In this article I will help you understand what Yoga is and how it can help you. Achieve a balanced happy and useful life. Yoga is more than exercise. Yoga is spiritual and gives you much more than just a healthy body. It helps your mind and your spirituality as well.
The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word “Yuj” meaning to yoke, join or unite. Yoga is meant to combine your physical, mental, and spiritual being to attain more out of life.
Yoga originated in India where they consider it part of classical philosophy that combines your soul with the universe. But according to iyengar-yoga.com, ?The origins of yoga are believed to be much older than that, stemming from the oral traditions of Yogis, where knowledge of Yoga was handed down from Guru (spiritual teacher) to Sisya (spiritual student) all the way back to the originators of Yoga, “the Rishis,” who first began investigation into the nature of reality and man’s inner world.?
Legend has it that knowledge of Yoga was first passed by Lord Shiva to his wife Parvati and from there into the lives of men.
There are many parts of the Yoga family or many different forms. Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga are all well known forms of Yoga, but there are many more.
According to Wikipedia, ?Karma yoga, or the “discipline of action” is one of the four pillars of yoga, Karma yoga focuses on the adherence to duty (dharma) while remaining detached from the reward. It states that one can attain Moksha (salvation) by doing his duties in an unselfish manner.?
Raja Yoga is different and involves psychophysical meditation techniques to attain experiences of the truth and finally achieve liberation.
Bhakti yoga is the Hindu term for the spiritual practice of fostering of loving devotion to God, called bhakti. Bhakti yoga is generally considered the easiest of the four general paths to liberation, or moksha.
Jnana in Sanskrit means “knowledge”, and is often interpreted to mean “knowledge of the true self”. To say, “I am Brahman, the pure, all-pervading Consciousness, the non-enjoyer, non-doer and silent witness,” is jnana. To behold the one Self everywhere is jnana.
Okay, so those are the definitions of some of the forms of Yoga, but how does it help me? How do I decide which form of Yoga is the one for me?
A lot depends on what you are trying to achieve. There are more forms of Yoga than just those I mentioned and it is a good idea for you to search for the definitions of all forms of Yoga before deciding which one is right for you.
I am using these four types of Yoga as examples to give you an idea of the things you need to consider when choosing a form of Yoga to study and participate in.
Using the examples above and just the short definitions given to us there, you can see they are distinct and each has a different purpose or goal.
Karma is meant to help you attain salvation through your actions. To humbly serve in this life so you can be served in the next. Everyone has heard of good and bad Karma. The saying comes from this style of Yoga. If you do good things, good things will happen to you if not in this life, in the next.
Raja Yoga is the control of your own mind. Not allowing it to be modified by events that have happened to you in your past. The belief here is that every event that happens in your life modifies your mind and how you perceive things. By practicing Raja Yoga, you can keep your mind from being modified by these events and get to know your true self.
Bhakti Yoga is selfless devotion to GOD. The belief that GOD is the supreme being that created the universe. The 9 principles of Bhakti Yoga are;
1) Hearing about the Lord - singing & chanting God’s names (japa), hearing stories from scripture.
2) Glorifying the Lord - describing God’s all-attractive features.
3) Remembering the Lord - internal meditation on the Lord’s form, activities, names or personality.
4) Serving the lotus feet of the Lord - providing a form of physical service.
5) Worshiping the Lord - deity worship (arcana) is a popular form of this within India.
6) Offering prayers to the Lord - any form of prayer offered to please God.
7) Serving the Lord - offering a service for Lord’s pleasure, such as preaching activity.
8) Building a friendship with the Lord - having an internal, loving relationship with God.
9) Surrendering everything unto the Lord - surrendering one’s thoughts, actions and deeds to God.
Jnana Yoga incorporates the fundamental belief that there is no dualism, that the universe is all one entity. A good way you may have heard this explained is to become ?one with the universe?.
Using these explanations, you can see what the general goals are for each Yoga form. These definitions are far from complete and there is much more to be learned about each of the forms I mentioned here. As I said before there are also other forms of Yoga you should research. There is even sub-forms of Yoga within each of these I mentioned and others.
