A Visit to Mysore Palace

Dr. Jayashree's husband, M.G. Narasimhan, not to be confused with her bother, M.A. Narasimhan, has worked for the Mysore Palace for over 30 years. As mentioned in the Gramani Family Tree, the "Gramani" name (Leaders of the Village) was given by the Royal family. His family has had a close connection to the Palace for many generations.

Yesterday, I had the great honor of being given a tour of the Mysore Palace by M.G. Narasimhan. It was wonderful because he knows so many details about the Palace's history and the various spaces and artwork.

Photos of the inside were not allowed, but here I've posted two photos of the exterior in daylight: a front-side view (above) and the front view (right). If you look closely at the front view you will see a stage being erected on the left. This is where the many Dasara evening dance and music programs will take place, beginning on Wednesday. The open courtyard that you see here will be filled with chairs and people.

The palace has 1000s of lights outlining is architectural structure. These are illuminated each evening from 7-9pm. I haven’t seen it yet at night, but will have plenty of opportunities in the days ahead.

Pairs of these imported bronze lion sculptures guard various entrances on the grounds.

The inside of the palace was spectacular in so many ways. One was the grand scale of it all. Another, and perhaps even more impressive feature, was the intense attention to detail given to seemingly every square inch of space, from the intricately detailed inlays on the floor tiles to the hand painted borders outlining every wall. There were some doors covered completely in silver artwork representing various scenes in Indic mythology and others made completely of rosewood with delicate ivory inlays. Some ceilings contained intricate teakwood carvings and others grand paintings of various deities. The walls of an entire walkway housed canvases of beautiful oil paintings depicting the traditional Dasara processional including decorated elephants, military bands, carriages, and the townspeople in full dress in front of various Mysore landmarks. An inner hall houses the King’s golden throne, currently under cover but which will be on display later in the week. It is made of solid gold and is decorated with pearls.

I must say though, one of my favorite parts of the visit was getting to see the palace’s elephants “close-up.” Here this lovely lady is resting her trunk on my head – which was immediately followed by a slobbery kiss. (I didn’t mind, though.) She’s painted here because she was part of a processional earlier in the day.

In the next photo, one of the male elephants is thoroughly enjoying a spa treatment – a good ole elephant scrub!

I’m looking forward to the days ahead!

Mysore Zoo

Last Friday I made the trek to the Mysore Zoo. It’s known to be one of the World’s largest and best zoos and I understand why. The Zoo is located on what must be several acres of land, large enough to house several herds of animals including gaur (which are like bison) and several varieties of deer.

What was most impressive to me was that the herbivorous animals were being feed grasses that were grown right in the fields they were living in. You could actually see plots of land that had been tilled and seeded and had new growth sprouting up. In this photo, a zoo hand cuts fresh grass to feed the local rhino.

The Mysore Zoo is known for breeding animals, particularly endangered species. I was lucky enough to see several lion and cheetah cubs.

As mentioned in an earlier post, several breeds of monkeys are free roaming here in India. This was most evident at the Zoo where the rhesus monkeys come right up to tourists…probably hoping that their cuteness will solicit a snack. The Zoo warns against feeding the animals though.

Similar signage to this was posted throughout the zoo. In case you don’t read Kannada, you easily get the picture!

Gurus in Sunglasses

Yesterday in our discussion of Pantajali’s Yoga Sutras Dr. Narahimsan was discussing the limitations of writing as a teaching and/or expressive medium. Writing/reading can only be expressed through the dimension of time. It’s linear. One word follows the other, and good writing will carry the listener forward. But how do we use the one dimensional medium of writing to express multidimensional experiences? In scholarly and creative writing, the reader becomes a huge player in process of communication for it is through the mind of the reader that he imagines the written story in his own unique way or deciphers the written knowledge based on his individual culmination of experiences. There are parallels here to music, but I won’t go into that just now. I chose to share these thoughts on writing as a medium because I am feeling its limitations. There is so much to this experience that I am having here in India, and words, even if I spend an ample amount of time arranging them, are so limited in their ability to convey the fullness of it all.

