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Yoga-lG Basis, Practice & BenefiG$ S. RAMASWAMI, Trutcc, Eritlwwlurlt loga Hndhaa' MADEAS,

Yogcna Chirtrsy aPadena Vacham

Malam SariraryaCha Vaidyahena IYopalarottam PrevaramMuninamPatanjalio Praniali

Ranatosmi hl'he term Yoga is bcingused qrrite extensively thescdav" 16 .o"o*pais e varietyof practices for diffcrcnt crds,

Phyrical cxercirl, mcditationrcertain Lriyas, mcntal attituC."towarda work and rcsuttg arcromc of thcm, .'n'idcly propa.gatcd and $iactiscd. Thirseriesof arricles is airncd abringing tbe trrditional coD-cept and practicc of Yoga ar. formulared by the great Pat-anjali.

Patanjal i wes a Rishi. A.Risbi is one who cxprcsle!Truth as expcricnccdby him(Rahasassaryavachaaaha). bcVcdas contain such crprcr.rionl of variors Rirhis, Actu-

PATANJALIrlty Thc Vcidic religion ioLnown m Arsa. or rhosc ofRirbir. Thc rcriprurcr, 'sccn'or c:prcssed by thc Rishiserc callcd Vcdas.

Thc Vaidic treclations(Deruana) bilongcd to twocatcgorirE. Pravritti Mergawhich cnunciated tbc variousrdigiour ritcs (Kartne) andurociatcd Mantrar, lcadingto worldly happiaco and or-

derly lifc (dharma). Tberewqr thc otter group of Rishirwbo promulgatcd thc NivrirtiMarga' rhe way ol ralvation,a frecdom from rcbinh,sorrow, anC suffering andettaiDmentofpeace at heart.JanaLa, Yagnavaltya, Kapilaand of coursc Patanjali arcforcmorr among them, apartfiom thc lcsr known whosciombrtal words ariting out ofintenre Semadhi are ro bcfourrd il the vast Vaidiclitcrature, cspecially thcUpanirads.THE TWO P TIIS

Of thc ri x Vaidic Dstranas,Yoga ir pcrhapc the roo.tcomprcbcnsivc. Yoga, SamI'ya and Vcdanta form a cloregroup of Darranas and rcvcalthe hcight of Vaidic wirdom.Ewn rhough rbcrc are somcminor diffcrcnccs DtDottgthesesystems,onc with o dcePrridy sill bc abtc to cerilYreconcilc rbc apparcnt diffcr'

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encer. There n no mrstatingthc Bcncral direction of tberccnquirier or thc .imilariry ol'erpcrienccr, ell arising out ofitnmenre absorption in Trurh(Samadhi)rHuman happincgr is at itshighcst when the pcople havcgood health, express then-relvcr wcll and havc clearoinds. Bhartrubari, the greatphiloopher and grammariancmpharirer thc necd for thcpurity of rhree human acrivi-tics (Trikaranasuddhi) and re-fcrs to thrce great Sastras,viz. Medicinc (Vaidya or

Chilitsa) Grammer (Pada orVyakarana), and Yoga as thcrcspcctivcmeans or the puri.fication ofthe rhrec karanas,viz. of Body (kaya), Speech(vaL) and Mind (Manas)SUTRA LANGUAGE

And Maharishi Patanjali isbelievcd o have wrirreu rhc'trcatisc on thcse rhree sub-jccts. Lcgend hes it that whcnan ancient people sufferingfrom tbe defilcmcng of thciractivitier' pra).d Ishwara forguidancc, Patanjali in thgform ol a scrpent fell intotbeir praying arms (Patam fAnjah)and wrote thcscSastras, as b cvident in thcDhyanarloka appearing inrhe beginning of this arti.clc. Thc Yogasastra itsclf iswrirtcn in crypric aphorisml(Surra) in four ChaPtcrs.Bcing ured by a grammarian,thc Sutra languageof Patan.

jali is of a vcry high orderand thc choicc of words isadmirablc. The systeB i!comprcbensive, Bhowing theplace, practice atrd the bcnc-fits of rany sub-systcnr ofYoga, such ar Gnana, Bhakti'Karma, Kriya, Laya, Hatha.Mantra, Japa, Raja etc. Thc195 Sutras have bcen comm-ented upon (Bhashya) in de'rail by RishiiVyasa and fur.ther clucidations (Vivarana)have been madc by Vacbaspati Misra. Another vivara'na in the name of Sankara'charya alsr is availablc.ON'fHE TYORD 'YOGA'

The oost common inler'pretation of the word loga isintegration, derived from theroot Yuj (Yujir Yoge)' Suchan integration would requiretwo separatc hingsor PrinciP'les (Tattwa) and a novcmcnrbetween cach oth.r, necessit-ating activity in atllcasteith'er of the two principles. Yogais, thcrefote, both the mear,sand tbe actual merger ofleparate Tattwas On thisbaris, many yoga sYstmshave come into vogue-someVaidic and someothers non'Vaidic. The conjoining ofJivatma and Paramatma isYoga, as per Srimad Bhaga-wata. Therc arc other scboolswhich proclaim that thc con-joining ol Prana with APana'Sakrhi n Muladhara and Srvain Sahasrara or mind andsetfas thc goal of Y..ga andenunciare he means fur such

an intcgration.Howcvcr, sufficeit to say thatall system, basr-cally recoglizcthat activity is neccssarv torYoga and all the constiiucntprinciples have a certain

About the ArtbotMr. S.Ramaswami,has been

studtntof PnJ Krishnamachatlotstt two decades in theory and:tice of Toga. Aput fronTogosanasand Prana2ama, ha s

studi?d fogd texts such as Palan-fo gatulras, Halhryo o!/a', Upunisads sChandog2a,

Tailhiil a,Sac asaa tata, I saoas7aGita etc,, Adh2a\ona (chant'

) of the whoh of Taithiriloof Tojur Vedalaii sads, M antraPrusanam e cfrom tf u Athalta. Ha s ol .

