One who has his mind self-absorbed through Yoga, and who has the vision of sameness everywhere, sees his Self existing in everything, and everything in his Self. -Baghavad Gita 6.29
Discard all thoughts that weaken you. -Swami Vivekananda
Yoga is the art of cosmic existence, or how to live as cosmic beings. Advance into the next evolutionary stage requires a collective exertion that is yogic in nature.
Yoga means union and is related to the word yoke. More specifically yoga means union with the divine. This assumes that we have a divine essence and that there is a Supreme Being, a Creator of the universe, an Absolute Reality. Yoga practice enhances the quality of existence within our body/mind allowing us to increasingly recognize the divine in each moment. This quality of existence takes into account breathing, postures, movement, mind training, sound and visual techniques.
There are six principal types of yoga in the Hindu system:
1. Hatha Yoga (primarily focuses on body, asana and pranayamas)
2. Mantra Yoga (chanting and study of absorbtion of vibrations as path of liberation)
3. Raja Yoga (pure meditation/total subjugation of lower nature)
4. Karma Yoga (work/service to attain liberation)
5. Jnana Yoga (spiritual attainment through mastery of knowledge and awareness – also known as the yoga of knowledge or mind)
Yoga, in one form or another has been around as long a human existence. The roots of yoga are closely derived from shamanic techniques of assuming the nagual or spirit animal.
Different forms of yoga exist throughout most cultures – most notably in the Chinese system of Taoism, martial arts and Falun Dafa. These are akin to yoga; especially so with Tai Chi Chuan. While prana is essential as a subtle energy in yoga, similarly, chi, the vital force, is integrated into the Taoist tradition of form, movement and breath control.
Patanjali, a spiritual master who lived somewhere between 500 and 200 BC, systematized yoga as we know it into ‘Ashtanga Yoga’ or eight-limbed yoga. This is a form of Raja Yoga bases on the system of Samkhya, a rigorous analysis of mind and perceptions developed in the late Vedic period. It describes the eight limbs of yoga for the ascention of the Kingdom of Heaven within:
Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharani, Dhyana, and Samadhi. The first four are the outer- and the last four are the inner limbs.
Yama
Restraint or correct moral practice of truth. Non-violence. Non-stealing. Refrain from greed, covetousness, hoarding and sexual propriety. Non-killing. Truthfulness. Clear agreement and understanding.
Yama or morality reminds us that it doesn’t help to hurt things. If you intentionally cause harm it is not a good thing. Yama actually pertains to the whole spectrum of what we might call first degree of moral behaviour. The point of introducing this level of morality is to curb the creation of negative karma and to conserve the necessary pranic or psychic energy. If this first degree level of morality is understood as having this actual cosmic energy function, then the teaching of this primary level of morality might be better understood. Often when we admonish a young person with ‘don’t steal’ or ‘don’t lie’ that may not be strong enough, but if karma and the conversation of cosmic energy are explained it might be more meaningful.
Niyama
Inner dicipline and outer conduct. Cleanliness. Austerity. Contentment. Satisfaction with what you have. Self-study and self-surrender to improve yourself in a spiritual direction. Self improvement. Keeping clean. Inner purification. Purity. Exertion. Ardor-passion for your discipline.Remembering the one Supreme Creator. Control ego. Dedication to God.
One whose mind is deluded with egotism thinks, ‘I am the doer’. Yoga system says we are instruments of the divine. For this reason we purify and evolve the body. When Ramakrishna was asked how to attain happyness he said to accept that you are a machine operated by God. This is at the root of Niyama; taming ego and surrendering lower impulses through the process of inner and outer purification.
Niyama means you intentionally practice or study something. You have to exert, things don’t just come to you. Or if they do come to you, you have to do something with them after they come. You have to exert or practice discipline or some type of devotion. If you do things just for yourself it will backfire on you. The only devotion is devotion to God. You have to have these types of observances, practices and self-discipline so you can actually deal objectively with knowledge or with what you are studying. Self-discipline means you are able to control thought-waves, emotional reactions and habitual thought forms. If things get in the way of your all-abiding reality then the yogic perspective vanishes.
