Bramacharya is not only sexual continence but it is actually actions to attain Brahman(divine).
“To live and move in Brahman (God) is the real brahmacharya. Continence is very helpful to achieve that end. But so long as you identify yourself with the body you can never escape sex-thought and distinction. It is only when you realizethat you are the formless, Pure Consciousness that sex-distinctiondisappears for good and there is brahmacharya – effortless, spontaneous.
One of the Main path to attain Brahman(divine) is kriya yoga. Kriya yoga has direct connection wiht the sadhana of Raja yoga which is concentration and meditation just as Karma yoga has with the yoga of spiritualising all actons. Every activity becomes directed towards the divine and every activity, instead standing on the way as obstacle towads God, actually becomes a means of linking a devotee with God and becomes a process of worship. This is Karma yoga, the yoga of spiritualising activities.
Power of enquiry
Jnana yoga is the yoga which makes use of the rational power through intellect to cleave through the illusion of appearances which takes one to the reality which is hidden beyond appearances. thus it at a way of utilising the power of investigation, observance, enquiry and analysis.
Here reasoning becomes the means of liberating oneself from illusion which is the result of non-discrimination and making proper enquiry regarding the nature of things we perceive. We blindly take them for granted and get ourselves involved in them.
This evokes in the seeker the active power of enquiry and out of this philosophical enquiry, right discrimination dawns. Suddenly, one begines to see that things are not just things. Some thing is eternal and others are non-eternal. So one begins to discriminate, between the permanent and the impermanent, appearance and the reality, eternal and the non-eternal, the self and non self.
Right enquiry leads to right discrmination and from discrimination comes out right knowlege. Then , one begins to realize that some are just appearance and changeeable. It is a folly to run after shadows. Thus discrimination leads to dispassion which tends to being towards the quest after reality, quest after the eternal . This is Jnana yoga.
Discipling mind(controling mind)
Similarly, Raja yoga makes use of the powers of the mind and the will. They purposedfully overcome the basic tendency of the mind to go outward and then control and overcome it fully and divert the flow of thoughts within. They make it turn inward, arrest the restless mind and direct comcentrated mind towards the ideal that is to be realised.
Then the mind is directed towards the ideal through continous practise, is made to flow in an unbroken steam of concentrated thought upon a single idea. When it reaches the state, it is characterised by the state of meditation and the meditation becomes deep and intense.
Thus last trace of non-discriminating knowledge of oneself gets erased and one attains the state o pure discriminating knowledge when one knows of oneself as being truly distinct and different and apart from all the objects of perception, all that is prakriti, all that is non-self.
We do have knowledge but it is not precise. When one reaches the state of highest concentration and meditation knowlege becomes clear. And then one develops discrimination-discrimination between the supreme seer and all that is seen including one’s own body, senses, thughts and all intellectual process. One becomes sure of oneself by discriminating oneself as apart from those that go to make the prakriti, in one’s own personality. This is the ultimate result of Raja yogic practice.
It is the path of concentration and mediation. But the prerequisite for concentraion and mediation is changing the flow of the mind inward.As long as it is outgoing, it is not possible to concentrate at all. There fore , absorbtion, withdrawing the mind within, is an essential aspect of yoga and with this absorptiion of the mid commences of the inner yoga and it is called pratyahara.
Withdrawal
Pratyahara is withdrawal. We have already seen how Raja yoga helps in concentration and control of the mind. Tapas aids in concentration, by eliminating rajas and tapas.Tapas aids in concentration, by eliminating rajas and tapas.Tapas forcefully restrains the senses.As long as the mind is a slave of senses and is bound up with them, tendency is to flow alng with them.Senses are always active as that is their dharma. It is the natural tendency of the eye to open and see.IF there is some sound, it immediately wants to see what is happening there. Similarly, it is the invertrate tendency of the ear to hear. All the senses follow their dharma. Each one follows its tendency, and the mind also flows along wiht the senses.It does not want to remain without chage. It does like monotony.
One has tow options here: Either he has to stop the outer movemnt of the senses by forcibly restraining them, or he has to talk to the mind and make it understand that its close connection and realtionship with the senses is not good for it, that it is not going to bring it happiness and that it will only take it into more trouble.
Two options
Tapas does the first thing. It forcefully curbs the senses; depriving the senses from fulfilling their urges. Svadhyaya does the second thing it goes on talking to the mind. It puts wisdom innto the mind and the attracts it to the higher ideal. It places before it in glowing and thrillig terms the inspiring examples of lives of saints, the lives of spiritula seekers, those who have gone before on the path and the wonderful result of such turning away from the senses and moving towars the spiritual. So, in glowing terms, the beauty, the grandeur and the glory of the attainment are put before the mind and thus within the mind is created a new desire for higher things.
