The emphasis, in most Hatha Yoga classes, is on the physical body. As I have explained to some of my colleagues, ?Some form of union is better than no union at all.? This indicates something ancient Yogis knew thousands of years ago. The path of Hatha Yoga will be much easier to follow than the paths of Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, and Jnana Yoga.
There are many styles of Yoga, but let?s look at some of the main Indian Yoga styles and their approach to unity. There are many other Indian Yoga styles, and no disrespect is intended by not mentioning them. Many styles of Yoga do use components found in other styles, so each style has many facets. Meditation is one of the most common facets found in almost all forms of Yoga.
Bhakti Yoga: Is unity through devotion, love for God, or loving service. This is the most widely practiced form of Yoga within India. However, Yoga practiced for devotion to God is practiced by many religions. These Yoga classes are most often sectarian in nature and include members with one religious belief.
Bhakti can also be misplaced when a person gives too much devotion to material gain and temporary worldly pleasures. The Bhakti Yoga practitioner knows that the true path, toward a connection with God, is through loving service and devotion to God. The ?holy man? who preaches hate, is not a Bhakti Yoga practitioner.
Pope John Paul II could have been considered an example of a Bhakti Yoga practitioner. Within a spiritual country, such as India or Saudi Arabia, you will also see many examples of Bhakti Yoga. Although, many Saudis might not agree with the description, they are devoted to Allah (God). Many Moslems will travel a great distance for a Hajj or Umrah. This is an example of loving service to God.
Sometimes devotion can be to a prophet, saint, or Guru, who is living or not, but most often devotion, dedication, and love toward God, Brahman, Krishna, Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, or a Supreme consciousness is the central idea. In truth, mankind has spent far too much time waging war over the name of God.
Jnana Yoga: Is unity through knowledge, but this is much more than intellectual pursuit. Jnana Yoga is a method to turn knowledge into pure wisdom. Knowledge is not always practical or pure wisdom.
Today, many children have access to multiple forms of media, so they are knowledgeable, but are they very wise? Children are young and need time to develop wisdom. How many times have you met a person who was ?book smart,? but lacked common sense in daily decision making? Awareness, logic, and pure wisdom are cultivated through meditation, self-analysis, self-realization, and developing a deeper connection with God.
? Copyright 2006 ? Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts, with multiple Black Belts, four martial arts teaching credentials, and was recently inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html
Showing posts with label Brahman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brahman. Show all posts
February 26, 2009
February 24, 2009
Yoga in Practice: The Impact of Yoga Teachers on Society - Part 2
Now, let?s cover the next issue of Anti-Aging and Yoga. With regular Yoga practice, your health will be the best it can be. Joints are lubricated, muscles are toned, bones have to bear weight in strengthening postures (asanas), and internal organs are massaged. This activity also aids the immune, digestive, and elimination systems.
However, the physical aspect of Yoga is often considered to be the lesser of the three main aspects, when compared to the mental and spiritual aspects. Yoga styles - such as, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, and Jnana Yoga, offer much more in relation to the spiritual and mental facets of Yoga
Selfless service, or Karma Yoga, is the ability to give and help others without expectation. You give and forgive people because it is right to do. If good things happen to you as a result, this is fine, but you do not seek rewards for giving.
Jnana Yoga: Union by knowledge ? requires a Yogi who is pure of heart and the intelligence to find the ?real truth.? The real truth may not be ?politically correct.? This is especially true when history is most often recorded by the victors.
Meditation creates rational thought and is one of the keys to Jnana Yoga. This will also aid you in your connection to spiritual health. Meditate on God long enough and you will realize our petty human differences are an illusion held together by the ego.
The multitudes of religions that worship God are worshiping the same Supreme Being. It does not matter if you call this God, Allah, Brahman, Jehovah, Yahweh, or something else. However, this is truly ironic when we choose to kill others in the name of God.
Therefore, let?s get back to other ways that Yoga teachers and Yoga practitioners have changed, and will continue to change, the world. It is by becoming living examples of tolerance and non-judgment. If all you do is display loving kindness, forgiveness, and mindfulness to others, you are a living example of integrity.
Yoga teachers have the ability to influence humankind toward world peace on a small scale. When you are kind to others, you set a chain reaction into motion. Loving kindness is contagious and makes the world a better place.
Much like the counter-culturists of the past; Yoga teachers and Yoga practitioners do not have to operate within the confines of a system. A social worker or school teacher may feel like, ?their hands are tied by the system,? but Yoga teachers have much more freedom to change the world - one person at a time.
