Understanding Popular Forms of Modern Yoga





The sacred Nanda Devi and Sunanda Devi peaks in Himalayas. In the modern era, the peak Sunanda Devi earlier termed Nanda Devi east by British explorers was identified by the author of this note. Jai Ma Nanda, Jai Ma Sunanda


Yoga is a means of evolution for the soul that dwells within each living body. A soul acquires a body at birth in keeping with its state of evolution at birth. As a human, it is possible for a soul to consciously make an effort to evolve and although one is stuck with one’s body for life, the soul within is free to evolve. There are many symptoms of an evolved soul with the most obvious one being its reaction to light. Since the Universal consciousness is a creator of light, souls closer to it emit and reflect more light from their faces and bodies than less evolved human souls who absorb light instead. During living, the state of a being changes from time to time and they are described as glowing when in evolved states. They may even remove themselves from the eye of a camera when in low states of evolution. An aura may be observed around the most evolved of all souls even in the darkness of night since they become net emitters of light just as the universe in its constant state of creation is. On the other hand a deep darkness surrounds depressed and unhappy souls.

The father of yoga, Patanjali has described yoga as consisting of eight parts in his outline text on Introduction to Yoga. It is a compact text consisting of four chapters. After describing fundamentals of yoga, he defines the eight parts in the 29th verse of the second chapter through Sanskrit terms, the language of the text, as – Yam, Niyam, Asana, Pranayam, Pratyahar, Dharana, Dhyan, Samadhi.

The subject matter of the eight parts of yoga may be understood briefly as follows

First Part: This is to do with basic morality and shunning of animal instincts such as violence, lying, stealing, lust devoid of love etc.

Second Part: This is to do with cleanliness, order, discipline, shunning greed and having trust in God. God is not defined in the sense of religions or in a sense on which different religions appear to have special monopoly on, but simply as the Supreme Infinite power of the universe accessible not just to persons of all religions on earth but throughout the universe to all life, of all religions and to those without a religion too.

Third Part: This is to do with physical perfection and physical movements of the body the soul occupies

Fourth part: Is to do with breathing and practices connected to it

Fifth Part: Is to do with detachments from desires, worldly goals and things

Sixth Part: Is to do with mastering the mind and thought processes and developing the ability of concentration

Seventh Part: Is to do with meditation and practices connected to it

Eight Part: Is the final state of evolution, undoubtedly reached by a few rare enlightened souls only when the body the soul occupies, a vehicle for the journey, is no longer necessary.

These eight parts are viewed as eight steps by some but that is an incorrect interpretation although undoubtedly each part is more advanced than the previous one. They are not steps because perfection in none of the steps is possible without perfection in the others and final perfection is attained by full perfection in any of the steps. That is, they all lead to the same point, the final state of evolution that any living soul is capable of. Another highly revered text by the Hindus, the Gita focuses on practices emerging from the second part terming it as Karma Yoga, the Yoga of action as also on the seventh part – Terming it as Sankhya Yoga. It says clearly that final attainment and goal is the same by both steps but the second part is within the reach of most humans while the seventh part is not easy for most. While the text by Patanjali contains only the briefest of definitions and summaries ( known as Sutras in Sanskrit) the Gita elaborates on Karma yoga giving in details the steps required to bring it into practice.

Patanjali too has clearly stated that a human may reach final attainment through a perfection of the second part which he terms as Kriya yoga or in fact even from a third part of the Kriya Yoga, a complete surrender to Universal Will and consciousness. The Gita too in its last chapter has affirmed this as the ultimate secret of spirituality and being.

While The Gita is a Hindu text, Patanjali lived in a spiritually vibrant time on earth stretching in the old world then from Greece to China, where there were many debates between theists and atheists, Buddhists and Hindus etc. but it seems he regarded himself as aloof and above these religious and philosophical divides. Buddhists have developed practices emerging from the fourth part - mindful breathing- in to a fine art, a practice that is relatively easy to follow as compared to other meditative practices yet with profound  results.

As said, since final attainment is possible through any of the eight parts, it is also possible through the third part, the primary focus of modern yoga. According to Patanjali this final state is achieved when thoughts emerging from the mind cease, and the soul unites with its origin, the Universal consciousness.

