PATANJALI=YOGA SUTRAS.CH.2.33= Most Effective Way Of Conquering Negative Attitudes= Generating Positivity In Life = WOMEN vs MEN = How they differ

PATANJALI

YOGA SUTRAS

Verse.2.33 

GETTING OVER OBSTRUCTIONS

VITHARKA BAADHANE 

PRATHI PAKSHA BHAAVANAM

Ø  Vithrakam = obstructions

Ø  Baadhane = when they give us problems

Ø  Prathi paksha bhaavanam =bring in their opposite feelings / Sadhanas

There will be obstructions  to the Sadhaka – when he is striving to adhere to Yama and Niyama principles. How can he get over these obstructions?

When the Sadhaka faces obstructions in his adherence to Yama and Niyama principles, he must very strongly generate their opposite feelings and Sadhanas in his mind and in his routine - to counter these obstructions.

For instance, if violent feelings come, he must see why he gets those feelings. It may be due to anger, Jealousy or Hatred and so on.

Then, he must generate love, Friendliness and compassion in himself - which are their opposite feelings. He must try to evoke love towards those whom he hates.

Sadhakas must try to conquer greed with generosity. Enmity must be conquered by developing friendliness. If Sadhaka is tempted to tell untruths, he must explore the reasons and find why. It may be due to lobham or greed. Then, he must force himself to become generous. The root cause must be eliminated by generating its opposite feelings and actions.

When we are discussing all these Yoga Sutras, readers may kindly assume themselves as Sadhakas – and understand that the Principles are directly applicable to them. They can and must adhere to these principles. The ancient system is that – who ever learns must also propagate this science to deserving people in whatever manner possible.

Discussing the present verse – the raising of opposite, positive feelings and sadhanas is possible only when we are conscious that our minds are filled with negative feelings. This is possible only with a daily self- search. Then, every day when we get up from sleep, we must first pray for the welfare, health and prosperity of all the people including those towards whom we feel some enmity, hatred, Jealousy and so on.

If we feel greed – that day, we must decide to part with some wealth for the welfare of needy people and bless them with all of our heartfelt love towards them.

Every negative feeling – which is causing obstruction to our Yoga Sadhana must be extinguished by generating its opposite feelings and support it further with Actions.

It is many times not enough to pray and wish people all the welfare. That does not remove our greed. You must have proof of its removal for yourself. Therefore – you must give up a part of your earnings or wealth to make others happy. Yogi should move towards the goal of seeing himself in all the people and all the people in himself – as said by Lord Krishna in Dhyana Yoga chapter of Gita.

Gandhi had said that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. It is only the active and conscious generation of love, generosity, friendliness and compassion that can conquer our negative feelings towards others, on the one side and  secondly, remove the negative feelings in the hearts of others towards us. This second aspect, Patanjali covers in a subsequent verse.

It is said – practice of this as “tapas’ for at least 48 days (called a mandala period) makes it a part of us. It will then be easy to keep the good quality forever in us – with minimum effort. But, first 48 days are crucial.

One word of caution is – negative qualities can take firm place in us – within a minute. But, getting rid of them is very, very difficult. The only way to get rid of them is to – cultivate their OPPOSITE GOOD QUALITY – for at least 48 days as tapas. You can’t remove hatred. But, you can cultivate love and friendliness. And, this removes the Hatred. You can’t erase greed directly. You must cultivate generosity – its opposite – which will remove greed. This is an extraordinarily effective, scientific, realistic principle – much in tune with our psychology. 

Don’t Hate – will never work.  Feel Love – will work. Don’t feel enmity - will not work. Feel friendliness - will work. Don’t’ feel excessive desires - will never work. Feel contentment will work. Don’t be ignorant will never work. Acquire wisdom from wise men will work. Don’t feel proud - will never work. Respect wise men, learn from them and teach others will work.

