Sage Patanjali
Taoshobuddha [Type text]
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Yoga
TAOSHOBUDDHA The word Taoshobuddha comes from three words, ‘tao,’ ‘sho,’ and ‘Buddha’. The word Tao was coined by the Chinese master, Lau Tzu. It means that which is and cannot be put into words. It is unknown and unknowable. It can only be experienced and not expressed in words. Its magnanimity cannot be condensed into finiteness. The word Sho implies, that which is vast like the sky and deep like an ocean and carries within its womb a treasure. It also means one on whom the existence showers its blessings. And lastly the word Buddha implies the Enlightened One; one who has arrived home. Thus, Taoshobuddha implies one who is existential, on whom the existence showers its blessings and one who has arrived home. The Enlightened One!
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Yoga
. yaegiZc®v&i®inraex>. In practice, yoga is an applied science of the mind and body. It comes from the Hindu scriptures Vedas. Practice and study of it helps to bring about a natural balance of body - mind in which the state of health can manifest itself. Yoga itself does not create health; rather, it creates an internal environment that allows the individual to come to his own state of dynamic balance, or health. Basically, yoga teaches that a healthy person is a harmoniously integrated unit of body, mind and spirit. Therefore, good health requires a simple, natural diet, exercise in fresh air, a serene and untroubled mind and the awareness that main’s deepest and highest self is identical with the universal consciousness.
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Yoga As a result, to many devotees, yoga becomes a philosophy that offers instruction and insight into every aspect of life: the spiritual, the mental and the physical. Of course, because it is all-encompassing, people who want to pick and choose from its smorgasbord can do so without being disappointed. Yoga is equally satisfying as a physical therapy alone. Yoga is best known as a set of physical practices that include gentle stretches, breathing practices, and progressive deep relaxation. These physical practices are intended to ready the body and mind for meditation as well as for a meditative perspective on life. These meditative practices also follow a sequence. In the process first develops the capacity to withdraw the senses from focus on the outer world, then, the capacity to concentrate on a meditative subject - a candle flame, a sacred or uplifting word or image, or the movement of the breath. Finally, and for most of us only occasionally, the witnessing leads into a wordless and timeless experience of inner tranquility. The yoga masters describe various subtleties among these states of inner peace, but most of us, at best, achieve moments of this experience from time to time. Everyone seems to be engaged in yoga in one way or the other without knowing. Every other person you meet will certainly confirm that he is doing yoga. And Yoga – Transformation Series
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Yoga if you ask anyone of these – what is yoga? No answer will evolve out of understanding. Generally yoga is referred to as Hatha yoga that includes bodily and Pranic exercises to bring about a change in body mind realm. Yoga refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India. The word is associated with meditative practices in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Within Hinduism, it also refers to one of the six orthodox (āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy, and to the goal that school directs its practices towards. In Jainism, yoga is the sum total of all activities — mental, verbal and physical. Major branches of yoga in Hindu philosophy include Rāja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Hatha Yoga. Patanjali the patriarch of Yoga expounds yoga as ‘chitta vritti nirodhah’. Yoga is a disciplined science to stop, and change the existing tendencies of the chitta – a faculty of the mind which is not memory based. Therefore Yoga is a technique or the means to attain to a state of mind which is free from any obstruction of the flow of universal consciousness. And Dhyan, which is part of yoga that operates at the plane beyond body-mind realm, is the process that frees the mind from any poisons arising out of senses and sense objects. Yoga – Transformation Series
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Yoga
It is around this sutra and the meaning of three Sanskrit terms that the definition hinges. Yoga is the inhibition (nirodhaḥ) of the modifications (vṛtti) of the mind (citta). The use of the word nirodhaḥ in the opening definition of yoga is an example of the important role that Buddhist technical terminology and concepts play in the Yoga Sutra. This suggests that Patanjali was aware of Buddhist ideas and wove them into his system. Swami Vivekananda translates the sutra as ‘Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Citta) from taking various forms (Vrittis).’ It is said:
Xyanm inRiv;ym! mn>, Therefore let us begin the discipline of yoga:
Aw yaeganuzasnm, Human beings operate at three levels - body, mind, and spirit. However these three planes or gateways or levels do not work in harmony with one another. Body-mind represents the individual consciousness. And spirit represents the universal consciousness. There is never harmony between the two. Individual consciousness never flows with universal or cosmic consciousness. This creates anguish, pain, and misery. It is because of this man remains within the quagmire Yoga – Transformation Series
