Mind control

Mind control is more heroic and beneficial than any other system of control.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

While we practise asanas, we try to control the body with the mind. That's on a different plane needed for mundane life. We need to control the mind through discrimination and then the mind " dies". The body cannot be a tool and need not be a tool for the mind to be controlled or sublimated. Let's keep the body healthy for this purpose - not get obsessed by instructions on asana practice- then we are lost in those words. Simplicity is needed-not complicated words.

Attitudes we need desperately

Be thankful to the Lord that He gave you Time, as well as action to fill it with. He gave you food, as well as hunger to relish it. But that does not entitle you to engage in action indiscriminately. When you build a house, you install a door in front. What is its purpose? To admit all whom you welcome and to keep out all and sundry, and not let them in as and when they like. So too, select the impulses, the motives, the incentives that enter your mind; keep out the demeaning, the debasing, and the deleterious. Admit the highest wisdom of the scriptures, the wisdom culled out of the crucible of experience (anubhava jnaanam). You have meditated too long on riches, status, salary, children, relatives, fame and the standard of living. They are all of momentary value. Fix your focus and urge on God, the Eternal, the Real, the Pure and the Immovable.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Yoga teachers should inculcate such values in classes-not merely provide instructions on asana practices.

Transformation

If there is no transformation of your heart, of what avail are spiritual practices?
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

To transform our heart we need no asana, we need to see within ourselves. See what we are, and decide to be different beings. The Buddha wanted the inner change, this did not need bodily practices. Ultimately, as a person we should be good, humane, full of love. A heart that is dry and rude, cannot progress on the spiritual path very far.

Motive and asana practice

It does not matter withi what motive we practice the asana or even no motive. It does matter how we take our life forward. Make it divine by opening our hearts or not at all.

Atmic consciousness , not asana consciousness

While it's beneficial to practise asanas- we all know it's benefits, we need to tune in to enhance Atmic consciousness and not asana consciousness.
When we begin to see ourselves in others, our outlook has broadened, this is a sign of spiritual maturity. When this happens we get enormous energy, for then we feel one with everybody. If we feel repelled by someone, and we are unable to send vibrations of love, let's move away quietly. This is is best.

Search inward

There is no point in our searching inward when we do an asana. This is needed for medically executing the asana the right way.
We have a more arduous task- to watch our words, action, thoughts & character. This alone in the long run will elevate us. Practice of asanas will not elevate us in the spiritual path.

Baktha of the Lord, not baktha of the asana

Love is essential- love for the lord. Sri Ramakrishna always said- do we weep for the Lord? There is no point in saying we are yoga practitioners and we love asanas or to say that when we practice asana we are bakthas in the asana.
A carpenter loves his /her job, a dancer loves her dance but this does not make for a devotee.
Morever, we cannot and should not proclaim that we are a devotee- that is for the Lord to say. He alone knows our inner selves better than us as He is the indeweller. A true baktha of the Lord takes praise and blame, happiness and sorrow- with equanimity. This is not easy and we must pray to God to bless us with that state of equanimity. .

Love and Islam

The Quran lays down that all beings should cultivate the sense of unity, interdependence, selfless love and the immanence of Divinity. Prayer in a group produces beneficial vibrations. Prayer in Islam is also a congregational activity. Islam promises a greater flow of ecstasy when God is adored by a huge concourse of yearning hearts. All of them bow low at the sight of the Masjid (mosque). They sit in rows on their bended knees and lean forward until their palms and foreheads touch the ground in humble submission to God’s Will. God is One and the teachings in all faiths exalt Him as Love, Compassion, Tolerance and Sympathy. Islam teaches that God's Grace can be won through justice and righteous living; wealth, scholarship and power cannot earn It. Sacred love alone can please the Lord. This is the message of every religion.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

We hatha yogis need to note this point- God is pleased when our characteristics change- the main point being LOVE. Practising asanas does not matter. Change, change - needed inside
not on the physical body.

