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What really is meditation? Shri Shri Ravi Shankar enumerates 10 myths about the art of meditation
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and/or www.mantra.com/jai
Sep 17, 2012, 2:06:45 PM9/17/12
to
What really is meditation?
Shri Shri Ravi Shankar enumerates 10 myths about the art
of meditation
Spirituality
Agenda
The Pioneer
Saturday, September 15, 2012
With close to six billion minds active from moment to
moment, there are endless streams of thoughts on every
aspect of creation. Some thoughts perceive reality the
way it is, some make up the imagination and some are
simply misconceptions. While there are myths about many
topics, the most popular one is meditation. Utter the
word �meditation' and all kinds of images and notions
conjure up: Is this for me? I can't sit for long hours?
Who wants to meditate anyways?
Here is a list of the most common myths, hoping that any
confusion that you might have is cleared.
Meditation is concentration: Meditation is actually de-
concentration. Concentration is a benefit of meditation.
Meditation is absolute relaxation of the mind. It is
letting go. When the mind is relaxed, we can concentrate
better.
Meditation is a religious practice: Yog and meditation
are ancient practices that transcend all religions. In
fact, meditation has the ability to bring religions,
nations and faiths together. Just like the sun shines for
everyone and the wind blows for everyone, meditation
benefits everyone.
Sit in the lotus posture to meditate: The Patanjali yog
sutras is perhaps the most scientific and detailed study
that man has produced dealing with the nature of the
mind. Sthirasukhamasanam, a yog sootr by Patanjali,
explains that while meditating, it is more important to
be comfortable and steady. This helps us to have a deeper
experience. You can sit cross-legged, on a chair, or in a
sofa. It is good to maintain a posture where the spine is
erect and shoulders are relaxed.
Meditation is for old people: Meditation is universal and
adds value to lives of people of all age groups. One can
start mediating at the age of eight or nine. Just like a
shower keeps the body clean, meditation is like the
shower for the mind. "After practising meditation, I do
not get as angry as before," shares Sandra, a school
student.
"Just a few minutes of meditation keep me calm all day,"
shares 19-year-old Karan, another young meditator.
Meditation is hypnotising yourself: Meditation is an
antidote for hypnosis. In hypnotism, the person is not
aware of what he or she is going through. Meditation is
complete awareness of each and every moment. Hypnotism
takes the person through the same impressions that are in
his mind. Meditation frees us from these impressions so
that our consciousness is fresh and clear. Hypnotism
increases metabolic activity, meditation reduces it. In
fact, those who practise pranayam and meditation
regularly cannot be hypnotised easily.
Meditation is thought control: Thoughts do not come to us
by invitation. We become aware of them only after they
have arrived! They are like clouds in the sky. They come
and go on their own. Trying to control thoughts involves
effort and the key to a relaxed mind is effortlessness.
In meditation, we do not crave for good thoughts, nor are
we averse to bad thoughts. We simply witness and
transcend thoughts and move into that deep inner silent
space.
It helps escape from problem: On the contrary, meditation
empowers you to face problems with a smile. Skills
develop in us to handle situations in a pleasant and
constructive manner through yog and meditation. We
develop the ability to accept situations as they are and
take conscious action instead of brooding over the past
or worrying about the future. Meditation nurtures inner
strength and self-esteem. It acts like an umbrella during
rainy days. Challenges will arise but we can still move
ahead with confidence.
It's time consuming: You do not have to sit for hours to
have a deeper experience in meditation. The connection
with that deep inner core of your being, your source can
happen in just a fraction of a moment. Just a 20-minute
session of Sahaj Samadhi meditation every morning and
evening is sufficient to take you on this beautiful
inward journey. As you practise, the quality of your
meditation will improve gradually.
You will become a sanyasi: You do not have to give up
material life to meditate or progress on the spiritual
path. In fact, the quality of your enjoyment improves
greatly as you meditate. With a relaxed and peaceful
mind, you are able to live happily and make others in
your surroundings happy too.
