Yoga Philosophy

 

Yoga Philosophy

Maharshi Pantanjali is regarded as the founder of Yoga philosophy. So some people call it Patanjali Philosophy.

 Etymological definition.

  The word Yoga is derived from Sanskrit root ‘Yuj” means “To join or to Yoke/to unite”

As per yogic scriptures the practices of yoga leads to the union of individual consciousness with that universal consciousness indicating a perfect harmony between the mind and body, man and nature.

 Yoga has also be popularly defined “union with divine”

THE EIGHT-FOLD YOGA (Astanga Yoga)

yoga philosophy prescribes eight-fold path which helps to control our passions and craving for worldly pleasures.

These eight fold path are as follows.

i) Yama

ii) Niyama

iii) Asana

iv) Pranayama

v) Pratyahara

vi) Dharana

vii) Dhyana

viii) Samadhi

 

 

 

It is the control of mind, body, and speech.

The five yamas are:

a) Ahimsa: it means to accept the principle non-violence. It upholds that not to kill or do any injuries to any living beings.

b) Satya: Satya or truth says that to speak the truth and adhere to truth even in your thinking.

c) Asteya: it upholds the principle non-stealing. This includes both not desiring on others’ wealth and not stealing any goods from others.

d) Brahmacharya: it is known as celibacy. Here one needs to control his/her senses towards the attachment of heavenly pleasures. It restrains somebody for not having sexual life.

e) Aparigraha: it says not to accept and aspire for any sorts of unnecessary lavish things for life enjoyment like gold, diamond, etc.

ii) Niyama

It speaks about the rules for possessing good conduct. There are five niyamas as follows.

a) Sauch: it says about cleanliness which includes both external cleaning (e.g. bath, pure diet, hair cutting and cleaning, nail cutting etc.) and internal cleaning (e.g. friendliness, empathy, happiness, smile, etc.

b) Santosh: it is understood as contentment. It means be satisfy with yourself whatever you attain or posses. In other words, “what you are, you must be happy with that”.

c) Tapa: Tapa or penance includes the power of tolerance. To tolerate extreme and maximum cold and heat, one needs to do the hard practices. And, this is possible through tapa.

d) Swadhyaya: it says one needs to study religious scriptures to develop his/her spiritual knowledge. It is considered as one of the good principle to possess good conduct.

e) Iswara Pranidhan: It says always remember God is the supreme authority and allmighty. One should completely surrender himself/herself to him. This is a practice which helps for the development of good conduct upholds by yoga philosophy.

iii) Asana

It is an advanced stage of yoga. It speaks about to do various bodily postures which helps to retain concentration of citta and even helps to control the body as well as mind.

 There are various types of asana. Among them, a few includes, padma, sirsa, chakra, garuda, maura etc.

It is advisable to do regular practice of asana. The reason is, it not only controls the body such as keeps the body flexible, increase the immunity, etc. but also keeps the body free from diseases and make it strong and healthy. By doing regular asana one can control the different external and internal organs of the body.

 

 

Pranayama

This is the fourth stage in the practice of yoga. Pranayama is understood as control of breath.

It suggests that practicing pranayama helps the agent to control his/her inhaling and exhaling of breath. This helps the citta to remain concentrate and focused.

Through pranayama one can control his/her body by doing some postures. This makes agent remains healthy and good.

 

Pranayama has three steps. These are;

a) Puraka

b) Kumbhak

c) Recaka

v) Pratyahara

In this stage, the agent should control his/her sense organs for not being attracted by the worldly objects. He/she will try to restrain the sense organs for not clinging desperately for the objects of the world. Hence, craving for an object would be ceased. By practicing this yoga, the agent can keep his/her mind undisturbed from worldly objects even while living in the earth. To do this practice it requires strong determination and repression of the senses.

vi) Dharana

Our mind constantly shifts from one object to another. To keep our mind focused in one particular point and tries to check for its frequency of shifting one object to another is called as dharana. In this stage, the agent keeps his/her mind continuously engage in one object and tries to bring back the mind to that particular object if it is shifted to another object as quick as possible. Example, an agent tries to concentrate to the top of the flame of a candle,  concentrating on the cap of a water bottle.

vii) Dhyana

It is one step ahead to dharana. In this stage, the aspirant becomes successful to remain concentrate on an object in a longer time. Here, the aspirant realizes the whole object by concentrating its one part. This step is known as meditation. It helps to realize the true nature of the citta.

viii) Samadhi

The eight and last step of yoga is known as samadhi. This is the apex stage of yoga. In this stage, the aspirant negates the differences between subject and object, realizes the true nature of the citta that how it attains the form of the object. Here, the process of concentration and the object becomes one and identical. This stage is known as cessation of modification of the citta.

 

 

Educational philosophy of yoga

Aim of Education

Holistic development of human personality.

Evolve a society of person who is noblest in thought.

To improve scientific attitude and develop logical as well as intellectual powers.

Method of teaching

Cittavrthinirodha (concentration method)

Intuition

Meditation

Discriminative method

Inductive method

Curriculum

Literature which arouses interest among students in moral life.

Specific sciences like medicine, clinical science, psychology, social science, yoga etc.

Role of teacher

Teacher is a both a theoretician and demonstrator

Teacher has the power of knowledge, power of will, power of action.

Role of students

Surrender to his teacher for his total cure

The students achieve nothing without the guidance of teacher.

Discipline

Disciple is the means of which, yoga

Discipline should be borne by the teacher.

 

Educational implication.

 In 21^st century Yoga is placed as subject in school for physical ,mental ,moral development of the students at school level .