----

The principle tenets of the Dattatreya tradition are---- 1. Everyone should know oneself first and should know one’s own reality, which is but God. 2. One should realize the relationship between God, man and creation – the underlying kinship, unity and oneness of these three entities. Brahman is the immanent and all pervading reality in all matter – it is the origin, the support and sustenance of all. 3. To obtain this vision and discern this truth, one should conquer one’s ego through Yoga and renunciation. 4. Guru’s grace is indispensable. One has to surrender oneself totally and unreservedly at the feet of the Guru. His grace awakens ‘Jnana’ (illumination) by which we can recognize the Reality of Brahman, which is the real self of all. Apart from this the disciples should:- 1- Have purity of thought, word and deed. 2- Do ‘Nama smaran’ – remembrance of the Lord’s name and meditation on it. 3- Have compassion and love for all beings. 4-Render selfless services at the feet of the Guru and surrender completely and unconditionally This tradition was founded by Sage Matsyendranath(DISCIPLE OF GURU ) and his disciple Sage Gorakhnath.

THE 07 IMPORTANT FACTS---

1-Matsyendranath founded "Nath" sect and laid the spiritual guidelines for the followers. They designed wonderful techniques from Tantras but leaving the ritualistic part. They systematically put this parts together to make a very logical but safe approach to achieving higher states of consciousness and attaining the perfections... 2-Gorakhnath has a number of treatises to his credit. It is said that the first books on Laya Yoga were written by him. In his Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, Gorakhnath speaks of six limbs of Hatha Yoga. He does not accept Patanjali’s eight limbs. He accepts only asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dhaarana, dhyaana and Samadhi.

3-Gorakhnath’s yoga considers Sahaj Samadhi as Moksha. According to him, anaamapraapti (realizing the ultimate) is the aim of yogic sadhana, which can be attained through physical sadhana leading to purity.

4-He says that in KALIYUG life -span of a man is short. To follow YAM --NIYAMA &after that KUNDALINI-AWAKENING----100 YEARS not sufficient,When KUNDALINI is awaken---BEING A DIVINE POWER--she controls a sadhak & help to complete all eight limbs. 5-The Gorakh school of yogic thought has given prime importance to chastity and abstinence from sex. Legends also state that Goddess Parvathi, seeing Guru Gorakhnath in Samadhi asked Lord Shiva about the Yogi. Lord Shiva said that the saint was His own manifestation. 6-It is believed that the Lord took incarnation in the form of Gorakhnath to teach and expand the knowledge of Yoga, whenever people forgot it or when Yogic beliefs got distorted. 7-Nath Yogis are found everywhere in India, being as widely scattered as any of the ascetic orders. They are met with separately as mendicants and as hermits, and in groups, in the Northern Deccan, in the Central Provinces, in Gujarat, in Maharastra, in the Panjab, in the provinces of the Ganges basin and in Nepal.------SHIVOHAM....