Yoga and Meditation! These two words get used a lot in today's society but very few know what either word means. Mention Yoga to the common or newage person and you will get answers back of how yoga is a physical exercise that brings you relaxation and good Health; perhaps someone might add that it is a spiritual practise and it brings you peace and understanding. Mention Meditation to the same group of people and you will most likely get the impression that Meditation is all about sitting cross-legged on the floor, chanting Aum whilst contemplating Universal Love and Peace in a sort of haphazard way. Listen closely, it may offend some but it will be the truest thing you hear today....... It's all CRAP!!! That's right, CRAP!!! Yoga and Meditation are much more serious and useful practices than what is "generally" called Yoga or Meditation. Meditation, as is practiced by most people these days, is nothing more than spiritual masturbation, it doesn't serve much of a purpose but it sure makes you feel good.
No doubt that paragraph just lost me some of my readers, Oh well, this article is obviously not for them. People who have no time for having their beliefs challenged will not find this article, or for that matter the Order of the Silver Star, to their tastes. Oh well, there are horses for courses so each to their own.
Yoga is not easy. It is a very hard practice that takes both a lot of time and effort to achieve any level of skill in. You need to be serious and devoted towards the practise of Yoga if it is to become anything meaningful at all. There is much more to it than contemplating your umbilicus and talking about things you don't know or understand, but you would never know that if you followed the school of thought that seems to prevail on this subject in today's society. So who is responsible for degrading this holy science to that of total rubbish? You can blame the likes of Theosophists (people who talk about yoga but don't actually do it), New-agers (just like Theosophists only nowhere near as knowledgeable and a hell of a lot more childish in their approach), all those Swami's and Guru's who beg for your dollar and give themselves great mystical titles such as "Maha Raja Swami Agabundy", and their empty-headed followers who know nothing other than the Herd Mentality. Through the course of time, and being effected by the greed, ignorance, or spiritual pride of the teacher or student, Yoga has degenerated into the mush that now confronts us in the 90's.
"Well what is Yoga, and how do we practise Meditation then?" I hear you challenge. Well seeing as the last paragraph would have offended most people who had both a preconceived idea of Yoga and a closed mind, it should be safe to answer that question. This is because if you are reading this far it shows that you haven't fully swallowed the rubbish that has been fed most people and/ or that you have an open mind that is willing to investigate and experiment to find out the validity of my statements. It is to this rare kind of individual (extra emphasis on the word individual) that I write this article. Welcome! I hope you find some useful information in this article.
To understand what Yoga is it would probably be wise if we knew what Yoga translated to in English; after all, an objects name should give us a hint to its qualities shouldn't it? A direct translation from the Sanskrit to English would render the word as meaning Union. "Union? What's that got to do with sitting cross-legged on the ground and intoning Aum whilst contemplating Love and Peace?" I hear you ask. The answer is of course an emphatic NOTHING! Yoga is quite simply, as the name suggests, union.
What do I mean by union? What is united? How do I achieve this Union? These are all questions that the intelligent reader will ask himself/herself during the reading of this article. It is my task to answer these questions as best I can. Before going any further I would like to ask the reader to take on the role of the Scientist here. Forget the Oriental and Mystical balderdash that has been spun around Yoga and attempt to see it as it is, that is, a science of the mind and spirit (whatever that word means). Actually leave out the idea of spirit altogether for the moment as this might cloud the scientific viewpoint. We had better stick with what we think we know exists, that is the mind. Be a keen observer; accept nothing I say as being true. Question and analyse what is said and put the techniques outlined into practice. Treat the whole thing as an experiment. By doing this, you will discover the truth of what Yoga is as well as come to an understanding of its principles. Our method is that of Science, our aim is that of Religion; this should become your motto when attempting the practises of Yoga.
