Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga

[Shivani Devi]

Namaste.

I posted this (I wrote it) in another thread, but I also felt it would serve well here. Please enjoy and comment if you like.

1. Yama

This deals with honesty and truth. A sense of personal integrity and consideration for all life. It's all about those personal standards we try and hold ourselves up to. The 5 Yamas are Ahimsa (non-violence), Satyam (truthfulness), Asetya (non stealing), Brahmacharya (celibacy) and aparigraha (non greed). It is associated with the Throat Chakra (which is the 'boss' of all the other chakras in the body).

So, when one is serious about meditating and achieving samadhi, do you think they'll be able to focus if they are abusive, tell lies, rip people off, have sex every night of the week and hoard money like a scrooge?

I mean, of course that takes it to the extreme, but when it comes to this, the focus and intent of meditation should be perfectly clear. "I want this so bad and I'll do anything and give up everything to get it".

All of the above is about having at least some respect and consideration for your fellow being, human or animal because we all have to exist in harmony on the same planet to give more of us the chance to achieve their true purpose. So, even if you cannot love mankind, you can at least like them a little bit and do unto them as you would be done by and acts of charitable kindness never goes astray.

This is the first step to prepare the mind for meditation and the body for yoga.

For the record and for some, bramacharya isn't possible. Have sex no more than once a week and make the foreplay last a very long time.

2. Niyama

This is all about intent, spiritual practice, patience and dedication to the goal.

It also includes internal and external purification and particular attention to time and setting. It's all about why you want to meditate in the first place, and having established that, preparing the mind and body for it by purifying your energies through diet and a part of your external environment for a 'sacred space'...yeah, it's all about creating the atmosphere of a 'sacred space'. The five Niyamas are Saucha (cleanliness/good hygeine), Santosha (contentment/no worries), Tapas (spiritual practice and penance),svadhyaya (internal and external spiritual study), Ishvara pranidhara (surrender to God)

...and in my case it sort of happened that I surrendered to God first, my heart just did it on its own really, without me even having a say in it. lol

Then, I went through all the Yamas and Niyamas backwards after that.

3. Asana - also known as Hatha Yoga.

Ideally, Hatha Yoga and meditation should go hand in hand as they totally complement and assist each other. As you progress in yoga, you'll find meditation becomes easier and as meditation becomes easier, yoga becomes effortless. I spent many years (about 20 of them) doing Hatha Yoga, along with all the kriyas - internal purification exercises....nobody needs to go that far unless they are really keen about it, but in the later stages of meditation, yoga helps purify the nadis (along with the breath) and opens the chakras up, clearing and strengthening the route mother kundalini will take.

4. Pranayama

This is the other part of yoga or meditation that people forget and it is essential that breathing techniques are applied in meditation. Just focusing on the breath and slowing it way down makes the body relax, the blood pressure drop and puts you in a calm frame of mind. Breathing deeply into the abdomen oxygenates the system and prepares the mind for meditation and alternate nostril breathing (Nadhi Shodhana) as I have already described in the thread, balances the chakras and gets the energies flowing up the proper channels. Nadi Shodhana is also very relaxing as it involves focus on the breath as well.

5. Pratyahara

This means 'sense withdrawal' and I have already touched on this before in this thread. I gave the example with all of the optical illusions. Even though we are focusing externally on an object, the external eye loses focus and turns 'inward' opening up the 'Third Eye'. Each sense can thus be made to "turn inward" through intense focus and for others, all it takes is a float tank or an ahyuasca trip - although I'm sure Patanjali would not have recommended these things (and I do not either). I'm just illustrating how different people have their methods of going within instead of 'existing without' and not being a 'slave to the senses' is a very good start. Yeah, it's all about what we like to eat, watch on TV, clothes we wear, music we listen to etc, but don't allow yourself to get caught up in the mundane superficiality of it all....yeah it's all about getting your whole priorities straight now because you have much bigger 'fish to fry' if you can fry them without killing them first, right? lol