Asana
Body positions/postures. Physical exercise. Disciplining, toning and strengthening the body. Disciplining mind by attaining control of body and breath. Develop complete equilibrium of the body (go slower). Where does the body end and the mind begin?
Asana is control of the body coordinated with breath, or how you hold your body when you walk or when you sit. When your body is poised and alert it is easier to receive information. Yoga is practice that polishes or brings out perfection of the sense organs. You don’t pollute your sense organs or cram them full of disorganized information, or bad doctrines or too much of any kind of substance. It is best when your sens organs are crystal clear, unobstructed, with nothing impending on them.This is why fasting is good, it helps to clear things out, and adhering to a raw food diet helps it stay that way. Part of the asana is holding the body and having good posture. This helps control the mind and the thoughts. I you see people involved in different types of thoughts their body posture changes. Through prolonged discipline in the asanas the body acquires a certain cosmic elegance. Hatha yoga is the exercise of different asanas. Asanas include different positions and locks within the body that can be practiced any time throughout the day no matter what activity you are engaged in. Some traditions say there are 84 asanas. Some yoga systems teach that there are 33 primary asanas, other teach there are only five.
Pranayama
Breath control. Respiration. Life. Vitality. Prana means breath; yama means to extend and interrupt the breath.
Pranayama deals with the activation of the inner body through consious respiration. Pranayama is control of the breath. Pranayamas activate the energy body by intaking oxigen through disciplined techniques.This is very subtle. The breath has subtle energies; the prana and also the plasmas that connect it to the etheric body. You control the breath, the body and the thoughts in order to bring your whole being in alignment with the all-abiding reality. This is yoga because there is union between your conscious instrumentation and awareness and the all-abiding reality. This helps cut through one of the obstacle to knowledge which is dualism. When you are in a hightened trancendental state of non-dualism, your instrumentation is attuned with the all-abiding reality. In this way you can become a perfect laboratory of cosmic solar energy frequencies.
Asanas are synchronized with four breaths: Inhalation- Hold (kumbhaka)- Exhalation- Hold. Breathe in new plasma, breathe out impurities. To control the breath is to control the mind. Stable/balanced. Visualisation in combination with the breath is very important for defining where you are going.
Practice breathing: Inhale four counts, hold four counts, breathe out four counts and hold four counts. This simple exercise attunes us to a cosmic process. As you inhale think of the karma of the world. When you hold your breath transmute negative karma and exhale toxins from your body, transmuting them to light. Retain breath again attaining a state of absolute quiet identification or union with the universal process.
Pratyhara
Emancipation of mind. Bring the senses under control so you can examin your states of consciousness. Detaching or withdrawing mind from senses. Training mind to master senses. Withdrawing habitual responses to conditioned sensory input.
Pratyhara is control of the relationship between mind and sensory input. The practice of the pratyhara is disidentifying with the stimulus that comes into your body and sense organs. To not identify with information that comes through the mind. Of getting to a place where you say, “I’m not this I’m not that”. The further point of the Pratyhara is to become aware of how the mind responds to different sensory stimuli – most often without awareness the mind will just be swept away by certain experiences. For instance, certain kinds of music or sound can become habituating to the mind, arousing certain states which the ego then ‘fondles’ as it were. By practicing Pratyhara you can see how you are actually manifacturing these states by habituation to a certain sensory experience.
Pratyhara – meaning ‘gathering towards’- is the ability of attaching or detaching the mind from the senses. How do we free the mind from the voice of the senses? When we blindly succumb to the whims of our senses then we are no more than mindless machines. How do we stop being machine operated by the external world and return to being a machine operated by God? To do this we must learn to submit to a higher will and not respond to every conditioned sensory input. This is the essense of Pratyhara.
