Andrew: We were in Mysore nearly a month shooting the interviews. Kanchen Mala was the person who organized most of the interviews and without her help we would never have succeeded. Many things just fell into place. Good fortune smiled on us over and over again. When we went to meet the principal of the Maharaja’s Saṃskṛt College, Sri Bhashyam Iyengar, he looked much more like a wild yogi than an academic person in starchy white shirt. He was doing a puja ceremony and he asked me to come up and put ghee on the ceremonial fire. It was noisy and crowded and I hardly understood what was going on, but of course I did as he asked. When I poured the ghee a small deity floating in a bowl of water moved across the bowl toward me. The whole room went silent. Sri Bhashyam Iyengar clapped his hand to his chest and said something in Saṃskṛt. This was taken as an omen of our sincerity and from that moment we were granted access to the Maharaja’s Saṃskṛt College, its ancient manuscripts, the senior professors. Also, Sri Bhashyam Iyengar prepared an official speech for us regarding the practice of yogasana in his college and the years that Sri Kṛṣṇamācārya spent teaching there. Interviewing senior Saṃskṛt scholars is tricky, but became easier with practice. All the years of study with my Guruji, Sri BNS Iyengar, prepared me for it. There are etiquettes and mannerisms that one must know in order to communicate effectively with such people.
Sabine: Seeing that you had studied at Mysore yourself for extended periods of time, you already knew the scene quite well. Was there nevertheless something new for you to learn or discover during the filming of the movie?
Andrew: Guruji always said “we” when he spoke about his studies etc. Of course I always wondered who he was referring to. He always gave the impression that the yoga came from a community of scholars. We met that community when we filmed our interviews. It was eye-opening and profound for us! They are very educated and brilliant people and have many diverging views about yoga. Again and again we were shocked at how open-minded, up to date, generous and kind they all were. They asked for nothing. No one wanted money or anything else from us. The only thing they asked for was help with the preservation of their ancient manuscripts which contain a huge about of information about yoga. We sincerely hope that Mysore Yoga Traditions will help bring this issue to the attention of the international yoga community!
Sabine: You were granted access to an incredible number of usually closed off locations and had the opportunity to talk to a lot of people generally not available for interviews. For this reason, I guess that there is not THE one single scene you’d choose as your personal favorite. Having said this, I’d still like to know whether there are certain moments particularly dear to you. If yes, would you like to share them?
Andrew: There were far too many interesting times to recount. One that stands out in my mind is when we asked Sri Gangadhar Bhat a question about who all had or had not studied with Sri Kṛṣṇamācārya. He got so irritated and impassioned we were all taken aback! It became very clear to me that he strongly dislikes the idea of “pedigree.” He said that a teacher is like a spoon. Once you have the food in your mouth you lay it aside. He does not think anyone is more or less credible because of who they learned from. It is what we know that counts, and more importantly what we do with it. I thought a lot about that. It seems that instead of proclaiming oneself to be the direct disciple of Sri Sri whoever it is, teaching authentic yoga based on such and such a tradition and such and such a philosophy….It might actually be more authentic and genuine to simply say “I am a person who loves and believes in yoga. I am teaching it in my community as best I am able to. I am grateful to all of my teachers for the time and knowledge they have given me. If I am successful it is only because of the grace and excellent instruction of my teachers….” It seems to me that this is more in keeping with the true spirit of the Mysore Yoga Parampara. I am so grateful to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts with us and to impart their views and knowledge about the yoga tradition which is obviously very dear to them!
Sabine: What a beautiful idea. I guess that the only thing I can add to this statement is: thank you so much for sharing all your experiences and thoughts with us and making this incredible project happen!
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