Yoga, that is union, is the uniting of two opposite objects to become a third. In the first place, as in the yoga discipline we call meditation, it is the union of the seer and the seen, the Meditator and the object meditated upon. Technically this idea of union can be extended to all things, for example atoms such as hydrogen and oxygen. By uniting these atoms (in the right proportions) we get water. Water is the result of the Yoga, that is union, of these atoms. This union is what is meant by the word "love" that is written in the book of the Law. One could go on a long time talking about union, giving examples of it etc but I will not bore you any longer. I think the point has been fairly well established by now. Yoga is Union!
When we talk of Yoga we generally confine this idea to that of the religious practices of the Hindu. It is in this sense that we will address Yoga for the remainder of this article; but please remember that this Idea of Yoga can be extended to all things and not just the religious practise that goes by its name. If you can understand this you have already come a long way to being able to understand Yoga.
What is the aim of Yoga? Funnily enough it is that of union. The less enlightened of us would say that its goal is to unite ourselves with God. The more enlightened of us (but by no means the most enlightened of us) would say it is to unite the self with the All, that is, the Absolute. So, seeing that the self is to be united with the Absolute, thus losing the whole idea of self, it would also be safe to assume that the aim of yoga is total destruction of ourselves, that is, that part of us that insists that we have a Self and that we are separate from the universe.
It is the set of practices used by the Hindu to achieve this aim that is commonly called Yoga. Yoga as a religious practise basically exists under five headings: Raja Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Bhakta Yoga, Gnana Yoga, and Karma Yoga. In this article we will be concentrating mainly on Raja Yoga, and a little on Hatha Yoga. The other kinds of Yoga will only be touched on briefly and will perhaps become the subject of another article.
So lets get straight to it shall we? Raja Yoga is the Yoga of the Mind, it is union by Will. All of the practices of Rajah Yoga have to do with getting total control of the mind and its exercises are all purely mental. Raja Yoga is the strictest of mental training and apart from Union with the Absolute, tends at the very least to build a formidably strong will and an extremely focused mind. It is also mind numbingly boring and tedious to most people (me included). The fact that Raja Yoga takes a huge amount of will power just to overcome this tedium is the stumbling block for many an aspirant. It is kind of a catch 22 situation. If you don't do the practices you will not develop the necessary strength of will, but at the same time you need that strong will even to continue. I mention this only so that you can see that perseverance and discipline are the keys to success.
To successfully practice Raja Yoga one also needs to practice a little Hatha Yoga; the reasons for which will be explained soon. Hatha Yoga is the Yoga that deals with the body, and is union by courage. There can be no Raja Yoga without Hatha Yoga and it would seem that the opposite could also apply.
Raja Yoga can be said to consist of mainly four practices, some of which can also be viewed as the results of the practices. The practices are Pratyahra, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. There is another called Pranayama that to my mind pertains to both Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga but is probably better suited to the Hatha Yoga category. Pratyahra is making the mind introspective. Dharana is concentration; it is the focusing of the mind on one point or idea to the exclusion of all other thoughts. Dhyana is the outpouring of the mind on the subject concentrated upon; it is meditation proper. Samadhi is, for lack of a better word, super-consciousness.
As I mentioned before, if we want to have success with Raja Yoga it will be necessary to also know and practices a little Hatha Yoga. There are many practices that go into this, the Yoga of purifying the body, but there are only two Hatha Yoga practices that concern us at this time. They are Asana and Pranayama. I should give you a full account of what these practises are, as well as an explanation of Yama and Niyama before continuing with the discourse on Raja Yoga.
Asana, which literally means "posture", is the holding of the body in one particular position (exactly, no movement aloud) for a long period of time. Although many spiritists would have you believe that Asana is relegated to the posture known as the lotus position (the position that most westerners think of when they think of Budda), Asana is actually any posture that is both steady and easy. This being said, it is usually a good Idea that this posture should be seated rather than lying down and the spine and neck should be erect and straight. It is better to be seated than lying down because there is less of a tendency to fall asleep which believe me is always a good possibility in the early days because the practices are so very, very, boring. The spine and neck need to be erect so that Prana (energy) can flow properly and not be blocked.
