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Spirituality, Yoga and Hinduism-A very special thanks to Giruji (Sri
K. Pattabhi Jois, Mysore, India) for his thoughts on "Spirituality,
Yoga, Hinduism."
Yoga is from the Sanskrit word 'Yug' meaning union {with the
Divine}. These are the different types of Yoga. Before we examine
the differences we should remember that all of them lead to the same
goal which is 'Unification with the Divine'. The yoga paths can be
broadly classified into:
Bhakti yoga
Path of Devotion
Karma yoga
Path of Selfless Action
Jnana yoga
Path of Transcendental Knowledge
Ashtanga yoga
Path of Patanjali (eight-step path)
Unfortunately, yoga in the west has come to mean 'Hatha' yoga which
is mainly physical exercise, and postures (asanas). In fact, asana
is only a single step in the eight-step path (Ashtanga yoga of
Patanjali). Patanjali is quick to point out that asanas are to be
used as a stepping stone for the higher paths, since just working on
the beauty and welfare of an impermanent object (the body) is a
waste of time and effort.
Ashtanga yoga is sometimes
referred to as Raja yoga . However, Ashtanga yoga is more of a
philosophy like basic research. While Raja yoga usually refers to
specific techniques which are based not only Ashtanga yoga, but also
on various [minor] Upanishads.
Bhakti yoga is the path of devotion (to the Divine). It is
pure selfless love from the heart. A Bhakti yogi feels that whenever
he thinks of God, God thinks more of him. A relationship between a
Bhakta, and God can never be described in words.
Karma yoga is the path of selfless service. For a karma yogi, the
activities of human life is a God-given opportunity to serve Him. He
does not feel that the world is an illusion, does not encounter the
ego-given 'highs' of success or the 'lows' of failure. Thus a karma
yogi is detached while carrying out his duties on the earth.
Jnana yoga is the path of knowledge. A Jnana yogi wants to
understand the transcendental truth. He wants to solve the mystery
of birth, death and the purpose of life. Hindu scriptures describe a
Jnani yogi as one who utters Neti, Neti meaning 'not this, not this'
to differentiate between what is permanent and impermanent. He uses
viveka (discernment) for moving on from avidya (ignorance) to vidya
(knowledge). He discerns that the world as perceived by the senses,
is not real, but an illusion conjured up by the mind.
Ashtanga (eight-step) yoga was developed by Patanjali. The eight
steps that would lead a seeker from ignorance to Truth are:
Yama
Self-control
Niyama
Strict observance of character
Asanas
Body postures
Pranayama
Breathing exercises, and control of prana
Pratyahara
Withdrawal from sense-desires
Dharana
Concentration on an object
Dhyana
Meditation on the Divine
Samadhi
Union with the Divine
Raja yoga is a science. There is no unconditional faith
required. It is similar to a person who would go to the doctor for
illness, and take the medicine the doctor gives, with a faith that
it will cure him. If he followed all the doctor's orders but still
wasn't cured, then it is the fault of the doctor, and not that of
the patient. Any person who wants to seriously pursue meditation as
his path should read the Patanjali's yoga sutras. Huge commentaries
have been written on each of his sutra (meaning 'thread').
Brief description of Kundalini Yoga
Most of the saints have agreed that the culmination of the Kundalini
Shakti is essential for enlightenment. Various types of Raja yoga's
(including siddha yoga, kriya yoga, laya yoga, sahaja yoga, etc.)
end with the activation, and culmination of the Kundalini shakti at
the crown chakra. They may be referred to as Kundalini yoga.
Kundalini is the dormant energy which lies at the base of spine.
Extensive information on the Kundalini, including the Kundalini FAQ,
can be found in the Kundalini Resource Center. INFORMATION is
provided including chakras, and the quotes of some saints.
