Yoga,
the transformation of life
(a basic
summary)
by Octavian Sarbatoare
Yoga is about consciousness. There is a wide
variety of techniques to enhance the conscious experience of a person. One out of them is
Yoga. Yoga as a practical and theoretical concept
evolved from the ancestral pagan believes on the
socio-geographical area having its core what is
actually India. The significance of the word Yoga
comes from the Sanskrit root Yuj which means 'union' between the
someone's personal consciousness and the universal consciousness.
A multitude of techniques similar to those in Yoga are to
be found in other traditions all over the world. People employ
Yoga practices at certain stages in their lives.
The proper time to start practicing Yoga is the
time of a personal individual crisis. The restlessness,
lack of satisfaction with life overall are
triggers to many questions of how to solve
personal problems. Any personal crisis could become the beginning of a
personal transformation and a divine chance to
be able to evolve, i.e. to enhance the awareness
of life experience. By being more conscious about life events
people become impartial observers of
what and how things happen. A personal transformation is visible gradually. This is expressed by a multitude of changes
at personal level. Yoga employs a succession of events to bring
success on this spiritual path.
The first step, before starting the Yoga practices proper, is the self-analysis,
an impartial observation of own
person. The observer and the observed has to become the
same person. Here, the essential quality necessary to
succeed is honesty. Honesty will allow anyone to
see with objectivity what is not pleasant about own person,
either the face, body form, habits, addictions
and many others. Nobody else can be more
objective about a person's description but the person
him/herself. This being accomplished a resolution of improvement
has to be made.
The first area of self-improvement is that of the body, which is the cause
of many addictions. Addictions like drinking, smoking, meat eating
are typical. A lot of mental addictions have as their basic source
the body addictions. By identifying and targeting addiction, this
aim becomes a
great personal battle to remove those body addictions. Yoga as a
process of conscious approach to life experience starts with becoming
aware about body addictions. Once people are
honest enough to admit those weaknesses and
decide to do something about them, this is a very
good sign and a positive encouragement towards opening new doors
on the path of Yoga.
The practice of Yoga gradually produces an enhancement of sense
perception to have deeper experiences. These kinds
of amplification of the awareness of human senses have deep implications
at mental level. In Yoga, mind experiences, body
experiences and sexual experiences are
interconnected, an action upon one will produce consequences on the other two.
In
Yoga this is known as the interconnection between Manas (mental
energy), Prana (body energy) and Virya (sexual
energy). The above division allow the Yoga practices to be classified
into three areas of actions, either acting
on Manas, Prana or Virya. There are Yogic techniques acting on
two of the above, even on all three
areas.
The typical techniques to act on Manas are meditative experiences of various kinds, either employing or not the
Mantra (magical formula) practices. Such Mantras
are given by a Guru who follow a specific tradition (Sapradaya).
Mantras are linked to certain benefits,
the concept behind is as being the vibrational form of a Devata (deity).
By repetition with Mantras (Mantra Japa), this makes the mind to come closer and
closer to the source of the sound which is according to Yoga the
source (Bindu) of everything. All the meditation
kind of practices imply awareness of
the mind when the practitioner is somehow conscious of what is
happening. The good signs of success is when
awareness is able to be maintained longer and
longer.
Those typical techniques to act on Prana are physical
postures (Asanas) and breath exercises
(Pranayama). Those techniques to act on Virya are
more related to the Maithuna
Tantra concept
and practices, implying man-woman sexual interaction.
The action of optimisation starts with the body. The
well-known physical postures (Asanas) are of
four kinds: extension, compression, torsion and neutral as far
as the action on the
vertebral column is concerned. Certain rules have to be followed
when choosing the order and succession of various postures. An Asana of extension will be followed by
one of compression and vice versa, an Asana of
torsion has to do the twist of the vertebral
column both to to left and right sides; a neutral Asana can
be inserted between the above complementary pairs.