Today, Saturday, was the 6:30am group class at KPJYAI led by Saraswati. She told me as I walked out the door yesterday to be there at 6:15. No problem I thought. Chikana is always early and it only takes 10 minutes. I had a 6am pick-up scheduled. Well, 6am…no Chikana. 6:05am…no Chikana. 6:10am…still no Chikana. Then I started to worry a bit. Maybe he forgot? He was concerned yesterday because his little boy was sick. Is everything OK with the baby? What should I do? So I ran inside and found Mami, who directed me to just go to the main corner and wave down another rikshaw. So I ran out the door to do just that…and found Chikana coming down the road. “Sorry, Mam. Sorry, Mam. Class is at 6:30 right? It’s 6:25 I’ll get you there.”

Most things here in India do not begin “on time.” But the one thing that does begin “on time” is the led group class at KPJAYI. I knew I would be coming in late and could only imagine the disruption this might cause…the disappointment on Sarawati’s face, etc. But I thought, I’m going to go…better late than not at all.

As I suspected, Saraswati waved me into class but there was not a smile on her face. The only open spots were, you’ve got it, in “the middle.” This time I laid my mat down on what appeared to me to be a nice smooth surface, staggered between the two advanced practitioners in front of me, and went upstairs to toss my things in a locker. When I returned the class was just beginning surya namaskar B. I placed my feet together at the front of the mat, and mentally sighed, “Oh boy.” The rug that I was on was apparently “hiding” several overlapping rugs underneath it. These heavy duty large cotton rugs that cover the floor of the shala, have “hems” that are ¼ to ¾ of an inch thick. There were parts of several different rugs under the one I was on. Yep, I was on a very uneven surface. OK…more opportunities to practice dharana…concentration. Here we go.

The led group class moves at a slightly faster pace than my personal practice, which only added to my sense of instability. I kept up but felt like I was flailing. I made it through the bulk of the standing series up to uttitha hasta padagastasana (standing hand to big toe pose) – you stand on one foot, take the big toe of your other foot with the fingers of the corresponding hand, extend the leg forward and then reach your head toward your knee. It’s a challenging standing balance to say the least. Everyday since the first day, Saraswati has been providing a lovely assist in this pose. But…not today.

So my mind started thinking things like… “yep, she’s disappointed in me for being late and now I’m being punished…but it was the driver’s fault…Lisa, don’t make excuses for yourself…what does Patanjali say…whenever a negative thought arises replace it with a positive one…OK…she’s decided I’m strong enough to do this on my own…or better yet and probably more accurate, she’s not even thinking about me because she’s helping someone else learn the posture…it’s not about me…focus so you’ll be able to stay upright…lengthen your shoulders away from your ears, relax your jaw…breathe.” Alright, I’d finally arrived at practice.

From there on out, my concentration was better. I even got my usual assist in marichyasana D, a very pretzel-y posture…another one that I’d never been able to get on my own. And, it was then, as I was closely being held and pulled by this woman, totally trusting her ability to manipulate my body without hurting it, that I felt this wave of surrender. Something released emotionally for me, and soon after many images rushed to my mind.

Dr. Narahimsan had made a comment, somewhat casually a day or so ago, in reference to the concept of a Guru. Guru basically means, one who dispels darkness – Gu (darkness) Ru (light). The term in its most revered use refers to a spiritual teacher. In our modern world, the term has been used to refer to anyone who teaches a specialty – like a tennis guru, for example. Anyway, he commented on Westerners' difficultly with the Guru concept. They (we) can’t seem to express unconditional trust in another human being. I’ve actually thought about this before. If there were a reincarnation of Christ in today’s world, would we (I’m referring here to my Christian circle) be able to embrace that human form? What, if anything, would we expect him to do to prove that he is Christ? Would we reject him, like so many did during his day? I know what the initial response might be, “Well of course we would accept him!” But think about it…we’ve almost developed an understanding of Christ as something/someone so abstract and separate from humanity that it’s hard to even imagine the real possibility of him (and what if...he came as a her?!) in a human form. Can you really see yourself, lying on the earth, bowing down to this divine human, feeling the warmth and flow of blood in his body as you touch his dust covered feet – or perhaps in today’s world, his pair of Nikes?

