Wednesday, 29 August 2012

The Yoga of the Body and the Yoga of the Mind (or, "The Ignorant only Torture the Nose!")


In a sense, yoga is all about the subtle, with no room for the gross. What I mean is that the highest weightage in yoga is to the subtle, with the gross being an aid or means to getting there. So when we compare external to internal practices, the internal get a higher weightage. Among physical and mental, similarly, the mental dominates. Within a set of mental activities, the subtler are considered more effective - for example, when silently chanting a mantra, it is better if the throat muscles and lips are not moving either, and so on.

While this is agreed to by the prominent texts and their interpreters, it so happens that some texts accept the grosser (physical) aspects more than others and give it a reasonably high level of importance. Sometimes this can create some confusion. Books on Hatha Yoga go into volumes on various ways of controlling different parts of the body (including the breath) and thereby getting to a higher level of preparedness for Raja Yoga. In Raja Yoga, the mind (and working with it) dominates, but in texts like Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the physical preparation still retains some importance. Some physical practices have been indicated as "basics" by Patanjaliji, which could mean that they are "necessary". The same Raja Yoga, when expounded by famous Advaitist texts like "Aparokshanubhuti," becomes almost completely a mental and supra-mental discipline, with the physical preparations of Hatha Yoga accepted only as a support for the relatively weaker willed. For the relatively more mature-minded, only the mental and even higher practices are recommended.

Aparokshanubhuti is ascribed to the great Sri Shankaracharya, the renouned Advaitist guru of medieval India whose commentaries on various scriptures are quoted even today in India by the most learned of scholars. Swami Vimuktananda says that even if its authorship is disputed, the teachngs are definitely Advaitist. So the book is at least from the same school of thought which Sri Shankaracharya is so widely known for.

The book starts out by accepting that the attributes of Brahman mentioned in the scriptures are so different from the attributes of the physical body, that it is clear that the body is by itself, not Brahman. However, it goes on to add that while this is so, emphasising this distinction does not help the greatest of the four objectives of Man - i.e., liberation. (Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha are the four objectives referred to here.) On the other hand, focusing on other famous scriptural declarations like "this whole universe is nothing but Brahman," or "Brahman is indeed the substratum of all varieties of names, forms and actions," we would see that the body too, could not be anything but the Brahman. So the changing body could be viewed as a false perception, like seeing a snake in a rope. An illusion which has its rise and fall in time, but is not an enduring reality. Keeping this in mind would then constitute a great meditation - a meditation on the only true (enduring) reality, and would help in actually realizing that universal consciousness.

Whether due to this philosophical background or due to the direct experiences of the author, the book then goes on to expound the steps of Raja Yoga in a way that places almost all the emphasis on the mental and spriritual aspects - those aspects which are considered advanced in Patanjaliji's sutras and in commentaries on the sutras. The basic preparations of Patanjali (physical and mental disciplines, posture, breathing techniques, etc.) are explained in the following way by Aparokshanubhuti.

1. Yama (mental disciplines): Restraint of all senses is the only yama.

2. Niyama (physical disciplines): The continuous flow of one thought is the only real niyama - and following earlier discussion, it is clear that only thoughts about Brahman are to be encouraged here. There is no importance (or even mention) here of interim "sabija" samadhis, which could, at least in principle, use grosser objects of attention to develop meditative skills in the practitioner.

3. Renunciation, Silence and Space: There is no "lower versus higher renunciation" as in Patanjali's sutras. The only real renunciation comes of a perception of the "Purusha" (pure consciousness), which takes one away from the unreal (transient) world. The only silence is that born of an understanding of the state beyond words and speech. The only real space worth mentioning is the space where Brahman is perceived to exist without past, present or future. So does time also refer to none other than the indivisible Brahman, from who everything has come about.

4. Asana (posture): The only mentionable posture is one in which meditation on Brahman happens naturally and unceasingly. Even Patanjaliji makes no mistake in saying that the main purpose of posture is to sit comfortably to enable meditation, but here, even that much mention of physical comfort is done away with. In fact, the only Siddhasana (a meditative posture in other texts) is a posture that gives consciousness of Brahman - a state known to the adepts.

5. Moola Bandha (root lock): The only real moola bandha is that state of absorption in Brahman which causes the mind to restrain itself from going to objects of attention.

6. Dehasamya (straight posture): Here, there is no talk of keeping the spine erect, etc., which is commonly found in discussions of good posture. When the entire body is homogeneously absorbed in deep meditation on Brahman, dehasamya is said to have been achieved.

7. Focusing attention on the tip of the nose: Absorption in the thought of Brahman is the real focus of (internal) vision. Just looking at the tip of the nose or in that general direction is of no importance.

8. Pranayama (inhalation, exhalation and suspension of breath): The only real exhalation is where thoughts of the phenomenal world are thrown out. The only inhalation is where we take in the reality of our being one with Brahman. The steadiness of this thought is the only real "suspension of breath." The ignorant merely torture the nose.

9. Dharana (fixing attention): As said earlier, fixing attention on grosser objects has no importance and is not even mentioned as a preparatory exercise. The only real dharana is that on the highest universal consciousness. So also for meditation - the only real meditation is that on Brahman. No point discussing meditations on anything lower.

After thus elucidating the steps of Raja Yoga, dismissing all lower (physical) preparations for Raja Yoga as being essentially of no importance, the book suggests that this discipline should be mastered by the practitoner to the point where he/she can use it within an instant, whenever needed. For this mastery, the mind should stay merged in the thoughts of Brahman all the time.

Finally, then, in the second-last shloka, the author clarifies and (reluctantly) accedes that for the less mature, the above practice should be combined with some physical preparations (Hatha Yoga), but comes back in the last shloka to emphasize that for a practitioner with the required maturity of mind, the above alone produce the highest results, speeded by faith in the guru and the dieties (so at least these mature practioners should stay away from grosser aspects of the discipline and focus completely on the finer).

Patanjali's sutras are completely aligned with this on the importance of the higher (mental and spiritual) practices. Just that they do include some of the physical practices as an integral or basic part of the process. The Aparokshanubhuti, on the other hand, is overwhelmingly a Yoga of the Mind, telling us to focus only on the finer aspects, unless we just don't have enough maturity. For the mature-minded (paripakva), there is no point just "torturing the nose."

Sadanand Tutakne

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