THE SCIENCE OF YOGA

Grades of yoga

In B.G. 6.46. Krishna says,

Tapasvi bhyo ‘dhiko yogi

Jnanibhyo ‘pi mata dhika

Karmabhyas ca ‘dhiko yogi

Tasmad yogi bhavarjuna

Person of Austere practices

Philosophical speculator

A fruitive worker

Next Verse:

“And of all yogis, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. “

• The Vedas, and others like Augustine, etc reject the epistemological theory that in acquiring knowledge of the world the subject is completely passive and contributes nothing to the process.

• Doctrine of the 'primacy of the will (or Intelligence) in knowledge‘, i.e. we initially know is what we are interested in. Before there is knowledge, there must be ‘interest’.

• This interest, this attraction, is a movement of the will – determined by Intelligence (buddhi).

Knowledge & Yoga

• When interest is most fully developed, it is called love (bhakti).

• Therefore, the great spiritualists explain why loving God is a prerequisite for knowing Him.

• Conversely, for those who by an act of will turn away from God, God becomes invisible - unrecognized, unacknowledged. So the movement of the soul toward or away from God, toward knowledge of God or lack of knowledge of God, is due to a prior disposition or direction of the will.

Knowledge & Yoga (contd.)

Bhagavad Gita 15:15sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto

mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca…“I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness…”

Bhagavad Gita 7:24-25“Unintelligent men, who know Me not, think that I have assumed this form and personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is changeless and supreme. “

“I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My eternal creative potency [yoga-maya]; and so the deluded world knows Me not, who am unborn and infallible.”

Degree of Material conditioning:• Degrees of Maturity of Understanding• Degrees of Ignorance/False-ego

Egoic drives expressed as:• Sense of independence• Desire for achievement• Lack of real patience• Motive in accepting discipline

• for attainment of equality • or annihilation

• Impersonal, mechanistic mentality

Guru and scripture are forced to take the Line of Least Resistance.

.

.

Kshar-akshar-para

Brahmajyoti

Maha-shunya

Shunya (Void)

Causal

Subtle

Physical

Saguna B

rahman

Nirguna

Brahm

an

Etern

al Realm

sL

imit of G

rand D

issolutions

Risk of getting lost in the various hypostatic planes of Reality

Yoga – What it Is Not !

• It is not mere physical exercise for shapely body, good health & long life

• Emaciated Renunciate in meditation

• Man with some extra-ordinary mystic powers

Yoga – What it Actually Is ?

• “Union” in love between the individual consciousness & Supreme consciousness I.e. between Soul & God• Yogi is a person whose life & activities are oriented towards re-establishing his relationship with God

Different Types of Human Beings

Human Beings

Law AbidersLaw Breakers

Karmis

JnanisDhyanis

Bhaktas

Sakama Niskama

Law Breakers

• Hard working

materialists

• Sophisticated animals conditioned to the bodily concept of life

• Don’t believe in soul, rebirth, God & Spiritual world

• Do not discriminate between sinful & pious activities eg Charvak (sweet for ear) philosophy

B.G. 3.27 The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.

B.G. 9.12 Those who are thus bewildered are attracted by demonic and

atheistic views. In that deluded condition, their hopes for liberation, their fruitive activities, and their culture

of knowledge are all defeated.

• Make futile attempts at acting as

Controller & Enjoyer

Law Breakers …..contd

Jesus Said, “Don’t built your castles on sand built them on hard rock”

Krishna Said, “Keep focus on the soul, whatever you do for the soul is eternal”

Action on the Relative & Absolute Planes

Law Abiders

Sakama Karmis

• Perform pious activities with a fruitive intent

Kama – material desires

• Don’t know that both good and bad karma are binding

• In the madness, forget the goal of life.

• It is meant for gradual elevation & not an end in itself

sakama- with material desires

Different Types of Yoga• According to Bhagavad-Gita there are four types of Yoga:

- Karma Yoga, - Jnana Yoga, - Astanga Yoga &- Bhakti Yoga.

“All other yoga's are subsets of these four yoga's”

• These are not different paths but are different rungs of the same ladder.

