What Is The Essence Of Yoga

What Is The Essence Of Meditation Through Prayer

Dear holy guruThank you very much for your article and the translation. I would like to take the time to answer. I think it is in the hands of ourselves how active we are to go the right path. Reading your articles gives me lots of food for thought and I can expand my knowledge and follow you with dedication. I learned that there are two types of people in Buddhism. First of all, those who grew up with Buddhism grew up with them, and the second group are those like myself who studied themselves and found out that Buddhism is the only true religion. That Buddhism speaks the truth and we can learn a lot to free ourselves from suffering. I am infinitely grateful for that.

Lotus Flower Estrade in Song Nguyen Tantra House

Tantra Mikaya

Bn dch ting Vit

Kính bch Thy tâm linh tôn quý!

Tantra Mikaya from Berlin

Con chân thành cm t n Thy ã vit bài vit này, ng thi con cm n o hu ã dch bài vit ca Thy sang ting Anh. Con c và suy ngh rt nhiu v bài vit ca Thy và con s chiêm nghim nhng li dy ca Thy thông qua nhng tri nghim ca bn thân.

Con ngh rng, khi Thy ã ch cho chúng con con ng úng thc hành, s tin tu ca chúng con trên con ng giác ng ph thuc vào chính s n lc tinh tn ca chúng con. Nhng bài vit ca Thy giúp con suy ngm rt nhiu, giúp con m mang kin thc Pht à và con có c nguyn c theo chân Thy vi s tn ty, n lc hành pháp.

Lotus Flower Estrade at night

Om Mani Padme Hum.

Philosophy And Meditation On Om

Brahman or the Supreme Being is the highest of all. Om is His name. So, Om is to be adored. Om is everything. Om is the symbol of Brahman. It is the word of power. It is the sacred monosyllable. It is the essence of the Vedas. It is the boat to take you to the other chore of fearlessness and immortality.

Pranava or Om is the greatest of all Mantras. It bestows liberation directly. All Mantras begin with Om. Every hymn begins with Om. Every Upanishad begins with Om. Gayatri begins with Om. The oblations that are offered to the various gods are preceded by the chanting of Om. The greatness of Om cannot be adequately described by anybody.

That place where all speech stops, all thoughts cease, where the function of the intellect and all organs stop, is Om. The goal or word which all Vedas praise, which all scriptures proclaim and wishing for which the aspirants lead the life of Brahmacharya is Om. Om is verily the highest. It is the best support. It is the highest Truth. He who knows Om is worshipped in the world of Brahman. He obtains verily whatever he desires.

Om is formed by adoring the letters A, U and M. A represents the beginning of the range of sound. U represents the middle. M represents the end. Thus Om covers the whole range of sound and words.

All triplets, such as, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva Virat, Hiranyagarbha, Ishvara Sattva, Rajas, Tamas waking state, dream state, deep sleep state creation, preservation and destruction, etc., are represented by Om.

What Is The Essence Of Yoga

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Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind, . The word Yoga comes from Sanskrit and means union.

Yoga is a spiritual science of self-realisation that has been developed in India thousands of years ago. Through Yoga we learn to master our body and mind to cultivate inner stillness and an ever growing realization of the innermost essence .

The traditional practice of Yoga is holistic by nature and includes every aspect of life. These aspects include universal ethics , personal ethics for self-purification , body cultivation through practice of postures , mastering of energy through breathing exercises , control over the senses of perception , concentration , and meditation .

The yogic journey guides us from the periphery/body to the center of our being/soul aiming to integrate and harmonize the various layers of our existence to achieve wholeness, health, and self-realization.

Yoga identifies five such layers of being that can be seen as Russian dolls nested within each other. The first layer is the physical body that encompasses the following four subtle layers: energetic/organic body , mental body , intellectual body , and ultimately our spiritual body or soul .

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How Do We Obtain Self

As Rishi Patanjali says, Yoga Chitta Vriti Nirodhah, which translates to Yoga is the silencing of the modification of the mind. Only by silencing the mind can we transcend the mind. With this transcendence, we begin our inner journey towards our True Self.

Yoga is an inner journey towards our True Self.

Although the main practice of yoga revolves around the mind, the first step towards yoga begins with the body known as asana practice. Hence, it is necessary to start yoga practice by bringing more attention and awareness to the body. Only when the body is in a balanced state or condition can we proceed further on the path of yoga or inner journey.

Teaching The Essence Of Yoga

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Hari Om Tat Sat.

This is the first in a series of articles on philosophy and spirituality in yoga that will present knowledge and practices yoga practitioners and teachers can use to embody the essence of yoga. The articles are intended to help you to further your own inner development and thereby better support other beings. As this series of articles progresses, you will learn concepts and techniques that will help you become aligned with the luminous intelligence at your core.

Yoga allows us to switch on the luminous, intuitive and creative part of ourselves. This part makes our lives a joyful, fulfilling, and successful journey. Without it, we live in a dull world of ignorance and monotony, searching for answers outside of ourselves. By connecting to the luminous parts of ourselves, we discover and experience the truth that everything we need to know is within. This is the blissful experience that yoga can give. It radically transforms our lives.