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Yoga of duality and entrapped within the whirlpool of birth – rebirth and death. Ancient sages devised the way to bring the three in harmony with one another. This system or the body came to be known as YOGA. Yoga is an ancient Indian body of knowledge that dates back more than 5000 years ago. The word ‘Yoga’ comes from the Sanskrit root ‘yuj’ which means ‘to unite or integrate.’ The Sanskrit word yoga has many meanings, and is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘yuj’, meaning ‘to control’, ‘to yoke’ or ‘to unite’. Translations include ‘joining’, ‘uniting’, ‘union’, ‘conjunction’, and ‘means’. An alternate root the word yoga may derive from is ‘yujir samadhau,’ which means ‘contemplation’ or ‘absorption.’ This translation fits better with the dualist Raja Yoga because it is through contemplation that discrimination between prakrti (nature) and purusha (pure consciousness) occurs. Outside India, the term yoga is typically associated with Hatha Yoga and its asanas (postures) or as a form of exercise. Someone who practices yoga or follows the yoga philosophy to a high level of attainment is called a yogi or yogini. What is commonly referred to as ‘yoga’ can be more accurately described by the Sanskrit word asana, which refers to the practice of physical postures or poses. Asana is only one of the eight ‘limbs’ of yoga, the majority of which are more concerned with Yoga – Transformation Series
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Yoga mental and spiritual well being than physical activity. In the West, however, the words asana and yoga are often used interchangeably. This is what comes into your mind when you hear the word Yoga? Yoga then is about the union of a person’s own consciousness and the universal consciousness. We can think of the union occurring between the mind, body and spirit. Well, if you think of women in seemingly impossible postures then you may have an inkling of what Yoga is. But that is just it - inkling. You have got a long way to go before fully understanding Yoga. Ancient Yogis had a belief that in order for man to be in harmony with himself and his environment, he has to integrate the body, the mind, and the spirit. For these three to be integrated, emotion, action, and intelligence must be in balance. The Yogis formulated a way to achieve and maintain this balance and it is done through exercise, breathing, and Meditation the three main Yoga structures. In Yoga, the body is treated with care and respect for it is the primary instrument in man’s work and growth. Yoga Exercises improve circulation, stimulate the abdominal organs, and put pressure on the glandular system of the body, which can generally result to better health.
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Yoga Breathing techniques were developed based on the concept that breath is the source of life. In Yoga, students gain breathing control as they slowly increase their breathing. By focusing on their breathing, they prepare their minds for the next step - Meditation. There is a general misconception that in Meditation, your mind has to go blank. It does not have to be so. In Meditation, students bring the activities of the mind into witnessing. This results in a ‘quiet’ mind. By designing physical poses and Breathing Techniques that develop awareness of our body, Yoga helps us focus and relieves us from our everyday stress.
Six Branches of Yoga In Indian philosophy, Yoga is the name of one of the six orthodox philosophical schools. The Yoga philosophical system is closely allied with the Samkhya School. The Yoga school as expounded by the sage Patanjali accepts the Samkhya psychology and metaphysics, but is more theistic than the Samkhya, as evidenced by the addition of a divine entity to the Samkhya’s twenty-five elements of reality. The parallels between Yoga and Samkhya were so close that Max Müller says that ‘the two philosophies were in popular parlance distinguished from each other as Samkhya with and Samkhya Yoga – Transformation Series
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Yoga without a Lord....’ The intimate relationship between Samkhya and Yoga is explained by Heinrich Zimmer: These two are regarded in India as twins, the two aspects of a single discipline. Sāṅkhya provides a basic theoretical exposition of human nature, enumerating and defining its elements, analyzing their manner of co-operation in a state of bondage (bandha), and describing their state of disentanglement or separation in release (mokṣa), while Yoga treats specifically of the dynamics of the process for the disentanglement, and outlines practical techniques for the gaining of release, or ‘isolation-integration’ (kaivalya). Patanjali is widely regarded as the founder of the formal Yoga philosophy. Patanjali’s yoga is known as Raja yoga, which is a system for control of the mind. Patanjali defines the word ‘yoga’ in his second sutra, which is the definitional sutra for his entire work: 1. Hatha Yoga or Yoga of Postures Hatha Yoga is perhaps the path of Yoga you are most familiar with since this is the most popular branch of Yoga in the West. This branch of Yoga uses physical postures or Asana, Breathing Techniques or Pranayama, and now even Meditation as a marketable package to achieve better health, as well as spirituality. There are many styles within this path
