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.
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 Neti is a Hatha Yoga cleaning process. Neti is cleansing of the nasal passage of the respiratory system. By cleaning and affecting the mucous membranes inside the nose, they are stimulated so that the whole surrounding area is also strengthened, including the eyebrow centre, which is an important point of contact for the Anja Chakra, the third eye, or, physiologically, the pineal gland. The entire breathing system is affected by Neti. The little cilia hairs which clean the air passages by ’sweeping’ up the dirt are also activated as the mucous membranes are affected. Read more »
air passages, breathing exercise, breathing system, bronchi, cilia, dust particles, effects of air pollution, hatha yoga, mucous membrane, mucous membranes, nasal cavity, nasal passage, pineal gland, respiratory system, third eye, trachea It will however be wrong to suppose that these monotheistic tendencies were gradually supplanting the polytheistic sacrifices. On the other hand, the complications of ritualism were gradually growing in their elaborate details. Read more »
creation of the world, demon, devotion, dignity, eternity, fulfilment, magical results, rituals, sacrifice, vedas, virtue There seems to be a belief in the Vedas that the soul could be separated from the body in states of swoon, and that it could exist after death, though we do not find there any trace of the doctrine of transmigration in a developed form. Read more »
correct knowledge, doctrine of transmigration, hymns, karma, manas, rig veda, rita, sacrifices, shatapatha brahmana, soul of man, two fires Looking at the advancement of thought in the rig-Veda we find first that a fabric of thought was gradually growing which not only looked upon the universe as a correlation of parts or a construction made of them, but sought to explain it as having emanated from one great being who is sometimes described as one with the universe and surpassing it, and at other times as being separate from it; the agnostic spirit which is the mother of philosophic thought is seen at times to be so bold as to express doubts even on the most fundamental questions of creation–”Who knows whether this world was ever created or not?” Read more »
aranyakas, atman, brahmanas, fate, fundamental questions, rig veda, sacrifices, soul of man, supreme masters, upanishads There is the atman not in man alone but in all objects of the universe, the sun, the moon, the world; and Brahman is this atman. There is nothing outside the atman, and therefore there is no plurality at all. As from a lump of clay all that is made of clay is known, as from an ingot of black iron all that is made of black iron is known, so when this atman the Brahman is known everything else is known. The essence in man and the essence of the universe are one and the same, and it is Brahman. Read more »
atman, brahman, phenomenal world, upanishads, vedanta, visions When the Vedic people witnessed the burning of a dead body they supposed that the eye of the man went to the sun, his breath to the wind, his speech to the fire, his limbs to the different parts of the universe. They also believed as we have already seen in the recompense of good and bad actions in worlds other than our own, and though we hear of such things as the passage of the human soul into trees, etc., the tendency towards transmigration had but little developed at the time. Read more »
asceticism, charitable deeds, dark half, doctrine of transmigration, good deeds, recompense, sun moon, upanishads, vedic, way of the gods, womb It is, however, remarkable that with the exception of the Carvaka materialists all the other systems agree on some fundamental points of importance. The systems of philosophy in India were not stirred up merely by the speculative demands of the human mind which has a natural inclination for indulging in abstract thought, but by a deep craving after the realization of the religious purpose of life. Read more »
abstract thought, carvaka, cause and effect, karma and rebirth, mantras, natural inclination, purpose of life, realization, religious purpose, summum bonum, transcendent, vedic 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 The earliest descriptions of a Samkhya which agrees with Ishvarakrishna’s Samkhya (but with an addition of Ishvara) are to be found in Patanjali’s Yoga sutras and in the Mahabharata; but we are pretty certain that the Samkhya of Caraka we have sketched here was known to Patanjali, for in Yoga sutra I. 19 a reference is made to a view of Samkhya similar to this. Read more »
history of philosophy, kapila, mahabharata, oneness, patanjali, purusha, siddhis, upanishad, yoga sutra, yoga sutras Samkhya believes that before this world came into being there was such a state of dissolution–a state in which the guna compounds had disintegrated into a state of disunion and had by their mutual opposition produced an equilibrium the prakriti. Read more »
Cosmic Evolution, gunas, manifestation, mutual opposition, phenomenal product, phenomenon, rajas, resistance, sattva, tendencies The question is raised, how can the prakriti supply the deficiencies made in its evolutes by the formation of other evolutes from them? When from mahat some tanmatras have evolved, or when from the tanmatras some atoms have evolved, how can the deficiency in mahat and the tanmatras be made good by the prakriti? (1). Read more »
cause and effect, concomitant conditions, gross body, gunas, karana, latent powers, manifestation, material cause, potential energy, shakti, ultimate energy The above consideration brings us to an important aspect of the Samkhya view of causation as satkaryavada. Samkhya holds that there can be no production of a thing previously non-existent; causation means the appearance or manifestation of a quality due to certain changes of collocations in the causes which were already held in them in a potential form. Read more »
