60 SECOND INTERVIEW WITH ERKIN BEK BY YOGA MAGAZINE

1. 60 SECOND INTERVIEW Erkin Bek 1

2. What style of yoga do you practice, and what led you to that particular style? I adhere to the so –called Raja yoga. Raja yoga deals with the ultimate, the last step to self-realisation. It is after you have practiced all your physical postures, you have breathed all the breathing exercises, you have chanted all your chants, you have read all you wanted to read. Raja yoga stands at the very end of the yoga journey. I have come to this as an evolution at the end of all yoga practices. Raja yoga is the last step towards enlightenment. Raja yoga is not about learning. Raja yoga is about self –experience. No more exercises are needed, no more journey is required. Raja yoga is about self-manifestation. Raja yoga is at the end of all journeys. It is an arrival in absolute self-contentment. This appeals to me, this is everything. 2

3. When did you first start writing poetry? I started writing when I started to get absolute clarity about existence, about meditation, about enlightenment. It was a way to express these views in a concise manner, in a very short way of expression. Iam not a proponent of lengthy textbooks and always sought for short and concise explanations in anything. When I have attained my perfect contentment, I wished to express myself in a very concise manner, something very direct yet easily understandable. Achieving self-contentment is achieving your totality and when you express that, when you are over flowing with fullness, the river starts to flow and it started to flow in the form of poems. It flowed as a spontaneous and honest expression. That was several years ago. 3

4. Where did you get your inspiration for your poems? I draw it from all flows of life, numerous events of life, encounters with difficult situations with joyful moments, with various people, sometimes somebody can ask a question and the response is a poem. My main inspiration for writing poetry is to share the sense of perfect contentment, to share with a dear human being how to know oneself better, to share with a dear fellow and shed more light on the essential human nature, where happiness is always present to inspire human beings to be ready for happiness no matter what happens in life. Bliss lives in the centre of every human being; my work is to reveal that. My inspiration is to inspire you to reach your perfect contentment, to reach happiness that becomes permanent. This is worth writing; every poem is directed at that. 4

5. What are the poetic themes of your book ‘All Here’? The main and central theme as you can see by the title of the book ‘All Here’ is to make you notice that wherever you may be and whoever you are, all is already here for you to be happy. It is like finding a home inside of you. Once you experience that, then you are at home with the entire world and with whatever may be hap¬pening with you. Everything is already here; all the poems bring you in this direction. The poems are meant to take you into a profound self-review and contemplation. They are directed at self-examination and examination of the world in front of you. Such examination is proposed by way of description of a human being, by describing what is meditation, by giving a glimpse of what is bliss, what is enlightenment and what is absolute freedom. These are the central pillars of happiness addressed through very short and concise writings. It is a very reader friendly way to approach these subjects through short presentations. Their ideas are to share the sense of fulfilment and bring it to this very moment of life. There is also some artwork that is included in the book to add the flavor, the hint of the power of contentment. I invite you to examine it for yourself. 5

6. Do you think there is any similarity between meditation and poetry? There is absolute similarity in a sense that both are about honest self-expression. It is an absolute correlation. In both cases reaching and expressing your deepest existence is the way to go. Do you have any advice for budding poets? Express yourself honestly and totally. If you are not going to do this there is no need to bother. Be subtle; listen to yourself and the world carefully. Don’t try to make up stuff. Express what is really true. 6

7. THANK YOU allhere.net