Yoga breathing

Transcendental meditation is a program of meditation that is proven to lower levels of stress, focus the mind, and improve the memory of those who meditate twice per day. Developed by Mararishi Mahesh Yogi, this system of meditation is taught in seven steps at centers established in 140 countries across the world. Due to such widespread reach, over six million people have learned the program. Read more »

how the brain functions, levels of stress, mahesh yogi, meditation sessions, transcendental meditation

Kundalini yoga is known as one of the most powerful types of yoga. Sometimes it was called the mother of all the Styles of Yoga. This type of yoga awakens the energy at the base of our spine which is known as the Muladhara Chakra.

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ajna, biological energy, creative energy, dormant energy, fundamental resource, higher self, kunda, manipura, muladhara chakra, power and energy, primal force, rajas, sadhana, sahasrara, sakti, source energy, three gunas, yoga kundalini

The doctrine which next attracts our attention in this connection is that of emancipation (mukti). Already we know that the doctrine of Devayana held that those who were faithful and performed asceticism (tapas) went by the way of the gods through successive stages never to return to the world and suffer rebirth. Read more »

asceticism, doubts, emancipation, knowledge of self, nothingness, passions, rebirth, tapas, transmigration, true knowledge, true nature, upanishads, virtues, way of the gods, wise man

It is important for the history of Samkhya philosophy that Caraka’s treatment of it, which so far as I know has never been dealt with in any of the modern studies of Samkhya, should be brought before the notice of the students of this philosophy. Read more »

akasa, atman, auditory sense, cognition, five elements, five senses, illuminations, karma, manas, pleasure pain, purusha, samkhya philosophy, sense of touch, visual sense

A word of explanation is necessary as regards my interpretation of the Samkhya-Yoga system. The Samkhya karika is the oldest Samkhya text on which we have commentaries by later writers. Read more »

commentaries, gunas, intelligence, reference to, sutras, upanishads, yoga system

The word yoga occurs in the rig-Veda in various senses such as yoking or harnessing, achieving the unachieved, connection, and the like. Read more »

asceticism, bhagavadgita, brihadaranyaka upanishad, highest power, middle path, panini, philosophical ideas, rig veda, sanskrit literature, vow of celibacy, word yoga, yuj

The Samkhya philosophy as we have it now admits two principles, souls and prakriti, the root principle of matter. Souls are many, like the Jaina souls, but they are without parts and qualities. Read more »

ananda, bliss, brahman, consciousness, jiva, mental phenomena, samkhya philosophy, sense matter, vedanta

A question naturally arises, that if the knowledge forms are made up of some sort of stuff as the objective forms of matter are, why then should the purusha illuminate it and not external material objects. Read more »

intelligence, mass energy, notions, purusha, reflection, sattva, transcendent

Another question that arises in this connection is the position of feeling in such an analysis of thought and matter. Samkhya holds that the three characteristic constituents that we have analyzed just now are feeling substances. Feeling is the most interesting side of our consciousness. Read more »

consciousness, evolution, feelings, forms of matter, genesis, intelligence, manifestations, mass energy, material objects, purusha, reflection, sattva, sensations, substances

These three types of ultimate subtle entities are technically called guna in Samkhya philosophy (1). Read more »

abstract qualities, gunas, mental qualities, purusha, samkhya philosophy, sanskrit

The first evolute of the prakriti is generated by a preponderance of the sattva (intelligence-stuff). This is indeed the earliest state from which all the rest of the world has sprung forth; and it is a state in which the stuff of sattva predominates. It thus holds within it the minds (buddhi) of all purushas which were lost in the prakriti during the pralaya. Read more »

buddhis, evolutions, existence, first transformation, intelligence, purusha, sattva, state of evolution

The question again arises that though purusha is pure intelligence, the gunas are non-intelligent subtle substances, how can the latter come into touch with the former? Read more »

gunas, impurity, inference, intelligence, moral responsibility, purity, purusha, real person, reflection, sattva, self consciousness, transformations, virtue

Samkhya and the Yoga, like the Buddhists, hold that all experience is sorrowful. Tamas, we know, represents the pain substance. As tamas must be present in some degree in all combinations, all intellectual operations are fraught with some degree of painful feeling (1). Read more »

buddhists, happiness, mukti, pleasures, sacrifice, sacrifices, samkhya philosophy, sorrow, tamas, vedic, worldly experience