If you make a full bodied (saashtaang) namaskaar daily or on auspicious days to you parents, your teachers, your elder brothers and their wives – and seek their blessings -  your mind becomes serene. You will have a huge reservoir of positive qualities automatically. This was part of our culture. Now – many youngsters and even elders feel huge pride in making such Namaskaar – not knowing its immense benefits to our own self. Likewise – elders are to wish the youngsters whole-heartedly for their welfare, health and prosperity. The effect on the self is again replacing jealousy, pride etc with love and compassion.

Mind has to have a feeling – positive or Negative. It cannot remain vacant – at least at the initial Sadhana stages.

Women especially – are prone to be more emotional – either positive or negative - compared to men. Therefore, it is easier for them to love, to serve, to surrender, to be compassionate, to be friendly and to be generous – compared to men. They can do this much more easily than men. These are almost like their inborn qualities.

But, if their minds give in for the opposite qualities, for some reason – even in the negative qualities, they will far exceed men. The usual reason for women turning towards negative qualities is – unfortunately, the negativity and hypocrisy of men around them.

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PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS = CH.2.32 : NIYAMA = External & Internal cleanliness- Contentment (Happiness) - Great Effort - Self study of Yoga Science - Surrender to the Supreme Power

PATANJALI

YOGA SUTRAS

CH.2.32 : NIYAMA

SHAUCHA – SANTOSHA –TAPAH –

SVAADHYAAYA – EESWARA PRANIDHAANAANI

- NIYAMAMAAH

Shaucha = Internal and External Purity (of body and mind)

Santosha = contentment (& consequent happiness)

Tapah = Any serious austerity / practice

Svaadhyaaya =  Self-study – especially of Sastra (science / veda)

Eeswara = The lord / Creator

pranidhanaani = devotion, surrender of our self – these are

niyamaah = observances or practices of self-training

We have seen the first step in the Ashtanga Yoga, namely, Yama. It consists of five important parts, namely – (i) Ahimsa or non-violence (ii) Sathya or truthfulness (iii) Astheya or non-stealing (iv) Brahmacharyam (or, abstinence from sex and also seeking the path of the Brahman) and (v) Aparigraha or non-taking of any thing from any one beyond our need; or without paying its right compensation; or without their specific permission (all conditions need to be fulfilled). The first step of Yama is a great self purificatory step.  But, it is of the nature of nivritthi or getting rid of certain undersirable things.

Yama involves –

1.   Not involving in violence (Ahimsa)

2.   Not speaking untruth (sathya)

3.   Not stealing (Astheyam)

4.   Abstaining from sex and impermanent pleasures (Brahmacharyam) and

5.   Not taking / keeping any thing beyond need, or without paying its Justified price or without full consent of the other person (Aparigraha)

We will now examine Niyama – another self purificatory step – which also consists of five parts. Niyama is a pravrutthi path – of doing certain right things. Niyama, essentially signifies discipline or conditions to be followed in a particular path. Like – what are the conditions soldiers should follow? What are the conditions school students should follow? And so on. Here, what are the conditions that a Yoga Sadhaka must follow – are explained. These are also five in number as explained below :

SOUCHAM : The first part of Niyama is Soucham. It signifies both internal and external purity and cleanliness. Keep your external surroundings clean and serene. Likewise, keep your internal thoughts and feelings clean and beautiful.

Your mind should be beautiful and clean if your are to succeed in Yoga. You must think healthy thoughts – like lokaah samasthaah sukhino bhavanthu; sarve janah sukhino bhavanthu and so on. If yama – 5 steps are followed, the thoughts will be clean generally. But Soucham being a “TO DO” list, it is not enough, if you are not indulging in violence, not speaking untruth etc.

You must practice internal cleanliness of a higher order. Seek universal welfare. Seek universal truth. See beauty, see truth everywhere. God’s creation is truth in itself. It is beautiful in itself. In fact, there is no UNTRUTH in God’s creation any where except on the tongue of the human being. And, that is where truth needs to be established. When a Yogi speaks truth, consciously and devotedly, nature listens and even follows his words. Not speaking untruth is one thing. But, being absolutely truthful –is yet another thing. That requires huge internal Soucham and removal of all doubt, fear, jealousy and other causative factors of untruth, stealing etc. As Adi Sankara says – “Satsangathvam” or company of the good and truthful persons - is a great way of ensuring internal and external soucham.

