know yoga - know tantra - know yourself: Yoga Sutras

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Saturday, 2 April 2011

What is Hatha Yoga?

Physical exercise or spiritual practice?

Hatha Yoga is a particular system of Yoga described by Yogi Swatmarama, compiler of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika in 15th century India. Hatha Yoga differs substantially from the Raja Yoga of Patanjali in that it focuses on "shatkarma," the purification of the physical body as leading to the purification of the mind ("ha"), and "prana," or vital energy (tha). Compared to the seated asana, or sitting meditation posture, of Patanjali's Raja yoga, it marks the development of asanas (plural) into the full body 'postures' now in popular usage and, along with its many modern variations, is the style that many people associate with the word "Yoga" today.

Modern, Westernised Yoga

In the West, the term "yoga" is typically associated with Hatha Yoga and its asanas (postures) or as a form of exercise. According to Meera Nanda, modern Hatha yoga includes many Western style gymnastics and bodybuilding exercises which were adopted in India in the 19th and 20th centuries.

(from Wikipedia article on Yoga)

Ultimately, Hatha Yoga means Attaining or Cultivating Unity-Consciousness through harmonising all aspects of our energy - mind, body, etc.

Wednesday, 27 October 2010

Regarding the first two limbs of classical Ashtanga: 'Yama' and 'Niyama' ('moral observance' and 'self-restraint')

"The purpose of yama and niyama ... is to prepare the mind for spiritual enlightenment. Yama sabilizes the mind in the realm of social behaviour, and niyama purifies it by minimizing worldly, outer-direceted activity.
Although it may sound like conventional moralistic preaching to advocate good behaviour and abstention from evil conduct, yama and niyama are actually practical necessities for one who engages in spiritual practice."

- Hiroshi Motoyama (in 'Theories of the Chakras - Bridge to Higher Consciousness')

Thursday, 21 October 2010

What is 'Ashtanga'?

There is some confusion about the real meaning of 'Ashtanga' because of the recent popularity of Sri K. Prattabhi Jois' 'Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga'. For this reason, the classical Ashtanga is now sometimes referred to as 'Ashta-anga' to distinguish it from Sri K. Prattabhi Jois' Hatha Yoga practices.

'Ashtanga' means literally 'eight-limbed' ('ashta' = eight; 'anga' = limb).

The following information can be found at http://www.yoga-centers-directory.net/info/yoga_style_glossary.htm:

Ashta-anga Yoga is the Eight-Fold Path of Yoga taught by Patanjali in the 'Yoga Sutras'. On this path, Hatha Yoga is used to prepare for the higher spiritual practices of Raja Yoga.

The Eight-Fold Path / The Eight Limbs:
1. Yama (moral observance)
2. Niyama (self-restraint)
3. Asana (posture)
4. Pranayama (breath control)
5. Pratyahara (sensory inhibition)
6. Dharana (concentration)
7. Dhyana (meditation)
8. Samadhi (Union with God, ecstasy, nirvana).

Ashta-anga Yoga is also known as: 'Ashtanga Yoga', 'Astaunga Yoga', 'Classical Yoga', 'Patanjali Ashtanga', and 'Raja Yoga'.

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My work is essentially the same as all teachers of Self-Realisation – to gently guide the attention of the enquirer to the ever-present nature of the Self – to 'Pure Being'.

I do not claim to be a Master, a Guru or an 'expert'... I do not claim to hold the authority of any spiritual lineage or academic institution.

My work is simply to encourage a dissolution of the story about the self to reveal thePresence of the Self.

I do not rely on any one specific technique.

No 'technique' or 'mechanism' is required for Self-realisation.

Many spiritual traditions are referred to in my work, but ultimately all ideas and teachings must be dropped in order to embrace the fullness of the Self, unconditionally.

The Self is revealing itsSelf at every moment. The awakening to this truth is Self-Realisation. It is not a stage or state to attain... It is eternally taking place. It is all that ever happens.

This is why zen and radical advaita traditions simply refer us back to the present moment, and to the everyday beauty, the mundane, the 'insignificant'... Because it is All Arising in Consciousness Here Now. Consciousness is the Root of All that Is...