atoms, buddhists, causation, continual change, dharma, manifestation, nihilists, non existent, reals 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 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 Of the six classes of entities or categories (padartha) we have already given some account of dravya (1). Let us now turn to the others. Of the qualities (guna) the first one called rupa (colour) is that which can be apprehended by the eye alone and not by any other sense. The colours are white, blue, yellow, red, green, brown and variegated (citra). Colours are found only in kshiti, ap and tejas. The colours of ap and tejas are permanent (nitya), but the colour of kshiti changes when heat is applied, and this, Shridhara holds, is due to the fact that heat changes the atomic structure of kshiti (earth) and thus the old constitution of the substance being destroyed, its old colour is also destroyed, and a new one is generated. Rupa is the general name for the specific individual colours. There is the genus rupatva (colourness), and the rupa guna (quality) is that on which rests this genus; rupa is not itself a genus and can be apprehended by the eye. Read more »
akasha, atomic structure, guna, katu, natural taste, nitya, rasa, rupa, tejas, vayu The Nyaya-Vaisheshika in most of its speculations took that view of things which finds expression in our language, and which we tacitly assume as true in all our ordinary experience. Thus they admitted dravya, guna, karma and samanya, Vishesha they had to admit as the ultimate peculiarities of atoms, for they did not admit that things were continually changing their qualities, and that everything could be produced out of everything by a change of the collocation or arrangement of the constituting atoms. Read more »
antecedent, atoms, axiom, guna, hypothesis, karma, material cause, molecular movement, speculations, unseen power Samkhya asserts that the teleology of the prakriti is sufficient to explain all order and arrangement of the cosmos. The Mimamsakas, the Carvakas, the Buddhists and the Jains all deny the existence of Ishvara (God). Nyaya believes that Ishvara has fashioned this universe by his will out of the ever-existing atoms. For every effect (e.g. a jug) must have its cause. If this be so, then this world with all its order and arrangement must also be due to the agency of some cause, and this cause is Ishvara. Read more »
atoms, buddhists, existence, fire in the forest, inference, jug, manifest world, teleology 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 The naiyayikas admitted only the five cognitive senses which they believed to be composed of one or other of the five elements. These senses could each come in contact with the special characteristic of that element of which they were composed. Thus the ear could perceive sound, because sound was the attribute of akasha, of which the auditory sense, the ear, was made up. The eye could send forth rays to receive the colour, etc., of things. Thus the cognitive senses can only manifest their specific objects by going over to them and thereby coming in contact with them. The cognitive senses (vak, pani, pada, payu, and upastha) recognized in Samkhya as separate senses are not recognized here as such for the functions of these so-called senses are discharged by the general motor functions of the body. Read more »
akasha, auditory sense, cognition, cognitive, concrete experience, five elements, motor functions, perception, perceptual process, right knowledge, senses, vak I have pointed out above that Nyaya divided perception into two classes as nirvikalpa (indeterminate) and savikalpa (determinate) according as it is an earlier or a later stage. Vacaspati says, that at the first stage perception reveals an object as a particular; the perception of an orange at this avikalpika or nirvikalpika stage gives us indeed all its colour, form, and also the universal of orangeness associated with it, but it does not reveal it in a subject-predicate relation as when I say “this is an orange.” Read more »
consciously, differentiation, notion, perception, subject and predicate, unification, universals Inference (anumana) is the second means of proof (pramana) and the most valuable contribution that Nyaya has made on this subject. It consists in making an assertion about a thing on the strength of the mark or linga which is associated with it, as when finding smoke rising from a hill we remember that since smoke cannot be without fire, there must also be fire in yonder hill. In an example like this smoke is technically called linga, or hetu. Read more »
asat, assertion, inference, linga, perception, satta, shastra, testimony It may not be out of place here to mention that in later Nyaya works great emphasis is laid on the necessity of getting ourselves assured that there was no such upadhi (condition) associated with the hetu on account of which the concomitance happened, but that the hetu was unconditionally associated with the sadhya in a relation of inseparable concomitance. Thus all fire does not produce smoke; fire must be associated with green wood in order to produce smoke. Green wood is thus the necessary condition (upadhi) without which, no smoke could be produced. It is on account of this condition that fire is associated with smoke; and so we cannot say that there is smoke because there is fire. But in the concomitance of smoke with fire there is no condition, and so in every case of smoke there is fire. In order to be assured of the validity of vyapti, it is necessary that we must be assured that there should be nothing associated with the hetu which conditioned the concomitance, and this must be settled by wide experience (bhuyodarshana). Read more »
inference, kanada, linga, necessary condition, opposition, smoke fire, validity, valid reason The problem of negation or non-existence (abhava) is of great interest in Indian philosophy. In this section we can describe its nature only from the point of view of perceptibility. Read more »
