#patanjali

[entheognosis]

[11-th-mein-science-mt-lena]

Srk ke saath dhooka 🥹🥹🤧

[whatonyogaearth]

A Short Introduction to the Yoga Sutras

The Yoga Sutras are generally considered a foundational text of the yoga tradition. In this article we examine the context and background of the text, briefly explore its structure and content, and I also offer some reflections on the text’s relevance in modern times.

Note: I have decided not to use diacritics in this article. Diacritics are those little lines and dots above and below letters that tell you how to pronounce Sanskrit words. Normally I use diacritics in my writing, as they are essential for pronouncing Sanskrit correctly. However as this article is meant for non-scholars I have decided it would be better to try and write the Sanskrit words in a way that will make them easy to read and pronounce, so as not to put anybody off!

History & Context

Most scholars these days date the Yoga Sutras to somewhere between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE, with Philipp Maas placing it in the early 5th century.

The text is attributed to a sage named Patanjali. Biographically, we know next to nothing about Patanjali. The name is a compound word formed from the Sanskrit words pata (falling, flying) and anjali (the gesture of joining the hands together in reverence).

Yoga had already been around in some form or another for many centuries by this point. Therefore, Patanjali did not ‘invent’ Yoga. Nevertheless, this is the earliest comprehensive and systematic text on the subject that has survived.

Yoga was just one darshana or school out of many in ancient India. In terms of philosophy, it shares many similarities with the Samkhya school. But whereas Samkhya tends to emphasise the use of reason and knowledge to gain liberation, Yoga emphasises practical and experiential methods.

Philosophically, both the Samkhya and Yoga schools teach a form of dualism. This is a dualism between purusha (our true Self) and prakriti (everything else, including the body and mind) and the whole point of Samkhya and Yoga in a nutshell is to guide us towards the realisation of purusha, that is, our true Self. This is true liberation or moksha in Yoga.

Most of the ancient darshanas had their own sutra text. Sutra texts are known for their brevity. Basically, sutra texts are where the most essential teachings of a school are distilled into as few words as possible. Knowledge systems were handed down orally in ancient India and thus source material was kept minimal with a view to facilitating memorisation.

Other authors would then come along and write longer commentaries on these sutra texts. The Yoga Sutras have a rich commentarial tradition spanning many centuries. The first and most well known is the bhasya commentary by a certain Vyasa. Vyasa actually means something like ‘compiler’ or ‘editor’ so that probably wasn’t his actual name!

Some scholars even argue that Patanjali and Vyasa are actually one and the same person, though others would strongly disagree with this thesis. Either way, this commentary is indispensable when it comes to making sense of the sutras, and published versions of the Yoga Sutras tend to include the bhasya commentary or at least reference it.

As a final note, many scholars now use the term pātañjalayogaśāstra to refer to this text as a whole (sutras plus commentary), because that is the name our oldest existing manuscripts use. But to keep things simple we will continue to use the name Yoga Sutras!

Structure of the Text

The Yoga Sutras are divided into the following four padas or chapters:

Samadhi Pada: This is where Patanjali defines Yoga and then describes the nature and the means to samadhi, the goal of Yoga.

Sadhana Pada: Sadhana is the Sanskrit word for practice or discipline. Here the author outlines two forms of Yoga, the kriya yoga (yoga of action) and the ashtanga yoga (the yoga of eight auxiliaries or limbs). This is also where Patanjali discusses the kleshas, five ‘afflictions’ or impediments to Yoga.

Vibhuti Pada: Vibhuti is the Sanskrit word for power or manifestation. Supra-normal powers (siddhis) are said to be acquired by the practice of Yoga. However, the temptation of these powers should be avoided and the attention should ultimately be fixed only on liberation.

Kaivalya Pada: Kaivalya literally means isolation. This is the chapter on final liberation. The Kaivalya Pada describes the process of liberation, it explains how the mind is constructed and veils the inner light of the Self.