The word Yoga means to unite. A soul may carry on with the body it attained at birth as long as life remains but it would not get new bodies after that if it attains the peak of evolution, unless it chooses to do so temporarily for a service in the universe (something that Bodhisattvas of Buddhism, gods and devas of Hindus or Angels of Christianity and Islam might do) and instead become a part of the infinite as Buddha described.  The Hindu saints on the other hand in their final state of the eighth part, Samadhi, consciously and willingly shed off their physical bodies. For most souls, however, evolving implies reaching higher and more joyous states of being in their journey of countless lifetimes through the universe. While popular forms of modern yoga focus on the third part of yoga as described by Patanjali, it has also freed it from religion as Patanjali intended, free from religions and their mythology, rituals, regulations etc. but not free of the Almighty Supreme Being and Creator. The description 'OM" is a part of the ancient Aryan tradition adapted by the Hindus just as the word Allah is of Semetic tradition or God of western tradition. None of these Names occur in the text on yoga by Patanjali.

From the Author of "The Babaji Affair"


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From Birds to Telepathy

Image
  Sparrow by  Laitche T he house that I live in presently was built in stages  beginning in 1991 during  vacations and sabbaticals in my career. By 1995, the ground floor of the house was more or less complete except for some finishing that continued later. In the center of the roof of the living room was a hole meant for a center light. To hide the protruding wires a small round plastic sheet covered it with another circular hole in the center of it for the light. A similar one existed in the front porch of the house. I lived in the house through most of 1995 with frequent visits of three or four days to Delhi. At this time a pair of house sparrows occupied the porch roof cavity and made it their home. There were no complaints about that since it was not intended to fix a light there in a hurry. Sparrows are cute little birds anyway and I often leave seeds out for them in the garden. Sometime later the female of the pair moved into the living room cavity and began
Read more

Inflation: Stealing from the Poor for the Rich

Image
Robin Hood and his Merry Men I n today’s complex economy it is useful for the ordinary citizen to understand a few simple principles about economics. That way, they can manage their own money better and also contribute their voice to policy making in their countries. This post is about inflation, its causes and ramifications and how it can be managed  in any country. Money is a used for acquiring goods and services and when the price of goods and services rise we say that inflation is taking place. The price of something depends on many factors but two of the primary ones are 1. Demand and supply balance 2. Extent of Money Supply.   Both factors are easy to understand. If a commodity becomes in short supply then its price tends to rise. If apple crops have been destroyed by untimely frost then apple prices will rise. If the demand for a product increases then too its price rises but if demand falls prices fall or crash. The balance of demand and supply is one of the f
Read more

Neem tree: As the Magical Sleep Aid

Image
  T here is an older article in this blog on the Neem tree and its medicinal benefits but it does not mention its effects on sleep. For years now what was happening to my sleep is that after sleeping well for a few hours, sometime in the middle of the night I used to get up and feel completely awake. If   I stayed awake after that, I would feel tired the next day. Therefore I would just take a cup of tea, sit out in the patio for about half an hour, or work on a computer when after an hour or so a second round of deep sleep came. However, this also delayed the morning hour to get up. Four days ago, due to some unrelated reasons, I took a bunch of Neem leaves from a tree nearby and chewed them in the evening at around 5 pm. That night, I woke up again in the middle of the night for a visit to toilet and from old habit decided to check emails for an hour or so. But the moment I turned on the computer, I was sleepy again and began to doze off on the keyboard so I shut off t
Read more

You are what you eat, and drink

Image
C onsume an ounce of whiskey and you will notice the change in mood and behavior immediately. However, it is not just whiskey everything we drink, even the quality of water, or anything we eat has some subtle or significant influence on our behavior. Consumed over a period, not just the weekend binge, the type of food we consume literally shapes our personality prompting ancient thinkers like Hippocrates to remark, “You are what you eat”. Some question this by saying that it is our experiences and habits that shape our personality but the two are linked because it is our habits that shape our tastes and food choices. In another post in this blog it was  mentioned that a human personality is shaped by memory and experiences and one might ask which of the two is more significant - food or experiences?. My understanding is that humans gravitate towards the foods and actions that agree with their inner inclinations and personality and so in the end both causes are two sides of the sa
Read more

