I've been terrible about keeping up with this blog lately, which I hope to remedy soon. The reason is that I've been in 'research mode' looking into one of my favorite subjects, Renaissance and Medieval occultism, and in particular the 'angelic conversations' of Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley. This stuff fascinates me in a way little else can, and I hope to write a bit about this topic in the future. For now, I have but a short post to sustain you.
As many of you have no doubt heard me complain, Sanskrit is a difficult language, and it is a constant struggle for me to learn it. It doesn't help that the traditional way of studying the language is about as exciting as Ben Stein's voice, or that the study materials produced in India are inconsistent, full of errors, and in general a massive pain in the ass. Part of my homework is "working up" new verbs that I come across in a notebook intended for that purpose. The idea is to write out its numerous forms and conjugations for study and later reference. Are you on the edge of your seat yet?
Anyway, while working up some verbs today, I came across a verb that relates to an asana that we might call "the bane of the beginners", चतुरण्ग दण्डासन or caturaṇga daṇḍāsana. That strange half push-up which forms such an important part of the 'vinyasa', despite its Sanskrit name has been shown to likely be derived not from some ancient text, but from 19th century Indian gymnastics, and was an innovation brought into the yoga world by the great Krishnamacharya (teacher of B.K.S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, among others), mostly as a way to get his young male students to work off their excess energy so they could sit for meditation. Often called simply "caturaṇga", the full name caturaṇga daṇḍāsana means "4-legged stick or staff pose" wherein caturaṇga means 4-legged and daṇḍāsana means staff pose. This comes from daṇḍa, meaning staff.
Now the verb I mentioned earlier is दण्ड् or daṇḍ, meaning to punish. दण्ड or daṇḍa is one of the noun forms of this verb, and is usually translated as stick. Perhaps you see where I'm going with this. This particular word for stick implies punishment, much like the connotations of the word "switch" in terms of a flexible branch used to discipline children. I've heard stories from relatives of being made by their fathers to "go outside and fetch a switch" which is essentially the same as being made to aid and abet in one's own whipping. Daṇḍa can essentially be translated as "the instrument of punishment."
Many are the struggles students have had to endure regarding this pose, whether due to an initial lack of upper body or core strength, a lack of bodily awareness, or in my case, just the horrors of relearning the pose correctly in teacher training (who knew the shoulder blades were supposed to squeeze together!?!). It makes some people feel inadequate and others angry; its a pose few can claim to 'like'. Towards that end, I'd like to offer a new translation for caturaṇga daṇḍāsana:
"Four-Legged Punishment Pose."
And certainly most serious yogis have had to pass through the stage of regarding it so. But I also offer you hope, O ye who wouldst master the Mysteries of the Vinyasa, for by struggle (tapas) is the dross removed from the gold, and even the soul freed from its bondage in matter. For if thou earnestly strengtheneth thy core, and if thou art mindful of the working of thy thighs, nay even the deep muscles of the pelvic bowl as thou descendeth from Plank pose, and if thou tuckest thy tail bone, then shalt thou not only pass through the mysteries of the perfect caturaṇga daṇḍāsana, but thou shalt find much strength and sensitivity that thou mayest take unto all other asanas. And so, by thy skill, thou shalt ascend even unto ūrdhva ḍhanurāsana, yea, even unto thy Upward Facing Dog.
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