Ramaswami's New Year newsletter plus, based on Ramaswami's previous newsletters,....
Appendix 1: How to practice Vinyasa Krama
Appendix 2: How to practice Pranayama
Appendix 3: How to practice meditation
Wish you a very happy and prosperous year 2019.
I gave a one hour talk on Factors for developing a personal yoga practice to the participants of Saraswathi Vasudevan's (Yoga Vahini Chennai) two week workshop on "Developing a Personal Practice".
I will be teaching a five day 20 hour workshop on Upanishad Vidyas at Yoga Vahini Chennai from January 2nd to 6th 2019.
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Practice
There are three important factors that should be considered for an appropriate personal yoga practice that can be sustained. Firstly the routine should be consistent with the stage of life. The second factor would be the condition of the individual, both physical and mental conditions. Thirdly it would be 'what is the goal ' the aspirant has in mind.
Generally speaking during the early part of life when one is growing up, the yoga practice should aid the proper development of mind and body. A solid vinyasa krama practice doing a number of judiciously selected vinyasas with synchronized breathing will help exercise all the skeletal muscles and joints.This would help both rakta sanchara (blood circulation) and prana sanchara. In a matter of about 30 minutes one can do about 100 vinyasas including rest pauses. Further in the olden days even young children when they were initiated into vedic studies with upanayana they would be required to do mantra pranayama with nadi shodhana. In a day they may do about 40 pranayamas or so. This would help to reduce the tamas and clear the mental cobwebs and also remove effectively much of waste products in the system. About 15 minutes of pranayama in a good yogasana, strictly as taught by a competent and confident teacher, may be done daily. One of the practices that was done even from young age is some meditation procedure. Even simple japa of gayatri for say 108 times daily in the morning may be done by youngsters. It helps the young people to maintain a good concentration or ekagrata so very useful during the early student life. Japa is a very effective way to keep the mind to be able to concentrate easily, lest one loses the ability or samskara to remain focussed (ekagrata) and become easily distracted (vikshepa). It is good to be able to pay some attention to yama, niyamas also. While this procedure, known as vridhi krama,may be followed during the growing years a few variations may be brought in to take care of individual variations. Obese, stiff youngsters may use long exhalation in the vinyasa practice-- the langhana kriya. Youngsters who tend to be highly rajasic may do more asanas and vinyasas. On the other hand a tamasic person may concentrate on more pranayama practice and the one that tends to have problem with concentration may spend more time on mantra japa and chanting.
But what about the rare young person who gets interested in the philosophy of yoga. Sometimes you find a sixty year old wanting to learn hand stand (viparita vrikshasana) like his grandson whereas a youngster may show enormous interest in the esoteric aspects of yoga, may be achieve kaivalya or jivan mukti. Such youngsters may start studying the rich yogic literature available like the sutras, samkhya karika, upanishads and other books. Asanas, vinyasas, pranayama, dharana meditation and japa and chanting may still be necessary for the philosophy interested youngster but should start to study these texts regularly and with intensity
The mid part of the life is important as one achieves whatever one can achieve during this phase of life. Very rarely much is achieved in old age, take it from me. so the yoga one practices should be helpful to maintain good mental and physical health. Hatayoga is a very comprehensive system to maintain good health. The three aspects of hatayoga, the asanas, pranayama and then the mudras facilitate reaching every part of the body. Yoga is a sarvanga sadhana--a practice for all parts of the body-- according to my Guru. It is able to benefit all parts (sarvanga). So in general middle aged people will do well to practice vinyasas in asanas and then spend a good amount of time in static asanas and in some of them like seated poses may practice appropriate pranayama practice. Pranayama is one of the most innovative procedures of yoga. It is thorough and is especially useful for the two vital organs in the thoracic cavity, the lungs and the heart, svasakosa and hridayakosa. It is also said to reduce tamas or laziness. Then one should practice the mudras. The viparitakarani mudra also is an outstanding innovation of hatayogis. It is the classic inversions, headstand or sirsasana and its variant Sarvangasana or what is known as shoulderstand. In both the asanas the head is on the ground. Staying in these poses for a significant amount of time say five to fifteen minutes is considered very beneficial. One may also take advantage of the inversion and practice long exhalation followed by mula bandha and uddiyana bandha for a short period of time. In this way the fluids in the lower part of the body flow to the upper portion. The cerebrospinal fluid moves to the head and the venous blood in considerable quantity returns to the heart due to gravity and the bandhas. The inversions also help the various vital organs the heart, lungs, and other pelvic organs like the uterus return to the original position and the bandhas help to gently massage these organs and improve vascularity. These procedures, asanas with vinyasas, pranayama and static postures especially the inversions and other powerful asanas like paschimatanasana mahamudra all help to access the internal organs and help to maintain their positional integrity and health. According to my Guru when the internal organs get displaced from their intended positions due to gravity, laxity, postural defects, become less efficient and in due course become diseased and these inversions and special asanas with good recaka and the bandhas could be very helpful in maintaining health of different systems during middle age.. A few minutes of meditation would also help to improve one pointedness or concentration. Additionally chanting and study of the philosophy may be helpful. So this general approach will be stithi krama or maintenance of health during the mid part of the life.
