Yoga: The Practical Aspect of Advaita Vedanta
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Yoga is one but there are numerous methodologies of practicing yoga developed over thousands of millennium years. Here it will be worthful to take the notice of different distorted version of Yoga Vidya which has been in fashion today, especially in the west. The promotors of these low grade and distorted versions of Yoga have named it Hot yoga and Power Yoga etc. It has also been observed that in the name of Kundalini Yoga, there are certain elements who are propagating insane version of Kundalini Yoga tantra. There are numerous persons who are making huge amount of money by making fool of innocent people who wants to learn Yoga and attain the Peace in their lives.
Here in India, which is progenitor of Yoga Tantra,
people have reduced the great practices of yoga to merely physical and
breathing exercise and created huge amount of wealth. So, through this blog we
will describe the real meaning and purpose of yoga and different ways of
practicing yoga.
According to Swami Sivananda “ Yoga, in a generic sense, refers to Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Laya Yoga or Kundalini Yoga. In a restricted sense, it means the Ashtanga Yoga or Raja Yoga of Patanjali Maharishi only.
He Says “The word ‘Yoga’ comes from a Sanskrit root ‘Yuj’ which means ‘to join.’ In its spiritual sense, it is the process by which the identity of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul is realized by the Yogi. The human soul is brought into conscious communion with the divine reality. Just as camphor melts and becomes one with fire; just as a drop of water when it is thrown into the ocean, becomes one with the ocean; the individual soul, when it is purified, when it is freed from lust, greed, hatred, and egoism, when it becomes pure (Sattvic), becomes one with the Supreme Soul.” The science that teaches the way of acquiring this occult knowledge is called ‘Yoga Sastra.’
If you want to know the detailed description of above mentioned Yoga, please click on the links.
Here we will discuss about the Mantra Yoga which is eternal but a lesser known form of Yoga.
According to 68th Jagad Guru Shankaracharya Maha Swami, Maha Periyar, Parmacharya Shri Chandrashekhran Ji Saraswati, “The origin of mantras are Vedas. All sounds originate in space and from space, arose creation. According to science, the cosmos was produced from the vibrations in space. By virtue of their austerities, the sages had the gift of seeing the mantras in space, the mantras that liberate men from this creation. The Vedas are Apaurusheya (not the work of any human author) and are the very breath of the Paramatman in his form as space. The sages saw them and made a gift of them to the world.
What is sound? According to modern science, it is vibration. "If you examine the core of an atom, you will realize that all matter is one." This Advaitic conclusion is arrived at according to nuclear science and the concepts of Einstein. All this world is one flood of energy (shakti); everything is an electromagnetic flow. But how do we account for the manifestation of different objects? It is to be attributed to different type of vibrations.
Where there is vibration there is a sound. Conversely, to produce a sound the vibration corresponding to it must also be created. The scientific concept that the different vibrations of the same energy are the cause of creation is the same as the belief that world was created with the breath of the Paramatman manifesting itself as the sound of the Vedas.
Breath is vital, not only to the body but also to the mind. The mind which is the source of thought and the vital (Prana) energy that is the source of breath are the same. Healthy or unhealthy thoughts are to be attributed to different vibrations of the Nadis. You may test this for yourself. See for yourself how you breathe when you are at peace before the sanctum of a deity or in the presence of a great and wise person and how you breathe when your mind is quickened by desire or anger. The happiness you experience when you take part in something divine, like a bhajan or a temple festival, must be different from the pleasure that sensual gratification gives you: the vibrations of the Nadis concerned will also be correspondingly different.
When you experience joy of an elevated kind, the passage of breath will be through the right nostril, but when you are enjoying sensual pleasure, it will be through the left. When you meditate, with increasing concentration, on the Reality Serene which is the source of all your urges and feelings, the breath will pass through both nostrils slowly, evenly, and rhythmically. When you are absorbed in the object of your meditation, breathing itself will cease but there will still be life. The great awareness called ‘jnana’ will then be in bloom as it were.
The inert body of a man and the awareness that is the vital essence of his life are both dependent on the course of his breathing. They grow or decay according to it. The course of a man's breath keeps his inner vibrations in order.
Consider human beings and other creatures. What is it that determines their health and feelings? The breath that passes through our Nadis, blood vessels during respiration produces vibrations.
Vedic chanting is a mantra yoga. The vibration in each Nadi creates certain feelings or urges in the consciousness. Sensual desire is aroused by some, sloth by some and sorrow by some others. To reverse this, when there is sensual desire there is a vibration in some Nadis, and when there is anger there is vibration in some other Nadis, and so on for each type of feeling or emotion or urge. We know this from actual experiences. When we are at ease there is a special glow on our face and this glow is caused by some Nadis being cool and unagitated. There is a saying "One's inner beauty is reflected outwardly on one's face." Our emotions cause their own reactions in our Nadis. If we succeed in bringingthe Nadis under control, we shall be masters of our urges and feelings. There will then be no need to depend on any external agency for the purpose.
One way of acquiring control over the Nadis is the practice of Rajayoga of which pranayama is the most important feature. Mantra Yoga is another. When we vocalize a syllable, the vital breath is discharged through the space intervening our throat, tongue, lips, the upper and lower parts of the mouth, etc. It is then that the syllable is voiced or the "akshara dhvani" produced. Vibrations are created in the Nadis located in those parts of the body where the vital breath courses through as a consequence of the akshara-dhvani.
What are the Vedic mantras like in this context? Chanting them means only voicing such syllables as would cause beneficent vibrations of the Nadis, beneficent vibrations that would produce such mental states as would lead to wellbeing in this world and the hereafter and ultimately to liberation. No other type of vibration is caused by the chanting of the mantras.”
What is a mantra? "Mananat trayate,” means Mantra is that which protects you through continuous repetition, and liberates the mind.” Vedic Mantras are not just the group of syllables or sentences. It is the sound symbol embodying the form, the power and the consciousness of the supreme Brahman and its manifestations. The Vedic Mantras contains in itself the form and the spirit of the deity, whose mantra it is.
Brahman and Shakti are like the two sides of the same coin. The external world is the creation of Shakti associated with Brahman. Inside the bodies of human beings, Cosmic Energy (Shakti) is known as Prana shakti which tantra refers it as the Kundalini Shakti. It is generally pictured as a coiled serpent lying in dormant condition at the end point of rectum known as Muladhara Chakra. When the dormant Pranic Shakti gradually aroused through proper recitation of Mantra Sadhana under the guidance of a Siddha Guru, it passes through the Sushumna Nadi, pierces through the various cakras, ultimately reaching the Sahastrara Chakra where it gets united with Shiva.
This state of is called Advaita (Non-Duality) where soul get unified with Supreme Soul (Paramatman), this state of union is the practical aspect of “Yoga” which is in the age of Kaliyuga been distorted and became a forgotten lore of the past.
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