Realization

Asana practice cannot lead us to realize the Divine. The Divine can be seen, felt , recognized by a heart that is open, full of love and when we remove our faults in our personality. Change in our mental- emotional- whatever one would like to call it- is needed- not change in the body and its cells.
Neither is asana/pranayama practice necessary to take us to the Divine. If it were so, millions are doomed.

The Lord and Sadhana

The name of the Lord when contemplated with love and sincerity is much superior to any benefit given by any asana or pranayama. The name will protect us like the eyes are protected by the eyelids or like the mother tortoise protects the baby.

In the kali yuga no difficult penance is needed to reach the Lord. A pure heart, melting at other's misery, good deeds and constant contemplation of God and His glory is what we need. By practising asanas only our insides are affected and that too only on a physiological level but when we dwell on the Lord's name and sing his glory by bhajans ( naama sankirtana) the good vibrations are spread to others too. The entire area becomes sanctified.

Awareness and asana

Awareness of how we sit, stand, do our asanas with utmost carefulness is important. But awareness of our thoughts, it's implications, our behaviour, how focused we are on our spiritual goal is far more important.

Asana is not us, nor can we become the asana. Asana is not physical , it's how we are poised internally.

See God in all

See the Lord in every being; be aware of Him every moment of existence and be immersed in the Ananda (bliss) of this awareness. Merged in the relationship born out of profound devotion to Him, surrender your wish and will to act; the attitude, the activity and the fruit of the action as well - offer to the Lord everything from beginning to the end.  That is, perform all actions in a spirit of worshipful non-attachment. This is what the Lord seeks from each and every devotee. Of course, such complete surrender is not easy. But if you make the slightest effort towards it, the Lord Himself will confer the courage to pursue it to the end. He will walk with and help you as a friend and guide; He will guard you from evil and temptations; He will be your staff and support.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

As yoga practitioners we need to make this kind of effort.

God and surrender

With God you are a hero, without God you are a zero.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The body can never be made perfect by asana practise try as much as we can. This is nature. So let's keep it healthy as far a we can instead of being obsessed with too minute points on asana practise. Let's think of the divine much as we can which will root out unwanted qualities in us which takes us closer to the Supreme. This is what we really need. As we do our tasks through the day, in the background lets not lose focus of the divine. Admittedly we do fail on this but if we ask for His help, it will come. Lord Krishna responded to Draupadi only when she called him as the indweller of the heart. So long as she relied on herself she failed. Quality of our call is more important.

Elevation, nobility

Spend a few minutes every morning and evening in the silence of your own shrine or home; spend them with the highest of all the powers that you know of. Be in His elevating and inspiring company; worship Him mentally; offer unto Him all the work you do; you will come out of the silence nobler and more heroic than when you went in.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Happiness

Which is the happiest day in one's life? All are happy days to a person of Jnana (true knowledge). Happiness is a conscious internal experience which is an effect of the extinction of all mental and physical desires. The lesser the desires, the greater is the happiness. Therefore, perfect happiness consists in the merger of all desires in the Absolute Being. The mind has no independent identity of its own. It is a conglomeration of the desires that sprout from the impulses. A cloth is essentially a bundle of threads. Threads are basically spun from cotton. Similarly, desires arise from basic impulses, and the mind is constituted of these desires. Just as a piece of cloth disintegrates if threads in it are pulled apart, the mind too can be destroyed by the eradication of desires.
-Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The Lord's Grace

The Lord's grace is conferred on each devotee according to the level of his spiritual consciousness. The ocean is vast and boundless. But, the amount of water you can carry from it is determined by the size of the vessel you carry to its shore. If the vessel is small, you cannot fill it beyond its limited capacity. Likewise, if your heart is constricted, divine grace will be equally limited. Broaden your heart by getting rid of narrow differences, and thus recognise the truth that the Divine dwells in everybody.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

As hatha yoga sadhakas we need to make our hearts open and broad- not the body open and broad.

Principles

Principles of living and not principles of asana practice, helps us to evolve. We want not bodily evolution, but inner evolution.

The way to God.

