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 In the frenzied lifestyle people live in today, you have to consider that this overactivity lifestyle is bad for your health. Recent studies have found that stress contributes to heart diseases and high blood pressure. You have to consider that because of the help of stressful lifestyle that people live in today, stroke and heart diseases have been considered as one of the deadliest diseases plaguing today’s society.
Yoga meditations can completely relax your body and mind and it can also make your brain more alert and make your heart relax. Read more »
heart diseases, high blood pressure, meditations, relaxation, stress, stressful lifestyle, yoga When the Vedas were composed, there was probably no system of writing prevalent in India. But such was the scrupulous zeal of the Brahmins, who got the whole Vedic literature by heart by hearing it from their preceptors, that it has been transmitted most faithfully to us through the course of the last 3000 years or more with little or no interpolations at all. Read more »
brahmin, hindus, hindu philosophy, history of india, religious authority, vedas, vedic civilization, vedic literature, vedic ritual A beginner who is introduced for the first time to the study of later Sanskrit literature is likely to appear somewhat confused when he meets with authoritative texts of diverse purport and subjects having the same generic name “Veda” or “Shruti” (from shru to hear); for Veda in its wider sense is not the name of any particular book, but of the literature of a particular epoch extending over a long period, say two thousand years or so. Read more »
authoritative texts, brahmins, heart, preceptors, samhita, shruti, upanishads, veda The cosmogony of the rig-Veda may be looked at from two aspects, the mythological and the philosophical. The mythological aspect has in general two currents, as Professor Macdonell says, “The one regards the universe as the result of mechanical production, the work of carpenter’s and joiner’s skill; the other represents it as the result of natural generation (1).” Read more »
atman, births, brahmana, cosmogony, golden egg, hymn 5, immortality, navel, pantheistic, rig veda, supreme being 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 The change of the Brahmana into the Aranyaka thought is signified by a transference of values from the actual sacrifices to their symbolic representations and meditations which were regarded as being productive of various earthly benefits. Read more »
brahmana, brahmins, material substances, meditations, prana, real truth, rig veda, sacrificial rituals, samaveda, symbolic representations, vital functions The oldest Upanishads are written in prose. Next to these we have some in verses very similar to those that are to be found in classical Sanskrit. Read more »
anatomy of the body, asceticism, classical sanskrit, cult, katha, methods of exposition, mundaka, sanskrit language, secret doctrine, self restraint, shiva, upanishad, visnu 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 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 Regrettable as it may be, we are immersed in a tension-filled world. It is this very tension that forms the basis for many psychosomatic disturbances. Psychiatry offers tranquillizers but Hatha Yoga offers drugless, inner relaxation through the thousands-years-old process known as ‘Shavasana’. Read more »
conscious control, corpse pose, hatha yoga, insomnia, lie still, mental tension, physical tension, psychosomatic disturbances, relaxation, relax your body, relieve stress, yoga asana, yoga nidra, yoga practice 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 It is useless I think to attempt to bring out the meaning of the Vedanta thought as contained in the Brahma-sutras without making any reference to the commentary of Shankara or any other commentator. There is reason to believe that the Brahma-sutras were first commented upon by some Vaishnava writers who held some form of modified dualism. Read more »
brahma sutras, dualism, nagarjuna, philosophy, prajnaparamita, shankara, upanishads, vaishnava, vedanta Bikram’s beginning yoga class is a book that Bikram Choudhury published in 2000 with the intention of making more affordable his version of hatha yoga in the west. Birkam yoga is practiced at 105 degrees temperature with more than 50% humidity. Birkam yoga involves controlling blood flow in the body through a variety of postures, which in turn have an effect on the muscles, organs, and immune system. Many years after its initial publication, Bikram’s beginning yoga class still provides a comprehensible introduction to the basics of yoga poses and yoga breathing. Read more »
