The 5th Limb - Pratyahara - Withdrawal of Senses

After pranayam, breath regulation is pratyahar, abstraction. Pratyahar is returning back, coming back -- coming in, turning inwards, returning home. Pratyahar works as a bridge between the four, the yoga of the outside, and the last three, the yoga of the inside. The process of return is when the energy is no longer moving outwardly. It is turning inwards. Ordinarily, the energy is moving outward. We waste so much of precious energy in useless things like gossip, worry, random thoughts etc. Now in pratyahar the energy is to be conserved and build up as we will need it in the last 3 limbs. Energy is sapped because we have given the senses too much power over mind. Do not waste the precious energy in senseless situations at any cost,  as in the end you will regret it.

This has to be deeply understood: that senses by themselves are impotent -- unless you cooperate. That's the whole art of yoga. If you don't cooperate senses close. If you don't cooperate conversion starts. If you don't cooperate pratyahar comes in. That's what people who are sitting silently for hours, for years, are doing -- they are trying to drop the cooperation between themselves and their senses. When the energy is not obsessed to see, to hear, to touch; the energy starts moving inwards. That is pratyahar: movement towards the source, movement towards the place from where you have come, movement to the center. Now you are no longer moving to the periphery.

C ya

A

The 4th Limb - Pranayama - Regulated Breathing

Regulated breathing -- is pranayam. Breath is a very important tool all of us have but it is the most under utilized of all. Every rhythm of the breath has a corresponding emotion in the mind when we are angry there is a diff rhythm, when anxious the pattern is different etc. And the opposite is true too. That is, whenever the mind changes, the rhythm of the breath immediately changes. Therefore, if -- if you change that rhythm of the breath -- the mind has to change immediately.

It is always a nice idea to learn the technique properly as incorrect method may be harmful for the body. Pranayam is one of the greatest discoveries that has ever happened. Pranayam is an inner journey. And pranayam is the fourth step on the yogic path -- and there are only eight steps. Half the journey is completed on pranayam. Pranayam never means breath control. It simply means the expansion of the vital energy. Prana-ayam: prana means the vital energy hidden in breathe, and ayam means infinite expansion. 

The 3rd Limb - Asana/Posture

The third limb is posture. Asan/Posture means a relaxed posture i.e. so restful, that there is no need to move the body at all. Do not confuse with the extreme Yoga postures that people do.  True asana/posture is when one learns the grace of the body. The body is just like a guitar. It has to be rightly tuned; only then will the correct music arise out of it. If the very instrument is somehow not in right shape and order, then in no way can great harmony arise out of it? Patanjali says "STHIR SUKHAM ASANAM" -- the posture should be steady and should be very, very blissful, comfortable. So never try to distort the body, and never try to achieve postures that are uncomfortable. If you can be steady and comfortable in a chair, it is perfectly okay -- no need to try a lotus posture and force your body unnecessarily. A posture should be such that one can forget the body.

How to attain to this posture? How to attain this steadiness? Look at the comfort. If body is exactly in deep comfort, in deep rest, feeling good, that should be the criterion with which to judge.

Good Night

A

The 2nd Limb - Fixed Observance

Niyam, fixed observance: a life that has a discipline, a life that has regularity about it. Because unless there is regularity in life, a discipline, we will be a slave of our instincts. That is not freedom. Only a person who has regularity about him can become the master someday.

Now the various subcomponents of Niyam.

First is "purity," shauch. Means purity on 3 fronts - food, body and mind One has to watch one's food. Whatsoever you eat, it is no ordinary matter. You should be careful because your body is constituted of whatsoever you have eaten in the past. Be careful what you eat, be careful what you drink -- be careful how you keep and care for your body. Small things do matter. For an ordinary man they don't matter because he is not going anywhere. Once you start on the spiritual path, everything matters; even the slightest disturbance matters. It is like if you are driving a car to work vis a vis driving on an F-1 track. On the F- 1 track everything matters   -J. Food – vegetarian food that is light on the system and fresh.  Body can be purified by drinking lots of water, eating healthy and exercising regularly. And mind can be purified through meditation.