Do good, See good, be good. This is the way to God.
Start the day with love, fill the day with love, end the day with love- this is the way to God .
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The above may seem simplistic but then we often miss what is simple and look for complicated jargons and philosophies.
God will see what kind of person we have been- not what asana we have mastered!

Avoid obsession with asanas

We should avoid attaching too much importance to asanas. Life is more than doing an asana- never mind with whatever motive we do the asana.

Our personality and asanas

We are born with certain traits and the rest is a product of the family and environment- friends, relatives etc. Practising asanas and pranayama cannot change these.We need a conscious awareness to remove these unwanted weeds and leave the healthy material to help us progress on the spiritual path.
Put differently- asanas and pranayama are not the way to realization. The reason I mention this is many sadhakaas believe that asanas and pranayama alone are enough for progress. This is erroneous. Unless we cultivate love for God we cannot progress.Ultimately, Love is the tool for progress. Little else is needed.

Asanas and our thoughts

Our thoughts are more important than practising asanas. Asanas are not the way to liberation. Internal change brought about by altering our outlook is alone the way as has been mentioned repeatedly in all religious schools.

True renunciation has nothing to do with asana practice

There is no profit in simply controlling impulses. A cobra becomes harmless only when its fangs are plucked out; similarly, the roots of impulses must be burned. Only then can the aspirant attain the Brahman. Of course, even pure desires are a bond. But they are not hindrances, however many they may be. A thorn is removed by another and both are thrown out afterwards, right? So also, when impure impulses are overcome through the influence of pure impulses, one has to outgrow both. This means that even the purest of impulses, the craving for liberation, has to disappear in time. Only then, can you become Brahman. A shackle is a shackle, whether it is of iron or gold. That is to say, one should attain a stage when neither good nor bad will attract or repel. Anyone aiming at the realisation of God should practice the diminishing of impulses, the curbing of the mind, and must strive to understand the fundamental principle of Divinity.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Technology & health

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
In this era of technology it is becoming increasingly difficult to lead a peaceful life; people are falling victim to various physical and mental ailments. Many people in the cities which are on the front line of civilization, have lost the delight of natural sleep. They experience only artificial sleep induced by tablets. Due to such excessive use of medication, heart and blood pressure problems are on the rise. People are becoming unhealthy wrecks who are lost in fear and anxiety. Drugs and pills are produced in millions, but the general health has not improved. In fact new varieties of illnesses have emerged and are developing fast. Only a few intelligent people have realized the efficacy of yoga and other spiritual practices. This they have confirmed through their own experience.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Love for God

When we love our parents who provide for us , should we not have more love for God who has given us our parents?

Spiritual practices-2

Devotion does not call for arduous spiritual practices or severe disciplines of any kind. There is no need to perform intense penances or Yajnas (religious sacrifices). The only easy and sure means for ordinary people to realize God, without regard to their caste, nationality, gender or any other qualification, is to have intense devotion and love for God. Where there is deep faith, there is intense love. Where there is love, there is Shraddha (earnestness). Through earnestness, the Jnana (higher knowledge) is gained. This knowledge enables one to practice spirituality. The Gopikas (cowherd maidens) exemplified this; they experienced the continuous presence of God within them and outside them. They showed that such sublime love was possible even for ordinary persons with little knowledge of the scriptures or spiritual disciplines and demonstrated the inextricable link between the Divine and the individual.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Die-hard hatha yogis - we should alter our approach. There is no need to stop hatha yoga but love for God is more important than anything else on the spiritual path.

God and you

Date: Thursday, June 30, 2011 As in Prashanti Nilayam

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

All of you must realize that the relationship between you and God is permanent, and is beyond the limitations of time and space. You should not waste your life thinking only of the physical relationship. The body is a passing thing. What you see externally is a burden. When you have made it a part of yourself it ceases to be a burden. It is like the food that a traveller carries on his shoulders for consumption on the way. As long as the food remains outside it is a burden. But when he has eaten it, he gets stronger and there is no burden on his shoulder. You must safeguard the Divinity you experienced and magnify it by contemplating on it internally. You should concentrate on the attainment of union with the Divine, which is permanent and beyond the limitations of time and space.
Baba