The Goal of Yoga

Not one for a lengthy preamble, Patanjali gets stuck right in there and clearly states the goal of Yoga in the well-known second sutra:

yogas chitta-vritti-nirodhah YS 1.2

Any Sanskrit sentence allows for a number of possible translations and this one is no different. A nice and accurate one is this one from Barbara Stoler Miller:

Yoga is the cessation of the turnings of thought

The reason I say this one is accurate is because a literal meaning of vritti is ‘turning’. Ever felt that thoughts are ‘going round and round’ in your head? Well this phrase nicely captures that! The vrittis in this statement refer to thoughts, emotions, ideas and basically any cognitive act of the mind. Patanjali lists five types of vrittis. These are, once translated:

Right knowledge

Error or false knowledge

Imagination

Sleep &

Memory

All such activities of the mind are products of prakriti and are completely distinct from the true Self, purusha, that pure awareness or consciousness which we are aiming to enter into through Yoga. The means prescribed by Patanjali in the first chapter of the Yoga Sutras to still the vritti states of mind are sustained practice (abhyasa) and dispassion (vairagya).

Specifically the practice offered is meditation, or keeping the mind fixed on any particular object of choice without distraction. Patanjali then describes a number of possible forms such meditation could take. By stilling all thought, meditation removes all objects of awareness. Awareness can therefore now be aware only of itself, of its own source, the true Self or purusha. This state is known as samadhi in Yoga and Patanjali makes it super clear that this state of samadhi is the goal of Yoga and thus the whole text is focused upon achievement of that goal.

Obstacles to Yoga

Patanjali mentions five kleshas, which can be translated as impediments or obstacles to achieving samadhi and thus Yoga. These five are as follows:

Ignorance

Ego

Desire

Aversion

Clinging

In the Yoga Sutras, and indeed in ancient Indian philosophy in general, the first item in any list is the most important and fundamental. It’s the same here. Ignorance here means failing to recognise our true Self or purusha and instead identifying ourselves with our body, mind and the material world. All of the other obstacles arise from this fundamental error.

Yoga Psychology

Like most other schools of Indian thought, the Yoga school believed in the related concepts of karma and rebirth. According to this doctrine, we are caught in an endless cycle of rebirths called samsara and the purpose of following a path such as Jainism, Buddhism or Yoga is to bring an end to this cycle. Where the Yoga Sutras really shine are in interpreting this doctrine in a highly sophisticated ‘psychological’ way, to use modern terminology.

According to this Yoga psychology, the mind forms an impression of an object through the sense organs, which is called a pratyaya. Once this pratyaya or active image of this object is no longer of active interest to the mind, it becomes an inactive or latent samskara. A samskara is an imprint left in the chitta, somewhat like a sound is imprinted on a tape recorder, or an image on photographic film. In this way the vrittis, the activities of the mind, are retained as samskaras when they fade.

It is important to note that these samskaras are not just passive imprints but vibrant latent impulses that can get activated under conducive circumstances and can exert influence on a person’s thoughts and behaviours, even many years after the impression was made. What’s more, according to Yoga these samskaras can persist from previous lives. The chitta is thus something of a storehouse of these recorded samskaras, deposited and accumulated there over countless lifetimes. One is here reminded of the theory of the subconscious in modern psychoanalysis.

According to Yoga, karma is generated by the vrittis, and the vrittis, in turn, are produced by the kleshas. There is thus a vicious cycle of kleshas, vrittis and samskaras. To run through the whole cycle again to try and make it as clear as possible: vrittis are recorded in the chitta as samskaras, and these samskaras eventually activate consciously or subliminally, producing further vrittis. These vrittis then provoke actions and reactions, which in turn are recorded as samskaras, and the cycle continues endlessly, leading to much suffering along the way.

The whole Yoga project aims to bring this vicious cycle to an end and it is liberation from this mind created suffering that we are after as yogis. The Yoga Sutras are effectively a manual guiding us towards this end, this state of samadhi or complete meditative consciousness.