? Copyright 2006 ? Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts, with multiple Black Belts, four martial arts teaching credentials, and was recently inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html
However, the physical aspect of Yoga is often considered to be the lesser of the three main aspects, when compared to the mental and spiritual aspects. Yoga styles - such as, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, and Jnana Yoga, offer much more in relation to the spiritual and mental facets of Yoga
Selfless service, or Karma Yoga, is the ability to give and help others without expectation. You give and forgive people because it is right to do. If good things happen to you as a result, this is fine, but you do not seek rewards for giving.
Jnana Yoga: Union by knowledge ? requires a Yogi who is pure of heart and the intelligence to find the ?real truth.? The real truth may not be ?politically correct.? This is especially true when history is most often recorded by the victors.
Meditation creates rational thought and is one of the keys to Jnana Yoga. This will also aid you in your connection to spiritual health. Meditate on God long enough and you will realize our petty human differences are an illusion held together by the ego.
The multitudes of religions that worship God are worshiping the same Supreme Being. It does not matter if you call this God, Allah, Brahman, Jehovah, Yahweh, or something else. However, this is truly ironic when we choose to kill others in the name of God.
Therefore, let?s get back to other ways that Yoga teachers and Yoga practitioners have changed, and will continue to change, the world. It is by becoming living examples of tolerance and non-judgment. If all you do is display loving kindness, forgiveness, and mindfulness to others, you are a living example of integrity.
Yoga teachers have the ability to influence humankind toward world peace on a small scale. When you are kind to others, you set a chain reaction into motion. Loving kindness is contagious and makes the world a better place.
Much like the counter-culturists of the past; Yoga teachers and Yoga practitioners do not have to operate within the confines of a system. A social worker or school teacher may feel like, ?their hands are tied by the system,? but Yoga teachers have much more freedom to change the world - one person at a time.
? Copyright 2006 ? Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts, with multiple Black Belts, four martial arts teaching credentials, and was recently inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html
February 22, 2009
Jnana Yoga & Bug-Free Beliefs
In Hinduism there are said to be several paths that lead to the cessation of human suffering. These are known as the four yogas: karma yoga (action, work, service), bhakti yoga (love, devotion, worship), raja yoga (meditation, mental control, ?psychic? exercise), and jnana yoga (knowledge, philosophy, enquiry). No one yoga is better or worse than any other, but individuals will tend to find themselves drawn to one yoga more than the others.
Jnana Yoga
If you?ve been following this blog regularly and digesting some of my lengthier posts, then it should be fairly obvious that among these four, my personal preference is jnana yoga, which is the path of attempting to understand reality through the process of enquiry, i.e. through the mind. In practice, however, I spend time working on all four of these yogas. I express karma yoga through the act of writing and striving to help others grow. Bhakti yoga (love) is an internal, less public path for me. And I?ve done a variety of meditations in the practice of raja yoga. But jnana yoga remains the most compelling for me. I seem to have an insatiable curiosity to understand reality on an intellectual level. It isn?t enough for me to simply feel the truth of something in my heart or to find peace through action. I strive to create a mental model of reality that?s as accurate as possible.
If you share the path of jnana yoga, you?ll likely find the process of enquiry to be fascinating and rewarding. You probably enjoy open-minded, intellectual discussion of high-level subjects. And you may often feel frustrated or isolated to meet few people around you who seem as curious about such things as you are. Formal religion is likely to be too static and ritualistic for you, even downright boring. For you the path of spirituality is the path of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Your desire to know is very strong.
But if jnana yoga isn?t your cup of tea, then you may simply find the notion of enquiry into the nature of reality to be pointless, overwhelming, or impractical. In that case you?re more likely to be interested in this blog for the practical productivity articles that help you improve your ability to do what you?re already doing? as opposed to those that challenge you to consider whether what you?re doing even makes any sense to begin with. Nothing wrong with that ? these are just different paths.
The Quest for Accuracy
One of the great challenges in personal development and in human life overall is that we exist in a world where we don?t fully understand the rules. And yet we cannot simply call a time out and refer to the instruction book, at least not in a direct and obvious way.
When I was a teenager, I began to question the nature of reality instead of merely swallowing what I was taught, whether it came from a priest or a scientist.
What led me to start asking such questions in the first place? It was something very simple ? inaccuracy. I would occasionally notice that the world did not function in the manner I expected it to function. And as a consequence of that, I experienced a certain degree of suffering. When your beliefs are incongruent with reality, some form of suffering is the result.
