Post by EXLEXSo is your mind water or oil?
Lyt til kødtumben - selvom han intet fonuftigt har at sige, så kan han
bare ikke holde sin kødkæft lukket hahaha :D
Hey Kødtumbe, er der aldrig nogen, der har fortalt dig, at det er
kotume at holde kæft, når dine overordnede taler?
Gudskelovogtak for at du skal ti at bære mundbind nu, så den rådne
stank af de lig du sætter til liv, som oser ud fra hver eneste pore i
din krop, bliver maskeret til en hvis grad. Du stinker stadig af lort,
men i det mindste bliver man ikke slået bagover, når du åbner
kødkæften.
The path of the classical yoga system described in the Vedic tradition
is long and severe. This system is called astanga yoga, or the
eightfold yoga system, and was conceived by the ancient sage,
Patanjali.
It is a scientific, psychic method to gradually raise the
consciousness to higher levels of awareness, culminating in Samadhi,
which is the stage where the self, realizing its own true nature,
leaves its mortal shell and enters its liberated state.
The eight progressive steps of the astanga yoga system are called
yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and
samadhi, and in the following I will loosely describe each one, and
then contrast it to bhakti-yoga.
The first two principles, yama and niyama, are the dos and the
donts, and they are applicable not only in yoga but in all conditions
of life, for regardless of whether one aims at success in material or
spiritual life the key-word is renunciation. No one can have their
wishes fulfilled or reach their lifes goal without being to some
degree renounced.
Our practical lives confirm this. I remember as a child I had a friend
who would save up his pocket money. Instead of spending it all on
sweets and cinema trips, like the rest of us would invariably do, he
would hold back and eventually had saved up enough money to buy a
stereo equipment.
I was most impressed by this. As far as I was concerned it was an
almost unfathomable feat, because I could never save my money. I
always spent everything I had at once.
Later in life this same friend went on to make a successful career and
become a doctor. While his friends were out partying and having fun,
he would remain at home to study and prepare for exams. I realized
then, that if one wants to obtain success in the long run, he will
have to renounce many short-term pleasures.
To work towards a better position in adult life one has to forego many
of the immediate pleasures one is often pushed to pursue in youthful
life. In other words, one has to be renounced. One has to be able to
control ones senses. Without sense control there is no possibility of
success neither in material nor spiritual life.
To control the senses is the preliminary aim of any genuine yoga
system, and in astanga yoga this is accomplished in a very diligent
and systematic way. Yama, the first step, refers to the things one
should avoid that would hinder attainment of the goal.
Niyama, the second step, refers to the beneficial undertakings one has
to undergo to reach the higher goal, Niyama, which constitutes the
positive things to be done like daily meditations, rituals, and
exercise, contributes to attaining the ultimate goal of yoga, which is
union with the Supreme.
And yama is the things one must avoid as unbeneficial for ones
advancement on the path of yoga. Illicit sex, TV, movies,
intoxication, and certain foodstuffs like meat, fish and eggs, pollute
the consciousness and distract the attention away from the self and
places it instead on the bodily demands and other externals.
One of the crucial things that a yogi must avoid at all costs in
astanga yoga is sex. It is not possible to advance in this system
unless one practices complete abstinence.
In ordinary mundane life pleasures are mostly pursued outside of
ourselves. We search for happiness in the body or mind by connecting
the senses with objects outside of ourselves like things or other
bodies, or we seek mental gratification in the form of name, fame,
distinction, and power.
The astanga yoga system, however, gives entrance to the deeper
pleasures that lies within the soul. But before one can access this
hidden pleasure one has to restrain the senses from their engagement
in the external world.
In other words, in the yoga system, the happiness sought after is not
the happiness that arises from sense gratification. Sense
gratification is not considered genuine happiness, because it
invariably leads to suffering.
Krishna says:
An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery,
which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti,
such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does
not delight in them. (Bg 5.22)
This brings us to the next and third step asana, also known to most
westerners as Hatha-yoga. This is the discipline that prepares the
body to remain in different postures for long periods of time. The
side-effects of this discipline is a healthy and a slim body, but the
real purpose is to gradually train up the body to enable it to remain
in the same position for hours or days and eventually even months and
years.
Before one can sit in the lotus position for hours and days without
shifting and being uncomfortable, there is for instance no possibility
of a successful rising of the kundalini. The concept of kundalini we
will come back to later, as it is an integral part of the astanga yoga
system.