cognition, existence, indian philosophy, inference, intuition, manam, negation, notion, visual perception Nyaya seeks to establish the existence of Ishvara on the basis of inference. We know that the Jains, the Samkhya and the Buddhists did not believe in the existence of Ishvara and offered many antitheistic arguments. Nyaya wanted to refute these and prove the existence of Ishvara by an inference of the samanyato-drishta type. The Jains and other atheists held that though things in the world have production and decay, the world as a whole was never produced, and it was never therefore an effect. In contrast to this view the Nyaya holds that the world as a whole is also an effect like any other effect. Read more »
atheists, buddhists, existence, inference, order of the universe Mimamsa has to accept the existence of soul, for without it who would perform the Vedic commandments, and what would be the meaning of those Vedic texts which speak of men as performing sacrifices and going to Heaven thereby? The soul is thus regarded as something entirely distinct from the body, the sense organs, and buddhi; it is eternal, omnipresent, and many, one in each body. Prabhakara thinks that it is manifested to us in all cognitions. Indeed he makes this also a proof for the existence of self as a separate entity from the body, for had it not been so, why should we have the notion of self-persistence in all our cognitions–even in those where there is no perception of the body? Read more »
consciousness, existence, going to heaven, pleasure pain, sacrifices, sense organs, true reason, vedic texts Yoga is more and more being used by those who are having a difficulty in adjusting the timetable and balancing their work, business activities and personal life. A stressful working environment and a chaotic life schedule have a significant impact on the personal lives of the modern day workers and managers and so they are turning to yoga to bring about a peace of their mind, a more fit body and to adopt a perfect work-life balance. Mind-body health, which derives from Indian yoga philosophies and practices, improves physical and emotional well-being, and has implications for workplace performance. Read more »
cardiac risk factors, chaotic life, exercise regimes, fit body, hormone production, indian yoga, mind body health, stress hormone, weight trainers, yoga exercises The world-appearance is not however so illusory as the perception of silver in the conch-shell, for the latter type of worldly illusions is called pratibhasika, as they are contradicted by other later experiences, whereas the illusion of world-appearance is never contradicted in this worldly stage and is thus called vyavaharika (from vyavahara, practice, i.e. that on which is based all our practical movements). Read more »
appearance, brahman, consciousness, illusions, perception, right knowledge, sattva, true reality, vedanta Ajnana the cause of all illusions is defined as that which is beginningless, yet positive and removable by knowledge (anadibhavarupatve sati jnananivartyatvam). Though it manifests itself in all ordinary things (veiled by it before they become objects of perception) which have a beginning in time, yet it itself has no beginning, for it is associated with the pure consciousness which is beginningless. Read more »
consciousness, dosha, illusions, imagination, imposition, negation, notion, perception, vedanta The Vedanta philosophy looked at the constantly changing phenomena of the world-appearance and sought to discover the root whence proceeded the endless series of events and effects. The theory that effects were altogether new productions caused by the invariable unconditional and immediately preceding antecedents, as well as the theory that it was the cause which evolved and by its transformations produced the effect, are considered insufficient to explain the problem which the Vedanta had before it. Read more »
cause and effect, definition of cause and effect, manifestation, phenomena, transformations, vedanta philosophy Yoga asanas have been developed over thousand years to promote physical health and to prepare the student to higher yoga stages of meditation. Each yoga pose is attentively designed to focus on particular areas of the body. Read more »
cakra, muscles of the body, visceral organs, yoga asanas, yoga poses, yoga practices, yoga practitioner That eternal immutable existence which transcends the turiya and all other states is the unconditioned Absolute, the supreme Brahman or Para-brahman, without Prakriti (nishkala) or Her attributes (nir-guna), which, as being the inner self and knowing subject, can never be the object of cognition, and is to be apprehended only through yoga by the realization of the Self (atmajñana), which It is. For as it is said, “Spirit can alone know Spirit.” Being beyond mind, speech, and without name, the Brahman was called “Tat,” “That,” and then “Tat Sat,” “That which is.” For the sun, moon, and stars, and all visible things, what are they but a glimpse of light caught from “That” (Tat)? Read more »
ananda, brahma, chaitanya, glimpse of light, guna, human speech, kala, rupa, sarada, shakti, shiva, spirit, sun moon, supreme brahman One of the higher efforts and achievements of concentration of mind has been well described by Dr. Annie Besant in her book The Ancient Wisdom, in the following words: Read more »
abstract subject, ancient wisdom, concentration, devotion, distractions, higher consciousness, indifference, line of thought, physical brain, practice compassion, quiet and still, senses, serene, single point, temperance The drift which I have so carefully described and you, I hope, have inspected in your own mind, is not a bad thing nor a disorderly one. It is the relaxed condition of the mind, and we can use it for resting when we are mentally tired. In the course of prolonged study involving mental effort we may stop awhile to rest and recuperate by simply leaning back, closing the eyes, relaxing the body — especially the neck — and quietly watching the mental drift. Read more »