Even the question, “What do I need to do to attain Self-realisation?” is just arising spontaneously in Consciousness... and doesn't require an answer...

The only thing that distinguishes our consciousness from 'Pure Unconditioned Consciousness' is our feeling that something 'else' needs to happen before we can be 'complete'/'saved'/'forgiven'... It is this feeling that weaves a web of identity around the stories that our thoughts provide.

Without this feeling, thoughts just arise and subside...

And the vastness of the Self remains clearly untouched... unstained...

The 'Mystique' and 'Mystification' of Enlightenment and Liberation... Enlightenment in 'No Time'

The mystification of spirituality has left us culturally-conditioned to believe that spirituality is something that requires special and different conditions from the ones that we have here and now.
Enlightenment is not about developing, or improving yourself or attaining some state…
Enlightenment is an idea… that falls away when we drop the search, in peace and acceptance of the fullness of all that Is.

"There is no such thing as 'Enlightenment'... Understanding this is Enlightenment itself."
- Nisargadatta Maharaj

Self-realisation through de-conditioning

"The methods and lifestyles developed by the Indian philosophical and spiritual geniuses over a period of at least five millennia all have one and the same purpose: to help us break through the habit patterns of our ordinary consciousness and to realise our identity (or at least union) with the perennial Reality.

India's great traditions of psychospiritual growth understand themselves as paths of liberation. Their goal is to liberate us from our conventional conditioning and hence also free us from suffering, because suffering is a product of our unconscious conditioning. In other words, they are avenues to God-realization, or Self-realization, which is an utterly blissful condition.

God, in this sense [...] is the transcendental totality of existence, which in the nondualist schools of Hinduism is referred to as brahman, or "Absolute." That Absolute is regarded as the essential nature, the transcendental Self, underlying the human personality. Hence, when the unconscious conditioning by which we experience ourselves as independent, isolated egos is removed, we realise that at the core of our being we are all that same One."

- Greg Fueurstein ('The Yoga Tradition')

Advaita Siddhanta

Advaita Siddhanta: (Sanskrit) "Nondual perfect conclusions." Saivite philosophy codified in the Agamas which has at its core the nondual (advaitic) identity of God, soul and world. This monistic-theistic philosophy, unlike the Shankara, or Smarta view, holds that maya (the principle of manifestation) is not an obstacle to God Realization, but God's own power and presence guiding the soul's evolution to perfection. While Advaita Vedanta stresses Upanishadic philosophy, Advaita Siddhanta adds to this a strong emphasis on internal and external worship, yoga sadhanas and tapas. Advaita Siddhanta is a term used in South India to distinguish Tirumular's school from the pluralistic Siddhanta of Meykandar and Aghorasiva. This unified Vedic-Agamic doctrine is also known as Shuddha Saiva Siddhanta.

Siddha Siddhanta

Siddha Siddhanta: (Sanskrit) Siddha Siddhanta, also called Gorakhnatha Saivism, is generally considered to have come in the lineage of the earlier ascetic orders of India. Its most well-known preceptor was Gorakshanatha (ca 1000) a disciple of Matsyendranatha, patron saint of Nepal, revered by certain esoteric Buddhist schools as well as by Hindus.

The school systematized and developed the practice of hatha yoga to a remarkable degree. Indeed, nearly all of what is today taught about hatha yoga comes from this school. Among its central texts are Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Svatmarama, Gheranda Samhita, Siva Samhita and Jnanamrita. Siddha Siddhanta theology embraces both transcendent Siva (being) and immanent Siva (becoming). Siva is both the efficient and material cause of the universe. Devotion is expressed through temple worship and pilgrimage, with the central focus on internal worship and kundalini yoga, with the goal of realizing Parasamvid, the supreme transcendent state of Siva.

Today there are perhaps 750,000 adherents of Siddha Siddhanta Saivism, who are often understood as Shaktas or advaita tantrics. The school fans out through India, but is most prominent in North India and Nepal. Devotees are called yogis, and stress is placed on world renunciation - even for householders. This sect is also most commonly known as Natha, the Gorakshapantha and Siddha Yogi Sampradaya. Other names include Adinatha Sampradaya, Nathamatha and Siddhamarga.

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