It has been a year since this journey in Indian Soft Power began. Over the past one year and especially in the last three months, there have been so many connections made, so many lines of conversation on topics timeless and eternal, which mankind has addressed in several ways. So what is new one might ask. What is new that is being said, what is new that is being done.
It is difficult to explain the magic of journalism. The odds of connecting with another soul whose heart beats to the same inspiration, across lands and oceans. To commemorate this little anniversary, it was difficult to choose whom to feature, which conversation to highlight.
Just when things got a little jaded, journalism yet again managed to establish a thread. This little precious conversation happened with an Italian Yogi – Fabio Milioni, who was born in Roma, Italy but is presently living in Tunisia where he had come for some Yoga activities.
We move from chatgroups to email, to soul connect. Fabio describes himself as just “a small creature…with no boundaries…consciousness led by सनातन धर्म , beyond places, name and form.”
We are all, he says, “Small, little creatures...all in search of the truth...in the path our great Saints and Avatar have shown...What is really important is beyond words.... and visible actions...”
Fabio has been promoting Yoga in Italy for a long time now. He completed his teacher training programme in Italy and has translated several Indian texts into Italian (https://loyogadellatradizione.com). In his library he has books on the Yogasutras of Patanjali, Samkya literature, RgVeda, the Upanishads, Bhagavadgita, Mahabharat, the Brahmasutras, on Adi Shankara, Hathayoga, Siva Samhita, Hathayoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita, Manusmriti, and books on modern yoga masters.
So I ask him, what made him come to Yoga and send him a whole list of other questions, in no particular order of curiosity. He replied with one answer. Here is the endearing Fabio in his own words:
“In my existence, I have always had perception of the 'sacred' and of the dimensions of being 'subtle', which are beyond the dimension of the senses, of the material reality of names and forms.
Living everyday life, immersed in emergencies and material conditioning, is a necessity linked to the survival and re-production of the physical body. In western society, characterized by materialism and reductionism, conditionings are particularly strong, but they cannot prevent people from perceiving a feeling of inadequacy that generates suffering. Unfortunately, also in the west, the wisdom of the western tradition (Parmenides- Pythagoras-Plato-Plotinus-Pletone) has been progressively lost. In the West, philosophy has been reduced to pure theoretical speculation, totally unrelated to real life. The purely 'speculative' aspect has also largely sterilized what is left of the traditional routes. In our time, in the West, it is possible to find the essence of Tradition only in limited areas (Sufis, Kabbalists, Monks).
Yoga, an integral part of the Vedic Tradition, is vice versa a particularly powerful and effective tool for those who feel the urge to seek full awareness, wisdom and release from the material dimension.
Personally, I approached yoga decades ago, looking for unresolved existential answers. So not to yoga as it is widely spread throughout the West, therefore also in Italy, but to Yoga as one of the six Darsana (visions) of Vedic Wisdom. Unfortunately, very few original texts are translated into Italian, as are the teachings of the great masters of our times. Having the good fortune to be able to read from English and French, (of course without ever forgetting that the 'real' language is Sanskrit, an untranslatable sacred language, only experiment-able), was able to have access to the texts available in these languages. For this reason, in parallel with the individual path (Sadhana), I felt the duty to contribute to the knowledge of the sources, making the translations available (always associated with the original text).
As a person still in search (quest) and full of flaws, I try to give the best I can, that is, limit myself to making the original sources known, without filters or subjective reinterpretations.
With the ‘Auspicio' of Peace and Good, I hope I managed to answer your questions.
Om Shantih!
Post Scriptum: I am not a Master, I am a simple researcher, (the Yoga Teacher diploma of the Italian Yoga Federation (FIY), I consider it a simple school certificate), the Initiation according to Tradition 'from Master to Disciple' (परंपरा) I do not have a receipt.
Fabio is inspired and quotes Verses 7 and 8 from the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna’s words when Arjuna does not want to fight, as a message for our times:
Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata
Abhythanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham
Paritranaya sadhunang vinashay cha dushkritam
Dharmasangsthapanarthay sambhabami yuge yuge
Translation by Swami Vivekananda: "Whenever virtue subsides and wickedness prevails, I manifest Myself. To establish virtue, to destroy evil, to save the good I come from Yuga (age) to Yuga."
Finally, Fabio ends with a blessing, 'Satcidananda be in your path'!
