[Advaita-l] Patanjali is as popular as Elon Musk (an invitation to this Sunday's webinar)

[Sundar Rajan]

>
> Namaste all,
>
> Patanjali, I have come to realize, occupies the same position in some of
> our circles that Elon Musk occupies in the wider world: half the room
> cannot stop quoting him, and the other half winces when his name comes up.
>
> (Hatha) Yoga is popular all over the world. By association, the name
> Patanjali is also well known. But mention Patanjali on an Advaita forum or
> Facebook Advaita Group(s) and watch the temperature drop. "Upakaraka at
> best." "We only need the first five limbs." "Samadhi? Show me where the
> Upanishads use the word." One almost expects Patanjali's account to be
> suspended pending review.
>
> Here is the curious part: Sankara Bhagavatpada himself shows no such
> allergy.
>
> The acharya who demolished the yoga-darsana's metaphysics (*etena yogah
> pratyuktah*) is the same acharya who wrote *samadhividhanat* — "because
> samadhi is enjoined by sruti" — in his Brahma Sutra bhashya (2.3.39–40).
> Who opened his Gita chapter 6 commentary calling yoga *antarangam
> moksha-sadhanam* — the inner means to moksha — and then spent forty-seven
> verses on posture, place, diet, and *na kinchid api chintayet*. That is a
> lot of ink for something merely preparatory. And his paramaguru Gaudapada
> named the Atman itself "samadhi" (Karika 3.37) — a name Sankara's bhashya
> explains rather than explains away.
>
> So Sankara, it seems, managed what we struggle with: he rejected the
> metaphysics, kept the discipline, and felt no need to unfollow anyone.
>
> I will be developing this fully — the Katha bhashya's yoga-as-avastha, the
> Brihadaranyaka's *samahita*, *nididhyasitavyah* as *nishchayena
> dhyatavyah*, and why "effortless nididhyasana" would have puzzled the
> author of Mundaka bhashya 3.1.8 (*dhyanam prayatna-viseshah*) — in a talk
> this weekend:
>
> *Hidden in Plain Sight: Sankara's Dhyana Marga*
> Sunday, July 19 · 9:00–10:00 AM IST (Sat July 18, 8:30 PM Pacific)
> Weekend with Wisdom, INDICA Moksha
> Register: https://share.google/miMDKKwWhoE6NwaUi
>
> All views welcome — especially the winces. The Q&A should be lively.
>
> Pranams,
> Sundar Rajan
>