What are the parts not steps of Yog as given by Maharishi Patanjali?
Yog or Ashtaang Yog*
For summation of mathematical quantities also, the word ‘योग’ is used but when, this word is used in spiritual background, it means realization of God. After summation of soul with God, soul does not lose its existence but remains to be a separate entity different from God. Maharishi Patanjali has divided this whole process of realization of God in eight parts or steps. These eight parts are popularly known as अष्टांग योग. Because of presence of disturbances, soul fails to feel God, who is present in the soul itself. It is very much like-the images falling in water, which cannot be seen if the water is disturbed unless calmness of water is restored. The moment soul is able to remove its disturbances, it automatically realises God. The purpose of all the eight parts of योग is to remove disturbances of soul. There is no way different from अष्टांग योग to realise God. First two parts of अष्टांग योग-यम and नियम bring oneness in our behaviour with ourselves and with the society. The remaining six parts of अष्टांग योग concentrate on removing other disturbances of soul. Order of the eight parts of अष्टांग योग, too, is very important. Every part of अष्टांग योग removes disturbances of a special nature. The belief that a part or step of Yog can, only, be engrossed, when, all the previous parts have been adhered to is not true in all circumstances. It is true that it is not possible to advance in ध्यान without adhering to यम but the persons, who believe that they have not reached the stage, where ध्यान can be done by them for the reason that they have not yet mastered different yams, are very much wrong. Doing ध्यान helps, also, in following different यम. Followers of all the sects agree that those moving on the path of हिंसा and untruthfulness (parts of यम) can never realise God. Accordingly, it can be implied that all the sects support the view that adhering to अष्टांग योग is the only way to realise God.
Below, we mention different parts of योग or अष्टांग योग.
First part of योग -यम
यम has further been divided into following parts:
- अहिंसा
- सत्य
- अस्तेय
- ब्रह्मचर्य
- अपरिग्रह
1 अहिंसा
There is a notion in the world that to give pain to someone is violance or हिंसा and opposite of this is non-violance or अहिंसा. If, we accept this notion to be true, then there is no one in this world, who does not give pain to others. God, being giver of fruits of actions of souls gives maximum pain. Does God do हिंसा by giving fruits of actions of souls ? One of the attributes of God is-‘doing welfare of all’. Mother, father, teacher, king punish us for our bad acts and in doing so, they, certainly, bring pain to us. Can such acts of theirs be called ‘हिंसा ’? Vedaas and Rishis say that basis of हिंसा is injustice and basis of अहिंसा is justice. To reward a non-deserving person is हिंसा and to punish a guilty is अहिंसा . A person, who has done हिंसा gets disturbed and to cover up his this weakness, he tends to donate his money (without thinking of the eligibility of the recipient), with the intention of reducing the punishment of the guilt committed by him. Because of this reason these people, who are guilty of हिंसा, go in different temples, monasteries et cetera and feel a sigh of relief by donating there. But such people do not know that a guilt never goes unpunished without any regard to any amount of virtues earned thereafter.
There is a great message of the Vedaas-there is हिंसा at the base of every bad deed and there is अहिंसा at the base of every good deed. We can very well say that purpose of rest of the four यम (सत्य, अस्तेय, ब्रह्मचर्य and अपरिग्रह) and all the five नियम (शौच, संतोष, तप, स्वाध्याय and ईश्वर-प्रणिधान) is to strengthen the principle of अहिंसा.
Here, it is important to throw light on the aspect of ‘silent viewing’. It is हिंसा whether, we do it physically or do it by remaining silent spectator of ‘doing of हिंसा’. As it has already been mentioned that injustice is at the base of हिंसा, and not to refrain others from doing injustice can not be termed other than हिंसा. So, it is very necessary for a person who has taken the pledge of following अहिंसा, not to do any injustice personally as well as not to be a silent spectator of ‘doing of हिंसा’. A person will be successful in refraining others from doing injustice as much as he himself practices अहिंसा.
We must consider the reason behind painful-living of different beings. Then only, we will be able to know-what is हिंसा and what is अहिंसा. It is because of अहिंसा that we have received this great body. Similarly, it is because of हिंसा that other souls have not been provided with this great human body.
