Ashtanga yoga (Power Yoga)

Shana : are you going to give some more information on yoga ?

novalife : Shana, I don't know what to talk. Seriously, unless you ask me something, I can't tell you about it, and unless you ask me something I know, I really don't know what to say.

novalife : well, Shana, why don't I talk on power yoga. I can provide you some information on that, if you ask me something specific from there.

Shana : tell me what is power yoga ?

novalife : yes, then lets start with power yoga, after all it is the most ancient system in the world. there are no pictures on power yoga. Power yoga is ashtanga yoga, which actually means, the eightfold path to yoga it is a process of reaching the goal of yoga.

Shana : what is yoga?

Novalife: yoga is the cessation of the modifications of the mind, according to the great sage patanjali.

Patanjali was a grammarian, and a yogi. Some people say that he was the incarnation of Vishnu, born to instruct mankind in the true yoga some people say that he was an ordinary human being having reached the goal of kaivalya or moksha

 

novalife: the general misconception is that you reach moksha after death, but that is untrue there are mystics who are at the stage of kaivalya, and are yet alive, because kaivalya or moksha have nothing to do with life or death anywayz, patanjali instructed our ancient yogis in the science of raja yoga

 
Shana : Yes I heard such a yogi Swami
Brahmanada in a channelling session


novalife : raja yoga = ashtanga yoga = power yoga
(in today's cosmetic context) Krishna also urged arjuna to take to raja yoga in the bhagavad gita.

novalife : when patanjali started his discussion called "The Yoga Sutra". the indian subcontinent was clouded in a variety of disbelief and misinterpretations as to the original "yoga" hence patanjali expounded the true "raja yoga" system in his yoga sutras the yoga sutras are a book of 195 sentences only but they contain the secrets to the universe. many many great Indian authors and foreign authors too have interpreted the yoga sutras according to their understanding of it, but the best commentary is by a medieval author called vyasa.

Shana : Can you start slowly , otherwise I will get confused.
novalife : I was talking about patanjali expounding the true system of raja yoga in his book called the yoga sutras that book contains 4 chapters and 195 aphorisms or threads or sentences.

The first chapter is called samadhi pada - a commentary on the various means to reach samadhi therein patanjali describes what the true yoga is and how it can be reached

the second chapter is kriya yoga, the means of seasoning the body and mind to be fit for samadhi it expounds on the eight limbs of yoga namely yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi that is called ashtanga yoga

then the third chapter is called vibhuti pada - the methods of acquiring siddhis patanjali concludes that chapter with telling the sincere yogi that he should not fall into the trap of the siddhis as they are an impediment on the path to kaivalya.

Shana : Yes, you can get entangled and attached.

 

novalife : and the final chapter is kaivalya pada, that is the toughest chapter for even the most intelligent people it talks of something beyond my cognition but I know that artificial intelligence is first mentioned here this chapter talks about the soul in its perfection and the cessation of the gunas, the sattva, rajas and tamas this chapter talks of omniscience, of complete illumination, of finally getting untangled from the bonds of karma and reincarnation.

Shana : That is what I think is merging into the INFINITE,
even beyond samdhi , even beyond just Spirit and Creation.

novalife : that is what the yoga sutras is all about, but the beauty of it lies in the fact that the entire book is not only for preaching, but it can be practiced for word to word in today's life

Shana : yes How many of us are doing it?

novalife : I think thousands dr. jayadeva used to talk of a mystic who lived in one of the suburbs of bombay he would just not talk to anybody, he would always live on a tree and there are so many such perfect souls who are living amongst us anonymously, but we are just not able to see them.

Shana : True. I feel very humble in my ignorance.

novalife : the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali is universal in the manner of the Gita It fuses sankhya, metaphysics with bhakti yoga, it defines raja yoga in its essence, and it gives you an excellent synopsis of what yoga is and how you can reach it if you are interested in reading it, read the vyasa version of it.
 

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