contiguity, four roads, memory training, mental effort, mental relaxation, remembered things, sensuous experience There are certain definite ways in which we can practice contemplation. In all cases one should go through the three stages in order to reach the top of one’s thought: (I) the attention must be centered on the object; (2) thought must be active with reference to that object alone; (3) the mind must come to an end of its remembering, collating, comparing, reasoning and meditating, but still remain attentively poised upon the object. Read more »
Attention, contemplation, contemplative experience, intense search It is the veriest folly to try to think of the One as It is “in Itself”–for we have nothing but human attributes with which to measure it, and It so far transcends such measurements that the mental yard-sticks run out into infinity and are lost sight of. The highest minds of the race inform us that the most exalted efforts of their reason compels them to report that the One–in Itself–cannot be spoken of as possessing attributes or qualities capable of being expressed in human words employed to describe the Things of the relative world–and all of our words are such. All of our words originate from such ideas, and all of our ideas arise from our experience, directly or indirectly. So we are not equipped with words with which to think of or speak of that which transcends experience, although our Intellect informs us that Reality lies back of our experience. Read more »
human attributes, infinity, intellect, measurements, paradoxes, pursuit of truth, riddle of the sphinx, spirit The life of the bacteria and germs–the yeasty forms of life–are familiar to many of us. And yet there are forms of life still below these. The line between living forms and non-living forms is being set back further and further by science. Living creatures are now known that resemble the non-living so closely that the line cannot be definitely drawn. Read more »
application of moisture, Living creatures, living forms, lower forms of life, theories of the Yogis Many writers have spoken of the Universal Life, and The One, as being identical–but such is a grievous error, finding no warrant in the Highest Yogi Teachings. It is true that all living forms dwell in, and are infilled with the Universal Life–that All Life is One. We have taught this truth, and it is indeed Truth, without qualification. But there is still a Higher Truth–the Highest Truth, in fact–and that is, that even this Universal Life is not the One, but, instead, is in itself a manifestation of, and emanation from, THE ONE. There is a great difference here—see that you perceive and understand it, before proceeding further. Read more »
deep thought, divine substance, emanation, Finite Mind, infinite reality, manifestation, universal life, yogi “Karma” is a Sanscrit term for that great Law known to Western thinkers as Spiritual Cause and Effect, or Causation. It relates to the complicated affinities for either good or evil that have been acquired by the soul throughout its many incarnations. These affinities manifest as characteristics enduring from one incarnation to another, being added to here, softened or altered there, but always pressing forward for expression and manifestation. And, so, it follows that what each one of us is in this life depends upon is what we have been and how we have acted in our past lives. Read more »
bad karma, future lives, good deeds, good karma, manifestation, perfect justice, previous lives, reward, sanscrit, spiritual cause, yogis It is hard for us to fully realize that we are what we are because of our past experiences. It is difficult for us to value the experiences that we are now going through, because we do not fully appreciate the value of bitter experiences once lived out and outlived. Let us look back over the experiences of this present life, for instance. How many bitter episodes are there which we wish had never happened, and how we wish we could tear them out of our consciousness. Read more »
attainment, being remembered, beneficent, consciousness, injustice, karma, knowledge wisdom, painful experiences Those who are suffering, and who see no cause for their pain, are apt to complain and rebel when they see others of no apparent merit enjoying the good things of life which have been denied their apparently more worthy brethren. The churches have no answer except “It is God’s will,” and that “the Divine motive must not be questioned.” These answers seem like mockery, particularly when the idea of Divine Justice is associated with the teaching. Read more »
divine justice, future lives, karma, manifestation, manifestations, merit, misery, motive, spiritual relationships, worthy Of the four aims, mokśa or mukti is the truly ultimate end, for the other three are ever haunted by the fear of Death, the Ender.(1)
Mukti means “loosening” or liberation. It is advisable to avoid the term “salvation,” as also other Christian terms, which connote different, though in a loose sense, analogous ideas. According to the Christian doctrine (soteriology), faith in Christ’s Gospel and in His Church effects salvation, which is the forgiveness of sins mediated by Christ’s redeeming activity, saving from judgment, and admitting to the Kingdom of God. Read more »
dharma, ethical nature, extinction, fear of death, forgiveness of sins, hinduism, kingdom of god, liberation, marga, mukti, samsara, soteriology, spiritual knowledge, supreme spirit 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 A lot of people consider the âsanas to be true gymnastic exercises and they perform them as such. Leaving aside the therapeutic aspect, the âsanas can be practiced to maintain the normal state of physical and mental health or to progress in yoga, but nevertheless they differ in various aspects from the common physical exercises. Read more »