Edgar Cayce and the Almond Tree

Image
A s one advances in age it is inevitable that one would have to contend with some health issues. Some that I have faced in recent years is reduced energy, occasional disturbed sleep, stiffness in muscles and occasional lapses of short-term memory. However if one works on these or other such health issues it is definitely possible to improve the situation. It is wonderful if one can age gracefully without any major health issues and move on to the next world when still physically independent. It is tragic and basically bad karma if one undergoes a prolonged disability requiring help or hospitalization before exit from this life. There is much about karma in older posts. I do not rely on modern medicine and allopathic methods for chronic and minor ailments. For me allopathic methods are a resort for acute conditions, emergency or diagnosis. Therefore I have been working on my health issues through more natural means such as diet, exercise, yoga, life style changes,
Read more

The Balsam Flower - Magic of Medicinal Herbs and Flowers

Image
     Balsam flowers W hile a huge variety of seasonal flowers grow on our planet when it is neither too hot nor too cold, unfortunately some do have to put up with extreme heat or cold for a part of the year. In northern Indian plains, summer temperatures may easily exceed 40 Celsius in the months of April, May and June and it is only the early mornings and evening that are cool to get out into the garden and have late evening garden parties. However the difficulty at this time is what flowers to grow in the garden. Few can tolerate that heat. However, with the grace of the Lord, there are some. The most popular are Zinnia, the yellow Cosmos, Portulaca and Balsam. The botanical name of the flower is Impatiens Balsamina.   It is an annual plant growing to 20–75 cm tall, with a thick, but soft stem.   Aside from the flowers the plant has beautiful leaves that are toothed and spirally arranged and that is something one has to look for in a pretty garden. The flowers range
Read more

The Palash Tree - Magic of Medicinal Herbs and Flowers and Back Pain

Image
The Palash Tree Flower B efore modern medicines became prevalent, humans treated many ailments with flowers, leaves, roots and barks of plants and trees. Ayurveda,  an ancient Indian medicinal science, makes use of many herbs and plant materials without substantial extraction of active ingredients as modern medicine does. The idea is that additional compounds in a medicinal or edible plant is an organic whole and a part of life that supports other life.  The complimentary compounds appear to play a useful balancing role whereas individually extracted and isolated compounds can be harmful. A modern example in wide use as food is sugar, a pure chemical isolated from the juice of sugar cane. Indeed there is no food or herb that does not contain a compound or two that could be from mildly to extremely dangerous if isolated and consumed but is beneficial as a group with other compounds. That is the reason why alcohol distilled from a natural fermented fruit juice and then dilu
Read more

Spirituality and Evil

Image
Albert Einstein   " A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is the one issue of true religion. Not to nourish it but to try to overcome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace of mind.”   Albert Einstein I t is so much nicer to talk of beautiful things that exist on our lovely planet that it is really a pity that I had to write this post that touches on something that to me is evil. Nevertheless I have written it because if an evil is ignored it is difficult to eradicate it. The evil I am referring to is about the denial of freedom of belief and imposition of beliefs on people and that is something even the followers of the greatest of religions on earth have not been free of though they have done so much g
Read more

Impact of Lust and Nudity on Spiritual Growth

Image
S ome modern philosophers have argued that sexual pleasures, beyond those necessary for procreation, of the appropriate kind are a useful part of the human experience and therefore worth pursuing. What exactly is considered appropriate varies with thinkers but in no case does it involve compulsion, inducement or force by one human on another. Sexual indulgence, if any, must only be between adults and from mutual interest and agreement. However, spiritual literature and saints across diverse traditions of the planet have advised humans to overcome urges of lust and described that along with two other emotions - greed and anger – it is a cause of driving humans to hell. The Bhagvat Gita, a revered scripture of the Hindus, describes these as the three gates to hell. It only lauds limited sexual desire i.e. that associated with procreation as divine. The new testament of the Christians warns not just against lustful activity but even lustful thoughts. However sexual desire w
Read more