The right approach

It may be possible to teach a person the posture, the pose, the position of the legs, hands, neck, head or back, the style of breathing or its speed. But meditation is a function of the inner man; it motivates deep subjective quiet, the employing of the mind and filling oneself with the light that emerges from the divine spark within. This is a discipline that no text book and no class can communicate.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Highest Sadhana

The lives of individuals are determined by the activities that the individual adopted either in previous lives or in this. The consequences of acts done in the past lives that affect this life are called Praarabdha. The Karma that one is engaged in now which is bound to affect the future is called Aagaami. The aggregate Karma of the past that is slowly being worked out by the individual life after life is called Sanchitha. Just as an activity that one is engaged in can be referred to as Karma, being silent and quiescent is called Akarma! If you are not attached to the fruits of the action you perform, but are engaged in it as your duty, as your way of worship; then you can practice Akarma even when engaged in Karma. This is the highest Sadhana.

BABA

Yoga

http://www.medindia.net/healthvideo/healing-power-of-yoga.htm#cmt

Discrimination

You must use your discrimination to sift the trash and discard it in preference to what is valuable. You must earn Punyam (merit) by rendering selfless service to others. You must keep away from bad persons and seek the friendship of the good, those who can cleanse and heal you. If you do not attempt to transform yourself thus, you tend to expect plentiful grace and then blame God for your sorrows, instead of blaming your unsteady faith! Grace cannot be claimed by such behaviour; your devotion must be so true that God accepts you as His devotee. You are consumed by time; God is the master of time. So, take refuge in God. Let God be your Guru, your path, your Lord. Adore Him, obey His commands, offer Him your grateful homage, and hold Him fast in your mind. This is the only way and also the easiest way to realize Him as your own reality.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Prayer

Will you, my Lord, let go the hold?
You will not, you will not,
You will not let go,
However bad I be.

Will you my Lord, let me waste my years?
You will not, you will not,
You will not let me waste,
However dull I be.

Will you my Lord, let me run to ruin?
You will not, you will not,
You will not let me run,
However wayward I be.

Will you my Lord let me escape Your eye?
You will not, you will not,
You will not let me escape,
However wanton I be.

You cannot but rush to rescue Your own,
You cannot delay for weighing pro and con;
You cannot stay unconcerned when we weep;
You cannot but respond to the prayers of the poor.
Sathya Sai Baba

Written by Sri Sathya Sai Baba Himself.

The Lord is always there for us!
Dr Krishna Raman

What is the proper offering to God?

What is the proper offering to God?
Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita says - Patram, Pushpam, Phalam, Toyam (leaf, flower, fruit and water). What do these signify? Your body is the leaf; your heart is the flower; your mind is the fruit and the tears of bliss is the water to be offered to God. Instead of attaching undue importance to this ephemeral body, emphasise on the Atma tatwa (Atmic principle). The body is to be surrendered unto God by undertaking acts of worship and other sacred deeds." -

Baba


This is why Hatha yoga is only a stepping stone. We cannot attain liberation with
hatha yoga. That is a delusion.
Dr Krishna Raman

Spiritual practices

Be careful not to discuss the pros and cons of your spiritual practices with all and sundry. If the people consulted are treading another path, they will decry your practice of repetition of the name and meditation and treat them with scant respect. They will look down upon your practices, as if they were very elementary and as if your were but a beginner in school. As a result, you will start doubting the efficacy of your chosen path! You will get concern where earlier you had joy, disgust where earlier you had love. Therefore, reflect within yourself, or approach those who have tasted the nectar of that Name. Do not argue about these things with everyone you meet. The time spent in these disputations is better used in the cultivation of joy through the repeated contemplation of the Name (Nama) and meditation on the Form (Rupa) of the Lord.