I suggest you choose the path to enlightenment that suits you if you are considering starting Yoga. Find one that has goals that are appealing to you and stick to that discipline so you can achieve your goals.
Robin Darch, of PRT Specialised Services Limited has a website, Yoga Tips to help you find all the information you need about Yoga and the benefits of Yoga.
Yoga Tips
Showing posts with label Sanskrit Word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sanskrit Word. Show all posts
March 1, 2009
February 23, 2009
What Is Yoga? Asana In the Context of the Six Yogas System
What Is Yoga?
Yoga is freedom. It is love. It is pure, radiant, unobstructed joy. It
is pure awareness, wide-awake and clear.
~ Richard Freeman, director of The Yoga Workshop, in Boulder, CO
Here in the United States, on the cusp of 2006, just about everyone has heard the word ?yoga.? For many if not most, the word conjures images of scantily-clad beings with expanding and twisting limbs: a well-worn ?scene? in health clubs, retreat centers, and yoga spaces throughout the country. In other words, it brings to mind the practice of asana ~ sequences of physical movements and postures ~ which, as it turns out, represent just a tiny slice of the entire ?pie? that is the Yoga Tradition(s) of the larger world (universe, cosmos). Now there?s nothing wrong with the practice of asana (I do it myself, and find it quite wonderful!), but it might be useful to be able to place this particular aspect of yoga onto its larger ?map? ~ to have a sense of the tradition(s) from which it arises and to which it returns, and to understand asana to be just one of many possible entry-points into this vast and beautiful territory. So let?s explore ?
The word Yoga originates from the Sanskrit word Yuj (literally, “to yoke”) and is generally translated as “union” or “integration” — to yoke, attach, join, or unite. The ?union? referred to here is that of the individual soul with the cosmos, the Supreme; of the small ?self? of ego/individual identity with the larger ?Self? or ?Spirit? of which we?ll all a part. But what does this mean? And how to we get there?! It is in the quest to answer these questions that the various Yoga traditions have arisen.
Perhaps the broadest categorization within the world of Yoga is along the lines of the great spiritual traditions of the world, and in particular, their mystical wings/branches: Those within these traditions who identify as ?mystics? are seeking yoga, or direct (unmediated) union, with the Divine. Examples of Yoga at this level include: Buddhist Yoga (e.g. the ?six Yogas of Naropa?); Taoist Yoga (commonly known as Qigong ~ the basis for all of the martial & healing arts with origins in China); and the Yogas associated with the so-called ?Hindu? traditions of India.
The practice of asana, as it?s best known in this country, falls into the last of these categories: the Hindu Yoga traditions. But this tradition itself has numerous aspects. One way of looking at it is through the lens of ?The Six Yoga Systems,? which can be understood as six different doorways, entry-points, portals, or vehicles through which a practitioner might approach, engage with, and enter the territory of Yoga.
The Six Yoga Systems
1.Hatha Yoga is the category under which asana falls. One way of translating the word ?Hatha? is to break it into two parts: ?ha?=sun and ?tha?=moon. Sun and moon, in this context, refer to the two opposite currents that regulate all processes in our body: the ?masculine? and the ?feminine,? or ~ in terms of subtle anatomy, the pingala and the , the two nadis, or channels of energy, whose union within the central channel of the shushumna nadi is ~ for those practicing in this tradition, the very definition of Yoga. Aside from being, in the way described above, a vehicle for mystical union, the asanas ~ on a more mundane level ~ are great for improving health & strengthening the nervous system ? and this is understood to be the first and a necessary step along this path. Forms of Hatha Yoga being practiced in the United States today include: Ashtanga Vinyasa, Iyengar, Kripalu, Bikrams, and Anusara (to name just a few!).