Thus a strong aspiration is created in the mind by putting before it the grandeur and the glory of the supreme attainment before which all sense experience pales into insignificance, so much so that the mind feels to give them up as of no consequnce. In this way, the mind is presented with tremendous attraction of the glorious goal and is made to turn away from its alliance with the senses. This is done through svadhyaya.
Constant conflict
Tapas puts the axe to the senses and svadhyaya does the work of persuading the mind, holding before it the grandeur, glory and beauty of the attainment, putting wisdom into it. These are higher processes. Gradually the senses can be discplined to give up their inverterate habit of going towards ojects and follow this new nature that the mind has developed.At this tage there is a constant conflict going on. The mind has desire for the goal but the senses continue to have their old inverterate tendencies and habits.
It would be advisable for devotees to make the senses their friend. Make the senses also take on to new habits. And this training and discipline take upon themselves a new habit following the awakened mind.The mind which has now acquired discrimination and accepted to turn its direction from the world of objects to the world of God, and if the senses also begin to follow the mind, then one is rewarded .
This state is brought about by the d
iscipline of Pratipakshabhavan. A happy analogy is given by the commentator of the sutras to bring home this new relationship between the mind and the senses. So far the senses were dragging the mind out but here we have a new situation when the mind drags the senses in. Mind now begins to put its influence upon the senses. And the senses are prepared, readily and willingly to follow the mind.
Controlling Rajas
Asan is a technique. You sit and try to train the body into a state of perfect stillness, motionlessness and this is powerful method of gaining complete control over the rajas in your system. Because, already by yama and niyama, the tamas has been well-controlled.It has been overcome and the entire nature of the aspirant has become purified. He follows strictly the path of good conduct and noble character and his daily life is spiritualises by saucha, santosha, tapas and isvarapranidhana.
Rajas is the next formidable ‘foe’ to overcome. Asana and Pranayama effectively overcome rajas.Asan, especially, is made to overcome rajas and then facilitate and taking up of steading and arresting of the prana. Hatha yoga is also a valauble means to support the practice of Raja yoga. Because it has orecisely this effect of eliminating tamas, controlling rajas and increasing sattva. But in Raja yoga, the asana is intended to maintain single meditative pose steadily and the same time fully relaxed and easy. It should not be a strain upon the one who is sitting. There should be not tension. It should not impose any type of strain.
Steadiness and comfort are brought into the aphorism that refers to asana-sthiram-sukham-asanam. Sthiram mean steady and sukham means easy and comfortable. The main thing is to observe to keep the spinal column straight, head, trunk and the neck in a straight line. If this is done properly, then the asana becomes very light and easy. Ther comes a perfect balancing of the centre of gravity of the whole body and the spinal column rests upon its base. Also by sitting straight your ches is expanded. If you bend forward the ches becomes contracted. So by sitting straight, the ches expansion takes away your mind from breath. Other wise there is difficulty in breathing.
There is and interesting relation between pose and mental condition. In different mental conditions, unconsciously the body assumes different poses. A condition of positive emotion and joy is always expressed with a particular pose, whereas the negative expression of sorrow is always expressed in contracting the body and bending down of the body.
Prana and Mind
There are several kinds of Pranayama in Hatha yoga, where as in Raja yoga, pranyama is mainly concerned with the retention of breath. This , ofcourse happens to have an option of the three different modes. You can inhale and retain breaht; you can exhale and retain; and you can suddenly retain the breath without any reference to inhalation and exhalation. These are the three modes. Patanjali has written briefly on all the three essential points in the retention of brath. Prana and mind have a direct connection and all mental activity is supported by cetain pranic activity. If the mind is very active , Prana also vibrates intensely and if Prana vibrates very intensely, mind is put into a state of excitement. Therefore, the bringing Into the prana a certain harmony and balance and stability as also the same effect upon the mind, can be done through Pranayama. (Special pranayama of Kriya yoga taught in achutha yoga).
prana is subtle and inward. It pervades the body from the top of the head to the tip of your toe. The regulation control and checking of the breath of the nostril is called
Svasa that has been mentioned in pranyama.