On a lighter side, I think children really do understand. My son made this fantastic drawing of Christ as a Jedi. He also has a picture of Christ with sunglasses – he looks like a member of ZZ-Top. That is, in someway, more tangible. (By the way, I found this great poster of Iyengar at the Mysore Zoo, fully dressed in what looks like spiritual attire…with a huge pair of very trendy sunglasses! Gotta love it!)

I was also flooded with images of my parents. I read recently in a book by a Catholic psychologist, that most people develop a relationship with God that mirrors their relationship with their parents, particularly their fathers. If their fathers were loving and supportive, yet demanding of good behavior, then that is how they would view God. If their fathers were critical, never pleased, frequently propagating guilt, then that would color their relationship with God. Well, what if your parents just weren’t there? What if you couldn’t trust your parents to “show up”? I’m not trying to place blame or show disrespect here (they had their own battles), but just to look at the barriers to my own relationships – including my relationship with God.

In my thoughts this morning about disappointing Saraswati by being late, I was reminded of how much my son yearns to please his parents (and...how much students want to please their teachers). If he senses in the least way that either of us are disappointed, his little eyes begin to fill with tears, though he does his best to hold it in. And, he doesn’t seem to find peace until he feels we have totally forgiven him.

As parents, and teachers, it is sometimes necessary to express disappointment in order to do our jobs. Pattabhi Jois lamented, “It breaks my heart when the only way to teach a student is to be harsh.” Saraswati was far from being harsh this morning…though I knew she wasn’t pleased. I think perhaps she could sense my own disappointment in being late. But the thing is…she “showed up” for marichyasana D…the pose I still can’t get into by myself…and I was able to trust her to help me get there. After class, I approached her to say “Dhanyaavadhah” (Thank You) and also apologized for being late. She smiled and gave the Indian head bobble. I’d been forgiven.

Again, the words feel limiting.

A Children's Story in Sanskrit

Part of my study of the Yoga Sutras involves the study of the language in which they were written, Sanskrit. Dr. Jayashree is a well-known Sanskrit scholar and I feel very blessed to be one of her students.

Yesterday, I made a trip to the Geetha Bookstore, here in Mysore. One of the things I asked about was children's books in Sanskrit. When we begin to read English we start with books like, "Dick and Jane." I thought surely something similar existed in Sanskrit, but it doesn't. So, here is my assignment for Monday...a children's story in Sanskrit.

Ultimately, this will all be in Devanagari, which is the phonetic script Sanskrit is most often seen in. (I haven't started learning that yet...just like we learn to talk before we learn to write.) Here, I'm sharing my story in Roman script (since I do understand that). My goals were to use simple sentences to highlight the vowel "a" and the consonant "g." I also wanted to utilize a few words that are common in the practice of yoga asana. This is the little story I came up with.

I've translated it for you below!

Video: The Ride Home from Gokulum

Steve Gorn playing Rag Desh on bansuri.

6:45am. The streets are still fairly quiet. I'm riding in an auto-rikshaw with my driver, Chikana. Enjoy.

Standing in the Middle (without getting kicked in the face)

At 5:30am Monday through Saturday, I meet my auto-rikshaw driver, Chikana, out by the back entrance. At 5:30am the traffic is pretty calm and we enjoy a nice ride to the KPYAI where I begin my asana practice in the shala. Students are given different start times for what I’m guessing is a variety of reasons, most likely so that everyone doesn't arrive at the need for posture assists at the same time. (The teacher will only assist you if she thinks you can't work something out on your own. This morning she actually said firmly to someone in her thick Indian accent, "I know... you want me to come over there...but I'm not going to." I silently smiled.) The first students begin at 5pm. Dr. Jayashree helped to arrange a 6am start time for me (originally it was 5am) because it seemed impossible to get an auto-rikshaw driver at 4:30…plus it’s still quite dark out at 4:30 and going a bit later from here to Gokulum is safer. I did't complain.

