Yama and Niyama, and the siddhis that they bring through our intimacy with dharma

[Guest guest]

Some time in the past we were blessed with an attachement that

described the siddhis resulting from practicing yama and niyama. The

diskette I saved that on is unrecoverable and I no longer have the

email account where I received that posting. Would someone please be

so kind as to share that information again?

[Guest guest]

SaiRam,

 

I think, the following message contain answers to your question. Also, pl look into the website

http://www.vedamu.org/VedicLiterature/English/Tatsat/tatsat.asp.

Regards

 

Kutumba lanka

 

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-Original Message-----

reet [reet.priiman (AT) neti (DOT) ee]

Friday, December 12, 2003 2:42 PM

SaiDISC

[satGuru Discussion] Tat Sat (The Path of Yoga). 18 - a

 

 

Light and Love to all

Another way of realization is through practices of yoga.

The word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root yuj, meaning to yoke - to

join. Yoga is the method that joins, that unites. What is joined is the finite

spirit with the Supreme Spirit, or an individual to his ethical ideal. Yoga

means not only this joining, but also the methods or practices leading to the

joining.

Yoga is essentially inward looking. Since mind and senses are by nature outward

looking, special discipline is needed to look inward. For the inward look, the

object is the mind itself, but not what passes in the mind. Mind is never

self-conscious according to Pathanjali, and is always the object of some

consciousness. The ultimate consciousness, which is the seer, the on-looker,

the witness of everything that happens in me and outside me, is my self. By

realizing it, I accomplish two things - my own spiritual uplift when I realize

the deeper level of my being and an explanation of the intelligibility for the

world.

The yogi is to seek perfection in the universe. An aspirant attains yoga when he

has freed his mind from the worldly desires. It is attained when the yogi

fulfills existence in God. The world is the Brahman; the world is God; the

world is Truth; the world is Bliss.

By yoga we can rise out of falsehood into truth, out of weakness into force, out

of pain and grief into bliss, out of bondage into freedom, out of death into

immortality, out of darkness into light, out of confusion into purity, out of

imperfection into perfection, out of self-division into unity, out of Maya into

God. Only that which aims at possessing the fullness of God is purna-yoga. The

seeker of the divine perfection is the purna-yogi.

Yoga may be used for many purposes. Many of its physical practices keep the body

healthy and active. The mental practices purify the mind, clear it of all dross

and enable it to receive the reflection of the Spirit in its purity. Physical

control is subservient to the vital, and control of the vital principle is

subservient to the spiritual.

The methods of control of voluntary and involuntary functions of the body are

considered together Hatayoga, a means to mental and body control. In Hatayoga

the instrument is the body and life.

Each type of yoga in its process has the character of the instrument it uses.

Thus, the process of Hatayoga is psychophysical. The process of Raja- yoga is

mental and physic. The way of knowledge is spiritual and cognitive. The way of

devotion or bhakti-yoga is spiritual, emotional and aesthetic. The way of works

or karma-yoga is spiritual and dynamic by action. Each is guided in the ways of

its own characteristic power. But all power, in the end, is really soul-power.

The practice of Yoga involves at every stage genuine, not fanciful and

artificial, self-analysis. The self-analysis leads to genuine phenomenological

and existential self-analysis. It results in reaching the core of the self -

the atman. The different levels of samadhi are the different levels of the

atman itself leading ultimately to its pure, essential being.

The ways of obtaining ultimate spiritual realization are based on an analytical

understanding of the levels of our psychophysical being. True understanding of

man and his universe enables him to chalk out the right conduct he has to

follow. But "true views" (samyak-darsanas) implies a true analysis of man's

self-conscious being until the greatest possible depths are reached. Samadhi is

not merely concentration of mind transcended, on an object or idea. Its essence

is the concentration of man's diversified being as such, ultimately resulting

in self-realization.

Pathanjali is the architect of the philosophy of Yoga and Self-realization

through Psychophysical practices. He defines Yoga as the stopping of the five

functions of Reason - the sources of valid knowledge, false knowledge, empty

concepts, sleep and memory.

The stopping of the functions is a difficult task as the nature of Reason is to

be active ever. When it does not perform any function, it tends to sleep, which

is also its function. If it is to function, the concept is that it meditates on

God which leads to salvation.

According to him, God is omniscient and is untouched by the five afflictions -

ignorance, egoity, desire (want), hate and fear of death. Meditation on God

involves repeating His name, thinking its meaning. Then mind becomes inward

looking.

Meditation is to lead to samadhi. It means the settling down of Reason (chitta,

Buddhi) on something. Settling down implies peace and steadiness. It is the

settling down of Reason in Itself.

When all functions of the Reason including sleep are stopped, the Reason stays

in itself. But Reason is conscious and its consciousness is due to the

reflection of the Cosmic Person. The reflection, with no object to know, stays

in its original nature. This staying of rational consciousness in it is the

samadhi. This is the aim of yoga.

When this rational consciousness does not stay in itself, the knower in it

identifies itself with the functions of the Reason and assumes its forms. The

final samadhi is the staying of the Cosmic Person in Him, not even as the

knower. This is the stage of final liberation while in body. The earlier

samadhi is only the beginning, the gateway to the final one. In the final

stage, the three attributes of Prakrti will be in perfect harmony, maintaining

perfect equilibrium.

Samadhi is the state in which all the desires and hopes concerning the world

have ceased, which is free from sorrow, fear and desire, and by which the self

rests in itself. The enlightened ones are forever in samadhi, even though they

engage themselves in the affairs of the world.

The states of samadhi - the first and the final - cannot be had merely through

physical and mental exercises. The most important preliminary is the

purification of one's Reason, which is the "I-am".

