17 November, 2008

Patanjali's eight fold path

Chakras depend on the following eight fold path, laid by Patanjali in his Hatha Yoga Padipika.

1. Yamas- Behaving with restraint: non violent, truthful, honest and kind manner. Purity of thoughts, deeds and mind. Eating moderately.

2. Niyamas- Having spiritual and devotional attitude towards everything like prayer, austerity etc. Following few rules discipline in life.

3. Asanas- Practicing yoga postures/asanas regularly. It will lead to a meditative stage when the mind will become still.

4. Pranayama- Developing prana/breath control.

5. Pratyahara- controlling the senses so that they do not disturb. Preparing the mind for concentration, focus and visualisation.

6. Dharana- Firm belief, will power, concentration, focus.

7- Dhyana- Practicing meditation so that the mind becomes still, thoughtless and does not wander. You become calm and uninterrupted by thoughts.

8. Samadhi- The final goal; bliss/transcendent consciousness. Mind, Body and Soul becoming one.

23 comments:

  1. thgh I'm not much of a person for yoga....this post was not bad :P

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  2. i feel very bad about myself. I being in India I don't know anything about yoga. I think i should join yoga class.
    Well I make my sketch by using the Photoshop software. Its very easy. I learnt photoshop in just two months.

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  3. Through the years I have learned bits and pieces about the Hindu lifestyle and philosophy, and it is amazing to me to see how much more there is to know.

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  4. I find Yoga boring compared to aerobics. Attended Yoga only once :)

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  5. @ santoshi. do join a yoga class. like photoshop, you will pick it up fast and then sketch those beautiful pics of yoga asanas.

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  6. @ agnes. India has very rich heritage. There is a lot to learn. I am still learning.

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  7. @ manasa. it happens. at one point of time, i had the same opinion about yoga and aerobics. there are phases when you like one form over the other.

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  8. :) Kiran : do listen to Sri Sri's commentary on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. It explains the entire eight fold path in beautiful depth using very simple exposition.

    http://www.shankaraeu.com/index.php?cPath=26_191_40_134

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  9. @ random. i heard that. really nice.

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  10. I never tried yoga, but I always wanted to. Maybe now is the time to start? :)

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  11. Oh this knowledge is simply amazing !!
    How beautifully have we got all the answers from the ancient texts
    and what fun implying them

    Keep dancing , diva :)

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  12. flash soul and spirit inter winding .. the last one is good..

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  13. even i haven't tried yoga. and those involving the spiritual senses seem almost impossible to me. but as they say nothing is impossible, may be someday i will begin with learning yoga.

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  14. @ rahi. tomorrow never comes. Try it today.

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  15. Yoga....very interesting !

    Welcome to my blog

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  16. It was extremely interesting for me to read that post. Thanks for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to this matter. I would like to read more soon.

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