Likewise, external Soucham implies keeping the body and surroundings clean. Taking bath daily, cleaning the mouth and all other organs, keeping the house clean, keeping the house surroundings clean and so on – are all part of external soucham. 

Others will be able to see a Yogi – even from his very looks. His calm, cool, peaceful, happy looks are a great give away for the Yogi. Sadhaka must start practicing this. The external looks will spread into the inside as well. 

At the beginning – one can even look into a clean mirror and see how his face looks and what feelings are reflected in his eyes. Sadhaka’s face must be serene and his eyes must reflect peace – not restlessness; compassion – but not jealousy, hatred or anger. This peace and compassion must reside in the mind and travel to his face. But, Sadhaka must not be in any undue haste to achieve any thing. Things will come his way. So, he must remain peaceful.

SAMTOSHAM : The second part of Niyama is Samtoshaha.Samtoshaha means – whatever you get honestly and in normal course – be happy and be contented with that. This goes along with Aparigraha – mentioned in Yama. Earn in honest ways – and just sufficient to lead the sadhaka’s life. In ancient days – this was not a problem at all – as the Sadhaka remained in Jungles and Jungles provide every thing that the sadhaka needs. 

In populated areas also – people respected sadhakas – and sadhakas earned by their small deeds of help  for the population. The  Brahmachari (while undergoing teaching and training under a Guru) and the sanyaasi – are allowed to beg from right persons – but, just sufficient to maintain his body and mind. But the Grihasta or householder must work. He is also a sadhaka.

Whatever the Sadhaka receives through honest means – he must remain happy and contented. This is called Samtosham. King Janaka is also a Yogi. He has a Kingdom to rule. Yet, he too is a Yogi. So, what is contentment?

In Nature, none of us can ever have all that we possibly want. A Grihasta, especially has certain needs. But, all his needs may not be satisfied fully. In fact – Nature never gives everything to everybody. Everybody will have certain things lacking for him.

Many things are given to us – though many things are not given. But our mind never thinks of what is  given – but grieves for what is not given. This grievance should go out of the sadhaka’s mind. 

Even if we have huge treasures – yet if mind is dwelling on a desire, it is full of dissatisfaction with what one is lacking and not full of happiness with what one is having. 

Peace and Happiness is a natural feeling, and is independent of what we have or what we do not have. So, one must learn to be happy with what one has.

It is not that – the Grihasta will stop doing any work because of that. No one can stop all karma or action till the last moment of his life. This Action goes on yielding its own results. 

Actually, Krishna advices – do all of your actions with great excellence. Krishna’s definition of Yoga it self is – Yogah karmasu kousalam. It means Yoga means excellence in Action. Krishna never advocated Inaction – but deprecated inaction. One must excel in his actions. 

But, find samtosham in one’s actions and its results. Patanjali says – be content with what you get and also with what you do not get. Be satisfied with whatever you have. Be still content – even if what you have, goes away from you. It is in the nature of things / persons to enter your life at some time and go away from your life at some other point of time.

Samtosham is not an obstacle or obstruction to human progress. What we see here is be eminently happy with the fruits of action – whether they are more or less or equal to our expectation or target. 

The important point is - Do not compare yourself with others in your actions or their results. Yaddhrucchaa laabha samtushtaha – is the rule. Not only in laabham – but also in Nastam – we must keep samtosham only.

Samtosham is a great tool – remove all negative qualities from us – like Jealousy, anger, hatred, undue desires, delusions, pride, fear, enmities and so on. 

Samtosham reduces and removes mental stress greatly and gives us great energy for further effort and especially Yoga.

TAPAH : Tapas or Tapam means any / all types of Sadhanas. Usually, Tapas has a goal to achieve. The ancient slokas say – Sathyam tapah; Dharmam tapah;Daanam tapah...and so on. Generally –whatever good qualities you wish to cultivate in you and strive for it devotedly – that effort is your tapas / tapam. You become goal-oriented and willing to bear any difficulty as a challenge and not as a burden. You are pleased with the efforts you are making. One must put his thought, feeling, word and action behind his effort – for the effort to become tapas / tapam.

