Super Science of Yoga

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Super Science of Yoga is a result of an exercise made for years, to bring the vast knowledge of yoga widely extended through all over the literature of Veda, Upanishads, India scriptures and Philosophies, in a synthesized form. This book delineates every aspects of Yoga. This handbook not only provides the systematic history of succession of Yogic knowledge, starting from the beginning, but it also spreads light on the various aspects of Yoga.

It is a handbook containing knowledge of practical and insightful yogic instructions for success in physical and spiritual life and a guideline with special focus on meditation, yoga nidra, and the awakening f Kundalini. Giving an introduction to the origin of Yoga, Jnan Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, it explains in detail the way of practicing Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga on our day to day life for physical, mental, emotional as well as spiritual well-being.

As the book is designed to conform to course contents of Yoga, it will be great use to graduate, post graduates, diploma, degree and research students of Yoga and the teachers alike.

The author has made an effort to present the practical aspects of Yoga in a very simple, lucid and concise manner for the aspirants, students as well as teachers of Yoga and also for those who want to make the best use of Yoga in their day to day life.

About the Author

Dr. Kamakhya Kumar is an established investigator and a well known author of yogic science. He is post Graduate in Applied Yogic Science and awarded Ph.D in the presence of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India in the same field. He has gone through the ancient scriptures of India and the various Yogic texts. He has written books on yoga especially for the students at Post Graduate level.

He is a senior lecturer in the Department of Human Consciousness and yogic science, having the additional charge of yoga science, having the additional charge of yoga Arogya polyclinic as chief co-oradinator. He has contributed a number of papers and articles in different books and research journals in India and abroad besides this, he has to his credit the other books like Yoga Mahavigyan, Yoga Theraphy & Yoga Chikitsa Sandarshika. He has also delivered lectures for various institutions and broadcasted a series of talks on All India Radio. Alongwith his routine works he is guiding Ph.D. and short Researches in several universities.

Foreword

Yoga is a comprehensive and precisely live tuned process of uniting the individual consciousness with the omnipresent cosmic consciousness. Understanding the spiritual nature and philosophy of yoga is certainly more important than its gross applications. It is a total science of strengthening and improving the physical, mental, and spiritual state of being. The great Yogic gave rational interpretation of their experiences about yoga and brought a practically sound and scientifically prepared method within every one's reach.

Yoga through repeated experiments throughout its history of more than 9,000 years came to the conclusion that consciousness is the most fundamental essence of creation at macrocosmic as well as microcosmic level. The view point has been formed not through pronouncements of a single individual but is the result of profound investigation by a number of seer and sages of the Vedas, independently through tapas was not only introspection but by diving deep within themselves and saw however everything tangible was explicable in terms of consciousness. This consciousness pervaded not only in their psychic being but also in their vitality, physicality also the entire cosmos and each manifestation is pervaded by it. Yoga aims at right discernment and constant mindfulness so that one acquires one's true nature. This is aided through mindful practice of Pranayama which culminates into pratyahara, dhyana and finally into Samadhi.

As per evidences available Yoga was in limelight during Prevedic period that it was brought into the structural form. The essence of Yoga is available in Vedic scriptures and Upanishads. It brought down to common man during Epic and Tantric period. Several philosophers and Yogis contributed allot to simplify the transcendental science into an acceptable form. The great contribution came from Maharshi Patanjali, Lord Buddha, Sankaracharya, Sri Aurobindo and Sw. Vivekananda.

Yoga also in the field of consciousness holds supremacy, which tries to bring social harmony by understanding that one reality exists in all. Yogis through the tool of yoga unfold the mystery of this universe and thus acquire knowledge to its minuteness. The knowledge of yoga was in limelight.

Today the whole world is behind Yoga looking from various angles to extract the benefits so that one can become healthy and happy. Several scholars during last few decades making efforts to bring this science to a common people by conducting standardized clinical traits and various philosophical research, so that the essence of this ancient wisdom shall made about easy to the common people.