These may have to be modified for people with specific conditions. For instance people with upper respiratory problems may find some help with procedures like Kapalabhati Nadisodhana and neti. Those who suffer from bronchial problem may find ujjayi breathing and headstand useful and bhastrika pranayama may be of help for people with lung problems like dry cough. These which will come under cikitsa krama or therapeutic approach may be learnt from a yoga therapist with the concurrence of the medical doctor whom normally people consult nowadays. Medical profession is more tolerant to yoga these days.
The krama to be followed in old age will have to be different and is branded laya krama. People work less or completely retire during the last stage of life. Simple asanas and vinyasas. a few rounds of pranayama and japa will form the basic practice. Chanting and study and equally important contemplation on the concepts and truths enunciated in the texts like yoga sutra and vedanta may bring considerable peace and quiet to the mind. If one is religiously inclined prayer and bhakti yoga may be immensely helpful to keep the mind peaceful as one approaches the end.
Again, Happy New Year.
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Appendix 1
How to practice Vinyasa Krama
How to practice Vinyasa Krama
This months Newsletter from Ramaswami reminded me of an earlier newsletter of his from ten years ago that I put into bullet points upon request.
See this page that sits at the top of the blog perhaps for more.
How to practice Vinyasa Krama yoga
(Ramaswami's September 2009 Newsletter in bullet points)
- (Many who) have read the “Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga” book... ask the question, what next? How can I do a daily practice from these sequences?
- There are more than 700 asanas/vinyasas and I normally recommend doing each vinyasa three times. At the rate of about 4/5 movements per minute (it could be even 3 per minute for good breathers), it could take about 8 to 9 hours to do the complete vinyasakrama.
- Then my Guru would commend doing a short stint of Pranayama, say for about 15 to 30 mts and then chanting or meditation for another 15 to 30 mts, daily.
- We also have to consider that in asana practice, there are a few heavy weight poses which require one to stay for a long time.
- So it is almost impossible to practice all of it everyday even by a full time ‘practice-live-and-sleep-in yoga mat’ yogi.
- The book was written to give as complete as possible, a presentation of all the vinyasas in a series of sequences that is logical and easy to learn, as I learnt from my Guru.
- It is a book for learning the system.
- Any serious student of yoga who would spend years studying and teaching yoga should have in one’s repertoire as many asanas, vinyasas and logical sequences (krama) as possible. So, one should firstly study the entire range of asanas and vinyasas of the vinyasakrama system from a teacher say in the 60 hr vinyasakrama program. Then note down all the vinyasas that are a bit difficult to do.
- One should practice daily for half hour to one hour as many vinyasas as possible following the recommended sequence, with special emphasis on the difficult ones.
- In about six months to one year of consistent practice one would be comfortable with the system, the sequences and especially the required synchronous breathing. This would complete the learning process.
- Then one may prepare a green list of asanas and vinyasas one would be able to do and wants to practice regularly.
- There will be another list, amber list which would contain those vinyasas which are difficult now but one would like to practice them even if they are somewhat imperfect.
- Then there would be another red list which will contain procedures that are not appropriate or possible for the practitioner—which could probably be taken up in the next janma.
- Then it would be time for concentrating on using vinyasakrama for daily practice and also teaching to individuals for their daily yoga practice.
- However, as a general rule, for the serious mid-life yogi, a daily practice of about 90 mts to 2 hrs will be necessary and sufficient.
- Here is modifiable one.
- After a short prayer, one could do a brief stint of Tadasana doing the main vinyasas two or preferably three times each. It should take about ten minutes.
- Then one subsequence in the asymmetric could be taken up, say Marichyasana or Triyangmukha or the half lotus. The choice may be varied on a daily basis.
- Five minute stay in Paschimatanasana and the counter poses may be practiced.