The mind affects the body and therfore, it is the mental state they try to treat the mind except in certain cases of extreme impact of the mind upon the body, whre through hysteria vaious physical symptoms are brought about. Then they put the patient in the hands of psychologist or psychiatrist. Otherwise, they take recourse either to sedatives or tranquillisers which for the time being make the mind go into a state of inactivity. Then there is a temporary relief of the physical symptom. But once again when the mind starts activity, it goes back again into the state.
Whatever the doctors say all the physical and mental conditions have the corresponding pranic pattern. Every physical and mental condition is generated and suppoerted by specific pranic state in one or other are. This is hwat is responsible for communicating a mental state of the physical level and for translating it into a praticular manifestation there. Even so, physical state also in some case , have been trasmitted to the mind and it has affected the mind.
Yama and Niyama
If one becomes absolutely established in ahimsa or noninjury, he acquires the power to overcome all enmity. To that person, no one can come wiht anger or hatred.No one can raise the hand of violence. Before him all enmity ceases. If a Person who has become perfectly established in ahimsa goes into the jungle, the moment wild animals come to him, they will become docile. They can not manifest their violent propensity. That is the result or the effect of acquirng perfection of ahimsa.
Perfection in truth is Satya. It Gives one Vak-Siddhi. If one is absolutely established in truthfulness, then after a period of 12 years of such perfect adherence to truth, whatever the person utters will come true. And to explain it, Patanjali gives a very interesting form to the sutras, He says such a one acquires the power of acheiving the fruits of action with out acting. If he curses, the curse turns out true.
Bramacharya brings about super human power in the individual, mental as well as physical. If one completely gives up the desire for anything, that thing follows him, as a shadow follows a person. The yogi who has established himself in the total renunciation of greed, acquires the knowledge of past, present and future. When he is established in absolute cleanliness, both outer and inner, he becomes fit to attain God-vision. Now he is fully qualifiled and confidently carry on his struggle on concentration and meditation.
Supreme Happiness
Indescribable joy and supreme happiness come through the practice of contentment. The above mentioned are all actions to attain Brahman(divine).Through the power of austerity, one’s senses become keen and intellect becomes sharp. Through absorbing study of spiritual scriptures, the yogi can have a vision of his aspect of his personal God. When he carries on his studies, deeply and regularly, he can have a vision of god. If Yogi practices asan and pranayama then he becomes fit to enter into the inner aspect of yoga, the withdrawl of the mind from the outer objects which is a dispcipline to be cultivated throughout the walking hours
“To live and move in Brahman (God) is the real brahmacharya. Continence is very helpful to achieve that end. But so long as you identify yourself with the body you can never escape sex-thought and distinction. It is only when you realizethat you are the formless, Pure Consciousness that sex-distinctiondisappears for good and there is brahmacharya – effortless, spontaneous.
One of the Main path to attain Brahman(divine) is kriya yoga. Kriya yoga has direct connection wiht the sadhana of Raja yoga which is concentration and meditation just as Karma yoga has with the yoga of spiritualising all actons. Every activity becomes directed towards the divine and every activity, instead standing on the way as obstacle towads God, actually becomes a means of linking a devotee with God and becomes a process of worship. This is Karma yoga, the yoga of spiritualising activities.
Power of enquiry
Jnana yoga is the yoga which makes use of the rational power through intellect to cleave through the illusion of appearances which takes one to the reality which is hidden beyond appearances. thus it at a way of utilising the power of investigation, observance, enquiry and analysis.
Here reasoning becomes the means of liberating oneself from illusion which is the result of non-discrimination and making proper enquiry regarding the nature of things we perceive. We blindly take them for granted and get ourselves involved in them.
This evokes in the seeker the active power of enquiry and out of this philosophical enquiry, right discrimination dawns. Suddenly, one begines to see that things are not just things. Some thing is eternal and others are non-eternal. So one begins to discriminate, between the permanent and the impermanent, appearance and the reality, eternal and the non-eternal, the self and non self.
Right enquiry leads to right discrmination and from discrimination comes out right knowlege. Then , one begins to realize that some are just appearance and changeeable. It is a folly to run after shadows. Thus discrimination leads to dispassion which tends to being towards the quest after reality, quest after the eternal . This is Jnana yoga.
Discipling mind(controling mind)
Similarly, Raja yoga makes use of the powers of the mind and the will. They purposedfully overcome the basic tendency of the mind to go outward and then control and overcome it fully and divert the flow of thoughts within. They make it turn inward, arrest the restless mind and direct comcentrated mind towards the ideal that is to be realised.
Then the mind is directed towards the ideal through continous practise, is made to flow in an unbroken steam of concentrated thought upon a single idea. When it reaches the state, it is characterised by the state of meditation and the meditation becomes deep and intense.
