The Stories Behind the Poses: The Indian mythology that inspired 50 yoga postures by Raj Balkaran

Awakening the divine avatar The postures of yoga practice include many ancient Vedic traditions. Most Hindu deities worshipped at temples, sacred and spiritual sanctuaries demonstrate a belief in a divine consciousness. Yoga in Rigveda means the spiritual yoking, the synchronizing of the divine thoughts/speech with the spiritual mind to seek Pure Consciousness. The vision of Vedic sages set forth mystical paths for humanity, and the Vedic mantras contained the key to cosmic evolution, metaphysical unfoldment, unlocking the laws of cosmos that condenses Prakriti and Purusha into One Pure Consciousness called Brahman. Consciousness that pervades spacetime in which matter and energy play according to the laws of physics, when they cease to act, then matter/energy with spacetime descends to its beginning, the Brahman. The Vedic traditions lifts the veil into the vastness of the cosmos through the philosophies of Sankhya, Yoga and Vedanta. It opens the door of the heart to unite with the Gods and Goddesses. It paved the way for our imagination to enter the temples of the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and Puranas from ancient Vedic traditions. This is what we see when see the deities of Hindu belief system. When we see the murti (deities) of Kali, Durga, Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Shakti―the sacred feminine principles, they represent different forms of One creator that encompasses omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), Omni benevolence (perfect goodness), immutable, divine simplicity, and eternal existence. Rigveda 1.18.7 states that, sa dhīnāṁ yogaṁ invati, which translates into He (saH) promotes (invati) the yoga (yogam) of thoughts (dhInAm). Each deity is known to represent specific qualities in our mortal existence; the worship of Kali is known to bring strength, fierce love, and untamed freedom; the worship of Lakshmi is known to confer prosperity and beauty; and the worship of Parvati is to awaken creativity and the capacity to love. The illustrations of Hindu deities represent aspects of the Brahman or the Supreme Self that includes the value of dharma, bhakti, blessings, and compassion to the devotees. A positive nature must be reflected in all illustrations, but this is prominently lacking in this book. Some of the depictions are unacceptable. I suggest the authors to consider a revision.