6. Dharana

Each of these stages leads off from the previous one, because once our senses have been corralled and turned inwards, it becomes easy to focus and be mindful. Dharana is all about being in the state of mindful awareness, where thoughts and emotions are just observed, but not acted upon. It is all about concentration and one-pointedness and takes in all of the Trataka exercices I was describing before, as well as focusing internally on a single image, a sound (mantra) or one particular thought at the expense of another. Think of a pretty flower and if any other thoughts come in say 'nope, that's not the pretty flower'. This is Dharana. All the fruits of Hatha Yoga also come to bear at this stage - balance, focus, flexibility and breath control. It is the pinnacle of physical, mental and emotional health and well-being.

7. Dhyana

This is the actual meditation now, the whole start of it, where your breathing has slowed right down or almost stopped and you are internally focused and centred on a single image, thought or sound and you are aware of nothing else. It takes a lot of patience and effort to get to this stage where you become spiritually intimate with the candle flame and you can't think of anything else except the occasional 'oops, where did my breath go?' lol
It is in this stage I get closest to my God, Shiva and I can feel Him in my Heart. It is also the prelude to 'full-blown Samadhi' which is called savikalpa Samadhi. It's the final battle before the end of the road and the part where "If you see Buddha on the road, kill him" applies. It's the final vestige of our ego trying to hold on to the bodily concept and the world paradigm. It is often where a 'leap of Faith' is required, or where the Dark Night of the Soul comes out at the dawning.

8. Samadhi

It's what it's all about and why we're all here. many traditions have a name for it...Nirvana, Grace, Holy Spirit, Enlightenment, God, Brahman, Satori, The All...many terms to try and describe that which can never be, given every word in the dictionaries of every language on earth. It's the big, final 'let go' of all concepts, all perspective shifts , all limiting beliefs, all notions of a 'personal God', all concepts of individual personae and just letting the whole universe in...and that even doesn't begin to go there, but I had to come out of orbit for the purpose of posting all this. It is often associated with bliss, but there's a sense of just smug satisfaction with it all, but it's also the difference between giving the love out to God and letting yourself just totally become immersed in it because that's who and what you are.

Aum Namah Shivaya

[peteyzen]

Excellent post thank you

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by peteyzen

Excellent post thank you

Namaste and you are very welcome. I thought I'd put my talents to good use for a change. Glad to see it's appreciated, but must also humbly admit it wasn't totally of my doing either.

Aum Namah Shivaya

[kralaro]

>I surrendered to God

Dear Necro, what do you mean please? I think like for S to surrender to R, S must know what R wants her to do; but i don't think God was telling you "do this", "do that".

[Vinayaka]

There are two fairly distinct approaches to this. One is limbs which indicates a selective process, and the other is stages which indicates a progressive process.

[SecretDreams333]

8. Samadhi

It's what it's all about and why we're all here. many traditions have a name for it...Nirvana, Grace, Holy Spirit, Enlightenment, God, Brahman, Satori, The All...many terms to try and describe that which can never be, given every word in the dictionaries of every language on earth. It's the big, final 'let go' of all concepts, all perspective shifts , all limiting beliefs, all notions of a 'personal God', all concepts of individual personae and just letting the whole universe in...and that even doesn't begin to go there, but I had to come out of orbit for the purpose of posting all this. It is often associated with bliss, but there's a sense of just smug satisfaction with it all, but it's also the difference between giving the love out to God and letting yourself just totally become immersed in it because that's who and what you are.


find this interesting my experience is that its not a cannot describe thing just that this whole language based structure is an incarnated build up separated from the true self so has to be dissolved and cant go there , wont go there cos it only lives in 3D cos its made from 3D it is 3D itself cut up in small individual parts and the power that makes it real is the collective shared sameness in the info stored like this , the knowing the same is the barrier to be broken for the soul to become free and see what it really is , and not that programmed info about the 3D world it has been brought up on lol how do I know this --- hahaha if you know that you know that , see you on the other side where life is eternal and all is energy and source light

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by kralaro

>I surrendered to God

Dear Necro, what do you mean please? I think like for S to surrender to R, S must know what R wants her to do; but i don't think God was telling you "do this", "do that".