Meditatation is time-bound: Anytime and all directions
are good for meditation. Just keep in mind that your
stomach should not be full; else, you may doze off.
Meditating during sunrise and sunset keeps you calm and
energetic throughout the day.
- Exotica, the wellness and lifestyle magazine from The
Pioneer Group, available in all rooms of select five-star
hotel chains across the country
More at:
http://dailypioneer.com/sunday-edition/sundayagenda/spirituality-agenda/94636-what-really-is-meditation.html
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
Shri Shri Ravi Shankar enumerates 10 myths about the art
of meditation
Spirituality
Agenda
The Pioneer
Saturday, September 15, 2012
With close to six billion minds active from moment to
moment, there are endless streams of thoughts on every
aspect of creation. Some thoughts perceive reality the
way it is, some make up the imagination and some are
simply misconceptions. While there are myths about many
topics, the most popular one is meditation. Utter the
word �meditation' and all kinds of images and notions
conjure up: Is this for me? I can't sit for long hours?
Who wants to meditate anyways?
Here is a list of the most common myths, hoping that any
confusion that you might have is cleared.
Meditation is concentration: Meditation is actually de-
concentration. Concentration is a benefit of meditation.
Meditation is absolute relaxation of the mind. It is
letting go. When the mind is relaxed, we can concentrate
better.
Meditation is a religious practice: Yog and meditation
are ancient practices that transcend all religions. In
fact, meditation has the ability to bring religions,
nations and faiths together. Just like the sun shines for
everyone and the wind blows for everyone, meditation
benefits everyone.
Sit in the lotus posture to meditate: The Patanjali yog
sutras is perhaps the most scientific and detailed study
that man has produced dealing with the nature of the
mind. Sthirasukhamasanam, a yog sootr by Patanjali,
explains that while meditating, it is more important to
be comfortable and steady. This helps us to have a deeper
experience. You can sit cross-legged, on a chair, or in a
sofa. It is good to maintain a posture where the spine is
erect and shoulders are relaxed.
Meditation is for old people: Meditation is universal and
adds value to lives of people of all age groups. One can
start mediating at the age of eight or nine. Just like a
shower keeps the body clean, meditation is like the
shower for the mind. "After practising meditation, I do
not get as angry as before," shares Sandra, a school
student.
"Just a few minutes of meditation keep me calm all day,"
shares 19-year-old Karan, another young meditator.
Meditation is hypnotising yourself: Meditation is an
antidote for hypnosis. In hypnotism, the person is not
aware of what he or she is going through. Meditation is
complete awareness of each and every moment. Hypnotism
takes the person through the same impressions that are in
his mind. Meditation frees us from these impressions so
that our consciousness is fresh and clear. Hypnotism
increases metabolic activity, meditation reduces it. In
fact, those who practise pranayam and meditation
regularly cannot be hypnotised easily.
Meditation is thought control: Thoughts do not come to us
by invitation. We become aware of them only after they
have arrived! They are like clouds in the sky. They come
and go on their own. Trying to control thoughts involves
effort and the key to a relaxed mind is effortlessness.
In meditation, we do not crave for good thoughts, nor are
we averse to bad thoughts. We simply witness and
transcend thoughts and move into that deep inner silent
space.
It helps escape from problem: On the contrary, meditation
empowers you to face problems with a smile. Skills
develop in us to handle situations in a pleasant and
constructive manner through yog and meditation. We
develop the ability to accept situations as they are and
take conscious action instead of brooding over the past
or worrying about the future. Meditation nurtures inner
strength and self-esteem. It acts like an umbrella during
rainy days. Challenges will arise but we can still move
ahead with confidence.
It's time consuming: You do not have to sit for hours to
have a deeper experience in meditation. The connection
with that deep inner core of your being, your source can
happen in just a fraction of a moment. Just a 20-minute
session of Sahaj Samadhi meditation every morning and
evening is sufficient to take you on this beautiful
inward journey. As you practise, the quality of your
meditation will improve gradually.