2 सत्य or Truth
Whether anybody in the past has attained the purpose of his life, that is, freedom from the cycle of birth and death, by following the path of untruthfulness? If, it has not happened in the past, then, it will not happen in present, as well as in future. One of the great reasons of not being able to follow the path of truth is- we have made attainment of non-living things as goal of our life. The fact as accepted by the attainers of worldly things is-attainment of worldly things brings a kind of hollowness in our souls. In today’s world, moving on the path of truthfulness seems harmful. It is for the reason that we have started considering the loss of worldly objects equivalent to the loss of soul. A follower of untruth can never be fearless and a fearful person can never concentrate. As such, to have access over unbound power of concentration, we need to move on the path of सत्य.
सत्य is adhered to for the realization of अहिंसा. हिंसा is done whenever, we speak untruth. Whether, one is a son or a shopkeeper or a serviceman et cetera, he brings pain to the others whenever he speaks untruth by doing injustice. This can be verified from the examples of our daily life. Such a person is bound to get the fruits of his acts of अहिंसा. Rishis say that truthfulness bring a power in us, which enables us to obviate ourselves from bad deeds. There is no other way to be free from sin. There was no one in the past, there is no one in the present and there will be no one in future having a liking for untruthfulness. This is because God has developed liking for truthfulness in our soul.
When a man speaks of a thing without hurting his soul and with pleasure and confidence, he speaks the truth. A teller of lie has almost dead soul. By adhering to truth, we may lose something but welfare of our soul lies only in this. All the relatives or friends, for whom we speak untruth are going to go to their heavenly abode, one day. After leaving innumerable relatives or friends in the past lives, we have taken our present birth. Where have all these people for whom, we spoke untruth gone? Likewise, we will have to go on our eternal journey by leaving our present-day relatives and friends. But sin earned by behaving untruthfully will remain with us until we bear the fruit of it. Why to behave untruthfully for the leavers? On this eternal journey, soul is alone.
There is a belief that it is not possible to sustain without untruth. This belief is totally wrong. O man! Experiment with behaving truthfully and you will realise its importance in a single go. We must ask the questions from ourselves-If untruthfulness has not caused welfare of anybody in the past, then how is it going to benefit us today?
Also read the question-What is truth?
3 अस्तेय or Non-stealing
It refers to non-stealing by words as well as thoughts. After, looking at a car of another or a beautiful flower et cetra, having a desire to possess the same is nothing but stealing. This concept can be better understood through an example. As soon as a customer makes the payment for the cloth, he becomes owner of that cloth. But, shopkeeper gives him lesser cloth by measuring the cloth wrongfully. By adopting such deceitful means, shopkeeper steals the cloth of the purchaser in front of the buyer.
Generally, we all say that we are not thieves but deep thinking can let us know as to the extent to which we follow ‘अस्तेय’.
4 ब्रह्मचर्य or Continence
ब्रह्मचर्य is saving or protecting all sorts of capabilities of body by control over our senses.
There is a notion in today’s world, which is very much backed by modern scientists that ‘to save our semen’ is a thought of wrong minds. As such, they let it go waste and thus weaken their body by decreasing its capability to fight diseases. ब्रह्मचर्य is having control over our senses. The better we control our senses, the easier it is to adopt ब्रह्मचर्य . It becomes easier for us to adopt ब्रह्मचर्य, if we remain focused on our goal and constantly strive for the same. Also, thinking of the stories of the great personalities or great warriors et cetera help in acquiring ब्रह्मचर्य. Acquiring subtle or fine and pure vivek, that is, judging ability of mind, too, helps in saving our semen.
Opposite to ब्रह्मचर्य is incontinence. Incontinence, too, like stealing and untruthfulness brings हिंसा.
Even a person, who himself tells lots of lies during the whole day looks at the other person, who has given vent to his sexual desire, even once, with disgrace. Like in untruthfulness, there are grades in incontinence also. Untruthfulness and incontinence bring equivalent fruits provided they are of the same grade. It is shameful to be incontinent but it is in no way worse than being untruthful. An incontinent person fails in one यम and untruthful person fails in another यम. Both of them equally share failure in यम. सत्य, अस्तेय, ब्रह्मचर्य et cetera are further parts of first part of यम. All the parts of यम have same importance in relation to one another. Just as we speak untruth because of not knowing the greatness of truth, likewise we steal because of not knowing the greatness of non-stealing and further we do not be continent because of not knowing the greatness of continence. But, the moment we know the greatness of continence, we will concentrate on following ब्रह्मचर्य, leaving incontinence.