When the mind has become pure the chances of its being ruffled by external disturbances are greatly reduced. At such a stage the yogin takes a firm posture (asana) and fixes his mind on any object he chooses. It is, however, preferable that he should fix it on Ishvara, for in that case Ishvara being pleased removes many of the obstacles in his path, and it becomes easier for him to attain success. Read more »

ananda, asana, concentration, external disturbances, impressions, objective world, obstacles, purusha, remembrance, samadhi, true knowledge

The Buddhists had upset all common sense convictions of substance and attribute, cause and effect, and permanence of things, on the ground that all collocations are momentary; each group of collocations exhausts itself in giving rise to another group and that to another and so on. Read more »

atoms, buddhists, cause and effect, common sense, corresponding elements, jug, manifestation, modus operandi, one moment, permanence

The Nyaya sutras begin with an enumeration of the sixteen subjects, viz. means of right knowledge (pramana), object of right knowledge (prameya), doubt (samshaya), purpose (prayojana), illustrative instances (drishtanta), accepted conclusions (siddhanta), premisses (avayava), argumentation (tarka), ascertainment (nirnaya), debates (vada), disputations (jalpa), destructive criticisms (vitanda), fallacy (hetvabhasa), quibble (chala), refutations (jati), points of opponent’s defeat (nigrahasthana), and hold that by a thorough knowledge of these the highest good (nihshreyasa), is attained. In the second sutra it is said that salvation (apavarga) is attained by the successive disappearance of false knowledge (mithyajnana), defects (dosha), endeavours (pravritti, birth (janma), and ultimately of sorrow (1). Read more »

apta, atman, body senses, chala, dosha, five senses, inference, jalpa, pain sorrow, perception, pleasure pain, right knowledge, self body, sense objects, tarka, testimony

The four kinds of atoms are earth, water, fire, and air atoms. These have mass, number, weight, fluidity (or hardness), viscosity (or its opposite), velocity, characteristic potential colour, taste, smell, or touch, not produced by the chemical operation of heat. Akasha (space) is absolutely inert and structure-less being only as the substratum of sound, which is supposed to travel wave-like in the manifesting medium of air. Atomic combination is only possible with the four elements. Atoms cannot exist in an uncombined condition in the creation stage; atmospheric air however consists of atoms in an uncombined state. Read more »

akasha, elementary substance, four elements, hindus, molecule, vibratory motion, water fire

The manner in which knowledge originates is one of the most favourite topics of discussion in Indian philosophy. We have already seen that Samkhya-Yoga explained it by supposing that the buddhi (place of consciousness) assumed the form of the object of perception, and that the buddhi so transformed was then intelligized by the reflection of the pure intelligence or purusha. The Jains regarded the origin of any knowledge as being due to a withdrawal of a veil of karma which was covering the all-intelligence of the self. Read more »

cognition, collocation, indian philosophy, inference, intellectual elements, intelligence, linga, perception, physical elements, purusha

Vedanta philosophy is the philosophy which claims to be the exposition of the philosophy taught in the Upanishads and summarized in the Brahma-sutras of Badarayana. The Upanishads form the last part of the Veda literature, and its philosophy is therefore also called sometimes the Uttara-Mimamsa or the Mimamsa (decision) of the later part of the Vedas as distinguished from the Mimamsa of the previous part of the Vedas and the Brahmanas as incorporated in the Purvamimamsa sutras of Jaimini. Read more »

brahmanas, brahma sutras, commentaries, hindu, ramanuja, shankara, upanishads, vedanta philosophy, vedas