Today when I arrived the only open practice spaces were in the middle row. There are three long rows that accommodate about 10-12 people each. The front row seems to be occupied by the most advanced practitioners. I think people must set up on the back row to allow for visual and physical space between themselves and the front row. I’m not sure if Saraswati has them set up there on purpose or if that’s just where people tend to migrate. Because of my later arrival the only spaces left were behind several of the advanced practitioners, so I chose a spot, spread out my mat and went off to put my things in a locker.

On a side note, I find it very inspiring to be surrounded by such dedicated practitioners. I know some that feel intimidated by it because they see the “advanced” progress of others as something unattainable themselves. I remember hearing a performance by a very young and gifted flutist and an older observer saying something like, “Well, I should just quit.” Rather than being discouraged by the accomplishments of others, regardless of their age, isn’t it possible that we can find something in their skill and progress to inspire our own? I’m definitely one of the older people in the class, though there are several practitioners in their 30s. I doubt (but I never say never) that my body will ever let me attain some of the remarkable physical feats that I see and feel surrounding me in morning practice. But, I’m Ok with that. Hey, I’m in Mysore studying yoga!! Isn’t that cool enough!

When I came back, I stood at the front of my mat and began suyra namaskar (sun salutations). As I was moving through this warm up, I became very distracted by the person practicing in front of me. I wasn’t distracted by what he was doing as much as I was distracted by the proximity of it. Granted, he was tall, and probably needed to use more room than what his mat provided, but when I happened to be in uttanasana (standing forward bend) his heels were often right in front of my face (and significantly off of his mat) . I would see his feet and then suddenly, they would spring up into the air, swiping past my nose. Needless to say, this triggered a bit of concern around getting kicked in the face. I was doing my best to stay focused but all the way through suyra namaskar and the standing sequence I was quite distracted, so much to the point that I forgot the order of the standing sequence (its not that complicated) and was patiently corrected several times by Saraswati. But...what a perfect analogy for life.

We are often faced (no pun intended) with situations where others may make us uncomfortable on some level, whether it’s physically or emotionally. The “what ifs” come up to distract us from being fully present. “What if he kicks me in the face?” “What if she thinks I’m not smart enough?” “What if he doesn’t like me?” … and on and on. How can we allow ourselves to be among others who could potentially trigger our various fears and yet retain our ability to stay focused, present, and at ease without losing our awareness of real dangers so that we can move out of the way if need be? I think this is why the Hathayogapradipika (the guidebook for the physical practice of yoga) states: “He who practices hatha-yoga should…(be) situated in a place free from rocks, water and fire to the extent of a bow’s length and in a virtuous, well-ruled kingdom, which is prosperous and free of disturbances.” Perhaps I need a least a bow’s length between my mat and the mat of the practitioner in front of me. How big were bows in those days?

After a while, I finally decided that in order for this guy to be as advanced as he is in this particular style of yoga, he must have practiced in crowded asana classes for years. He knows exactly how much space he needs in order to facilitate his own experience and not injure those around him. I recognized that I was safe. Now admittedly, there were a lot of thoughts going on in my mind that had nothing to do with the Ashtanga sequence…thus, I made several mistakes. But the practice (abhyasah) involves developing the awareness to watch your thoughts in the present moment and to use discernment around how they affect your actions. If your thoughts aren’t going to move your practice forward, let them go. If your thoughts are telling you that you are about to be hit by a car (or kicked in the face) get out of the way!

Today Dr. Narasimhan was talking to us about vairaga (non-attachment) in the morning Sutras class. He said that those of us who had come from America to India to study are more practiced in non-attachment than he is. After all, we are living in a culture that constantly thrives on sensual attachment – luxurious homes, huge plates of food, fancy cars, designer labels, etc., and our choice to come to India to study yoga demonstrates that we are “letting go” of attachment. Dr. Narasimhan, as a spiritual teacher in India, is removed from all of those distractions. No doubt, this enhances his practice in other ways, but I think there are advantages to living right "in the middle" of it all, just like I was in the middle row of asana practice this morning amidst the energies of all those around me.