Pranayama literally means "control of energy". Many people translate this as control of breath (Prana meaning both breath and energy) which is true in one case but it is also misleading. This misunderstanding is caused because one of the ways to learn to control Prana is to learn how to control the breathing.
Prana is what any force or energy is manifested from. It could be seen as the primitive first substance of all forces and energies such as gravity, the strong nuclear force, and electromagnetism to name but a few. Pranayama is the control of this primitive substance. It is believed that if you can learn to control this substance you can control all of the forces and energies of the universe. That may, or not be the case; either way, Pranayama has a useful function when used with Raja Yoga; namely that of causing the system to run regularly.
When the exercise is performed, it produces equilibrium in its practitioner on a mental, physical and emotional level. It is demonstrably true that breathing has an effect on our mental, emotional, and physical states. If you are angry, how do you calm yourself? You take slow, deep breaths in a regular pattern. It has also been shown that hyperventilation of the Brain (this occurs in Pranayama) cause changes in the chemistry of the bloodstream. If your breathing is forced your blood stream becomes more alkaline because much of the carbonic acid is blown off. This is reported to change your internal environment, in particular the brain. It is also reported that hyperventilation causes a condition known as Hypocapnia (which is intellectualese for reduced carbon dioxide.). This somewhat resembles a kind of intoxication and also mystical experience.
There are three types of Pranayama exercises: Rechaka Pranayama (exhaling), Puraka Pranayama (inhaling), and Kumbhaka Pranayama (restraining), but to keep things brief we will only work with one Pranyama excersise, that known as Puraka Pranayama. Here is how Puraka Pranayama is performed: using your thumb, block your right nostril and inhale through your left nostril slowly and evenly for a count of four. At the same time as this, imagine that the breath is drawn down the spine until it strikes its base. Hold the breath for a count of sixteen whilst imagining the breath is retained in the base of the spine. Now block your left nostril with your thumb and slowly and evenly exhale through the right nostril for a count of eight whilst imagining the breath (prana) travel up the spine and out of the nostril. This counts as one Pranayama. Repeat, this time inhaling through the right nostril and exhaling through the left.
A word of warning with this exercise: It is very easy to damage your lungs if you force this excersise. If the counting is too long for you then start of with an inhalation of two, a restraining of the breath for eight, and an exhalation of four then slowly build it up over time. Be very careful with this practice! Don't push it! Our Western lungs have not been trained for this unlike the Hindus who have been training their lungs since an early age. You have been warned!
Yama and Niyama consists of Moral training. It is said that these qualities are needed to have success in Yoga:
- Yama consists of Non-killing (Ahinsa), truthfulness (Satya), non-stealing (Asteya), continence (Brahmacharya), and non-receiving of gifts (Aparigraha).
- Niyama consists of cleanliness (S'ancha), contentment (Santosha), mortification (Tapasaya); study and self surrender (Swádhyáya), and recognition of the Supreme (I's'warapranidháná)
Although given attributes of moral issues, the purpose of Yama and Niyama is to give the Yogi as little disturbance to his/her life as possible. To make the Yogi a moral person is not its aim. Morality doesn't enter into the issue of Science, and Yoga is a science. To kill or steal etc would disturb or excite the mind thus making meditation harder. Yama and Niyama are there to give the yogi the most advantageous position to practise from. Most people will find their own Yama and Niyama that fits best with them and achieves the same purpose, that is, decrease the distractions and disturbances for the mind.
All of what has been said of Asana, Pranayama, and Yama and Niyama will start to make sense as soon as we start to try to do Raja Yoga. As it is one of our goals in Raja Yoga to hold the mind to one subject it means we must eliminate any extra message that might make its way to our consciousness.