The Mimamsists held that everything that is said in the Vedas is to be interpreted as requiring us to perform particular kinds of action, or to desist from doing certain other kinds. This would mean that the Upanishads being a part of the Veda should also be interpreted as containing injunctions for the performance of certain kinds of actions. The description of Brahman in the Upanishads does not therefore represent a simple statement of the nature of Brahman, but it implies that the Brahman should be meditated upon as possessing the particular nature described there, i.e. Brahman should be meditated upon as being an entity which possesses a nature which is identical with our self; such a procedure would then lead to beneficial results to the man who so meditates. Shankara could not agree to such a view. For his main point was that the Upanishads revealed the highest truth as the Brahman. No meditation or worship or action of any kind was required; but one reached absolute wisdom and emancipation when the truth dawned on him that the Brahman or self was the ultimate reality. The teachings of the other parts of the Vedas, the karmakanda (those dealing with the injunctions relating to the performance of duties and actions), were intended for inferior types of aspirants, whereas the teachings of the Upanishads, the jnanakanda (those which declare the nature of ultimate truth and reality), were intended only for superior aspirants who had transcended the limits of sacrificial duties and actions, and who had no desire for any earthly blessing or for any heavenly joy. Read more »

bhagavadgita, brahman, heavenly joy, meditation, sacrifices, shankara, truth and reality, upanishads, veda, vedas

The main idea of the advaita (non-dualistic) Vedanta philosophy as taught by the Shankara school is this, that the ultimate and absolute truth is the self, which is one, though appearing as many in different individuals. The world also as apart from us the individuals has no reality and has no other truth to show than this self. All other events, mental or physical, are but passing appearances, while the only absolute and unchangeable truth underlying them all is the self. Read more »

absolute truth, advaita, akara, appearances, brahman, cognition, comprehension, duality, macrocosm, microcosm, objective truth, passions, preceptor, sensations, vedanta philosophy, world consciousness

Ajnana defined as the indefinite which is neither positive nor negative is also directly experienced by us in such perceptions as “I do not know, or I do not know myself or anybody else,” or “I do not know what you say,” or more particularly “I had been sleeping so long happily and did not know anything.” Read more »

consciousness, entities, i do not know, negation, perception, vedanta

This ajnana rests on the pure cit or intelligence. This cit or Brahman is of the nature of pure illumination, but yet it is not opposed to the ajnana or the indefinite. The cit becomes opposed to the ajnana and destroys it only when it is reflected through the mental states (vritti). The ajnana thus rests on the pure cit and not on the cit as associated with such illusory impositions as go to produce the notion of ego “aham” or the individual soul. Read more »

aham, antahkarana, appearance, brahman, ego, illumination, intelligence, jiva, luminosity, madhava, manifestations

We have many times spoken of truth or reality as self-luminous (svayamprakasha). But what does this mean? Vedanta defines it as that which is never the object of a knowing act but is yet immediate and direct with us (avedyatve sati aparoksavyavaharayogyatvam). Self-luminosity thus means the capacity of being ever present in all our acts of consciousness without in any way being an object of consciousness. Read more »

anubhuti, appearance, consciousness, manifestation, self luminosity, vedanta, world experience

Vedanta says that when a duly qualified man takes to the study of Vedanta and is instructed by the preceptor - “Thou art that (Brahman),” he attains the emancipating knowledge, and the world-appearance becomes for him false and illusory. Read more »

attainment, karma, right knowledge, selfish desires, vedanta, vedas, worldly enjoyments

Shakti is both maya, that by which the Brahman creating the universe is able to make Itself appear to be different from what It really is, and mula-prakriti, or the unmanifested (avyakta) state of that which, when manifest, is the universe of name and form. It is the primary so called “material cause,” consisting of the equipoise of the triad of guna or “qualities” which are sattva (that which manifests) rajas (that which acts), tamas (that which veils and produces inertia). The three gunas represent Nature as the revelation of spirit, Nature as the passage of descent from spirit to matter, or of ascent from matter to spirit, and Nature as the dense veil of spirit. The Devi is thus guna-nidhi (”treasure-house of guna” ). Read more »

brahman, coiled serpent, guna, kundalini, material cause, maya, mula, prana, shakti, spirit and nature, three and a half, triad, universe, womb

