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The Self, or the Supreme Soul, is the essential nature of man, the common consciousness in all beings. Full awareness of the Self can be attained through yoga. One should stay away from ignorance. It is due to ignorance that we perceive diversity rather than unity. The apparent difference between the individual, the world, and the Self is only an illusion. Our Yoga expert, Navodita, continues with the deeper meanings of the Shivananda Yoga, in the weekly column, exclusively in Different Truths.
Swami Shivananda says, “All life is one….the world is one home. All are members of one human family. No man is independent of that whole. Man makes himself miserable by separating himself from others. Destroy all barriers that separate man from man…let all life be sacred.”
Shivananda’s philosophy revolves around certain key terms, which one needs to understand to go deep into their beliefs and teachings – the Self. The Self, or the Supreme Soul, is the essential nature of man, the common consciousness in all beings. Full awareness of the Self, which can be attained through yoga, is bliss itself. Similarly, one should stay away from ignorance. It is due to ignorance that we perceive diversity rather than unity. The apparent difference between the individual, the world, and the Self is only an illusion. This illusion works at great speed by the fluctuations and imaginations of the mind. However, real time and space may appear they are nothing but mental creations, as unreal as dreams. The timeless, spaceless Self is the only reality. By breaking down the barriers of separate existence, the unity of the Self can be experienced. It is not the attainment of liberation from an actual state of bondage, but it is the realization of the liberation that already exists. It is freedom from a false notion of bondage.
Shivananda Yoga also believes in the concept and philosophy of the ‘Vedanta’. Vedanta literally means ‘the
This school of Yoga believes in the cycle of Karma and the Law of Life – the law of Karma means the law of causation. This grand law includes the law of action and reaction, the law of compensation and the law of retribution. This is what Swami Shivananda believed. Karma means action and it refers to any physical or mental action, as well as to the consequences of these actions. It is equivalent to the scientific law of cause and effect, or action and reaction. The world runs according to this vital, fundamental law. The law of karma says that there is a specific cause behind everything that happens. Desire creates karma. You work hard to gain what you desire. The fruit of karma is pleasure or pain. A man is reborn again and again to recollect the fruits of his karma.
They have also recommended some specific types of meditative techniques – Trataka, concentration on a flower, concentration on a sound and a twelve-step meditation. In twelve-step meditation, you have to look for an appropriate place and time of the day to do it every day. Regulate your breathing- start with five minutes’ deep breathing, then slow it down. Establish a rhythmic breathing pattern. At first, let your mind wander. Now, bring the mind to rest on the focal point of your choice – Ajna Chakra (between your eyebrows) or Anahata Chakra (in the middle of your chest). Hold your object of concentration at this focal point through the session. Meditation comes when you reach a state of pure thought, but still, retain your awareness of duality. After long practice, duality disappears and Samadhi, the superconscious state is attained.
Next time, we will go deep into the philosophies of a few other schools of Yoga.
©Navodita Pande
Photos from the Internet.
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