It took me many years to realize that my sense of suffering, pain, or otherwise unpleasant sensations were NOT caused by reality itself. They were caused by my own lack of understanding of reality. Inaccuracy is the root of all suffering.
Following the path of jnana yoga is like playing detective, where everything you experience is a clue, a pointer to the underlying reality. My biggest breakthroughs have come about from noticing a piece of data that just didn?t seem to fit my current working model of reality. If you take the time to reflect upon your own experience of reality, you?ll probably find at least a few pieces that just don?t seem to fit. Have you ever experienced something that you just can?t explain? Does fitting that experience into your current model of reality feel like trying to shove a square peg into a round hole?
For example, consider the concept of objective reality, which suggests that we?re all physical beings in a physical universe, and our thoughts and consciousness are merely epiphenomena of the physical world. Can you think of a piece that just doesn?t seem to fit this model, something that sticks out a bit?
Think hard.
How about the fact that you?re you? You?re you and you alone, not me and not anyone else. Does anything seem odd about that?
You notice that you have a physical body, and by looking around you notice that there are a lot of other physical bodies walking around this world as well. You can even touch and interact with them. You?ve been taught that there are over six billion of these bodies walking around on earth. No problem there so far.
However, how many consciousnesses do you perceive? You can perceive lots and lots of moving, talking bodies in the world, but you?re only able to perceive one consciousness. By consciousness I mean awareness, and that awareness appears to have a localized connection to your particular body, but you aren?t able to perceive the connection between your consciousness and other people?s bodies, at least not to the same degree you perceive the connection to your own body. Doesn?t this seem a bit strange to you? Why on earth should your consciousness be localized?
You can be fairly sure that I have a body just like you ? you can at least perceive it through your senses. You can come find me and access my physical form. But can you access my consciousness? Do you actually have any reason whatsoever to believe that I?m conscious at all in the same way that you are? Your senses tell you that there are lots of people in the world with physical bodies similar to yours. But you don?t have that same perception of consciousness. In fact, I dare say the only consciousness you perceive is your own. As far as you can tell, you?re the only truly conscious being in the world, aren?t you? Why would you assume that any of those other bodies walking around in your world experience individualized consciousness as you do? Isn?t that a pretty big stretch, considering the available evidence?
Do you make this assumption when you?re dreaming? Do you assume that your dream characters have a separate consciousness different from your own? Why on earth would you make this assumption in your waking life then?
The raw experiential data you?re able to know with certainty is that you can perceive lots of other physical bodies walking around, but you only directly perceive that one of them is conscious and aware ? you.
Now why is that? Does the model of objective reality provide a clear explanation for this? Does it tell you why your awareness is connected to you and not me or anyone else? If objective reality is to be believed, then why should you have a localized consciousness at all? Wouldn?t it make more sense for there to be no consciousness or awareness at all in such a universe? Or at the very least, if there is consciousness in the world, wouldn?t it be more logical that it should be totally non-local, not identified with any particular physical body? These are some pretty significant holes in the objective reality paradigm.
The process of enquiry can create cracks in certain belief systems, and by shedding those cracked beliefs (no matter how attached to them you may be), you?ll gradually develop a deeper understanding of the true nature of reality. In order to understand reality, you must first shed your false and inaccurate beliefs about it. This process is even more basic than science because science assumes the existence of objective reality. However, the process of enquiry begins with what you?re able to know through direct experience and doesn?t require you to make such unprovable assumptions. Your own consciousness is fundamental to your experience of life, so you don?t need to be convinced of its existence ? this is why your consciousness is perhaps the best place to start when attempting to develop an accurate model of reality. Any model of reality you strive to create must, at a bare minimum, explain the existence of your consciousness and why you experience it the way you do, including its apparent localized connection to your physical body. Otherwise, you?re ignoring a very crucial piece of data.
The belief in objective reality requires a rather large leap of faith. It isn?t fundamental. It?s simply one of many theories, one that begins with an assumption and which contains some problematic holes.
Another flawed model of reality would be a purely subjective one, suggesting that all of reality is created by your own thoughts. Through trial and error, you may find that a subjective model of reality (with respect to your own mind) doesn?t appear to be accurate either.
As you search for the real truth, you may perceive that reality has both objective and subjective elements to it. Some parts appear to be influenced, even controlled, by your thoughts. Other parts appear to be independent of your thoughts. But the most fundamental thing you?re able to perceive is the existence of this one consciousness, one awareness silently noticing reality unfolding.
