Yoga begins and ends in Advaita: The Patanjali-Gaudapada connection

Gaudapada was no ordinary person. He is considered the founder of Advaita and the earliest proponent of Yoga after Patanjali. It is said that he was the only disciple of Patanjali, from whom the Yogasutras originated. Gaudapada taught the Yogasutras and Advaita to Bhagavatpada, who in turn taught Advaita to Adi Shankaracharya. A fantastic story connects Lord Shiva, the Tandava dance at Chidambaram, Bharatanatyam, Lord Vishnu, Anantha, Patanjali, Gaudapada and Bhagavatpada. I will recount this another day, but you can read some of it here . All these events came together to create the Yoga we know today.

Everyone who practices Yoga today thinks that their daily physical activities constitute Yoga. This thought is ridiculous. They practice "Hatha Yoga," the first step to realizing the universe's complete unity (Advaita). The ultimate goal of all Yoga is empowering the mind to think big, dream big and discover its true inner nature. When one recognizes the absolute creative nature of our inner consciousness, one realizes the Brahman. I strongly recommend that any practitioner of Yoga first read about the Mandukya Upanishad Karika (commentary) of Gaudapada to learn the innermost meaning of his teachings.

Last week, I finished reading the Mandukya Karika. It is one of the most spectacular books I have read of late. Gaudapada was a proponent of radical Advaita, the most unadulterated version of Advaita ever proposed. Gaudapada's work begins with an exhaustive analysis of dreams. It is one of the most logical and scientific analyses of dreams I have ever read. Adi Sankara proposes a diluted and easier to understand version of Gaudapada's Advaita.

It is funny when people complain about the inscrutability of Adi Shankaracharya's teachings. Many critics think that Adi Sankara's teachings are like climbing Mount Everest. If it is almost impossible to understand the logic that Adi Shankara propounds, Gaudapada's teachings resemble another mountain peak built on top of Mount Everest. Adi Shankaracharya himself states that if one reads the Mandukya Upanishad, it is as good as reading all the other Upanishads (108 in number) together.

What surprises me about the Upanishads is that it is written in a Question-and-Answer format. There is nothing religious to believe. You understand every line if it makes sense and appeals to logic. There is nothing to believe without proof. Upanishad's logic comes with cold-proof, common sense, and logical understanding. Every line makes logical sense and is suffused with arguments. The Upanishads are an exploration of the universe of sensory and mental perceptions. Gaudapada often becomes his own trenchant critic and asks the most profound questions to challenge his own philosophy. This model, also used by Adi Sankara, is something you will never find in any other religious or philosophical book. Gaudapada answers the tough questions he poses to himself. There is no reference to magic, threat, fear of hell, or any reference to magic to push any argument forward. A reader accepts the point of view if one finds it sensible. The reader is the judge. The Upanishads are a profoundly personal exploration. Every man must construct the palace of absolute truth brick by brick inside his mind. Nobody can help you in this quest, not even teachers or Gurus. Gurus can shine a light on a section of the path, but the path can only be completed alone. Gaudapada says that the most significant learning happens without any word being spoken, meaning that knowledge comes from inner reflection, without the guru trying to influence you with their thoughts. The original Yoga is "Asparsha Yoga," where people gain knowledge of the ultimate reality without a word being spoken. The meaning is that Yoga is pure reflection.

Advaita is no rocket science; people can rediscover every aspect if they have the courage to think straight and be free from encumbrances. Advaita is experiential. There is nothing to be learnt. Books are required because our minds are so full of garbage that it takes time to understand the nature of the trash within. Once the blockers are removed, anyone can see the truth directly. There is no place for a messenger of the divine truth or a superior power. Every human can realize the truth of unity single-handedly by inner reflection. Deliverance is immediate; it does not need lifetimes or any prior preparation. When I read about Zen and Advaita, I scarcely find any difference between them. Both emphasize a single-minded focus on the truth.

Advaita and Yoga are merely two names for the same truth. Checkup this comic about Bodhidharma , the founder of Zen. You will learn to be critical of all of paradigms about reality and not take anything for granted. A true critic has no sacred cows, he questions and lampoons everything. It does not matter what the sacred cow is - subjectivity, objectivity, religion, science, magic and the supernatural.

Historically, Zen therefore hails from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, close to where I live today. Patanjali lived and died in Tamil Nadu. The form of Patanjali as the king of Snakes, Adisesha, (in the cover photo) is from his idol in the Chidambaram temple. He is supposed to have attained Moksha, leaving his earthly form at the Brahmapureeswarar Temple at Tirupattur, Tamil Nadu. Adisesha is the rest of Lord Vishnu and it is important to understand all these stories of Hindu thought to understand Yoga.

One cannot just take the exercise and gymnastics part and claim to have mastered Yoga. This is all nonsense. A practice cannot be divorced from the story and historical roots. It does not matter if one agrees or disagrees about the validity of the stories of Yoga and Hindutva. However, one has to take time to dig through the stories and understand the context. If one is not willing to investigate all the characters of the cosmogony of Hindu yoga, they should never call themselves a master. Just as the cross symbolizes the story of Jesus Christ and both cannot be separated, Yoga and Advaita are two sides of the same coin.

Why should all these people hail from India? Is there something about India? India is the one place where spirituality is part of day-to-day life. There is spirituality in every nook and corner. Life and spirituality are not separate, life is a spiritual quest to find yourself. One will never find a place outside India where culture, language, actions, thoughts, history and customs all reflect the path of self-realization. Many places in India (the unnoticed rural India) are still untouched by the vices of modernity. Most of these people follow the spiritual practices practiced three thousand years ago, which in turn follow from practices seven thousand years ago. Nowhere else in the world will you find people where there is an almost continuous stream of cultural consciousness unbroken for ten thousand years, right from the time humans became civilized.

Zen is a unique combination of Vedic, Upanishad, Buddhist and Yogacara thought. It is a mind-blowing way to analyze the reality of the present. Only intellectually lazy people would differentiate between Hindu and Buddhist thought. Both are almost similar in every respect except for one or two doctrinal differences. Let us not forget that Buddha was a Hindu, who grew up steeped in Vedic thought and trained by Hindu rishis.

If you want to understand Indians, you need to understand their philosophy. It is the same way with China, but the strange thing is that much of Chinese philosophy has been sourced from the great Indian thinkers. If you have time, watch this movie documentary of Xuanzang, one of the ancient Chinese pilgrims who came to India seeking knowledge. He came to India seeking original Buddhist and Yogacara knowledge. He stayed in India for 16 years, learnt in the great universities of India and physically carried took about 700 Sanskrit books from India back to China. Much of Chinese thought has been deeply shaped by these books. The movie I highlighted is fascinating. It was co-produced by the Chinese government, but it shows India in deeply reverential light. There was an extraordinary respect for Indian centers of knowledge. The Chinese thought that the only source of unadulterated truth lay in India. The movie depicts travelling to India like a depiction of a trip to heaven. This is how much India was respected worldwide in the past. This movie was even nominated by the China government as their candidate for the Oscars in 2016.

Let me close at this point. Let me know your thoughts and feedback here .