BABA

Liberation is possible only through devotion to the Lord

Neither liberation from the cycle of birth and death nor purity of intellect and emotions is possible without devotion to the Lord. Those who have the spring of ecstatic devotion to the Presence of the Lord within them do not need any texts to ponder over. The very contemplation on the beauty, grace, and power of the Lord will give them the bliss they seek. In that ecstatic mood, they discard all self-consciousness and yearn to become the beloved of God, and remain in blissful Union with Him. They dance and sing aloud and merge with Him in genuine joy and Ananda (bliss). The agony of the devotee to attain their beloved Lord is the true sign of devotion.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Time is the manifestation of the power of God, and so it has no end or beginning which can be measured. Karma too is an important manifestation. Easwara or God is no wayward force, unmindful of bounds and limits. He creates circumstances strictly according to the activities that men have engaged in during their previous lives. Creation, Time and the Karma— all three are instruments which He uses. They are bound to Him. Easwara though not perceptible to the senses ordinarily, becomes so perceptible to the devotee who has deep attachment to Him that the devotee yearns to merge in Him. Such devotees can perceive God as clearly as they perceive external objects.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Purity

Just as soap is necessary to make this external body clean, repetition of the divine name, meditation, and remembrance (smarana) are needed to cleanse the interior mind. Just as food and drink are needed to keep the body strong, contemplation of the Lord and meditation on the Atma (Soul) are needed to strengthen the mind. Without this food and drink, the mind will just stumble this way and that. When the waves of desire agitate the waters of the mind, how can one see the base, the Atma? So, clean the mind with contemplation of the Lord. Feed it with meditation on the Atma. Only meditation and spiritual practice (sadhana) can clean the depths of the mind and give it strength. Without purity and strength, the Atma recedes into the distance and peace flees.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Hence hatha yoga is only for the body- external purity. Internal purity is needed. Unless the Lord is contemplated peace is a far fetched idea.

Dr Krishna Raman

How to achieve peace in life

Every act in daily life can be sanctified by dedicating it to God. By dedicating all thoughts to God, man can achieve peace. There is no need to wait for a suitable time for embarking on this exercise. The time is at your beck and call. Great people do not wait for a propitious time. They make time their servant.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Real Tapas

Thapas (penance) does not mean positioning oneself upside down, head on the ground and feet held up, like a bat. Nor is it the renunciation of possessions and properties, wife and children, emaciating one’s body or holding the nose to regulate one’s breath. NO. Physical actions, oral assertions and mental resolves—all three have to be in unison. The thought, the speech and the act all have to be pure. This is the real Thapas. And they have to be co-ordinated not by the compulsion of duty. The effort must be undertaken for satisfying one’s inner yearnings, for the contentment of the self. This struggle is the essence of Thapas.

Sri Sathya Sai BABA

We die hard Hatha Yogis must change our attitudes.
Dr Krishna Raman

Purity is needed

Lord Buddha's emphasis was entirely on purity in every aspect of daily life. Purity in vision, purity in thought, purity in speech and purity in action. He considered the spirit of sacrifice as the true Yajna (sacred offering). Sacrifice is the means for attaining Nirvana, freedom from the bondage of mundane existence. Buddha was totally opposed to anyone being forced to lead a worldly life against his will. The Buddhist prayer must be properly understood. When the Buddhists say: "Buddham sharanam gachchaami, Dharmam sharanam gachchaami, Sangham sharanam gachchaami," the real meaning of the prayer is: One must divert one’s Buddhi (intellect) towards Dharma (right conduct). And right conduct should be aimed at serving society. When this is done, society gets purified.

BABA

Liberation

It is pure love that bestows liberation. You should endeavour to attain this holistic love. To attain liberation, people undertake all sorts of spiritual practices, but love is the undercurrent of all spiritual endeavours. Bhakti (devotion) is a spiritual practice based on love. Devotion is not merely singing Bhajans or performing sacred rituals. True devotion is a direct flow of selfless and unconditional love from your heart to God. In the spiritual practices that people undertake, there is some amount of selfishness. Offer your love to God devoid of the least trace of selfishness or desire. The annihilation of desire is verily liberation.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Attaining God

God, who is the embodiment of love, can be attained only through love, just as the effulgent Sun can be seen only through its own light. There is nothing more precious in this world than Divine love. God is Gunaatheetha (beyond all attributes). Hence, His love also is beyond attributes. But, human love governed by Gunas (attributes) results in attachment and aversion. Love should not be based on expectations of reward or return. Love based on such expectations makes it a business deal. Love is not an article of commerce. It is not like a lending a loan and getting it back. It is a spontaneous offering. Pure love of this kind can emanate only from a pure heart. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Hence we can see that it is more important to keep our hearts pure. Lets focus on this
rather than perfecting our asanas which can be still done but lets change priorities!