Namaste.

It's not really like that. In my experience, the surrender came when I was no longer trying to consciously control the outcomes of my sadhana...i.e doing 'this' to achieve 'that'.

I realised that God was something much greater than my limited ego and because I love God, or felt that love, fully acknowledging that God is totally amazing and awesome, I am nothing without Him and I am only a puppet or putty in His hands...and I let my ego fully drop into my heart...I held nothing back at all...

This is the surrender.

Aum Namah Shivaya

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by Vinayaka

There are two fairly distinct approaches to this. One is limbs which indicates a selective process, and the other is stages which indicates a progressive process.

Yes, too true otherwise the whole process wouldn't be referred to as 'limbs'...more like a 'body'...wouldn't it? However, I don't know how much selectivity or 'cherry picking' can go on when one can thus say 'let's forget the first 7 and jump straight to the 8th one'.

Many times on here, I see people placing the cart before the horse and wondering why they aren't getting anywhere...

Saying "I want samadhi/enlightenment" and think there's an easy way or say "my brain is too active to meditate" and wonder why.

I got the idea for this article when I tried applying Ashtanga Yoga to the process of meditation to answer a few questions I had and others were asking me.

However, this is the whole way I was taught and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras was one of my 'Bibles' and I had four of them..

If anybody is interested in this...the whole essence of esoteric Tantric practice, my four 'Bibles':

1. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras
2. Hatha Yoga Pradipika
3. Vijnana Bhairava Tantra &
4. Saundarya Lahari

Everything that is anything can be found in these.

Aum Namah Shivaya

[dattaseva]

According to the teachings I follow, the first 5 steps are to do completely with Pravrutti or worldly life; they are only for maintaining excellent health, which is crucial to the last 3 steps. The last 3 stages pertain to Nivrutti or the path to God.

The sixth stage is Dhaarana, which means to catch the human incarnation like Lord Rama. Hanuman met Rama in disguise as a saint and Rama called Him by His actual name. This shows the supernatural power of the unimaginable God present in Rama. This smallest miracle was sufficient for the highest level of Hanuman to recognize Rama as God. Hence, this stage is catching the human incarnation in which Lord Rama (merged with unimaginable God) is caught, which is the right goal through the right direction of the right knowledge.

The seventh stage is Dhyaana, which means submission of all physical and mental activities to the human incarnation only because the contemporary human incarnation alone is the most relevant to humanity from the point of direct service to the real God. The human incarnation is the product of the real unimaginable God merging with an external imaginable and visible human form. The energetic form is relevant to the souls in the upper world having the same energetic bodies. The unimaginable God is out of question since He is beyond even the most subtle thoughts and imagination. The energetic incarnations, Narayana or Shiva, are relevant to the upper world (Vaikuntha/Kailasa) only. The relevant form of God for humanity is Lord Rama, the human incarnation only.

The eighth last stage is Samaadhi, which means very strong (Sam) and complete (Aa) determination (Dhi) that's arrived at after deep analysis. Determination is the characteristic of intelligence (nishchayaatmikaa buddhih). This eighth stage is tested by God to see the strength of your determination of faith. If your faith is not shaken at all, it is called as ‘unshakable determination’ (Nirvikalpa Samadhi). If the faith is shaken and regained back it is called as ‘shaken determination revoked back’ (Savikalpa Samadhi).

[Vinayaka]

Originally Posted by The Necromancer

Many times on here, I see people placing the cart before the horse and wondering why they aren't getting anywhere...


Aum Namah Shivaya

Me, I'm just mumbling, bumbling and stumbling along somewhere below stage 1.