You?ll know you?re making progress with jnana yoga when your constant experience of reality becomes one of utter amazement and wonder. You should be amazed, perhaps even freaked out a bit, when you attempt to stretch your mind to understand reality as accurately as possible. What is reality? It?s not fully objective, not completely subjective. Not quite a thing, not quite a thought. How does it work? What?s under the hood? What is its nature?
While you might be willing to settle for living with your current model of reality, begin to notice where that model begins to break down. You will know when it breaks because you?ll experience some form of suffering. But suffering is not there to punish you. It is there to serve as a wake-up call, telling you that you have an inaccurate model of reality and that the way to end your suffering is to correct the errors in your mental model.
Debugging Your Beliefs
What happens when a computer program is created by a programmer who makes inaccurate assumptions? The program will contain errors ? aka bugs. It won?t function optimally, and it may even crash. Your own mental software works the same way. When your beliefs about reality are inaccurate, you will experience bugs. Occasionally you may crash. Just as a computer program runs on certain hardware, you must work within the confines of your own physical hardware. But if you are experiencing software (not hardware) crashes in your life ? such as depression, hopelessness, anger, frustration, apathy, guilt, resentment, shame, or fear ? it?s because your code contains bugs. It means you?ve made some inaccurate assumptions. Your ?code? consists of your beliefs about reality.
If you want to run more accurate code (and thereby experience less suffering and pain in your life), then you must develop an accurate understanding of the hardware, the operating system, and the environment in which your code will run. You need to prevent the introduction of coding errors, and whenever you notice errors (which appear as some form of suffering), you must debug them. This means you need to identify the belief that?s causing the suffering and then either delete or rewrite it.
Your mental software doesn?t have to provide every possible feature in order to run properly. It just needs to be free of bugs. Code that isn?t written is inherently bug-free. You cannot crash code that doesn?t exist. Similarly, you cannot experience suffering if your beliefs about reality are bug-free, meaning that they contain no inaccuracies. When your code is accurate (even if there isn?t very much of it), you will experience states of peace, wonder, and amazement as your normal daily existence. Your code will not only run smoothly, but it will also be elegant. One of the deepest pleasures in computer program is the creation of elegant code. Elegant code is both accurate and efficient in a way that transcends mere logic and begins to cross into the domain of art. It is as close to perfection as computer programs can get.
Similarly, when your beliefs about reality become elegant, you will find that the program of your life takes on an almost unfathomable smoothness. This is the manner in which jnana yoga makes it possible to transcend suffering and experience peace.
Copyright ? Steve Pavlina
Steve Pavlina
Personal Development for Smart People
http://www.stevepavlina.com
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog (blog)
http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles (articles)
Steve is intensely growth-oriented. He trained in martial arts, ran the L.A. Marathon, and graduated from college in three semesters with two degrees. He can juggle, count cards at blackjack, and make damn good guacamole. Steve is also a polyphasic sleeper, sleeping just 2-3 hours per day and only 20 minutes at a time. So chances are good that he’s awake right now.
Jnana Yoga
If you?ve been following this blog regularly and digesting some of my lengthier posts, then it should be fairly obvious that among these four, my personal preference is jnana yoga, which is the path of attempting to understand reality through the process of enquiry, i.e. through the mind. In practice, however, I spend time working on all four of these yogas. I express karma yoga through the act of writing and striving to help others grow. Bhakti yoga (love) is an internal, less public path for me. And I?ve done a variety of meditations in the practice of raja yoga. But jnana yoga remains the most compelling for me. I seem to have an insatiable curiosity to understand reality on an intellectual level. It isn?t enough for me to simply feel the truth of something in my heart or to find peace through action. I strive to create a mental model of reality that?s as accurate as possible.
If you share the path of jnana yoga, you?ll likely find the process of enquiry to be fascinating and rewarding. You probably enjoy open-minded, intellectual discussion of high-level subjects. And you may often feel frustrated or isolated to meet few people around you who seem as curious about such things as you are. Formal religion is likely to be too static and ritualistic for you, even downright boring. For you the path of spirituality is the path of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Your desire to know is very strong.
But if jnana yoga isn?t your cup of tea, then you may simply find the notion of enquiry into the nature of reality to be pointless, overwhelming, or impractical. In that case you?re more likely to be interested in this blog for the practical productivity articles that help you improve your ability to do what you?re already doing? as opposed to those that challenge you to consider whether what you?re doing even makes any sense to begin with. Nothing wrong with that ? these are just different paths.
