Analysis of Results

Written by Carlos Eduardo Barbosa in Portuguese
and translated into English by Iva Gicovate

Conference on the origins of Hatha Yoga

At the end of February, this year, was held in the city of Bangalore, in India, a meeting that gathered representatives of the Natha Yoga Sampradaya, a traditional sect from which arose Hatha Yoga – the most spread Yoga in the western world. Initially suggested as seminar, it was upgraded to a Congress level due to its quality and depth in all contributions made by various participants, by guest speakers, as well as the ones in the audience.

The Conference on the “Natha Yoga Sampradaya Tradition” which was the name given to this event was promoted by the International Yoga Coordination Centre (Yococen) founded in 1976 in India, by Maria Helena de Bastos Freire, from Brazil, who is founder and director of the Center of Yoga Studies Narayana, established in São Paulo, Brazil since 1968.

With the purpose of becoming an important reference for the documentation of yoga systems, Yococen today follows the guide lines of the “Task Force” of India’s government, devoted to the translation of Yoga Text to allow the access to the traditional knowledge and to avoid the misuse of these informations for the profit of unethical persons (i.e.) such as those patenting and registering the cultural heritage of India under their name.

The conference lasted for four days between February 26 and March 1, and the session was inaugurated in the presence of two important spiritual leaders of the State of Karnataka, Dr. Shree Shree Shree Shantaveera Mahaswamiji and Shree Shree Shree Balagangadharanatha Swamiji.

Some outstanding contributions to the results were the presentations of Sri Bhola Natha Yogi, from Nepal, who talked about the wisdom of yoga in view of “the nine Nathas and the 84 Siddhas”; the physician Dr. Joshi, from Haridwar, lectured on the application of the Marma points in the practice of yoga; Masterji M. S. Vishvanatha, from Bangalore, explained the most obscure aspects of the mudras doctrine; the Sanskrit scholar Mr. R. K. Narayana, made a clear presentation on the Sanskrit text Matsyendranatha Samhita, which he is translating at the request of Yococen; and the enlightening lecture of Shivanathjee Swami Maharaj, a Natha monk from Orissa, who told the history of the Natha movement and conveyed a summary of their great importance in the history of India. There was, also, a very interesting presentation of Swami Brahmacharyaji, monk of Kathmandu, Nepal, who introduced us to his tradition as the entrance door of the gotra (spiritual family of Niranjan Shiva) and to the yogins’ (i.e.) those who renounce the caste system.

This Conference on the Nathas made us understand that this tradition, in India, was not only a sect with peculiar views on the details of Hinduism, but also a synonym of Dharma, a complete system of knowledge and culture. This rereading of Hinduism granted it an ecumenical greatness that was never reached before the Nathas. This movement was accepted as standard and guidance for Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, men and women, rich and poor, without distinction of origin, caste or social position. The yogin is a person who is reconnected with himself, with his family and to society in different ways in which his dignity is the same as the one of a prince in his worldly Kingdom.

According to the Natha point of view, the universe itself may disappear, but yoga will never stop existing. Natha Yoga is that which brings to the surface the perfection within each of us and makes us as important as the creative power of the universe itself. That’s the reason a yogin does not bend before a god when entering a temple. And to bring this god to his presence, he blows a small whistle representing the Pranava, the true voice of the self creator resonating in our hearts.