Dr. Kamakhya Kumar in this book traces the history and evolution of Yoga and brings out the essence of Yoga from various tradition of yoga starting from prevedic period. He not only emphasizes the philosophical knowledge of Yoga, but also bring the applied form of Yoga which is the unique contribution of Dr. Kumar which will prove to a milestone for researchers and students of yoga to understand and system.

The present volume of Super Science of Yoga will definitely help the academician to know the history and development and applied form of Yoga. He clearly enunciates how practice of asanas Pranayamas and different yogic practices removes diseases and brings stability, health to the body and as has been rightly said Jabaladarshnopanishad that one, who has established control over the asnas, conquers the three worlds.

Pranayama enhances and balances the pranas, once they have been regulated; the mind comes under its control, since prana is the first to originate from consciousness and finally merges into consciousness itself. The real pranayama is that when the yogi becomes mindful of the subtle vibrations created by the prana and with its aid attains to the real nature of prana.

Introduction

The importance of yoga is in its amenability to rendering the entire content of the human psychology in terms of consciousness. No doubt scriptures produced world over have contributed to the moderation of human psychology so as to check his inherent violent nature throughout the ages. If there had not been check of this nature in the form of scriptural prescriptions, men would have left the world in havoc. Today man is faced with the practical utilities of science, which has negated the utility, appeal, and value of these scriptures. In this process of evaluation, modern psychology has played an important role. Physical science abstained itself from entering into the domain of spirituality had not psychology attacked the inherent consciousness and sided with physical sciences exclusively to explain the phenomenon of consciousness as a by-product of the physical like the Carvakas. Man finding himself defenseless took resort to faith and declared it as inviolable but this inviolability has also been shaken and sooner or later it, too, has to give way to thorough analysis for its tenability. In this exercise, faith does not seem to have any bright future on account of its sheer non-rationality.

Herein lies the advantage of Vedic yoga since its entire structure is based on consciousness as the basic stuff of creation in all its forms and varieties. Vedic seers by means of deep meditation were able to see through everything, howsoever gross and mightily tangible it may be, as a formation of consciousness. This has been finding of not one or two seers, but of many seers, living over a million square kilometer of the Indian soil for thousands of years in isolated groups sequestered from one another by considerable distance hurdled with rivers, forests and wild animals, etc. Despite of all these points of distraction, their common concurrence on consciousness as the essential stuff of creation is astounding and much more than the modern physicist's discovery regarding convertibility of matter into energy. While the physicist's discovery boosted the effort of the psychologist to create a psychology with matter as its basic stuff, the Vedic seers left the entire legacy of consciousness as the same sort of stuff to think of the possibility of formulating a psychology of the psyche.

When we study the present situation, we find that the modern psychology reigning between the tension of opposites, namely the real and the ideal. The real is our past animal nature, pulling us back to itself in the form of instinctive drives while the ideal is our effort to make adjustment in the mode of fulfillment of our instinctive drives so as to conform to the social norms of the day. The animal nature is self-seeking while the ideal conforms to the social norms, requiring moving beyond sheer self-interest so as to concede to the requirements of others involved in the given situation, be they members of family, neighbours, classmates, colleagues, or any sort of people who have an interest to be shared with. It is only around this point that the modern psychology is moving under different denominations, behavioral, transactional, industrial, educational, marital, psychoanalytical, to name just a few. The interaction of the opposites creates tension while the psychologist is seeking to remove the same through adjustments and readjustments. The adjustments and readjustments are tried upon under the presumption that both the real and the ideal have a common origin the physical. Thus, a modern psychologist removes, sets and resets psychological factors as per requirements of given situations and he has nothing to think about beyond this adjustments and readjustments. On account of having adopted the norm of physical sciences, the modern psychology envisages the human life as a machine to be kept on working properly unmindful of any aim or objective before it in any sense. If a living being, particularly a human begins to be treated as a machine, how can it be expected to have an objective of its own apart from its amenability to exploitation by its owner?

