Bks Iyengar Quotes

The hardness of a diamond is part of its usefulness, but its true value is in the light that shines through it.

Yoga is like music: the rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.

It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity.

Yoga does not just change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees.

You must purge yourself before finding faults in others. When you see a mistake in somebody else, try to find if you are making the same mistake. This is the way to take judgment and to turn it into improvement. Do not look at others' bodies with envy or with superiority. All people are born with different constitutions. Never compare with others. Each one's capacities are a function of his or her internal strength. Know your capacities and continually improve upon them.

It is through the alignment of the body that I discovered the alignment of my mind, self, and intelligence.

Yoga allows you to find a new kind of freedom that you may not have known even existed.

Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life, where you do not feel like you are constantly trying to fit broken pieces together.

Be inspired but not proud.

Breath is the king of mind.

Action is movement with intelligence. The world is filled with movement. What the world needs is more conscious movement, more action.

Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open.

There is only one reality, but there are many ways that reality can be interpreted.

Nothing can be forced, receptivity is everything.

One's spiritual realization lies in none other than how one walks among and interacts with one's fellow beings.

Love begets courage, moderation creates abundance and humility generates power.

Spirituality is not some external goal that one must seek, but a part of the divine core of each of us, which we must reveal.

There is a universal reality in ourselves that aligns us with a universal reality that is everywhere.

You do not need to seek freedom in a different land, for it exists with your own body, heart, mind, and soul.

Do not aim low, you will miss the mark. Aim high and you will be on a threshold of bliss.

Yoga allows you to find an inner peace that is not ruffled and riled by the endless stresses and struggles of life.

As animals, we walk the earth. As bearers of divine essence, we are among the stars. As human beings, we are caught in the middle, seeking to reconcile the paradox of how to make our way upon earth while striving for something more permanent and more profound.

There is no progress toward ultimate freedom without transformation, and this is the key issue in all lives.

You exist without the feeling of existence.

The union of nature and soul removes the veil of ignorance that covers our intelligence.

We must create a marriage between the awareness of the body and that of the mind. When two parties do not cooperate, there is unhappiness on both sides.

By drawing our senses of perception inward, we are able to experience the control, silence, and quietness of the mind.

As breath stills our mind, our energies are free to unhook from the senses and bend inward.

As we explore the soul, it is important to remember that this exploration will take place within nature (the body), for that is where and what we are.

It is Einstein’s famous equation E=MC^2, in which E is energy (rajas), M is mass (tamas), and C is the speed of light (sattva). Energy, mass, and light are endlessly bound together in the universe.

Yoga is about the will, working with intelligence and self-reflexive consciousness, can free us from the inevitability of the wavering mind and outwardly directed senses.

True concentration is an unbroken thread of awareness.

A fusion of nature and soul.

Life itself seeks fulfillment as plants seek sunlight.

Breath is the vehicle of consciousness and so, by its slow measured observation and distribution, we learn to tug our attention away from external desires toward a judicious, intelligent awareness.

Meditation is oneness, when there is no longer time, sex, or country. The moment when, after you have concentrated on doing a pose (or anything else) perfectly, you hold it and then forget everything, not because you want to forget but because you are concentrated: this is meditation.

The head is the seat of intelligence. The heart is the seat of emotion.

When we free ourselves from physical disabilities, emotional disturbances, and mental distractions, we open the gates to our soul.

The physical body is not only a temple for our soul, but the means by which we embark on the inward journey toward the core.

Asanas maintain the strength and health of the body, without which little progress can be made. Asanas keep the body in harmony with nature.

There is no difference in souls, only the ideas about ourselves that we wear.

But a yogi never forgets that health must begin with the body. Your body is the child of the soul. You must nourish and train your child. Physical health is not a commodity to be bargained for. Nor can it be swallowed in the form of drugs and pills. It has to be earned through sweat.

You have to create love and affection for your body, for what it can do for you. Love

All games are meaningless if you do not know the rules.

We are a little piece of continual change, looking at an infinite quantity of continual change.

We often fool ourselves that we are concentrating because we fix our attention on wavering objects.

Yoga is the teacher of yoga; yoga is to be understood through yoga. So live in yoga to realize yoga; comprehend yoga through yoga; he who is free from distractions enjoys yoga through yoga.

Asana has two facets, pose and repose. Pose is the artistic assumption of a position. ‘Reposing in the pose’ means finding the perfection of a pose and maintaining it, reflecting in it with penetration of the intelligence and with dedication.

Happy is the man who knows how to distinguish the real from the unreal, the eternal from the transient and the good from the pleasant by his discrimination and wisdom. Twice blessed is he who knows true love and can love all God's creatures. He who works selflessly for the welfare of others with love in his heart is thrice blessed. But the man who combines within his mortal frame knowledge, love and selfless service is holy and becomes a place of pilgrimage.

If you have smoked since you were sixteen, every time you pick up a cigarette in the day you are also brainwashing yourself. "In this situation I pick up a cigarette" sends a little ripple down through consciousness that adds to the "take a cigarette" mound. That's why cigarettes are more difficult than almost anything else to give up. Aside from their physical cravings, we create mental cravings because the habit is very repetitive. The habit of smoking puts itself into every situation. The triggers to that situation are so many that many smokers still sometimes want to smoke even years after they have stopped because the mound is still there.