PHILOSOPHY OF YOGA AND MEDITATION
Yoga is practical philosophy and practical religion. Meditation is the very foundation of Yoga. Yoga philosophy is meditation philosophy. They are one and the same.
Yoga means union with the Absolute and meditation is the means to this union. Rather than mere physical fitness, yoga is an enlightenment practice. Meditation is the great scientific method of knowledge. Meditation rids us of our ignorance and superstition. The mind gets knowledge and the spirit, food.
Yoga is an applied science of the spirit, mind and body, helping bring about a natural balance of body and mind, leading to an enhanced state of health. Physical yoga techniques should never be seen apart from the philosophy of yoga. Else we risk not understanding the significance of yoga and never achieve the core spirituality that this art has to offer.
The basic philosophy of yoga is simple: mind, body and spirit are all one and cannot be separated. Yoga philosophy comprehensively deals with every aspect of life and delves into the very nature of reality. It shows how to eliminate suffering from human life through the realization of a higher identity.
The search for happiness is inherent in every being. But most settle for temporary pleasures, failing to achieve anything higher. After many lives of dissatisfaction with fleeting pleasure might start the search for everlasting happiness. When worldly pleasure, instead of happiness brings pain, we start looking elsewhere for meaning. In the later stages of spiritual evolution, pain is no longer needed to impel us. When we get a taste of such peace and happiness, it is motivation enough to entice us go higher and higher. Reward is then the prime mover.
The central doctrine of Yoga philosophy is that nothing exists beyond the mind and its consciousness, which is the only ultimate reality. Its aim is to uproot misconceptions about the existence of external `realities` from the mind. It advances that it is possible to reach this stage of self realization through regular practice of yogic meditative processes that bring a complete withdrawal or detachment from all false sources of knowledge and inculcate an inner sense of balanced calm and tranquility.
Yoga philosophy gives insight into every aspect of life: the spiritual, the mental and the physical. Central to the philosophy of yoga is the Law of Karma, the concept of reaping what you sow! Karma is the future cost of present actions, in thought, behavior or deed. However, karma is not our fate. We have the freedom to choose how we react to any event, thereby reducing the current impact of our karma and eliminating or reducing future karma.
Yoga traces back to the Vedas, the oldest books of humanity. Ancient Vedic sages taught this combination of philosophy, religion, science and ethics. They showed how to holistically muster physical, mental, and spiritual resources. Yoga shows how right discipline restores or maintains homeostatic balance. It helps create an internal environment to achieve a natural balance of body, mind and spirit, crucial for perfect health and happiness.
Yoga consists of several paths to suit different tendencies. Among the most popular are Karma yoga, the path of selfless work and duty; Bhakti yoga, through devotion and worship and complete surrender to the Lord; Raja yoga, the realization of divinity through the control of mind; Jnana yoga, through right knowledge and direct experience.
Yoga is both theoretical and practical. The postures and meditation are the practical side while knowledge of human problems and their remedy is the theoretical. Yoga teaches how to attain that superconscious state, to reach God. Yoga and meditation is practical religion. One is the means, the other, the culmination.
Yoga and meditation target every aspect of our being, whether physical, mental, emotional, psychological or spiritual. The aim being complete wellbeing. Yogis understood the importance of being healthy both within and without. Hatha yoga is very helpful in getting a beautiful and well-endowed body. Yoga postures also strengthen internal organs and cure various ailments. But yoga does not by itself create health. It creates an internal environment that allows an optimum state of dynamic balance.
Above all, yoga postures are meant for preliminary purification or conditioning of the body for spiritual development. Yoga helps build a serene and untroubled mind and the awareness that our highest self is identical with the spirit of God. It helps achieve a healthy harmoniously integrated unit of body, mind and spirit.
It is a widespread belief that we are just body and mind. We are body, mind and spirit. Without perfect equilibrium among all three, ill health, sorrow and eventual failure ensues. Body, mind and spirit are closely interrelated. Physical health and well-being cannot be dissociated from mental, emotional and spiritual states. Good health does not result from taking care of just the physical body. Emotional and spiritual well-being need be considered. Disease results from a dysfunction in the body’s harmony. Perfect health will be restored when this lost harmony and wholeness are tackled to bring back balance or homeostasis.
Although the physical body is to a large extent self-healing, healthy lifestyles go a long way to help. It is vital that we respect the natural laws and observe proper disciplines to maintain the homeostatic balance. Proper homeostasis depends on proper diet, proper breathing, proper exercise and relaxation, rest and sleep. And above all, a stress free mind! Yoga is probably the one system that best fulfils all these conditions to maintain a state of optimal homeostasis.
