Before knowing and practicing “Yoga”, we should know what “Yoga” really is. When we say “Yoga”, for many of you it probably means only a few asanas, whereas this is just a part of Yoga. Therefore, to know Yoga, you have to know what “Life” is. After the creation of the world, God gave physical form to life on earth and settled his part, the soul, in the living being and at the same time, God bound the living being with karma. Since life is a cycle of sanskars, the rebirth of the soul is determined on the basis of the accumulated karma done by the living being. In this mortal world, human birth is the best and only in human birth, the God-given and eternal life is attained.

Through “Yoga” refined by Vedic sages, man becomes free from the cycle of life and death or rebirth and attains God. Liberation from the cycle of rebirth after death is called Moksha and Moksha is the ultimate aspiration in human life, but eligibility is also necessary for it. It is possible to fulfill this eligibility only through “Yoga”. Only by adopting “Yoga” in life, the personality of a man can develop completely. If there is any method that makes a living being pure, then it is “Yoga”. “Yoga” has come from the Sanskrit word Yuj, which means to join or connect and through Yoga, the soul can be connected to God. Maharishi Patanjali has given this in the second verse of Yoga Darshan.

While defining yoga, it is written- Yogah Chitta Vritti Nirodhah means that the restraint (stabilization) of the tendencies of the mind is yoga. The tendencies of the mind can be stopped through yoga and the tendencies of the mind can be restrained by continuous practice of yoga sadhna. Here, first of all, we need to understand yoga. While defining yoga in Shrimad Bhagwat Gita, Akhilatma Bhagwan Shri Krishna has said-

Yatha deepo nivatastho ne3gate sopma smrita.

Yogino yatachittasya yunjato yogamatmanah. Shrimadbhagwadgita. Chapter 6 Verse 19

That is, the state in which the mind of a person is situated in the Supreme Soul like a lamp in a windless place, that state is called “Yoga” and the union of the soul and the Supreme Soul is possible only when the mind is merged in the Supreme Soul. Now to understand this state, we have to understand the mind.

If we understand the mind in simple words, then a layer of innumerable tendencies has accumulated in the mind of a person due to the karma-sanskars of many births.

Therefore, the mind has lost its real pure state. To purify it, one has to go through the process of “Yoga”.

Now the question is, how to purify the mind i.e. how to stop the tendencies? In response to this, Maharishi Patanjali in Patanjali Yoga Darshan gave a specific and detailed plan for the restraint of the mind’s tendencies. In this Maharishi Patanjali divided the entire yoga into eight parts, which were named Ashtanga Yoga Sutra-

YamaNiyamaAsanaPranayamaPratyahara, DharanaDhyanaSamadhiYoashtavaGaani. Patanjali Yoga Sutras

means Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi are the eight parts of yoga.

After crossing all the stages and reaching the highest state of yoga, meditation itself becomes Samadhi, when only the awareness of the form of the object remains and there is no awareness of the self, the state of restraint of the mind’s tendencies is Samadhi. In this state, the ultimate salvation is attained. Any human being can attain this state, for this the company of a perfect Guru is required.

Explanation of the eight limbs of yoga- By practicing the eight limbs of yoga, there is a complete cessation of the mind’s thoughts. This eight-fold journey of yoga takes a person from the external to the internal world and leads him towards stability, i.e., towards the void. The first five parts of Ashtanga Yoga are called external yoga and the last three parts are called internal yoga.

Yama- This first part refers to vows, discipline and practice which are mainly related to our behavior and social aspect. It has five parts-

 Ahimsa – Renunciation of vengeance, not harming living beings

 Satya – Following a truthful form in practical and social terms

 Asteya – Not stealing

 Brahmacharya – Right use of energy, marital fidelity or sexual restraint

 Aparigraha – Renunciation of greed and not collecting more than consumption

Niyama – This part refers to internal duties. The prefix Ni is a Sanskrit verb which means inwards or.

The aim of practicing niyamas is to build character. When we work with niyamas – from shaucha to ishvarapranidhana –

we are guided from our grossest aspects to the truth within. It also has five parts:

 Shaucha – purity, cleanliness of mind, speech and body

 Santosha – acceptance of your circumstances as they are, optimism towards oneself

 Tapas – complete discipline and intense desire to attain God

 Swadhyaya – self-study or self-reflection, and study of spiritual texts, introspection of speech and actions

 Ishvarapranidah – complete devotion or total surrender to God

Asana – Maharishi Patanjali has defined asana in Yoga Sutra.

Sthirasukhamasanam॥ Yoga Sutra 46॥

The posture of meditation should be stable and comfortable.