It cannot be said that current explanations give a clear understanding of this subject. Yet such is necessary, both as affording one of the chief keys to Indian philosophy and to the principles which govern Sadhana. The term guna is generally translated “quality,” a word which is only accepted for default of a better. For it must not be overlooked that the three guna (Sattva, rajas, and tamas), which are of Prakriti, constitute Her very substance. This being so, all Nature which issues from Her, the Maha-karana-svarupa, is called tri-gunatmaka, and is composed of the same guna in different states of relation to one another. The functions of sattva, rajas, and tamas are to reveal, to make active, and to suppress respectively. Rajas is the dynamic, as sattva and tamas are static principles. That is to say, sattva and tamas can neither reveal nor suppress without being first rendered active by rajas. These gunas work by mutual suppression. Read more »

animal creation, deva, divya, guna, indian philosophy, jiva, karana, maha, manifestation, principles, rajas, sadhana, sattva, stable equilibrium, suppression, tamas

This earth, which is the object of the physical senses and of the knowledge based thereon, is but one of fourteen worlds or regions placed “above” and “below” it, of which (as the sutra says) knowledge may be obtained by meditation on the solar “nerve” (nada) sushumna in the merudanda. Read more »

atma, celestial beings, earth to the sun, heavenly sphere, jiva, moksha, nada, nadi, nether, padma, physical senses, pole star, siddhas, terrestrial sphere, thousand petalled lotus

The worlds are inhabited by countless grades of beings, ranging from the highest Devas (of whom there are many classes and degrees) to the lowest animal life. The scale of beings runs from the shining manifestations of Spirit to those in which it is so veiled that it would seem almost to have disappeared in its material covering. There is but one Light, one Spirit, whose manifestations are many. Read more »

brahman, gayatri, lakshmi, manifestations, maya, one spirit, purusha, rays of light, rudra, sandhya, sarasvati, supreme mother

Then you must give up wishing, for you cannot both wish and will. The two things are utterly incompatible. I have already explained this by reference to the will to pick up or not pick up a pen. It should be understood that indulgence in wishing is not only a waste of time, but also an invitation to harmful emotions. It is like slouching along the road instead of walking erect. Read more »

general purpose, impressions, indulgence, judgment, misunderstanding, perfectly clear, poise, polarization, proper attitude, strong feeling, telepathy, waste of time

IN this chapter I must allow myself to use certain Sanskrit words which have technical importance in the study of the mind and the world. Mantra is one of them. In connection with meditation it refers to words or sentences which are repeated over and over again while the mind is intent upon their meaning. Read more »

gunas, mantra, mantras, practice meditation, rajas, recitations, repetition, sanskrit words, tamas, upanishad

Mind as we know it, as well as Matter and Energy, is held by the highest occult teachers to be but an appearance and a relativity of something far more fundamental and enduring, and we are compelled to fall back upon that old term which wise men have used in order to describe that Something Else that lies back of, and under, Matter, Energy and Mind–and that word is “Spirit.” Read more »

essence of life, matter and energy, personal god, relativity, spirit, universal life, wise men, word god

As valuable as are all these illustrations, examples, and figures of speech, still all must of necessity fall short of the truth in the case of the Soul of Man–that wondrous something which has been built up by the Absolute after aeons and aeons of time, and which is destined to play an important part in the great Cosmic Drama which it has pleased the Absolute to think into existence. Drawing its Life from the Universal Life, it has the roots of its being still further back in the Absolute itself, as we shall see in the next lesson. Great and wonderful is it all, and our minds are but illy fitted to receive the truth, and must be gradually accustomed to the glare of the Sun. But it will come to all–none can escape his glorious destiny. Read more »

aeons, allusions, awareness, cosmic consciousness, cosmic drama, mental characteristics, oneness, oriental philosophies, tat tvam asi, thou art, unity, upanishads

In our last lesson we led you by successive steps from the beginnings of Life in living forms up to the creatures closely resembling the family of vertebrates–the highest family of living forms on this planet. In this present lesson we take up the story of the “Ascent of Man” from the lowly vertebrate forms. Read more »

evolving of wings, lower forms of life, placenta, skeleton, vertebrates

One of the things that repel many persons who have had their attention directed to the subject of Metempsychosis for the first time, is the idea that they have evolved as a soul from individual lowly forms, for instance that they have at one time been an individual plant, and then an individual animal form, and then an individual higher animal form, and so on until now they are the particular individual human form contemplating the subject. This idea, which has been taught by many teachers, is repellent to the average mind, for obvious reasons, and naturally so, for it has no foundation in truth. Read more »

contemplating, individuality, many generations, metempsychosis, misconception, predecessors, principle, spiritual evolution