Control of senses, mind-control, soucham, keeping truthfulness – practice of any such qualities are tapas only.

But, tapas / tapam can also be done for negative goals – like destroying others. Yoga is not concerned with such tapas. Yogic tapas is coupled with all other yama and niyama steps – so, this tapas is for enhancing our good qualities and cultivating other needed good qualities – that are supportive of our yoga practices.

If tapas is for destroying others – it is taamasik. Rajasik is for selfish ends. Aaathvik tapas is - for self progress.

Tapas can enable us to achieve the most difficult to do, difficult to reach, difficult to go beyond, difficult to understand goals over a period of time.

Yath dustaram; what we cannot go beyond; yath duraapam; what we cannot achieve; yath durgam; what we cannot understand; yascha dushkarma; what we cannot do as per our feeling; sarvam thats tapasaa saadhyam; all these are possible to achieve through tapas. Tapohi duratikramam; this tapas stands beyond all sadhanas. So great is tapas.

We can find  Sage Vasista doing tapas. We can also find the Raakshas (daemon) Ravana doing tapas. Now also, some one devoted to the finding of medicines for incurable diseases – is doing tapas. Some one manufacturing latest explosives to destroy innocent people – also is doing tapas. Negative tapas destroys  the doer himself in course of time.

SVAADHYAAYAM :- Svaadhyaayam means studying the Saastram, which means science. Which Saastram should a Yoga Sadhaka study? Obviously, first science to study must be the Yoga saastram itself. How else can one be a sadhaka of Yoga? There were / are many great works on Yoga – like Bhagavad Gita, which is called Yoga Saastra, or the Science of Yoga. 

Any one who does not have a fair grip on Bhagavad Gita – will not be understanding the Patanjali Yoga Sutras – which are short, summarized principles of dhyana yoga. For this reason only, Dhyana Yoga of Bhagavad Gita was first covered in this Blog. There are also other great works like Yoga Vassista. But, Gita is the quintessence of Yoga science – followed by Patanjali Yoga sutras – which is an extremely shortened version containing the principles of Dhyana yoga.

In general, Vedas, Upanishads and writings of great sages like Adi Sankara are all considered as Saastra. But for a Yoga Sadhaka, Gita Yoga Saastra and Patnajali Yoga sutras are essential readings for Svaadyaaya.

EESWARA PRANIDHAANAANI :Eeswara means the lord of all of us. Patanjali has already given a special definition for Eeswara –as a Purusha who does not have our human limitations and weaknesses. Eeswara is not therefore any Hindu God or any other such religious God. He is beyond all religions.

We must surrender to this Eeswara. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and so on.  This surrender is essential – as it leads to merger with the universal Power. How do we surrender to this Eeswara is important. 

Every selfless Action leads to Eesara Paranidhanam. Science prescribes 5 different types of actions – which are considered as Yajnaas. These are named Pancha Maha Yajnaas, and has been dealt with in detail in a different Blog Post.

This involves surrendering the fruits of all of our actions to the Eeswara. See the doer in you as Eeswara. See the fruits of actions as His. See Eeswara everywhere, in every person and being. The ancient question is – where is this Eeswara? The answer is – where is he not?

These five are totally called Niyamam.

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GREAT QUOTES FROM GITA = Ch.3.Karma Yoga

GREAT QUOTES FROM  GITA 

Ch.3.Karma Yoga

ARJUNA RECEIVING GITA FROM LORD KRISHNA

Gita  is unnecessarily branded as a religious Book by many people, especially in the West. It is a highly scientific work – telling us timeless, scientific truths about excellence in all aspects of human living. If we miss Gita, we miss a lot in life. There can be no doubts about it. 

Listening to the deeper meanings and implications of each verse from Great masters of Gita is of course the ideal way to study Gita. But, short of that, seeing some of its choicest quotes and dwelling on them internally is also a great experience.