Bhakthi for the Lord

Its enough to have bhakthi for the Lord with sincerity. He will look after us
and give what is needed. The Lord gives us even before asking Him. There is no yoga
superior to this. Bodily contortions are insignificant when compared to this.

Yoga

"Yoga" means “Union”. In India, where yoga is flowing in the veins of everyone since ages, people must strive for harmonious coexistence of many faiths and beliefs, which is the ideal type of Universal Religion. Those who can heroically put their faith into daily living can accomplish this “togetherness” in the human community. Togetherness or Union can be established between one’s outer behaviour and inner nature. The Sadhaka (aspirant for spiritual progress), intent on the path of Prema, must strive for Union between himself and the embodiment of Prema, namely, God.

-Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The lord's name

The Lord's name is superior to any Hatha yoga practice. His name can lead us to liberation. We should chant His name with love. There is no superior sadhana than this.

Mind and body

We need to try and improve our equanimity levels in all situations. Of course, we need to '

keep the body healthy but focusing all our energies on the body is not sensible as it will never

be perfected. That is the nature of the body.

Things we need or not need

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Man can be happy with much less than he seems to think essential. When some article is with you for some little time, you feel it is indispensable and you do not know how to live without it. Like the silkworm, you weave a cocoon for yourself, out of your fancy. Do not allow costly habits to grow, costly from the monetary as well as the spiritual point of view. Watch your likes and dislikes with a vigilant ye and discard anything that threatens to encumber your path.

- BABA

True Sadhana

There are three stages of Sadhana (spiritual practice). They are concentration, contemplation and meditation. When you fix your gaze on one form, it is concentration. When this form physically moves away after sometime, you still look at this form with your mental eye. That is contemplation. As a result of this exercise, this form gets imprinted in your heart permanently. That is meditation. If you go on meditating thus, the form remains in your heart permanently. You should not confine your spiritual practices to concentration and contemplation only.

While it is true that these are the first steps in your spiritual practices, you must progress further. You must transform concentration to contemplation and later into meditation. When you transform thus, you will continue to visualize the form of God at all times. The ancient Rishis (seers) adopted this form of meditation. That is why God manifested before them whenever they wished, talked to them and fulfilled their desires.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Bakthi is needed for Salvation

Something for us to think about:

"As you know, hatha yoga is a process of purifying one's body so that we prepare it for dhyana. In ashtanga yoga 'asana' is defined as 'yoga yogya sarira sthiti' - body posture which enables meditation. Sri Krishna in Gita establishes the following ladder for salvation:

1. fundamental atma gnana - that the atma is different and superior to the body.

2. Practice of karma yoga ( one of the many constituents of karma yoga is pranayama - which formed the basis of the later hatha yoga)

3. Chitta suddhi - blemishes in our mind gets cleaned

4. Practice of gyana yoga

5. Atma sakshatkara - Realise the true nature of atma ie the atman is essentially full of gyana and bliss, and it is in absolute servitude to paramatma. But it is bound by it's karma in this samsara. It has to get released of this bondage and the only way is bhakti towards paramatma

6. Practice of karma and gyana yoga removes anaadi kaala paapa which are obstacles to start bhakti yoga (they are bhakti arambha virodhi paapa)

7. Then we begin bhakti yoga, which is so sweet as our body speech and mind are absorbed in Sri Krishna

8. Continued practice of bhakti yoga removes all other sins that are obstacles in attaining salvation.

9. When our prarabdha karmas get exhausted, we renounce this body for ever and reach His lotus feet.

So gyana matures to be bhakti (bhakti:ca gyana visesha:). Bhakti is defined as - snehapurvam anudhyanam bhaktiriti abhidheeyate - prolonged mediation embellished by love is bhakti. Sri Krishna says that there is no means other than the path of devotion to know, see and reach Him. Quote " bhaktya tu ananyaya sakya: ahamedvam vidhorjuna - gyatum drashtum ca tatvena praveshtum ca parantapa". Moreover Sri Krishna says in the last verse of 6th chapter