The Yogi traditions hold that just prior to the great cataclysm which destroyed the races of the Second Cycle, there was a body of the Chosen Ones which migrated from Lemuria to certain islands of the sea which are now part of the main land of India. These people formed the nucleus of the Occult Teachings of the Lemurians, and developed into the Fount of Truth which has been flowing ever since throughout the successive periods and cycles. Read more »

atlantis, attainment, cataclysm, chosen ones, civilization, continent, lemuria, yogi

The Yogi Philosophy teaches that Man will live forever, ascending from higher to higher planes, and then on and on and on. Death is but the physical symbol of a period of Soul Rest, similar to sleep of the tired body, and is just as much to be welcomed and greeted with thanks. Life is continuous, and its object is development, unfoldment and growth. We are in Eternity now as much as we ever shall be. Our souls may exist out of the body as well as in it, although bodily incarnation is necessary at this stage of our development. As we progress on to higher planes of life, we shall incarnate in bodies far more ethereal than those now used by us, just as in the past we used bodies almost incredibly grosser and coarser than those we call our own to-day. Life is far more than a thing of three-score and ten years–it is really a succession of such lives, on an ascending scale, that which we call our personal self to-day being merely the essence of the experiences of countless lives in the past. Read more »

countless lives, eternity, ethereal, higher planes, incarnate, incarnation, infinitely, live forever, magnificence, manifestations, personal self, physical symbol, soul of man, soul rest, transcendent, universes, unseen hand

Of a truth there are certain highly developed, advanced and exalted souls in the flesh, known as Masters and Adepts, although many of the tales told concerning them are myths, or pure fiction originating in the minds of some modern sensational writers. Read more »

away from the crowd, experiences, great lodge, human beings, pearls, sacred truth, spiritually, spiritual development, spiritual truths, swine, work miracles

When the soul passes out from the body at the moment of death it carries with it the “Astral Body” as well as the higher mental and spiritual principles (see the first three lessons in the “Fourteen Lessons”). The Astral Body is the counterpart of the material or physical body, although it is composed of matter of a much finer and ethereal nature than is the physical body. It is invisible to the ordinary eye, but may be seen clairvoyantly. Read more »

astral body, astral plane, ethereal nature, higher planes, intelligence, magnetism, physical body, spiritual principles, vitality

The Vaidiki samdhya is the rite performed by the twice-born castes thrice a day, at morning, midday, and evening. The morning samdhya is preceded by the following acts. On awakening, a mantra is said in invocation of the Tri-murti and the sun, moon, and planets, and salutation is made to the Guru. The Hindu dvi-ja then recites the mantra: “I am a Deva - I am indeed the sorrowless Brahman. By nature I am eternally free, and in the form of existence, intelligence, and bliss. Read more »

deva, gayatri devi, gayatri mantra, guru, invocation, japa, kusa, mantras, om, prana, pranayama, salutation, tantrika, twice born

Now let us understand clearly what we mean by a subtle body. It is nothing but a minute germ of a living substance. It contains the invisible particles of matter which are held together by vital force, and it also possesses mind or thought-force in a potential state, just as the seed of a plant contains in it the life force and the power of growth. Read more »

alimentary canal, ethereal, gross body, living substance, manifestations, particles of matter, potential state, power of speech, putrefaction, subtle body, thought force, vital energy

Plato says: “Ten thousand years must elapse before the soul can return to the place from whence she came, for she cannot grow her wings in less.” “At the end of the first thousand years, the souls of the good and of the evil kind come together to draw lots, and choose their bodies according to their tendencies and the bent of their characters. They may take any they like. Instead of receiving the natural consequences of their deeds and misdeeds of their previous lives they are allowed to choose their own lot, according to their experience and bent of character. Some, being disgusted with mankind, prefer to be born as animals, such as lions and eagles or some other animals. Others delight in trying their luck as human beings.” From this mythological description we gather what Plato meant by transmigration. Read more »

creation theory, different stages, human personality, natural consequences, one soul, plato, previous lives, transmigration

THE “I.”

In India, the Candidates for Initiation into the science of “Raja