asana, beginning yoga, bikram choudhury, birkam yoga, chronic diseases, hatha yoga asanas, immune system, increase energy, medical benefits, yoga breathing, yoga class, yoga exercises, yoga poses, yoga practice ‘Hatha’ is perhaps the best known aspect of Yoga among Westerners. To most yoga students it is simply a difficult system of physical control involving the use of various yoga poses (Asanas) and the learning of specialized breathing techniques (Pranayama). Read more »
asanas, breathing techniques, chronic anxiety, feminine symbol, hatha yoga, mental stability, pranayama, psychosomatic disease, yoga poses, yoga students The corrective asanas prepare various muscles, articulations, tendons and many reflex mechanisms, in a way to make the body and mind fit for higher yoga practices. Read more »
autonomous nervous system, cardiac rhythm, maximum effectiveness, maximum energy, mental peace, muscular activity, muscular tone, necessary effort, relaxation, slow movements, tendons, yoga pose, yoga practices A constant process of meditation requires that the annoyance of the external environment is reduced to the minimum or is annulled entirely. This means that the yoga practitioner will be able to concentrate his own mind and to meditate only in absence of nervous impulses from the receptors. Read more »
immobility, meditative yoga, mental calm, nervous impulses, peristaltic movements, respiratory activity, siddha, spiritual practices, straight spine, vertical position, yoga pose, yoga practitioner, yoga student 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 BEFORE you sit down to commence the practice of recall quietly but definitely decide what is to be your object of concentration and for how long you propose to sustain it. Sometimes people sit down and then begin to decide what to do; they start on one object and then change to another because they find it unsatisfactory, and at last they wake up to realize that their time has gone and they have done nothing. Read more »
concentration, meditations, odd times, posture, time has gone When purpose and pleasure are brought together work becomes play. Every bit of work done in this spirit strengthens the man who does it. It is recreative as well as creative. Artist and carpenter — they make pictures and chairs, but even more they make men, themselves. Think on what you are doing more than on the result, or what you are going to do afterwards. You will not then miss the pleasure of little things. I pick up my pen; there is sheer and undiluted pleasure in this, if I allow myself to experience it. It is natural and pure, and mine when I stop fighting, it. In such little things thought, love and will can flow and grow. And then arise peace and strength and — in active life — the union of work and play. Read more »
active life, bitterness, creative artist, deadly fear, impatience, light on the path, long journey, peace and strength, pleasure, stop fighting, work and play It is said in an old Indian book that there are four great enemies to human success: (I) a sleepy heart, (2) human passions, (3) a confused mind, and (4) attachment to anything but Brahman. [Each student has to attach his own meaning to this word, keeping it always flexible, so that it may expand and become illumined. Literally: the Evolutioner, Grower or Expander, not creator] Read more »
appetites, brahman, confused mind, emotions, enhancement, exercise, heart, human passions, ordered life, physical culture, pleasure and pain, suppression, vigor, vigorous life 1. The Standing Exercise.
With your watch in sight try to stand perfectly still (except for breathing and blinking) in front of a mirror for three to five minutes. Make no response to any twitching, tickling, itching, creeping, aching or creaking feelings that may arise. Think “stillness”, not “not-moving-ness”. Read more »
continence, exercise, feelings, hands and feet, intuition, muscles, practise, sensations At the end of a month of practice of the kind of physical exercises given in this chapter, though you can sit quietly, and the body has become lighter and brighter, so that you can get up like a cat in the morning, you may still find yourself troubled by outside things during concentration or meditation. Noises, for example, may divert you. In that case spare fifteen minutes a day for a month for practice on the following lines. Read more »
hearth, light waves, nostrils, physical exercises, seclusion, senses, sense organs, unexpected change WHEN the student is well practised in concentration, so that he can put on the mood of it like a garment, let him or her proceed to meditation and contemplation. Read more »
attentively, concentration, contemplation, great happiness, meditation, unite Exercise 17.