Yoga, life, and the search
A serious search for truth is almost always based on answering the
question "Who am I". All other questions are mere details. One of
the greatest scientists, Erwin Schrodinger, examines consciousness,
and tries to answer this question in his book "What is Life". Each
of us has the indisputable impression that the sum total of their
experience, and memory, forms a unit, quite distinct from that of
any other person. He refers to it as "i". What is this "I"? If you
analyze it closely, you will, I think, find that it is just a little
bit more than a collection of single data, namely the canvas upon
which it is collected.
And you will upon closer introspection, find that what you really
mean by "I", is that ground-stuff upon which they are
collected....The youth that was "I". You may come to speak of him in
the third person. Indeed protagonist of the novel you are reading is
probably nearer to your heart, certainly more intensely alive, and
better known to you. Yet, there has been no intermediate break, or
death....In no case, is there a loss of personal existence to
deplore.....Nor will there ever be. The search starts, and ends with
you, but when the search ends, you are aware of the reality of
"You". As with any search, one has to be constantly aware of the
three P's: Purpose of the Search....The Correct Practice, and
Procedure to follow in the search, and Possible imPediments.
Purpose
Before one embarks to practice, and master yoga, one should always
recall the purpose of one's life. Hindu scriptures state over and
over again that liberation is possible only in the human life. In
that aspect, humans are superior to angels. In the holy Quran the
angels are requested to bow before the humans for this reason. A
similar theme can be observed when the Lord of Death, Yama,
'confesses' to Nachiketa in Katha Upanishad that even he has to let
go of his reign (as the Lord of Death), and become a human being in
order to attain Brahman. While Yoga scriptures believe in heaven and
hell, they are quick to point out that these states are as
impermanent as the human life, and its possessions.
The purpose of human life is to attain liberation from the eternal
cycle {called samsara}. All material happiness is impermanent, all
attachments to human life are impermanent. Hence liberation through
true selfless love for the Divine, and all beings is the only path
to eternal happiness. Hence, every moment which is not spent in the
service, love, and contemplation of the Divine is wasted, (in my
humble opinion). An obvious win-win strategy is to choose the path
of spiritualism, and abandon materialism!! Always remember "For what
doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffers the
loss of his own soul ? Or what exchange shall a man give for his
soul". [Matthew 16,26]. A discourse by Satya Sai Baba on this
subject can be found HERE.
Practice
Having realized that the purpose of living is to achieve the state
of 'living in God', a right practice has to be adhered to. The
practice which is outlined here takes years to perfect, and practice
at every moment of our life. The practice is usually likened to that
of a calf, which tries to get up and falls, repeats the process
again and again, until it has enough strength to stand on its feet,
and becomes a cow. The key is to slowly absorb the truths, practice
it sincerely, and the goal will be reached. Hindu Scriptures
describes three finite dimensional human qualities (Gunas) in every
human being, though varying in proportion.
Sattvic: purity, knowledge and joy
Rajsic: active, desire and restlessness
Tamsic: inaction, delusion and dullness
These three gunas are the basic constituents of Prakrti (nature).
However the Self (Truth) is above these gunas. With rigorous
practice, devotion, and determination, we can become, and maintain
our sattvic nature all the time. A person through the sincere,
dedicated practice of yoga can transcend these gunas, and become a
triguNaatiita to be freed from samsara.
Yoga is a philosophy which has to be practiced continuously,
throughout the day, week, year, and life. The ability to be calm in
midst of action, the ability to have a quiet mind in midst of a
turmoil is the mark of a true yogi. A lotus (yogi) lives in the
marsh (the material world), but is unaffected by it. It opens its
beautiful petals (mind, heart and soul) to the loving grace of the
Sun (God). The lotus has petals which are unaffected by water
(sense, desires), and marsh (evil) with its beautiful stem (good)
indicating that both do co-exist in the material world, but without
the Sun (God), the lotus (yogi) will die.