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Yoga - Integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo, Astanga Yoga of Patanjali, and Jiva Mukti to name a few. If what you want is a peaceful mind and a healthy body to go along with it, Hatha Yoga may just be the path for you. 2. Bhakti Yoga or Yoga of Devotion Bhakti Yoga is the path most followed in India. This is the path of the heart and devotion. Yogis who practice this branch see the ‘One’ or the Divine in everyone and everything. Bhakti Yoga teaches a person to have devotion to the ‘One’ or to Brahma by developing a person’s love and acceptance for all things. The entire Srimad Bhagwad Purana extols Bhakti Yoga or path of devotion to Krishna. Certain Bhakti sutras are dedicated to sage Narad. Sant Gynaneshwar’s Haripath and the works of many poets and saints complete the Bhakti Yoga by singing, chanting, reciting and extolling the praises of the one formful cosmic presence. 3. Raja Yoga or Yoga of Self-Control Raja Yoga, compiled in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and known simply as yoga in the context of Hindu philosophy, is part of the Samkhya tradition. Many other Hindu texts discuss aspects of yoga, including
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Yoga the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita and various Tantras. Raja means ‘royal’. This path is considered to be the King of Yoga and this may be due to the fact that most of its practitioners are members of religious and spiritual orders. Raja Yoga is based on the teachings of the Eight Limbs of Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga of sage Patanjali found in the Yoga sutras. A Raja Yogi sees the self as central, and as such, respect to oneself and for all creation is vital to this path. They achieve self-respect by first learning to be masters of themselves. If you wish to learn discipline, then Raja Yoga would perfectly suit that need. 4. Jnana Yoga or Yoga of the Mind Jnana Yoga is the path of Yoga that basically deals with the mind, and as such, it focuses on man’s intelligence. Jnana Yogis consider wisdom and intellect as important and they aim to unify the two to surpass limitations. Since they wish to gain knowledge, they are open to other philosophies and religion for they believe that an open and rational mind is crucial in knowing the spirit. 5. Karma Yoga or yoga of service Karma Yoga is the path of service in its totality. It is believed that your present situation is based on your Yoga – Transformation Series
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Yoga past actions. So by doing selfless service now, you are choosing a future that is free from negativity and selfishness. Karma Yogis change their attitude towards the good and the bad and in the process, change their souls, which leads to a change in their destiny. 6. Tantra Yoga or the path of rituals Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the paths, Tantra Yoga is about using rituals to experience what is sacred. Although sex is a part of it, yet still sex is not the whole of it since this path aims to find what is sacred in everything we do. Normally sex is considered as profane. Tantra vision envisions sacredness in everything including sex. And it is through this a deeper understanding is attained. Tantra Yogis must possess certain qualities like purity, humility, devotion, dedication to his Guru, cosmic love, and truthfulness among other things.
Yoga and misconceptions Although Yoga is a path of self discovery and betterment there is misconception about it created by baser minds? There are still a lot of misconceptions about Yoga. One of the most common misconceptions is created by fundamentalist religions who have Yoga – Transformation Series
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Yoga branded Yoga as part of Hindu religion. Yoga is not a religion. It is more of a set of profound scientific techniques for us to discover spirituality within. These methods do not belong to any religion caste, community or ethnicity. Just as the Theory of relativity is not Jewish because Albert Einstein conceived it, so too radio and television are not Christian. And no one says why you are using electricity, because it is Christian and a Christian mind conceived it. Science does not belong to any religion, race, caste, or creed! Just because these techniques were developed by a Hindu mind, does this mean these techniques are Hindu? But you cannot change the ‘wisdom’ of human stupidity. So think through it. In fact, Yoga is the science of the inner. It is quite encouraging that Yoga is being practiced by a large cross section of people from different religions like Christians, Jewish, Buddhists, and Muslims extensively both in the east and the west. Another misconception is that Yoga is an exercise, a way for us to keep fit. It is partly true, but if you think that Yoga is just that then you are greatly mistaken. Yoga develops the body first as it is the first gateway to the inner. And a weak body is a hindrance to spiritual growth. Also it is erroneous to consider body and mind as separate. In reality both are part of one synergistic harmony. Whatever happens to the body affects the mind and whatever happens to the mind Yoga – Transformation Series
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Yoga affects the body as well. When you take a few drinks through the body your psychology is affected. So too when there is any loss or sudden death or anything else and you take at the plane of psychology it will affect your body. Yoga therefore does not simply focus on the physical but on the mental and spiritual aspects as well.
