Ashtange Yoga in Patanji"s Yoga Darsan.

The credit for raising the status of  Yoga Sastra to that of a  Darsana Sastra goes entirely to sage Patanjali. He compiled the entire Yoga Sastra  into 196 aphorisms or sutras and presented them in his yoga darsana. This treatise even today is considered as the most authentic and foundational work on yoga. In fact, the story relating to the miraculous birth of Patanjali is also very interesting.

The Story of Miraculous Birth of Patanjali

Once, as Lord Vishñu was half asleep on the serpentine coils of Sesha Nag, Lord Siva began performing his magical dance( Tandev) Having withnessd this enchanting dance of Siva, Lord vishnu become overjoyed with exuberance. He was so glad that his body started to bloat up owing to his overflowing happiness. This raised his weight immensely. This increase in weight of lord Vishnu became unbearable for Sesha Nagand so he started hissing. Seeing this, Laxmi, the consort of lord Vishnu woke him up from his ecstacy. Having learnt the reason for his ecstacy and subsequent increase in weight, even Sesha nag wished to experience the same and expressed his desire to witnessthe dance of Lord Siva. Lord Vishnu then commanded him to be born as a human being for the fulfilment of his desire.A childless woman named 'Ganika' was living in country of Gonarda and was doing penance to beget a child. One day as she was offering water to the Sun god with folded hands Sesha Nag fall into her hands in a subtle form and laterbecamea child. Ganika accepted him  as her son. He was named Patanjali as he fell (patah in Sanskrit means falling down) in the folded hands (anjali).

Yoga shastra

 

Scope of Yoga :

Now-a-days, many are attracted towards yoga. In fact,in many western

countries, learning yoga has become a fad. Now-a-days, even in India,

everyone is slowly turning to yoga. 21stJune is being celebrated as

the International Yoga Day and therefore it is imperative for us to know

the scope of yogaand understand what precisely yogais all about.

Yoga - An Art:

Life is an art of living. Yoga raises the standard of living. Therefore study

of yoga is also an art. Its practice leads to towering thoughts of

the practitioner and helps the person to wade through the difficult times of

life bravely. Therefore Shri Krishna calls Yogahkarmasu kau alam or

an art of living. It helps in the conservation and promotion of qualities

like objectivity, friendship, devotion, happiness, satisfaction,

concentration and non-accumulation of what is not needed and results in

the formation of a virtuous and ideal human being.

Yoga A Science:

Just as intoner fields of science, there is importance of observation and

experimentation in yoga too. Yoga has a great scope for research. Yoga is

the science of body and mind in which one gains control on mind by

restraining the body. Practice of Yoga results in healthy and happy life. By

achieving balance between the body and the mind, the path to self

realization gets well laid. This balance in life is achieved through yoga by

skillful and systematic practice.

Yoga A Philosophy:

Ordinarily, man is very emotional in nature. He is often troubled and

tormented by the duality of sadness-happiness, insult-praise, and

 failure success affecting his mind and body. But a practitioner's minds

unaffected by such tumults of life. This is because he acquires the

teaching of being unfazed by such emotional drama in life and maintains

equanimity in all situations.

Yoga is a philosophy that elevates a person in search of the ultimate truth,

from the mundane sensual world to the spiritual sphere in a systematic

way. Such is the universality of application of yoga.

Definitions of Yoga :

1) Yog scittavrtti nirodhah:

Yoga means arresting of all the mental activities. Such is the definition given in the secondaphorism(sutra) of Samadhu pada, the first  chapter in the Patanjali's yogadarsana.

2) Swaswarupé samasannata'

This definition of yoga is given in Vedanta.

3) 'Yujyate anéna iti yogah'

Yoga is a process of joining/uniting. It is the union of individual

consciousness with the universal consciousness. It is the realization of

non-duality of all existence.

4) 'Manah prashamanopayah yoga i (3.9.32)

Yoga is the technique of calming the mind.

5) Samatvam yoga uccate . (Bhagavad Gita 2.48)

Yoga is equanimity.

6) Yogah karmasu kausalam (Bhagavad Gita 2.48)

Yoga is the skilfulness in action. Yoga means the ability to act effectively.

Thus a variety of definitions of yoga are given by different sages, the

Vedas and the Gita.

Today there can be seen many currents and trends inYoga but the most

ancient and the most widely accepted one is the Patanjali Yoga dar an.

In addition to it, the treatises of Hatha yoga namely, Hatha yoga Pradipika and Ghérañda Samhita  are also popular. Among them, we are going to study Patanjali Yoga Darsan in detail.

Yoga shastra Chapter 1

Significance.

      The greatest contribution of India to the world community is its gift of yoga. Today's disintegrated and  stressful living is  necessitating every individual to choose yogic way of life. In fact in yoga the body, mind and the intellect are united with the indwelling soul. This union further extends into integration of an individual with the family, family with the society, society with the nation and nation with the whole universe. Even though the need for such an integration might not be felt by an individual at every level, nevertheless every individual experiences a compelling

desire to look inward, calm and free the mind from the unending flow of

thoughts and remain 'settled' in the self at one time or the other. This

natural urge of human beings is the reason for the spread of yogafar and

wide. Of late, in many European countries and in America, it has been

made compulsory to establish yoga departments in hospitals and clinics.

     Now-a-days, the 21st of June is observed as the International Yoga Day. In

the backdrop of this growing popularity of yoga, we must try to

understand what exactly is yoga all about? Yoga is universal. Yoga is the

great legacy of ancient India, which every individual must incorporate as

his/her lifestyle. The need of the hour is to acquire exhaustive knowledge

of this great wealth called yoga.

