Yoga breathing

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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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The universe consists of a Mahabrahmanda, or grand Kosmos, and of numerous Brihatbrahmanda, or macrocosms evolved from it. Read more »

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Amidst all this competition for my attention what is it that causes me to pick up this or that? Briefly, it is the mood of the mind. We know that the will can step into the current of thoughts, watch them drifting along, and interrupt and direct them. We have seen that it can also impose an overall command or give standing orders covering a period of time. Read more »

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The Yogi teachings inform us that, in the Beginning, The Absolute formed a Mental Image, or Thought-Form, of an Universal Mind–that is, of an Universal Principle of Mind. And here the distinction is made between this Universal Mind Principle, or Universal Mind-Stuff, as some have called it, and the Infinite Mind itself. The Infinite Mind is something infinitely above this creation of the Universal Mind Principle, the latter being as much an “emanation” as is Matter. Let there be no mistake about this. The Infinite Mind is Spirit–the Universal Mind Principle is “Mind-Stuff” of which all Finite Mind is a part. This Universal Mind Principle was the first conception of The Absolute, in the process of the creation of the Universe. It was the “Stuff” from which all Finite Mind forms, and is formed. It is the Universal Mental Energy. Know it as such–but do not confound it with Spirit, which we have called Infinite Mind, because we had no other term. There is a subtle difference here, which is most important to a careful understanding of the subject. Read more »

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Anusara (“flowing with grace” in Sanskrit) Yoga is an aspect of yoga built up by John Friend, an American yoga follower, in late seventies. Anusara Yoga is based on his many years of yoga practice and especially from studying the Iyengar hatha yoga and from his devoted studies of Siddha Yoga Meditation. Read more »

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Our subliminal self, or the subconscious mind, is the storehouse of all the impressions that we gather through our experiences during our lifetime. They are stored up, pigeon-holed there, in the Chitta, as it is called in Vedanta. “Chitta” means the same subconscious mind or subliminal self which is the storehouse of all impressions and experiences. Read more »

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Let us begin with a consideration of the instruments of the Ego, and the material with which and through which the Ego works. Let us realize that the physical body of man is identical in substance with all other forms of matter, and that its atoms are continually changing and being replaced, the material being drawn from the great storehouse of matter, and that there is a Oneness of matter underlying all apparent differences of form and substance. Read more »

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In our first three lessons of this series, we have endeavored to bring into realization within your mind (1) the consciousness of the “I”; its independence from the body; its immortality; its invincibility and invulnerability; (2) the superiority of the “I” over the mind, as well as over the body; the fact that the mind is not the “I,” but is merely an instrument for the expression of the “I”; the fact that the “I” is master of the mind, as well as of the body; that the “I” is behind all thought; that the “I” can set aside for consideration the sensations, emotions, passions, desires, and the rest of the mental phenomena, and still realize that it, the “I,” is apart from these mental manifestations, and remains unchanged, real and fully existent; that the “I” can set aside any and all of its mental tools and instruments, as “not I” things, and still consciously realize that after so setting them aside there remains something–itself–the “I” which cannot be set aside or taken from; that the “I” is the master of the mind, and not its slave; (3) that the “I” is a much greater thing than the little personal “I” we have been considering it to be; that the “I” is a part of that great One Reality which pervades all the Universe; that it is connected with all other forms of life by countless ties, mental and spiritual filaments and relations; that the “I” is a Centre of Consciousness in that great One Reality or Spirit, which is behind and back of all Life and Existence, the Centre of which Reality or Existence, is the Absolute or God; that the sense of Reality that is inherent in the “I,” is really the reflection of the sense of Reality inherent in the Whole–the Great “I” of the Universe. Read more »

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The Yogi Philosophy teaches that instead of Mind being the “I” it is the thing through and by means of which the “I” thinks, at least so far as is concerned the knowledge concerning the phenomenal or outward Universe–that is the Universe of Name and Form. There is a higher Knowledge locked up in the innermost part of the “I,” that far transcends any information that it may receive about or from the outer world, but that is not before us for consideration at this time, and we must concern ourselves with the “thinking” about the world of things. Read more »

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