You will become a sanyasi: You do not have to give up
material life to meditate or progress on the spiritual
path. In fact, the quality of your enjoyment improves
greatly as you meditate. With a relaxed and peaceful
mind, you are able to live happily and make others in
your surroundings happy too.
Meditatation is time-bound: Anytime and all directions
are good for meditation. Just keep in mind that your
stomach should not be full; else, you may doze off.
Meditating during sunrise and sunset keeps you calm and
energetic throughout the day.
- Exotica, the wellness and lifestyle magazine from The
Pioneer Group, available in all rooms of select five-star
hotel chains across the country
More at:
http://dailypioneer.com/sunday-edition/sundayagenda/spirituality-agenda/94636-what-really-is-meditation.html
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
Sep 17, 2012, 7:42:05 PM9/17/12
to
Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:
Forwarded message from M. D.
Yog & Hinduism
Thursday, December 2, 2010
An excellent summary article by Ramesh Rao in today's UK Guardian...
It is wrong to deny that yog has its origins in Hinduism
Yog has been shamelessly rebranded to make it more acceptable to
western culture, but this is based on a lie
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/dec/02/yog-hindu-rebranded-wrongly
A 2002 survey of Americans showed that more than half the population
expressed an interest in practicing yog, and a 2004 news report
claimed that there were nearly 15.5 million yog practitioners in the
country. Nearly 77% of the practitioners of yog are women, and half
of the yog enthusiasts have a college degree.
In the small college at which I teach in rural Virginia, at which
participation in at least one form of physical education is required,
yog classes are the first to fill up -- not aerobic dance, not
fitness walking, and certainly not weight-lifting. Yog Journal, the
most popular magazine for yog enthusiasts, now has a paid circulation
of 350,000 and a readership of more than 1,000,000. Yog has indeed
been embraced by Americans.
But as yog became more popular, and as the industry grew to be worth
nearly six billion dollars, and as a variety of savvy marketers begin
branding their "special" yog techniques, it was hard not to notice
that few yog teachers and journals mentioned the origins of the
practice and its connection to Hinduism. Yog was "secularised" to rid
it of any taint of a "pagan" tradition. The practice, the savvy
marketers claimed, was "a spiritual path, but not a religious one",
to calm the committed Christian who wanted to hang on to Jesus while
doing the "surya namaskara" (obeisance to the Sun).
Hindus are an accepting lot, and they believe that each should be
able to follow whatever spiritual path they chose, according to one's
"ishta" (desire) and "adhikara" (qualifications). And as one scholar
elegantly put it, Hinduism itself was "a rolling conference of
conceptual spaces, all of them facing all, and all of them requiring
all", enabling it to accommodate everyone in this grand cosmic
munificence, label or no label.
Alas, we love to categorise, and lay claim to God, goodness, and
"truth", and when those making monopolistic claims to these began to
dominate the world, and spread the idea of "religion" -- branding,
marketing, and enlarging market share of souls harvested and
converted -- we found the people of India (the new name for the old
Bharatavarsha) began to be labeled "Hindus" (an umbrella term to
identify all those who adhered to Indian spiritual/religious
traditions, not including Buddhism, Jainism, or Sikhism) and their
vast "rolling conference of conceptual spaces" got neatly pigeon-
holed as a religion -- a religion, very soon marked and demonised as
"heathen", "pagan", "kafr", and so on.
Thus, when a neophyte yog student, hanging on to Jesus, anxiously
queried, "Is yog part of Hinduism?", the savvy marketer claimed that
the origins of yog were lost in myth and mystery and that there "was
no indication that it was ever part of an organised religion",
accomplishing two things simultaneously -- reifying Hinduism as a
"religion" in the sense of "Abrahamic religions", and denying it as
the fount and foundation of yog.
Joining these local marketers were the Indian-origin marketers, with
the lead being taken by the savvy Deepak Chopra -- the glib, red-
sneakers-and-red-designer-glasses-wearing Hollywood guru who would
make PT Barnum proud. Thus, when Aseem Shukla of the Hindu American
Foundation wrote an essay in The Washington Post in April this year
arguing that there had been a deliberate attempt to represent yog as
separate from its origins in Hinduism, Chopra came pouncing.