After the yogi has trained the body to master the asanas or the
hatha-yoga system, which will take years and years of practice, he
will begin to work on his breathing. This next step is called
pranayama.
The aim of pranayama is, simply speaking, to gradually lower the
breathing cycle. It is said in the Vedic tradition that the life span
of all living entities is measured out in number of breaths.
By lowering the breathing cycle the yogi can, according to how
accomplished he becomes in this discipline, prolong his life span
significantly with years or even decades or centuries. This is
necessary as it takes a long time to become adept in the different
disciplines of the astanga yoga system.
There is a story in the Srimad Bhagavatam of a kshatriya prince named
Dhruva Maharaja who went to the forest and took to this practice in
order to meet Vishnu. He was practicing yoga very determinedly
minimizing his food intake, so that at one point he was eating only
leaves.
Then he was standing on one leg and practicing pranayama, gradually
lowering his breathing cycle to the point of inhaling and exhaling
only once in 6 months.
To ordinary folks this may seem fantastic, but considering that
Maha-Vishnu is breathing in and out once, as He is exhaling and then
inhaling all the universes, over a period of 311.04 trillion years
(which is the total lifespan of the universe), it is an insignificant
span of time. As always Krishna reigns supreme and shows the way, even
in pranayama.
If a yogi should ever become proud of his ability to maintain his
breathing cycle at extremely long spans of time, he may refer to
Maha-vishnus breathing cycle of 311.04 trillion years, and have his
pride curbed.
The aim of pranayama, however, is not to prolong ones lifespan. The
real aim is to be able to sit in trance and meditate, first on the
life airs and chakras, then on the inner self and finally on the
Supersoul within the heart. By gradually extending the breathing cycle
one can subdue the actions of the body and mind.
When the mind becomes still one can turn it from being engaged in the
external world to being focused within. We all know the expression,
take a deep breath, to calm the mind. It actually works.
After the yogi has mastered his breathing by being able to offer the
outgoing breath into the incoming, he is ready to proceed to the next
step in the astanga yoga process called pratyahara the stage where
the senses are being withdrawn from all external engagements.
What happens at that point is that the awareness of the self, who is
usually observing the physical world through the senses, is being
diverted to the inner world of the mind. The senses which are absorbed
in the objects and relationships of the physical world are being
forced to retract and instead focus on the inner, psychic world.
The world of the mind is very fine and subtle. Some people call it the
astral plane. In pratyahara the consciousness of the self goes from
being absorbed in the external physical plane to being absorbed in the
internal psychic plane. Transcendental to or above both these planes
is the plane of pure consciousness, and it is towards that the yogi is
striving.
Through further hard practice, when the yogi is able to maintain the
focus of his consciousness on the inner world of the mind, he
progresses to the state of dharana. This is the state where the senses
have been completely withdrawn from the physical world and is totally
fixed on the inner, subtle world of the mind. On this platform all
sensual engagements have ceased, and one is only perceiving the mind.
There is no more any sound, touch, form, taste or smell. Any awareness
of the external world has ceased to exist. When one can maintain this
state of inner focus it is called dharana. It is not until one reaches
the dharana state, ie. Is able to maintain complete inner focus and
has ceased all awareness of the external world, that dhyana, or
meditation arises.
In the modern world we use the word meditation cheaply to describe
almost any kind of mental state. Some people even think that to just
sit down and relax and let the mind wander is meditation, or if they
are a little more advanced they think that focusing on a flame or a
ring on the wall for five minutes is meditation, but we should note
that in the classical yoga system described in the Vedic tradition
meditation does not take place before one is able to completely cease
all external sensual engagements and focus the consciousness on the
self. Then and only then can one progress to the state of dhyana or
meditation.
Now the yogi begins to meditate. It is then that he discovers his
soul. The soul is the real observer within, and now the soul finally
observes its own self as an illuminating particle of consciousness.
The yogi now understands that this is his real self, and further more,
besides himself situated in his heart, he sees the Supersoul, Sri
Krishna Who lives in the heart of all living entities. Sometimes due
to insufficient knowledge or pride the yogi will mistake the Supersoul
for his own self, thus thinking that he, the yogi, is the Supreme
self. If he makes that mistake he will not reach Vaikuntha but will go
no further than impersonal Brahman.
Thus when the yogi discovers God in his heart he can either maintain a
humble position and surrender to Him, or he can reach any goal he
desires within his mind up to liberation from the material world.
This is the final test of the yogi he can either become a god, or
merge with Brahman, or he can become Gods servant. What ever he
chooses at that point he will attain. This state is called Samadhi,
the final goal of his meditation.