The Yamas and Niyamas

The second pada or chapter of the Yoga Sutras contains a famous exposition of five ethical restraints (yamas) and five ethical observances (niyamas) and these are relatively well-known in the modern yoga world. The first thing to get clear is that these yamas and niyamas are NOT original or unique to Yoga. All ascetic schools in ancient India had these ethical codes, and the exact same ones appear in Jainism for example. Sometimes, you even get more of them. Some yoga texts for instance list 10 yamas and 10 niyamas.

The five yamas listed in the Yoga Sutras are:

Ahimsa (non-harming) Satya (truth telling) Asteya (non-stealing) Brahmacharya (chastity or celibacy) Aparigraha (non-acquisitiveness)

The five niyamas are:

Shauca (purity or cleanliness) Santosha (contentment) Tapas (self-discipline) Svadhyaya (study) Ishvarapranidhana (devotion to the Ishvara or Lord)

Many of these could do with further explanation and commentary but there is not space in this present article. The other thing I want to stress is that these yamas and niyamas were not seen as optional extras for yogis. Rather, these were the bedrock of fruitful yoga practice. Patanjali and others refer to them as the mahavratam or ‘great vow’. Importantly, having listed the yamas, Patanjali devotes an entire sutra to reiterating just how central and non-negotiable these yamas are. Once translated, this sutra reads as follows:

[These yamas] are considered the great vow. They are not exempted by one’s class, place, time or circumstance. They are universal. YS 2.31

So, regardless of your social status, regardless of where you live, in which time period you live, and any other extenuating circumstances (such as your career), adherence to the yamas, including especially ahimsa, the foundation of them all, is an essential part of being a yogi as defined by Patanjali’s system.

Vyasa is even more emphatic in his bhasya commentary to the Yoga Sutras, and it is here that the link between ahimsa and vegetarianism is explicitly and unequivocally made, and several examples are brought to bear. Refer to the work of scholar Jonathan Dickstein to read more about the strong case for vegetarianism made in Patanjali Yoga.

The Ashtanga Yoga

These yamas and niyamas are just the first two parts of Patanjali’s famous ashtanga or eight-part path. I would first like to clarify that this systematisation of yoga into a series of angas (a word translated by some modern scholars as ‘auxiliaries’ but more commonly rendered as ‘limbs’) was again not novel to Patanjali. Throughout the yoga tradition we find various similar schemes, predating and postdating Patanjali, including fourfold, fivefold, sevenfold and even fifteenfold schemes. I would also like to stress that, despite sharing the same name, this ashtanga yoga bears little relation to the modern postural form of yoga known as Ashtanga.

Following the yamas and niyamas then, we then have the following six angas:

Asana (posture): At last I hear you cry, postures! In Patanjali’s day meaning a steady and comfortable seated posture, asanas today comprise a set of physical exercises which stretch and strengthen the body. It is this aspect of yoga that has been most visibly exported to the West but too often stripped from its context as just one ingredient in a more ambitious and far-reaching sequence.

Pranayama (breath control): Prana refers to the universal life force whilst ayama means to regulate or control, but it can also mean to expand and lengthen. Prana is the vital energy needed by our physical and subtle layers, without which the body would perish. It is what keeps us alive. Pranayama is thus the control or expansion of prana through the breath, depending on which definition of ayama you use.

Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses): This limb further deepens the above process by removing consciousness from all engagement with the senses (sight, sound, taste, smell and touch) and sense objects.

This is followed by the final three limbs collectively known as samyama: Dharana (concentration, fixation), Dhyana (meditation), and finally Samadhi (the latter of which Patanjali further divides into seven rather esoteric stages). These last three limbs are essentially different degrees of concentrative intensity and culminate in the realisation by the Self of its own nature.

Just to reiterate one more time, it is this Self-realisation, the state known as samadhi, that is the true goal of Yoga.

Relevance of the Yoga Sutras for Today

In this brief introduction we have of course only scratched the surface of this incredible text, and there is much more that could be said. But for now I want to end with some concluding reflections on the continuing relevance of the Yoga Sutras in the modern world.