Ironically, he was joining hands with those demonising Hinduism and
disemboweling it of its grand traditions. And when The New York
Times, in a front-page article, recently commended the Hindu American
Foundation for its intelligent activism, the nay-sayers screamed:
"Hindu fundamentalists!"
But what do Hindus, not the deracinated variety, actually want? It is
simply to urge the world to acknowledge that yog has its roots in the
millennia-old Indian traditions now known as Hinduism. There is no
demand that those who do yog profess any attachment to Hinduism, let
alone become Hindus! There is no tithe to be paid, no conversion
sought, no allegiance to a land and its people demanded. Hindus will
gladly acknowledge that some modern versions of yog that focus mostly
on shaping and controlling the body do have some Western innovators,
though few religion and yog scholars will deny the fact that yog
spread in the west because of the work of great teachers like T
Krishnamacharya, K Pattabhi Jois, and BKS Iyengar -- all doing their
morning and evening prayers to their chosen Hindu deities, and
proudly wearing their Hindu identity on their foreheads.
What should also be acknowledged is that most of the yog that is
taught and practiced in the West is "hutth yog", and that the focus
on the body was only a very minor aspect of yog delineated by the
great compiler of the yog aphorisms, Patanjali. In fact, of the 196
sutras in Patanjali's Yogasutras, only three focus on the body. The
primary aim of yog, Patanjali stressed in the second sutra, is to
still the mind for a transformation of consciousness.
Yog is a complete psychological system, with clear and definite
answers to explain the human condition and relieve us of our
psychological burdens. Alas, in the modern, westernised, noise-making
world, the argument presented by Hindus is under attack from the
professional anti-Hindu brigades, homegrown and foreign, whose aim is
to proclaim yog as "anaath" -- an orphan.
End of forwarded message from M. D.
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed
by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
this post may be reposted several times.
Yog & Hinduism
Thursday, December 2, 2010
An excellent summary article by Ramesh Rao in today's UK Guardian...
It is wrong to deny that yog has its origins in Hinduism
Yog has been shamelessly rebranded to make it more acceptable to
western culture, but this is based on a lie
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/dec/02/yog-hindu-rebranded-wrongly
A 2002 survey of Americans showed that more than half the population
expressed an interest in practicing yog, and a 2004 news report
claimed that there were nearly 15.5 million yog practitioners in the
country. Nearly 77% of the practitioners of yog are women, and half
of the yog enthusiasts have a college degree.
In the small college at which I teach in rural Virginia, at which
participation in at least one form of physical education is required,
yog classes are the first to fill up -- not aerobic dance, not
fitness walking, and certainly not weight-lifting. Yog Journal, the
most popular magazine for yog enthusiasts, now has a paid circulation
of 350,000 and a readership of more than 1,000,000. Yog has indeed
been embraced by Americans.
But as yog became more popular, and as the industry grew to be worth
nearly six billion dollars, and as a variety of savvy marketers begin
branding their "special" yog techniques, it was hard not to notice
that few yog teachers and journals mentioned the origins of the
practice and its connection to Hinduism. Yog was "secularised" to rid
it of any taint of a "pagan" tradition. The practice, the savvy
marketers claimed, was "a spiritual path, but not a religious one",
to calm the committed Christian who wanted to hang on to Jesus while
doing the "surya namaskara" (obeisance to the Sun).
Hindus are an accepting lot, and they believe that each should be
able to follow whatever spiritual path they chose, according to one's
"ishta" (desire) and "adhikara" (qualifications). And as one scholar
elegantly put it, Hinduism itself was "a rolling conference of
conceptual spaces, all of them facing all, and all of them requiring
all", enabling it to accommodate everyone in this grand cosmic
munificence, label or no label.