The way to meditate on a virtue is simple. First of all make concrete pictures of the virtue in action. For each virtue make a number of pictures; compare them and try to find what is the essential of the virtue and what is the feeling of the virtue in action. Do not be satisfied with mere pictures, as though they were being played before you on a stage. Step up on to the stage and merge yourself in the action, thinking and feeling at the same time. Thirdly, go beyond this and find yourself to be the internal spectator of the virtue, in which condition you witness it as in the “you”, not in the “I”, of yourself. Fourthly, return to your meditation on the virtue as such, but seeing how it would apply in many different circumstances, and in each case putting yourself into the scene and action. Read more »
exercise, practice meditation, selfishness, spectator, thinking and feeling, virtue, witness Many people who are devotional by nature prefer to meditate on the ideal human being, instead of on the virtues. Sometimes they choose for this (I) a real historical person and sometimes (2) a symbolic figure. Thought here is two-fold — one group finds delight in self-abandonment or adoration, the other in service of the ideal person. The latter, however, is like the former for purposes of meditation, for without the knowledge and nearness that meditation brings one is not likely to perform true service, that is, act with intelligent love. Read more »
adoration, benefit, devotees, devotion, devotional meditation, hindu, schools of thought, symbolic figure In the intellectual form of meditation our purpose is to understand the chosen object as fully as possible. When this is done there is expansion without loss of strength or clarity. When a student is trying to grasp an idea, if he is wise he will first of all concentrate for a while on the data before him, will review his knowledge of them, will study all the things, with their parts, qualities and actions, which bear upon the idea. Read more »
abstract idea, abstract thinking, faculty of inspiration, intellectual form of meditation One mantra very much recommended in certain Upanishads is the 8-syllabled “Om namo Narayanaya”, which means “salutation to Narayana”. Narayana is Vishnu, of whom Shri Krishna is considered the fullest avatara or incarnation. Vishnu is the middle member of the Trinity, the one Life and Light of the World. Read more »
avatara, bhagavad gita, brahma, devotee, mantra, mantras, narayana, om, sages, salutation, shri krishna, supreme god, trinity, upanishads, vishnu, vowel If you would practice this form of meditation, sit quietly in your usual place and let your thoughts and feelings simmer down until your mind dwells peacefully upon the thought of the great teacher. Read more »
contemplating, devotion, flower, gopi, heart, lotus bud, mantra, shri krishna, splendor, thoughts and feelings Yet another serious obstacle is the craving for some special method of meditation, and an eagerness to know whether to meditate in the heart, in the head, in the little finger, or in some other place. Do not trouble about these things at all, unless they are prescribed for you by a competent teacher; but meditate right down inside yourself. Go deep enough to forget your body for the time being; for remember the whole purpose of meditation is first to modify yourself, to alter your own shape of mind, and then to grow on the new axes that you have thus formed. Read more »
competent teacher, desires, destiny, meditation, obstacle, peace Contemplation is always to be seen to some extent in true worship. Worship is a faculty different from thought, different even from love; it is the little self finding itself within the greater self, as though the sun reflected in a pool of water should look up at the sun in heaven and feel a sudden liberation into that greater life. It has not lost itself; it has gained itself. This is the experience of a man suddenly confronted with a realization of that which is utterly greater than he had thought. Thus he occasionally forgets that which he used to call himself, and this more and more frequently, so that it becomes only a sub-conscious element, as it were, in the new life. Read more »
conscious, contemplation, devotion, duality, emotions, liberation, material things, mentality, realization, true worship Another form of contemplation, in great favor in the school of Shri Shankaracharya, is the contemplation of one’s own true nature. Look at the body and consider its various parts. Gaze at the hand; look at it intently as mere dissociated form, until you realize that “such a queer thing cannot be I”. Read more »
contemplation, inner man, inner search for yourself, Shri Shankaracharya IF you have said: “I will”, then choose what you will have, and the nearer your choice is to the spiritual heart of things the sooner you will succeed. Give rein to your fancy and picture to yourself the Liberty, and the might, and the love, and the knowledge that will be yours. Your chariot shall be the lightning “flash, and your raiment the splendor of the sun, and your voice shall be the thunder of the spheres. Read more »
achievement, heart of things, imagination, immortality, lightning flash, purity, spiritual heart, splendor of the sun 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 On all sides of us we may see this constant and steady urge and pressure behind living forces, and inorganic forms as well–always a manifestation of Energy and Power. And all this Power is in the Will–and the Will is but the manifestation of the All-Power–the Absolute. Remember this. Read more »