Let us first see a few opinions of eminent persons on Gita itself :

• "When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day." -Mahatma Gandhi
• "When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous." - Albert Einstein
• "The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity." - Aldous Huxley
• "In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial." - Henry David Thoreau

• "The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life's wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion." - Herman Hesse
• "I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

We have seen a few Great quotes from Gita (Ch.2. Samkhya Yoga) earlier at the URL : http://wisespiritualideas.blogspot.com/2011/11/great-quotes-from-bhagavad-gita-ch2-3.html

 

Here are some great quotes now from Chapter.3. Karma Yoga. As you can see, almost nothing here, relates to the life beyond. All quotes are – how to live on earth and achieve excellence therein.

Ø  None can remain actionless even for a moment. We are all driven into action by the three Gunas in our nature. Gita.Ch.3.5.

Ø  It is hypocrisy to control the external action alone, when the mind is full of the sensual objects – Gita.Ch.3.6

Ø  Excel in action - by controlling the senses through the mind first – Gita.Ch.3.7

Ø  Action is superior to inaction. Even the mere maintenance of the body is not possible for the one who is inactive.  Therefore engage in action – Gita.Ch.3.8

Ø  Selfless Actions (otherwise called as Yajna) free you from Attachment. Selfish Actions bind you (to themselves by habit forming & enslaving). Therefore, do perform selfless actions (Yajna) – Ch.3.9

Ø  Selfless Actions were created for man to prosper – and they shall fulfill man’s desires.-Ch.3-10

Ø  Take care of the Forces of Nature (Gods) through selfless Actions. In turn, they will take care of you – Gita. Ch.3.11

Ø  One who enjoys selfishly what is given by the Forces of Nature – without, in turn, taking care of them – is a thief – Gita.ch.3.12

Ø  Those who cook only for themselves eat Sin. But, those who cook for selfless purpose, are freed from all Sin. –Gita.Ch.3.13

Ø  Food produces all beings. Rain produces food. Selfless actions (Yajna) produce rain. Action (Karma) produces Selfless actions or Yajna. Action itself arises from Brahma (creator) and Brahma arises from the ever imperishable (or Veda). The creator himself is ever immersed in Yajna. – Gita.Ch.3.14&15

Ø  One who is totally centred in the self (Soul, Atman) is however, freed from all obligatory duties (which are for the body-mind complex). For him, there is nothing to acquire by actions and nothing to lose by inaction– Gita.Ch.3.17 & 18

Ø  The highest Goal of man is always achieved by doing selfless action (Yajna) – Gita.Ch.3.19

Ø  What a Great man does, others follow his example – Gita.Ch.3.21

Ø  Lord Krishna says –There is nothing that I am yet to do or yet to attain. Yet I too engage in action. If I do not do so – people will follow the path of inaction  on my example– Gita.ch.3.22&23

Ø  Wise act selflessly for the good of the world. But, Unwise act selfishly (with attachment) – Gita.ch.3.25

Ø  Wise man must act selflessly always – to induce others also do likewise – Gita.Ch.3.26

Ø  The three Gunas (of Sathva, Rajas and Tamas) in the nature ( outside and inside man) are responsible for all Action. Not knowing this, man assumes doer-ship on himself, due to Ego.-Gita.ch.3.27

Ø  One who knows the Gunas and their correlation with actions well – remains unattached to them. But, he must not unsettle the immature man with this knowledge – Gita.ch.3.28 & 29

Ø  All beings, including the wise and unwise, follow their respective nature in their actions – Gita.Ch.3.33

Ø  In normal course of nature, likes and dislikes for respective sense objects occur in all of us. These are our big enemies. We must not come under their slavery – Gita.Ch.3.34

Ø  We may not know our duty well. Yet it is better to perform our own duty – rather than attempt to do others’ prescribed duties.-Gita.Ch.3.35

Ø  Rajoguna in us - gives rise to the all-consuming qualities of Kaama (desire) and Krodha (anger) in us – and these are our biggest enemies – Gita.ch.3.37

Ø  Wisdom gets enveloped and covered by desire – even in wise men and therefore desire remains our constant enemy. - Gita. Ch.3.39

Ø  Desire sits in our senses, emotions and the intellect – and deludes even the wise man, by veiling his wisdom. – Gita.ch.3.40