2.Raja (royal) Yoga is often referred to as the ?crown of Hatha Yoga.? What makes it the ?crown? is its addition ~ to the physical practices of Hatha Yoga ~ of a kind of mental training intended to improve concentration to the point at which it flows into meditation and, finally, samadhi (which is, for this tradition, the ultimate definition of Yoga). Raja Yoga is known also as Ashtanga (eight-limbed) Yoga. These eight limbs include:
1. Yamas, or Restraints (harmlessness, truthfulness, non-stealing, control of senses)
2. Niyamas, or Disciplines (cleanliness, purification of body, mind and nervous system, study of metaphysical principles, contemplation on God)
3. Asanas or Postures
4. Pranayama, or Un-binding of breath and life-currents
5. Pratyahara, or Turning the attention within, by reversing the flow of the energy of the sense organs
6. Dharana, or Concentration
7. Dhyana, or Meditation, i.e. prolonged periods of perfect concentration and contemplation
8. Samadhi, or Mystical Union
The exposition of Raja Yoga is contained, most famously, in the sage Patanjali?s Yoga Sutras.
3. Bhakti Yoga is the Yoga of Devotion, of love for the Divine in its embodied forms. Radha and the other Gopis are ~ in their relationship to Krishna ~ the archetypal, quintessential Bhaktas, for it is through their love and devotion and delight in the presence of Krishna that they come to know themselves as Divine. Selfless love, compassion, humility, and purity, along with this desire and serious intention to merge with God, are qualities which are cultivated along this path. (Amachi, Shree Ma, and Karunamayi are three contemporary Teachers of this path.)
4.Jnana Yoga (the Yoga of Knowledge) is a Yoga that uses the intellect as a tool to understand that our true Self is behind and beyond our mind. It is, in other words, a path which uses the power of the intellect to ~ ultimately ~ free us from conceptual elaboration of all sorts, and allow us to relax within the space beyond all concepts of mind. For the purpose of this sort of Self-discovery, Jnana Yoga probes the nature of the Self through the question “Who am I?” Thus Jnana Yoga is sometimes called the Quest for the Self or the Inquiry into “who we are.” (Shankara ~ a yogi ?claimed? by the Buddhist as well as the Hindu traditions ~ and, more recently, Ramana Maharshi are two well-known practitioners of Jnana Yoga.)
5.Kriya Yoga is a yogic system covering a wide range of techniques, including mantras and techniques of meditation for control of the life-force (prana). The term ?Kriya? is often used in reference to (intended or spontaneous) actions which free the body and/or mind of obstructions. The goal ~ as in all forms of Yoga ~ is to unite with pure Awareness (God). Since pure Awareness is our original condition, it is also, within this system, referred to as Self-awareness. (Yogananda?s Self-Realization Fellowship is one example of a modern organization devoted to this form of practice.)
6.Karma Yoga is the Yoga of work/action, of selfless service. Practitioners of Karma Yoga engage whole-heartedly in the ?mundane? work of the world, for the benefit of all fellow human (and non-human) beings, and devote the fruits of their labors to the Divine. In this action of letting go of hope/fear around future outcomes, attention is brought more and more completely into the present moment, which is the Heart of the Divine. And so in giving away all fruits of labor, the practitioner ~ paradoxically ~ receives, continuously, the greatest of gifts, the greatest wealth: the treasure-house called Yoga, the radiant ?aliveness? of the Present Moment.
Yet another way of dividing the Yogic pie (so delicious!) is into the two categories of (1) Yoga as path, which including all the various sadhanas (techniques & practices), schools & historical traditions; and (2) Yoga as fruition, which includes the various siddhis, accomplishments or fruits, of practice, as well as the ultimate ?fruit? of Mystical Union itself ~ the final goal ~ which, once received, transcends even the path/fruition polarity. At that point ~ the realized Masters tell us ~ one finds oneself in a place both new and quite familiar ? a place eluded to, perhaps, by the Sufi mystic/poet, Jelaluddin Rumi, in this poem of his:
Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing,
there is a field. I?ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn?t make any sense.
Hope this overview (my Karma Yoga for the day!) is useful and/or interesting to you ? And if you?d like to learn more about these and other Yoga Traditions, one great resource is Georg Feuerstein?s book The Yoga Tradition.
Namaste! (the spark of Divinity in me bows to the spark of Divinity in you!)
