Guruji's Conference...

As Mysore veterans know, some Sundays Guruji has the current students meet at the Shala for questions and answers. This Sunday's conference had a lot of laughing.
Now, before I go on... I should make a disclaimer that Guruji's answers often contain a lot of Sanskrit scripture. He will fix his eyes on the questioner and say a lot of things that, at least linguistically but perhaps not intuitively, most questioners will not understand. So, this report is highly subjective... and subject to all sorts of errors and misinterpretations to the point where perhaps it should not even be written.

That said, Guruji asked for questions and there was a silence broken by a soft-spoken woman who he asked to come to the front so he could hear. She asked, "Guruji, would you say something about practicing Ashtanga as you age?"

He said, "How old are you?"

She said, "In front of all these people?" She has one of those who-knows-how-old looks.

He said, "How old are you?"

She said, "I am 46." She looked younger.

He said, "You are very young," and then there was general laughter. And then a long enough silence with Guruji looking at her that it was clear that he wanted a comment back. She said, "I am writing that down. 'I... am... young' " and there was more general laughter. Then Guruji took a serious tone and quoted some Sanskrit that went something like "Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit LAZY. You are not lazy." Then Sharath said that Guruji says that as you get older you must go more slowly and may progress more slowly and you must have patience and that the worst thing is to limit yourself in your mind because of your age. That will stop you sooner than a problem with the body.

A woman asked about Nauli. Guruji said that women should not practice nauli because it is not good for making babies.

Another woman asked about castor oil baths. Guruji said that women should do them on Tuesdays and Fridays. Put the oil over the body avoiding the eyes and mouth and wait a while. Start with ten minutes and increase by ten minutes each new day that one does it until waiting 30 minutes then stay with that. After the wait take a hot bath with an Indian product whose name I did not get. It will cool the body and loosen the joints.

Another woman asked, "Guruji, what if you have already had your children?"

He said, "How many you have?"

She said, "Two."

He said, "You should have ten babies." general laughter...

She said in disbelief, "Ten babies?"

He said, "Eleven. Ten babies and husband." more laughter...

Then he spoke more seriously about how there were too many people in the world... but that ladies should have some babies... two perhaps. He said that when he was growing up everyone had many babies. There were several questions about his family and we learned that he was the 6th of 8 children (this many be wrong I did not make a note of it at the time). He had a brother who died last year and another brother who is still alive and his older sister died at 108.

Then guruji spoke some more about age and quoted some Sanskrit. He said that God gives each of us 100 years and that we can preserve this through proper exercise and diet. That Ashtanga yoga provides good health and that good posture is very important, and then he sat up straight. He said that Ashtanga and diet prevent diabetes and the other major problems with health. Then he quoted some more Sanskrit and said that some yogis live hundreds of years but God gives us each 100 years and we can have that we can have through Ashtanga and diet. He said not to waste our time. Not to be lazy.

A man asked, "Guruji, when you were talking about aging were you talking about going slowly like this [he made a gesture like he was starting sun salutations but moving very slowly] or in terms of progressing." There was general laughter and Guruji and Sharath answered that more it meant progress will be slower and that expecting progress to be slower with age. Then Guruji asked the same man, "How many children?" He said, "None." Guruji said you had better start working on it. The man said "I will go and tell my wife we should start working on it tonight." more laughter...

A man asked, "What if you can't have children? Should you adopt?"

Guruji said, "If you find that no children come then yes, you go get children. But do not leave your wife. Do not leave your wife because she is barren. You go get children."

and then Guruji thanked people for coming.

Afterwards I asked the woman who had been told to have 10 babies what she was going to do. She said, "My children are grown. I will be a grandmother before I am a mother again." Saraswati overheard this and asked, "How many children do you have?"

The woman answered, "two."

"Why don't you have more children."

"Because I am too old!"
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* It is the following day and I am updating because PSUMysore has been kind enough to share the name of the soap to wash off the castor oil. It is "She-Ka-Kai" or soapnut powder and in Mysore can be bought in Nilgiri's. Also, I remembered another point that Guruji made about ageing. He quoted in Sanskrit about life and breath. As long as there is prana; there is life. We all have a certain number of breaths in our lives. Ashtanga teaches us breath control through vinyasa and ujjai (sp?) breath. Breath control is key to a long life.