在古代，印度并不是一个统一的国家。那里的人们来自不同的种族，信仰不同的宗教，说着不同的语言。但是，在这片土地上仍存在着一种集体感，因为那里的人们携带着共同的精神力量。无论是国王还是农民，每个人心存唯一一个终极目标---自由。这是受精神力量熏陶的结果。当中有一个人对人们意识的塑造产生至关重要的影响，那个人就是湿婆(Shiva)。

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在接下来的内容里，萨古鲁将为我们介绍第一位瑜伽行者---湿婆(Shiva)，以及他瑜伽科学传递给七位圣人（译者注：在印度七位圣人合称Saptarishis）的故事。

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在瑜伽文化中，湿婆(Shiva)并不是作为神而让大家所熟知的，而是因为他是Adiyogi---第一位瑜伽行者，即瑜伽的发起者。是他最先把瑜伽的种子播撒到人类的意识中。据瑜伽学说记载，大概一万五千年前，湿婆(Shiva)获得开悟并在喜马拉雅山尽情欢舞，狂热地在天地之间舞动。当这一切都超越了的时候，他完全地定静住了。

人们说他正经历着别人前所未闻的事情，所有人都没办法看透这一切发生了什么。于是，人们想一探究竟，聚集而来又默默退去，因为他对周围人的存在丝毫不以为意。他既不在强烈的舞蹈之中，也不在完全的静止之中，只是全然地不受周围一切的干扰。很快，人们就一个个离开了…

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这七个人决心要从拜他为师，但湿婆(Shiva)仍然毫不理睬。他们恳请道，“我们渴望向您求道。”湿婆(Shiva)驱散他们，说道“你们这群愚昧的人，看看你们现在这副样子，即使一百万年之后你们也不会得道。想要得道需要相当大量的准备，这可不是随便闹着玩的。”

于是这七个人开始了漫长的准备之旅。日复一日，年复一年。湿婆(Shiva)仍旧不予理睬。经过了84年修持（译者注：sadhana，修持；印度教与佛教密宗用语）之后，在一个月圆之夜，当夏至日要转到冬至日时---这个传统节日叫做Dakshinayana --- Adiyogi看着这七个人散发着异样的求知的光芒。他感受到时机来到，对于接受真理，他们已经完全成熟了。湿婆开始关注这七个人。

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在接下来的几天里，他仔细地观察着这七个男人。在第二个满月升起之时，他决定成为古鲁（Guru见附注）。他转化成为了Adi古鲁：在那天第一个古鲁诞生了，在今天人们视他为Pournami古鲁。在一个距离Kedarnath几公里远的Kanti Sarovar湖岸边，他面向南边，散发着神性的光芒，开始向这七个男人传授瑜伽科学。这项瑜伽科学并不是教导如何弯曲你的身体—每个新生婴儿都能做到这点---或者是如何保持你的呼吸---每个婴儿都知道。它是一套了解和认识整个人类系统的科学。

许多年之后，当教导传递完成之后，他创造了七个完全开悟的人---这七个人就是今天大家所熟知的，并且在印度文化中被敬仰和膜拜的Saptarishis。湿婆将瑜伽的不同方面分别传教给这七个人，并且这成为瑜伽的七个基本形式。甚至在今天，瑜伽仍保持着这七种独特的形式。

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湿婆(Shiva)向七位圣人传授瑜伽科学

Saptarishis将瑜伽的七个不同的方向带到世界各地，帮助人们超越他们现有的局限和束缚，不断演化提升。他们成为湿婆(Shiva)的四肢，将人们如何主宰自己的方法带到了全世界。时间可能会摧毁很多事物，但是这片土地的文化却被小心翼翼地传承了下来。经过成千上万次的继承和演化，瑜伽科学已经褪去了原先的复杂性，但这些线索仍然有迹可循。

Adiyogi教导个人无需被束缚在人类所定义的局限之中。有一种方式，可以让你包含在物质中但不属于它，让你居住在身体里但不成为它，让你用最高的可能性使用你的大脑但没有悲伤。无论你在哪个层次，你都可以超越它---过上另一种更加美好的生活方式。他说，“如果你做了必要的功课，那你就能够超越当前的局限，得到更进一步的进化”。这就是Adiyogi所要教导的意义。

In the story that follows, Sadhguru tells us about Shiva, the first yogi, and how he transmitted the yogic sciences to the Saptarishis.

People saw that he was experiencing something that nobody had known before, something that they were unable to fathom. Interest developed and people came wanting to know what this was. They came, they waited and they left because the man was oblivious to other people’s presence. He was either in intense dance or absolute stillness, completely uncaring of what was happening around him. Soon, everyone left…

Except for seven men.

These seven people were insistent that they must learn what this man had in him, but Shiva ignored them. They pleaded and begged him, “Please, we want to know what you know.” Shiva dismissed them and said, “You fools. The way you are, you are not going to know in a million years. There is a tremendous amount of preparation needed for this. This is not entertainment.”

So they started preparing. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, they prepared. Shiva just chose to ignore them. On a full moon day, after eighty-four years of sadhana, when the solstice had shifted from the summer solstice to the winter solstice – which in this tradition is known as Dakshinayana – the Adiyogi looked at these seven people and saw that they had become shining receptacles of knowing. They were absolutely ripe to receive. He could not ignore them anymore. They grabbed his attention.

He watched them closely for the next few days and when the next full moon rose, he decided to become a Guru. The Adiyogi transformed himself into the Adi Guru; the first Guru was born on that day which is today known as Guru Pournami. On the banks of Kanti Sarovar, a lake that lies a few kilometers above Kedarnath, he turned South to shed his grace upon the human race, and the transmission of the yogic science to these seven people began. The yogic science is not about a yoga class that you go through about how to bend your body – which every new born infant knows – or how to hold your breath – which every unborn infant knows. This is the science of understanding the mechanics of the entire human system.

After many years, when the transmission was complete, it produced seven fully enlightened beings – the seven celebrated sages who are today known as the Saptarishis, and are worshipped and admired in Indian culture. Shiva put different aspects of yoga into each of these seven people, and these aspects became the seven basic forms of yoga. Even today, yoga has maintained these seven distinct forms.

附注：

The Saptarishis were sent in seven different directions to different parts of the world to carry this dimension with which a human being can evolve beyond his present limitations and compulsions. They became the limbs of Shiva, taking the knowing and technology of how a human being can exist here as the Creator himself, to the world. Time has ravaged many things, but when the cultures of those lands are carefully looked at, small strands of these people’s work can be seen, still alive. It has taken on various colors and forms, and has changed its complexion in a million different ways, but these strands can still be seen.

The Adiyogi brought this possibility that a human being need not be contained in the defined limitations of our species. There is a way to be contained in physicality but not to belong to it. There is a way to inhabit the body but never become the body. There is a way to use your mind in the highest possible way but still never know the miseries of the mind. Whatever dimension of existence you are in right now, you can go beyond that – there is another way to live. He said, “You can evolve beyond your present limitations if you do the necessary work upon yourself.” That is the significance of the Adiyogi.

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