Elizabeth Reninger holds a Masters degree in Chinese Medicine, is a published poet, and has been exploring Yoga ~ in its Taoist, Hindu & Buddhist varieties ~ for more than twenty years. Her teachers include Richard Freeman and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. To read more of her yoga-related essays, please visit her website: http://www.writingup.com/blog/elizabeth_reninger
Yoga is freedom. It is love. It is pure, radiant, unobstructed joy. It
is pure awareness, wide-awake and clear.
~ Richard Freeman, director of The Yoga Workshop, in Boulder, CO
Here in the United States, on the cusp of 2006, just about everyone has heard the word ?yoga.? For many if not most, the word conjures images of scantily-clad beings with expanding and twisting limbs: a well-worn ?scene? in health clubs, retreat centers, and yoga spaces throughout the country. In other words, it brings to mind the practice of asana ~ sequences of physical movements and postures ~ which, as it turns out, represent just a tiny slice of the entire ?pie? that is the Yoga Tradition(s) of the larger world (universe, cosmos). Now there?s nothing wrong with the practice of asana (I do it myself, and find it quite wonderful!), but it might be useful to be able to place this particular aspect of yoga onto its larger ?map? ~ to have a sense of the tradition(s) from which it arises and to which it returns, and to understand asana to be just one of many possible entry-points into this vast and beautiful territory. So let?s explore ?
The word Yoga originates from the Sanskrit word Yuj (literally, “to yoke”) and is generally translated as “union” or “integration” — to yoke, attach, join, or unite. The ?union? referred to here is that of the individual soul with the cosmos, the Supreme; of the small ?self? of ego/individual identity with the larger ?Self? or ?Spirit? of which we?ll all a part. But what does this mean? And how to we get there?! It is in the quest to answer these questions that the various Yoga traditions have arisen.
Perhaps the broadest categorization within the world of Yoga is along the lines of the great spiritual traditions of the world, and in particular, their mystical wings/branches: Those within these traditions who identify as ?mystics? are seeking yoga, or direct (unmediated) union, with the Divine. Examples of Yoga at this level include: Buddhist Yoga (e.g. the ?six Yogas of Naropa?); Taoist Yoga (commonly known as Qigong ~ the basis for all of the martial & healing arts with origins in China); and the Yogas associated with the so-called ?Hindu? traditions of India.
The practice of asana, as it?s best known in this country, falls into the last of these categories: the Hindu Yoga traditions. But this tradition itself has numerous aspects. One way of looking at it is through the lens of ?The Six Yoga Systems,? which can be understood as six different doorways, entry-points, portals, or vehicles through which a practitioner might approach, engage with, and enter the territory of Yoga.
The Six Yoga Systems
1.Hatha Yoga is the category under which asana falls. One way of translating the word ?Hatha? is to break it into two parts: ?ha?=sun and ?tha?=moon. Sun and moon, in this context, refer to the two opposite currents that regulate all processes in our body: the ?masculine? and the ?feminine,? or ~ in terms of subtle anatomy, the pingala and the , the two nadis, or channels of energy, whose union within the central channel of the shushumna nadi is ~ for those practicing in this tradition, the very definition of Yoga. Aside from being, in the way described above, a vehicle for mystical union, the asanas ~ on a more mundane level ~ are great for improving health & strengthening the nervous system ? and this is understood to be the first and a necessary step along this path. Forms of Hatha Yoga being practiced in the United States today include: Ashtanga Vinyasa, Iyengar, Kripalu, Bikrams, and Anusara (to name just a few!).
2.Raja (royal) Yoga is often referred to as the ?crown of Hatha Yoga.? What makes it the ?crown? is its addition ~ to the physical practices of Hatha Yoga ~ of a kind of mental training intended to improve concentration to the point at which it flows into meditation and, finally, samadhi (which is, for this tradition, the ultimate definition of Yoga). Raja Yoga is known also as Ashtanga (eight-limbed) Yoga. These eight limbs include:
1. Yamas, or Restraints (harmlessness, truthfulness, non-stealing, control of senses)
2. Niyamas, or Disciplines (cleanliness, purification of body, mind and nervous system, study of metaphysical principles, contemplation on God)
3. Asanas or Postures
4. Pranayama, or Un-binding of breath and life-currents
5. Pratyahara, or Turning the attention within, by reversing the flow of the energy of the sense organs
6. Dharana, or Concentration
7. Dhyana, or Meditation, i.e. prolonged periods of perfect concentration and contemplation
8. Samadhi, or Mystical Union
The exposition of Raja Yoga is contained, most famously, in the sage Patanjali?s Yoga Sutras.
