Patanjali's Eightfold Path to Samadhi – The Psychology of Samadhi: 2

Описание: Patanjali's extraordinary eight-step (ashtanga) method of meditation can lead you to the state of samadhi. His ancient teachings become much more accessible with the help of modern psychology and personal insights gained through decades of practice.

Psychology of Meditation playlist:    • Psychology of Samadhi – Based on Patanjali...  

0:00 Four Kinds of Vrittis
5:54 Yama and Niyama, Prohibitions and Injunctions
16:09 Asana and Pranayama, Postures and Breath Control

An Intimate Encounter with your Ego    • An Intimate Encounter with Your EGO: Ahank...  
Inner Journey - A Course in Meditation    • The Inner Journey - A Course in Meditation  
Ujjayi Pranayama    • The Inner Journey – A Course in Meditation...  

In his famous Yoga Sutras, the great rishi, Patanjali, defines the fundamental practice of yoga as citta vritti nirodhah, the complete restraint of all vrittis, all activities of your mind. In addition to the thoughts, emotions, and sensations, produced by your mind, there's a fourth kind of vritti, your ego. Not ego as pride or arrogance, but rather, as the sense of I-ness, your feeling of being an individual person. Psychologists call it reflective awareness or self-consciousness. In Sanskrit, it's called ahankara, literally, the I-maker or I-thought.

To attain samadhi, you have to restrain all four kinds of vrittis produced by your mind, thoughts, emotions, sensations, and ego. To enable you to do this, Patanjali precribes a powerful sequence of practices in his eight angas or limbs of yoga. These eight angas are series of steps, like rungs on a ladder or limbs on a tree. Those steps lead from introductory practices all the way to the ultimate goal of samadhi. The eight angas, as you may already know, are yama, prohibitions; niyama, injunctions; asana, postures; pranayama, breath control; pratyahara, sense withdrawal; dharana, concentration; dhyana, meditation; and samadhi, absorption.
Yama is a set of five prohibitions prescribed by Patanjali. Ahimsa prohibits harming living beings. Satya prohibits lying. Asteya prohibits stealing. Brahmacharya prohibits immoral sexual activities. And aparighraha prohibits possessiveness. Practicing these five yamas is meant to help you establish a dharmic lifestyle that's conducive to meditation.

The first niyama is shauca, purity, having a pure mind, a mind that's free from anger, hurt, envy, resentment, and so on. the second is santosha, patience or forbearance. This virtue can help you gracefully accept difficulties and discomforts that can't be avoided without getting irritated and distracted from your practice. Next is tapas, religious disciplines like fasting, waking up early to meditate, and living simply, without unnecessary luxuries. Such disciplines help you remain firmly focused on your spiritual practice. The next niyama is svadhyaya, regular spiritual study. Today, many resources are freely available online, which can be a great help as long as you're highly selective about what you choose. The final niyama is ishwara-pranidhana, devotion to Ishvara, God. Any kind of prayer or worship connects you emotionally to a reality that's infinitely greater than yourself. That connection can help you feel more secure and remain calm even in the midst of difficult situations.

The third of Patanjali's eight angas is asana, posture. He defines it in a single sutra , sthira-sukham asanam, your posture for seated meditation should be sthira, firm or stable, and sukha, comfortable, pain-free. That means, you can sit on the floor or in a chair, with or without a cushion and back support, as long as your back is erect, your head, neck, and shoulders are properly aligned, and you're comfortable.

The fourth of Patanjali's eight angas is pranayama, breath control. The rishis discovered that by breathing very slowly and deeply, the sympathetic nervous system is calmed, and the fight or flight response is reduced, which results in physical and mental relaxation.

Swami Tadatmananda is a traditionally-trained teacher of Advaita Vedanta, meditation, and Sanskrit. For more information, please see: https://www.arshabodha.org/