The Quest for Accuracy
One of the great challenges in personal development and in human life overall is that we exist in a world where we don?t fully understand the rules. And yet we cannot simply call a time out and refer to the instruction book, at least not in a direct and obvious way.
When I was a teenager, I began to question the nature of reality instead of merely swallowing what I was taught, whether it came from a priest or a scientist.
What led me to start asking such questions in the first place? It was something very simple ? inaccuracy. I would occasionally notice that the world did not function in the manner I expected it to function. And as a consequence of that, I experienced a certain degree of suffering. When your beliefs are incongruent with reality, some form of suffering is the result.
It took me many years to realize that my sense of suffering, pain, or otherwise unpleasant sensations were NOT caused by reality itself. They were caused by my own lack of understanding of reality. Inaccuracy is the root of all suffering.
Following the path of jnana yoga is like playing detective, where everything you experience is a clue, a pointer to the underlying reality. My biggest breakthroughs have come about from noticing a piece of data that just didn?t seem to fit my current working model of reality. If you take the time to reflect upon your own experience of reality, you?ll probably find at least a few pieces that just don?t seem to fit. Have you ever experienced something that you just can?t explain? Does fitting that experience into your current model of reality feel like trying to shove a square peg into a round hole?
For example, consider the concept of objective reality, which suggests that we?re all physical beings in a physical universe, and our thoughts and consciousness are merely epiphenomena of the physical world. Can you think of a piece that just doesn?t seem to fit this model, something that sticks out a bit?
Think hard.
How about the fact that you?re you? You?re you and you alone, not me and not anyone else. Does anything seem odd about that?
You notice that you have a physical body, and by looking around you notice that there are a lot of other physical bodies walking around this world as well. You can even touch and interact with them. You?ve been taught that there are over six billion of these bodies walking around on earth. No problem there so far.
However, how many consciousnesses do you perceive? You can perceive lots and lots of moving, talking bodies in the world, but you?re only able to perceive one consciousness. By consciousness I mean awareness, and that awareness appears to have a localized connection to your particular body, but you aren?t able to perceive the connection between your consciousness and other people?s bodies, at least not to the same degree you perceive the connection to your own body. Doesn?t this seem a bit strange to you? Why on earth should your consciousness be localized?
You can be fairly sure that I have a body just like you ? you can at least perceive it through your senses. You can come find me and access my physical form. But can you access my consciousness? Do you actually have any reason whatsoever to believe that I?m conscious at all in the same way that you are? Your senses tell you that there are lots of people in the world with physical bodies similar to yours. But you don?t have that same perception of consciousness. In fact, I dare say the only consciousness you perceive is your own. As far as you can tell, you?re the only truly conscious being in the world, aren?t you? Why would you assume that any of those other bodies walking around in your world experience individualized consciousness as you do? Isn?t that a pretty big stretch, considering the available evidence?
Do you make this assumption when you?re dreaming? Do you assume that your dream characters have a separate consciousness different from your own? Why on earth would you make this assumption in your waking life then?
The raw experiential data you?re able to know with certainty is that you can perceive lots of other physical bodies walking around, but you only directly perceive that one of them is conscious and aware ? you.
Now why is that? Does the model of objective reality provide a clear explanation for this? Does it tell you why your awareness is connected to you and not me or anyone else? If objective reality is to be believed, then why should you have a localized consciousness at all? Wouldn?t it make more sense for there to be no consciousness or awareness at all in such a universe? Or at the very least, if there is consciousness in the world, wouldn?t it be more logical that it should be totally non-local, not identified with any particular physical body? These are some pretty significant holes in the objective reality paradigm.
The process of enquiry can create cracks in certain belief systems, and by shedding those cracked beliefs (no matter how attached to them you may be), you?ll gradually develop a deeper understanding of the true nature of reality. In order to understand reality, you must first shed your false and inaccurate beliefs about it. This process is even more basic than science because science assumes the existence of objective reality. However, the process of enquiry begins with what you?re able to know through direct experience and doesn?t require you to make such unprovable assumptions. Your own consciousness is fundamental to your experience of life, so you don?t need to be convinced of its existence ? this is why your consciousness is perhaps the best place to start when attempting to develop an accurate model of reality. Any model of reality you strive to create must, at a bare minimum, explain the existence of your consciousness and why you experience it the way you do, including its apparent localized connection to your physical body. Otherwise, you?re ignoring a very crucial piece of data.