3. Bhakti Yoga is the Yoga of Devotion, of love for the Divine in its embodied forms. Radha and the other Gopis are ~ in their relationship to Krishna ~ the archetypal, quintessential Bhaktas, for it is through their love and devotion and delight in the presence of Krishna that they come to know themselves as Divine. Selfless love, compassion, humility, and purity, along with this desire and serious intention to merge with God, are qualities which are cultivated along this path. (Amachi, Shree Ma, and Karunamayi are three contemporary Teachers of this path.)
4.Jnana Yoga (the Yoga of Knowledge) is a Yoga that uses the intellect as a tool to understand that our true Self is behind and beyond our mind. It is, in other words, a path which uses the power of the intellect to ~ ultimately ~ free us from conceptual elaboration of all sorts, and allow us to relax within the space beyond all concepts of mind. For the purpose of this sort of Self-discovery, Jnana Yoga probes the nature of the Self through the question “Who am I?” Thus Jnana Yoga is sometimes called the Quest for the Self or the Inquiry into “who we are.” (Shankara ~ a yogi ?claimed? by the Buddhist as well as the Hindu traditions ~ and, more recently, Ramana Maharshi are two well-known practitioners of Jnana Yoga.)
5.Kriya Yoga is a yogic system covering a wide range of techniques, including mantras and techniques of meditation for control of the life-force (prana). The term ?Kriya? is often used in reference to (intended or spontaneous) actions which free the body and/or mind of obstructions. The goal ~ as in all forms of Yoga ~ is to unite with pure Awareness (God). Since pure Awareness is our original condition, it is also, within this system, referred to as Self-awareness. (Yogananda?s Self-Realization Fellowship is one example of a modern organization devoted to this form of practice.)
6.Karma Yoga is the Yoga of work/action, of selfless service. Practitioners of Karma Yoga engage whole-heartedly in the ?mundane? work of the world, for the benefit of all fellow human (and non-human) beings, and devote the fruits of their labors to the Divine. In this action of letting go of hope/fear around future outcomes, attention is brought more and more completely into the present moment, which is the Heart of the Divine. And so in giving away all fruits of labor, the practitioner ~ paradoxically ~ receives, continuously, the greatest of gifts, the greatest wealth: the treasure-house called Yoga, the radiant ?aliveness? of the Present Moment.
Yet another way of dividing the Yogic pie (so delicious!) is into the two categories of (1) Yoga as path, which including all the various sadhanas (techniques & practices), schools & historical traditions; and (2) Yoga as fruition, which includes the various siddhis, accomplishments or fruits, of practice, as well as the ultimate ?fruit? of Mystical Union itself ~ the final goal ~ which, once received, transcends even the path/fruition polarity. At that point ~ the realized Masters tell us ~ one finds oneself in a place both new and quite familiar ? a place eluded to, perhaps, by the Sufi mystic/poet, Jelaluddin Rumi, in this poem of his:
Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing,
there is a field. I?ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn?t make any sense.
Hope this overview (my Karma Yoga for the day!) is useful and/or interesting to you ? And if you?d like to learn more about these and other Yoga Traditions, one great resource is Georg Feuerstein?s book The Yoga Tradition.
Namaste! (the spark of Divinity in me bows to the spark of Divinity in you!)
Elizabeth Reninger holds a Masters degree in Chinese Medicine, is a published poet, and has been exploring Yoga ~ in its Taoist, Hindu & Buddhist varieties ~ for more than twenty years. Her teachers include Richard Freeman and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. To read more of her yoga-related essays, please visit her website: http://www.writingup.com/blog/elizabeth_reninger
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