THE STEP-BY-STEP YOGA (SADHANA PADA)

 

          

                               THE PRACTICAL SECTIONS OF 

                                        YOGA SUTRAS

                       THIS IS THE PRACTICAL SECTION OF THE YOGA SUTRAS. IT DEALS WITH THE CLASSICAL ASHTANGA OR EIGHT-LIMBED YOGA, A STEP-BY-STEP PRACTICE MANUAL. HOWEVER, THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER ON THE SAMADHI PADA, THOUGH BY AND LARGE PHILOSOPHICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND METAPHYSICAL, IS BY NO MEANS STRICTLY THEORETICAL.

                   A CLOSE STUDY WOULD SHOW THAT THE SAMADHI PADA ALSO DEALS WITH PRACTICAL EXERCISES LIKE THE "REPETITION OF AUM" AND THE QUALISING OF THE 'INHALATION AND EXHALATION' AMONG OTHER PRACTICAL TIPS. NEVERTHELESS, IT DOES LAY GREATER EMPHASIS ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND METAPHYSICAL UNDERSTANDING OF YOGA, WITHOUT GRASPING THESE IMPORTANT ASPECTS, THE PRACTICAL STEPS WOULD BE MEANINGLESS, BECAUSE THEORY IS MERELY A STEPPING STONE TO PRACTICE.

                     SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S COMMENTARY ON THE YOGA SUTRAS, CALLED RAJA YOGA, IS INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR STUDY.

                     COMMENTING ON THE FIRST SUTRA OF SADHANA PADA, HE SAYS THOSE SAMADHIS WITH WHICH WE ENDED OUT LAST CHAPTER ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO ATTAIN, SO WE MUST TAKE THESE UP SLOWLY. THE FIRST STEP, THE PRELIMINARY STEP, IS CALLED KRIYA YOGA. LITERALLY, THIS MEANS WORK, WORKING TOWARDS YOGA.

                       WITH THIS INTRODUCTION, WE'LL MOVE ON TO THE FIRST 

                      SUTRA OF PART 2.

                SUTRA 1

                      TAPAH-SVADHYAYA-ISWAVA-PRANIDHANANI KRIYA YOGAH

         

                    AUSTERITY, SELF-STUDY, AND DECLARATION TO ISHWARA 

                      ATE KRIYA YOGA.

                 THE WORD TAPA IS INTERESTING. IT LITERALLY MEANS "MAKE HOT" OR PRODUCE CREATIVE HEAT'. THE SYNONYMS ARE 'AUSTERITY' AND 'SELF-DISCIPLINE'.

                 IT IS ALSO UNDERSTOOD THAT THE CONTROL OF OUR URGE TO UNDULGE IN SEX-BRAHMACHARYA-BUILDS UP INNER HEAT. I CAN VOUCH FOR THIS. MILAREPA, THE TIBETAN YOGIS IS SAID TO HAVE SAT AMIDST THE SNOWS OF THE HIMALAYAS WITH JUST A COTTON LOINCLOTH, AND GENERATED HEAT ENOUGH TO MELT THE SNOW BY THE PRACTICE OF TUMMO, A CERTAIN YOGIC EXERCISE. MY PERSONAL TEACHER, SRI MAHESHWARNATH BABAJI WAS AN EXPERT IN THIS PRACTICE AND WALKED BAREFOOT EVEN ON THE GANGOTRI GLACIER.

                    SWADHYAYA IS THE SELF-STUDY OF THOSE TEXTS THAT PROVIDE AN INSIGHT INTO THE PRACTICES THAT TAKE ONE TO THE SUPERCONSCIOUS STATE. THIS STATE .THIS STATE IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH TEXTS THAT ARE STILL IN THE REALM OF THEORETICALLY ESTABLISHING THE CONCEPT OF SUPERCONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE THAT LEADS TO KAIVALYA OR FREEDOM.

                        THE YOGI AT THIS STAGE OF HIS JOURNEY IS UNDERSTOOD TO HAVE LEFT ALL ARGUMENTS BEHIND AND WOULD HAVE ADVANCED TO HAVE LEFT ALL ARGUMENTS BEHIND AND WOULD HAVE ADVANCED TO THE CORE OF THAT PRACTICE THAT LEADS TO IMMEDIATE FREEDOM AND PEACE.

                      THE BHAGAVAD GITA SAYS, 'UPANISHADATSU BRAHMA VIDAYAYAAM YOGA SHASTRAE', ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THE TRUTH - BRAHMA VIDYA- UNDERSTOOD BY STUDYING THE UPANISHADS NEEDS YOGA SHASTRA TO BE REALISED AND EXPERIENCED BY THE STUDENT.

                    ISHWARYA PRANIDHANANI - DEDICATION TO ISHWARA SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD WITH REFERENCE TO THE FIRST CHAPTER, WHERE AN ELABORATE DISCUSSION ON THE YOGIC CONCEPT OF ISHWARA HAS ALREADY BEEN TAKEN UP.

                   SUFFICE IT TO STATE THAT IN PATANJALI'S DARSHANA, ISHWARA IS NOWHERE ASSOCIATED WITH A CREATOR GOD OR A CONTROLLER GOD AND REPRESENTS THE SUM-TOTAL OF ALL KNOWLEDGE THAT HAS BEEN IN EXISTENCE FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL, AND THEREFORE, IS THE PRIMORDIAL TEACHER OF ALL SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING.

                 THE CLOSEST ONE CAN GET TO IN ATTEMPTING TO DEFINE PATANJALI'S ISHWARA IS THE CONCEPT OF PURUSHA, ESPECIALLY THE PRIMORDIAL PURUSHA IN SANKHYA, WHICH IS AN AETHEISTIC PHILOSOPHY AND FROM WHICH THE YOGA DARSHANA HAS BORROWED MOST OF ITS TERMS AND CONCEPTS.

                      WHEN THE YOGI REACHES THE CULMINATION OF THE YOGIC PROCESS AND ATTAINS NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI, THEN THE PURE CONSCIOUSNESS CALLED PURUSHA ALONE SHINES FORTH.

                     IT IS FROM THIS CONCEPT THAT DEDICATION TO ISHWARYA HAS ALSO BEEN INTERPRETED AS A DEDICATED YOGI WHO HAS, BY REALISATION, ASCENDED TO THE STATUS OF ISHWARA.

                    BUT THIS CONCEPT IS OFTEN MISINTERPRETED AND EXPLOITED BY CHARLATANS WHO DEMAND ABJECT SURRENDER FROM THEIR FOLLOWERS AND MAKE THEM UTTERLY DEPENDENT ON THEM.

                  THE TERM KRIYA YOGAH HERE, DOES NOT REFER TO ANY PARTICULAR SCHOOL OF YOGA, BUT SIGNIFIES THE NEED TO WORK (KRIYA) IN ONE'S YOGIC PRACTICES.