What is Yoga?

By  Dr.  Partap Chauhan 

"Yoga" is a Sanskrit word which means to join, to link or to combine. The simple meaning of Yoga is to link or connect the soul to the Supreme Soul (God). Yoga is the process, which enables the person to clear his negative mental impressions, control his mind and senses, and establish a connection or link with the God. The Patanjali yoga sutra, an authentic textbook of Yoga, defines the Yoga as:

Yogash chitt vritti nirodha

Which means, “The complete stoppage of the influx of the mundane desires in the mind is known as Yoga”. The mind is an ocean of the material desires, which includes the desires not only from the present life, but also from previous lives. Vedic philosophy believes that the mind and the soul along with the subtle body senses transmigrate from one life to another. The mundane desires, which keep arising in the mind, are retained in it. Unless one completely stops the influx of all the mundane desires it is not possible to realize the consciousness or the soul and to connect to the God. Therefore, to connect to God or to attain the moksha (liberation), it is necessary to purge the mind from all the mundane desires. 

Yoga is the process of removing the mundane desires from the mind and the realization of the soul. Yoga is a discipline and a process that requires a lot of practice. Yoga is classified into different categories depending on the method that a person follows to remove or stop these mundane desires.
 

Some types of Yoga are: 

• Gyana yoga - Attaining realization through knowledge.
• Karmayoga - Attaining realization through actions.
• Bhaktiyoga - Attaining realization through devotion
• Mantra yoga - Attaining realization through the mantra (chanting special words or prayers of the God)
• Rajyoga - Attaining realization through meditation
• Hathayoga - Attaining realization through continuous or repeated physical or mental processes.

Astanga (eight parts) of Yoga:
The Patanjali Yoga sutra describes the eight parts of Yoga, which are known as the astanga Yoga. The eight parts of Yoga according to Patanjali are:

1. Yama
2. Niyama
3. Asana
4. Pranayama
5. Pratyahara
6. Dharana
7. Dhyana
8. Samadhi

The objective of the Yoga is the attainment of samadhi - the eighth and the last part of Yoga. The samadhi is the state when a man is absolutely detached from the material world and is linked to the God.  The step-based journey for the achievement of samadhi begins with the Yama - the first part of Yoga

Yama (Rules)
Yama is a set of rules, which are to be followed by the people desirous of practicing the Yoga. These rules are the foundation or the stepping-stones for the achievement of the samadhi.  The yama are the five basic rules and the adherence to them is a prerequisite for the attainment of the samadhi. There is popular belief that the yoga is simply a set of physical exercises (asana). The people deliberately or out of ignorance overlook the Yama and the Niyam, which are the key factors of Yoga. Such an attitude dissociates the Yoga from its ultimate goal of the samadhi. The five rules or the yama are:

a) Ahimsa: non-violence
b) Satya: truthfulness or speaking the truth.
c) Asteya: non-stealing
d) Brahmcharya: celibacy
e) Aprigraha: detachment from material acquisitions

 
Niyama (Regulations):
Niyama is another set of rules, which play an important role to form a strong foundation for the person who wishes to practice the yoga for the attainment of the moksha. . The basic difference between the yama and the niyama is that the yama are the rules related to the external behavior of the person whereas the niyama are the rules relating to the person’s inner self or the person itself.  The niyamas are:

a) Shaucha: purification or cleanliness.
b) Santosha: satisfaction
c) Tapa: penance to control the mind and the senses
d) Swadhyaya: studying spiritual books
e) Ishwar Pranidhana: surrendering everything to the God

Asana (Physical Postures):
Asana is the next step of the eight fold Yoga. The asanas are the physical postures, which are mainly beneficial to the physical body. They help in making the body healthy, which ultimately strengthens the mind because of the close linkage of the body and the mind. Generally, the people perceive Yoga as merely the asana, which is just one of the steps among the eight steps of the Yoga. It is important to practice the yama and the niyama to get the best results or benefits from the asanas.

