60 SECOND INTERVIEW WITH ERKIN BEK BY YOGA MAGAZINE

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60 SECOND INTERVIEW
Erkin Bek
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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.
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• 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 happening
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.
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• 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. Dont try to make up stuff.
Express what is really true.
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THANK YOU

• allhere.net