Definition, Nature and Scope of Yoga

Nature of yoga

In this chapter, will discuss about the nature, scope, various definitions of yogaand try to understand Patanjali Yoga Darsan. we will  also  discuss about various schools of yoga and the concept of caturanga yoga in Hatha Yoga pradipika.

The word yoga is derived from the Sanskritroot 'Yuj', Yuj means to join/ unite or integrate with the 'oneness' .Yoga is the experience of that eternal happiness  which one getsafterovercoming all the duality and uniting with the absolute truth. It is an instrument that frees us from suffering, disease and mental activity. It enables us to maintain equanimity (stableness of mind) and remain peaceful and composed even while being part of worldly sufferings Yoga is an art of realizing the self and the ultimate truth. Sagepatanjalidefinedyogaas 'cittavrttinirodhah' i.e. Arresting of mental activity. References to Yoga sastra can  be can be found in the VedasandUpanishads. (Typically the Vedas consist of three parts: Samhita (Mantra) portion which is the core of the Vedas, the Brhmaña part or the procedural aspects and the Athanyakas in which Upanishadsform a part.) Though not much is written in the samhitapart of the Vedasabout yoga, a lot can, however, be found in the Upanishads.For example, the Ka hopanishaddescribes the nature of yoga and its methods of practice. A good deal of information on yogais also found spreadinother Upanishads. The Bhagavad gita, which is considered as the essence of the Vedas and the Upanishads, contains eighteen chapters and each chapter is named after yoga.It be gins with Vish dYoga (yoga of melancholia) in chapter one and concludes with Moksha Sannyas Yoga(yoga of renunciation for liberation) in the last chapter. In Gita, the 6thchapter is completely dedicated to Yoga astra andits practice. Yoga means " citta vrtti  nirodhah" i.e. arresting the fretting mind and its activities .Bhagavad Gita tells us that this control can be attained in a number of ways, through various techniques, tools and means. It describes a variety of techniques such as Dhyana Yoga , Karma Yoga " Bhakti Yoga"etc.,to attain the ultimate objective of human life - the libation of soul (Moksha). One can choose the path he/she likes. We find references to san s or specific body postures at the end of ' Narad' purana. Some treatises like 'Vishnu purana', Garud purana also make allusions to yoga.

     Indian philosophy is also known as darana sastrathat contains six vaidik  darsanas. One of them is Yogasatra. Maharshi Patanjali, who is believed to have lived around 2500 CE, successfully elevated the stature of yoga  sastra to  the level of darsana sastra by systematizing it.But yoga has been described in the Vedas, the Upanishads and thePuranaslong before sage Patanjali systematized it. This raises the question as to who was thefirst propounder of yoga. According to the

Yadnyavalkyasmruti  yoga first emanated from the teachings of Hiranayagarbha. Saga Patanjali only systematized and  documented Yoga shastra as taught by Hiranyagarbha. Therefore Patanjali gave due credit to the pioneers of  yoga shastra by beginning his treatise with the words- atha yoganu sanam   which  means here I am presenting the discipline of Yoga. With the use of "amu" in the 1st

 aporism. Sage Patanjali disowned the credit of being the first proponent of yoga.

 

To be continue.... 

Yog Shastra Chapter 1

Unit Structure

1.0 Objectives

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Significance

1.2.1 Definition, Nature and Scope of Yoga

1.2.2 What is Patanjalis  yogadarsan ?

1.2.3 Why is hatha  Yoga called caturanga yoga?

1.2.4 What is Gheranda Samhita?

1.0 Objectives

 By the end of this unit, the student will be able to:

1) Understand the definition, meaning, nature and scope of Yoga.

2) Understand the eight limbed yoga of Patanjali.

3) Know different aspects of .

4) Know the seven limbs of Gheranda  a Samhita.

1.1 Introduction

     In today s scientific era, man has achieved success in many fields. Internet has brought the world communities together. Within hours, we can travel across the world. Man has already stepped on the moon and even wishes land on other planetsas well. With the advancements in the medical field, organ transplantation is now a reality. Though man has been able to design and develop time-and-labor-saving machines that provide physical comforts, yet he is not happy.

       Today new generation is lending  a fact paced life that was never heard before, which on one hand is providing them with financial independence and technological advancements but on the other hand they are leading a  very stressful life with strained relationships. They can hardly enjoy the fruits of their labor as they are highly stressed out. Stress has given rise to many diseases like insomnia (lack of sleep), diabetes, high blood pressure (B.P), irritation and many such problems as if these diseases are a curse on our generation. We and our society are responsible for this state of affairs. Faulty lifestyles, wrong food habits, environmental imbalances caused by humans, undue emphasis on competitiveness and carnal pleasures, social, financial and psychological insecurities, low nutritional food and many such factors are affect  individual's  as well  as societal wellbeing. Even the tremendous scientific developments in the modern era are unable to address the problems concerning our health and wellbeing.

Yoga, one of the great tradional systems of ancient India is a perfect remedy for all the physical, mental, emotional maladies that the modern man is suffering from. In fact. Yoga is the only ray of hope that can bring holistic   wellness  to the human beings. Therefore  the study of the yoga sastara is the need of the time. Yogis not merely a physical exercise or a treatment or technique but is a way of life in which the body, mind, intellect and the soul are aligned and integrated with the collective consciousness. Thus yoga is a way of life. It is based on the philosophy of unity and oneness. Just as a limb separated from the body or a branch separated from a tree cannot survive, similarly a person disconnected with others, nature or soul, emotionally or otherwise, cannot remain happy for for long nor can he progress in life. Yoga sadhana  is not physical posture's regulated breathing or an effort to

achieve concentration; it is also not just a one hour of practice in the morning but twenty-four hour integration with that unitary self that has manifested itself into myriad bodies and forms of the visible world. In this lesson, we will learn about the nature and various streams of yoga shastra.

                                                                                             

 to be continue...