Since yoga is a direct link with the Divine, there is no use in
pretending. Aspirants need to be sincere, dedicated, and devoted to
the Divine. Devotion is meaningful only if one surrenders one's ego,
or at least makes an attempt to surrender it. It is wrong to judge
other paths, or to advocate the philosophy you follow as the only
right path, because all paths lead to the Divine too. It hardly
matters if one loves Jesus, Allah, or Krisna, or prefers to meditate
on an impersonal form like Tao, or Brahman.
While a Bhakti yogi wishes to retain both his individuality, and the
personality of God (since he considers God as a Supreme person, and
not as an intangible Absolute), a Jnana yogi strives to transcend
all the subject-object relationship. As Ramakrishna remarks 'When I
think of the Supreme Being as inactive-neither creating, or
preserving, nor destroying, I call him Brahman, the impersonal God.
When I think of Him as active-creating, preserving, and destroying,
I call him Sakti, or Maya, or Prakriti, the Personal God. But the
distinction between them does not mean a difference. The personal,
and the Impersonal are the same thing, like milk and its
whiteness...It is impossible to conceive of the one without the
other. The Divine Mother and Brahman are one.'
One may appreciate and practice the simple guidelines for 'right'
living provided in an inspiring fashion by Kipling's IF, and
DESIDERATA.
Lessening of attachment to sense-desires, and the ability to love
unconditionally (by pure devotion to God) are very essential. The
first concept can be illustrated by a simple story often told by
Satya Sai Baba:
(paraphrased)
'In India, the monkey-catcher places nuts in a pot with a narrow
mouth. The monkey is attracted to these nuts, and puts its hand
inside the path, and clenches its hands at the nuts. When the
monkey-catcher comes to catch the monkey, the monkey desperately
wants to run away, but thinks that someone is holding its hand
inside the pot. If it unclenches its hand, and LETS GO, it is home
free.
The man is similar to the monkey, and once he lets go of his
sense-desires (nuts), he is freed from the eternal cycle of birth,
and rebirth (pot), and is not worried about the monkey-catcher
(death) anymore, and is liberated. Hence, peace and bliss
automatically descends on a being whose mind has no ego, and is
freed from wants, and desires.
As Patanjali repeatedly points out, the liberation, and bondage is
from one's thoughts. The monkey mind however, needs something. A
monkey is often seen to climb up and down a pole, just to keep
itself busy. This pole can be a mantra which will give the mind
something to chant.
Discrimination is the essence of non-attachment. To be
discriminatory means to analyze each thought, and action, and
inquire whether this leads us towards the Goal, or farther from it.
This simple technique makes one realize that most of our actions
lead away from the goal of realizing the divine. While it is easy to
discriminate during our calm moments, we should slowly cultivate the
ability to discriminate all the time.
The non-attachment occurs in three steps, in my opinion. First, you
cultivate a love for God, and an attachment to Him, by examining,
and trying to model our lives like the many saints who have graced
this earth. This is followed by devotion, leading to an
understanding of the spirit within each person, and finally
realizing, and experiencing the spirit behind everyone.
The second concept of devotion can be illustrated by a simple story
from the book titled Tibetan book of living, and dying
by Sogyal Rinpoche
At the time of Buddha, there lived an old beggar woman called
"Relying on Joy". She used to watch the kings, princes, and people
making offerings to Buddha, and his disciples, and there was nothing
she would have liked more than to be able to do the same. So she
went begging, but at the end of a whole day all she had was one
small coin. She took it to the oil-merchant to try and buy some oil.
He told her that she could not possibly buy anything with so little.
But when he heard that she wanted it to make an offering to Buddha,
he took pity on her and gave her the oil she wanted.
She took it to the monastery where she lit a lamp. She placed it
before Buddha, and made this wish: "I have nothing to offer but this
tiny lamp. But through this offering, in the future may I be blessed
with the lamp of wisdom. May I free all beings from their darkness.
May I purify all their obscurations, and lead them to enlightenment.