All the people of this world are afraid of death. But, through ब्रह्मचर्य one is able to bring a power in him by which, he can kill the fear of death.
आचार्य चरक says-‘Semen is the crux of whatever we eat. If you really want to get ‘अमृत’, then, save semen. If you let it go waste because of non-control of your sexual desire, then it is guaranteed that diseases of all sorts will come to you’.
Subtle things can be understood through subtle बुद्धि only. We can acquire subtle बुद्धि , only if crux of whatever we eat gets deposited in our body in large quantity. For this, we will have to follow ब्रह्मचर्य.
Many people, who desire to realize God in a moment, have a view that for God realization, they do not have to do any thing. They do not realize the greatness of the term ‘God-realization’. For this ‘God-realization’, ब्रह्मचारी, that is, one, who follows the path of Brahamcharya, spends every moment of his life in removing ills of life and the others want to attain that state in a moment. This is a great folly on their part.
5 अपरिग्रह or Non-piling
Not to pile up things through ‘मन’, words or body is called अपरिग्रह.
अपरिग्रह does not mean that clothes of a king and that of a peon should be similar and in equal quantity.
The more we tend to increase our necessities, the more हिंसा we do. How? From the time of cultivation of cotton, till cloth is manufactured out of that for our use, millions of beings are hurt or die in all these processes. But, for sustenance we need some means. We should draw from nature only that much which is necessary for our sustenance, lest we should not bring unnecessary harm to other beings. Others may not have to face deprivation of their necessities because of our habit of piling up the things.
Because of our tendency to pile up things more than what actually is required for our sustenance, production is getting increased which in a way is harming the ‘पंच महाभूत’, which are Earth, Water, Fire, Air and aakaash. By piling up unnecessary things and more than our requirements, we become guilty of doing हिंसा. The purpose of अपरिग्रह, too, is अहिंसा only. Nothing can be piled without bringing pain to others. To accumulate unnecessary things and unnecessary thoughts is परिग्रह, that is, piling up. Opposite to this is अपरिग्रह, If, somehow, certain things get piled up in excess of our requirements, then things in excess than our requirements should be donated. The cost of contentment obtained by such donation is much more than the cost of the costliest things of the world. We should ask the following questions from ourselves:
-Why and for whom so much accumulation?
-Till what period this accumulation will go on?
-Where was I, before this birth? Where am I to go, after death? What for did I take birth? Where are the accumulations made by me till date?
-What purpose will such accumulations serve?
Knowing the answers to such questions helps us to know ‘Ourselves’.
Second part of योग -नियम
Difference between यम and नियम – While यम controls our behaviour with others, नियम regulates our behavior with ourselves.
Like यम, नियम, too, is divided into following parts:
1 शौच 2 संतोष 3 तप 4 स्वाध्याय 5 ईश्वर-प्रणिधान
1 शौच or Cleanliness
Cleanliness of ‘मन’ and body is called शौच. Bathing, wearing clean clothes, taking good food et cetera are some of the means for Cleanliness of our body. Means like knowledge, good company, control over senses, earning money through rightful methods et cetera, cleanse our ‘मन’. This is called internal cleanliness. Cleanliness of our ‘मन’ is more important than Cleanliness of our body. Cleanliness of our body is called external cleanliness. But most of the money, time et cetera are spent on cleanliness of our body. We all know that our body is made up of five elements-earth, water, fire, air and aakaash or ether. Cleanliness of our body depends upon cleanliness of these elements. The cleaner these elements are, the cleaner, our bodies will be. But it, in no way, means that for cleanliness of our body we can discard bathing et cetera. Above all the methods of cleanliness, comes the cleanliness in our ways of earning money. As such, cleanliness should be started from our methods of earning money. If our earnings are not through rightful means, then our food, our thoughts, our actions et cetera can never be clean. Such person can neither have control over his senses nor can understand the importance of time. By bringing internal and external cleanliness in our lives, we make अहिंसा stronger and bring joy to all who conduct with us during different jobs.