Alas, we love to categorise, and lay claim to God, goodness, and
"truth", and when those making monopolistic claims to these began to
dominate the world, and spread the idea of "religion" -- branding,
marketing, and enlarging market share of souls harvested and
converted -- we found the people of India (the new name for the old
Bharatavarsha) began to be labeled "Hindus" (an umbrella term to
identify all those who adhered to Indian spiritual/religious
traditions, not including Buddhism, Jainism, or Sikhism) and their
vast "rolling conference of conceptual spaces" got neatly pigeon-
holed as a religion -- a religion, very soon marked and demonised as
"heathen", "pagan", "kafr", and so on.
Thus, when a neophyte yog student, hanging on to Jesus, anxiously
queried, "Is yog part of Hinduism?", the savvy marketer claimed that
the origins of yog were lost in myth and mystery and that there "was
no indication that it was ever part of an organised religion",
accomplishing two things simultaneously -- reifying Hinduism as a
"religion" in the sense of "Abrahamic religions", and denying it as
the fount and foundation of yog.
Joining these local marketers were the Indian-origin marketers, with
the lead being taken by the savvy Deepak Chopra -- the glib, red-
sneakers-and-red-designer-glasses-wearing Hollywood guru who would
make PT Barnum proud. Thus, when Aseem Shukla of the Hindu American
Foundation wrote an essay in The Washington Post in April this year
arguing that there had been a deliberate attempt to represent yog as
separate from its origins in Hinduism, Chopra came pouncing.
Ironically, he was joining hands with those demonising Hinduism and
disemboweling it of its grand traditions. And when The New York
Times, in a front-page article, recently commended the Hindu American
Foundation for its intelligent activism, the nay-sayers screamed:
"Hindu fundamentalists!"
But what do Hindus, not the deracinated variety, actually want? It is
simply to urge the world to acknowledge that yog has its roots in the
millennia-old Indian traditions now known as Hinduism. There is no
demand that those who do yog profess any attachment to Hinduism, let
alone become Hindus! There is no tithe to be paid, no conversion
sought, no allegiance to a land and its people demanded. Hindus will
gladly acknowledge that some modern versions of yog that focus mostly
on shaping and controlling the body do have some Western innovators,
though few religion and yog scholars will deny the fact that yog
spread in the west because of the work of great teachers like T
Krishnamacharya, K Pattabhi Jois, and BKS Iyengar -- all doing their
morning and evening prayers to their chosen Hindu deities, and
proudly wearing their Hindu identity on their foreheads.
What should also be acknowledged is that most of the yog that is
taught and practiced in the West is "hutth yog", and that the focus
on the body was only a very minor aspect of yog delineated by the
great compiler of the yog aphorisms, Patanjali. In fact, of the 196
sutras in Patanjali's Yogasutras, only three focus on the body. The
primary aim of yog, Patanjali stressed in the second sutra, is to
still the mind for a transformation of consciousness.
Yog is a complete psychological system, with clear and definite
answers to explain the human condition and relieve us of our
psychological burdens. Alas, in the modern, westernised, noise-making
world, the argument presented by Hindus is under attack from the
professional anti-Hindu brigades, homegrown and foreign, whose aim is
to proclaim yog as "anaath" -- an orphan.
End of forwarded message from M. D.
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed
by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
this post may be reposted several times.
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
Sep 17, 2012, 9:34:19 PM9/17/12
to
YOG HELPS MAN COMMUNICATE WITH HIS BODY, MIND AND SOUL
By B. K. S. Iyengar
The Hindustan Times
February, 1999
This is a monthly column on yog by B. K. S. Iyengar, world-renowned
yog guru. Famous for his rigorous and scientific approach, his
emphasis has been on strict alignment and anatomy. Often he uses
props such as straps and blocks. Iyengar�s classes focus on a few
aasan for greater refinement, making his style applicable for
therapeutic purposes. Author of the bestselling book Light on Yoga,
he heads the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, and
teachers trained by him offer his style of yog to enthusiasts all
over the world.
