Crossing the Ocean of the World

If the practitioner of yoga wishes to cross the ocean of the world,

he should perform all his duties to his ashrama (or the conditions of life)
renouncing all the fruits of his works – Siva Samhita II:51

If the wise yogi is desirous of crossing the ocean of the world,
let him practice (this bandha) in secret in a retired place – Siva Samhita IV:44

Contemplating on the time spent in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I couldn't help but wonder if I have indeed practiced enough yoga that the Divine should grant my heart's desires. I'm now in India and realizing that dream of studying at the Ashtanga Yoga Nilayam.

Guruji doesn't teach anymore but I am just grateful to have a glimpse of him during my registration. I saw seen him again twice after that.

Building a teacher-student relationship takes a lot of time and commitment from both parties, and with hundreds of Ashtangis flocking the shala every morning for practice, and many still coming in the afternoon for registration, I can't help but wonder if I'd even get that chance of knowing Guruji, or even Sharath and Saraswati.

For now, I'm just happy that I was able to get a little of their attention in the first 3 classes that I had at the shala. Yesterday was a led class so no one was really getting any adjustments.

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The food is been great. I've been eating at recommended places so I haven't encountered any stomach problems, alhumdoolillah. I'm not really sure if I'd do some cooking here but for sure I'd attend some cooking classes.

As I've mentioned previously, I saw Tesa on the same day that I arrived in Mysore. I arrived at 3am (July 21), checked in at a hotel in the city as every budget hotel in Gokulam was fully booked, slept for a couple of hours and then decided to head for AYRI and wait for Tesa.

We had breakfast at the newly opened Santosha Café which serves amazingly great breads, muffins and cookies, and buffet dinner at Anu's for only 100 rupees which is about 110 pesos or 2.45USD. Food is cheap in India, so they said, and now I believe them.

The next day, Netta came to see me after practice and we had breakfast at Vivian's. It's another newly opened eating place in Manju Jois' just across the shala. The coffee there was good.

July 23, Tesa's rickshaw driver invited us for lunch in his home. The food was yummy, cooked by his lovely wife and daughter. It was a thali of beets, carrots, string beans and of course, chapatti. He also served a nice curd rice (but because I have such a sweet tooth, I would have preferred it with a little bit more jaggery), and some dhal and rice.

Can't remember if I still had dinner that day.

We've also tried the Gufha Restaurant at the Pie Vista Hotel, a rather expensive looking hotel but I was shocked to see 100-rupee main course. I had vegetable kofta in a mildy spiced tomato sauce, rice and carrot halva with vanilla ice cream for dessert. It was lovely.

Then last night, we had dinner at the Three Sisters. Indian thali but very sattvic. We had their chocolate-banana-coconut lassi to end the meal.

So you see, I've only been in Mysore for 6 days but I've already been to most recommended eating places… talk about moderate eating, huh?

With this, let me leave you with the 6 conditions to achieve success in yoga according to the Siva Samhita:

1. the firm belief that vidya or knowledge must succeed and be fruitful.
2. having faith in vidya
3. respect towards the Guru
4. spirit of Universal Equality
5. restraint of the organs of sense.
6. and guess what??? Moderate eating.

Ciao.