The second step of niyam is "contentment," santosh. Contentment means: whatsoever is, is beautiful, the feeling that whatsoever is, is the best that can be. A feeling of deep acceptance is santosh, contentment, a feeling of saying yes to the whole existence -- as it is.  Or in other words not being cynical of things, not being negative and stop complaining all the time. Remember that contentment is not consolation. When we console ourselves we are not contented. In fact, there is a very deep discontent inside -- but seeing that discontent creates worry, seeing that discontent creates anxiety, seeing that discontent leads nowhere, so logically, we persuade ourselves that "this is not the way."  Finding that you cannot reach, do not rationalize that the goal is not worth reaching. Contentment is a positive state of being; consolation is suppression.

After contentment, is "austerity," tapa. One can be austere before contentment but then the austerity will be through desire. When a person is content then austerity is not a means; it is just a simple, beautiful way of living. Then it is not a question of having a few things or more -- that is not the problem then. Austerity is simplicity: to live a simple life. What is a simple life? It is like that of a child -- enjoy everything, but don't cling. As LDV said “"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

And then comes "self-study," swadhyaya. A man who has attained to purity, contentment, austerity, only he can study self because now all the garbage is thrown. If there is too much garbage (judgments, prejudices, grudges etc) in the person self cannot be studied, as it will not be self-study, because first all that rubbish will have to be studied. These are very logical steps. After austerity, when you have become very simple, no rubbish accumulates, when you have become so contented, when you have become so innocent and pure, you have become like fragrance, weightless, on the wings, in the air, riding on the air -- then self-study. Now, you can study the self.

The last step in the second stage i.e. surrender to Divine." When you have studied the self, only then can you surrender. Because what will you surrender otherwise? The self is to be surrendered. If you know it well, only then you can surrender. Otherwise how will you surrender?

"Purity, contentment, austerity, self-study, and surrender are the laws to be observed." These are laws for growth. They do not prohibit; they help. They are not restrictive; they are creative.

Cheers

A

The 1st Limb - Self Restraint

Yam means self-restraint. -- In English self-restraint looks like suppressing, repressing. Self-restraint is not repression. Here self-restraint does not mean to repress oneself. It simply means to direct one's life -- not to repress the energies, but to direct, to give them a direction. These energies can be used in such a way that they can become the door for the unlimited.  Because you can live such a life, which goes on moving in opposite directions, in many directions -- then you will never reach anywhere. It is just like a car: the driver goes a few miles to the north, then changes the mind; goes a few miles to the south, then changes the mind; then goes a few miles to the west, then changes the mind; and goes on this way. He will never reach anywhere. He will never have the feeling of fulfillment. You can go on moving in many ways, but unless you have a direction you are moving uselessly. You will feel more and more frustrated and nothing else.

So self-restraint simply means: to give a direction to life and be a little more centered. Direction creates the center; then the center gives direction. And they are mutually fulfilling.

Nonviolence simply means loving life in all its manifestations. Love life so much that you would not like to hurt anybody, that's all. Remember only one thing not to hurt anyone willfully. To be nonviolent means to be beneficial, to be helpful to everybody -- to yourself and to others also.

Truthfulness means authenticity, to be true -- not to use masks: to be natural and at ease anywhere be truthful to yourself. How to remain true? By not being a football of other peoples opinions, what they say for you to be: always listen to your inner voice, what you would like to be. Don't allow others to manipulate and control you.

The third is asteya nonstealing, honesty. Knowledge, things -- nothing should be stolen.