To obtain these faculties one is to practise friendliness with generous people,

compassion for those in distress, affection instead of jealously for those who

are meritorious, and indifference towards the evil of evildoers. It is

significant that the preparation for achieving the states of samadhi is based

on ethical action.

To obtain the steadiness of mind, the seeker may follow any method he considers

suitable to himself. One easy method is to meditate on God he loves. Another

method is to meditate on the "I-am" consciousness, the ontological Reason

itself.

When one is able to fix one's mind, it passes through five stages.

First, the Reason becomes agitated and restless.

Second, it becomes torpid when greater effort is made to fix it. It tends to fall asleep.

Third, it becomes distracted when still greater effort is made.

Fourth, it becomes concentrated on the object of meditation if the effort is not given up.

Fifth, it becomes restrained and its functions stop when the mind is steady at that level.

The last two levels are conducive to samadhi.

The practice of samadhi is really very difficult. To be able to practise samadhi

is to go against the very nature of Prakrti, which is ever in change. So

Pathanjali recommends eight steps to be practised, generally one after the

other. The earlier has to be started before the latter, and the latter makes

the earlier perfect. The eight steps are: self-control (yama), regulation of

life by rules (niyama), bodily postures (asanas), breath -control (pranayama),

withdrawal of senses from objects (pratyahara), fixing the mind on an object

(dharana), meditation (dhyana) and samadhi.

Samadhi is the stage where Reason is completely absorbed in the object; that the

object alone stands and cognition disappears. There is no sense, no awareness of

being aware of the object. At this stage, the inner structure of the object

reveals itself completely. It may be a physical object, one's own mind with its

layers of the Unconscious or another's mind. It may be anything.

Of the above eight steps of Yoga, the last three are said to be inner and the

first five external to Yoga. The ultimate (final stage of) samadhi may be that

in, which the potencies of the world are totally destroyed. The practice of the

first five steps leads to the next three steps ending in that state of samadhi

that retains the seeds of worldliness. But this samadhi leads, in its turn, to

the ultimate samadhi where the potencies of the world are totally lost and the

Self realized.

Pathanjali divides samadhi - the absolutely original state, as it is the

reflection of the pure state of the Purusa - into two primary kinds. The first

is the samadhi in the known or with the known as being known as an object. The

second is the samadhi in the unknown or without the known as an object. The

former has the consciousness of the object as an object. The latter is without

such consciousness.

The ego, which is also a pattern of similar pulsations of Prakrti, is stopped,

checked and merged in rational consciousness - "am-ness" in its pure state.

Reason in which the 'I', as the ego, is absorbed is the pure "I-am" or

"am-ness", not merely "is-ness" which is third personal and may not have the

significance of the self-conscious being.

Pathanjali also makes the distinction between the "determinate" and the

"indeterminate" samadhi. The determinate is the one, which has a shape, a form,

a formation. The indeterminate is the one in which no shapes are perceived as

objects.

The yoga enables the seeker to realize the identity of his particular being with

the whole world of nature (Prakrti) just as he realizes his identity with his

physical body. He can have as much control over the world, as over his body.

The extraordinary powers resulting from such a control are not supernatural,

but natural. He has to distinguish himself from every aspect of Prakrti,

realize his separateness from it, then enter it and be one with it, without at

the same time losing his discriminatory power attained, and then controls its

movements from within. The first requirement is a kind of detachment from

Prakrti, which results in its control.

As the final realization of such discriminatory oneness with the evolutes of

Prakrti arises, at every stage, some extraordinary powers are attained. The

achievement of siddhis or these psychic powers is dependent upon four factors -

time, place, action and means. Among these, action or effort holds the key to

all endeavors. All achievements are possible through the practice of pranayama.

 

At the end of the ultimate samadhi, the cognition of the seeker (yogi) is always

truth. It is direct intuition of anything in the world like the intuition of the

existence of one's body. How much of the cosmos can be known depends on the

perfection of the samadhi. But one can obtain other powers (siddhis) by

following other methods of concentration, at different levels.

Some obtain these powers simply at birth, as samskaras of the previous births.

Some obtain them through incantations, some through penance and some others

through samadhi.

By concentrating on the three moments of change - past, present and future, one

can obtain knowledge of the past and the future. By concentrating on the

relation of the word, the object and the cognition of the object, one can

obtain the power of knowing the meaning of words and sounds made by any living

creature.

By concentrating on the samskaras of one's own Reason, one can know one's past

births. By concentrating on the relation between the expression on the face of

another and his mind, one can have knowledge of what transpires in the mind of

that man. By concentrating on the form of one's own or another's body, the body

can be made invisible.

By concentrating on objects as they appear, as they are in themselves, on the

subtle elements that constitute them, on their qualities, etc. one conquers all

the elements and obtains the powers such as becoming infinitesimally small

(anami), becoming infinitely large (mahima), becoming infinitesimally light

(laghima), becoming infinitesimally heavy (gurutvam), the power of touching

anything at any distance (prapti), obtaining anything desired (prakamya),

lordship over everything (isitva) and control over everything (vasitva). These

powers are called the Ashta - siddis, the most important ones. There is other

less important powers realized, called Riddhis.

<Probing further and further into the scientific attainments of the sages of

ancient India, the construction of Vimanas, vehicles capable of flying in

space, is described by Sage Bharadwaja. Mental Science had advanced so much

that they could reproduce what had happened or predict what would happen.>

(Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Sathya Sai Vahini. Eternal Truths).

Bow to the ancient great saints who inherited Vedas to humanity.

To be continued.

Source - References: Shri Satya Sai Veda Pratishtan

http://www.vedamu.org/VedicLiterature/English/Tatsat/tatsat.asp. Chapter 21a, b.

Namaste - Reet