Asana teaches the Body to be still so that the mind no longer receives messages such as "I've got a cramp"; "I have an itchy nose" etc. Pranayama regulates our interior and brings us calmness, just as Asana regulates the exterior and brings it to a state of stillness (calmness). Yama and Niyama eliminate any other external worries such as "I can't wait to try out my Birthday present" "or I feel guilty because I stole that apple" etc.
Now, how do we practice Raja Yoga? First of all we must practice Asana until we can sit still without moving so much as a twitch for an hour. It is said that when you can balance a bowl of water filled to the brim on your head for a whole hour and not spill a drop then you may consider yourself to have acquired success in the matter.
When we have had some success with Asana the next move is that of Pranayama. Start off by just breathing rhythmically. Breathe in through both nostrils for a count of four, hold the breath for four, and exhale for four. Once that has been achieved move on to Puraka Pranayama (described earlier). Start with a low count and gradually increase until you find your maximum. When you can do Puraka Pranayama for an hour solid you should have some mastery of it. Keep in mind that strange things may happen during the practise of Pranayama. If anything unusual should occur you should be careful to make a written record of it.
Now that we are calm and our brain isn't receiving messages from the body or any outside source, we may turn out attention to the first real Raja Yoga exercise, that of Pratyahra. With Pratyahara we simply observe the Mind. We don't make judgments on the thoughts that enter our minds we just impartially observe and learn. Pratyahara gives us an idea on how the mind works. When we turn the mind's attention back in on itself we can see it for what it really is and how it works. Only when we understand the mind can we have any hope of controlling it and that is our aim!
The next Raja Yoga exercise is that of Dharana. All the other Practices of Yoga are based upon this one important technique so without it Raja Yoga would be impossible. With Dharana (concentration) the mind must be held on one object to the exclusion of all other thoughts. If any thought enters the mind other than the thought concentrated on, it is called a break. An example of practicing Dharana would be to try to keep concentrated on an imaginary Eye in a Triangle for 15 minutes with very little to no breaks. You would keep track of the kind and number of the breaks by writing them in a journal or diary. This will help you pinpoint where you need to improve in the practice.
When you have no breaks and your concentration is continuous, you have succeeded in Dharana. Success in Dharana leads to success in meditation proper this is because when true Dharana is achieved, the practice will naturally merge into the next one known as Dhyana; which is true meditation. When you experience Dhyana you have succeeded in Dharana!
To illustrate further, It should become obvious in the early stages of practicing Pratyahara and Dharana that there are essentially two things: the person thinking or concentrating (the subject), and the object that is being thought about or concentrated on (the object). In normal thought, the object is variable and the subject is invariable; when Dharana is achieved the object becomes as invariable as the subject. The result of this is that the subject and object unite and are no longer separate but are now one (there's that union is Yoga idea again). When this union occurs it is called Dhyana.
To write about Dhyana is very difficult because it transcends what is considered normal. When Dhyana comes, it generally produces such a shock that the Yogi is overwhelmed. This explains why so much rubbish has been written about Dhyana; the emotional and poetic parts of the Yogi are thrown into overdrive.
Here is my own bit of gush about Dhyana: During Dhyana the conditions of space and time are annihilated, as is the ego. The Yogi enters Dhyana as a normal man, and exits as a man who has seen God face to face. Dhyana is one of the most catastrophic experiences that one can undergo. It makes normal waking life seem like a dream in comparison. Such an experience defies all words, and as such, the only way that it can be described is for you to experience it for yourself.
Dhyana is considered by many as a lesser form of Samadhi (see below for a description of Samadhi) and I have to admit that I tend to think along these lines too. What is certain is that Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi are all stages of a continual process. This process is called Samyama.
Now, if a lot of rubbish has been penned about Dhyana, 100 times that has been written about Samadhi. I must confess that I have never experienced Samadhi, and as a result my descriptions of this state come from the knowledge of others, not from personal experience.
Samadhi is composed from two words. The first word Sam, is a Sanskrit prefix that means "together with". The second word, Adhi, is usually translated as "Lord". If we put the two together we come up with a description of Samadhi: "together with the Lord".