- Then one may do preparation of Sarvangasana and a brief stay in it, followed by headstand stay for about 5 to 10 minutes or more and then staying in Sarvangasana for 5 to 10 more minutes, if one can do inversions.
- Paschimatanasana, Sarvangaana and Headstand are to be practiced preferably daily for their health benefits.
- If time permits one may do few vinyasas in these inversions.
- One may do a subsequence of Triangle pose like warrior pose and /or one sequence in one legged pose.
- Mahamudra for about 5 minutes each on both sides can then be practiced.
- Then sitting in Vajrasana or Padmasana after doing some movements one should do a suitable variant of Kapalabhati, say for about 108 times and then an appropriate Pranayama, Ujjayi, Nadisodhana or Viloma with or without mantras for about 15 minutes to be followed by five minutes Shanmukhimudra and then chanting or meditation of about 15 minutes.
- The efficacy of Pranayama on the whole system and mind cannot be overemphasized. Please read the article on “Yoga for the Heart”, in an earlier newsletter... It refers to the benefits of Pranayama to the heart and the circulatory system.
- If interested, one may allocate an additional 30 minutes (or practice at another time in the day, say, in the evening) during which time one may practice a few subroutines from the other scores of sequences that have not been included in this core yoga practice.
- Everyday before the start of the practice the yogi should take a minute and decide on a definite agenda and as far as possible try to stick to the agenda. What asanas and vinyasas, which pranayama and how many rounds and other details should be determined before hand and one should adhere to it. It brings some discipline and coherence to one’s practice.
- It is customary to end the practice with peace chant.
- One reason why people nowadays look for a definite routine is because a few of the more popular vinyasa systems have a very small number of regimented sequences which are taught over and over again almost to all students. So there is a mindset that there should be a rigid sequence that is applicable for everyone, but that is not the way we learnt yoga from my Guru.
- Firstly the teacher should learn the whole system and then apply it to individuals as per the requirements -- pick and choose those vinyasa sequences, pranayama and meditation practices, dietary requirements, etc.
- The question that is to be answered is what does the practitioner want/need and how should the yoga routine be designed to get the required benefit.
- Vinyasakrama is like a yoga supermarket, and each one should put into the cart what one needs.
- And the term Vinyasakrama includes not just asanas but also other aspects of yoga like pranayama, meditation, etc. It is a progression of different aspects of Yoga.
- The Vinyasakrama has a huge collection of asana vinyasas, a well stocked section on Pranayama, then the meditation department and a spiritual study/contemplation section as well. So a lot of initiative should be taken by the individual consumer, like our practitioner who should take the responsibility of working out with the teacher how to design an intelligent purposeful yoga practice pertaining to oneself.
- To reduce Vinyasakrama to a standard routine as is done with several other contemporary Vinyasa systems and put it in a straight jacket is not desirable. I have explained these ideas to many participants of the longer versions of the programs and thought to touch upon them for the general reader who would be wondering how to force the VK elephant (or a camel) into the needle’s eye of daily practice.
- There are a few serious practitioners who have their daily routine cut out, but then do the complete vinyasakrama separately say in the evening for about an hour so that they could go through all the vinyasa sequences in a span of one week.
- You have myriad possibilities.
- There is no one rigid universal daily practice routine in Vinyasakrama as I have explained.
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Appendix 1a
Note: though presented as 'Sequences' for pedagogic purposes, in practice one would select from the sequences appropriate asana, vinyasa, subroutines for each practice
The Ten main sequences of Vinyasa Krama Yoga.... in ten minutes.
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Appendix 1a
Note: though presented as 'Sequences' for pedagogic purposes, in practice one would select from the sequences appropriate asana, vinyasa, subroutines for each practice
The Ten main sequences of Vinyasa Krama Yoga.... in ten minutes.
The individual sequences - Overview
TADASANA
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Practice Sheets - HERE
TRIANGLE
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Practice Sheets - HERE
ON ONE LEG
Practice Sheets - HERE
ASYMMETRIC
Practice Sheets - HERE
SEATED
Practice Sheets - HERE
BOW
Practice Sheets - HERE
MEDITATIVE
Practice Sheets - HERE
SUPINE
Practice Sheets - HERE
INVERTED
Practice Sheets - HERE
LOTUS
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Practice Sheets - HERE
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Resources
My Vinyasa Krama Sequences Site
(Practice sheets and links to videos of subroutines.)