What is Yoga?

There are many definitions of yoga.

Beyond Asana

I remember as a young doctor meeting a young man who was paralysed from the neck down. He was dying from a disease called muscular dystrophy. Even though he was suffering, he radiated an amazing calm and wisdom. His courage in the face of great difficulty was inspirational. In fact, many doctors and patients would visit him in order to feel better. He never taught me asana but was one of my greatest yoga teachers.

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How To Ensure Holistic Fitness Of Mind Body

Is Yoga all about physical exercises?

One of the oldest Yogic texts supposedly compiled 1700 years back called Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra and the Sutra 1.2 states ‘Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha’ which means Yoga is the cessation of all mental fluctuations. In this Sutra, Patanjali who was a sage who compiled the Yoga Sutras establishes that the aim of Yoga is mental clarity and purity.

The eight limbs of Yoga

In Yoga Sutra 2.29 the path and the eight limbs of Yoga are specified which are Yama , Niyamah , Asana , Pranayama , Pratyahaar , Dharna , Dhyan and Samadhi .

Yamas are the self-regulations of non-violence, truthfulness, righteousness, continence and non-covetousness. All these have to put into practice by the person who practices Yoga. For example, as regards non-violence, one has to be non-violent in the thinking process, speech, dealings with others and in even in regarding your own self .

Learning under a qualified trainer

Raja Yoga: The Essence Of Yoga

When the word Yoga is mentioned, most people immediately think of some physical postures for relaxing and limbering up the body. This is one aspect of the Yogic science, but actually only a very small part and relatively recent in development. The physical Yoga, or Hatha Yoga, was primarily designed to facilitate the real practice of Yoganamely, the understanding and complete mastery over the mind. So the actual meaning of Yoga is the science of the mind.

Traditionally, the word Yoga by itself refers to Raja Yoga, the mental science. With the current burgeoning of interest in expanding consciousness and in mental science in general, it is natural that we turn to the ancient science of Raja Yoga. There are, of course, many Western approaches to the study and control of mind, each advancing various different concepts and techniques. But compared to these, the ancient Yogic science is a great grandsire. For thousands of years the Yogis have probed the mysteries of the mind and consciousness.

The primary text of Raja Yoga is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The Yoga Sutras comprise the first and foremost scripture of Yoga and within these 200 short sutras, the entire science of Yoga is delineated.

Book 1, Sutra 2: Yogas chitta vritti nirodhah.

The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga.

Book 1, Sutra 3: Tada drashtuh svarupevasthanam.

Then the Seer abides in His own nature.

OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. OM Tat Sat.

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Prayer For A Karma Yogin

Atma tvam girija mitih sahacharah pranah sareeram griham.

Puja te vishyopabhogarachana nidra samadhisthitih,

Sancharah padoyoh pradakshinavidhih stotrani sarva giro

Yadyat karma karomi tat tad akhilam sambhotavaradhanam.

Repeat the Sloka at the end of your meditation.

Thou art Atma: Buddhi is thy consort, Parvati the Pranas are thy attendants this body is thy house the action of sensual enjoyment is thy worship deep sleep is the establishment of Samadhi walking by my feet is the perambulation around Thee all my speeches are thy praises whatever actions I perform, are all Thy worship Oh Sambho!

Chapter III

How Yoga Still The Minds Thought

Suppose we are doing a physical posture, breathing exercise or meditation. In the process of finding deepen and subtle physical experience in yogic practice, we focused the mind on a specific task.

In this way, body & mind helps each other to find its stability.

Once body and mind found the correct balance, we no more dependent on partial & deceptive data supplied through 5 physical senses.

This process helps in flow awareness inwardly & thought-patterns stop creating in mind.

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How Do We Start The Journey Into The Eight Fold Path Of Yoga

Ashtanga yoga as described by Rishi Patanjali depicts the entire map of our inner journey on the eight fold path of Yoga. Eight fold path of yoga depicts the inner journey in a step-by-step methodology.

No doubt, there are numerous ways and platforms to experience yoga. But a yoga teacher training course is the most profound way to experience those eight limbs or steps of yoga. This experience also helps in receiving the skill to teach it to others.

But to really grasp the experiential, transformational and holistic aspects of yoga through a yoga teacher training course, one needs to practice meditationthe state of no-mind. This is because the path of yoga is not of thinking, pondering, reasoning or analyzing. We cannot reduce the ultimate Truth of life into knowledge in the way that we normally do in standard educational systems.

We experience yoga in its true essence when we integrate our body, mind and heart to feel the Oneness or Union in the deepest core of our existence.

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Brahman Or God Exists

Para Brahman cannot be demonstrated. But it is possible to infer the existence from certain empirical factors. The existence of Brahman is known from the fact of its being the SELF of everyone. For everyone is conscious of the existence of his self and never thinks I am not. If the existence of his self were not known, everyone would think: I am not. This self, of whose existence all are conscious, is Brahman. There is an inherent feeling in everybody: I exist-Aham Asmi.