2 संतोष or Contentment
To be happy with the fruits of our exertions done with the available means, that is, knowledge, power et cetera is संतोष. The base of असंतोष or non-contentment is greediness. The joy or pleasure one feels after practicing संतोष is sixteen times more than every worldly pleasure.
Looking at the importance of संतोष, we must have a clear understanding of this concept. Not to wish more than what is available or is received in a particular condition is not संतोष. Without getting depressed by receiving less than expected, one should exert more by increasing the resources, which are intelligence, knowledge, power et cetera. Many times, a person gets a feeling of contentment by exerting less than his abilities, which is a great hurdle in the path of self-realization.
For having संतोष or contentment, it is very necessary that one has a strong belief over justice of God. He must have faith that his actions are and will be appropriately rewarded.
3 तप or ‘Control over senses’
To accept or bear loss-benefit, pain-pleasure, hunger-thirst, cold-heat, honour-dishonour et cetera coming on the path of righteousness with peace and patience is तप.
Today, we have weaken ourselves so much that without pillow, bed, television, vehicle, fan, cooler, air conditioner et cetera, we can not think of spending even a moment. Many times, we refuse to accept the call of our soul just for some worldly objects. As soon as, a worldly subject of our liking is present before us, we willingly or unwillingly move in that direction and fail to leave or abandon that subject. Whenever, a beautiful scene of our liking comes before us, we fail to restrain our eyes from seeing the same.
While doing ‘तप’, our happiness level should not go down, that is, we should do only that much ‘तप’ by which our happiness does not diminish. In this way, we may take longer duration in achieving our purpose, for which ‘तप’ is being done but the results achieved would be steadier.
The path of योग or realisation of God is not for the one who is ‘अतपस्वी’, that is, one who can not control his senses.
4 स्वाध्याय or Study
To possess both physical-knowledge and spiritual-knowledge through study is called स्वाध्याय. One can not attain purpose of his life by following only one of them. As such, there need be a co-ordination between physical-knowledge and spiritual-knowledge.
In Vedaas, There are both of physical-knowledge and spiritual-knowledge.
As such, the great scholars call the study of Vedaas only as स्वाध्याय. Many scholars bring the study of books written by Rishis too in the ambit of स्वाध्याय. By स्वाध्याय, we can obviate हिंसा done with our foolishness and can have the basis of analyzing our deeds necessary for our progress in the right direction.
5 ईश्वर-प्रणिधान or ‘Surrender to God’
ईश्वर-प्रणिधान means total surrender to the will of the Supreme Being.
In the world, we talk of surrender to our mother, father, teacher, officer, king et cetera. By such surrenders we mean to follow the commands of these persons. Where there is no following of the commands, we can not call the same as‘surrender’. Similar is the case with God, where surrender means nothing else than following the commands of God. Commands of God are included in Vedaas. So, to do ईश्वर-प्रणिधान, we must first of all know the commands of God mentioned in Vedaas. If we are to move in accordance with will of God, then every moment we will have to feel His presence and should put all our words, thoughts and actions in the right direction. In moving in accordance with will of God, we should not think of the fruits of our actions. But, we can not work without thinking of fruit. Then, what does ‘non-thinking of fruits of actions’ mean? Here, ‘non-thinking of fruits of actions’ means non-thinking of worldly fruits of actions. Our soul is not fed or satisfied by the worldly fruits of our actions. Instead we should act with a purpose of getting non-worldly object, that is, bliss. Our soul gets satisfied by ‘bliss of God’ only. As such, we should act with a purpose of obtaining the Bliss as a fruit of our action.
Bhakti=Surrender=Following Commands
Surrender everything, you have like power, knowledge, money, capability et cetera, to God. But, a person is afraid to do so with the fear that if, he surrenders every thing to God then, he will not be left with any thing. But, after surrendering everything to God, everything remains with the surrenderer with the liability to use those things in accordance with the instructions of God, only.