Significance of Yoga Definitely, Yoga is for anyone who is willing to learn its ways and thus wants to bring about transformation in life. It does not actually require any special equipment or clothing. What it requires is your will to have a healthier, stress-free self. This is why it is a discipline. You may first approach Yoga as a way to achieve a great body or to keep fit and that is perfectly alright. Yoga really does help in improving your health for stretching can tone your muscles and exercise your spine and your entire skeletal system. Do not just take advantage of what Yoga can offer. Yoga encourages you to reflect on yourself and to find your inner treasures. It exercises not just your body but your mind as well. With a healthy body and mind, you are on your way to a more fulfilling life.
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Yoga
The Ashtanga Yoga – Eight Limbed Yoga Patanjali’s writing also became the basis for a system referred to as ‘Ashtanga Yoga’ (‘Eight-Limbed Yoga’). This eight-limbed concept derived from the 29th Sutra of the 2nd book, and is a core characteristic of practically every Raja yoga variation taught today. The Eight Limbs are: 1. Yama (The five ‘abstentions’): non-violence, non-lying, non-covetousness, non-sensuality, and non-possessiveness. 2. Niyama (The five ‘observances’): purity, contentment, austerity, study, and surrender to god. 3. Asana: Literally means ‘seat’, and in Patanjali’s Sutras refers to the seated position used for meditation. 4. Pranayama (‘Suspending Breath’): Prāna, breath, ‘āyāma’, to restrain or stop. Also interpreted as control of the life force. 5. Pratyahara (‘Abstraction’): Withdrawal of the sense organs from external objects.
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Yoga 6. Dharana (‘Concentration’): attention on a single object.
Fixing
the
7. Dhyana (‘Meditation’): Intense contemplation of the nature of the object of meditation. 8. Samādhi (‘Liberation’): merging consciousness with the object of meditation. In the view of this school, the highest attainment does not reveal the experienced diversity of the world to be illusion. The everyday world is real. Furthermore, the highest attainment is the event of one of many individual selves discovering itself; there is no single universal self shared by all persons.
Yoga and health Yoga as a scientific system of physical and mental practices originated in India more than five thousand years ago with a sole purpose to help each one of us achieve our highest potential and to experience enduring health and happiness. With Yoga, we can extend our healthy, productive years far beyond the accepted norm and, at the same time, improve the quality of our lives. The branch of Yoga that forms the main focus of teachings worldwide work with both adults and children is called Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga begins by working with the body on a structural level, helping Yoga – Transformation Series
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Yoga to align the vertebrae, increase flexibility, and strengthen muscles and connective tissue. At the same time, internal organs are toned and rejuvenated. The epidermal, digestive, lymphatic, cardiovascular, and pulmonary systems are purified of toxins and waste matter. The nervous and endocrine systems are balanced and toned. And brain cells are nourished and stimulated. The end result is increased mental clarity, emotional stability, and a greater sense of overall well-being. Because Yoga works on so many different levels, it has great potential as an effective therapy for chronic diseases and conditions that do not respond well to conventional treatment methods. For this reason, children with Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities often surprise their parents and teachers with their quick mastery of basic motor, communicative, and cognitive skills with the help of yoga. The same Yoga routine can help children with learning disabilities develop greater concentration, balance, and composure in their daily lives. Everyone gains some level of benefit. The only requirements are proper instruction and regular practice. It is important to remember that Yoga is not just a slow-motion calisthenics workout or superficial exercise routine. Anyone who practices correctly soon begins to appreciate the depth and breadth of its benefits. For this reason, I always recommend that the parents of special students enroll in an adult Yoga Yoga – Transformation Series
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Yoga class; then they can experience the effects of Yoga for themselves. After a number of lessons, they may experience benefits of relaxation and softening of deep inner tensions and blockages, a sense of bodymind equilibrium, and a feeling of energetic buoyancy that can carry one right through the most difficult of days. One should not strain or force him. Yoga is not a contest or a ‘quick fix.’ Like the proverbial story of the tortoise and the hare, Yoga favors quiet, consistent application over theatrical displays and superficial accomplishments. It does not require that we transform ourselves overnight into something beyond our capacity. Yoga begins by accepting our limitations, whatever they may be, and working with this self-acceptance as a base. In our daily practice, we gradually learn to transcend our limitations, one by one, and in this way, real and lasting progress is possible.
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