One question that arises is whether Patanjali was prescribing a strictly ascetic path. And indeed, the general scholarly consensus has usually been to associate Patanjali's Yoga exclusively with extreme asceticism, mortification, denial and renunciation. However, there are dissenting vocies. For example, Ian Whicher has repeatedly and passionately argued that Patanjali's Yoga can be seen as enabling a more responsible living in and engagement with the world, and that Patanjali was not advocating total renunciation. For Whicher, following the path of Patanjali can lead one towards that integrated and embodied state of liberated selfhood whilst living, a state known as jivanmukti.

Regardless of whether Patanjali was historically preaching ascetism or not, the fact remains that the Yoga Sutras are full of valuable ideals and tools for the practitioner living in the modern world. Let’s face it though, this is a challenging path. As a scholar and practitioner I often perceive a huge disconnect between the kind of yoga I am seeing on the likes of Instagram and the teachings of the Yoga school as presented in the Yoga Sutras. After, all, the former is highly focused on body image, whereas the Yoga of Patanjali is all about dissociating ourselves from our body and mind and recognising our true Self. However, this does not mean that the two are necessarily irreconcilable.

Though there is absolutely no historical evidence that Patanjali and his followers were practicing postural yoga (that didn’t come until later with the emergence of the Hatha tradition) nowhere in the Yoga Sutras does it say that physical exercise cannot be part of one’s yoga practice. We just have to remember that as far as Patanjalian Yoga is concerned, such postural activity is just a further means or method on the path towards samadhi or full meditative awareness. This is why any so-called yoga that does not contain more internalised meditational practices but which focuses solely on physical exercise should not really be called yoga.

The Yoga Sutras remains undoubtedly the most famous ancient yoga text, and it is studied to some extent in probably every yoga teacher training course. To be honest, I personally feel that too much emphasis is placed on the Yoga Sutras, at the expense of other branches and other texts of the tradition. The Tantric texts, in particular, are still sorely neglected. One of my own aims in my work is to try and decentre the Yoga Sutras and provide a much wider overview of the history and philosophy of yoga and the other related schools of ancient India. This is not to take anything away from the Yoga Sutras, however, as it is without doubt an extraordinary text that continues to be highly relevant in the 21st century.

Further Reading

I have already mentioned some scholars whose work you may wish to refer to, such as Philipp André Maas, Ian Whicher and Barbara Stoler Miller. For a translation and commentary on the Yoga Sutras that is both scholarly accurate and reasonably accessible I would recommend that of Edwin Bryant published by North Point Press.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

divination

* * * *

Patanjali, in his classic work on yoga, formulates in his first sentence the practical and theoretical essence of yoga—the “first arcanum” or the key of yoga—as follows: Yoga citta vritti nirodha (Yoga is the suppression of the oscillations of the mental substance, Yoga Sutras 1.2) —or, in other terms, the art of concentration. For the “oscillations” (vritti) of the “mental substance” (citta) take place automatically. This automatism in the movements of thought and imagination is the opposite of concentration. Now, concentration is only possible in a condition of calm and silence, at the expense of the automatism of thought and imagination.

[Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

by Valentin Tomberg]

[compassionmattersmost]

Verse 3: The Mirror of True Knowledge — Insights from Ramana Maharshi

“Having known the Self, which is awareness, there is nothing more to know. That which is, is consciousness itself. To seek it elsewhere is to wander far away.”— Ramana Maharshi, Forty Verses on Reality There comes a moment in each of our lives when the questions that have followed us, haunting our thoughts, cease to carry the same weight. It is as though we have been wandering through a vast…

[social-yogi-shyam-satish]

🙏#అమావాస్య_అత్యంత_పవిత్రమైన_తిథి

#అమావాస్య పూజలు ఎలా చేయాలి🙏

#అమావాస్య చాలా విశేషం, ఇంటికి దిష్టి తియ్యండి , పిల్లలకు దిష్టి తీయండి , ఈ అమావాస్య లక్ష్మీ పూజకు విశేషం, అమావాస్య పూజలు ఎలా చేయాలి.🙏

