Health and Ayurveda

Thursday, May 10, 2007

YOGA

Yoga is a device to attain the eternal blissful state of mind and soul. The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root word ‘Yuji’ meaning union or to join. Here there is union of an individual’s soul (jivatma) with the supreme (parmatma). This can be achieved only through meditation. However meditation is easier said than done. Try emptying your mind of all thought for 10 seconds.

Mind is the most agile substance known to us. It can travel faster than light. It governs our sense organs and we choose wrong diet and lifestyle to gratify our senses.
Yoga like ayurveda is a way of life rather than a form of exercise.

Yoga is one of the sic-orthodox systems of Indian philosophy. It was systemized by Patanjali. As mentioned earlier it was formulated to gain control over oneself, one’s mind and senses. Once this is achieved, the soul travels from perishable worldly pleasures to the external happiness and unites with Parmatma. In Bhagwat Gita, Sri Krishna describes yoga as expertise in any work that an individual takes up. In order to achieve this, is of prime importance that an individual is in best of his health. This is accomplished by sollowing the stages of Ashtang Yoga. Ashta = Eight and Ang = Parts. Ashtang yoga implies eight techniques systemized by Maharshi Patnjali. These are as follows.

a. Ahimsa: Means non-violence, not only towards any being at physical, verbal or mental level but there is a deeper message of love towards every single being be it humans, animals, plants, insects, reptiles etc.
b. Satya: Means truth. It takes a lot of courage to be truthful even if it means incurring a loss or inflicting harm on oneself. However Sri Krishna says in Bhagwat Geeta Speak the truth, speak sweetly and with kindness. However, do not speak a truth that would harm others or hurt others.
c. Asteya: Asteya literally means not to steal. It means a desire to possess and enjoy what is not rightfully yours. To accept credit for the work that you have not.
d. Brahmacharya: Brahmacharya means life of celibacy and self rest rain.
e. Aparigraha: Prigraha means hoarding or collecting. Renunciation of this habit is aparigraha and this is an extension of asteya. Aparigraha also implies non-acquisition of things or refraining from accepting gifts. Receiving gifts as a favour or without working for it destroys one’s independence and self respect. Acquiring and collecting things which an individual does not need immediately for survival, reflects an individual’s lack of faith in God and in himself to provide for his future.
NIYAM:
Yama are described to establish a just society where as Niyama are disciplines for ones personal health and growth and these purify our body and mind.
a. Shaucha: means cleanliness i.e. physical cleanliness and mental purity of body is essential for ones health. Like ayurveda, yoga also believes that diseases are caused mainly due to improper diet and lifestyle rather than microorganism.
b. Santosh: Santosh means contentment or satisfaction. It means to be content and satisfied with what one gets through his or her hard work and not crave for more. Desire is believed to be the cause of all the sorrow in the world. One has to realize that all the material things are perishable and being materialistic would not make any one happy.
c. Tapas: it means penance or austerity. It is derived from the Sanskrit root word ‘tap’ meaning to blaze or burn. It means a burning effort to achieve one’s goal. Tapas are to gain complete control over the self on all three levels viz. physical, mental and verbal level. Unselfish service towards other fellow beings is tapas.
d. Svadhyaya: Literally means self study. Learning the meaning of the life through scriptures.
e. Ishvarapranidhana: it means dedication to the Lord. Offering oneself and one’s action to God. By doing so one never feels sad about his failure and is not proud about his achievements. One learns to face everything in life with equality.
ASANA:
Asana is described as ‘Sthiram sukham asanam’meaning the posture where one can establish himself with stability and comfort. In order to meditate, one has to sit in one position for a long time, steadily without moving. Adopting various postures to increase the flexibility of one’s body asanas are adopted.
PRANAYAM:
Prana means the vital energy in the body or the breath and ayam means its control or dimensions. Hence pranayam means control over one’s breath.our breathing rate and rhythm changes with our mood. Breathing is faster when we are angry or sad. It is shallow when we are anxious and hence we are told to take a deep breath when we are tensed. Our breathing is slow and deep when we are relaxed. So we see that the breath depends on our mood. Our mood in turn depends on our mind. Hence we learn to control our mind by controlling our breath.

Inhalation is refered ‘purak’ where as exhalation that we lose our reasoning for the right and wrong. With regular practice of asana and pranayam one is able to withdraw the senses from their subject and turn them inwards do introspect.
DHARANA:
After purifying the body and mind and having gained complete control over ones senses, one has to focus his mind on an object. This object can be within him or outside his body.
DHYANA:
Dhyana means unbroken flow of thought towards object of concentration. As the mind is continuously focused on the object it is transformed into the shape of that object. If mind is focused on the divine it becomes like it. Dhyana is more serious form of concentration than dharana. It brings about steadiness, lightness of body, radiance, and freedom from craving.
SAMADHI:
Samadhi is the end stage of a yogi’s quest and the most difficult to accomplish. At this stage a yoge is beyond consciousness and yet his mind is alert although the body and senses might be detached from the surrounding as if he is sleeping. He has merged with the eternal. His blissful state is beyond description it can only be experienced.

1 Comments:

  • There are many different types of yoga practiced in the world today. University of patanjali also provide yoga institute like- raja yoga, hatha yoga, jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, and kundalini yoga.

    By Blogger universityofpatanjali, at 11:52 PM  

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