Thus last trace of non-discriminating knowledge of oneself gets erased and one attains the state o pure discriminating knowledge when one knows of oneself as being truly distinct and different and apart from all the objects of perception, all that is prakriti, all that is non-self.
We do have knowledge but it is not precise. When one reaches the state of highest concentration and meditation knowlege becomes clear. And then one develops discrimination-discrimination between the supreme seer and all that is seen including one’s own body, senses, thughts and all intellectual process. One becomes sure of oneself by discriminating oneself as apart from those that go to make the prakriti, in one’s own personality. This is the ultimate result of Raja yogic practice.
It is the path of concentration and mediation. But the prerequisite for concentraion and mediation is changing the flow of the mind inward.As long as it is outgoing, it is not possible to concentrate at all. There fore , absorbtion, withdrawing the mind within, is an essential aspect of yoga and with this absorptiion of the mid commences of the inner yoga and it is called pratyahara.
Withdrawal
Pratyahara is withdrawal. We have already seen how Raja yoga helps in concentration and control of the mind. Tapas aids in concentration, by eliminating rajas and tapas.Tapas aids in concentration, by eliminating rajas and tapas.Tapas forcefully restrains the senses.As long as the mind is a slave of senses and is bound up with them, tendency is to flow alng with them.Senses are always active as that is their dharma. It is the natural tendency of the eye to open and see.IF there is some sound, it immediately wants to see what is happening there. Similarly, it is the invertrate tendency of the ear to hear. All the senses follow their dharma. Each one follows its tendency, and the mind also flows along wiht the senses.It does not want to remain without chage. It does like monotony.
One has tow options here: Either he has to stop the outer movemnt of the senses by forcibly restraining them, or he has to talk to the mind and make it understand that its close connection and realtionship with the senses is not good for it, that it is not going to bring it happiness and that it will only take it into more trouble.
Two options
Tapas does the first thing. It forcefully curbs the senses; depriving the senses from fulfilling their urges. Svadhyaya does the second thing it goes on talking to the mind. It puts wisdom innto the mind and the attracts it to the higher ideal. It places before it in glowing and thrillig terms the inspiring examples of lives of saints, the lives of spiritula seekers, those who have gone before on the path and the wonderful result of such turning away from the senses and moving towars the spiritual. So, in glowing terms, the beauty, the grandeur and the glory of the attainment are put before the mind and thus within the mind is created a new desire for higher things.
Thus a strong aspiration is created in the mind by putting before it the grandeur and the glory of the supreme attainment before which all sense experience pales into insignificance, so much so that the mind feels to give them up as of no consequnce. In this way, the mind is presented with tremendous attraction of the glorious goal and is made to turn away from its alliance with the senses. This is done through svadhyaya.
Constant conflict
Tapas puts the axe to the senses and svadhyaya does the work of persuading the mind, holding before it the grandeur, glory and beauty of the attainment, putting wisdom into it. These are higher processes. Gradually the senses can be discplined to give up their inverterate habit of going towards ojects and follow this new nature that the mind has developed.At this tage there is a constant conflict going on. The mind has desire for the goal but the senses continue to have their old inverterate tendencies and habits.
It would be advisable for devotees to make the senses their friend. Make the senses also take on to new habits. And this training and discipline take upon themselves a new habit following the awakened mind.The mind which has now acquired discrimination and accepted to turn its direction from the world of objects to the world of God, and if the senses also begin to follow the mind, then one is rewarded .
This state is brought about by the d
iscipline of Pratipakshabhavan. A happy analogy is given by the commentator of the sutras to bring home this new relationship between the mind and the senses. So far the senses were dragging the mind out but here we have a new situation when the mind drags the senses in. Mind now begins to put its influence upon the senses. And the senses are prepared, readily and willingly to follow the mind.
Controlling Rajas
Asan is a technique. You sit and try to train the body into a state of perfect stillness, motionlessness and this is powerful method of gaining complete control over the rajas in your system. Because, already by yama and niyama, the tamas has been well-controlled.It has been overcome and the entire nature of the aspirant has become purified. He follows strictly the path of good conduct and noble character and his daily life is spiritualises by saucha, santosha, tapas and isvarapranidhana.
Rajas is the next formidable ‘foe’ to overcome. Asana and Pranayama effectively overcome rajas.Asan, especially, is made to overcome rajas and then facilitate and taking up of steading and arresting of the prana. Hatha yoga is also a valauble means to support the practice of Raja yoga. Because it has orecisely this effect of eliminating tamas, controlling rajas and increasing sattva. But in Raja yoga, the asana is intended to maintain single meditative pose steadily and the same time fully relaxed and easy. It should not be a strain upon the one who is sitting. There should be not tension. It should not impose any type of strain.