#ఉదాహరణకు ఇక్కడ కొన్ని చెప్పాను గమనించండి. #అమావాస్య నాయకి అయిన జగన్మాత ఆ రోజు కామేశ్వరి స్వరూపంగా కామేశ్వరుడితో ఏకాంతంగా ఉంటుంది, సంతోషంగా ఉంటుంది కనుక అమావాస్య పూజ త్వరగా అనుగ్రహిస్తుంది, మంత్రం సిద్దిస్తుంది. #లలిత, లక్ష్మి, కాళీ, భైరవ ఉపాసకులు సంధ్య కాలం విశేష పూజ చేయాలి, దీప లక్ష్మీ పూజ చేయాలి, అఖండ దీపాన్ని ప్రారంభించడానికి మంచి సమయం. 🙏

#అమావాస్య పూజ 🙏

#అమావాస్య రోజు ఎలా చేయాలి ... ఏమీ చేయాలో ఎలా చేస్తే మంచిదో చూద్దాం ... 🙏

#అమావాస్య రోజు ముజ్యంగా లక్ష్మీ దేవిని, భైరవుడిని, కాళీ మాతను, దుర్గా దేవిని, విశేషంగా పూజించే రోజు అలాగే పరిహార మంత్రాలు జపం చేస్తున్న వాళ్ళు ఉద్ది గారెలు బెల్లం పానకం నైవేద్యం పెట్టి అధికంగా అమావాస్య రోజు జపము చేసి విశేషంగా జపం చేస్తున్న దేవతను పూజించాలి.. అది ఏ ఉపాసనా దేవత అయినా అవే నైవేద్యంగా పెట్టి ఆ ప్రసాదాన్ని ఒక రెండు వడలు అయినా కుక్కకు పెట్టాలి మీరు తీసుకోవాలి🙏

1.అమావాస్య రోజు #లక్ష్మీ_దేవిని పూజించాలి అనుకునే వారు.. మీరు #కమలాత్మిక_హైమావతి సంపుటికరణ అష్టోత్తరం తో అర్చన చేసి కమలాత్మిక స్త్రోత్రం చేసి #కమలాత్మిక_ఖడ్గమాల చదివి.. మీ శక్తి కొద్దీ నైవేద్యం సమ��్పించి మీ గృహస్థులు కానీ వారికి ఎవరికైనా కాస్త ప్రసాదాన్ని పంచి తర్వాత ఆ అర్చన కుంకుమ ఇంటిల్లి పాది ధరించాలి ధనం ఇంట్లో నిలుస్తుంది , రావాల్సిన ధనం కి ఆటంకాలు పోతుంది, వృత్తిలో, వ్యాపారం లో అధిక లాభాలు వస్తుంది.. కొత్త అవకాశాలు కోసం ప్రయత్నాలు చేస్తున్న వారికి విజ్ఞాలు తొలగుతుంది.. భార్య స్త్రోత్రం చదువుతూ భర్త కుంకుమ పూజ చేస్తే ఆ కుటుంబంలో నిత్య అవసరాలకు లోటు ఉండదు.🙏

2.అమావాస్య రోజు #భైరవ_ఉపాసన చాలా విశేషం కుటుంబ కలహాలు, ఆస్తి గోడవలు, శత్రు బాధలు, అనుమానాలు, ఇంటి మీకు వృత్తి వ్యాపారాలకు ఉన్న నరధిష్ఠి మొత్తం అమావాస్య రోజు చేసే భైరవుడు ఆరాధన ద్వారా తొలగి పోతుంది.#ముఖ్యంగా సాయంత్రం చేయాలి సాంబ్రాణి పైన తెల్ల ఆవాలు వేసి బైరావుడిని స్మరిస్తూ ఇల్లంతా ధూపం వేయాలి , తర్వాత సాంబ్రాణి పైన బిర్యానీ ఆకులు వేసి మీ భర్త పిల్లలకు ఆ సాంబ్రాణి వేయాలి తరచుగా కిందపడటం దెబ్బలు దిష్టి దోషాలు పోతుంది.. బైరావుడిని తీపి పదార్ధంలో లడ్డు అంటే ఇష్టం అది పెట్టగలిగితే ఆ రోజు నైవేద్యంగా పెట్టి కుక్కకు ఆహారంగా వేయండి శత్రు బాధలు మిమల్ని భయపెడుతున్న బాధలు తొలగి పోతుంది..🙏