My Vinyasa Krama Practice Site
(this includes all the tips hints, cautions etc that ended up in my book)
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Appendix 2
How to practice Pranayama
2. LEARNING THE PRANAYAMA MANTRA
Pranayama Mantra
This is the original I received from Ramaswami
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And cleaner version I made myself
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Here it is again so you can format it as you wish
A TRANSLATION OF THE PRANAYAMA MANTRA
"Ah! Meditation. The Yoga world is divided into two camps. On one side we have enthusiastic hatha yogis who specialize in asanas and the other group which believes fervently in meditation as a panacea for all the ills". Ramaswami Nov. 2009
A couple of years ago I put together what I like to think of as a short Yoga Meditation Manual for my own personal use ( I don't think I ever posted it and can't find my original), it's based on Ramaswami's November 2009 newsletter Meditating on Meditation (below), it's pretty much a numbering of the sentences outlining practice in the newsletter. I'd wondered why it was that we turn to the yoga tradition for asana and perhaps pranayama but when it comes to meditation often turn to , Zen, Vippasana...... This then was an attempt to make yoga meditation a little more accessible.
There is of course a more in depth yoga meditation manual, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras,
Here is my own personal copy...
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Meditating on Meditation by Srivatsa Ramaswami
Appendix 2
How to practice Pranayama
Introduction - Simon Borg-Olivier
I highly recommend these two articles by Simon Borg-Olivier with his background in Molecular biology as well as Physiotherapy (along with thirty odd years teaching) as an introduction to pranayama.
"In this blog I will be discussing the the physical and physiological effects of breathing. There are two main reasons we breathe. The main reason is the physiological reason of getting oxygen into our cells. Perhaps surprisingly to many people the best way to achieve this is to safely breathe as little as possible (hypoventilation) to stimulate the Bohr effect which says significant carbon dioxide must be present for oxygen to be able to enter the cells (see our recent blog). The other reason we breathe could be called physical reason and it includes the effects on joints, muscles, nerves, the mind, emotions, blood floor, digestion, reproduction and immunity. In this blog on breathing (Part 1) I will be focusing on the physical effects of breathing. If you breathe, or use the muscles of breathing in certain ways you can radically improve and/alter strength, flexibility, nerve function, blood flow and internal organ health. Many people inadvertently only focus on this reason for breathing and in their enthusiasm and often lack of knowledge they over-breathe (hyperventilate) and thus miss the primary purpose of breathing. In the next blog on breathing (Part 2) I will be focusing on how to achieve the physiological effects of breathing. The advanced practitioner can control their breath in such a way the both the physical and physiological benefits of breathing are achieved at the same time".
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Along the lines of how I was taught by Srivatsa Ramaswami
I've just posted a bunch of Pranayama videos on Youtube for the sister blog , Vinyasa Krama Sequences and subroutines and thought I'd make the most of them and make this Pranayama week here too. They basically outline stages in developing a practice, I've broken them down so you can start wherever you feel most comfortable.
The videos aren't great, the sound quality is poor, sorry, but if you crank up the volume I think you can get an idea of what's going on. Also, my chanting is quite awful, sounds a lot better in my head which is where it tends to stay. Mostly I give instruction and a count for the first round and then just do it for the next couple. I'd hoped the recording would pick up the sound of my breathing but it doesn't really catch it. In the later videos I try recording a voice over but that's a nightmare to sync. They are what they and if anyone is curious or had wanted to start building a practice they might be something to be going on with. I'll go into a little more detail on each video over the next couple of days but if your tempted to dive in right away here's a suggestion.
Start off with some Kapalibhati HERE and then move on through the main Pranayama videos. Try Pranayama 1 and 2 and see how comfortable that is, you might want to keep the exhale at an eight count rather than ten, that's fine. If your comfortable there give Nadi Shodana a try, videos 5 & 6, they have the same ratio. At this point you might want to try learning the Pranayama mantra (see the chant page at the top of the blog, it printed out as well as some MP3's of Ramaswami teaching it ) and chanting along, it has the same ratio as the first ujaii video. After a couple of days, sessions or weeks start increasing the ratios with videos 3 & 4 and/or 6 & 7. When your ready you might like to try and increase the retention of the breath long enough to chant the full mantra 15-20 seconds depending how fast you go. I tend to start off fast and then settle down to a slower chant half way through my practice.