For example, tenant of a house knows that he does not own the house and he has to use the house according to the will of its owner. Realizing this fact, he makes the best use of the house. If for one reason or the other, the house gets damaged, he, that is, the tenant does not have any tension of any sort because he knows from his heart that he is not the owner of the house. Similar to this example, if we surrender everything, we possess to God then we will use those possessions of ours in accordance with the will of God.We will donate because, it is His instruction to donate. We will eat to the extent to which He has instructed. We will not eat, what He forbids us to eat. In short, by surrendering, we mean following the instructions.
By ईश्वर-प्रणिधान, we can increase our speed towards God Realisation to a great extent .
Third part of योग -आसन
आसन refers to sitting posture of our body. Today, आसन is being taken as synonym of Yog and main purpose of आसन is considered to keep our body free from diseases. It is true that आसन benefits our body but main purpose of आसन is to achieve समाधि (final part of योग) through प्राणायाम, धारणा and ध्यान. Actually, आसन is a posture in which body can sit comfortably without any movement for a long period of time. We find a mention of different postures in which we can sit comfortably without any movement for long, depending upon condition, state and capability of the body. It is not possible to go into ध्यान while moving, walking, dancing et cetera. ध्यान is possible in a sitting posture only. In ध्यान, we concentrate on motionless God which is possible only by keeping our body still. Stillness is very essential for concentration. While moving, walking, dancing et cetera., it is not possible to concentrate our mind on a particular thing.
योगी, that is, one, who practices yog keeps on feeling God while eating, walking, talking or doing other worldly things. It can be called ईश्वर-प्रणिधान and not समाधि. It should not be considered that योगी can go into समाधि while eating, walking, talking or doing other worldly things. For going into समाधि, even Yogis have to control their minds and concentrate the same on God. For this stillness of the body is must.
Fourth part of योग -प्राणायाम
प्राणायाम removes the veil of ignorance and thus helps a person to reach that state of knowledge which generates ‘वैराग्य’, which is necessary for attaining ‘मोक्ष’. ‘कपालभाति’, ‘अनुलोम–विलोम’ et cetera are not praanaayaams but are breathing exercises only. It is true that these breathing exercises are capable of bringing physical fitness but to regard them as a substitute of our minute eating habits and help of आयुर्वेद in curing the chronic diseases will be our folly. प्राणायाम is important and essential for everyone. In प्राणायाम, breathing is stopped and they are four in number as told by Maharishi Patanjali in his evergreen book-योग दर्शन. ‘योग दर्शन’ is considered to be an authority over all the aspects of योग.
First प्राणायाम – Remove air form the lungs by exhaling and stop breathing as per one’s capacity. As soon as one feels the trouble in holding the breath outside, one should inhale. Again, the same process should be repeated. But, if one feels tiredness after inhaling, he may take one or two normal breaths before repeating the process.
Second प्राणायाम -Fill the lungs by inhaling and stop breathing as per one’s capacity. As soon as one feels the trouble in holding the breath inside, one should exhale. Again, the same process should be repeated. But, if one feels tiredness after exhaling, he may take one or two normal breaths before repeating the process.
Third प्राणायाम – Take normal breaths, then stop inhaling or exhaling instantaneously and stop the air where it is as per one’s capacity. As soon as, one feels the trouble in holding the breath, one should start taking normal breaths. Again, the same process should be repeated. But, if one feels tiredness after stopping the breath instantaneously, he may take one or two normal breaths before repeating the process.
Fourth प्राणायाम –This प्राणायाम is done only after getting or obtaining mastery over the ibid three Praanaayaamas. Here, we are skipping the method of doing this प्राणायाम.
Effort of the practitioner should be on the manner or technique of doing the different Pranayaamas in the best possible way instead of holding the breath for longer duration. It is better to learn the techniques of doing different Praanaayaamas from a good teacher or practitioner. There is no doubt that Knowledge is filled in the books but, only a good teacher can put the same in our mind in a systematic way.
प्राणायाम not only overhauls all the systems of our boy but also makes our बुद्धि very subtle which is capable of understanding very quickly the difficult or fine topics. प्राणायाम helps in our mental development along with our spiritual development. During Praanaayaamas, we take in vital air much less because during this period we concentrate on stopping the air, but it increases the capacity of our lungs so much that it enables the practitioners to do breathing during the whole day, in best possible manner.
We should devote sufficient time daily for प्राणायाम but we should not do प्राणायाम for more than 21 times a day. While doing प्राणायाम, pray to God –‘Giver of vital air! May the vital air be in my control.