The belief in objective reality requires a rather large leap of faith. It isn?t fundamental. It?s simply one of many theories, one that begins with an assumption and which contains some problematic holes.
Another flawed model of reality would be a purely subjective one, suggesting that all of reality is created by your own thoughts. Through trial and error, you may find that a subjective model of reality (with respect to your own mind) doesn?t appear to be accurate either.
As you search for the real truth, you may perceive that reality has both objective and subjective elements to it. Some parts appear to be influenced, even controlled, by your thoughts. Other parts appear to be independent of your thoughts. But the most fundamental thing you?re able to perceive is the existence of this one consciousness, one awareness silently noticing reality unfolding.
You?ll know you?re making progress with jnana yoga when your constant experience of reality becomes one of utter amazement and wonder. You should be amazed, perhaps even freaked out a bit, when you attempt to stretch your mind to understand reality as accurately as possible. What is reality? It?s not fully objective, not completely subjective. Not quite a thing, not quite a thought. How does it work? What?s under the hood? What is its nature?
While you might be willing to settle for living with your current model of reality, begin to notice where that model begins to break down. You will know when it breaks because you?ll experience some form of suffering. But suffering is not there to punish you. It is there to serve as a wake-up call, telling you that you have an inaccurate model of reality and that the way to end your suffering is to correct the errors in your mental model.
Debugging Your Beliefs
What happens when a computer program is created by a programmer who makes inaccurate assumptions? The program will contain errors ? aka bugs. It won?t function optimally, and it may even crash. Your own mental software works the same way. When your beliefs about reality are inaccurate, you will experience bugs. Occasionally you may crash. Just as a computer program runs on certain hardware, you must work within the confines of your own physical hardware. But if you are experiencing software (not hardware) crashes in your life ? such as depression, hopelessness, anger, frustration, apathy, guilt, resentment, shame, or fear ? it?s because your code contains bugs. It means you?ve made some inaccurate assumptions. Your ?code? consists of your beliefs about reality.
If you want to run more accurate code (and thereby experience less suffering and pain in your life), then you must develop an accurate understanding of the hardware, the operating system, and the environment in which your code will run. You need to prevent the introduction of coding errors, and whenever you notice errors (which appear as some form of suffering), you must debug them. This means you need to identify the belief that?s causing the suffering and then either delete or rewrite it.
Your mental software doesn?t have to provide every possible feature in order to run properly. It just needs to be free of bugs. Code that isn?t written is inherently bug-free. You cannot crash code that doesn?t exist. Similarly, you cannot experience suffering if your beliefs about reality are bug-free, meaning that they contain no inaccuracies. When your code is accurate (even if there isn?t very much of it), you will experience states of peace, wonder, and amazement as your normal daily existence. Your code will not only run smoothly, but it will also be elegant. One of the deepest pleasures in computer program is the creation of elegant code. Elegant code is both accurate and efficient in a way that transcends mere logic and begins to cross into the domain of art. It is as close to perfection as computer programs can get.
Similarly, when your beliefs about reality become elegant, you will find that the program of your life takes on an almost unfathomable smoothness. This is the manner in which jnana yoga makes it possible to transcend suffering and experience peace.
Copyright ? Steve Pavlina
Steve Pavlina
Personal Development for Smart People
http://www.stevepavlina.com
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog (blog)
http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles (articles)
Steve is intensely growth-oriented. He trained in martial arts, ran the L.A. Marathon, and graduated from college in three semesters with two degrees. He can juggle, count cards at blackjack, and make damn good guacamole. Steve is also a polyphasic sleeper, sleeping just 2-3 hours per day and only 20 minutes at a time. So chances are good that he’s awake right now.
What is Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga?- Part(I)
The Sanskrit word ‘Yoga’ has two meaning, because it is derived from two roots - one is ‘yujir yoge’ and other is ‘yuj samadhou’. The root ‘yujir yoge’ means to join or to unite. Religious leaders accept this meaning because their philosophy is based on dualism. They always try to project an external God and become Gog’s representitives. By this they rule over their followers.
However the other root ‘yuj samadhou’ means to concentrate. Patanjali tried to preach that Yoga where mind is concentrated in order to realise the true self(svarup). Mind is concentrated when thoughts arising in mind is controlled through yogic practice. Total concentration(samadhi) is that state where mind is free from all worldly thoughts and a seer rests in his true self.
