The Yoga of the Nine Emotions: The Tantric Practice of Rasa Sadhana

224 Pages·2006·1.08 MB·english

by  Peter Marchand

10
HINDUISM/SELF-HELP
Rasas are the essence of our emotions that exist in both the body and the
mind. The tantric tradition recognizes nine Rasas that represent our basic
emotions: Love, Joy, Wonder, Courage, Calmness, Anger, Sadness, Fear, and
Disgust. A study of the Rasas provides us with an objective language for
examining our emotions and increasing our emotional intelligence. Those
who practice Rasa Sadhana learn to overcome negative emotions in order to
pursue better health, enhanced spiritual growth, and enduring happiness.
Our emotions are continuously affected by the interplay of our senses,
the elements, food, and the life force in our body. In The Yoga of the Nine
Emotions, Peter Marchand presents the "technology" for changing our
emotional patterns in the form of practical physiological and philosophical
tools from tantric and ayurvedic traditions. He explains the nature and pur
pose of each Rasa and how we can strengthen or weaken one Rasa through
another. He also offers ayurvedic cooking guidelines and daily routines
for balancing sensory input and strengthening emotional health, including
fasting from negative emotions as well as how to energize positive ones. In
addition, The Yoga of the Nine Emotions provides guidelines for integrat
ing a Rasa Sadhana practice with other yoga practices. As we master our
emotions through the practice of Rasa Sadhana, we gain true control of our
lives and our relationships with others.
PETER MARCHAND became a student of Harish Johari
in 1983 and is one of the founders of Sanatan Society, a
networking organization of family and students of Harish
johari. He travels to India annually and teaches Rasa
Sadhana in Europe, America, and Asia. He lives in Belgium.
Harish Johari (1934-1999) was a tantric scholar, poet,
musician, composer, artist, and gemologist. He authored twelve books,
including Chakras, Tools for Tantra, and Ayurvedic Healing Cuisine.
DESTINY BOOKS
ROCHESTER, VERMONT
Cover design by Peri Champine
Cover illustration by Pieter Weltevrede
The Yoga of
the Nine Emotions
aum
Gajananam bhootganadhisevitam
kapitthya jamboo phalasaara bkakshakam
Umasutam shokvinashkarakam
namami Vighneshwar padpankajam
aum
Elephant-faced, worshipped by all existing beings,
tasting the elephant apple (kaith) and jamun fruit (jambolana)
the son of Uma, destroyer of grief,
I bow to the lotus feet of Ganesha, who is Lord of all.
T he Y o ga of t he
Nine Emotions
THE TANTRIC PRACTICE OF RASA SADHANA
Based on the
Teachings of Harish Johari
Destiny Books
Rochester, Vermont
Destiny Books
One Park Street
Rochester, Vermont 05767
www.DestinyBooks.com
Destiny Books is a division of Inner Traditions International
Copyright © 2006 by Peter Marchand
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Marchand, Peter, 1963-
The yoga of the nine emotions : the tantric practice of rasa sadhana / Peter Marchand.
p. cm.
"Based on the teachings of Harish Johari."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-59477-094-8
1. Yoga. 2. Rasas. 3. Tantrism. 4. Johari, Harish, 1934-1999 - Teachings. I. Johari,
Harish, 1934-1999. II. Title.
B132.Y6M299 2006
294.5'436 - dc22
2006002970
Printed and bound in the United States by Lake Book Manufacturing, Inc.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Text design and layout by Virginia Scott Bowman
This book was typeset in Sabon and Avenir with Nuptial Script and Avenir as the display
typefaces
To send correspondence to the author of this book, mail a first-class letter to the author c/o
Inner Traditions • Bear & Company, One Park Street, Rochester, VT 05767, and we will
forward the communication.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Part One: Rasa Sadhana
1 Nine Rasas 6
2 Rasas in the Body 13
3 Body Emotions in Western Science 20
4 Indian Philosophy and Rasas 26
Part Two: The Nine Rasas
5 Shringara: Love 34
6 Hasya: Joy 48
7 Adbhuta: Wonder 55
8 Shanta: Calmness 62
9 Raudra: Anger 69