When man has complete control over his physical, mental and
intellectual energies, he can lead a positive life. Yog is a
science that helps man communicate with his body, mind and soul. By
practising yog regularly, man attains mastery over himself.
Consequently, he is the master, and not victim, of circumstances.
There is a popular misconception that yog is only for those who
have the power of concentration. A study of the literature of yog
shows it can be practised by anyone, be he kshipta (wandering
mind), mudha (forgetful mind), vikshipta (oscillating mind),
ekagratha (one pointed mind) or niruddha (restrained mind), because
yog is based on physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual
disciplines.
Two-and-a-half millennia ago, sage Patanjali in his immortal
treatise, the yog Sutras, codified yog for posterity. The yog
Sutras are an all-encompassing study of the subject, comprising 196
sutras. On the strength of this treatise and his two works on
ayurveda and grammar, Patanjali came to be regarded as the foremost
thinker of his time. The average man may find it difficult to grasp
the intricacies of stilling the mind and merging the individual
soul (jeevatma) with the universal soul (paramatma). He can
understand what yog is by exploring the body. Communion and a
proper understanding exist between body and nerves, nerves and
mind, mind and intellect, will and consciousness. When these
vehicles of the jeevatma operate at the highest level, only pure
awareness remains.
yog is knowledge of the self. It encompasses knowledge relating to
the gross and subtle sheaths of the self that have to be purified
and perfected by uninterrupted practice and devotion. Man is a
product of intellect, emotions, action and determined will. While
the seat of intellect is the head, the seat of emotions is the
mind. The hand and feet are limbs for action. yog lays the
foundation for purity in actions, emotions or intellect.
Patanjali has enumerated eight steps of yog.
The first of these is yama (social discipline)-commandments
transcending creed, country, time, that include ahinsaa (non-
violence), satya (truth), brahmacharya (continence), asteya (non-
stealing) and aparigrah (non-coveting).
The second step is niyam (individual discipline) encompassing
saucha (purity), santosh (contentment), tapas (ardour or
austerity), swadhyay (study of the self) and eeshwar pranidhan
(dedication to the Lord).
The third step is aasan (posture) which brings physical as well as
mental health.
The fourth step is pranaayam (the control of breathing) which makes
the body and the mind fit instruments for concentration.
The fifth step is pratyahaar where the senses are brought under
control.
The sixth step is dharan -- complete absorption of the mind on a
single point or task.
When the objective flow of uninterrupted concentration reaches the
subjective state, the union of object and subject takes place to
transcend to the seventh step, dhyaan (meditation), at the peak of
which is samaadhi.
To reach samaadhi, peace in body and poise in the mind are absolute
prerequisites. Peace in body is acquired by practising aasan and
pranaayam-s.
When yog is practised with intelligence, penetrating each and every
corner of this empire (the body), the emperor, the soul, is
discovered.
yog is based on principles of morality (yama and niyama), physical
discipline (aasan and pranaayam), mental alertness (pratyahara and
dharana) and spiritual awakening (dhyaan and samadhi). We have been
endowed with a body through which the soul can express itself and
it is our duty to treat the body with respect.
In the forthcoming instal-ments in this series on yog, we shall
introduce you to the third and fourth limbs of ashtang yog -- aasan
and pranaayam. The remaining four limbs are a part of antaranga
sadhana and cannot be taught, only experienced.
Contact - Ramamani Iyengar, Memorial Yoga Institute, 1107 B/1
Shivaji Nagar, Pune 411 016; Telephone (0212) 356134
o o o
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
Sep 17, 2012, 9:59:18 PM9/17/12
to
The monthly magazine "Yog Sandesh" containing articles on
Yog, Ayurved, Culture, Refinement and Spirituality is
published in Hindi, English, Gujrati, Marathi, Punjabi,
Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Nepali, Kannada and Telugu. It
has a monthly readership of more than a million in India
and abroad.
http://www.divyayoga.com/divya-yog-mandir/b-undertakings-a-departments/yog-sandesh.html
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