If your linking here from the Youtube videos and aren't an Ashtangi then I should probably say something about bandhas. You could give them a miss at first and just go through the videos missing that part out altogether although some would argue it's not pranayama without them. Start with what feels comfortable, a nod in their direction perhaps. So three bandhas here, very very simply put Mula bahanda (rectal lock, just lightly clench and lift the rectal muscles for now, it gets more subtle as you go on), Uddiyana is where you see me draw in my belly and lift. Mine is a little extreme here, it's how I tend to practice but also makes clear what's going on for the video. To start with you might like to imagine a thread that draws your belly button back towards your spine, it's a start. The third lock is Jhalandara, throat lock, just bring your chin down towards your chest, ideally the space between your clavicle
The first four videos are straight forward Ujaii breathing (constrict the throat to make yourself sound a little like Darth Vader) building up the ratios. The first one is 1;1;1, five seconds inhale, five holding the breath and five exhaling. The second one has the same ratio but includes the bandhas so 1;1;1;1. The next one doubles the exhale 1;1;2;1 and the fourth doubles the holding of the inhale so 1;2;2;1 thats 5 second inhale/ 10 seconds hold /10 seconds exhale/ 5 seconds for the bandhas.
The next group, five, six and seven are basically doing the same thing, building up the ratios, but employ Nadi Shodana, alternating the nostrils.
Pranayama 8 is one of my favourites. It's Ujaii Pranayama but with mantra. While inhaling you chant in your head the first part of the Pranayama mantra then chant the second part while holding the breath and chant the final part as you exhale. I've made it 1;1;1;1; but you can slow down the speed of your chanting to change the ratio.
Pranayama 9 is my standard, everyday, Pranayama practice. The ratio is 1;4;2;1 and I chant the full pranayama mantra while retaining the breath after the inhale.
The final video is Viloma Ujaii with mantra and at the same ratio 1;4;2;1. This alternates the nostrils as in nadi Shaodana but also includes ujaii breathing. It's tricky but quite something once you get the hang of it.
I should also mention the Kapalibhati I put up a couple of weeks ago as I always do that before starting my Pranayama, kind of the link between my asana practice and the Pranayama.
123. yogic postures for `breathing exercises p247
The following Pranayamas are taken from Ramaswami's other book 'Yoga for the three stages of life'.
126. The Locks ( Bandhas) p250
2. LEARNING THE PRANAYAMA MANTRA
Pranayama Mantra
This is the original I received from Ramaswami
And cleaner version I made myself
Here it is again so you can format it as you wish
Pranayama Mantrah
प्राणायाम मन्त्रः
ओं भूः । ओं भुवः । ओं सुवः
ओं महः । ओं जनः । ओं तपः । ओ ँ् सत्यं ।
Om bhUh . Om bhuvaha . Ogm suvaha .
Om mahaha . Om janaha . Om tapaha . Ogm satyam ।
ओं तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात्
Om tat savitur varENiyam bhargO dEvasya dhImahi .
dhiyO yO nah pracOdayAte ..
ओमापो ज्योती-रसोऽमृतं-ब्रह्म भूर्भुवस्सुवरोम्
OmApO jyOti rasO’amRutam brahma bhUrbhuvassuvarOm
Learn more chants by Srivatsa Ramaswami HERE
A TRANSLATION OF THE PRANAYAMA MANTRA
And here's a link to a page that translates (below) and explains the mantra
AUM bhUH, AUM bhuvaH, AUM svaH, AUM mahaH
AUM janaH, AUM tapaH, AUM satyam
AUM, the primordial sound, resides in all elements of the universe. It permeates the earth (-bhUH), water (-bhuvaH), fire (-svaH), air (-mahaH), ether (-janaH), intelligence (-tapaH) and consciousness (-satyam).
AUM tatsaviturvarenyM bhargo devasya dhImahi
dhIyo yo nH prachodayAt.h.
We pay homage to Gayatri, the one who shines like the sun (tat savitur), the one who destroys all our sins through her everlasting and effulgent light. Dear Goddess Gayatri, please illuminate our path towards our higher consciousness and lead us to our true purpose in life
AUM Apo jyotiH rasomRRitaM
brahma bhUR bhuvaH svar AUM..
Please shine your light (-jyotiH) in our path so we may partake of the everlasting nectar (rasomRRitaM) of brahman while chanting the primordial sound, AUM'!
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Appendix 3
How to practice 'Meditation'
DRISHTI: Ashtanga and Meditation. How should one meditate in 33 bullet points.