That night the oil in all the other lamps went out. But the beggar
woman's lamp was still burning at dawn, when Buddha's disciple
Maudgalyayana came to collect all the lamps. When he saw that one
was still alight, full of oil, and with a new wick, he thought,
"There's no reason why this lamp should still be burning in the
daytime," and he tried to blow it out. But it kept on burning. He
tried to snuff it out with his fingers, but it stayed alight. He
tried to smother it with his robe, but still it burned on.
The Buddha had been watching all along, and said, "Maudgalyayana, do
you want to put out that lamp? You cannot. You could not even move
it, let alone put it out. If you were to pour the water from all the
oceans over this lamp, it still wouldn't go out. The water in all
the rivers and lakes of the world could not extinguish it. Why not?
Because this lamp was offered with devotion, and with purity of
heart and mind. And that motivation has made it of tremendous
benefit. When Buddha had said this, the beggar woman approached him,
and he made a prophecy that in the future she would become a perfect
Buddha, called "Light of the Lamp." So it is our motivation, good or
bad, that determines the fruit of our actions. Shantideva said:
Whatever joy there is in this world
All comes from desiring others to be happy,
And whatever suffering there is in this world
All comes from desiring myself to be happy.
This poem (by Satya Sai Baba) is to be remembered and etched in your
heart, mind, soul, and practiced.
Destroying pride man becomes endearing;
Destroying anger man gets rid of sorrow;
Destroying desire man acquires peace;
Destroying greed man achieves happiness.
Thus, the path to eternal freedom consists of three main steps:
Pravritti (action, external activity) as a method of sublimating the
instincts, and impulses;
Nivritti (detachment, internal quietness) as a method of subduing
the thirst of the senses, and of the ego;
Prapatti (surrender) as a method of utilizing the senses, the
instincts, and impulses, the intelligence, the emotions, for the
glorification of the all-knowing, all-directing Divine.
Do and dedicate; work and worship; plan and protect; but do not
worry about the fruit. Follow the three D's: do your Duty without
attachment, perform Disciplines to keep the senses under control,
and maintain Devotion to God always. This is Dharma, and the secret
of spiritual success.
imPediments
A common impediment is to become aware of another path, and start
fresh. It is important that one should take up a path, and stick to
it. It is foolish to switch paths thinking that the other path may
be faster. This can be illustrated by a simple story by Ramana:
A person wanted to dig a well so that he could drink water whenever
he wanted. So he started digging earnestly, and when he reached 20
feet deep, another person came along, and told him to start digging
at an another spot.
So this man abandoned this spot, and went digging at an another
spot. When he reached 20 feet, and there was no sign of water, he
felt despair. He gave up this spot, and started digging at another
site. Soon he had many holes of 20 feet deep with no water in sight.
He soon died of thirst. If he had stuck to digging at one spot, he
would have dug him a good well, and drank water out of it.
Hence, once one learns a particular path from a guru, and starts to
practice it with dedication and devotion, he should stick to that
path irrespective of what others say about other paths.
Another obstacle is the desire to reveal your progress to others.
Scriptures emphasize that a spiritual aspirant should never reveal
his experience to an other, except his Guru. He can say that he had
never had any such experiences if asked by anyone other than his
Guru. There is no use in telling your experiences to a materialistic
person, since he is not going to believe you. There is no use in
telling it to someone who is not as spiritual as you are, since he
may try to emulate your experience (which he shouldn't because each
has an unique experience), or may become envious of you.
There is no use in telling your experiences to a spiritually
advanced being, because he may have already experienced it, or he
has no use for it. Your Guru, since he/she knows you intimately, may
be able to interpret the experience for you, but no one else can.
While being very much aware of the absolute superiority of the
spirit over the material, and the spiritual consciousness within
himself, the aspirant will frequently, and constantly be confronted
by the karmic elements of his incarnation bringing him sorrow,
bitterness, and even despair!!! However, the true path is never lost
for someone who has started the journey. Even the material world may
drag you away for a short while, but the erring son will be returned
to the father [Jesus]. As Ramana Maharishi used to say, 'Who once
enters on the Path cannot lose it, just as the prey which falls into
the tiger's jaws will be never allowed to escape'.