Proper breathing is a very important part of yoga. Without breath there is no life! Correct breathing is perhaps the easiest technique to absorb ‘prana’, life force for conservation and enhancement of health. It boosts health and quality of life through increased vitality and rejuvenation. Yogic breathing also helps prevent the mind from getting distracted during meditation.
Yoga is the method to control prana as a mental force. Pranayama is the knowledge and means to control prana, to enhance its supply and ensure its proper distribution to every part of the body. When prana works rhythmically, good health prevails. Disease results from an imbalance of prana rhythm. Pranayama brings about regulation of breathing and thus, rhythmic action of prana. The ultimate goal of yoga and pranayama is to control and harmonise the flow of prana all over the body.
Closeness to nature allows the organism to be permeated with prana. Wholesome natural foods should be preferred to junk food. Stress diminishes prana reserve and weakens the organism’s resistance. The quantity of prana varies according to its use and abuse or misuse. Sudden bouts of emotion, anger, fear or violence, abuse of sex etc will cause prana to ebb. The body’s homeostasis is disrupted and it becomes extremely vulnerable.
Food plays a vital part in keeping up optimal health. It is best to take nutritious, easily digestible food that offers the best nutrients to cater for overall body and mind efficiency. Natural fresh food provides an abundance of prana. The sun supplies energy to all life on earth. Fruits and vegetables give us prana direct from sun energy. As we move higher in the food chain, the lesser the quality of prana.
Ethical laws should govern our nature. Our daily life should be guided by these higher values. Ethics and moral virtues are of divine origin, meant to curb our animal instincts. They teach us to forsake all evil and bring forth good – the only path to progress and perfection. Morality is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. It is meant for curbing the strong attachment to our lower instincts. Yoga advocates the Yamas and Niyamas.* ‘Yamas’ are moral restraints and ‘Niyamas’, moral disciplines. Purity in thought, word or deed is among the highest ideals of ethics. Ethics form the basis of a perfectly harmonious life style.
Tension means depletion of vital energy. Relaxation, an integral part of yoga, is the solution. There is no yoga practice without relaxation. Relaxation is considered as part of the practice, after every posture and also at the end of a session. It is an active, not a passive process. Together with deep yogic breathing with repetition of a sacred syllable such as ‘OM’, it harmonizes the whole system, with the increased inflow of prana. Relaxation of the body leads to calmness of mind.
Perfect body/mind coordination means enhanced concentration and mental power. Concentration is man’s only means to knowledge. But concentration per se is not meditation! It is mental energy focused on one point. Perfect concentration together with yogic breathing and repetition of a sacred syllable ultimately leads to meditation. During meditation one can experience the highest level of consciousness, the superconscious state of the mind. When the mind attains the superconscious it is known as Samadhi, the state of perfect meditation; absolute peace and absolute bliss. Superlative peace permeates the core of our being.
The science of yoga is at the basis of the science of meditation. The different Yogas, Bhakti, Karma, Jnana, Raja, as all other yogas are meant as preparation for meditation. They finally serve the one objective: awakening of the Kundalini. Kundalini is the primal, the divine cosmic energy. Awakening of the Kundalini marks the beginning of a great spiritual journey. Once awakened it does not go back to its dormant state. However, further progress depends on sincere personal effort and a disciplined life.
Siddha kundalini mahayoga is an exception to this general rule. Here, the siddha guru transmits divine power into the recipient to awaken the dormant Kundalini. Meditation experience will occur spontaneously from then onwards.
Yoga is the science that brings forth the humanity and perfection in man. Yoga philosophy reveals the way out of misery and suffering. It taps man’s infinite potential to fight ignorance and attain salvation. Yoga shows happiness is not in, but above the senses. Yoga philosophy aims at reuniting our own self with the divinity within. It helps us realise the divine through the power of meditation. It is the science of humanity’s wellbeing, a complete physical, emotional, mental, psychological and spiritual system.
Unfortunately, day by day yoga’s higher values of purity, simplicity and humility are being overlooked. It is being taught as the practice of postures and some breathing exercises only. ‘Modern yoga’ has become a pale shadow of the ethical and spiritual values the science of Yoga symbolises.
If this situation is not understood and remedied we risk being left without the true essence of yoga: a science meant to help man understand his true identity. That the human is beyond body, he is beyond mind, he is Spirit.
( *for a detailed account of Yamas & Niyamas see the author’s previous books, YOGA & MEDITATION A Holistic approach to perfect homeostasis and health. MEDITATION & YOGA Discovering the higher spheres of existence.)