Download a pdf version of this whole post from my google docs page for later viewing
http://tinyurl.com/pcqkn2ehttp://tinyurl.com/pcqkn2e
"Ah! Meditation. The Yoga world is divided into two camps. On one side we have enthusiastic hatha yogis who specialize in asanas and the other group which believes fervently in meditation as a panacea for all the ills". Ramaswami Nov. 2009
A couple of years ago I put together what I like to think of as a short Yoga Meditation Manual for my own personal use ( I don't think I ever posted it and can't find my original), it's based on Ramaswami's November 2009 newsletter Meditating on Meditation (below), it's pretty much a numbering of the sentences outlining practice in the newsletter. I'd wondered why it was that we turn to the yoga tradition for asana and perhaps pranayama but when it comes to meditation often turn to , Zen, Vippasana...... This then was an attempt to make yoga meditation a little more accessible.
There is of course a more in depth yoga meditation manual, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras,
Here is my own personal copy...
3.
Newsletter Nov 2009
I was watching a live television program in India some 30 years back when TV had just been introduced in India. It was a program in which an elderly yogi was pitted against a leading cardiologist. It was virtually a war. The yogi was trying to impress with some unusualposes which were dubbed as potentially dangerous by the doctor. Almost everything the yogi claimed was contested by the non-yogi and soon the dialogue degenerated. The yogi stressed that headstand will increase longevity by retaining the amrita in the sahasrara in the head and the medical expert countered it by saying that there was no scientific basis for such claims and dubbed it as a pose which was unnatural and dangerous and will lead to a stroke. The Yogi replied by saying that Yoga had stood the test of time for centuries; it had been in voguemuch before modern medicine became popular. Thank God it was a black and white program; else you would have seen blood splashed all over the screen.
Things have become more civil in these three decades. Now neti pot, asanas, yogic breathing exercises and yogic meditation have all become part of the medical vocabulary. There is a grudging appreciation of yoga within the medical profession. Many times doctors suggest a few yogic procedures, especially Meditation, in several conditions like hypertension, anxiety, depression and other psychosomatic ailments.
Ah! Meditation. The Yoga world is divided into two camps. On one side we have enthusiastic hatha yogis who specialize in asanas and the other group which believes fervently in meditation as a panacea for all the ills.
But how should one meditate? Many start meditation and give it up after a few days or weeks as they fail to see any appreciable benefit or perceivable progress. The drop out rate is quite high among meditators. The mind continues to be agitated and does not get into the meditating routine. Or quite often one tends to take petit naps while meditating. Why does this happen? It is due to lack of adequate preparation. Basically one has to prepare oneself properly for meditation.
The Yogis mention two sadhanas or two yogic procedures as preparations. They are asanas and pranayama. Asanas, as we have seen earlier, reduce rajas which manifests as restlessness of the mind, an inability to remain focused for an appreciable amount of time. But another guna, tamas also is not helpful during meditation, manifesting as laziness, lethargy and sloth and this also should be brought under control if one wants to meditate. Patanjali, Tirumular and several old Yogis advocate the practice of Pranayama to reduce the effects of Tamas. Patanjali says Pranayama helps to reduce avarana or Tamas. He along with conventional ashtanga yogis also mentions that Pranayama makes the mind capable of Dharana or the first stage of meditation.
Pranayama is an important prerequisite of meditation.There is evidence that pranayama has a salutary effect on the whole system. In an earlier article I had explained the beneficial effects of deep pranayama on the heart and the circulatory system. Further, when it is done correctly, it helps to draw in anywhere between 3 to 4 liters of atmospheric air compared to just about ½ liter of air during normal breathing. This helps to stretch the air sacs of the lungs affording an excellent exchange of oxygen and gaseous waste products. These waste products are proactively thrown out of the system by deep pranayama, which yogis refer to as reduction of tamas. Thus soon after pranayama, the yogi feels refreshed and calm andbecomes fit for the first stage of meditation which is called Dharana.
What should one meditate on? Several works talk about meditating on cakras, mantras, auspicious icons, various tatwas and on the spirit/soul etc. But, the method of meditating, only a few works detail. Perhaps the most precise is that of Patanjali in Yoga Sutras. Patanjali details not only a step by step methodology of meditation but also the various objects of prakriti and ultimately the spirit within to meditate on. Hence his work may be considered as the most detailed, complete and rigorous on meditation
For a start Patanjali would like the abhyasi to get the technique right. So he does not initially specify the object but merely says that the Yogi after the preliminary practices of asana, pranayama and pratyahara, should sit down in a comfortable yogasana and start the meditation. Tying the mind to a spot is dharana. Which spot? Vyasa in his commentary suggests going by tradition, a few spots, firstly inside the body, like the chakras as the Kundalini Yogi would do,, or the heart lotus as the bhakti yogi would do, or the mid-brows as a sidhha yogi would do or even an icon outside as a kriya yogi would do.