Ø  Mastering Senses –is the key to destroying this destroyer of one’s wisdom – namely, Desire – Gita, Ch.3.41

Ø  Senses are superior to Body. Mind is superior to senses. Intellect is superior to mind. The real self (Atman) is superior to Intellect – Gita.Ch.3.42

Ø  This enemy in the form of desire is very difficult to conquer. It is possible only by first restraining the SELF (from desire)  by the SELF itself, as the self is superior to the Intellect too. – Gita. Ch.3.43 

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WHAT IS YOGA? = IS YOGA DEVIL'S WORK (AS CHIEF EXORCIST,VATICAN SAYS) = WHAT REALLY IS YOGA?

WHAT IS YOGA?

On 25^th, November, this year, Father Gabriel Amorth, the 85 year old Chief Exorcist at the Vatican, has surprised many people across the world by his criticism of Yoga.

He is reported to have said:'Practising yoga brings evil as does reading Harry Potter. They may both seem innocuous but they both deal with magic and that leads to evil.'

He added:'Yoga is the Devil's work. You think you are doing it for stretching your mind and body but it leads to Hinduism. All these oriental religions are based on the false belief of reincarnation.'  ( You can Read more on it at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2066289/Yoga-work-devil-says-Vaticans-chief-exorcist-doesnt-like-Harry-Potter-either.html#ixzz1fJ36XPT1  ).

There is no need for one to get into any argument with the Chief Exorcist of Vatican – who has obviously never read anything significant about Yoga, nor intends to. All that one can say of any one who does not want to even read Yoga sutras is - “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

But, what in very brief is Yoga?

Yoga is otherwise called Ashtanga Yoga. It is not invented by Patanjali Maharshi but compiled by him into principles. Much earlier to him, Lord Krishna has given it in his Dhyana Yoga chapter of Bhagavad Gita. And, he had said, this great knowledge has come from the most ancient times, and I am only reiterating it now.

It was told  much earlier by Great sages and saints, who say they have received it from the Adi Yogi, Siva himself. But, of course, there is no need for the chief Exorcist of  Vatican, or for that matter, you or I,  to believe all this.

But, what  does this so called DEVIL’s work ask its practitioner to practice all his life? This is important. The fruit of the pudding is always in the eating.

Let us look at the 8 prescribed limbs or  steps of Ashtanga Yoga, as given by the great Patanjali Maharshi in his Yoga Sutras.

1.   The first step or limb is called Yama and it has five  parts. These parts are (i) Non-violence (ii) Truthfulness (iii) Non-stealing  (iv) Brahmacharyam – which signifies not mere abstinence from sex but also steadfast adherence to the path of clean life and absolute truth (v) Not keeping or seeking any thing beyond one’s barest needs (and not taking any gifts or any thing without paying its full, justified price). Patanjali says – these five parts of the first step of Yoga must be followed without distinction of birth (caste, religion, race, colour etc), place (following at one place, not following at another), time (following at one time, not following at another), conditional practice etc. In other words, the five yama practices must be unconditional and Universal in the life of the Yoga practitioner. And, this is the FIRST STEP  of yoga.

2.   The second step of Yoga is called Niyama. It also has five parts. (i) Internal and External cleanliness (ii) Bliss and contentment with what one has (iii) singular aim to achieve the absolute truth (iv) Constant learning of the absolute truth (v) surrender to the God. Now, these five also have to be bound by the first five parts of Yama. Wherever there is a conflict, the first five will be the guide. But, in general, there is no conflict. What should one do when untruth, greed, anger etc enter into one’s life? Patanjali says – they don’t go from our minds - by our asking them to go. They go when you force into you, their opposites, like truth, generosity, love, Compassion etc.

3.   Only for the one who has succeeded to a reasonable extent in Yama  and Niyama – the third step, namely “Asana” or the method of sitting for practicing the rest of yoga is prescribed.  Patanjali is very simple in the third step. He says – sit comfortably and firmly. Other steps become easier for the Yogi who gets reasonable grip on Asana. This grip is called Asana Siddhi - or skill in Asanas. The names of asanas and the postures do not matter. What matters is your stability and comfort in any one of them for further practices.