3. #కాళీ_మాతకు విశేషం మైన రోజు ఆ తల్లికి అరటిపండ్లు నైవేద్యం పెట్టి స్త్రోత్రం చేసి హారతి ఇవ్వాలి.. వయసు అయిన పెద్ద ముత్తైదువులకు ఆ అరటిపండు తాంబులం ఇవ్వాలి ఆమె స్వయంగా స్వీకరిస్తుంది .🙏

4. #దుర్గా_మాతకు విశేషంగా పూజించాల్సిన రోజు ఎప్పుడూ లోకాలను రక్షిస్తూ కాపాడుతూ ఉండే రూపం దుర్గా రూపం విశేషం ఏంటి తల్లి అంటే ఆ శివుడికి కూడా కష్టం వచ్చినప్పుడు దాల్చే రూపం అంత శక్తి రూపం దుర్గ రూపం నా ఆరాధ్య దైవం, ఆ రోజు పసుపు నీళ్లతో అభిషేకం చేయాలి వేప మండలు అలంకారం చేయాలి అంబలి (అన్నంలో రాగిపిండి కలిపి ఉడికించి చల్లార్చి మజ్జిగ కలపడం) నైవేద్యం పెట్టి దుర్గా స్తోత్రాలు, అష్టోత్తరం, మహిషాసుర మర్దిని స్త్రోత్రం ఇలా ఎన్ని స్తోత్రాలతో అయినా పూజ కుంకుమ అర్చన చేసి హారతి ఇచ్చి ఆ నైవేద్యం పంచుకుని తాగాలి.. అన్ని రకాల విజ్ఞాలు ,ఆపదలు తొలగిస్తుంది కుటుంబానికి రక్షణ కవచం లా కాపాడుతుంది.. ముఖ్యంగా మిరియాలు పొడి కలిపిన గారెలు చేసి నైవేద్యం పెట్టాలి అది పూజ తర్వాత కుక్కకు పెట్టి తర్వాత తీసుకుంటే మీకు ఉన్న జాతక దోష ప్రభావం తగ్గుతుంది.🙏

#అన్ని బాగానే ఉంది అన్ని చేయాలి అనిపిస్తుంది కదా అన్ని చేసిన గంట సమయం కన్నా పట్టదు. #మీదగ్గరే బుక్స్ ఉంటుంది చూసి చేయండి.. సాంబ్రాణి పైన తెల్ల ఆవాలు ధూపం అందరూ ఇంట్లో వేసుకోవచ్చ��� పూజ చేయకపోయినా... ఇవన్నీ సాయంత్రం చేసే పూజలు ఉపవాసం అవసరం లేదు🙏

#ఓం దుర్గాయై నమః

#durgapuja

#Yoga #Ayurveda #Yagya #Naturopathy

#PatanjaliYogPeeth #Gurukulam

#Patanjaliwellness #DivyaPharmacy

#PatanjaliResearchInstitute

#BharatSwabhimanTrust

#PatanjaliYogSamiti #MahilaPatanjaliYogSamiti

#YuvaBharat #KisanSevaSamiti

#YogPracharakVibhag #SocialMedia

#YCB #AYUSH #IDY #Swadeshi

#LegalCell #TeluguStates #APTGstates

#AndhraPradesh #TelanganaState #SouthIndia #BHARAT

[raffaellopalandri]

Book of the Day - Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Today’s Book of the Day is Yoga Sutras, written by Patanjali around the 2nd century BCE. Patanjali  – पतञ्जलि, also called Gonardiya or Gonikaputra, was a Hindu author, mystic, and philosopher, who was believed to be a Siddhar, an enlightened scholar of Yoga and spiritual knowledge. He lived between the 2nd and 4th centuries CE. I have chosen this book because people often ask me which kind of…

[yogasutra195]

YOGA is the discipline (art & science) of being fully present in the moment we are experiencing right NOW.