Brahmacharya. It has been translated as "sexual continence," celibacy. But sexual celibacy is a very narrow thing; it is one part of it, but not the whole of it. Brahmacharya is not against sex. It means transmutation of the energy: it is not being against sex, rather it is changing the whole energy from the sex center to the higher centers. This means: trying to understand sex energy, trying to understand how it moves in the body, trying to understand why it gives pleasure, from where pleasure really comes. When the same energy moves upwards you become a dam of energy. That is brahmacharya. You go on accumulating energy. The more you accumulate, the higher it rises.

Nonpossessiveness. For example, if you love a person: if you try to possess the person, then you don't love. And you are not certain about his love also; that's why you create all safety measures, surround him by every trick, cunningness, cleverness, so that he cannot leave you. If you really love, there is no need to possess. Sharing is the meaning of nonpossessiveness.

Limbs/Steps of YOGA

Steps and limbs both, they are both. Steps they are because one has to be followed by another and they are in a deep relationship. The second cannot come before the first -- the first has to be first and the second has to be second.

And limbs because they have an internal unity. For example, an automobile, it has various parts and all of them have to function together for a successful trip. Everything is joined together. And has to function with organic unity, otherwise things won't happen how we want them to happen; internally.

1.     Yam – Self Restraint

Ø Ahimsa – Non Violence

Ø Satya - Truthfulness

Ø Asteya - Honesty

Ø Brahmacharya – Sexual Continence

Ø Aparigraha – Non Possesiveness

2.     Niyam – Fixed Observance

Ø Shaucha - Purity

Ø Santosha -Contentment

Ø Tapas - Austerity

Ø Swadhyaya – Self Study

Ø Ishvarapranidhana – Surrender to the divine

3.     Asana - Posture

4.     Pranayama – Breath Regulation

5.    Pratyahaar – Withdrawl of senses

6.    Dharana – Maintaining Mental Focus

7.    Dhyana - Meditation

8.    Samadhi – Deep state of equanimity

Each of them has to be interpreted properly as if you go by the English translation it is very easy to distort the actual meaning. Next posts we will dissect the 8 limbs one at a time.

Love

Am

What is Yoga - 1

Yoga is a technology to bring the mind to the moment. Yoga means now you are ready not to move into the future. Yoga means you are ready now not to hope and encounter the reality as it is. Unless this moment comes..... we can go on doing asanas, postures; that is not yoga. The postures are just one part. Yoga is an inward turning, you start moving within – because your being is here and now, it is not in the future and you have all possible resources now to live to the fullest. 

Yoga is very scientific as it has nothing as far as belief is concerned; yoga doesn’t say to believe in anything. Yoga says experience. Just like science says experiment, yoga says experience. Experience is an inside experiment. No belief is required, no faith is needed –You will come to the truth, but not through belief, but through your own experience, through your own realization. 

Because right now as we are, it is nothing but - Chaos. Yoga is a discipline, means yoga wants to create a crystallized center in us. As we are, we are a mob within us. I have been observing  for the last few weeks.

I decide to get up early in the morning. And when the alarm sounds somebody in me says, ”Don’t bother. It is cold outside, it is overcast, it is early. And why are you in such a hurry? Lets do it tomorrow.” And I fall asleep again. When I get up I feel bad. And I think, ”This is not good. I should have done it.” I decide again that ”Tomorrow I will do;” and the same thing happens tomorrow because early morning the one who promised is no more there, somebody else is there.

This is a live example of living life as chaos, a crowd. Yoga means now you will have to be a harmony,

you will have to become one. A crystallization is needed; a centering is needed. Everybody wants it, but you cannot ask. You have to earn it! That is why to achieve it a certain discipline is needed. A disciple is a great achievement. All discipline of yoga is an effort to make a person a master of him/herself. As we are slave of many, many desires. Many, many masters are there, and we are just a slave – and pulled in many directions.

Yoga is discipline, a discipline to change oneself.

What are the various components of Yoga, I will discuss in the next post. And I will wake up early tomorrow (6 am - DONE DEAL...-:)
Good Day
Anurag