Art from Kerala

There is a profound project underway deep in the monastery. It is the creation of a new book by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, his commentary on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. The manuscript is done and much of the artwork has been received from Kerala. The book will be designed and published next year.

Meantime, we thought our CyberCadets would like to see one of the recent canvases. It is a visual summary of Verse 2.1, namely:

tapa svdhya yevara-praidhnni kriy-yoga

"Kriya yoga is comprised of austerity, self-study and devotion to Ishvara."

On the left three yogis sit in the icy air outside their cave performing great austerity, self-study is shown in the center and devotion to Siva on the right.

Artist Suresh Muttukulam has painted the most lyrical Ardhinariswara, soaring above in the Sivaloka.

There is ice collecting on the skin of the yogis, but they stay the course of their spiritual disciplines, knowing the mind must be disciplined if they are to arise out of the snares of worldly attachments. The rabbits take refuge from the cold in the yogi\

s lap. '

Two yogis work on the practice of Svadhyaya, Self-Study, which includes mantra yoga and scriptural study.

Most commentaries on the Yoga Sutras minimize the importance of worship. They internalize to keep with the monistic understandings of Advaita Vedanta. Bodhinatha\

s commentary will be different, bringing temples and puja and worship to the forefront, the first-ever Saiva Siddhanta commentary we are aware of. '
}

];