There is little to distinguish between the states of Dhyana and Samadhi; however it has been said that Dhyana is an impure form of Samadhi. This would make Samadhi the same as Dhyana but of a more exalted nature. It could be said that in Dhyana, when the subject and object have united, we are left with One; in Samadhi, existence is united with non-existence and so the One becomes none.
That is enough on the subject of Samadhi. Practice long enough and experience will furnish you with definition and proof.
That concludes what I have to say on the subject of Raja Yoga. For the sake of completeness I will give a brief description of the other forms of Yoga that were skipped in this article. We have discussed Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga so that leaves Gnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Mantra Yoga, and Bhakta Yoga to go.
- Gnana Yoga: Gnana Yoga is union through knowledge. This Yoga starts with a study of the impermanent wisdom of the world, and ends with the knowledge of the permanent wisdom of the Atman. The Atman has been described by Vivekananda as "The Self or Soul; denotes both the Supreme Soul and the individual Soul."
There are three stages in Gnana Yoga: Viveka, Vairagya, and Mukit. Viveka is where the aspirant discerns the real from the unreal. In Vairagya there comes an indifference to the knowledge of the world; One becomes indifferent to both its joys and sorrows. In Mukti, the final stage, there is unity with the Atman.
- Karma Yoga: Karma Yoga is union through work. A good description of Karma yoga is to quote from the writings of Kwang-tzu: Prince Hui's cook was cutting up a bullock. Every blow of his hands, every heave of his shoulders, every tread of his foot, every thrust of hid knee, every whshh of rent flesh, every chkk of the chopper, was in perfect harmony, rhythmical like the dance of the mulberry grove, simultaneous like the chords Ching Shou. "Well done," cried the Prince; "yours is skill indeed." " Sire," replied the cook, "I have always devoted myself to Tao (which means the same as yoga here). It is better than skill. When I first began to cut up bullocks I saw before me simply whole bullocks. After three years of practise I saw no more whole animals. And now I work with my mind and not with my eye. When my senses bid me stop, but my mind urges me on, I fall back upon eternal principles. I follow such openings or cavities as there may be, according to the natural constitution of the animal. A good cook changes his chopper once a year because he cuts. An ordinary cook once a month- because he hacks. I have had this chopper nineteen years, and although I have cut up many thousand bullocks, its edge is as if fresh from the whetstone.
- Mantra Yoga: This Yoga is union by speech. Mantra Yoga consists of repeating a name, sentence, or verse over and over again until the speaker and that being spoken become one in concentration. Perhaps the most famous Mantra in the west would be "Aum mani padme Aum" which means "O' Jewel in the lotus Aum." Use of a mantra is useful in Pranayama. Instead of Counting 1, 2, 3, 4 etc, replace the 1, 2, 3, 4 with Aum, Mani, Padme, Aum, or some other words or phrase that has meaning for you. If you are a Thelemite you might like to use this for a mantra: "A ka dua Tuf ur biu Bi a'a chefu Dudu ner af an neteru" which is Egyptian and can be paraphrased as "Unity uttermost showed! I adore the might of Thy breath, Supreme and terrible god, Who makest the gods and Death to tremble before Thee:- I, I adore Thee!"
- Bhakta Yoga: This is union by love. The practice of Bhakta Yoga is to devote oneself entirely to a God until union takes place. Every action of the Devotees life, right down to brushing his/her teeth is being done to the honour and glory of this God. Eventually the subject and object unite as in other Yoga disciplines and the Supreme Attainment is reached.
There are several other less known types of Yoga but they are mainly variants of the above. These include Ashtanga, Laya, and Taraka.
I hope this article has shown that there is much more to Yoga than is commonly known and that it is subject worthy of respect and practice. After a little practise, the next time you read some New-age magazine or book that deals with Yoga can now boast that you know more about the subject than the New-age Author.
Aum!
Last updated on the 27.September.99