Meditation styles and Yoga practice

Guru Patanjali Preaching in Sadhana Yoga

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Introduction
Second part of YOGA DARSHAN of Great sage Patanjali is called Practice or Sadhana Yoga. Practicing Yoga accepts all the three great paths of self-realization. First is Path of action, which leads to self-discipline of body, senses and mind. Second is Path of knowledge, which leads to self-study from the outer skin of body to the inner core of conscious mind and its contents. Third is Path of love, which leads to surrender of self-ego and realization of pure knowledge of Cycle of birth and death and inner God essence realization. All these three paths are covered by turn, in Sadhana Yoga. Sadhana Yoga reduces feeling of grief’s and afflictions in conscious mind and leads to serenity, tranquility and bliss and super consciousness state of mind.

Guru Patanjali preaches that the five thoughts of mind, which cause affliction and griefs in mind, are correct thoughts, incorrect thoughts, imagination, dreams and memory. The five causes and sources of affliction and grief in mind are fear of death and clinging to life, attachments to aversion of feelings and emotions of pains, hate and enmity, attachments to emotions and feelings of pleasures, attachments to feelings and emotions of self ego and pride, and lack of spiritual knowledge or ignorance. Again griefs or affliction in mind may be four kinds that consist sleepy, inactive, hidden or active and Sadhana Yoga aims to eradicate all the four kinds of affliction caused by five causes in five kinds of thoughts in mind.

Guru Patanjali preaches that fear of death and clinging to life is the subtlest of all afflictions and grief's in mind and it exists even in inner layer of conscious mind of saints and those who have experienced self-realization. Its force becomes weak by undertaking Sadhana Yoga. Feeling of hate, pains and enmity in thoughts leads to a chain of hatred and grief. Recollecting thoughts to attachments to feeling and emotions of close connections, happiness and pleasures ultimately leads to ultimate grief and sadness. Emotions and feelings of grief or pleasures in mind are caused by self-ego and lack of spiritual knowledge. Self-Ego or pride is name of identification of self-consciousness with mind and is mere instrument power of nature essence and different from the real self-conscious. Root cause of self-ego, pride, I or me is lack of spiritual knowledge in all-living being of universe.

Thus, ignorance or lack of spiritual knowledge is the root cause of all grief’s and afflictions in human mind. Spiritual knowledge is different from logic or science knowledge, which is a collection of information from other beings or outer sources and stored in thoughts in outer layer of mind as beliefs. Spiritual knowledge is attained deeper mind directly from self-conscious during Sadhana Yoga by stilling thoughts process in outer unconscious mind.

Guru Patanjali preaches that lack of spiritual knowledge or ignorance is the result of four causes. Believing or feeling transient, temporary and perishable object or subject of matter world as permanent and stable or vice versa is first cause. Believing or feeling the impure or untrue as pure or true or vice versa is second cause. Believing or feeling which is not the self-conscious as the self-conscious or vice versa is third cause. Believing or feeling attachments and emotions of pain or pleasure, as joy giver is fourth cause. All the five kinds of afflictions and four causes of afflictions are realized in conscious mind and removed by Sadhana Yoga. The subtle afflictions in the fluctuation of thoughts and seed karmas are silenced in Sadhana Yoga. The accumulations of imprints of past lives settled in form of karmas have to be experienced in present and future lives. But Sadhana Yoga can reduce root cause of afflictions in it.

Guru Patanjali preaches that as long as the root cause of desires and thoughts in mind and consequently afflictions in mind of one exists, one continue to get a kind of life having a class of birth in it and a specific span of life and experience of actions in it in form of karmas. Again good, bad or mixed actions based on past life actions to be experienced as karma settled in deeper mind decides the quality of life, its span and its nature of birth in form of pleasure or pain experience in it. The master of Sadhana Yoga become aware that even all pleasure actions of karma ultimately turned to afflictions in thoughts of mind due to feelings and emotion attachments. In this view, he consciously detaches even from pleasure actions of life in deeper mind and makes all actions of karma seedless by surrendering to pain actions.

Guru Patanjali preaches that surrendering to pain actions reduces self-ego resulting all actions of life starts turning to experience bliss. The root of seed karma of past life or this life in deeper conscious mind are eliminated or reduced in by Sadhana Yoga. The master of Sadhana Yoga become conscious of mind and its afflictions as well desires and thoughts in it and that they are part of inner nature essence and separate from the real self-conscious and that the remedy lies in their disassociation. In this way Sadhana Yoga reduces afflictions in thoughts of mind and leads to pure knowledge of self-realization and formless God realization.

Guru Patanjali preaches that mind of beings, scenes of mind, scene organs of body and body of beings and endless non- living forms in universe are attributes of nature essence and is outer limit of endless inner conscious of being and aims for serving inner conscious of endless living being for either enjoyment as well for salvation. Nature essence consists of cosmic knowledge, which has qualities of truth, qualities of action and qualities of motion.

