Lesson 5: The Yoga Suite.
This lesson introduces the four principal spiritual oga sstems to the student. Please note that the spiritual oga systems best manifest the concepts within Hinduism and so the are discussed at some length. There are two tests - the one at the end of the "Raja Yoga" section is for the first two sections while the lesson test is on the last three sections.
Introduction.
Yoga to most modern people today, even to those being Hindus, is a set of physical exercises and meditative practices that ensures bodily and mental well-being. This is not entirely true. As the student shall find throughout this lesson, the prime objective of Yoga, like all other Hindu precepts, is to achieve Moksha by uniting the individual spirit within with the Universal Spirit This primary precept is emphasized throughout this lesson. Nevertheless, at the very onset of the lesson, it is necessary to note that the Hindu Sages and Rishis who developed the concept were certainly not otherworldly monomaniacs without any heed for essential facts of life on earth.
The four types of Yoga treated here - Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga - are primarily spiritual Yoga systems with very little in the way of physical exercises. The spirituality inherent within them is a wholesome morality that not only enhances the life quality of the Yoga practitioner himself or herself but also of those who come into contact with him or her. Thus, these Yogic systems are meant to enhance the quality of life of not only individuals but the whole of society. The philosophy and psychology inherent within the different systems are crude by today’s standards but it must be noted that very little moral value is added to modern systems of human mind and its relationships with the outside world. Modern philosophical and psychological systems are dry, precise treatises that are materially very true but spiritually bereft of almost all values.
Yes! There’s the law to enforce conformation to a certain morality but this is conformation enforced from outside! Thus, morality imposed by legal systems is less desirable. In contrast, all religious systems strive to inculcate within the individual a confirmative attitude to a morality that comes wholly from the inside. Religious morality, in the present world in the absence of any other alternative system, is, thus, much more desirable because the individual accedes voluntarily to it. If one steals there is the police to restrain one but if one does not give to charity though one has more than enough there’s simply no-one to take one to task.
Legality is the manifestation of the collective will while religious spirituality encourages the manifestation of the individual will.
The crux of the matter is that morality must come from the inside and not from the outside. Legal and atheistic systems nowadays do advocate a certain wider morality but this is still not enough to suffice for complete well-being of communities as a whole. So, even if one approaches religion with an atheistic and even skeptical attitude one must acknowledge that there is much within religious systems that can be of utility to humans today and, possibly, much longer into the future.
The Hindu Yoga systems may seem to have rather old-fashioned and even outdated thought processes yet it can be amply determined that the morality inherent within the systems are intrinsically acceptable in an eternal sense if humankind is to survive as whole communities of mutually-compatible individuals.
The four Yoga systems treated in this lesson provide spiritual guidance but that does not mean that Yoga is entirely concerned with spiritual aspects. Hatha Yoga systems advocate physical means by which the body can be contained enough to allow the spirit within to blossom forth towards the Universal Spirit. In the process, Hatha Yoga builds up the human body into a much healthier system because, primarily, continence is often a very efficient means of keeping the human body healthy. In the same manner, the four spiritual Yoga systems discussed here utilizes continence to build up a healthier mental system. Thus, both physical and spiritual Yoga systems are necessary to build up an all-round healthy individual.
My reason for including only the spiritual Yoga systems in this lesson is that these systems teach much in the way of basic tenets of the religion Hinduism which the physical systems do not to that degree. Since this is a course introducing Hinduism to the student I have allowed the spiritual Yogic systems to help me do the job better.
I have discussed the physical Yoga systems in the 8th lesson on Current Trends under the heading - Spread of Yoga and Meditation.
Important Precepts:
Yoga is a very ancient precept in Hinduism. Like the other scriptural doctrines, Yoga also is said to have been revealed by Brahma Himself in the process of revelation of the other scriptures. Thus it is part of the Sruti doctrines. It is Patanjali Maharishi who has elucidated and systemized the elaborate concepts of Yoga in Sutras found in a compilation called Ashtanga Yoga. It is due to him that Yoga is a definite philosophical system which is included within the Shad Darshanas or six schools of classical philosophy in Hinduism.