Patanjali’s Yoga is called ‘Ashtanga Yoga’ for it is divided into eight parts or limbs. These are - Yama(abstention), Niyama(discipline), Asana(posture), Pranayama(breath control), Pratyahar(withdrawal), Dharana(to hold), Dhyana(meditation) and Samadhi(concentration)(II.29). Yama and Niyama are the external limbs which are to be observed in social life, while others are the internal limbs which are to be practiced in order to concentrate mind.
YAMA(abstention)
There are five kinds of Yama; these are - Ahimsa(nonviolence), Satya(truth), Asteya(not to steal), Brahmancharya(to think about Brahman) and Aparigraha(not to accept)(II.30).
Ahimsa - A Yogi should give up violence and cruelty against men and animals. When one gives up violence completely in thought as well as in action and remains firm in nonviolence, animosity disappears(II.35). Then one realises the unity of all.
Satya - While leading social life, one should be truthful. He who follows truthfulness none of his actions goes in vain(II.36).
Asteya - We should not steal or plunder other’s wealth. Then we learn how to lead a modest life within our income or we learn how to increase our income. For this by remaining firm on Asteya, a Yogi receives all kinds of wealth(II.37).
Brahmancharya - A Yogi who has given up violence, is truthful always and depends upon his own wealth feels greatness. He thinks about his true self or soul(atman) and its great potential. The Upanishads describe this Atman as Brahman, the ultimate reality and truth. The task of a Yogi is to bear this highest knowledge in mind and proceed further in the practice of Yoga. By bearing knowledge of Brahman firmly one achieves vigour(II.38). This vigour makes his body and mind powerful. Brahmanchrya is not abstention from sex as believed by most people. The great saints of ancient India were married and at the same time practiced Yoga and realised the ultimate truth.
Aparigraha - Aparigraha is not to accept donations, alms or bribe. When one observes Aparigraha one comes to know how to lead life in this birth(II.39). When one does not depend upon others for a livelihood, one learns how to work and earn. Those who depend upon the earnings of others fail to realise their own potential or the potential of true self.
NIYAMA(discipline)
Niyama includes - Shaucha(ablution), Shantosh(contentment), Tapa(to heat), Svadhyay(self-study) and Ishvara Pranidhan(to bear God)(II.32).
Shaucha - It is to keep the body clean. By practicing Shaucha, body is protected and is made free from foreign matter(II.40). We should take bath regularly so that foreign matter sticking to the body are washed away. Also we should keep our environment clean so that practice of Yoga becomes fruitful.
Santosh - It is to remain content and happy. A content man achieves best happiness(II.42).
Tapa - The meaning of Tapa is to heat or to rule. By practicing Tapa, impurities in the body are destroyed and the body and senses are brought under control(II.43). Yogic exercises help remove impurities deposited in various parts of the body. While Shaucha is external purification, Tapa is internal purification. Heat generated during yogic exercise causes sweating and impurities are removed through sweating. By this body becomes fresh, active, powerful, beautiful and diseasefree. One rules over such a body and its senses and proceeds further in realising true self.
Different Yoga Masters teach different yogic exercises(yogasana). My late Master Munishvar Shiv kumar Shastri has developed an unique exercise called Chakrabhedan(circle interception) which is very useful for keeping body and mind under control. This may be practised by people of all ages.
Svadhyay - It is the reading of the self. One is nothing but a mind. So one should read his mind carefully. Through self-study one may understand one’s own self. So how one may meet one’s beloved God through self-study. This is because God is not different from one’s true self.
Ishvara Pranidhan - In order to meet one’s beloved God one should make oneself worthy of it. One should bear God or Godliness qualities in oneself. This is Ishvara Pranidhan. Through Ishvara Pranidhan one achieves Samadhi(II.45). Samadhi is the state of total concentration of mind on true self. Through Ishvara Pranidhan one achieves Samadhi, means one attains total concentration of mind on true self and meets one’s beloved God.
Other limbs of Yoga shall be described in the next article.
Author is a desciple of Late Munishvar Shiv kumar Shastri who established Muni Samaj. The desire of Author is to spread true spiritualism and yoga worldwide. He has published a book ‘Quest for truth: the spiritual and yogic way’ recently.
Premansu_chand@rediffmail.com
http://www.bookstobelievein.com/questfortruth.php
However the other root ‘yuj samadhou’ means to concentrate. Patanjali tried to preach that Yoga where mind is concentrated in order to realise the true self(svarup). Mind is concentrated when thoughts arising in mind is controlled through yogic practice. Total concentration(samadhi) is that state where mind is free from all worldly thoughts and a seer rests in his true self.