Examples: Sarvangasana (the posture of all limbs) is an Asana of extension
that could be followed
by Matsyasana (the posture of the fish), which is
an Asana of compression. Vakrasana (the posture
of the limbs) is practiced on both left and
right sides. The multitude of Asanas could be learned from books or
qualified Yoga teachers, thus a personal program of Yoga
training could be created by anyone having the knowledge of the
rules above.
Pranayama (breathing technique) is the next
stage following the Asanas practice according to Patanjali (see
below). It is important to know that various Pranayama
techniques produce certain body and mind effects. Sahita
Pranayama for example produces heat into the body.
This heat makes digestion better, i.e. will
amplify what is called Jatharagni (the fire of
digestion). Other Pranayama techniques like
Shitali will cool the body, etc. The practice of Pranayama will
allow the equilibrium to the body and mind biological systems,
so that the practitioner becomes full of vigour almost all the time.
Yoga overall is best known from the classical literature as having
eight stages. This classification however is
just one of the many methods of attaining that union
(Yoga). However,
another definition of Yoga is to be the disunion
between Purusha and Prakriti. Purusha is the pole
of consciousness, Prakriti is the pole of matter.
When the two poles start to dissociate within the mind of a
practitioner the conscious inclination towards
the Purusha side makes somebody's mind to gradually become one
with Purusha and unite with that all pervading consciousness.
Basically all Yoga practices have as final objective
to produce the disunion between Purusha and Prakriti within the
mind of a Yoga aspirant.
Many other techniques related to various kinds of
Yoga like Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Laya Yoga,
Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Kundalini
Yoga, Swara Yoga, Nada Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Tantra
Yoga, etc., are being accessible
for practice in tune with the personal inclinations of someone who
takes the results coming form specific kinds of Yoga as personal
goals, like efficiency of action for Karma Yoga, divine devotion
for Bhakti Yoga, etc. However the accomplishment of Yoga, as union
with the divine or disunion between Purusha and Prakriti, no
matter by which method has some commonalities.
The culmination of practices is the conscious explosion of
the mind. This is due to various Yoga techniques producing a
gradual purification of body and mind. The
ascending of consciousness is seen by Yoga as the step by
step rise towards Lokas (planes of awareness). The entire Chakra system
(of Tantric origin) is in fact a gradual ascendancy of
consciousness as perception experience. A practitioner has to overcome the five fires (Panchagni) i.e.
greed (Lobha) in Muladhara Chakra, desire (Kama)
in Shvadhishthana Chakra, anger (Krodha) in
Manipura Chakra, attachment (Raga) in Anahata
Chakra, pride (Mada) in Vishuddha Chakra.
-
- It is only after these
steps that consciousness rises to Ajna Chakra. By attaining this
spiritual point, a practitioner is much closer to the goal.
Stepping further, the mind explodes in awareness in Sahasrara Chakra
i.e. there is a state of conscious experience which the mind
cannot handle peacefully. At this
point of tumultuous mental experience practitioner's Guru has to be closer and help the aspirant to overcome this tremendous
experience.
-
- Yoga asserts that without Guru's help is very unusual
somebody to be able to handle the awakening. This
experience of explosion of the mind is equivalent
with Kundalini Shakti awakening. Kundalini who is
Shakti as energy of creation within the human body has come up the Sushumna Nadi to meet
Shiva. Their unity is in fact the mind of the
practitioner united with the universal
consciousness.
After the successful awakening the Yogi becomes a Siddha, a Jivanmukta, a living liberated soul, in modern
terminology a Homo Noeticus, Homo Tantrika, Homo
Universalis, a new kind of human being surpassing in ability
most of the other human beings. It will not be daring to foresee a
new king of humanity arising from the process of gradual evolution
based on Yoga.
-
-
- Copyright © 1997 and subsequent years by Octavian Sarbatoare - Email
- Australia
-
- This article is copyright-protected. The author grants the right to copy
and distribute this file, provided it remains unmodified and original
authorship and copyright is retained.
-
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