December 2018 - Collectors' Edition / 05 Dec 2018
Ashtanga Yoga – Introduction
Thousands of years ago, the great sage Patanjali summarized the whole philosophy and practice of Yoga into a set of 196 Yoga Sutras. It was an amazing achievement, and he compiled and codified all the knowledge that existed in his day on the art and science of Yoga in order to arrive at this treatise. One of the core aspects of his work is the framework he developed of 8 main attributes or limbs of practice needed to attain the state of Yoga: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Today we know these 8 as Ashtanga Yoga. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras continue to be a definitive reference today on all aspects of Yoga. They are presented in four chapters: Samadhi Pada – concentration Sadhana Pada – practice Vibhuti Pada – experiences Kaivalya Pada – absolute freedom Chapter 1 is about the spiritual uses of concentration and focuses on: – What is Yoga? – What are the mental deviations and obstacles that take us away from the balanced state? – The importance of one-pointed practice and renunciation – Types of concentration and practice, including through OM – The results of stabilizing the mind Chapter 2 is about practice and focuses on: – Removing mental deviations, complexities and impurities, including subtle thoughts, so as to remove the hold of karma – The first five of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga – Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara Chapter 3 is about experiences and focuses on: – Samyama – the last 3 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga – Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi – Liberation and higher discrimination Chapter 4 is about freedom and focuses on: – Liberation – Enlightenment – Illumination – The three gunas – Impressions and karma While the information in all 4 chapters is relevant, chapters 2 and…
December 2018 - Collectors' Edition / 03 Dec 2018
Asana
REFINING THE PHYSICAL BODY – ALIGNING THE POSTURE INWARD Asana is the third of Patanjali’s eight limbs of yogic practice. DAAJI explains the role of Asana in Yoga, how the physical steadiness of Asana helps us to create inner steadiness, and how the yogic science of Asana is also helping people worldwide to maintain health and well-being. This third limb of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga is probably the most popular and also the least well understood today. When we think of Asanas, many of us will visualize Hatha Yoga exercises at the local gym or yoga studio, but there is much more to understand about Asanas than this. The word Asana comes from the Sanskrit root as, which means ‘to sit’: the original Asana was the sitting pose for meditation. The purpose of Yoga has always been union or oneness with the infinite, so the main focus in yogic practice is meditation, and through meditation union. It is in this context that Patanjali defined and described Asana in the following three Sutras: 2.46: Sthira sukham āsanam Sthira means steady, stable; sukham means comfortable,relaxed; asanam means posture or sitting position. So that sitting position which is steady and comfortable is Asana. 2.47: Prayatna shaithilya ananta samapattibhyam Prayatna means tension or effort; shaithilya means relaxing or loosening; ananta means infinite, endless samapattibhyam means bringing the attention to and merging with. So Asana comes through relaxing efforts and allowing consciousness to merge with the infinite. 2.48: Tatah dwandwa anabhighata Tatah means thus; dwandwa means the dualities or pairs of opposites, such as light and dark, right and wrong anabhighata means without impact or freedom from suffering. So through Asana we become free from the impact of the dualities of heat and cold, pleasure and pain, etc. When we summarize what Patanjali said about Asana,…
December 2018 - Collectors' Edition / 03 Dec 2018
Pranayama
REFINING THE ENERGETIC BODY – ALIGNING ENERGY FLOW AND BREATH INWARDS Pranayama is the fourth of Patanjali’s eight limbs of yogic practice. Here DAAJI explains the purpose of the practices of Pranayama and some key dos and don’ts. He also introduces Prana as the base of all these practices, as well as touching upon Prana pratishtha in traditional worship and Pranahuti in the Heartfulness way of meditation, describing how the regulation and stabilization of our energy field helps us to dive deep in meditation to the center of our being. For thousands of years people have worshipped and prayed to idols and statues, including images of gods, saints, and symbols like the cross. Often these images have very profound symbolism, and have also been charged with Prana or spiritual essence by great saints or prophets from the past. This process of charging an idol is known as Prana pratishtha. Now, here is a question: if a saint or yogi can infuse an inanimate statue, cross or stone with spiritual essence, can that same saint not also infuse the heart of a human being with the same essence? A human being who can feel the divine essence and respond directly rather than having to go through the medium of an idol? The answer will become clear later in the article. Swami Vivekananda once said that, “Prana stands in metaphysics for the sum total of the energy that is in the universe. This universe, according to the theory of the philosophers, proceeds in the form of waves; it rises, and again it subsides, melts away, as it were; then again it proceeds out in all this variety; then again it slowly returns. So it goes on like a pulsation. The whole of this universe is composed of matter and force; and according…
December 2018 - Collectors' Edition / 03 Dec 2018
Samyama – part 1