And motion qualities is outer limit and truth qualities is inner limit of basic qualities of nature and all qualities of nature essence are in movement and changing with in their sphere. It is the changing qualities of nature essence that control form of body of being on its life path depending upon past action and experiences in its deeper conscious mind .In deeper conscious mind of being, five subtle elements of nature which are smell, taste, touch, sound, and sight manifests its energy into five elements of matter. In scene organs of body of being, five elements of nature, which are light, fire, air, water and earth manifests its energy in to matter form requirement of body for performing actions according to karmas imprints in mind. Body organs of being manifests its energy according to karma sequence and experience result of actions in forms of seed karmas or conscious seedless karmas. It is the action qualities of nature essence that transform conscious mind, scenes of mind, scene organs of body and body of living beings depending upon its past action and experiences.

Guru Patanjali preaches that the inner and formless truth qualities of nature essence working in inner conscious mind of being can be realized by stilling the functions of action and motion qualities of nature essence and this pure knowledge leads to breaks the cycle of birth and death and also leads to pure knowledge of inner true and real-self. Realization of the subtlest mind-containing ego of being which is part of true qualities of nature essence breaks the attachment to illusion powers of nature essence and leads to self-awareness, which is part of self-conscious. Self-conscious is pure knowledge of living being and do not perform any action or motion like true qualities of nature essence. But it acts as seer in form of print of impression in mind .The formless, action less and motionless soul is pure and tends to vision through its agent conscious. When conscious of living being is carried away by the influence of the tree qualities of nature essence and nature qualities cover it in form of unconscious state in mind and it loses its identity.

Guru Patanjali preaches that true Nature essence and its truth qualities, action qualities and motion qualities and mind and body of beings exist to serve the conscious of soul and always aim for giving it body of living being most suitable for performing action settled as karma in conscious mind and opportunities for self realization in various form of life. On self-realization to a particular living being, his relation with nature essence and its three basic qualities and subtlest conscious mind as well body of being breaks. The yogi who attains this pure knowledge starts feeling himself separate from mind and body of living being and feels merely seer trough these. But this relation of nature essence in one is remained unaffected in working of nature in other beings of soul. Lack of spiritual knowledge or ignorance in mind is the root cause of relation of nature essence through mind and self-ego to self-conscious of soul. Lack of spiritual knowledge also leads to conscious towards worldly joy, desires, ailments and attachment.

Guru Patanjali preaches that spiritual knowledge also leads in deeper mind towards feeling true qualities of nature, action qualities of nature and motion qualities of nature and realization of self-conscious. Lack of spiritual knowledge is the cause of false identification to self-ego and bondage of self-conscious with mind through self-ego. Self-ego of mind acts as temporary seer of subtle and matter forms of nature for self-conscious. Seed of awareness of self-conscious always remain hidden in desires and thoughts of mind. Sadhana Yoga leads like miracles for this pure knowledge in deeper conscious mind and self-realization. Pure knowledge of self-realization leads to destruction of ignorance in deeper mind and breaks the link between senses of mind and self-conscious.

This stage of a living being is called bliss, quietness, peace and tranquility or end of aim of any life to which Hinduism calls Kaivalya state. Sadhana Yoga merely assist to the Yogi to avoid slips and errors while surrendering to karmas, experiencing its actions and movements, feel thoughts and desires which are future seeds of karmas and build strength to deal and accept the inevitable problems of life. In Sadhana Yoga, any Holy Scriptures or saint can give mere guidelines and indications in matter world and does not weight much in comparison to self-strength, desire for liberation or true knowledge or regular practice for feeling in deeper mind.

Guru Patanjali preaches that dedication in Sadhana Yoga to various aspects of Yoga destroy the impurities in desires and thoughts in mind and leads to glory of self-realization. Yoga can cure or lessen physical, mental, moral and spiritual suffering. But real success and results from Sadhana Yoga may be achieved by continue and repeated practice with devotion. Sadhana Yoga ladder or path has eight steps, which requires perfection by turn. These eight steps are also called moral self-control, fixed observance of mind thoughts, consciously stilling actions of body and thoughts of mind, consciously regulation and stilling breath movements, consciously withdrawal of the scene organs towards inner body and mind, consciously withdrawal of scenes of mind towards self conscious, consciously Samadhi on inner thoughts about self conscious and consciously Samadhi on stilling thought of self ego or oneness of formless God. Consciously observance and stilling thoughts in mind are regularly taken in Practice Yoga in its all steps.

Guru Patanjali preaches that first step of Sadhana Yoga is moral self-control. Five pillars for moral self control are consciously practicing non violence and wishing no harm in word, actions and thoughts in mind towards all being, practicing truthful and honest life, practicing non stealing others possessions and wealth, practicing transformation of sexual energy into cosmic energy, and practicing absence of greed for possession beyond one's basic needs. Moral self-control becomes perfect when it become perfect towards all times, places and being of universe. When non-violence in words, actions and thoughts in mind during Sadhana Yoga become perfect, all other being abandon hostility in presence of Yogi. Non-violence of Yogi spread goodwill and loves to all surrounding beings. When the Yogi is firmly perfected in the Yoga practice, his speech become so potent that whatever he says, starts coming directly from self conscious and becomes ultimate established truth, irrespective being believed untruth by other being.

