Links to Related Resources & Longer Articles:

• Learning Support for Chanting the Sūrya Upaniṣad – Learning Rhythm
• Prāṇa – Its origin, function and malfunction
• Sound – A Means Beyond Āsana and Prāṇāyāma……
• TKV Desikachar talks on Śraddhā in the light of the Yoga Sūtra……

Collated Related Short Posts & Quotes:

“Patañjali offers a most unusual approach to Īśvara.
It is not a universal God as in the Upaniṣat.
Yoga is rejected in Vedānta because of the idea
that Īśvara is not everything, only a higher power.”
– TKV Desikachar on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 24

“There are many texts on Yoga and Yoga is found in one form or another in the Upaniṣat.
Yoga for them is the means to realise God and OM is the key to that process.
So many Upaniṣad mention OM because most Upaniṣat
are involved with Vedānta or the movement towards God.”
– TKV Desikachar “The use and abuse of OM”,
Lecture on September 5th 1983 in Zinal, Switzerland

“na iti na iti – not this, not this”
Defining our relationship with awareness,
is an inquiry into re-defining our relationship with matter.
– Bṛhad Āraṇyaka Upaniṣat II.3.6

“In each one of us there is
something that experiences.”
– TKV Desikachar Introduction `
to the Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2001

“My belief in Yoga is not
dependant on a belief in God,
whereas in Vedānta it is.”
– TKV Desikachar Introduction
to the Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2001

“Yoga – To Link to myself.
Hinduism – To Link to God.”
– TKV Desikachar introduction
to the Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2001

“Śraddhā can’t be taught,
but can be kindled.”
– From my notes studying Taittirīyra Upaniṣad
Chapter Three verse 5 with TKV Desikachar

“In observation,
try to go from Annamaya
to the deeper levels.”
– From my notes studying Taittirīyra Upaniṣad
Chapter Three verse 2 with TKV Desikachar

“The self-born creator bored the sense openings outwards,
so the self looks out at the world rather than inwards.
A wise person, wanting to taste the state of immortality,
stops the senses from moving outwards and turns within to the essence.”
– Kaṭha Upaniṣaṭ 2.1.1.

“Dreams can be situations
which amplify Vāsana.”
– TKV Desikachar on the
Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣat verse 4

“In other situations,
I may use teachings from the Upaniṣad
to define certain aspects of a human being,
like the one about the five aspects of a human being, Maya.
This proves very useful to highlight specific aspects of Yoga
like the Yama and Niyama, etc.
When I must explain the Guṇa,
I cannot avoid referring to the teachings of Sāṃkhya,
which first mentioned this subject.
I often use ideas derived from the Bhagavad Gītā,
but I am not mistaking this teaching with Patañjali‘s.
In short,
I don’t hesitate to make use of any valid source
which helps me to explain, or to clarify a Yoga teaching,
provided I know where it comes from and of which system it is part.”
– Extract from an interview with TKV Desikachar on Vedic Chanting