27/02/2026
“There are various types of awareness. These are vitarka-awareness, vicara-awareness, ananda-awareness, asmita-awareness. What you have to learn while doing the asana is this: Vitarka is the biological frontal brain and vicara is in the back portion, called the old oriental brain or the samskärita brain or the store-house of impressions. This frontal brain of analysis and the back brain of latent imprints of past experiences have to commune and finally unite with each other.
When both these brains are made to function unitedly, one will not be able to differentiate at that moment whether the action is physical or mental or spiritual. When these two commune and unite with each other there is a joy that sprouts from within and at that time one just smiles. This smile is from the heart, the ananda. It is this smile, this ananda that further takes you to trace the source of that ananda which is neither in the biological head nor in the old brain, but sprouts from a different place altogether. That place is the core of the being, asmita.
While practising asana, one studies from vitarka-vicãra. This is the gross part of the intellect that kindles the subtle intelligence of the heart to sprout with bliss, ananda or mudita (gladness). This memory of ananda makes one search from where it sprouts. This is what asana gives us, not just physical health.”
~ Guruji BKS Iyengar
Astadala Yogamala, Vol 8
योगासन अभ्यास से वितर्क, विचार, अस्मिता, मुदित, आन्नद आदि भाव की यात्रा के लिए #लघुयोगशाला