Living in “the middle” offers endless opportunities to practice focused awareness when faced with life’s potential physical and emotional distractions. And the result is a developed equanimity toward the constantly changing circumstances of our lives (happy or sad, success or failure, etc.). It’s what the Buddhists call the “Middle Way.”

Three Generations

During my stay in Mysore I've been very blessed to stay in the home of my Sanskrit and Yoga Sutras teacher, as well as classically trained Karnatic vocalist, Dr. M.A. Jayashree. This is a photo of her from Akshata's engagement. Her lovely South Indian family is very traditional in many ways...food, dress, and the accommodation of three generations under the same roof.

It's been quite challenging for me to memorize everyone's name and to understand all of the relationships. Therefore, I made this little chart to help me out and I'd thought I'd share it with you here. The names of the family members living in the Mysore home are in black, and the rest are color coded according to location. There are 14 family members living here, plus me. Remarkably, it doesn't seem that crowded.

Bulls and Saxophones

Two mornings ago Dr. Jayashree raised an eyebrow and said, "Ah, some good music for you this morning!" The sound was intensely piercing, similar to that of a loud Medieval shawm, but much more abrasive...imagine that! I'm not sure what this instrument is called but playing it is the way this man announces that he has brought by his beautifully decorated bull for all to see. For a few Rs you can take a photo. Here he is just outside of the back entrance to our home.

Speaking of instruments, yesterday I was also privileged to view the instrument collection at the Jaganmohana Palace, located just across the street. Dr. Jayashree's husband manages the art gallery there. He took me over to have a look and we were given the "royal" treatment. We were able to view and hold several old instruments that had belonged to various Kings in the lineage of the Palace. There are instruments there from all over the world, including quite an interesting collection of flutes.

The flutes were in a glass case so I wasn't able to get any good photos, however I did get some interesting pictures of several percussion instruments and a whole quartet of Saxophones. You can see them in this photo in the back left corner. In the front right corner is a brass jala tarang. It's a percussion instrument in which each bar is tuned by filling the brass "bowl" underneath with water. It's tuned according to the level of the water in each bowl.

Ok…another power outage just occurred. This also happened yesterday for several hours. I can see how this could easily create frustration in our technology-centered world that relies so heavily on electricity. The battery power on my computer will only last for about an hour. But surprisingly, yesterday the outage forced a welcomed break from the screen.

Power is back on. That was quick!

Yesterday evening we attended two concerts at the Palace. We had front row seats...a great place to be. I could really see and feel the interaction between the perfomers on the stage. The “opener” for the evening was group that consisted of violin, saxophone and percussion. I had no idea that saxophone had made it's was into Karnatic music, but apparently it's quite popular.

The highlight was hearing the second concert which featured violinist Dr. M. Narmadha from Chennai. She is what they call here a “fusion” artist because she blends Karnatic and Hindustani elements. She was incredibly fun to watch...she played with so much joy! When she would frequently connect with the eyes of people in the audience, a huge smile would spread over her face. I had the pleasure of meeting her afterwards. As she was talking to the crowd that had gathered, she enthusiastically commented on how inspiring it is for her to see audience members involved and engaged in the music that is offered from the stage. It’s definitely worth a YouTube search to check out her playing.

The asana classes at KPJYAI are going well. I've had three classes so far and at each one Saraswati has allowed me to go a little further in the series. Yesterday I made it through the variations of janu sirsasana (more of my favorite forward bends!). I was allowed to watch the others practice while I waited for the closing series. There was one lovely woman, probably 30-something, who didn't seem to break a sweat! I honestly don't know how that was possible. Everyone else in the room was drenched. She made it all look so easy...elegant and graceful. Today, my body is appropriately aching. There are no classes on Sunday and I am grateful for a day of physical recovery. I plan to use today to prepare for more Sutra and Sanskit class on Monday.

Oh...a nice little side note...I'm getting plenty of relaxed practice time with my instrument here...something that hasn't happened in quite a while. I brought a lot of Bach with me. It's nice to remember how much I love to play the flute!

Akshata’s Engagement Party

Click on the post title link to view the gallery of photos from the event.