The icon should be an auspicious object like the image of one’s favorite deity. Many find it easier to choose a mantra and focus attention on that. Thousands everyday meditate on the Gayatri mantra visualizing the sun in the middle of the eyebrows or the heart as part of their daily Sandhyavandana** routine. It is also an ancient practice followed even today to meditate on the breath with or without using the Pranayama Mantra.
(** Namarupa published my article “Sandhyavandanam-Ritualistic Gayatri Meditation” with all the routines, mantras, meanings, about 40 pictures, and also an audio with the chanting of the mantras in theSep/Oct 2008 issue).
What of the technique? The Yogabhyasi starts the antaranga sadhana or the internal practice by bringing the mind to the same object again and again even as the mind tends to move away from the chosen object of meditation. The active, repeated attempts to bring the mind back to the simple, single object again and again is the first stage of meditation (samyama) called dharana. Even though one has done everything possible to make the body/mind system more satwic, because of the accumulated samskaras or habits, the mind continues to drift away from the object chosen for meditation. The mind starts with the focus on the object but within a short time it swiftly drifts to another related thought then a third one and within a short time this train of thoughts leads to a stage which has no connection whatsoever with the object one started with.
Then suddenly the meditator remembers that one is drifting and soon brings the mind back to the object and resumes remaining with the “object”. This process repeats over and over again. This repeated attempts to coax and bring the mind to the same object is dharana. At the end of the session lasting for about 15 minutes, the meditator may (may means must) take a short time to review the quality of meditation. How often was the mind drifting away from the object and how long on an average the mind wandered? And further what were the kinds of interfering thoughts? The meditator takes note of these. If they are recurrent and strong then one may take efforts to sort out the problem that interferes with the meditation repeatedly or at least decide to accept and endure the situation but may decide to take efforts to keep those thoughts away at least during the time one meditates.
If during the dharana period, the mind gets distracted too often and this does not change over days of practice, perhaps it may indicate that the rajas is still dominant and one may want to reduce the systemic rajas by doing more asanas in the practice. On the other hand if the rajas is due to influences from outside, one may take special efforts to adhere to the yamaniyamas more scrupulously. Perhaps every night before going to sleep one may review the day’s activities and see if one had willfully violated the tenets of yamaniyamas like “did I hurt someone by deed, word or derive satisfaction at the expense of others’ pain”. Or did I say untruths and so on. On the other hand if one tends to go to sleep during the meditation minutes, one may consider increasing the pranayama practice and also consider reducing tamasic interactions, foods etc.
Then one may continue the practice daily and also review the progress on a daily basis and also make the necessary adjustments in practice and interactions with the outside world. Theoretically and practically when this practice is continued diligently and regularly, slowly the practitioner of dharana will find that the frequency and duration of these extraneous interferences start reducing and one day, the abhyasi may find that for the entire duration one stayed with the object. When this takes place, when the mind is completely with the object moment after moment in a continuous flow of attention, then one may say that the abhyasi has graduated into the next stage of meditation known as dhyana. Many meditators are happy to have reached this stage. Then one has to continue with the practice so that the dhyana habits or samskaras get strengthened. The following day may not be as interruption free, but Patanjali says conscious practice will make it more successful. “dhyana heyat tad vrittayah”. If one continues with this practice for sufficiently long time meditating on the same object diligently, one would hopefully reach the next stage of meditation called Samadhi.
In this state only the object remains occupying the mind and the abhyasi even forgets herself/himself. Naturally if one continues the meditation practice one would master the technique of meditation. Almost every time the yagabhasi gets into meditation practice, one would get into Samadhi. Once one gets this capability one is a yogi—a technically competent yogi– and one may be able to use the skill on any other yoga worthy object and make further progress in Yoga. (tatra bhumishu viniyogah)
The consummate yogi could make a further refinement. An object has a name and one has a memory of the object, apart from the object itself (sabda, artha gnyana). If a Yogi is able to further refine the meditation by focusing attention on one aspect like the name of the object such a meditation is considered superior. For instance when the sound ‘gow” is heard (gow is cow ), if the meditiator intently maintains the word ‘gow’ alone in his mind without bringing the impression(form) of a cow in his mind then that is considered a refined meditation. Or when he sees the cow, he does not bring the name ‘gow’ in the meditation process, it is a refined meditation.