In conjunction with the Sankhya, another of the six classical philosophical system, Yoga postulates certain very strategic concepts.
- There is the Nirguna Brahman above all, self-existent creator of all, without any attributes, eternal.
- There is an inert Prakriti, which includes all material things that have no life.
- There is the Purusha, the male element, a consciousness that is of the Brahman, and that bequeaths life to material.
- When the Purusha comes in contact with Prakriti the latter evolves into various life-forms.
- In conjunction with Prakriti, the Purusha begins to loose connection with the Universal Spirit and begins to feel that it is an individual in identification with Prakriti. This effect is because of Aviveka, inability to discriminate.
It must be noted here that the first concept, that of the Nirguna Brahman, the Universal Spirit, better-known as Ishvara, God, in Yoga,is an entirely Yoga concept. The rest of the concepts are in conjunction with the Sankhya branch of Hindu philosophy.
Applications:
Yoga is a practical system of rescuing the Purusha from the complications with Prakriti and freeing it so that is entirely independent of Prakriti and its evolutes. Yoga is not mere cerebral excursions into the philosophical implications of the conjunction of Purusha and Prakriti but, rather, an entirely hands-on system of achieving Kevala Moksha, only salvation. Yoga sanctions the 25 Tattvas, precepts, of the philosophical branch of Sankhya and it adds one more - Ishvara, God. Thus, Yoga is a philosophy - Sa-Ishvara Sankhya, a philosophy with the inclusion of the concept of Ishvara or God - but it is a practical philosophical system through which a certain end is sought to be achieved.
Befuddled by the mists of Aviveka, indiscrimination, Purusha imagines that he is imperfect and incomplete unless he is conjoined with Prakriti which is the only means of fulfillment he can be aware of. Due to Prakriti-Samyoga, conjunction with Prakriti, as Purusha continues to perceive Prakriti with all his senses and his consciousness, Prakriti evolves into a multitude of seemingly desirable forms that Purusha begins to desire and ultimately seeks to grasp at. He seeks to fulfill his desires with Prakriti’s many forms. Thus, he passes into bondage to Prakriti. He becomes dependent on Prakriti for satisfaction. He begins to gather the misconception that he cannot survive without Prakriti. This becomes his Karma and it becomes a vicious circle from which Purusha cannot escape. This ultimately leads to reincarnation as unfulfilled desires in one life cannot allow Moksha to be achieved and are transferred from one life into the next one by the Sushkma Sarira, the subtle body. Purusha can be relieved of this trap by Yogic Sadhana, Yogic effort.
Deep within everyone there is abiding faith in a Supreme Being to whom the Sadhaka, the one who wants to make an effort, can look up to for guidance and inspiration. Unfortunately, according to Yogic percepts, the ego does not allow the Purusha within to look to the Supreme Being for help. It suits the ego to remain entwined with Prakriti in its many forms. Thus, the ego must be estranged from the Purusha to allow it to escape the snares of Prakriti. According to Yogic precepts this can be done by offering the ego in sacrifice at the altar of the Supreme Being. This is known as Ishvarapranidhana. It cannot be done subjectively altogether. The Sadhana-Marga, the road of effort, prescribed by Yogic precepts helps the aspirant achieve it is various ways.
Though this lesson treats four major types of Yoga - Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga - the first, Raja Yoga, stems directly from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The systematic approach of the three other Yoga systems are more or less derived from Patanjali’s original treatise on Yoga. Thus, it is essential to know a little of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Patanjali’s Yoga system is written in Sutras, terse sayings pregnant with hidden significance. Only a Yogi well-advanced in the science of Yoga can fully explain them. Just as a flower-garland or a pearl necklace is made of different types and colors of flowers or pearls of various hues and sizes so is the entire treatise of Yoga made up of these short but extremely meaningful sayings – the sutras. The Yoga Sutras are strategically placed in four chapters:
