Yoga Themes

None of the ancient philosophers claimed any authorship to any work or doctrine–that is the beauty of the noble contribution.  Indian mystical sciences is replete with the commentators, somehow in an very interesting way, they hosted those ideas, just acted as expositors of the Ancient ones.  In a divine providence, when it is One Grand master, none can claim an exclusive privilege: copyright, patent etc., are degenerated forms of covetous behavior.    The ancient books were written as a prevailing, discoverable truths. It is all a discovery and no invention.

Yogic science had its ideas scattered in the Upanishads and later on it gets codified in the Sutras.  Upanishads, the earliest philsophical treatise happens to be very mysterious, Sutras makes the approach easy to understand.  Along with the Sutras developed a system of a philosophy, there were lot of additions etc. made once the adherent followed those tenets and wanted to contribute their own experiences.

The main schools that developed around these Sutras are:  Vedanta or Uttara Mimamsa, Purva Mimamsa,  Vaiseshika, Nyaya and Sankhya Yoga. Vedanta school further underwent some changes owing to different approaches applied.  These schools came to be represented by the person who expounded it the most and or had a unique contribution to its growth.  The figures identified with the six systems were: Patanjali (Yoga), Jaimini (Purva Mimamsa), Badarayana (Vedanta), Kapila (Sankhya), Gautama Akshapada (Nyaya) and Kanada (Vaiseshika).

Yoga Sutra were compiled around 147 B.C., though it must be stated that scholars have always debated about it.

According to Patanjali, Chit–Nirodh ( cessation of mental waives) is Yoga.  Debacling the mind or mind stuff which is a repository of feelings, attachments, aversions and memories etc., is essential to visualize or realize the divine one that exist behind all those sensory experiences.  Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Raja Yoga are of course different paths adopted or taken by people according to their own gunas (leanings).  However all these tracks are to have the basic yogic principles to be fruitful.   Ethics a primal aspect of spirituality, Control a rudimentary step of Yoga and Purusharth (feeling of part of divine) a powerful conscious driving of supreme human efforts, all these are basics of Yoga practice.

Removal of obstacles that leads to a perfect concentration is meditation.   Major obstacles observed in human beings are: Sickness, lack of energy, doubt,  lack of firmness of mind and erroneous perception.

Sickness:  Yoga must be healthy, it is only when you are healthy that you forget about the body while pursuing something vigorously. Unhealthy body demands attention and thus takes away consciousness from a higher plane to a physical one.  For Yogis, nothing is more disdainful than a non-pliant body.  Unhealthy body cannot be reduced to a tool or a vehicle.  Human body is an artifact that must be polished, prepared and used for launching into infinite possibilities.

Lack of Energy: This is one of the biggest obstacle. Causes could be numerous, but Yoga is not meant for a timid hearted. No doubt this is path is called a Royal Path.  Ascension of the ordinary mortal to a supreme being is of course a spiritual coronation and it demands bravery.   Divine providence is there, one must consciously scratch its surface, it shall usher in energy.  Energy is all in Yoga, sustained perseverance is quintessential.Only the brave ones ravish this earth. So be a Yogi and assert.

Doubt:  One must have faith in what what one undertakes–could doubt or reject having experienced it, however prior to that one must move with faith. Faith is a confidence in oneself and confiding in the aim. One must see the goal as an extension of oneself. Yogi  must see himself as a yogi, must move with the premise that he is what he is trying to be.

Unstable mind: What causes it? Past opposing the present is the evil behind this phenomena.  A collection of impression and unworked karmas, extreme feelings and things experienced without compassion are some of the reasons that the subconscious mind becomes a subculture of these distracting habits. Mind must be brought to stand still. Ways of doing it either hold the mind itself or otherwise hold the Prana, the breath that sea-saws the mind.

Erroneous Perception: Attaching wrong priorities, not being able to discriminate between objects. Not discerning the principles of life as to its transitory nature. Attachment and day dreaming, trying to create a clay hut to reside in and thinking that safety is permanent.   One must have knowledge to see the ephemeral nature of life and human passions and emotions.  Nature/Maya plays havoc and who life is spent in cravings and it is rightly so, for nature wants to procreate and perpetuate. However, Yogin wants to go beyond this, he must not be charmed by what nature wants to shower him with.   Yoga and Bhoga (sensual enjoyments) does not go together.  In Yogic life start with the basic principle that is–you belong to no one and no one belongs to you.

One must know what it does before finding the root word.  Yogi professes a way to free the soul from the material bondage i.e. Maya (cosmic illusion comprising of time, space and matter) by practising knowledge that is discriminatory and discerning.  Two scheme of this supreme knowledge–trattva-gyana and vivekakhayati.   They are knowledge of elements and capacity to deny the unreal respectively. Physical body is not shunned here, not ignored, but tamed and each elements of this body must be brought to a state wherein they pose no impediment to what shines within.   The root meaning of word Yoga is holding the young horses, taming them.   However then the word itself has gone unto several changes meaning so many things.  The other interesting meaning of Yoga is leaning (in sanskrit same lean). Total engagement in pursuit is a hall mark of a  yogin.  Union, actually is a bad translation, for the bubble of ocean when it subsides does not mean a union, it was always there. Discovering that it was One that appeared several  and when that severalness goes away, does not mean new union  etc.  Yogi must be careful to see the meaning of the words for they carry not only instruction, they are inherently loaded with a meaning reflecting goal undertaken.

Yoga is a core proceeding in spiritual science.  It is a proceeding, for It entails serious prescriptive (what is to be done and how)  and proscriptive  (what is to be prohibited)conduct.  Let alone, Let it go, let go, let it be  are not yogic concept—it dictates that the Yogi confront and go to the root of his maladies, attachment, aversions  and so forth kind of emotions.  Of course it is an ancient science, the Vedic spiritual aspirants found  after extensive penance that the entire existence and universe is governed by some undying principles and if one can understand those principles and consciously apply to their life, they can expedite their evolution (highest goal being nirvana/moksha/freedom).  Yoga is that conscious application by Will.

The Yogi meditates with the sole idea of transcending,  his self created, body limitation and expanding that pool of consciousness  which seems to have buttoned itself in a false individuality.

Human suffers from varied perceptions of ones individuality and thus cannot establish a rapport with all others.  The bubble thinks that it is different than the ocean from where it arises and this thought defines its ephemeral nature.  Humans identifying themselves as separated from the stream of consciousness falsely believes that they are separate from where they arise.   Yoga eliminates that stymied perception. It is essentially going back to the roots—its natural form.

This blog shall be exclusively devoted to yogic ramblings.  Please feel free to throw in your take.