Do not keep the ‘मन’ idle while doing प्राणायाम. While doing प्राणायाम especially, while holding the breath, concentrate your ‘मन’ on the thoughts-‘He is giver of life. He removes our miseries. He is the giver of happiness. He is very very great. He is the creator of this universe and He blends ever-living souls with a particular body in accordance with his past deeds. He makes the ill-doers suffer and He is the changeless truth.
The purpose of doing प्राणायाम is to control ‘मन’ and concentrate it on the self and God. This purpose should always be kept in mind while doing प्राणायाम.
Increase your capability to hold the breath very gradually and patiently. You may find many persons who can hold their breath for a very long period of time and can do very difficult tasks like curving straight iron rods and vice versa and the like but they all might not have shattered the veil of ignorance. We will not be able to remove the veil of ignorance by holding the breath for a very long period of time unless we channelize our mental energy in the right direction while doing प्राणायाम.
With the stabilization of our breath, our ‘मन’ gets stabilized. If we concentrate this state of ‘मन’ on money, we get money and if we concentrate this state of ‘मन’ on God, we realise Him.
We control our ‘मन’ a number of times in a day. By concentrating our ‘मन’ on worldly things, we obtain those worldly things.
Actually, one who says that he is not able to control his ‘मन’, is not at all interested in knowing the self or God. Without control over ‘मन’, how could we watch hours long TV serials? It simply means that we are in good practice in controlling our ‘मन’ but that is only with respect to worldly subjects. As such, all is needed is to channelize this power of controlled mind towards self and God.
Fifth part of Yog-प्रत्याहार
Controlling all our senses from moving into their worldly subjects is प्रत्याहार.
Let us try to understand the topic through an example. Suppose, a person having a sweet tooth controls his habit of eating sweets but, then, develops an interest for eating salty material. It can be said that he has failed to control his sense of ‘taste’ and has moved from one taste to another. Same is the case with other senses. If, it is difficult to control our one ‘sense’, then, it is really very difficult to control all our ‘senses’.
If we really want to control our senses, then we will have to develop the hunger for it. For controlling our senses, ‘तपस्या’ is required with a will to give up everything for righteousness. Actually, we do a lot of ‘तपस्या’ in our day to day life, for example, hunger for money takes us to different places, makes us do a lot of things and engrosses us in our pursuit from the beginning of the day till night and during all our lives till now. For realization of God too, same sort of hunger should be developed. Only then, it will be possible for us to govern our ‘senses’.
If one living thing makes the other living thing dance, then, it is understandable (like a person makes a lion, a bear, a monkey et cetera to dance on his tunes) but, it totally crosses our wits if, a non-living thing makes a living thing dance and today it is what is happening. Our ‘मन’ is a non-living thing and people dance to its tune and feel the pleasure in so dancing.
Number of our senses, extent of controlling these senses and permutations and combinations of situations depending upon number of our senses and extent of controlling these senses make the process of governing all our senses very difficult. But there is a nice way to control our ‘senses’. In this way, we do not face above-mentioned bottlenecks. What is that way?
All our senses can do nothing without ‘मन’. Concentrate this ‘मन’ on the thoughts of God and all our senses, which follow ‘मन’ will automatically get controlled. Without achieving प्रत्याहार, we can not move further on the path of God-realization.
Sixth part of Yog-धारणा
To make our ‘मन’ stable on any part of our body according to our will is धारणा.
Generally, the places with in our body where ‘मन’ is made to stop or stabilize are forehead, place between our two eyes, front part of our nose, front part of our tongue, throat, heart, navel et cetera. But, out of all these, heart is considered to be the best place for placing our ‘मन’. But, it is appropriate to mention that here by ’heart’, we do not mean the organ of the body named heart but, by it, we connote a hollow space in the middle of our ribs in the chest. To have in-out knowledge of a thing we do ‘धारणा’ on an object outside the body but for the purpose of God-realisation, ‘धारणा’ on a particular place of our body only is recommended.
Places of ‘धारणा’ and ‘ध्यान’ should be the same. After ध्यान soul realises God in समाधि. By pure logic, soul can realise God only where both soul and God are present. God is present everywhere- within the body as well as outside the body but soul is present only within the body. As such, for God-realisation ‘धारणा’ is done within the body.
