Yoga...
Yogakshemam Vahamyaham
Yoga - the magic word that is working wonders around the world. Sri Aurobindo said, "All Life is Yoga." Having practised Pranayama and Hatha Yoga Asanas on and off for five years now, I am really sinking into what Yoga actually does. Though learning it is usually done for health benefits, actually Pranayama and Hatha Yoga has helped me to unite with the cosmic life force that is within and without. It is not even helping me to unite, but make me experience the Union that already exists the oneness. A little deep breathing continuously, my breath becomes less deep and I realise that there is no going in and coming out of the breath, the air outside and the air within are one and the same.In Dhyanam - meditation, the experience is the same. When the mind quietly settles down, I experience that the thoughts outside and the thoughts within are the same. In fact, there is nothing outside or within. The bodies float like boats in a common ocean of the mind.Hatha Yoga - While practising Surya Namaskar, I realised that it is not to some Sun outside of me - but a Namaskar to the presence of the light within. Even after completing the Asanas, I just have to think of an Asana at anytime throughout the day and I find that my mind attains that total cosmic unity. This is the balance that allow me to go through my day, as if I was absent and everything happens....
posted by Swahilya Shambhavi at 8:16 AM
6 Comments:
Swahilya - great post - I would like to paste this info my dear friend Sriram had posted in our murugavataarbabaji yahoogroups :
The following is from Self Enquiry (Vicharasangraham)
D => Disciple
M => Ramana Maharishi
D: Of the means for mind-control, which is the most important?
M: Breath-control is the means for mind-control.
D: How is breath to be controlled?
M: Breath can be controlled either by absolute retention of breath
(kevala-kumbhaka) or by regulation of breath (pranayama).
D: What is absolute retention of breath?
M: It is making the vital air stay firmly in the heart even without
exhalation and inhalation. This is achieved through meditation on the
vital principle, etc.
D: What is regulation of breath?
M: It is making the vital air stay firmly in the heart through
exhalation, inhalation, and retention, according to the instructions
given in the yoga texts.
D: How is breath-control the means for mind-control?
M: There is no doubt that breath-control is the means for
mind-control, because the mind, like breath, is a part of air, because
the nature of mobility is common to both, because the place of origin
is the same for both, and because when one of them is controlled the
other gets controlled.
D: Since breath-control leads only to quiescence of the mind
(manolaya) and not to its destruction (manonasa), how can it be said
that breath-control is the means for enquiry which aims at the
destruction of mind?
M: The scriptures teach the means for gaining Self-realization in two
modes - as the yoga with eight limbs (ashtanga-yoga) and as knowledge
with eight limbs (ashtanga-jnana). By regulation of breath (pranayama)
or by absolute retention thereof (kevala-kumbhaka), which is one of
the limbs of yoga, the mind gets controlled. Without leaving the mind
at that, if one practises the further discipline such as withdrawal of
the mind from external objects (pratyahara), then at the end,
Self-realization which is the fruit of enquiry will surely be gained.
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Yoga Vashishta (Swami Venkatesananda)
If the Prana does not move, the mind attains a quiescent state. Where
the prana goes, the mind follows, even as the rider goes where the
vehicle goes.
The mind is the commander-in-chief and the senses, the armed forces.
Hence, control of mind is control (or victory) over the sense. If
one's feet are covered with leather shoes, the entire world is covered
with leather.
yOgam samthvam uchyathE says Krishna rightly! :)
@Arjuna: Thanks for the post. The mind flows quietly or turbulently just as a river does. When we are travelling on a boat on the river, there is a need for balanced manoevring. But the river is not a problem when we are walking over a bridge or flying on a plane over it. Likewise, when the mind is put to use, there is need for balanced handling. When the mind is transcended, it doesn't matter any way.
Thankyou bloks
I take home today this message from arjun's post
"If one's feet are covered with leather shoes, the entire world is covered with leather."
Good post Swahilya...Experience speaks !
@Kasthuri: Thanks.
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