Yoga to Chakras

Yoga to Chakras
This information is complied from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright ©1993, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Inso Corporation, and was written and edited by Kay Zahn. All rights reserved.

Please note that the word 'Divine' implies the highest of all, God, ULEK, the Supreme, All, the One, etc...

YOGA - Most of us think of Yoga as a form of physical exercise and stretching but it is really the spiritual quest to achieve the highest level while in human form, which entails reaching Enlightenment despite and in unison with our physical self, as we are a mind, a body, and a spirit that all must be one to reach Enlightenment. The word YOGA in Sanskrit means union. The union of ourselves and the union with the Divine. Yoga is the general term for spiritual disciplines in Hinduism, Buddhism, and practices throughout South Asia that are directed toward attaining higher consciousness and liberation from ignorance, suffering, and achieving rebirth.

Yoga is also the name of one of the six orthodox systems of Hindu philosophy. Both Vedic and Buddhist literature discuss the doctrines of wandering ascetics in ancient India who practiced various kinds of disciplines and meditation. The basic text of the Yoga philosophical school, the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali (2d cent. B.C.), is a systematization of one of these older traditions. Patañjali divides the practice of yoga into eight stages.

Yama - the stage of restraint from vice, learning will and self control
Niyama - observance of purity and virtue, honesty, removing of the disturbance of uncontrolled desires. (This does not necessarily mean sex, depending on the practice - but the uncontrolled desire for sex would still be included)
Asana - posture, this is the stage of the physical control, being able to maintain postures as a form of mentally controlling the physical form
Pranayama - breath control, to calm the physical body and control it
Pratyahara - withdrawal of the senses allows you to detach the mind from the external world. This would allow you to concentrate fully on internal issues of the last three stages.
Dharana - concentration in all forms, being able to focus utterly and completely on singular or multiple tasks without unwanted mental or external interruptions.
Dhyana - meditation to achieve control over the physical form and external forces (like being wrapped in wet sheets and sitting and sleeping in ten degree cold overnight, on ice, and not catching a cold or being cold.)
Samadhi - Pronunciation: [sumä´dE] a complete state of deep absorption into ones self to communicate with the Divine. The object of meditation and the goal of many kinds of yoga. In Buddhism the term refers to any state of one-pointed concentration. In Hinduism it signifies the highest levels of mystical contemplation, in which the individual consciousness becomes identified with the Godhead. Through such practices yogis acquire miraculous powers, which must ultimately be renounced to attain the highest state. In Samadhi the subject-object distinction and one's sense of an individual self disappear in a state usually described as one of supreme peace, bliss, and illumination. A common feature of different traditions of yoga is one-pointed concentration on a chosen object, whether a part of the body, the breath, a mantra, a diagram, a deity, or an idea.

A mantra [pronounced 'man´tru or simply mun'] in Hinduism and Buddhism, means 'mystic words' that are used in rituals and meditation. A mantra is believed to be the sound form of reality, having the power to bring into being the reality it represents. There are several types of mantras. Sanskrit verses used in the Vedic sacrifice are known as mantras. Bija-mantra or "seed-sounds," used mainly in Tantra, are syllables without semantic value having an occult affinity for particular deities or forces; use of such mantras usually requires initiation by a guru. Certain sounds correspond to the energy centers of the body allowing you to elevate, cleans, heal, and meditate with more focus depending on the sound. The most common mantra is the repetition (japa) of the name of a deity, a set of inspirational words, or the singing of devotional phrases (mahamantra).

Hindu tradition in general recognizes three main kinds of yoga:

jnana yoga is the path of realization and wisdom
bhakti yoga is the path of love and devotion to a personal God
karma yoga is the path of selfless action

Other classification are:

Patañjali's yoga is known as raja, or "royal," yoga.
Hatha yoga stresses physical control and postures
Kundalini yoga especially associated with Tantra, is based on the physiology of the "subtle body," according to which seven major centers of psychic energy, called Chakras, are located along the spinal column, with the Kundalini, or "coiled" energy in latent form, starting at the base of the spine. When the Kundalini is activated by yogic methods (physical meditative exercises with controlled breathing), it ascends the spine through the main subtle artery of the sushumna, "opening" each chakra in turn. When the Kundalini reaches the topmost chakra in the brain, Samadhi is attained. Some relate the staff in the Christian bible's twenty-third psalm as the Kundalini. Chakras when they are in balance are neither to open nor too closed and they are in ailment with each other. They allow the energy of the body and soul and Universal energies and love to continual pass through them, allowing them to be energized and clean which allows a path to and out of the crown chakra for connectivity with the Divine; to reach Samadhi.
Chakras as well as the spirit and the physical body itself are effected by several things.
- movement of the body
- meditation
- sounds and mantras
- crystals and stones
- colors

Tantra Pronunciation: [tun´tru] in both Hinduism and Buddhism, is an esoteric tradition of ritual and yoga known for elaborate use of mantra, or symbolic speech, and mandala, or symbolic diagrams and, more so in Hindu than in Buddhist Tantra, the ritual use of wine, meat, and sexual intercourse. Tantric practices use both ritual and meditation to unify the devotee with the chosen deity and/or to unite the mind, body, and soul of the devotee to the Divine.

In Hindu Tantra, practices are graded into three types, corresponding to three classes of devotees:

Animal, i.e., those in whom the guna, or quality, of tamas (darkness) predominates. The animal devotee is not yet ready for the heroic practice and performs the rituals with material symbols
Heroic devotees are those in whom the guna of rajas (activity) predominates. The practice of the heroic devotee entails actual use of the five elements, called the five m's: (matsya), meat (mamsa), wine (madya), aphrodisiac cereals (mudra), and sexual intercourse (maithuna).
Divine are those in whom sattva (goodness) predominates for the divine devotee in which the rituals are purely internal and symbolic. The object of the rituals, attainable only by the divine devotee, is to awaken Kundalini energy, which is identified Shakti and to merge with the Godhead.

In Buddhist Tantra, or Vajrayana, in contrast to the Hindu, the female principle of "wisdom" (prajna) is seen as static, whereas the male, or "means" (upaya), is active. In Buddhism and Hinduism, rituals that appear to break basic our now moral precepts (although previously practiuced for hundreds of years) have for the most part been dropped. The complex meditation and physical posture practices have been retained as society and Christianity have no objections to meditation and exercise while clothed.

Yoga as well as other forms of physical meditation such as Tai Chi are usually practiced under the guidance of a guru or spiritual guide; someone who understands the spirituality of the physical movements as well as the movements themselves for the physical form. Contemporary systems of yoga, such as those of Sri Aurobindo Ghose and Sri Chinmoy Ghose, stress that spiritual realization can be attained without the withdrawal from the world characteristic of the older traditions. Many Spiritual Guides are helping people to understand that your spirituality is within you and has little to do with external forces we live in. That spirituality can be achieved even while you have a family and hold down a job in ‘the real world’.

This information is complied from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright ©1993, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Inso Corporation, and was written and edited by Kay Zahn. All rights reserved.

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