Creative Will, Energy and Power, mental energy, Psychic Phenomena 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 At this point we may be confronted with the objection of the student of material science, who will ask why we begin our consideration of Cosmic Evolution at a point in which matter has reached the limit of its lowest vibrations, manifesting in the grossest possible form of matter. These students may point to the fact that Science begins its consideration of evolution with the nebulae, or faint cloudlike, vaporous matter, from which the planets were formed. But there is only an apparent contradiction here. The nebulae were part of the Process of Involution, and Science is right when it holds that the gross forms were produced from the finer. But the process of change from finer to grosser was Involution, not Evolution. Do you see the difference? Evolution begins at the point when the stage of Unfoldment commenced. When the gross forms begin to yield to the new upward urge, and unfold into finer forms–then begins Evolution. Read more »
Cosmic Evolution, material part, Process of Involution, Science, single cell, Temple of the Soul, Yogi Teachings The next step in the ascending scale of life-forms is occupied by the polyps, which are found in water, fastened to floating matter. The polyps fasten themselves to this floating matter, with their mouths downward, from the latter dangling certain tentacles, or thin, long arms. These tentacles contain small thread-like coils in contact with a poisonous fluid, and enclosed in a cell. When the tentacles come in contact with the prey of the creature, or with anything that is sensed as a possible enemy, they contract around the object and the little cells burst and the tiny thread-like coils are released and twist themselves like a loop around the object, poisoning it with the secreted fluid. Some of the polyps secrete flint-like tubes, which they inhabit, and from the ends of which they emerge like flowers. From these parent polyps emerge clusters of young, resembling buds. Read more »
Modern Science, outward details, sense organs, Yogi Teachings 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 In considering the Ascent of Man (physical) from the lowly forms of the Monera, etc., up to his present high position, the student is struck with the continuity of the ascent, development and unfoldment. While there are many “missing-links,” owing to the disappearance of the forms which formed the connection, still there is sufficient proof left in the existing forms to satisfy the fair-minded inquirer. The facts of embryology alone are sufficient proof of the ascent of Man from the lowly forms. Each and every man today has passed through all the forms of the ascent within a few months, from single cell to the new-born, fully formed infant. Read more »
ascent of man, continuity, embryology, high position, missing links Another startling evidence of the proof of Metempsychosis is afforded us in the cases of “infant prodigies,” etc., which defy any other explanation. Take the cases of the manifestation of musical talent in certain children at an early age, for instance. Take the case of Mozart who at the age of four was able to not only perform difficult pieces on the piano, but actually composed original works of merit. Read more »
children at school, genius, heredity, instinctive ability, metempsychosis, obscure origin, physical attributes, previous life, prodigies, startling evidence As we have said in other places, one of the greatest difficulties in the way of the seeker after Truth in his consideration of the question of Spiritual Evolution is the feeling that rebirth is being forced upon him, without any say on his part, and against his desires. But this is far from being correct. It is true that the whole process is according to the Great Law, but that Law operates through the force of Desire and Attraction. The soul is attracted toward rebirth by reason of its desire or rather the essence of its desires. It is reborn only because it has within itself the desire for further experience, and opportunity for unfoldment. And it is reborn into certain environments solely because it has within itself unsatisfied desires for those environments, etc. The process is just as regular and scientific as is the attraction of one atom of matter for another. Read more »
elements of desire, experiences, injustice, inordinate desire, karma, material wealth, metempsychosis, obligations, rebirth, seeker after truth, spiritual evolution “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 Edwin Arnold, in his wonderful poem, “The Light of Asia,” which tells the story of the Buddha, explains the doctrine of Karma from the Buddhist standpoint. We feel that our students should become acquainted with this view, so beautifully expressed, and so we herewith quote the passages referred to: Read more »
dharma, edwin arnold, karma, light of asia, retribution, righteousness, virtues, worthiness Anahata-cakra is a deep red lotus of twelve petals, situate above the last and in the region of the heart, which is to be distinguished from the heart-lotus facing upwards of eight petals, spoken of in the text, where the patron deity (Ista-devata) is meditated upon. “Air” evolved from “ether” is the Tattva of the former lotus. On the twelve petals are the vermilion varnas - “Kam”, “Kham” “Gam”, “Gham”, “ngam”, “cam”, “Cham”, “Jam”, “Jham”, “jnam”, “Tam”, “Tham” and the twelve vrttis (vide ante-namely, asa (hope), cinta (care, anxiety), cesta (endeavour), mamata (sense of mineness),(1) dambha (arrogance or hypocrisy) vikalata (langour), ahamkara (conceit), viveka (discrimination), lolata (covetousness), kapatata (duplicity), vitarka (indecision), anutapa (regret). Read more »
anahata, atma, cakra, heart, ista, lolata, mandala, pericarp, petals, red lotus