It is then the yogi is ready to leave his body. Some people call this
the rising of the kundalini. At this point the yogi with violent force
pushes his soul out through the top of his cranium, and whatever his
consciousness is fixed on at precisely that moment, that is where the
soul will go. The energy that is released at this point is so immense
that the body combusts into fire.
It is not until one has reached the state of Samadhi, in which the
consciosness is totally withdrawn from the external world, that one
can begin to raise the kundalini.
What happens is that the yogi pushes the life-airs up from the
mula-chakra, the lowest chakra, gradually up through the other chakras
of the body until it reaches the heart chakra.
Here the soul is picked up from its seat there and is pushed further
up to the top chakra at the top of ones head. This pushing of the
life-airs, the prana, up through the different chakras of the body is
what constitutes a kundalini rising.
As the kundalini is rising the pressure inside the body becomes so
great that the yogi now must use the asana and pranayama techniques he
practiced and learned at an earlier stage to block all holes in body
lest the soul should escape through any one of them. In the Vedas the
body has been called the city of nine gates.
There are nine holes in the body anus, genital, two nostrils, two
ear holes, and two eyes. Already at the asana step the yogi learns to
block all these holes from within as he raises the kundalini.
As we can see, this type of yoga is very hard to practice in the
modern age. One can only imagine what could happen if this is
practiced in an apartment in the city. One might very well burn down
the whole apartment. Therefore the yogis of yore would go to the
forest to practice astanga yoga and leave their bodies.
We learn from the Srimad Bhagavatam that when King Dhritarastha went
to the forest to leave his body in this way, he started a whole forest
fire. It was into this fire that his wife Gandhari and the mother of
the Pandavas, queen Kunti, entered together to gain release from their
mortal bodies.
Contrary to this severe practice, which is not recommended for the
people of Kali-yuga, we find the simple sublime method of chanting the
Hare Krishna maha mantra, which will yield exactly the same if not
greater results, and which can be practiced anywhere, even in an
apartment down town.
In fact, a person can benefit more from chanting the holy names of the
Lord sitting in an inner city apartment than he can gain from sitting
in the Himalayas practicing astanga yoga for 100.000 years, which was
the general lifespan of people in satya-yuga, when this practice was
the norm.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that all results that can be
obtained from practicing any kind of yoga or dharma automatically
befall one who practices bhakti-yoga.
Krishna says:
"A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of
the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing sacrifices,
undergoing austerities, giving charity or pursuing philosophical and
fruitive activities. Simply by performing devotional service, he
attains all these, and at the end he reaches the supreme eternal
abode." (Bg 8.28)
It is further stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam that the results of the
astanga yoga process practiced millions of years ago in satya-yuga can
very easily be obtained in this present age of Kali simply by chanting
the hole names of Krishna:
"Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Visnu, in
Treta-yuga by performing sacrifices, and in Dvapara-yuga by serving
the Lord's lotus feet can be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting
the Hare Krsna maha-mantra." (SB 12.3.52)
In this present age of Kali people are simply too disturbed to sit
down and practice the ancient yoga system. Maybe a few yogis can still
go into the Himalyas and sit in seclusion in a mountain cave and
practice this system, but for the people in general it is not
possible, nor are there any qualified teachers who can guide a serious
student in this yoga process.
The fundamental difference between the astanga yoga system and the
bhakti-yoga system is that in the first, the yogi is trying to elevate
himself by his own mental and intellectual endeavors. In bhakti-yoga
we ask Krishna to pick us up and carry us back to Him.
Srila Prabhupada has likened it to the cat and monkey. The baby monkey
holds on to its mother by its own strength. When the female monkey
jumps around from tree to tree it happens quite often that her baby
looses its grip and falls to the ground. The baby kitten, on the other
hand, is carried to safety by its mother, depending solely on her
strength.
In the same way, the bhakti-yogi depends solely on Krishna. He knows
very well he is powerless without the mercy of Krishna. The astanga
yogi is struggling to cross over the materiel ocean of suffering by
his own powers, and even then he is not guaranteed success. But
someone who surrenders to Krishna can very easily cross over
nescience.
Krishna says:
"This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material
nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto
Me can easily cross beyond it." (Bg 7.14)
Krishna helps His devotee to reach the final goal, and that it
infinitely more easy and secure than manipulating the life airs and
chakras of the body to press out the soul of the top of the head at
the final moment.