~ Vimal sharma

https://yogasutra195.com/sutra-1-1/

[mountain-sage]

Now the politicians, yoga teachers and so called yogis have reduced the great system of yoga to only 'asanas' and 'pranayam.

Yoga according to Patanjali is a compact and complete discipline having eight steps. It starts with 'yama' (self-restraint) and completes with 'samadhi' (trance, ecstasy) - (1) yama (self-restraint), (2) niyama (fixed observance) (3), asan (relaxed posture), (4) pranayam (breath regulation), (5) pratyahar (abstraction, turning back), (6) dharna (concentration), (7) dhyan (meditation, state of no thoughts) and (8) samadhi (trance, ecstasy) Asanas and pranayam are only third and fourth steps. These eight steps are to be practised from beginning to the end and not arbitrarily.

Osho

[venturama]

[myborderland]

Yoga è la cessazione delle fluttuazioni della mente.

Patanjali 

[eyeoftheheart]

“Through cultivation of friendliness (मैत्री maitrī), compassion (करुण karuṇa), joy (: मुदित mudita), and indifference (उपेक्षा upekṣā) to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice respectively, the consciousness becomes favourably disposed, serene and benevolent.”

[pavor-noctvrnvs]

What is Yoga?

By Lauren Tober | May 9, 2019 | Yoga + Meditation

When I tell people I teach iRest Meditation, they often ask me if I teach yoga as well.

The answer is YES! iRest Meditation IS yoga.

But I understand the confusion. While yoga is an ancient contemplative practice, it’s also a multi-million dollar industry that largely promotes advanced physical postures and a skinny body as the ultimate goal of yoga. But yoga is more than just downward dogs and sun salutations.

Commentaries of the meaning of the word yoga vary from union, to attaining what was previously unattainable, to directing all our focus on the activity in which we’re engaged, to being one with the divine.¹

Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras

The meaning of yoga is presented concisely in the Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras, a text that is considered by many to be the heart of yoga.¹

While little is known about Patañjali, it is widely accepted that he was an authority on yoga, and complied and systemised the vedic knowledge of the time into sūtras that could be handed down orally from teacher to student, in a concise way that would make it possible to remember. It is estimated that Patañjali wrote the sūtras around the second century C.E. and that Vyāsa wrote the original commentary on the sūtras, Yoga-Bhâshya, around the fifth century C.E.²

Yogaś Citta Vṛtti Nirodhaḥ

Patanjali’s answer to this question ‘what is yoga?’, is in chapter one, verse two of the Yoga Sūtras:

yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ (I.2)

Different commentators have interpreted this sutra in subtly different ways.

T.K.V. Desikachar wrote:

“Yoga is the ability to direct the mind exclusively toward an object and sustain that direction without any distractions.”⁴

B.K.S. Iyengar wrote:

“Yoga is the cessation of movements in the consciousness.”⁵

Edwin F. Bryant wrote:

“Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of mind.”⁶

Georg Feuerstein wrote:

“Yoga is the restriction of the whirls of consciousness.”⁷

Judith Hanson Laster wrote:

“Yoga is the state in which the agitations of consciousness are resolved.”⁸

Richard Miller wrote:

“Yoga is when we knowingly live as the realization of unconditioned Stillness, whether thought is in movement or stillness.”⁹

However you interpret this most influential sūtra about the meaning of yoga, it’s clear that the yoga is related to understanding the mind, and has nothing at all to do with having a slim and flexible body that looks sexy in expensive lycra leggings.

REFERENCES

Desikachar, T.K.V. (1995). The Heart of Yoga. Rochester, Vermont, US: Inner Traditions International.

Feuerstein, Georg. (2002). The Yoga Tradition. Delhi, India: Bhavana Books and Prints.

Feuerstein, Georg. (2002). The Yoga Tradition. Delhi, India: Bhavana Books and Prints (p.311)

Desikachar, T.K.V. (1995). The Heart of Yoga. Rochester, Vermont, US: Inner Traditions International (p.149).

Iyengar, B.K.S. (2002). Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. London, UK: Thorsons (p.50).

Bryant, Edward. (2009). The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. New York, US: North Point Press (p.10).

