Yogis — who are they
Yoga as a system that has suffered so many changes has such a mass of variations and still carries everyone who practices in its consciousness, such idea of spiritual development, that we can truly take our hat off before this miracle of the 20th century.
It is only in the 20th century that yoga became what you could call the “culture of yoga”. It is surprising how people that are in a completely different understanding of residence, living in completely different seasonal states of nature ( comparing to where yoga was born) are trying to attach to their imagination some kind of tradition or to rely on some sort of thousand year old proof.
Perhaps the inhabitants of Indian (Herapian) civilization (ancient culture on the territory of India, existed 3000 BC) actually practiced yoga, but can that be a serious base for anyone practicing today? Uniting of the soul with some sort of transcendental truth that almost hypnotizes on an edge of narcotic trance such a huge amount of people that they are ready to take away their own intellect hiding from the prejudices of the new age. The more advanced yogis rely on the teachings of a yogi Patandjal who described 8 steps of yoga:
- Yama. A system of limitations that is given to the people who have a static consciousness. It is characteristic to people of a certain faith and lifestyle in specific climate conditions that is characteristic to inhabitants of India.
- Niyama is given to those who follows without hesitation and is not able to comprehend think and analyze. It is based on killing the human, i.e. the “disturbing” forms of experiences.
- Asana. A struggle for release from the dependency from own body and mind to rely on superconsiousness, a release from physical dependency. The body is not looked upon as a source of development, and the task in working with it-is to lessen one’s dependency on it. Here a physiological aspect is also present, that is connected with the fact that in India a human body does not live through all the seasons and that’s the reason why certain systems (e.g. muscles) actually come in the way of developing that body themselves.
- Pranayama. Breathing exercises necessary for people who don’t have breathing and skin systems activated by nature, i.e. for Indians. Otherwise a burning of energy and reaching a state of breathing affect takes place, where a sensation of having energy appears. Well, here everything depends on the ability to teach this system, from the place where this happens, and from the preparation of lung diaphragm of the practitioner.
- Pratjahara. Control of the synchronised state of the consciousness that absolutely can’t be understood by European consciousness. This needs to be developed for decades, otherwise a reverse effect takes place, uniting, I would even say dummening of the yogi.
- Pharana is sinking into superconsciousness, that many call concentration. Yogis don’t develop concentration, because that’s a condition of a human state. He develops understanding and experience of superconsiousness without defining that experience that leads him to an undefined state.
- Dhjana. Undefined state that is characterised by the state of meditation. It relies exclusively on personal qualities of living, and cannot be defined or explained by someone.
- Samadhi. Ecstatic state of experiencing superconsiousness.
Thus, in essence is that 8 step way of yogi. This is a completely not a social way of development and also it cannot be manifested in any other seasonal or climate formats.
This is what created different forms of interpretations of yoga depending on personality of each guru that as a result put himself above yoga and broke the main law of knowledge: the knowledge should always be higher then us. And we should wield by means of method. But how can we build a method if it relies on medicine and not physiology?
Health is determined by the development of consciousness and that is the most vulnerable place in yogis because they don’t need it... So even a position of health there are loads of questions.
17 may 2011
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