"yoginaamapi sarvesham madgatena antaratmana sraddhavan bhajate yo mam sa me yukta tamo mata:"

Bhakti yoga, where the devotee's mind is absorbed in Me, is superior to all other yogas. One who earnestly practices bhakti yoga is intimate to Me.

The last three angas of ashtanga yoga - dhaarana ( subhasraye manasa: pratishthapanam - focus the mind on the divine form of Bhagavan): dhyana and samadhi ( isvara vasikaranam Or Darsanam / sakshatkaram)-

all these three constituents, are about paramatma.

From all the above it is very clear, that asana or pranayama or hatha yoga are at at a much lower level. These are a few of the many procedures that purify and prepare us for meditation and devotion. Eventually, bhakti is the only means for salvation"- Sri Vellukuddi Krishnan

The Gita

All we die-hard hatha Yogis- the Lord has clearly mentioned in the Gita that He values devotion as the best means to reach Him. He also clearly says - think of me every moment. We dont need clearer instructions than this. We dont need to complicate our lives by wasting our energies on awareness and its implications.

Purification of the heart

The aim of all sadhanas is to purify the heart. This does not require hatha yoga. We need to

be simple, frank and good people and kind. Without achieving this, all else is a waste.

We practice daily- so what?

We practice asanas daily- so what? We are perfect in the asana inside and outside- so what?

Have we changed inside- our thoughts? our feelings? Let us reflect on these which are far more relevant and important.

We cannot learn through asanas

We cannot learn or cleanse our mind through asanas. By introspection alone can this be achieved. Asanas can develop body awareness honed to a fine degree but obviously it ends there. Our petty qualities, our ego etc cannot change unless we intend to make a change and this intention does not need asanas. Hence the need for introspection to remove weeds. Its very simple- body has to be kept healthy by exercise and our thoughts to be stilled by pyscho-spiritual processes which primarily is turning inward. It is still appropriate to say that Hatha Yoga is only for the body and not the mind. Imagine an asana removing our bad qualities- over night we can then purify the planet. It is very difficult for the vasanas to change and hence constant introspection is needed.

Live in the constant contemplation of your kinship with others and with the Universe. Do good to others, treat all nature kindly, speak soft and sweet words, become like a child devoid of envy, hate and greed. When your love crosses the boundaries of your family and community, and expands to those beyond, you have taken the first step...

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

To me this is more important than mastering asanas. And , this is enough we dont need more. The physical is like a limited company, the mental impressions we create are to be nourished more than the physical.

hatha yoga for liberation

If Asanas and pranayama alone were enough for liberation every single yogi that has lived

would have done so. Changes on the mental sphere are more needed. Asanas and Pranayama cannot go beyond a level. They are not the end all of things.

Focus on our thoughts- not the body

We spend too much time attending to the body by using hatha yoga.
We must spend more time rectifying our mind rather than the body.

Brain and yoga

Whether the brain is passive or not when doing asanas- it is still physical yoga. As long as we deal with the body - its physical, physiological or anything else we can call it. When the body is not under purview, and we are working only on ourselves internally, changing ourselves - are we trying to become something different.

Stress and strain

Stress and strain is how we take things in life. Physical strain can be helped by regular exercises of any kind. Mental drain cannot be helped by yoga- if we love our work there is no drain. Strain and drain is only when we overdo things. So let us not apply the principles of yoga incorrectly. Attitudes matter and this guides our life. Asanas are wrongly touted as being helpful for stress in general. One must be very clear as to what kind of stress is meant when such statements are made.