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power (Saklhi) and thcre is'no Tattwa without its dirtin-guishiag characterietics (gun-asJ.

THA "HREE. PRINCIPLE3Patanjali, in the rreaticc onYoga, recognizes three dis-

!1", principles (Tatrwa,1.Thcy are (i).purusha, (ii) pre-kri t l ( i i i ) f5eeya. I r is neces-sary to dilate on thcse thrcca littls rn6yg,Purusha irerally means thc' indwel l ing principler, Ir i ralsoknowrr as the obgervrr(Drasta), the experiencer(Bhokta),the owner (Swamior Atma), the l iv ing enri tyt, ! l : i ) f intel t igence energy(Chirhi Sakrhi) etc. Accord_ing to Patanjali, the self orArman is toral intelligenc6(Drisimatra) pure lSui'dha.rand nonchanging; howcver, iseonsaraind to oversee thcpreseniation of rhe mind

(Chitra Vrirhi). In normalexisrencc, thcrcforc, erenthough Purusba ig differenrfrom rhe engulfing miod, it isno t entirely frcc ofit.

in the form of encrgy (Agni),air (Vayu) fluid (ep) andsolid (Prithvi). lt includcrihe 6ve instrumcnts of pcrcep-tion (Gnanendriyas) andthe f,ve inrtruornts of action(Karmendriyas) and themind (Chirra) which is evcr-changing with rhrec qual i t ieswhich ar c clarity (piakasa),activity (kriya) and inerria(Sthithi) Ir coutdbe observedthat cven the mind, whichcould be misrakcu f o rone'l sclf is actuallv oarrof thc observed ar al l rhcmental Eodification (Chitta.vr i rh i ) includins) rhe .l _exirt - Geli6g, (Asn,iro) areoverseen by the indwellinePurusha. Prakriri can be oino useexcept to rhc Atmanand- he ndividual soul Uiva)makFs_use of this principleelther to r experienccr (Bhoga)or renunciation (Apavarga).The dichotomy (Vivetai ifAtmic powcr (chit isaLthi) ndmental power (chirrarakthi) sttre greatest evctarion of theUpanisadic philosophies, andis of immensepractical urc rorhespir i rual aspirant.

WARA

visesha), unaffccted by affiicr.ionr (Llera), dced (kerme),result of action (vipaka) ot tbodmirc ficr action (Asrya). tnhim arc contained ell poten-tial Lnowledgc or onnisciencc(SarvagnaBijam). He is thefi rst teacher (Purwshamguru)but unlimited by tirne. Hc irknown by the repetition (J8pa)ofHiisacrcd word Pranava.the japa being done by con.templating on thc Eearingof rhe mystic syllable. Suchcon'etnplat ion reoovcc aIIinterference! (antataya) inthe path ofYoga.

FIVE MENTAL LEVELSVrasa, rhe commeotatoror r the Sutras, classifieAmcn"ta l levels of humanity into6ve. At one extremc is rhdKshipta or demented condi-tion, which group hcts con.centration. There are thenthosewho are in the covcredor tofallt infatuated rtagc(Muda). Such pcople do notadmit evcn the reparate ehF

stenccof the distinct indwell.ing intelligtnce principle(Purusha) or the all - pervad-ing unlioited cosrbic princi.ple, Iswara. They live by thcdictatesofthe gcnsesand 'thcundiffercnriating mind arrdare affiictcd. The third, rhcrestlcarstage (viLshipta) is oncin wtiich tbc individual lean8towards realizing hi s trucnatrtre, but ir constanrly dls.tractcd by the srnrcs rind amiod afiicreil by acquircdhr.biti (Samrlara) arisirit out of

Prakriti or creared prin Unlike sankya' erpcciallyple is rhe **ra.- oririr"l' the Niriswara Samkya philo'i*,ogy.-, u* rii"ilil.1 sophers' oga ecognizerheu,,d-o."*p,.,,,hu';;;";;;: t'lT::.:l ;':;"'i;. ;:*:t includcs everytbins rhc ;;;;;,;J;::"",iJ i"*""",obscrvcr (Drashra) exp-cricn- even though. ro gea a hang of".t... J, is rhe phenomenal the term-is-b.-yo"n"j rf,. .orn.world,Eadc upofitsfivebasic prehension of many minds,glojt asPggts (Panchabhur4) lccordrngtopat..i.li, l"weraoI spacc (Akasa), and mattei is one speiial pur*.t a(,pu"urU"

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bcginninglessprevious karmas.Thcy altcrnate bctwccn seve-ral cxpericnces (Bhoga) andrenunciation lpavarga). Thisrpiritual restlerlnessr discer'nible in .all who are dissatis'ficd with mundane and Phen-omenal existence. Such pe:-pl e do occarionally get inlon stateof total absorpt ion ina higher principte or a statcof Samadhi. bu t such experi-chces are few and far betweenand according to Vyasa willnot come undef the termYoga. Without the grace oflshwara and practite of ren-unciation, they continue to be

in a state of restletsness.However, when they take upthc practicc of Yoga, theyare known as Yogaruda,those wanting to .trcad thepath of Yoga.SAMADHI : TWO KINDS

Two othcr levels, whichfall into Yoga are calledfocussed (Ekagra) and un 'affectcd or protected (Niro-dha). These actually leadto tw o kinds of samadhi, on ein which the mental enerqiesar c absorbed in a single itemor object . The otherSamadhi is one in whieh th emental energy (Chittasakthi).