If the mind were disciplined then people would not do foolish things that later they regret. This is the training of the mind – to make it so strong that the senses do not have control over it, nor do the opinion of others. This is the mastery of the external and internal nature, the ability not to be influenced by the thoughtforms of others.
Dharani
Concentration at all times. Ekagrata – one point. Focus. Ability to fix the mind on a certain point, thought or sound, to the exclusion of all other input.
Dharani is the development of concentration which is the activation of memory. The more you concentrate the more you can hold. The more you can hold, the more you remember. Everything is in the all-abiding reality to be remembered. There are different aides to knowledge that have to be developed, but basically, everything is in the all-abiding reality. Concentration which develops absolute focus on the goal or object is the surest way of attaining manifestation on the material plane with maximum effect.
In order to practice Dharani it is helpful to know your mission in life. Then you will have a focus to base your one-pointed practice upon. From time to time, shut your mind to outside influences or opinions. Set aside a time when you will not be distracted. If you can really concentrate, the mind will focus: Sustain the mental focus on one dot or sound allowing nothing else to interfere. This develops concentration, the ability to keep your mind in one place for an extended duration. The method of concentration is also applied to the Hatha Yoga asanas when holding a bodily position. If your mind starts to wander then you will loose your balance.
Dhyani
Chan/Chinese Zen/Japanese. Uninterrupted flow of concentration. Uninterrupted meditation. Unbroken current of mindfulness.
Dhyani is meditation itself and can actually be practices with or without an object. Meditation is getting to know the real nature of thoughts and reality. Meditation with an object is just a prolonged form of concentration. Meditation without an object is the most direct means of perception about the nature of mind itself. This includes understanding the nature of thoughts, then nature of ego, and the nature of space and awareness, which leads to the direct perception of the Absolute all-abiding Reality. There are different levels or stages of this formless meditation.
In Dhyani practice we see how thoughts arise and dissolve. If a thought arises, do not examine it, just let it go. Experience how ceaseless the process of thoughts may be. Practise not chasing every thought that arises. Observe how your mind begins to calm as less and less thoughts arise. Dhyani teaches us to experience the essence of ourselves and of reality. This leads to the final stage of the eight limbs, samadhi, which means union or integration. Dhyani comes only after your mind is able to remain in a state of concentration for a prolonged duration. When this power is cultivated then it is easy to focus purely on a plane of inner contemplation, which brings us to shamadhi.
Samadhi
Superconscious state of mind. Cultivate states of samadhi to attain absolute union with God so that mind and awareness are with God at all times. Uninterrupted Dhyani. Cessation of thought. Attainment of union with space, akasha or the universal plane of existence.
Samadhi is entering a state of prolonged union with the all-abiding reality where there is no thought. Knowledge may occur but it is nothing like experiencing activated thought forms. Samadhi is when you actually are able to attain the yogic discipline to the degree where you become totally conjoined with the all-abiding reality – where there is a cessation of thought forms. Even when you are in a high state of meditation there is a tendency of the mind to want to comment on it. In this way, the all-abiding reality is all there is. Within the all-abiding reality, there is a knowing without comment or thought.
Swami Vivekananda explains Samadhi this way:”If the mind can first concentrate upon an object, and then is able to continue in the concentration for a length of time, and then, by continued concentration, can dwell only on the internal part of the preception, of which the object was the effect, or gross part, everything comes under its control. This meditative state is the highes state of existence: Samadhi.”
Samadhi is the superconscious state arrived at after following the other steps of yoga. This forms the foundation for the yogic way of life. Informative samadhi occurs effortlessly when telepathic networks of the universe become evident at the periphery of consciouness. Information may sponaniously fall into your mind. This is where so called channeled information comes from.
To summarize, yoga is the most general comprehensive understanding of what is meant by a system of knowing that is thoroughly transformative – that begins with the physical body and penetrates to the deepest recesses of the universal cosmic mind. Yoga is a way of knowing God and the totality of His creation in all of it’s stages.