For us

For life and living- yamas and niyamas

For the body- asanas and pranayama

For the mind- to eliminate the mind and keep pure consciousness- dharana, dhyana and Samadhi

Sublimation

Mind has to be sublimated - not by the body approach but by turning our eye inward. Using the body to sublimate the mind is an endless and incorrect approach. Hence asanas cannot be used to change our mind- change has to take place on the mental plane. The will/ interest to practice asanas itself shows that the first change occurs on the psyche and not the body. No saint or world teacher in our ethos has used the body to sublimate the mind as it is not logically the correct thing to do.

The physical plane

Whatever we do with the body , it is physical - with or without awareness is the only difference. With good awareness it makes a better hatha yoga pose rather than without. Yet, its on the physical plane only . So we need to spread our awareness to a different plane- our heart. Open our heart and the world is beautiful. It does not need hatha yoga. Hatha yoga is physical, the heart is not.

Thought for the day

The mind should not be wandering in all directions indiscriminately like the fly. The fly dwells in the sweetmeat shop and runs after the rubbish carts; the fly (mind) has to be taught to understand the sweetness of the first place and the impurity of the second place, so that it may not desert the sweetmeat shop and pursue the rubbish cart. When such teaching is imparted to the mind, it is called meditation. On the other hand, look at the bee! It has contact only with sweetness; it approaches only flowers that possess nectar; it is not attracted to other places; it does not proceed there at all. Similarly, you must give up all inclinations towards sensory attraction.

Sri Sathya Sai baba

Thought for the day

The main things to be considered are not at what expense one has prayed to the Lord, or the number of years one has been engaged in it, or the rules and regulations one has followed, or even the number of times one has prayed over. The main considerations are: with what mind one has prayed, with what degree of patience one has been awaiting the result, and with what single-mindedness one has craved for Godly bliss regardless of worldly happiness and delay, with no lassitude and with constant attention to oneself, one’s meditation, and one’s tasks on hand. As far as possible, you must direct the mind to all holy things which yield sweetness and the joy associated with the Lord.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Saucha and contentment

Similarly the above two are internal. Clean thoughts are more valid than a mere clean body- does not mean that we keep the body unclean though. Body is filled with germs- its already dirty - in a sense. To keep our thoughts pure is more difficult and this is more needed than only asana practice.

Ahimsa and Sathya

These two are not external to us- they are internal. To think there are external is a great mistake. Not to think evil, emanates from inside - not outside. Sathya is inside- a quality. Even when we are alone we need to follow these and hence these are inside us and not outside. That is why it is said that to live a life of truth is more important. It is important not to have violent thoughts and hence it is internal. Our thoughts guide our body- not the other way around.

Thought for the day as seen in Prashanthi Nilayam

"Why does the sun rise and set everyday without delay or disruption? Why do the stars that light the sky to the delight of all eyes, hide their splendorous faces when the day dawns, and never even slyly peer to tell us where they are? Why does air always be around, giving us the breath of life?

Why do these streams and rivers roar, murmur, gurgle and gossip over rock, pebble and sand, as they meander along towards the parent sea? How is it that the billions that constitute mankind, though they are caskets treasuring images of the same entity, remain distinct from each other in appearance, achievement, aspiration and attitude?

This is the answer: Know that I am the One who has ordained that these be such and shall behave so." -Baba

Happiness is independent of the body

The bliss born out of attempting to perfect the body will not last. Happiness is independent of

the body and its issues. A cool head can be had irrespective of our body.

Value based yoga

Mere hatha yoga practice with instructions on techniques of asanas is an empty shell. Value based hatha yoga - which means the teacher should integrate the teachings of The Gita, Koran, Bible, etc which makes the class a satsang- this is what make the class worthwhile.

Thoughts of God

Constantly, sincerely thinking about God are superior to thoughts on perfecting our asana practice.

We need to try and go above the body consciousness. This is only possible by His grace and we need to make efforts for that. Merely spending hours on hata yoga is not adequate. We have to pray to Him to grant us that divine perception which takes is above the body. This sadhana is superior to body sadhana.

Patanajli did not stop at asana if he felt that asana alone would suffice- which is obviously not possible. Hence Dharana & Dhyana were given.