You dream sometimes that you are dead and that your relatives are weeping. Even in that supposed death state, you see and hear them weeping. This clearly indicates that, even after the apparent death, life really persists. You exist even after the physical sheath is thrown out. That existence is Atman or Brahman or the Supreme Self.

Close your eyes and imagine for a moment that you are dead. You can never do so. You can never think that you will not exist after death. You will imagine that your dead body is lying flat and that you are witnessing the dead body. This definitely proves that you are always the witnessing subject or Sakshi.

What is common in trees, ants, birds, stones and man? Existence. A tree exists. A bird exists. A stone exists. A man exists. Existence is Brahman.

In sleep there are no senses, no objects, no mind and yet you experience the highest bliss. Wherefrom have you derived the bliss? The mind rests in Brahman during sleep and it is from Brahman that this Bliss is derived.

The Spirit Of Indian Spiritual Inheritance

Immediately succeeding the devotion to the principle of Ahimsa, comes the practice of the excellence of truth. To the spiritual genius, Truth is more than truth-speaking it is God or the Absolute it is that which triumphs, not untruth. Again, Truth is right untruth is wrong that which elevates one and takes one nearer to God is right, that which brings one down and takes one away from God is wrong. And that God towards which our whole inner being must rise, in the indivisible unity of conscious existence, the infinity of delight and awareness. Control over passions constitutes the essence of truth self-denial or refraining from greedy indulgence is truth to permit the spiritual element in us triumph is truth. Truth is a life in the eternal. Untruth is change, decay and death. Love is truth hatred is untruth harmony is truth disharmony is untruth. There is no greater sin than hatred and battle-the pungent word and the insolent action, the arrogance and the uncharitableness, the egoistic self-assertion and vehement action of the selfish impulse. Relative truths are valid only insofar as they do not run against the grain of absolute truth which is the Eternal in the highest sense.

The knowledge of this unity of life and the proper moral and the ethical attitude required to start the process of realising it are achieved through being directly instructed by the teacher who is truly advanced in knowledge and has attained Self-perfection.

Chapter I

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Importance Of Keeping A Spiritual Diary

The keeping up of a daily spiritual diary is an indispensable requisite and of paramount importance. Those who are already in the habit of keeping it know its incalculable advantages. Diary is a whip for goading the mind towards God. It shows the way to freedom and eternal bliss. It is your Guru. It is the eye-opener. It develops the Manana-Sakti or the power of reflection. It will help you to destroy all your evil qualities and to be regular in your spiritual practices. If you regularly maintain a diary, you will get solace, peace of mind and quick progress in the spiritual path. Those who desire to grow in morality and spirituality, those who wish to evolve rapidly must keep a daily record of their actions.

All great men of the world keep diaries. The life of Benjamin Franklin is known to you all. He kept a daily diary. He noted down the number of untruths and wrong actions for which he was responsible during the course of the day. In course of time, he became a perfect man. He had perfect control over his mind. Mahatma Gandhi used to advise the students to keep a daily diary always.

Compare the total of the last month with those of the previous months. Find out whether you have progressed in your Sadhana or not. If you have not progressed, increase your practice daily. You can do more Sadhana and evolve quickly.

How To Find Right Or Wrong Action

Have right thinking. Use your reason and commonsense. Follow the injunctions of the Sastras. Consult the code of Manu or Yajnavalkya Smriti whenever you have doubts. You will be able to find out whether you are doing right or wrong action. If you say, Sastras are countless. They are like ocean. I can hardly understand the truths that are inculcated. I cannot fathom and gauge their depths. There are contradictions. I am puzzled and bewildered. Then strictly follow the words of a Guru on whom you have absolute faith and confidence. The third way is: Have fear in God. Consult your conscience. The shrill, inner voice will guide you. As soon as you hear the voice, do not delay even a moment. Start the action diligently without consulting anybody. Practise to hear the inner voice in the morning at four. If there is fear, shame, doubt or pricking of conscience, know that you are doing a wrong action. If there is joy, exhilaration or satisfaction, understand that you are doing the right action.

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Metaphysics Of The Inner Man

The Physical body, the astral body, Prana, intellect or Buddhi, the instinctive mind, the spiritual mind and the spirit are the seven principles of man. Buddhi is pure reason. The seat of Buddhi is just below the crown of the head in the pineal gland of the brain. Buddhi is manifested only in those persons who have developed right intuitive discrimination or Viveka. The ordinary reason of the worldly people is termed practical reason, which is dense and has limitations.

Prana is the vital force, life-energy or Jiva-Sakti. It is the eternal symbol of God or Brahman. It is Hiranyagarbha or Golden Son of God. It is the link between the astral and physical bodies. Prana is divided into physical Prana and psychic Prana. Breathing is external manifestation of physical Prana. All thoughts are due to the vibrations of psychic Prana in the Chitta.

The causal body or Karana Sarira is the support for the astral and physical bodies. Will is Para Sakti. Get this Sakti-you will get Sat or Existence.