Friday, February 11, 2011

Enlighten Up!

Recently Live, Love, Laugh, Be Free did a blog post about the film Enlighten Up! which is a yoga documentary about how a filmmaker and a skeptical journalist circle the globe talking to mystics, gurus, mad men and saints for the true meaning of yoga in a quest to prove whether yoga can transform anyone (full synopsis available here).  I managed to find the film on Youtube and it is a good film to watch for anyone practicing yoga.   


I love the fascinating exchanges with the great yoga gurus as they give some  insights on how yoga can bring enlightenment to our lives.   

The following are some great quotes from the film.

Yoga is a subjective way of eradicating the instinctive weakness of human being.  For some it may be quick, for some it may be slow.  But change has to take place, transformation has to take place in whatever average  intellectual condition they are. - B.K.S Ivengar

Yoga practicee is both spiritual and  physical.  You take practice. Take the practice, automatically, it’s coming. That is take practice, practice, practice. That is the method.  You follow. Keep practice, practice, practice, practice. Whole life is practice. – Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

Everything depends on you, hangs on you. So you should feel the importance of yourself . You are the most important person, for any decision, all the decisions, all the practices or any practice.  Be yourself. Be your true self.  Happiness is not outside. It is within us. – Dr. Swami Gurusharananda 

I have recently finished reading the book Yoga School Dropout from Lucy Edge where she goes in search of spiritual riches (and the perfect headstand)  in India.  It is a very good read as it is hilarious and witty and gives a lot of information about the ashrams in India.

As  the book and the film are about enlightenment from yoga, both provide a premise that it  is found in our inner self and that there are many different paths leading to it.  You just need to find the path most suitable for yourself. 

No comments: