... undertake to practise Hatha Yoga in the traditional way. Yet it is a fact that in the last fifty years or so Hatha Yoga has been accepted as an alternate therapeutic science all over the world and that a lot of people, even without exactly knowing what Hatha Yoga stands for, have derived many benefits from even a very limited practice. Is this attraction for Hatha Yoga not a sign that, although... Hatha Yoga Pradipika (A few extracts) The two main and very practical tools used in the discipline of Hatha Yoga are the Asana and the Pranayama techniques. The word asana comes from the verb as, "to sit" and can mean "sit ting position", but, more than that, 'refers to any specific body position described by the founders of Hatha Yoga. In the technique of... s of the physical body would be a part of the totality of attainments, although the methods of Hatha Yoga may not prove to be indispensable. And yet, methods of Hatha Yoga can optionally be employed in the total processes of the integral Yoga. One thing however stands out very clearly. Hatha Yoga is a systematic process; it is scientifically rigorous and meticulous; its results can be verified; ...
... and may help to shed light on this great science. We will extract some verses from one of them, Hatha ; Yoga Pradipika (Light on Hatha Yoga) written in Sanskrit by Yogi Swatmarama, hoping that it will enable the reader to understand better the principles and methods of Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga is only one of the several systems of Yoga. Other systems of Yoga include Raja Yoga (Yoga of meditative... Introduction The growing popularity of Hatha Yoga all over the world does not necessarily mean that its real purpose is well known or understood. In fact, the Hatha Yoga practices which were designed by the ancient Rishis of India for the evolution of man, are now being viewed and utilized in a very limited sense. Today, particularly in the West, Hatha Yoga is generally practised to improve health... Integral Yoga, the goal of physical perfection is an essential part; but the concept of physical perfection is much vaster than the one found in the Hatha Yoga. Again, while the methods of Hatha Yoga are accepted as valid methods of the goals of Hatha Yoga itself, these are not insisted upon either as central or peripheral in the Integral Yoga; they are optional. and can be adopted; but they can be ...
... spiritual effects. Here the Hatha Yoga can come into line with he practices of Raja Yoga, and a point can be reached at which a transition can be made from Hatha Yoga to Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga aims at the liberation and perfection not of the bodily being but of the mental being; although it admits the utility of asana and pranayama, but not as liberally as in the Hatha Yoga. It fixes its eyes on the... Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Hatha Yoga had fixed its aim at the conquest of the life and the body, and it sought to rectify the limits of physical and vital functioning and establish a new equilibrium by which the physical would be able to sustain the inrush of an increasing vital force of prana. This new equilibrium would, according to Hatha Yoga, open a power to the universalisation of... individual vitality. Hatha Yoga also aimed at awakening by the processes of asana and pranayama, of the coiled-up serpent energy of dynamism in the vital sheath, pranamaya kosha, and opening to the yogin, fields of consciousness, ranges of experience, abnormal faculties and striking results of control and mastery over the physical body. The secret of Page 51 the Hatha Yoga lies in its idea ...
... Yogic Experience and Integral Realisation 6 Yogic Experience (a) Experiences in Hatha Yoga Yoga has often come to be exclusively identified with physical exercises of Hatha Yoga. Actually, the entire system of Hatha Yoga is only one of the systems of yoga. It aims at a complete mastery of the body and the life and a free and effective use of them... been attributed to Patanjali, although it is only one of the specialised methods of Yoga. Raja Yoga is independent of Hatha Yoga except that it admits in its method the Hatha Yogic āsana and Prāṇ ā y ā ma in their bare minimum and simple forms. On the other hand, Hatha Yoga joins up with the psychological methods of Raja Yoga, where it begins to ascend the scales of spiritual experience. ... body and possess something of its relations with the life-energy. Life ceases to be entirely dependent on the action of the physical organs and functionings, such as the heartbeats and breathing. Hatha Yoga is an attempt by fixed scientific processes to give to the soul in the physical body the power, the light, the purity, the freedom, the ascending scales of spiritual experience which would naturally ...
... aspects of this shastra. It is these yogic experiences which are central to our purpose here. Yoga has often come to be exclusively identified with physical exercises of Hatha Yoga. Actually, the entire system of Hatha Yoga, which is only one of the systems of yoga, aims at a complete mastery of the body and the life and a free and effective use of them established upon purification of their workings... has been attributed to Patanjali, although it is only one of the specialised methods of Yoga. Raja Yoga is independent of Hatha Yoga except that it admits in its method the Hatha Yogic āsana and prānāyāma in their bare minimum and simple forms. On the other hand, Hatha Yoga joins up with the psychological methods of Raja Yoga, where it begins to ascend the scales of spiritual experience. Raja... body and possess something of its relations with the life-energy. Life ceases to be entirely dependent on the action of the physical organs and functionings, such as the heart-beats and breathing. Hatha Yoga is an attempt by fixed scientific processes to give to the soul in the physical body the power, the light, the purity, the freedom, the ascending scales of spiritual experience which would naturally ...
... synthesis. As you know, Yoga has come to mean to many people a system of physical exercises which belong to Hatha Yoga. It is not generally known that Hatha Yoga is only one of the several systems of Yoga and that in some of the most synthetic or integral systems of Yoga, most or all exercises of Hatha Yoga are optional or else they are dispensed with altogether. "Yoga is sometimes identified exclusively... also studied Indian Law and jurisprudence, mainly under the guidance of my father who used to visit Bharatvan during summer vacations. I underwent a systematic practice of various systems of Yoga,- Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Tantra. Living in Bharatvan was an exceptional process of education." I was greatly interested in Vishuddha's story but was curious... expounded by Patanjali, - the system of Raja Yoga, which apart from discipline of purification of consciousness, (consisting of yama and niyama) and that of elementary pranayama and asanas taken from Hatha Yoga, proposes a method of arriving at concentration of consciousness (samadhi) by means of a gradual cessation of modifications of the stuff of consciousness (chitta vritti nirodhah). Page 171 ...
... Page 19 state. This work of concentration can be done at any level of our being – physical, vital, or mental. Depending on the level we choose, we undertake one kind of yoga or another: hatha yoga, raja yoga, mantra yoga , and many others, countless others, like so many stages of our effort. We won't discuss here the great value of these methods, or the remarkable intermediate results they... bringing a sensation of immensity (and often a loss of consciousness called ecstasy), as if one had forever emerged Elsewhere. All yogic methods, which might be called thermogenetic – the asanas of hatha yoga, the concentrations of raja yoga, the breathing exercises of pranayama , etc. – aim at arousing that ascending Force; they can be dangerous and cause profound perturbations, which make the presence... flash Page 95 point. Here we might expect to receive some "recipe" for clairvoyance or ubiquity, but recipes are just another kind of machinery, which is why we are so fond of them. True, hatha yoga can be effective, as can many other kinds of yogic exercises, such as concentrating on a lighted candle (tratak) , evolving infallible diets, doing breathing exercises and choking scientifically ...
... extracts in Part VIII under the general title "The Body Reaching Out Beyond Itself. Taking advantage of an account of Hatha Yoga, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, we have introduced the concept of Integral Yoga which includes not only the aims of physical perfection proposed by Hatha Yoga but also a synthesis of this perfection with other perfections which can be attained by pursuit of other systems of Yoga... possibilities of durable perfection of the body and even of the possibilities of development of a new kind of body, which can appropriately be termed "The Divine Body". The extracts relating to Hatha Yoga are followed by some others from The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei, which give insights into the extraordinary powers that manifest in the body when physical and spiritual exercises are combined ...
... physical functions. This also produces some indirect influence in the mind. But I do not think that by Hatha Yoga pure and simple you can realise God. Disciple : I know a Hatha Yogi who has done all the kriyās – movements and postures – and he said that even though he knew everything of Hatha yoga he had not seen God. He even said to me ; "I don't believe there Page 255 is... life. Sri Aurobindo : Well, that is not the answer. It is an epigram. I do not know why he should not recognise achievement wherever it is found. Disciple : But what is the idea of Hatha yoga ? Sri Aurobindo : Why should we not value achievement for its own sake ? Even prolonging life everybody cannot do. 6-5-1926 X came to-day in spite of notice to the contrary. He ...
... and she gained the proper weight. Gauri told me that Ambu, the late Ashram hatha yoga teacher, (to whom the Mother addressed her letters “To My Faithful Baby”) was her “nanny”! “Ambu looked after me, gave me oil baths, fed me and took me for walks while my parents worked for the Mother”, Gauri said. Ambu in Hatha Yoga pose, Ashram 1983 What was your earliest recollection of the Mother and... we celebrated was in 1938 when I was just one year old. It took place in our house called “The Red House”. The guests were Nishtha (Margaret Woodrow Wilson), Ambu (our very close friend, the young hatha yoga teacher who looked after Nishtha) and Francois Sammer (one of the architects for Golconde). Nishtha made a big star to place on the top of the tree that year. Later, in 1943, when other children ...
... Education and Yoga There is at present a need to clarify the meaning and aim of Education, just as it is necessary to clarify the meaning and aim of Yoga. Yoga is often identified exclusively with Hatha Yoga and thus its true psychological nature remains quite veiled. Similarly, Education is often identified with vocational training or with some kind of mental culture, but its fundamental nature of integral... student who is generally interested in Yoga is suggested below: Psychology and Yoga as Applied Psychology Psychology of Nature, Psychology of Life Life and Yoga Systems of Yoga: Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Tantra Yoga, the Synthesis of Yoga Analysis of Personality; Parts of the Being; Inconscient, sub-conscient, physical, vital, mental... Social Psychology. Page 368 Psychology and Yoga: Indian Schools of Psychology and Yoga. Higher Reaches of Yoga and Psychological knowledge. Detailed Study of the Systems of Yoga: Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Yoga of Tantra, Kundalini Yoga, Synthesis of Yoga. Knowledge, Understanding, Concentration, Meditation, Contemplation, Purification, Renunciation ...
... realisation. And, finally, as in education, so in yoga, concentration causes acceleration of progress." "Please tell me more," Mira pleaded. Naveen Chandra continued, "Take, for example, Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga can be viewed as a process of intensive and methodological physical education. It takes body as its instrument; it prescribes methods of purification of the body; the two important methods... of the body but also concentration of these powers on the object of the perfection of the body, which includes also spiritual liberation. Spiritual mastery over the body is an important object of Hatha Yoga. It is true that in our schools, physical education is often taken as a pastime, and games and sports are encouraged with a mixed motive in which physical fitness is only now increasingly acknowledged ...
... classified as Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, Raja and Hatha. Least of all does it lean towards the set of difficult exercises that is Hatha Yoga. Actually it favours physical training more along modern lines, since the psychological benefits together with extraordinary vital powers which Hatha Yoga seeks through its complex postures aided by special methods of breathing are sought to be compassed directly by more subtle ...
... these curves, something is suddenly found. For example, at the beginning of The Yoga of Self-Perfection , Sri Aurobindo reviews other yogas, beginning with Hatha Yoga. I had just translated this when I remembered Sri Aurobindo saying that Hatha Yoga was very effective but that it amounted to spending your whole life training your body, which is an enormous time and effort spent on something not essentially ...
... Karma Yoga as visioned by our Master in the last. What Yoga the first line suggests may be imagined as a blend of Hatha Yoga and the Tantrik discipline. But, of course, all is to be viewed sub specie Aurobindonis. The stability and strength and super-powering of the body which Hatha Yoga aims at after a strenuous complicated labour of posture and breathing is no direct part of the Integral Yoga nor ...
... gross physical and let us have a glimpse of the subtle world and its beauty and mystery. Another path to the subtle world lies through Hatha Yoga. It takes us to the subtle world as the link between pure matter and pure spirit. The aim of Hatha Yoga and its attraction to many people seems to be this promise of freedom of the soul from the prison of the material embodiment. Matter and ...
... Vedas and the Upanishads. It is true that the synthesis of yoga that we find in the Gita broke down again in due course of time. There have arisen a number of specialised systems of yoga, such as Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Laya Yoga, Kriya Yoga, and many others. Buddhistic yoga and the yoga of Jainism are also specialized systems of yoga. Page 24... Siddhanta, Siddha, and Shaivism, a new synthesis came to be built up and this synthesis had far reaching consequences in imparting a fresh spirit of synthesis in various specialized systems of yoga. Hatha Yoga borrowed certain elements of Tantra; even Raja Yoga, which is historically the yoga of Patanjali and has in recent times been expounded by Swami Vivekananda, contains the concept of kundalini ...
... ng combination en bloc would not be a synthesis, but confusion. A successive practice of different systems of yoga may result in some kind of synthesis. Sometimes, for example, the practice of Hatha Yoga is followed by the practice of Raja Yoga. Or, as in the life of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, we find a powerful example, even a unique example, of a colossal spiritual capacity, as a result of which... directions it is more immediately rich and fruitful, for it brings forward into the foreground along with the divine knowledge, divine works an enriched devotion of divine Love, the secrets also of the Hatha Yoga and the Raja Yoga. Thus the Tantra seeks to use the body and mental askesis for the opening up of the divine life on all its planes. Moreover, the Tantra grasps at that idea of divine perfectibility ...
... the war they broke out with great force. All that is not conquering death. Disciple : Swami Brahmananda of Chandod lived for more than 200 years. Sri Aurobindo : Yes. If you know Hatha Yoga you can keep the body safe against disease. You can also reduce the slow process of ageing by supplying the vital force. The difficulty is you can't be always in Samadhi. Disciple : Tibbati... about yoga. That would be an American idea. The centre of yoga teaching Page 203 in America has been holding classes and giving lectures and courses. Disciple : Perhaps Hatha-Yoga can be taught that way. Sri Aurobindo : Even that would be only the external part. On Medicine - III 25-12-1938 Doctor X insisted on removing the splints that were ...
... birth to birth and gathered the folds of knowledge incommensurable, comes to Vyasa "our great original sage". As directed by the sage, Kuthumi does Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga, each for three days: not the Yogas of our degenerate Kali Age, but the Hatha Yoga of Ravana, Dhruva and of the old Lemurian Kings, and the Raja Yoga of Chakravarti Bali and of the old Atlantic Kings. Directed now by Vyasa to seek ...
... development of intuition. 2. Ancient Indian sciences and yoga. 3. Ancient Indian knowledge and modem scientific knowledge; some striking examples. 4. Systems of yoga: Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Tantra, Integral Yoga. II. Aids for the Development of the Yogic Consciousness and Experience: 1. Need for the systematic knowledge... Knowledge of the human body; anatomy and physiology (in bare outline); b) Concept of Doshas; c) Theory of health and strength in Ayurveda: relationship with Physical exercises of Hatha Yoga; d) Concept of longevity; e) Indian surgery; f) Plastic surgery and its survival right up to the arrival of the British in India; g) Present status of Ayurveda ...
... acknowledges the Tantric idea of the divine perfectibility of man, which was possessed by the Vedic Rishis but was thrown into the background by the intermediate ages. It also includes the aims of the Hatha Yoga and the Raja Yoga although not their detailed processes. But the supramental Yoga does not limit itself within the limits of specialised systems of Yoga or even the previous systems of synthesis... meticulous methods that can bring about radical change of consciousness by means of psychological transmutation of faculties and powers of our being. The word Yoga is often confined merely to Hatha Yoga or Raja Yoga, but these are only two specialised systems, and what is proposed by Sri Aurobindo is to bring about synthesis not only of these two but all the other systems of Yoga. Since the crisis ...
... concentration that our complex and intricately organized consciousness can be led to the contact with the integral Divine Object. The contact may be effected in the physical through the body as in the Hatha Yoga; 2 it may be effected in the vital and in the mind through the action of those functionings which determine the states and experiences of our nervous being, as in Raja Yoga; 3 again, it may... synthesis of the Tantra is that it is the whole nature that the Tantra gathers up for the spiritual conversion. It includes, therefore, in its system the Page 4 yoga of the body, the Hatha Yoga, and it pursues the forceful Hathayogic process and especially the opening up of the nervous centers and the passage through them of the awakened Shakti on her way to her union with the Brahman. ...
... English taught us ! ( Laughter ). 5-11-1925 Sri Aurobindo was not disposed to talk this evening. A Disciple put a question about immunity from physical diseases by Hatha yoga. Sri Aurobindo : In Hatha yoga you are all right so long as you continue the practice. As soon as you leave it off you are liable to attacks. In Raja yoga also you have to continue Pranayama Page 340 ...
... disciples to my knowledge kept an extraordinary aspect and energy of youth even to a comparatively late or quite advanced age–but this perhaps may be not uncommon among those who practise both Raja and Hatha Yoga together. 1 February 1936 Learning Gujarati I learned Gujarati not for the literature but because it was the language of Baroda where I had to live for 13 years. I have now picked it up ...
... could be... Mother, in the physical education we practise here our aim is a greater and greater control over the body, isn't it? So, as Sri Aurobindo has said in what we read last time, that the Hatha-yoga and Tantric methods give a very great control over the body, 1 Why don't we introduce these methods into our system? These are occult processes for acting on the body—the Tantric ones, at ...
... any way he liked…And there was no question of strict brahmacharya or spiritual objective. What he said struck the young man as very fascinating and helpful. And so he started reading hooks on Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga in particular. While he was doing that he got interested naturally in the works of Vivekananda. And Vivekananda gave him a greater perspective. Yoga is a means not just to amass ...
... understand die lowest. Not too long ago when Indra Sen drew the attention of some of our academics in Indian universities to the rich psychological systems implicit in the traditional Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Tantric Yoga and also in the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo, the responses he got from some of the academics were interesting. "They showed a ...
... may be said that it is somewhat unfortunate that whenever we speak of Yoga today, we appear to be referring to that System of physical Yogic postures, which have been elaborately described in Hatha Yoga or else to that particular orthodox system of philosophy which has come to be known as the Yoga Page 133 philosophy and which has been attributed to Patanjali a System of Yoga which ...
... -05_System of Yoga, Methods of yoga and Verifiability of Yogic Knowledge.htm 4 Systems of Yoga, Methods of Yoga and A study of different systems of yoga such as Raja yoga, Hatha yoga, Bhakti yoga, Jnana yoga and Karma yoga, will reveal to us the effectivity of yogic methods, and the results obtained by the pursuit of these methods can be compared with each other, contrasted in ...
... transformation. In its highest movement, Sri Aurobindo envisages illumination of the whole physical consciousness and a divinizing of the law of the body. The yogic literature, particularly relating to Hatha yoga and Tantra, speaks of physical siddhis acquired by some opening up of the law of the subtle or a calling down of something of the law of the spiritual body. Normally, the method consists of opening ...
... by which these psychological functionings can be brought to their highest pitch and then generated, controlled and used at will for the objects in view. There were, indeed, specializations. Hatha Yoga, for example, concentrated on the subtle workings of the body, and by means of controlling and purifying these workings achieved astonishing results, not only of physical health and vigour but even ...
... immortality as Nachiketas had attained. *** _______ 1. It is currently believed that Yoga consists of Pranayama and other yogic asanas. But Pranayama and other yogic asanas are part of Hatha yoga and Raja yoga; there are other systems of yoga such as Jnana yoga, Karma yoga and Bhakti yoga where the practices of Pranayama and yogic asanas are not obligatory. Basically yoga is a methodized ...
... (Narottam Puri is a well known sport journalist and commentator in India) About common attitudes in India W e, Indians, have a tendency to copy the West. To take an example, Hatha Yoga was almost a forgotten art here in India till the West took it up. As a medical man, I consider the basis of yoga to be sound in termsof health; for instance, the importance given to breathing ...
... intuition. Ancient Indian sciences and yoga. Ancient Indian knowledge and modern scientific knowledge: some striking examples. Page 57 Systems of yoga: Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Tantra, Integral Yoga. Aids for the Development of the Yogic Consciousness and Experience Need for the systematic knowledge of the principles ...
... method of the development of intuition. 2. Ancient Indian sciences and yoga. 3. Ancient Indian knowledge and modern scientific knowledge: some striking examples. 4. Systems of yoga: Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Tantra, Integral Yoga. II. Aids for the Development of the Yogic Consciousness and Experience 1. Need for the systematic knowledge of the ...
... be dealt with. The essence of each system is the method of concentration on the Object in view; and by this concentration is achieved a conscious acceleration of the evolution of Nature. Thus, Hatha Yoga selects the body and vital functionings as its instrument of perfection and realisation. The method is a concentration and effort of energy released by Asana and Pranayama in the outer and inner ...
... jnani and arth ā rthi . Sri Aurobindo : No. I had no knowledge. I did not know what God was. It was two years before I met Lele that I began yoga seriously. Deshpande at that time was doing Hatha Yoga, Asanas and other practices and as he had a great proselytising tendency he wanted to convert me to his view. But I thought that a yoga which requires me to give up the world was not for me. I had ...
... of Yogic schools and classes. They are an American idea. The Guru of Vaun Macpheeters used to hold classes and give lectures and readings in Yoga. NIRODBARAN: Perhaps all this can be done with Hatha Yoga? SRI AUROBINDO: Even that would be only the outer part. ...
... thousand - or even five thousand - may sit in meditation in one place, yet there is a seraphic stillness and peace. Although such still-sitting with sustained concentration is not the same thing as Hatha Yoga or Raja Yoga, it has its own merits all the same and helps the individual as well as the aggregate to achieve outer and inner poise - no small gains at the earlier stages of spiritual sadhana ...
... the Divine, difficult to come down to the ordinary consciousness. 19 Discipline too, while it is necessary, may be overdone and may lead to false notions of success. Mere body-control as in Hatha Yoga or mind-control as in Raja Yoga, or the two together, cannot be equated with spirituality, which alone is the aim of Integral Yoga. For this one has boldly to take the decisive plunge; and even ...
... Interview with the Mother. The main advice she gave me was to use my tongue carefully, that is. not to be indiscreet. She finds my progress satisfactory - is not in favour of my practising Hatha Yoga which I was seriously attempting. 7 And here are a few extracts from T. Y. Kapali Sastry's spiritual diary relating to this period: 2.3.1933: [Received the flower] SINCERITY* Morning: ...
... Disciple : But one can have the necessary control by the mind – rather than try such physical and outward control. Sri Aurobindo : These things may be steps to the Divine; for example Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga. Disciple : Our friend "X", finds that Yogis have defects. Sri Aurobindo : It is not the defects that are important but whatever leads to the upward growth, to the ...
... clear and sincere simplicity that made all the difference in permeability. Simple bodies and dark bodies. And quite possibly they understood nothing of the phenomenon or believed they were doing hatha yoga, playing football or... nothing at all, it did not matter, they could believe anything at all—"by any method chosen," said Sri Aurobindo—but it entered nonetheless, quite spontaneously and naturally ...
... disciples to my knowledge kept an extraordinary aspect and energy of youth to a comparatively late or quite advanced age — but this perhaps may be not uncommon among those who practise both Raja and Hatha Yoga together." Regarding Swami Brahmananda Sri Aurobindo recalled another incident. "While I was residing at Baroda," he told his disciples in January 1939, "a Bengali Sannyasi came to see me and ...
... influence very strong all over India. He himself felt the influence of their words and books. In fact, as he related, "I had another direct experience of Vivekananda's presence when I was practising Hatha yoga. I felt this presence standing behind and watching over me. That exerted a great influence afterwards in my life." Sri Aurobindo always acknowledged the role played by Ramakrishna and Vivekananda ...
... way he liked... And there was no question of strict brahmacharya or spiritual objective. What he said struck the young man as very fascinating and helpful. Therefore, he started reading books on Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga in particular. While he was doing this, he got interested naturally in the works of Vivekananda. And Vivekananda gave him a greater perspective. Yoga is a means not just to amass energy ...
... being able to live the spiritual life. When it takes an effort to come out of it, then indeed your meditation can be an indication that you are in the spiritual life. There are disciplines such as Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga that one can practise and yet have nothing to do with the spiritual life; the former arrives mostly at body control, the latter at mind control. But to enter the spiritual life means ...
... human family. 3 April 1956 Page 284 Build in yourself the total harmony, so that when the time comes Perfect Beauty can express itself through your body. 1959 About Hatha Yoga From our experience we have found that a particular system of exercises cannot be stamped as the only yogic type of exercises and we cannot definitely say that participation in those exercises ...
... without much reacting power—he wasn't an accomplished yogi, after all, only an apprentice yogi. It would have been entirely different, for instance, and far more serious, for someone who had practiced hatha yoga. But I mean to say that N.S. was here beside me, fully conscious, and could have moved on to another mode of manifestation without having to go through the throes of death—that's not at all indispensable ...
... results of Knowledge, Love and Works. There has to be also an integral purity and integral beatitude. Perfection includes perfection of mind and body, so that the higher results of Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga should be contained in the widest formula of the synthesis finally to be effected. There are, according to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, several elements of perfection. The first is a perfect ...
... 172-4, 186-9, 199, 209, 213, 226-7, 234 God's labour, 235 Cellular action, 173 Godhead, 5 Cellular consciousness, 180 Cellular experiences, 168-71 Hatha yoga, 70, 269 Central being, 262 Higher mind, 78-9, 244-5, 263-4 Chaitya purusha, 262 Chandernagore, 13-4 Illumined mind, 78-9, 244, 263-4 Change, real, ...
... the minute vibrations of consciousness have been noted and described with precision; fine distinctions have been stressed; subtle variations of the methods and processes, whether of Raja Yoga or Hatha Yoga or Karma Yoga or Jnana Yoga, of Bhakti Yoga or of Tantra have been studied in detail. All in all, we have a vast and opulent treasure of the knowledge of consciousness in Yoga. Consciousness ...
... has no attraction for me. I want power so that I may raise this country and serve my dear countrymen."' In another revealing letter he explained: 'I didn't know what God was. Deshpande was doing Hatha Yoga asanas and other kriyas at that time and as he had a great proselytising tendency he wanted to convert me to his view. But I thought that a yoga which required me to give up the world was not ...
... meant to be given to Mother. So he picked out a very beautiful rose and said: "Take this, let's go." Changing my clothes, becoming a young Bengali 177 Lotus Position used for meditation in Hatha Yoga. Page 121 man again, I went to see Mother. Mother used to give interviews at that time in what you call Library House - in other words, Rajen's office, the place where Rajen ...
... by the conversion of the central ego in the mind. And according to the point of the contact that we choose, will be the type of Yoga that we practise. THE SYSTEMS OF YOGA Hatha Yoga dealing with the life and body aims at the supernormal perfection of the physical life and its capacities and goes beyond into the domain of the mental life. Rajayoga operating with ...
... by which these psychological functionings can be brought to their highest pitch and then generated, controlled and used at will for the objects in view. There were, indeed, specializations. Hatha Yoga, for example, concentrated on the subtle workings of the body, and by means of controlling and purifying these workings achieved astonishing results, not only of physical health and vigor but ...
... the deities or the attainment of superhuman powers. The Tantric Yoga is a kind of synthesis of yogic practices contained not only in Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga but also in Mantra Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga. The tantrik synthesis attempts to emphasise the notion of the divine perfectibility of man, which was also in the Vedic teaching, but which was overshadowed in the intermediate ages ...
... be dealt with. The essence of each system is the method of concentration on the Object in view; and by this concentration is achieved a conscious acceleration of the evolution of Nature. Thus, Hatha Yoga selects the body and vital functionings as its instrument of perfection and realisation. The method is a concentration and effort of energy released by Āsana and Prānāyāma in the outer and inner ...