Guru Patanjali preaches that when non-stealing others possessions and wealth is perfected while practicing yoga, yogi effortlessly attracts what is precious, materially and value including the gems of all jewels and virtues. When conscious control of sexual energy in yoga practice is perfected, sexual energy starts transformation into spiritual energy leading to control of all kinds of thoughts in mind. When yogi becomes perfect in practicing absence of greed for possession beyond yogi’s basic need, all past and future life starts unfolding before him. Improper actions and thoughts in mind result in endless pain. These actions and thoughts may be mild, medium or acute depending upon its intensity. They are caused by unconscious violence untruth, greed and uncontrolled sex desires. Moral self-control is to be practiced in control of thoughts and consciously performing karmas by feeling it.

Guru Patanjali preaches that second step of Sadhana Yoga is fixed observance of thoughts in mind. Five pillars of second step of Practice Yoga are consciously practicing purity, contentment, having strong spiritual desires, self-study, and surrendering self ego before oneness of formless God in thoughtless conscious mind. When scenes of mind become clean and pure from thoughts by practicing yoga, yogi develops disinterest in contact with other beings for sensual pleasures and tends to refrain from contact with perishable body of other beings. When contentment in mind of aspirant of yoga is perfected, his thoughts become free from worldly desires and leads mind to calmness and happiness.

Guru Patanjali preaches that when practice of having strong spiritual desires is established, the impurities in mind become burnt leading to feel glow of divinity of self realization and pure knowledge of mind. Self study practice in yoga leads to pure knowledge of thoughts in mind and self-mind as well as true knowledge hidden in Holy Scriptures. Self study also leads to spiritual union with one's desired deity or cosmic power of nature and to feel its true knowledge. Surrendering self-ego to oneness leads to pure knowledge of perfection. In Yoga practice, surrendering to oneness of formless God leads to conscious detachment from self-ego and stilling thoughts in mind except thought of formless God.

Guru Patanjali preaches that third step of Sadhana Yoga is consciously stilling actions of body and thoughts of mind. Stilling body and mind in most comfortable and happy posture is third step of Sadhana Yoga. Comfortable and happy posture of different human being for yoga may be different and may be searched by feeling it. In general, yogi while sitting folding legs attains comfortable and happy posture, head erect and whole weight of body is on the vertical skeleton and relaxed. Perfection in stilling actions of body and thoughts of mind in Sadhana Yoga is achieved, when the efforts to perform stilling action of body become effortless and Samadhi on inner thoughts also become effortless. On perfection of this third step of Sadhana Yoga, yogi becomes aware that body and mind are outer illusion limit of inner conscious and soul and that body and mind are not the real self but part of outer nature essence. At this stage also the aspirant get true knowledge of duality powers of nature essence and difference between thoughts and feeling.

Guru Patanjali preaches that fourth step of Sadhana Yoga is consciously regulation and stilling breathes movements. In Yoga, fourth step practice is to be under taken after perfecting practice of third step and it contains regulation of the incoming and outgoing of breath and at the end stilling the retention of breath. The movements of breath and the pauses between may vary from one person to other depending upon location of place and the capacity of the lungs as well as the capacity to hold duration and degree of refinement of yogi. When the conscious movement of breath functions and thoughts in mind ceases, the flow of vital energy, intelligence and thoughts come to stand still but karma impression continue to stay in mind. Yogi realizes this during Sadhana Yoga.

Guru Patanjali preaches that fifth step of Sadhana Yoga is consciously withdrawal of the scene organs towards inner of body and mind. When practice of this step of Sadhana Yoga is perfected, impure knowledge, desire and delusion in thoughts of mind, which have covered inner conscious, is destroyed. This allows the feeling and vision of glow of self-conscious to yogi. This step provides most purified knowledge that can be attained with scene organs of body and senses of mind. It results in to absolute control of the scene organs of body and senses of mind.

Guru Patanjali preaches that sixth step of Sadhana Yoga is consciously withdrawal of scenes of mind towards self-conscious. In sixth step concentration on thoughts on one point or region with true knowledge of self-conscious is attempted. One point or region of thought may be with in or outside of body. Mastery of this step of yoga is perfected when the mind learns to remain flowing on its own without any efforts on the subject or object given.

Guru Patanjali preaches that seventh step of Sadhana Yoga is consciously Samadhi on inner thoughts about self-conscious. Continuous flow of one thought with awareness directed towards the desired point or region is perfected in this step of yoga. The main feature of Samadhi in this step is the maintenance of an uninterrupted flow of awareness on a fixed point or region.

Guru Patanjali preaches that eighth and last step of Sadhana Yoga is consciously Samadhi on stilling one thought of self-ego or oneness of formless God. When the object of Samadhi is also lost in self-conscious, it is called true seeded Samadhi, which is last step of Sadhana Yoga. When the uninterrupted flow of awareness dissolves the split between object under Samadhi in mind and the self-conscious, which is meditating into oneness of consciousness, mind of mediator vanishes and one ceases to experience of space and time and of living being. This ends learning the art of Practice or Sadhana Yoga but its perfection is required to be continued till salvation or end of cycle of birth and death of being.