DHARANA: REFINING THE THOUGHT PROCESS – ALIGNING THE FLOW OF INTENTION INWARD TOWARDS THE CENTER Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi are the final three limbs of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga. There is no clear separation or definition among them, as they weave together to define the inner spiritual practices of meditation, known as Raja Yoga. These three limbs focus on the real purpose of Yoga and they are the practices of the inner journey known as the spiritual yatra. In the remaining articles of the series on Ashtanga Yoga, DAAJI helps us to understand the role of Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, and how they take us to the culmination of Yoga – union or osmosis with the Ultimate Existence. We have so far explored the first five limbs of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga – Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara. Each has its purpose, and together they help us refine our thoughts, actions, posture and energy, including the breath, and direct our senses inwards to the field of consciousness. All this prepares us to go deeper into the heart and mind. Through Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, we open up the potential of the subtle bodies and finally go beyond these, eventually to the Absolute state. If you can visualize a human being as made up of matter, energy and the absolute state of nothingness – body, mind and soul – then we are now moving away from the world of matter into the realm of subtler and subtler forms of energy until eventually we reach the Center of our being, which is the Absolute nothingness at the base of everything. PATANJALI’S SUTRAS There are many Sutras about Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi in Patanjali’s seminal research. Here are a few that are relevant to this article: 3.1: Deshah bandhah chittasya dharana Dharana is the…
December 2018 - Collectors' Edition / 03 Dec 2018
Samyama – part 4
SAMADHI: REALIZING NON-BEING – THE ABSOLUTE STATE OF BALANCE AT THE CENTER Samadhi is the eighth limb of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga. It is considered to be the goal of Yoga, an inner experience of purity and balance that is one with the original state that existed before creation. During our yogic practice, we also encounter various stages or glimpses of Samadhi as we progress on the journey towards this original state. In the final article of this series, DAAJI explains this unfolding experience of Samadhi and how we eventually come to the ultimate goal of Yoga through our practice. We have now reached the real purpose of Yoga, the zenith of yogic practice, the much sought-after state of Samadhi. The word ‘Samadhi’ simply means ‘that which prevailed before creation came into existence’, the absolute balanced state of oneness or nothingness or total emptiness. Our soul has always been craving for that ultimate state of balance, and, unless and until we attain it within, the soul will always find some sort of shortcoming in whatever we do in life. Once we achieve that Samadhi state in all our activities, both worldly and spiritual, then true happiness comes on its own, even when we fail in our actions. We remain unshaken. Samadhi is the ultimate spiritual relaxation and the ultimate effortless concentration, and it is considered to be the goal of human existence in Yoga. You might even say that it is the reason for our existence as a species. Every species has a purpose on this Earth, and ours is to go back to the original state. Hence we have a spectrum of consciousness of a high enough order so that we can realize this purpose. Every other limb of Ashtanga Yoga is only a training and a preparation to help…
December 2018 - Collectors' Edition / 03 Dec 2018
Karma, Jnana & Bhakti Yoga – Introduction
We usually associate Karma, Jnana and Bhakti Yoga with Lord Krishna’s teachings to Arjuna on the battlefield in the Bhagavad Gita. These three yogas of action, knowledge and devotion are not seen as separate paths, but as different facets of the journey. Why is it useful to understand Yoga according to these three aspects? For a start, action is associated with the physical body, knowledge with the mind or subtle body, and devotion with the soul or causal body. Just as the body, mind and soul all function together in a human being, karma, jnana and bhakti are also interwoven. In fact it is in the integration of the three that we integrate our being. Inner Realization is only valid if it is expressed outwardly in action – what Lord Krishna calls skill in action. And how we navigate life is all about the mind and the wisdom we develop. Lord Krishna says, “People are made by belief. As they believe, so they are.” Jnana is our rudder in life, the essential aspect of existence, hence the importance of meditation to keep it in the best condition possible to guide us well. And without love and interest, no thought or action has any purpose behind it. So in these two articles we explore Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga, and the interrelationship among all three. We also explore the origin of our threefold existence at the time of creation, and how movement, thinking and oneness are all inherent in our soul, which has a compound existence. All three join at the midpoint of our being, the human heart, so it is here that we embark on our journey of integration through the practices of Heartfulness. Read Karma, Jnana & Bhakti Yoga – Part 1 Read Karma, Jnana & Bhakti…
December 2018 - Collectors' Edition / 03 Dec 2018
Karma, Jnana & Bhakti Yoga – part 1
THE TRIAD OF ACTION, KNOWLEDGE, AND CONNECTION WITH THE CENTER Even before the texts of the Vedas were written down, the three fundamental elements of yogic practice were known as Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Here DAAJI enlightens us on how these three elements arose, and how mastering karma, jnana and bhakti can help us to reach the stage of oneness known as Yoga. It is fascinating to me that the most unified concept in the world, Yoga, has been subdivided into so many branches. Just as medical doctors specialize in certain organs of the body and certain illnesses, Yoga practitioners often specialize in just one or two aspects of Yoga. And like medicine, these yogic specializations may take us deeper into each area of specialty and provide very useful and important understanding, but the underlying purpose of Yoga has been lost in the process. The word ‘Yoga’ itself means ‘union’ or ‘to bind’, and the practices of Yoga are all about unification of the lower self with the higher Self; union of individual consciousness with universal consciousness; and the integration of body, mind and soul into a purified whole. Despite this focus on union, Yoga has also traditionally been classified into three major disciplines – Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. What are these three disciplines and how do they fit together? Is there some purpose to this triadic classification? To understand this, we really need to go back to the time of creation. CREATION What was there before the creation of the universe? There was indescribable and infinite darkness. Then, into this absolute state of nothingness came a stir, and that very first vibration caused the big bang. It was also the first manifestation of consciousness, described in Yoga as AUM. The whole world rests…
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