If the human conscience is left with anything alive in it that seeks fulfillment, it can be fulfilled through Vedic yoga and can have the joy of that fulfillment in abundance without turning anywhere else. This is due to its basic postulate of consciousness as the source and essence of everything. According to it even the instinctive life can be explained in terms of consciousness as its source and basis. Explanation for it is to be found in concentricity of consciousness, i.e. consciousness in the form of individual consciousness. It needs to be understood that consciousness is prone as much to concentricity as to extensity. As has been said by Ksemaraja in his commentary on Spandakarika, "The creative power of consciousness is always engaged in exercising her energy in enjoying the taste of manifestation and yet her energy is never depicted. She is the wave of the ocean of consciousness, the volitional power of the Consciousness."

This absolute power of consciousness though non-distinct from the Consciousness goes on presenting the entire cycle of manifestation and withdrawal on its own background like the reflection of a city in a mirror and this power is of nature of consciousness is known creative pulsation of consciousness. This pulsation or throb holds in her womb endless cycles of creation and dissolution, which is of the nature of the entire world of the pure and the impure and exhibits limitation and expansion of subjects and objects which is simultaneously of the nature of emanation and absorption. This creative power of consciousness is simultaneously of the nature of display and suppression even while she displays perception like colour, form, or internal perception like pleasure, pain, etc. She suppresses the real nature of her identity with the perceiver by bringing about suppression of the previously perceived. In concentricity of consciousness, the rise of the empirical thought-constructs obstructs the nature of consciousness and thus the empirical being loses his independence. This rise of empirical thought constructs only brings the experience of sound, form, colour, taste, smell and touch.

Ksemaraja explains differently this concept of concentricity in his commentary on Pratyabhijnahrdayam. He states, "Concentricity of consciousness is an exalted power of absolute consciousness by concealing its real nature it accepts contraction or limitation."

The methods of Yoga can be pursued without recourse to any dogma, and they require the same rigour as science insists, namely, observation, experimentation, and verification by repeatable experience. Yoga can be looked upon as the experiential basis for philosophical speculations and conclusions, and if rightly used, Yoga can be a bridge between philosophy and science.

Yoga claims that it has developed methods, which can deal with the supra physical as rigorously and as objectively as modern science deals with physical phenomena. Yoga claims that its methods can deal both with the physical and supra-physical, and, if needed and encouraged it could develop an integral science of both the physical and supra-physical and their interrelationship.

Our ancient literature and the Indian Philosophy are pregnant with Yogic Sciences. Unfortunately for non-Sanskrit knowing people, the literature of Yoga are is not largely available in English. The general teachings of Yoga are to be found in the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita; those, in many translations, are within your reach, but they are general, not special; they give you are main principles, but do not tell you about the methods in any detailed way.

The special literature of Yoga is, first of all, many of the minor Upanishads, "the hundred-and-eight" as they are called. Then comes the enormous mass of literature called Tantra. These books have an evil significance in the ordinary English ear, but not quite rightly. The Tantras are very useful books, very valuable and instructive; all occult science is to be found in them. But they are divisible into three classes: those that deal with white magic, those that deal with black magic and those that deal with what we may call grey magic, a mixture of the two. Now magic is the word, which covers the methods of deliberately bringing about super normal physical states by the action of the will.

Through the sound practice asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, through constant awareness, he penetrates the annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya and anandamaya kosas - physical, vital, mental, supremely conscious and blessed.

Asana is a great help in the penetration of the physical. This, however, needs to be duly accompanied by meditation instead of being allowed to remain barely physical. Pranasandhana is meant specifically for the penetration and transcendence of the vital. So does pratyahara in regard to the mental. The vijnanamaya, on the other hand, is penetrated through reflective awareness of the witnessing consciousness. It opens the gate of the citadel of consciousness and bliss, anandamaya which culminates into all-inclusive consciousness.

The need of the situation is to bring them in a practical form. This is a simple effort to fulfil the demand of the situation, with the hope that people having interest in Yoga, students and teachers of Yogic studies will find it as a reference book.