For the following reasons, we fail to hold our ‘मन’ on a particular place:
- Forgetting that ‘मन’ is a non-living object
- Lack of purity in our food
- Attachment with worldly objects and worldly relations
- Forgetting omnipresence of God
- Not to will again and again to hold ‘मन’ at one place
Many practitioners of योग try to do ‘ध्यान’ skipping ‘धारणा’ but because of their failure to concentrate ‘मन’ on a particular place in the body, they reach nowhere on the path of God-realisation.
We succeed in achieving धारणा in proportion to our achievements in the earlier five steps of योग.
Seventh part of Yog-ध्यान
Generally, a person remains so busy in his daily tasks that he forgets to spend some time for ध्यान. Some persons do take out some time to do ध्यान but they, soon, feel boredom because of non-interest or wrong technique followed in their pursuit.
Best time for ध्यान is around 4.00 A.M. While doing ध्यान, sit in a comfortable and still posture, close your eyes gently, think the meaning of all यम -नियम and analyse as to the extent to which you have been able to practice these यम -नियम in the previous day. After that, for purifying your ‘मन’ do प्राणायाम. After that, for stabilizing your ‘मन’, do धारणा and think of your changeless, unending entity different from your body, which is ever changing. Thinking of God’s omnipresence, feel that God is within you and you are pervaded by God. Thinking of God’s attributes, feel that you are getting filled with fearlessness, bliss et cetera. Whenever ‘मन’ gets wavered, bring it back immediately to the place of धारणा and think of God with all your faith, concentration and love.
As father protects his children in all times and conditions, similarly, God protects us. Breathing, life-force of our lives, too, is provided by Him. He is the base of our lives. We can’t survive without His contribution. In the beginning, during meditation, only this attribute is sufficient to dwell upon, that is, how God protects us?
Ther is a general saying that mind does not concentrate on a single object during meditation. The fact is our mind easily dwell upon a thing, which seems beneficial to it. As such, if we feel that mind is getting wayward during meditation period, then ponder over the benefits, we will drive from meditation again and again. In other words, if our mind is not stabilizing during meditation, then, it is sure that it has not understood benefits of meditation.
ध्यान never means freedom from thoughts or thinking nothing. When we pour a liquid from one utensil to another, it drops in a continuous flow and the continuity of the flow breaks with our becoming non-careful, likewise, we should continuously think of an attribute of God and should not let this continuity in our thought process break because of our carelessness.
ध्यान is also called उपासना.
In real terms, ध्यान or उपासना should be done in a secluded place and in a sitting posture. But in emergencies, it can be done while travelling, while standing, while lying et cetera. Although, best time for ध्यान is in the morning but still we can do ध्यान at any time, provided, it does not make us shirk our worldly duties but प्राणायाम should only be included in this process, if the conditions attached with प्राणायाम are complied with.
Eighth part of योग -समाधि
When we realise God through direct cognition in ध्यान, it is called समाधि.
Like a piece of coal lying in fire gets all the qualities of fire in it, likewise, in समाधि, soul starts reflecting all the attributes of God. The only purpose of soul is to get freedom from the bondage of birth and death and a Yogi, that is, practitioner of योग achieves this purpose through समाधि.
Now, let me elaborate the greatness of योग in God-realisation. As compare to God, capabilities of soul are very much limited. A person whose intellect is very sharp can be master of a few subjects only in 100 years but there are endless topics or subjects in this universe. To be master of all the subjects of the universe is impossible for a soul, as it is impossible for a well to contain all the water of the ocean. Though, it is not possible for the well to contain all the water of the ocean, but, it is very much possible to fill itself (the well) completely with the water of the ocean. Likewise, through समाधि soul is filled completely with the knowledge of God. For knowledge of whatever subject one sits in समाधि, Knowledge of that topic or subject fills the soul. In this way through समाधि, soul can become master of many many subjects of the universe. The saying that every knowledge exists in our souls actually connotes that God, who pervades our soul, possesses all the knowledge of all the subjects of the universe.
*Here, most of the thoughts have been taken from Swami Vishvang Privrajak’s book-‘Yog’ (in Hindi)