More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Started reading
September 30, 2019
When ekāgrāta is fully developed, it peaks at nirodha. This is the fifth and final level at which the mind can operate; at this level, the mind is linked completely and...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
The word nirodha also has another meaning, which is sometimes translated as “limit” or “restraint.”
So if nirodha means “limit,” it is because the restraints and cessation of all other mental activities are a natural consequence.
In this sense, nirodha means “total absorption.” Patañjali thus defines yoga as citta vṛtti nirodha.
the Yoga Sūtra says that all mental faculties can be either positive or negative.2
In yoga we are simply trying to create the conditions in which the mind becomes as useful as possible for our actions.
A yogi or yogini has not seen something others can never see; rather, he or she sees what others do not yet see.
The nine obstacles listed by Patañjali are illness, lethargy, doubt, haste or impatience, resignation or fatigue, distraction, ignorance or arrogance, inability to take a new step, and loss of confidence. They are manifested in symptoms like feeling sorry for oneself, a negative attitude, physical problems, and breathing difficulties.
Just as yoga identifies the obstacles you may encounter along the way, so too does it suggest ways to help you overcome them.
Following one teacher and one direction helps you discover the ways and means of avoiding and overcoming the various obstacles discussed earlier.
Prāṇāyāma is another technique often recommended as an aid to overcoming obstacles.
Another method for dealing with blocks on the yoga path is to investigate the senses in order to quiet the mind.
One more effective technique recommended in the Yoga Sūtra is to find out about people who have experienced much suffering (duḥkha) throughout their lives, and have overcome it.
You could try a form of meditation that makes use of a visual object.
If you try this technique you should be sure that you use objects that will actually bring peace to your mind and spirit, not ones that will cause more distraction.
What is Īśvara? First of all it is a name, a concept that, as I have said, describes the highest divine being.
Īśvara is extraordinary in that he is not subject to avidyā, knows no negative action that could cause regret, and is not susceptible to duḥkha, suffering. For this reason he possesses the extraordinary ability of knowing and understanding everything. Yoga uses the word sarvajña to describe this special quality.
Yoga does not describe Īśvara in a particular form. If you want to have a relationship with this being, you use a special symbol that represents him. This symbol isthesound OM.
It is possible to enter into relationship with Īśvara, to contact him, by reciting the sound OM.
Turning to Īśvara for help is called īśvarapraṇidhānā. Yielding to Īśvara is one of the ways Patañjali suggests for overcoming the obstacles we may encounter on our journey.
What is always important is that we never try to force anything in situations where there seems at first to be no way to move. We must just create space for ourselves, for the mind.
So getting from A to M through U represents everything that can be expressed in letters and words.
We can therefore say that Īśvara is not only that which can be expressed in words, but also that which cannot be expressed in words.
This parallel points to the one who stands behind all four states, the only one who is truly awake: Īśvara.
If I repeat OM with these ideas in the back of my mind, I will gradually become immersed in Īśvara and my mind will become so saturated with Īśvara that I will become very still.
Whenever we say OM, we mean Īśvara. Īśvara is beyond avidyā; Īśvara is the One who has known, does know, and always will know everything.
Saying OM is actually a form of meditation in which the meditation object is a concept with the name Īśvara.
As Īśvara is beyond all naturally occurring forms that we are able to imagine, we need a symbol f...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
The symbol OM also belongs to the Buddhist and Jain traditions; it is not exclusive to Hinduism.
When I discuss how the Sāṃkhya philosophy and yoga see the relationship between puruṣa, body, and mind, the highest entity is puruṣa, then the mind, then the senses, and lastly the body.
Yoga attempts to restore us to our true nature, wherein puruṣa is the master that mind, senses, and body obey.
There is no master-servant relationship between puruṣa and Īśvara.
Īśvarapraṇidhānā can therefore be helpful to us because only Īśvara is, was, and always will be beyond avidyā.
I repeat what I have said before: we must teach a person what he or she can accept at the time, not what we think would finally be best for them.
We cannot make devotion to Īśvara a prerequisite for starting yoga studies. To be open is essential in yoga. Everything is real, but everything changes. So only when someone is ready to talk about Īśvara do I ever mention the concept.
One of the most often used definitions of a mantra is something that protects the person who has received it.
Traditionally a mantra is given to a student by a teacher, at the time when the teacher knows exactly what the student needs.
If we are aware of its meaning and maintain our practice over a period of time, repeating the mantra as we were taught, mantra yoga can have the same effect as jñāna yoga or bhakti yoga.
In the context of rāja yoga, it describes a king who is always in a state of enlightenment.
There are other definitions of rāja yoga for those who do not want to link it to Īśvara. You can say that there is a king in each one of us; we understand this concept as puruṣa.
Whether the king is puruṣa or Īśvara, rāja yoga refers to the kind of yoga where the king takes his rightful place. In the Yoga Sūtra it says that when there is no more restlessness in the mind, puruṣa will unfold and see. That is rāja yoga.
Karma is action.
The Bhagavad Gītā ascribes a central place to karma yoga, stating that in life we can only act, but we should not be affected by the results of our action.
We should also not take the credit when things turn out well, for we are not necessarily personally responsible for successes any more than we are responsible for failures.
We must involve ourselves through action, but leave the rest to God and expect nothing. This is the explanation of karma yoga given in the Bhagavad Gītā, and this definition corresponds to that of īśvarapraṇidhānā in chapter 2 of the Yoga Sūtra.
There are many different ideas about the definition of kriyā yoga. The Yoga Sūtra describes it as the whole spectrum of practices known as yoga. Everything that we can actually practice is kriyā yoga, and the Yoga Sūtra names three aspects that together define kriyā yoga: tapas, svādhāya, and īśvarapraṇidhānā.
there are certain channels or nāḍī in the body through which prāṇa can enter and leave.
The nāḍī meet at the six points in the body recognized as the cakras.
The suṣumṇā or central nāḍī is regarded as the ideal path for prāṇa.
The free flow of prāṇa in the suṣumṇā is not normally possible because something blocks the passage. This block is symbolized by a coiled snake, the kuṇḍalinī.