The next aspect-after mastering meditation— one may consider is, what should be the object one should meditate upon. For Bhakti Yogis it is the Lord one should meditate upon. According to my teacher, a great Bhakti Yogi, there is only one dhyana or meditation and that is bhagavat dhyana or meditating upon the Lord. There is a difference between a religious person and a devotee. A devotee loves the Lord and meditates on the Lord, all through life. The Vedas refer to the Pararmatman or the Supreme Lord and bhakti yogis meditate on the Lord.
The Vedas also refer to several gods and some may meditate on these as well. By meditating on the Lord one may transcend the cycle of transmigration. At the end of the bhakti yogi’s life one reaches the same world of the Lord (saloka), the heaven. Some attain the same form as the Lord. Some stay in the proximity of the Lord and some merge with the Lord. The Puranas which are the later creation of poet seers personify the Lord and the vedic gods. Thus we have several puranas as Agni purana, Vayu purana and then those of the Lord Himself like the Bhagavata Purana , Siva Purana , Vishnu Purana. Running to thousands of slokas and pages the puranic age helped to worship the Lord more easily as these stories helped to visualize the Lord as a person, which was rather difficult to do from the Vedas. Later on Agamas made the Lord more accessible by allowing idols to be made of the Lord and divine beings and consecrating them in temples. Thus these various methods helped the general populace remain rooted to religion and religious worship. So meditating upon the charming idol/icon of theLord made it possible for many to worship and meditate .
Of course many traditional Brahmins belonging to the vedic practices stuck to the vedic fire rituals, frowned upon and refrained from any ‘form worship’, but millions of others found form worship a great boon.
Meditating on the form of the chosen deity either in a temple or at one’s own home has made it possible to sidestep the intermediate priestly class to a great extent. One can become responsible for one’s own religious practice, including meditation. The ultimate reality is meditated on in different forms, in any form as Siva Vishnu etc or as Father, Mother, Preceptor or even a Friend. Some idol meditators define meditating on the whole form as dharana, then meditating on each aspect of the form as the toe or head or the arms or the bewitching eyes as dhyana and thus giving a different interpretation to meditation. Some, after meditating on the icon, close the eyes and meditate on the form in their mind’s eye (manasika).
Darshanas like Samkhya and Yoga which do not subscribe to the theory of a Creator commended ‘the understanding of one’s own Self’ as a means of liberation. The Self which is non-changing is pure consciousness and by deep unwavering meditation after getting the technique right, one can realize the nature of oneself and be liberated. Following this approach, the Samkhyas commend meditating on each and every of the 24 aspects of prakriti in the body-mind complex of oneself and transcend them to directly know the true nature of oneself, and that will be Freedom or Kaivalya. Similarly the Yogis would say that the true nature of the self is known when the mind transcends(nirodha) the five types of its activities called vrittis to reach kaivalya, by a process of subtler and subtler meditation.
The Upanishads on the other hand while agreeing with the other Nivritti sastras like Yoga and Samkhya in so far as the nature of the self is concerned, indicate that the individual and the Supreme Being are one and the same and meditating on this identity leads to liberation. They would like the spiritual aspirant to first follow a disciplined life to get an unwavering satwic state of the mind. Then one would study the upanishadic texts (sravana), by analysis (manana) understand them and realize the nature of the self through several step by step meditation approaches (nidhidhyasana). The Vedas, for the sake of the spiritual aspirant, have several Upanishad vidyas to study and understand it from several viewpoints. For instance, the panchkosa vidya indicates that the real self is beyond (or within) the five koshas (sheaths). It could also be considered as the pure consciousness which is beyond the three states of awareness (avasta) of waking, dream and deep sleep, as the Pranava(Om) vidya would indicate. The understanding and conviction that Self and the Supreme Self are one and the same is what one needs to get, before doing Upanishadic meditation following the advaitic interpretation.
Summarizing one may say that traditional meditation warrants proper preparation so that the mind becomes irrevocably satwic and thus fit for and capable of meditation. Secondly it requires practice on a simple object until the meditation technique is mastered and such meditatin samskaras developed. Then the Yogi should set the goal of meditation based on the conviction of a solid philosophy—bhakti, samkhya, yoga, vedanta, kundalini (or if comfortable, nirvana) or whatever.
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See also perhaps these pages
Yama/Niyama
Yoga Reading List
Chanting yoga Sutras
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