Today was certainly a packed day. We didn’t have Sanskirt or Sutras class today because there was an engagement party in the family! Akshata, is the young and beautiful daughter of Dr. Jayashree’s brother-in-law’s sister…I think. Today we celebrated her engagement to Praveen. The event began at 10am this morning with breakfast at a hall just down the street across from Jaganmohan Palace. Soon afterwards we all made our way into an adjacent room that was decorated with flowers. Flowers are a big part of every day life in India. Mysore is known for a special variety of jasmine. It’s very popular for women to decorate their hair with garlands of jasmine and most of the lady’s in the ceremony today did just that…the garlands were really quite beautiful and smelled fantastic.

Ok…the electricity just went out…completely. I’ve heard of this happening in India but this is the first time since I’ve been here that it’s occurred. It’s VERY dark outside…and inside. My computer went to battery power. The house seems pretty normal…no one is making a fuss about it.

30 minutes later…

So…I went downstairs and the family was gathered in the main indoor living area around a lamp just casually visiting. Obviously, no big deal. Lights are back on. Where was I? The engagement ceremony!

The ritual was very beautiful. Each family gave gifts of fruits and sweets to each other as well as an incredibly beautiful silk sari, thickly woven with gold covered thread, to the bride and a silk kurta (long shirt) to the groom to be. The couple left and changed into their new clothes and when they returned the ritual continued. Fathers and Mothers placed thick garlands of jasmine and roses around the necks of the daughter-in-law and son-in-law to be and then each family signed a contractual agreement, confirming that they were committed to the upcoming wedding arrangement. (I don’t know what happens if someone doesn’t show.) The ceremony was followed by an elaborate lunch served on banana tree leaves…more mixing and mushing practice, although one nice gentleman offered me a spoon…I guess I still have room for improvement.

The other exciting bit of the day was that I had my first yoga asana practice at the Sri K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute (KPJAYI) with the late Pattabhi Jois’ daughter, Saraswati. I had really had no idea what to expect because I’d never been to a “Mysore Style” class. What is known as Ashtanga Yoga in the US is a vinyasa (coordination of movement and breath) series of postures/jumps, famous for its rigor. Most Ashtanga classes in the US are led classes with everyone doing the same flow (or modifications of it) at the same time. In a “Mysore Style” class, each student moves through the series at their own pace, and only goes through as much of the sequence as the teacher approves. Some find it chaotic because everyone is doing something different and others find it meditative because it supports a very quite environment except for the sound of the breath, and the soft sound of the teacher’s voice as he/she provides assists to individual students.

With all of the NFA craziness before embarking on this trip, I honestly hadn’t practiced the Ashtanga primary series much and so I was a little concerned about remembering the sequence. Saraswati was very patient as she gently, but firmly, reminded me what was next when I’d forget. The best part of the class was by far the personal assists. I won’t go into detail here, but if you come to one our shared practices when I get back, I’ll show them to you.

I wasn’t sure how far I’d get through the series before being told to stop, but I made it through all of the sun salutations and the entire standing series. I was sweating so much by that point she may have thought I’d had all I could take. I was relieved not to have to get into all of the jump-throughs right away…since mine are more like scoot-throughs.

The highlight of the class was getting fully into bound lotus, baddha padmasana, for the first time. Lotus is the traditional yoga pose that you see in many ads for yoga…sitting with legs crossed, feet above the thighs, left over right. The bound part of the pose requires that the left arm/hand go behind the back so the left fingers can take the left big toe (which is on the right side of the body). Similarly the right arm/hand goes behind the back and the right fingers take the right big toe. I’ve never been able to reach my toes before…until today! Saraswati did assist by pulling my arms around my body and pressing my torso forward. She held me in place for the first 5 breaths and the 2^nd 5 I held in place on my own. It felt great. I love hip openers, heart openers and forward bends…bound lotus hits them all at once.

I was allowed to rest in savasana for a minute at the end and that’s when it hit me…the feeling of coming home, and not coming home in the physical sense…it wasn’t about coming to India at all. It was coming home, again, to something much greater than that. And the tears came…and it was a perfect moment.