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SADHANA
PADA
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| Tapah_Svădhyăya_Ishvara_Prănidhănăni
Kriyăyogah |
| ||2.01|| |
| Austerity, study and
to God dedication |
| Is Yoga in action. |
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Tapah: Austerity/ refinement
, accepting pain as purification
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Svădhyăya: Self study/ reflection
, asceticism Ishvara: God, Supreme Being
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Prănidhănăni: dedication
to God / resignation, surrendering all actions to God.
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Kriyăyogah: yoga practice
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| Q: What are
the preliminaries to Yoga? |
| A: The preliminaries
to Yoga practice are: 1.Austerity - Reflection 2.
Study of scriptures - Refinement 3. Dedication of
actions to God_ Resignation |
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The steps towards Yoga are detailed in this sutra Where does
an aspirant start and what are the requirements? Patanjali
yoga System is a step by step approach. The first set of steps
are referred to as Kriya Yoga- Yoga of action. It has a triple
component.
| Preliminaries to
Yoga Practice |
Kriya
Yoga
Yoga Practice |
'tapas'
Austerity |
'Self control‘
conservation of vital energy, Process of removal
of impurities
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'Swadyaya'
Study / Reflection |
Placing oneself closer
to the ONE SELF Study of scriptures Repetition of
mantra
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'Iswara pranidhani'
Dedication |
Dedication of all actions
to God Letting ego go! Resignation is opening up
to Let God enter you! |
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 "Unsteady
are the boats of 18 forms of sacrifice, which are
part of inferior karma. The deluded who take delight
in them thinking that they would lead them to good
fall again into old age and death. These deluded
men regarding sacrifices and works of merit as most
important do not know any other good. Having enjoyed
in the high place of heaven won by good deeds, they
enter again this world or still the lower ones. |
| Mandukya Upanishad |
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Kriya yoga is defined as purification,
reflection and acceptance of the universal order. One performs
certain acts of purification, reflects on those acts and accepts
the outcome with an attitude of non-attachment. Kriya has
come from the root word, ‘Kr’ meaning ‘to do’. This Kriya
or action refers to all practices that enable one to detach
from sense objects and attach one to the Being, by Being.
Tapas(austerity): ‘tap’ literally
means to ‘to cook’ or " to burn". Tap can also mean
burning all desires by means of discipline, purification,
and penance. fasting, and observing silence. Tapas indicates
effort and endeavour. It involves the voluntary and cheerful
experiencing of a privation, with a view to attaining a higher
goal. Any form of giving up desires is tapas. Tapas means
the end of the activities of the senses; one must be the master
of all of them. There should be no trace of craving or appetite.
It involves effort to attain Brahmam, incessant yearning for
that end; it must be expressed through moderate food and sleep:
it means agony to realise the Principle. Such tapas is called
Sattwic. Tapas does not mean senseless mortification
 An
ascetic is a person who renounces material comforts and leads
a life of austere self-discipline, as an act of religious
devotion. He leads a life of self-discipline and self-denial,
for spiritual improvement. The ascetic practices in the past
sometimes turned even bizarre with ascetics indulging in self
inflicted bodily torture.
Tapas is a way of asserting one’s will and breaking the sensual
nature which craves for comfort and indulgence.
 The
objective of the ascetic practices according to Buddhism is
to make Improper motive become Proper Intent, whereby
1. Greed becomes generosity
2. Anger becomes patience & endurance
3. Stupidity becomes wisdom
4. Conceit becomes embracing of the precepts with humility
5. Doubt and distraction becomes mental (meditative) concentration
 Ishvarapranidhana(surrender
to God): Opening one self to the cosmic flow of energy and
uniting the individual mind with the universal one. Requires
surrendering the ego self and beseeching the universal self
to help. One who sees the Self in all beings and who has surrendered
the ego of being the " doer" is the true practitioner
of Ishvarapranidhana. Actions without expectation
is surrender to God. The seeker insures that his actions do
not result in forming tendencies.
 Svadhyaya
(study of self): Reflection and introspection, the study of
scriptures, repetition of mantra form part of the study of
self. Self-inquiry is done by reflecting deeply on the question,
" Who am I?" Associating with enlightened people
is also helpful in study.
| Tapas |
'Heading" one
self up sufficiently to let The 'matter' in him
be converted to energy, in the process the effluent
of Impurities being got rid of. |
| Swadyaya Study/Reflection |
Understanding that
one is not just a 'matter' subject to Death and
decay but part of a force field of knoweldge that
passes through all from the place beyond time and
space, the very origin of universe through the transition
zone where energy turns into matter to the field
of energy and mater perceived as the world of objects
and events. |
| `Iswara pranidani |
Opening oneself up
to the field of knoweldge to flow through by removing
forces that block the flow. Understanding that resistance
to flow hurts, Not the flow but the recipient. |
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| Q: What is austerity? |
| A: Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj“Once you have gone through an experience,
not to go through again is austerity . To eschew
the unnecessary is austerity. Not to anticipate
pleasure or pain is austerity. Having things under
control all the time is austerity. Both indulgence
and austerity have the same purpose in view – to
make you happy. Indulgence is the stupid way, austerity
is the wise way”. |
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 Powers
like levitation and so on are gained by mantra,
drugs and so on, even by the ignorant people. He
who is prepared to make necessary efforts can gain
these, whether he is enlightened are not. It is
the ego that makes effort and gains these powers.
These powers intensify the tendencies and mental
conditioning. |
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