An asana is a posture that one can hold for a period of time, while being comfortable, steady, at ease and motionless. Any posture that causes pain or discomfort is not a yoga posture. Other texts that discuss the Yoga Sutras by Maharishi Patanjali suggest that the correct posture for sitting meditation is to keep the chest, neck and head erect i.e., the spine erect. The commentary attached to the Yoga Sutras, also written by Maharishi Patanjali, suggests twelve sitting meditation postures. Padmasana 1⁄4Lotus1⁄2, 2. Veerasana 1⁄4Nayak1⁄2, 3. Bhadrasana 1⁄4Glorious1⁄2, 4. Swastikasana 1⁄4Lucky Symbol1⁄2, 5. Dandasana 1⁄4Staff1⁄2, 6.
Sopaashrayasana 1⁄4Supported 1⁄2, 7. Paryankasana 1⁄4Bichhoana 1⁄2, 8. Krauncha-Nishadsana 1⁄4Seated Heron 1⁄2, 9. Hastanishasana 1⁄4Seated Elephant 1⁄2, 10.

Uttanishasanasana 1⁄4Seated Camel1⁄2, 11. Samasthanasanasana 1⁄4 Equally balanced1⁄2 and 12. Sthirasukhasana 1⁄4 Any motionless posture which

is according to one’s pleasure1⁄2.

Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika mentions 84 postures taught by Lord Shiva, out of which four are described as the most important.

Siddhaasana 1⁄4 Siddha1⁄2, 2. Padmasana 1⁄4 Lotus1⁄2, 3. Simhasana 1⁄4 Lion1⁄2, and 4. Bhadrasana 1⁄4 Magnificent1⁄2. The 84 types of postures described in Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika and Yoga-Sutra make the body healthy and strong for yoga, currently only this part of yoga is called “yoga”.

Pranayama – Pranayama is the art of controlling one’s breath. Pranayama is a word derived from the combination of prana (breath), which indicates life-giving air, and aayam (dimension), which indicates restraint. Pranayama is the process of controlling the prana through the Ida (sun-swara) and Pingala (moon-swara) nadis (channels) to concentrate the prana in the sushumna by the practitioner in the process of piercing the eight chakras.

Pratyahara – Pratyahara is a combination of two Sanskrit words prati- and aahara. It is a stage of self-extraction and abstraction.

Pratyahara does not involve consciously closing one’s eyes to the sensory world, it is consciously closing one’s mind’s processes to the sensory world. Pratyahara gives a person the power to stop being controlled by the external world, turn his attention to seek self-knowledge, and experience the freedom inherent in his inner world.

Dharana – Dharana means introspection, meditation and concentration of the mind. The root of this word is “dhri” which means to hold, to retain. In this limb of yoga, the sadhak practices concentrating his mind with the desire of attaining God by chanting a particular mantra and practising pranayama.

Dhyana – Dhyana literally means contemplation, reflection and deep abstract meditation. Dhyana is contemplation, contemplation of what Dharana has focused his attention on. If in the sixth limb of yoga one focuses on God, Dhyana is contemplation of that. If the concentration was on an object, Dhyana is non-judgmental, non-judgmental observation of that object. If the Dhyana was on a conceptual thought, Dhyana is contemplation of that conceptual thought in all its aspects, forms and results. Dhyana is an uninterrupted chain of thoughts, a stream of perception, a flow of awareness. Dhyana is inseparably linked to Dharana, one leads to the other. Dharana is a state of mind, Dhyan is a process of mind.

Samadhi – Samadhi means putting together, joining, combining, union, harmonious wholeness. In Samadhi, while meditating,

only awareness exists and the awareness that one is meditating ceases. Samadhi is the state

in which the yogi identifies his soul as the soul. Although human consciousness is subject to relativity and dual experience,

Samadhi is the state in which the experience is total, infinite and single. In this state, the three aspects of meditation – the meditator, the act of meditation, the object of meditation known as God – finally become one. Just as the wave merges with the ocean, the human soul also becomes one with the divine.

Samadhi is of two types, Samprajnata Samadhi, Samprajnata Samadhi with the support of the object of meditation, and Asamprajnata Samadhi, without the support of the object of meditation.

Samprajnata Samadhi, also called Savikalpa Samadhi and Sabij Samadhi. Sabikalpa Samadhi is a state of conditional unity.

The meditator experiences his soul merging with infinite consciousness. However, he cannot preserve this experience

outside of meditation. Although Sabikalpa Samadhi is the first break from illusion, in which the meditator realizes that

only God exists, the soul is still bound by ego-consciousness. Some souls who achieve this state may fall back into illusion if they persist in the belief that the I has access to infinite power.

Asamprajnata Samadhi or Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the state of being one with no conditions. The soul rises above all ego bondages and realizes that it is forever one with God. It becomes Jivaanmukta. Yet, to achieve complete freedom from ego-attachments, it must work through the memories of its ego attachment to the world. For example, while working or speaking, the soul maintains its divine consciousness without any possibility of returning to illusion.

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