10 Veerya: Courage 80
11 Karuna: Sadness 88
12 Bhayanaka: Fear 96
13 Vibhatsa: Disgust 103
Part Three: Working with Our Rasas
14 Mastering Emotions 112
15 Rasa Sadhana 119
16 Balancing Sensory Input 126
17 Cooking Emotions 137
18 Daily Routines 144
19 Emotional Emergencies 151
Part Four: Our Rasas in Society
20 The Emotional Evolution of Humankind 156
21 Rasas and Western Science 161
22 Rasas, Religion, Spirituality, and Yoga 166
23 Power to the Artists 175
24 Social Work and Politics 183
25 Mood Marketing 187
26 Rasas in Therapy 191
Conclusion 193
Sanskrit Glossary 195
References and Recommended Reading 200
Index 203
Acknowledgements
I owe all credit for this book to Sri Harish Johari, who gave the "Rasa
Siddhanta" lecture series that forms the principal basis of this book. All
credit goes to him not only because the content is thus really his, but
also because I could not have written it without his contribution to my
personal development as my teacher since 1983.
As Harish Johari left his body in August 1999 without having writ
ten a book on the Rasas, the essences of our emotions, he left me with
a great challenge and opportunity. The writing of this book has offered
me more in terms of personal growth than the material could ever have
given me in any other way. I can only feel very grateful to him.
The Rasas lectures by Harish Johari took place in 1997 in Belgium
and were spread out over a period of nine days, for a total of about
twenty hours of actual lectures. In between, the small group of students
from Belgium and the Netherlands would cook and paint and talk and
more, working with the teachings of Harish Johari in a most unique
way. And of course, there was no escape from confronting our emotions
during that time. This was especially true because Harish Johari, as a
real elder brother or Dada, was tickling and teasing us to reveal them
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
and face them. All the while he remained the teacher of many ancient
ways, which each student could choose from according to his or her
desire and temperament.
I also thank Marian Duys for freely offering her house as the
wonderful home where Harish Johari's lectures in Belgium took place,
that year and many years before that. While having to act out the role
of the hostess to all those visitors, she still found the time to dutifully
record every minute of the lectures on tape. My own notes represented
only a fraction of the richness of the teaching, so I could have done noth
ing without her.
I thank the Johari family that allowed me to convert the content
of the tapes into a book and to interpret this teaching in my own way.
I hope that they still find enough of the original spirit within, in spite
of my attempt to also look at the Rasas from a Western point of view.
I thank Christine Grunwald for typing out the majority of the lecture
tapes. I thank Pieter Weltevrede for creating the great cover image of the
Rasas and the image of Ganesha for the frontispiece. I thank those at the
publisher Destiny Books for being a constant source of good advice and
enthusiasm from the very moment they knew about this project. And I
thank the following friends and family for reading through the draft ver
sion of this book and providing me with so many interesting comments:
Andre Marchand, Chris Marchand, Christine Grunwald, Dominique
Van Gerven, Geva Weltevrede, Heidi Rauhut, James Daley, Joe Baxter,
John Marchand, Mme. Champagne, Mohit Johri, Monique Marchand,
Narmada Devi, Nelleke Sparling, Pieter Weltevrede, Rudy Kuhn, and
Wil Geraets. Special thanks also are due for the moral support by Chris
tina Richa Devi.
I thank the Indian people of so many generations for passing on this
ancient knowledge, up to the point where my teacher learned it from
his parents and his teachers. One does not often think about Indian
people as being stubborn, but they are very stubborn at preserving good
things.
Of course, I thank everybody that contributed to my life and pro
vided me with the practical experience necessary to understand the play