4.   Only then comes the fourth step – called “pranayama”, or control of the force of prana, through control of the breathing processes. Pranayama greatly reduces the wavering and instability of the mind and brings it under the Yogi’s control. Pranayama makes the Yogi’s mind fit for the next step.

5.   After this comes the fifth step of “Pratyahara” – in which the five senses must give up their sense objects and become one with the inner mind, which is already under Yogi’s control to a great extent. With this comes  great sense control and mind control.

6.   Now, the yogi becomes capable of concentrating the mind on any object or person. This Dharana can be done on any pure or sacred objects. But, Patanjali himself warns the Yogi of the possibility of shifting direction from the ultimate aim of Samadhi or Nirvikalpa Samadhi, which is the ultimate realization of the absolute truth. Yogi must continue in his path for realization of absolute truth.

7.   The next step is “Dhyanam”. The continuation of Dharana on the selected object / person  in a particular way for long duration is called Dhyanam. Readers must understand that whoever has gone at least some length in the first two steps of Yama and Niyama will be the very best of human beings – and they will not be interested in doing Dhyanam on any thing other than the absolute truth.

8.   When the dhyanam reaches a certain level, then all shapes and forms vanish in the dhyanam – and the absolute truth begins emerging. This stage is called Samadhi. In Samadhi, "here I am who is seeing the absolute truth" -  is a sensation which is present for quite some time. If this “I” sensation is present, the yogi will continue the Samadhi further, until the “I” sensation totally vanishes. Only the absolute truth remains then. There is no seer, seen or the act of seeing in that absolute bliss stage.

This in brief is the essence of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. What is practiced in many western yoga schools is Asana and Pranayama only. Many Indian schools also teach similarly. Well. It has its benefits. No one can deny those benefits. But,  Slowly, but surely, people of all religions are seeing Yoga as beyond any religion.

Yoga does not ask you to believe God, Devil, Heaven, hell, life, death or whatever. Even the concept of “Eswara” that Yoga sutras propose is defined clearly by Patanjali – and is a special force, not subject to any of our human weaknesses. Very simple definition indeed.

Now – it is up to any human being to learn, understand and practice Yoga Sutras and bring the absolute, eternal truth into his own experience and being and know for certain it to be the highest truth. 

Or, any one can always continue to believe whatever he or she does at present – without really knowing its veracity and truth by himself. 

But, belief has its comfort too. Not every one is capable of practicing Yama or Niyama the way Patanjali wants us to do. Not every one is capable of even, asana or pranayama. Therefore not every one is capable of pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, Samadhi or nirvikalpa Samadhi. 

Therefore, one can comfortably be a Hindu, or Christian or Buddhist or whatever one wants to. One can comfortably adhere to all the beliefs of his ISM – They don’t call for any great effort as does Yoga. One can just believe his ISM. As simple as that. It has been going on all the time in all the ISMs. There is no quarrel with it. People can always continue in it.

You know you have two hands, two legs, a head and so on. You know all this; you have personal proof for all these - and therefore, you don't have to believe them.  But, heaven, hell etc are belief systems.You can believe your ism's heaven and disbelieve all other ism's heavens. But, Understand that - your heaven is just your belief - not some thing in your knowledge - like your hands and legs are. There is no one alive now in any ism - who has any such direct knowledge of the things that happen before birth and beyond death. Therefore, each has an ism - and quarrels with all other isms - as if he knows his beliefs to be absolutely certain.


Did we not believe that earth was FLAT in the same way - for a long time, till science proved it to be Untrue. Al isms still hold on to beliefs which are conclusively proved by science to be UNTRUE

Now the question before us is - Do you want to believe or do you want to know? 

That’s the question that Yoga wants its practitioner to answer – if one wants to practice Yoga. If we want to KNOW - we can practice Yoga. Else, each can go – in his own belief and path!! 

Yoga has no quarrels with that. It understands. 

Yoga is not a RELIGION. It is a Science - a very practical science - all the way.

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