Yoga Vidya

Jnana Yoga – Yoga of Intellect

Jnana Yoga, the yoga of knowledge. It is intuitive, enlightening knowledge which is gained from enquiry and insight. It is a process of slowly discovering the nature of our personality with intellectual guidance. There have been many famous Jnana yogis who have defied logic. They gained knowledge through intuition and by seeing something that was not defined by the existing, accepted knowledge of the time.

For those who want to devote their lives to Jnana yoga they need to have a strong desire for knowledge and answers. They need to question everything and be completely absorbed and involved with finding the answers. For many they naturally have a personality like this and are best suited to this path of yoga. Preconceived ideas must be thrown away, anything that you don’t know to be true from past experience. Clean the mind, get rid of the conditionings of the mind and start afresh. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t believe anything, some things, if experienced by thousands of people should be accepted. If someone tells you that the cobra is deadly and that you shouldn’t touch it, accept it, it makes life easier. But if someone says to you that you have a soul, question it. With most topics you will have to accept as there is no point in testing everything, but when it comes to the subject of reality, here you should clean your mind and question everything. It is easy to believe in something, it is hard to believe in nothing. Personal experience is necessary to be able to change, evolve and understand.

After rejecting we must enquire. Who am I is the most famous question. Remove any definitions you may have on your existence. A Jnana yogi must become obsessed with realising his true nature. Reflection will lead to flashes of intuition which will lead to answers. Reject what others have said, continually enquire.

It is a difficult path, and not for all. But it doesn’t mean that we can’t all practice some Jnana yoga in our lives. There is a simple technique, suitable for all, a technique of enquiry and reflection. When you are preparing to go to sleep think of one thing, what you did that day. Start from the beginning of the day, when you woke up. Take a step back and observe yourself, relive every moment of that day, like it is a film. What were your thoughts, actions, feelings, interactions with others, various interactions that occurred throughout the day, behaviour, attitude etc. How did you react to the different situations that you were faced in? Don’t judge or become upset by the way you were, just accept and move to the next situation. After this make a resolve to be more balanced the next day, to react in a more pleasant, controlled and balanced way. Practice this every night before sleeping and you will find that your interactions with people and the environment will become more and more balanced, as well as giving you a greater and deeper understanding of yourself. It will make you more accepting as well as helping you to deal with difficult situations with an open, accepting and positive mind.

Swara Yoga – Science of Prana

Swara yoga is an ancient, closely guarded and esoteric science with its origins in the Tantras. There is not much information on Swara yoga and the main text is known as Shivaswarodaya which is the dialogue between Shiva and Parvati. Previously it was taught only from Guru to disciple.

Swara means continuous sound. It is the science of breath, prana, its rhythms, movements and patterns. It talks of the relationship between prana and cosmic prana and is known to give psychic abilities in a short amount of time. Pranayama, the control of prana, is one aspect of swara yoga. It explains how the movement of prana can be manipulated by the breath. Swara yoga can be used not just in basic life for daily requirements, but, as with all yoga, its aim are for union and it will help you to realize your true inner self.

The swara is known as the essence of the breath. It is something we are born with and die with. We all have breath and we all have the subtle prana. This is the essence of the breath and the basis of swara yoga. Normal breathing is a mechanical function performed by the physical body but in swara yoga this process is controlled and manipulated. Breathing is not just a physical action but with each breath there is a significant coded message.

The thoughts and prana travel through the breath. Emotions affect the breath. All are interlinked. For example when we make some food with love or with anger the breath mixes with the food we are cooking and this makes the food positive or negative. A simple dish, when cooked with love or if special mantras are used when cooking can make a meal amazing. Whereas another meal which may normally taste great, when cooked in an angry mood, even though all the ingredients and techniques are the same, may turn out horrible. That’s why in many ashrams only those who have positive thoughts are allowed in the kitchen.

The power of thoughts travelling through the subtle breath can also be seen in the experiments by Dr Emoto. Here water crystals were studied after treated in certain ways. For example when water was held and the person was thinking I love you or I hate you. This produced different effects to the crystals. The I love you crystals were more pure whilst the I hate you crystals were not properly formed, though the same water was used. Look also at the connections between a mother and baby or long married couples. They understand what the other needs without any words.

The breath flows in eleven main ways but the focus is generally on the left or right nostril. If you observe the breath at first it will seem that the air is flowing out of both nostrils simultaneously, but after some time you will begin to notice that one nostril dominates the flow of breath and also that this nostril changes. It may be left dominant, right dominant or both nostrils. The flow of breath through one nostril has a different physiological and psychological effect to the flow of breath through the other nostril. Every 1 ½ hours approximately the flow will change from one to the other, though it changes from person to person and the environment that they are in. Both nostrils are used during the in between period. This change in the swara keeps the balance of the body and mind. If this swara becomes irregular then it is a clear indication that something in the body is not functioning correctly.

Each nostril has different effects on the body and mind.

Bhakti Yoga – The Yoga of Transformation

Bhakti yoga is a non-physical practice and therefore more difficult to define than the physical practices of hatha, kundalini or kriya yoga. However it deals more deeply with the awakening of the human personality. It is one of the higher sadhanas for those who want to evolve spiritually. Bhakti yoga is the channelling of positive feelings to experience harmony inside. It is the recognition of all feelings generated in life, what we class as both good and bad, and the harmony and balance of these. It is where we direct our emotions inward and find a state of balance between the attractions and repulsions of life.

It is the balancing of manifesting emotions. By following bhakti yoga we go deeper into our being, observe the emotions, and, once we find the balance, experience peace and tranquillity which brings us closer to our own inner strength. Bhakti is the deep, internal feeling of having found the missing link of life, the support or basis of our existence. Bhakti provides that missing aspect, when our lives stop being mechanical, and develops a sense of inner identity and union.

Bhakti is a sadhana, a process, not only a practice. It is something that you practice all the time, is part of everything you do, not just that two hours of yoga practice in the morning. It is meant to improve the quality of your life. It is not the yoga of devotion, though it is often put into that class. This is because the idea of worship and communion with God has overlapped with the concept of Bhakti Yoga. Rituals and rules were something that was added later when organised religions developed because people felt more secure and happy to have them but they are not necessary. In yoga there is no concept of God but only of the concept of Ishwara, which means the unchanging reality, the higher nature.

Bhakti yoga is where we try to change the conditionings of the mind. It is a process of inner transformation and inner purification, changing the complete personality, thinking patterns, lifestyle, intellect, emotions, feelings and social performance. To perfect Bhakti all these aspects have to come together. It’s a process of moving away from a tamasic state of existence to a higher, purer state.