Granthi – the age-long opponent of a yogi – Geza Timčák and Karin Svitáková
The concept of granthi is as old as yoga itself as it represents the basic challenges of human life and of the path of yoga. The most basic and most difficult one is the Chidjada granthi – the knot that locks the consciousness into the otherwise dead body (koshas).
The most frequently encountered are the granthis situated at muladhara, anahata and ajna chakra. The presentation outlines the various systems of granthi and the practices that are built to open the granthis and to make the human system able to return the the ‘original’ state, when the yogi becomes a jivan mukta, the functions of the koshas are obsolete and, with the exemption of the annamaya and pranamaya koshas, are replaced by the ritambharam. All this also represents a sadhana with a clear beginning and end and a well designed process. The granthi sadhana is supported by a number of auxiliary processes such as mantra recitation, kapalabhati, meditation and Savita music, as well as by practices like loke tattwa kriyas or Savita namaskar.
Geza M. Timčák obtained a PhD from Imperial College, London in 1975, and held academic posts at several universities. He has received various decorations and awards, the most recent (2021) being an award from the city of Kosice for his work in yoga. He first qualified as a yoga teacher in 1979 and has since been a teacher trainer both within the Slovak Yoga Association and abroad. He is currently President of the SYA and an Honorary member of the EUY. For more details see www.timcak.saj.sk
Karin Svitáková first came across yoga when she was 13. Since then, she has mainly practised under the guidance of her father, Geza Timcak. As her three children grew older, she began her yoga teacher training with the Slovak Yoga Association. She has taken part in several weekend workshops led by Dr Mukund Bhole and numerous summer courses in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. She travels regularly to India, usually to the Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama ashram in Rishikesh, where she was initiated into mantra meditation. Karin teaches yoga in her spare time.