... afternoon before the whole business was done with. Some kind of order was introduced in this reign of irregularity only when Hem Sen happened to be present. HemSen was a Hathayogin. Perhaps it was his Hatha Yoga that had taught him how not to encourage this kind of physical lethargy. It is rather strange that I have no recollections about our evening meal. This much however is certain that we did not ...
... disciples to my knowledge kept an extraordinary aspect and energy of youth even to a comparatively late or quite advanced age - but this may not be uncommon among those who practise both Raja and Hatha Yoga together." 168 Describing his visit to Swami Brahmananda, Sri Aurobindo says again: "He had the most remarkable eyes. Usually his eyes were either closed or half-shut. When I went to see ...
... systematic study. If that is the case, and if testing a so-called empirical process by practical experiments and checking up the results constitutes a "systematic study", then the Indian system of Hatha Yoga, at least, can claim to be scientific. As a matter of fact, each system of Yoga, such as Gyana, Karma, Bhakti, Tantra etc. has its own "'system" which prescribes practical methods, indicates the ...
... Poems , p. 153. Page 57 "No, I had no knowledge. I did not know what God was", said Sri Aurobindo later about the beginning of his sadhana. "Deshpande at that time was doing Hatha Yoga, Asanas and other such Kriyas and as he had a great proselytising tendency he wanted to convert me to his view. But I thought that a Yoga which required me to give up the world was not for me. ...
... believe that "Yoga" means the Raja-Yoga of Patanjali. His sutras are well known. It is a scientific method which resorts to: 1. Physico-vital processes depending on Pranayama and Asanas taken from Hatha Yoga. 2. Psycho-vital and psycho-mental processes in a gradually rising series: patyāhāra , dhyān, dhārāna and samādhi . Even though the Gita gave currency to quite a different idea of Yoga and ...
... The body, the mind, the ratiocinative and discriminating intellect, the will, the heart, anyone of these by itself could be made the means of steady self-improvement or self-purification. In Hatha Yoga, the body is the principal agent of transformation, and the principle of action is based on the close connection between the body and the soul. For the Hathayogin, the body is indeed "a mystic ...
... purely physical discipline of gymnastics, sports, etc., can play an important role, and that is why She gave such a prominence to physical education in the Ashram. The fuller physical mastery given by hatha yoga can also be of help—all means are good. But actually, the tiny, unobtrusive method of a certain "attitude" in and toward the thousand gestures of daily life is an extraordinarily rich and virtually ...
... silk cape covering her already stooping shoulders. She was seventy-three. This Playground was really the heart of her special laboratory. They did gymnastics there—a lot—exercises on the bars, judo, hatha yoga asanas, everything imaginable, boxing and vaulting horses, and what not. The girls wore white headscarves and shorts—shorts in India, in 1950, were a scandalous outrage—and they mixed with the ...
... is not equivalent to Brahmacharya. Brahmacharya is not binding in bhaktimārga or karmayoga , but it is necessary for ascetic jñānayoga as well as for Raja and Hatha yogas. It is also not demanded from Grihastha yogis. In this Yoga the position is that one must overcome sex, otherwise there can be no transformation of the lower vital and physical nature; all physical sexual connection should cease... Overself they probably mean this Purusha—they take it as a sort of personal Atman. Sex-Indulgence and the Integral Yoga What has this Yoga got to do with sex and sex-contact? I have told you repeatedly that sex has to be got rid of and overcome before there can be siddhi in this Yoga. Any suggestion about Tantric practices must certainly be a trick of the vital. The sex-impulsions can be got... garb of Yoga, but, what is worse, turning the Yoga-power itself into the instrument of satisfaction of a vital force. There must be absolute abstention from all vital interchange with others. The warning has often been given that no special or personal relation, even under the colour of a psychic connection or otherwise, must be formed with the women sadhakas. The whole principle of this Yoga is to give ...
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