Steadiness and comfort are brought into the aphorism that refers to asana-sthiram-sukham-asanam. Sthiram mean steady and sukham means easy and comfortable. The main thing is to observe to keep the spinal column straight, head, trunk and the neck in a straight line. If this is done properly, then the asana becomes very light and easy. Ther comes a perfect balancing of the centre of gravity of the whole body and the spinal column rests upon its base. Also by sitting straight your ches is expanded. If you bend forward the ches becomes contracted. So by sitting straight, the ches expansion takes away your mind from breath. Other wise there is difficulty in breathing.
There is and interesting relation between pose and mental condition. In different mental conditions, unconsciously the body assumes different poses. A condition of positive emotion and joy is always expressed with a particular pose, whereas the negative expression of sorrow is always expressed in contracting the body and bending down of the body.
Prana and Mind
There are several kinds of Pranayama in Hatha yoga, where as in Raja yoga, pranyama is mainly concerned with the retention of breath. This , ofcourse happens to have an option of the three different modes. You can inhale and retain breaht; you can exhale and retain; and you can suddenly retain the breath without any reference to inhalation and exhalation. These are the three modes. Patanjali has written briefly on all the three essential points in the retention of brath. Prana and mind have a direct connection and all mental activity is supported by cetain pranic activity. If the mind is very active , Prana also vibrates intensely and if Prana vibrates very intensely, mind is put into a state of excitement. Therefore, the bringing Into the prana a certain harmony and balance and stability as also the same effect upon the mind, can be done through Pranayama. (Special pranayama of Kriya yoga taught in achutha yoga).
prana is subtle and inward. It pervades the body from the top of the head to the tip of your toe. The regulation control and checking of the breath of the nostril is called
Svasa that has been mentioned in pranyama.
The mind affects the body and therfore, it is the mental state they try to treat the mind except in certain cases of extreme impact of the mind upon the body, whre through hysteria vaious physical symptoms are brought about. Then they put the patient in the hands of psychologist or psychiatrist. Otherwise, they take recourse either to sedatives or tranquillisers which for the time being make the mind go into a state of inactivity. Then there is a temporary relief of the physical symptom. But once again when the mind starts activity, it goes back again into the state.
Whatever the doctors say all the physical and mental conditions have the corresponding pranic pattern. Every physical and mental condition is generated and suppoerted by specific pranic state in one or other are. This is hwat is responsible for communicating a mental state of the physical level and for translating it into a praticular manifestation there. Even so, physical state also in some case , have been trasmitted to the mind and it has affected the mind.
Yama and Niyama
If one becomes absolutely established in ahimsa or noninjury, he acquires the power to overcome all enmity. To that person, no one can come wiht anger or hatred.No one can raise the hand of violence. Before him all enmity ceases. If a Person who has become perfectly established in ahimsa goes into the jungle, the moment wild animals come to him, they will become docile. They can not manifest their violent propensity. That is the result or the effect of acquirng perfection of ahimsa.
Perfection in truth is Satya. It Gives one Vak-Siddhi. If one is absolutely established in truthfulness, then after a period of 12 years of such perfect adherence to truth, whatever the person utters will come true. And to explain it, Patanjali gives a very interesting form to the sutras, He says such a one acquires the power of acheiving the fruits of action with out acting. If he curses, the curse turns out true.
Bramacharya brings about super human power in the individual, mental as well as physical. If one completely gives up the desire for anything, that thing follows him, as a shadow follows a person. The yogi who has established himself in the total renunciation of greed, acquires the knowledge of past, present and future. When he is established in absolute cleanliness, both outer and inner, he becomes fit to attain God-vision. Now he is fully qualifiled and confidently carry on his struggle on concentration and meditation.
Supreme Happiness
Indescribable joy and supreme happiness come through the practice of contentment. The above mentioned are all actions to attain Brahman(divine).Through the power of austerity, one’s senses become keen and intellect becomes sharp. Through absorbing study of spiritual scriptures, the yogi can have a vision of his aspect of his personal God. When he carries on his studies, deeply and regularly, he can have a vision of god. If Yogi practices asan and pranayama then he becomes fit to enter into the inner aspect of yoga, the withdrawl of the mind from the outer objects which is a dispcipline to be cultivated throughout the walking hours