Besides these obstacles, one arrives at a time when one has to make
decisions about his life, and asks questions which are called
"two-path" questions. One such question is whether we should
retaliate against people who harm us ? One answer is no, love them,
but avoid them. The other answer is "Turn the other cheek" [Jesus].
Yet an another answer is, that we should uphold our Dharma (duty)
even by fighting, but not worry about the result [Krishna].
Another question is whether we should tell about our path to people
who query on our new way of life and resist our change ? One answer
is no, the path should be a secret. The other answer is "Render,
therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God, the
things that are God's" [Jesus]. One can give many similar examples,
but no one can say what is right, except yourself.
Apart from these "two-path" obstacles, are obstacles from our mind
with endless why's. Why does a soul need a body to liberate? Why
can't we glimpse at the end of the path everyday ? If sensual
pleasures, and the material world are obstacles, why did God create
them [if He did] in the first place ? Anyone who is stuck in this
duality is urged to read Zanoni by Bulwer Lytton. The easiest and
the best answer, is to look at your own consciousness. As Plotinus
in Enneades said "Enter into thyself and look; and if thou are not
beautiful, do as the sculptor with his statue : he smoothes this
line, he planes another, giving a nobler expression, until the whole
becomes the resplendent picture of perfect beauty. And thou shouldst
do the same."
Meditation
If you have never meditated then the book, Meditation by Eknath
Easwaran, is a good place to start. This book illustrates how, by
constant practice of meditation, one can come to know that he is
neither the body nor the mind, but the I its self, which is pure and
divine. The book, though meant for novices, provides a great deal of
insight into applying meditation in everyday life, and provides
common sense direction for an uncommon life, as the subtitle of the
book says. Other good books for beginners are written by Lawrence
LaShan, Kathleen McDonald, and John Novak. All the three have
written different books under the same title 'How to meditate'.
Another good book on meditation for the non-spiritual, non-religious
reader is, 'Relaxation Response' by Benson. Some basic MEDITATION
techniques are given here. A serious aspirant in the path of
meditation should read, and practice the techniques given by
Patanjali in his yoga sutras. They can also try the OPEN AIR
meditation. It should be clear to any aspirant that meditation is
the only way, and reading books are not going to help you directly.
As Swami Nityananda used to say, "A mind can make thousand books,
but thousand books cannot make a mind". I meditate, therefore I am.
Mantras
"In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word
was God," says the Gospel (St. John). A passage in the oldest of the
vedas, Rig Veda, says, " In the beginning was Brahman, with whom was
the Word, and the Word was truly the Brahman". Mantra is just a
Word, or phrases. The act of repeating it is called Japa .
While mere repetition of the Word is insufficient, meditation on its
meaning, and manifestation is an excellent way to transcend the
mind. But the latter follows the former (repetition) naturally.
Mantras and Japa have played an important role in Christianity. The
prayer on Jesus, and the chanting of "Hail Mary", and their
usefulness has been detailed in the books 'The way of the Pilgrim',
and 'The Pilgrim', continues his way based on the spiritual
pilgrimage of a Russian monk during the 1800's.
There are a multitude of mantras available. The best is the one
given by a Guru. You may wonder why a Guru is needed for a simple
word (or sentences). This can be best explained by a story told
often in India:
(paraphrased)
A king and a minister were talking about the effectiveness of
mantras. The king felt that anyone can recite the mantra and no
initiation was necessary. At that time the guards brought in a man
who had stolen some property. The minister shouted, " Arrest this
man and put him in the dungeon". The guards did not move and gazed
at the minister surprisingly. The king repeated the same words and
the guards put the prisoner in the dungeon. Immediately the king
realized the value of the word spoken, and how proper authority for
mantras matter.
However, one can choose something like "Jesus", "Krisna", "Rama" or
"Allah"'. A detailed explanation of the mantras and passages for
meditation and recitation, which have been used for ages, can be
found in the book by Eknath Easwaran.
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