Pranayama (Breathing Exercises)
This is the fourth part of Yoga. Pranayama is made up of two words - prana (life air or the prana vata) and ayama (control). Therefore meaning the procedure where an individual practices controlled breathing. Pranayama is not only a respiratory exercise but it also purifies the brain and rejuvenates the nervous system. The pranayama is therefore a very important exercise for the maintenance of the health as well as the cure of the diseases.

The pranayama is performed after one achieves stability in the asanas and normalcy in his various body functions. Many people practice the pranayama without fully following the previous steps. It is very important to understand the step by step progress which means that the person should start with yama, niyama , asana and then practice the breathing exercises. Although practicing the pranayama or the asana alone provides some physical and mental benefits, yet the gratification they provide is negligible when compared to what one can achieve by following the complete process in a step based manner.

 
Pratyahara (Self-regulation)
Pratyahara is a process of self-regulation, which requires the person to control the sense organs and abstain from indulgence in the objects related to them. This is the stage where the Yogi (the person performing the Yoga) starts to detach himself from the external world by controlling the mind. In this process, three sequences of change are manifested. They are: 

• Waves of the various emotions produced by the external world
• Waves of the experiences of the past
• Waves of the happenings of the future

Among the three, the second and the third are completely psychic. The goal of the pratyahara is to dissociate the mind from the first type of waves.
 

Dharana (Concentration of Mind)
Dharana is the sixth step of the Yoga and it means the concentration of the mind. Dharana means to concentrate the mind at a point inside the body or outside the body. The two places of concentration inside the body are:

• Nasa agra – the tip of the nose

·     Bhrumadhya – between both the eyebrows

Dharana is the first step towards the spiritual realization and is a type of psychological exercise. One should try to intensify the concentration and gradually increase the duration of the dharana.

Dhyana (Meditation):
Dhyana refers to the meditation, which means concentrating the mind on a subject continuously. It is a stage before the samadhi. In this stage, the mind is stabilized over a subject and no other thoughts come during the concentration. The dhyana is of two types:  

• Saguna: In this type of the meditation, the person relies on some object to achieve the dhyana.

·     Nirguna: In this type the meditation is done without any object. In fact, this is the state preceding the samadhi.
 

Samadhi (Connecting to God)
Dharana, Dhyan, and Samadhi are collectively called the sanyam. These three steps constitute the spiritual aspect of the Yoga. Samadhi is a state of complete mental rest wherein the person is away from all the materialistic feelings and is near to God. Samadhi is the state when the faculties of the mind recline and are detached from the soul and the soul connects with the Supreme Soul or the God. In this state, the soul attains its purest form and gets devoid of all the karmic bondage. Samadhi is the ultimate goal of Yoga.

In the stage of the samadhi, the self-awareness disappears. During the dharana, the mental distractions are less; the self-awareness becomes less frequent in the dhyan and in the samadhi the soul alleviates from all sorts of distractions and combines with the paramatma (God).

This is just an overview of the eight steps of Yoga. Although this is a very detailed process and requires a lot of training, a brief description is made to provide a basic understanding about the concept of Yoga.

Should you require any clarifications or if you have queries related to this topic please feel free to contact:

Dr.Partap Chauhan

* Dr. Partap Chauhan (Ayurvedacharya) is an author, educator and a master Ayurvedic physician. He is the founder of Jiva Ayurveda, India. He has traveled to more than 25 countries to teach Ayurveda and help patients suffering from the so-called incurable diseases like MS, Fibromyalgia, AIDS, CFS and Cancer.  Dr. Chauhan has done a pioneering work in the telemedicine and launched the world’s first Ayurvedic website in 1995. His innovative project ‘TeleDoc’- a telemedicine program for the poor villagers in India, has won the best e-health project award of the United Nations in Geneva in the December 2003 amongst the different health projects from 136 countries.