Feuerstein, Georg. (2002). The Yoga Tradition. Delhi, India: Bhavana Books and Prints (p. 286).

Lasater, Judith Hanson. (2014). The Ten Most Important Sutras.

Miller, Richard. (2013). Level 1 Training Integrative Restoration (version 4.6c). San Rafael, CA, US: Anahata Press (p. xxiii).

[adiyogaashram]

The Pancha Kleshas ( Five Poisons of Life): अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः क्लेशाः॥2.3॥ _Patanjali Yoga Sutra The Sanskrit word klesha translates to “poison” or “affliction.” This term is used to denote specific negative mental patterns that obscure our true nature. The kleshas are considered the cause of suffering in yogic and Buddhist philosophy and are to be actively overcome. The five Kleshas are 🔸Avidya (ignorance), 🔸Asmita (egoism or I-am-ness), 🔸Raga (attachment), 🔸Dvesha (repulsion and aversion), and 🔸Abhinivesha (fear of death and the will to live). Avidya (ignorance) is the misconception of our true reality, believing that the temporary is eternal, the impure is the pure, and pleasure to be painful. This false and distorted representation of reality is the primary klesha. From avidya the four other kleshas emerge. Asmita (I-am-ness) is the identification of ourselves with our ego. We create a self-image of ourselves that we believe is us, but it is not us. This self-image can contain both external (I am poor) and internal (I am a bad person) false projections. We become trapped within the projections we have created of our life. Raga (attachment) is the attraction for things that bring satisfaction to oneself. Our desire for pleasurable experiences creates mindless actions and blind-sighted vision. When we cannot obtain what we desire, we suffer. When we do obtain what we desire, our feelings of pleasure soon fade and we begin our search for pleasure again, becoming trapped in an endless cycle. Dvesha (repulsion) is the opposite of raga, aversion towards things that produce unpleasant experiences. If we cannot avoid the things we dislike, we suffer. Even thinking about unpleasant experiences produces suffering. Abhinivesha (will to live) is the deepest and most universal klesha, remaining with us until our deaths. We know that one day we will indeed die, yet our fear of death is deeply buried in our unconsciousness. . . . . . . . #adiyogaschool #yogaphilosophy #patanjaliyogasutra #yogateachertraining #patanjali #philosophy #yogaeducation #lifelessons #yogaforeveryone #yogarishikesh #yogainindia #yogaashram (at Adi Yoga School) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnjMWLMvgNH/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Last night I photographed a bunch of male Blue Ghosts floating around, searching for flightless females on the ground below. ⁣

I’ve read there are similar bioluminescent beetles in other parts of the world, but this specific species is unique to this region. ⁣

⁣This is 20 back-to-back, 30-second long-exposures of the same spot. In other words, all the light my camera could capture for 10 straight minutes, combined into one image.⁣

⁣And sorry, I do not share blue ghost locations because I have seen too many people shine flashlights on them, try to catch them, etc and I’m not going to be a part of that. I do know people who offer guided tours (which is also great for people unfamiliar with being out in the forest at night), so please feel free to ask me for a referral for that.

[Asheville Pictures in Western North Carolina]

* * * *

19. The Mind is not self-luminous, since it can be seen as an object. This is a further step toward overthrowing the tyranny of the “mind”: the psychic nature of emotion and mental measuring. This psychic self, the personality, claims to be absolute, asserting that life is for it and through it; it seeks to impose on the whole being of man its narrow, materialistic, faithless view of life and the universe; it would clip the wings of the soaring Soul. But the Soul dethrones the tyrant, by perceiving and steadily affirming that the psychic self is no true self at all, not self-luminous, but only an object of observation, watched by the serene eyes of the Spiritual Man.

- Patañjali, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. the Book of the Spiritual Man

[alive on all channels]

[venturama-yoga]

Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga

Prática gradual e efetiva;

Até quatro alunos por grupo;

Para todas as idades;

Instrução com 15 anos de experiência.

MANHÃ/TARDE/NOITE

AULA EXPERIMENTAL GRÁTIS