Patanjali’s Yoga is called ‘Ashtanga Yoga’ for it is divided into eight parts or limbs. These are - Yama(abstention), Niyama(discipline), Asana(posture), Pranayama(breath control), Pratyahar(withdrawal), Dharana(to hold), Dhyana(meditation) and Samadhi(concentration)(II.29). Yama and Niyama are the external limbs which are to be observed in social life, while others are the internal limbs which are to be practiced in order to concentrate mind.
YAMA(abstention)
There are five kinds of Yama; these are - Ahimsa(nonviolence), Satya(truth), Asteya(not to steal), Brahmancharya(to think about Brahman) and Aparigraha(not to accept)(II.30).
Ahimsa - A Yogi should give up violence and cruelty against men and animals. When one gives up violence completely in thought as well as in action and remains firm in nonviolence, animosity disappears(II.35). Then one realises the unity of all.
Satya - While leading social life, one should be truthful. He who follows truthfulness none of his actions goes in vain(II.36).
Asteya - We should not steal or plunder other’s wealth. Then we learn how to lead a modest life within our income or we learn how to increase our income. For this by remaining firm on Asteya, a Yogi receives all kinds of wealth(II.37).
Brahmancharya - A Yogi who has given up violence, is truthful always and depends upon his own wealth feels greatness. He thinks about his true self or soul(atman) and its great potential. The Upanishads describe this Atman as Brahman, the ultimate reality and truth. The task of a Yogi is to bear this highest knowledge in mind and proceed further in the practice of Yoga. By bearing knowledge of Brahman firmly one achieves vigour(II.38). This vigour makes his body and mind powerful. Brahmanchrya is not abstention from sex as believed by most people. The great saints of ancient India were married and at the same time practiced Yoga and realised the ultimate truth.
Aparigraha - Aparigraha is not to accept donations, alms or bribe. When one observes Aparigraha one comes to know how to lead life in this birth(II.39). When one does not depend upon others for a livelihood, one learns how to work and earn. Those who depend upon the earnings of others fail to realise their own potential or the potential of true self.
NIYAMA(discipline)
Niyama includes - Shaucha(ablution), Shantosh(contentment), Tapa(to heat), Svadhyay(self-study) and Ishvara Pranidhan(to bear God)(II.32).
Shaucha - It is to keep the body clean. By practicing Shaucha, body is protected and is made free from foreign matter(II.40). We should take bath regularly so that foreign matter sticking to the body are washed away. Also we should keep our environment clean so that practice of Yoga becomes fruitful.
Santosh - It is to remain content and happy. A content man achieves best happiness(II.42).
Tapa - The meaning of Tapa is to heat or to rule. By practicing Tapa, impurities in the body are destroyed and the body and senses are brought under control(II.43). Yogic exercises help remove impurities deposited in various parts of the body. While Shaucha is external purification, Tapa is internal purification. Heat generated during yogic exercise causes sweating and impurities are removed through sweating. By this body becomes fresh, active, powerful, beautiful and diseasefree. One rules over such a body and its senses and proceeds further in realising true self.
Different Yoga Masters teach different yogic exercises(yogasana). My late Master Munishvar Shiv kumar Shastri has developed an unique exercise called Chakrabhedan(circle interception) which is very useful for keeping body and mind under control. This may be practised by people of all ages.
Svadhyay - It is the reading of the self. One is nothing but a mind. So one should read his mind carefully. Through self-study one may understand one’s own self. So how one may meet one’s beloved God through self-study. This is because God is not different from one’s true self.
Ishvara Pranidhan - In order to meet one’s beloved God one should make oneself worthy of it. One should bear God or Godliness qualities in oneself. This is Ishvara Pranidhan. Through Ishvara Pranidhan one achieves Samadhi(II.45). Samadhi is the state of total concentration of mind on true self. Through Ishvara Pranidhan one achieves Samadhi, means one attains total concentration of mind on true self and meets one’s beloved God.
Other limbs of Yoga shall be described in the next article.
Author is a desciple of Late Munishvar Shiv kumar Shastri who established Muni Samaj. The desire of Author is to spread true spiritualism and yoga worldwide. He has published a book ‘Quest for truth: the spiritual and yogic way’ recently.
Premansu_chand@rediffmail.com
http://www.bookstobelievein.com/questfortruth.php
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