Karma

Jnana

Dhyana

Bhakti

Niskama Karma Yoga

B.G. 3.30 Mayi sarvani karmani sannyasyadhyatma cetasahNirasir nirmamo bhutva yudhyasva vigata jvarah

O Arjuna, •surrendering all your works unto me with full knowledge of Me,•Without desires of profit,•With no claims to proprietorship &•Free from lethargy,……… fight

• Process of performing work without selfish desire for personal gain

• Art of working without entanglementB.G… 2:47

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.

Niskama Karma Yoga …..contd

Jnana Yoga

• Impersonal, Transcendentalist

• Elevation process to spiritual consciousness through the cultivation of philosophical knowledge

• Troublesome path

• Promoted to bhakti-yoga only through association of devotees

eg. Four kumaras & Sukhdev Gosvami

Astanga Yoga• Mechanical meditative process meant to control the mind & senses to focus one’s concentration on the supreme

Ashta – Eight anga - limbsYama, niyam, asana , pranayam, Pratyahara, Dharana, dhyana & Samadhi

Astanga Yoga

• Strict rules and regulations which are impractical in Kali-Yuga

• Dangers of falling in the trap of siddhis (mystic powers) eg. Saubhari muni

• Arjuna rejects Astanga Yoga “Cancalam hi manah Krsna….”

• Perfection of Astanga Yoga is to focus on the paramatma within our heart.

Three levels in understanding God

1 – Brahmajyoti – Jnana Yoga

2 – Paramatma realization – Astanga Yoga

3 – Personal form of the Lord – Bhakti Yoga

Eg. Seeing a mountain from various distances

Bhakti Yoga• Yoga for selfless, ecstatic love for God through transcendental devotional service to the Lord

• Most natural means to derive our dormant, inherent constitutional position

• Involves three terms – servitor, served & service

Bhakti YogaNine processes of Devotional service“Culmination of all yogas”

Practical application in life:

•Actual sadhana (svarupa-siddha)

•By superimposition (aropa-siddha)

•By association (sanga-siddha)

Bhakti Yoga …..contd

Lord Krishna Says in B.G. 3.30

Yoginam api sarvesamMad-gatenantaratmana

Sradhhavan bhajate yo mamSa me yuktatamo matah

Translation: “Of all the yogis , the one with

great faith who always abides in Me, thinks

of Me within himself, and renders

transcendental loving service to Me is the

most intimately united with Me in yoga and

is the highest of all. That is My opinion.”

BG 12:8-11“Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt.

“My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga. In this way you will develop a desire to attain to Me.

“If you cannot practice the regulations of bhakti-yoga, then just try to work for Me, because by working for Me you will come to the perfect stage.

“If, however, you are unable to work in this consciousness, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be self-situated.

“If you cannot take to this practice, then engage yourself in the cultivation of knowledge…

Methods of attaining Para-BhaktiGradual Method

STEP 4 : Astanga Yoga + Loving devotional service to the lord (Bhakti Yoga)

STEP 3 : Renouncing fruits + Knowledge + Control of mind & Senses by eight fold path + Meditation on Paramatma(Supersoul in the heart (Astanga Yoga)

STEP 2 : Renouncing fruits + Speculative Knowledge about Brahman + Austerity (Jnana Yoga)

STEP 1 : Renouncing the fruits of ones labor (Karma Yoga/Niskama Karma)

STEP 0 : Fruitive worker under regulations(Karma Kanda)

Direct Method• Devotional service in Krishna consciousness is the Direct Method

• Two Stages involved : - Vaidhi Bhakti (enthusiastic discipline)- Raganuga bhakti (spontaneous love)

• The direct method is like taking an elevator for going up, instead of walking up all the steps.

Not by the weak, not by the unearnest,Not by those who practice wrong disciplinesCan the Self be realized. The Self revealsHimself as the Lord of Love to the oneWho practices right disciplines.

-Mundaka Upanishad

Brahman cannot be realized by thoseWho are subject to greed, fear, and anger.Brahman cannot be realized by thoseWho are subject to the pride of name and fameOr to the vanity of scholarship.Brahman cannot be realized by thoseWho are enmeshed in life's duality.

But to all those who pierce this duality,Whose hearts are given to the Lord of Love,He gives himself through his infinite grace,He gives himself through his infinite grace.

-Tejabindu Upanishad