Yoga in Sanskrit literally means union, connection,
mental concentration. It is based on ancient Indian wisdom and culture and is
an art of living a healthy, balanced, peaceful and contended life.
It
is the science of man, a philosophy of life, a code of conduct, an attitude and
an approach, as well as an art of living. This is capable not only of ensuring
physical well-being, mental peace, harmony, moral elevation and spiritual uplift
of man but also of transforming ma n
from his gross animal existence to the sublime heights of divinity.
Yoga
is a stepwise, stage wise eight fold path to final liberation from pain and
suffering. These steps progressively take us to the highest state of
creativity, of discriminative knowledge and towards attaining the desired
perfection. They are :-
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YAMA - Conditional yoga behaviour,
personal and social |
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NIYAMA - Attitude sublimate of yoga
forms |
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ASANA - Discipline of the physical
body |
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PRANAYAMA - Control over bio energy
through respiratory action |
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PRATYAHARA - Withdrawal of the senses
inwards through abstraction |
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DHARNA - Concentration |
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DHYANA - Meditation |
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SAMADHI - Trans consciousness. | Of these, the first five, which border on the
Psychosomatic approach, are referred to as external (bahiranga) yoga, popularly
known as Hatha yoga, while later three, which directly affect the psyche are
known as internal (Antaranga) yoga popularly known as Raja Yoga. It is almost
impossible to try Internal yoga (Raja yoga) for the average man before
accomplishing the external one (hatha yoga). |