Answers by

PROF. HR NAGENDRA,
Vice Chancellor,
SVYASA, Bangalore, India

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Transcription

Ashtanga Yoga is part of Raja Yoga and a person can choose any of these, Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga by any one or more or all of these said Swami Vivekananda. Because these paths, all have certain commonness and they are complimentary to one another. They are not totally isolated. Once you start working with one Yoga other things also start changing. It is the overall purification that takes place. Once you start purifying the emotions the other aspects of our personality also start getting purified and therefore purification is the key essence. Therefore we can choose any of them said Swami Vivekananda. Also the goal is same. Therefore purification moving from selfishness from selflessness, from selflessness to expanded awareness. This is the whole essence on control and mastery over our emotions, Kama, Krodha,  Lobha, Moha, Madhamatsarya. You start gaining control over that, day by day they thin out as it is said. Yoga vashishtha beautifully puts it. What the sure mark of your growth, anudinam tahanutham adi arishad vargani. The six enemies, the six violent emotions day by day reduce they thin out. This is what Patanjali also says Kleshatun karanartum  Samadhi Bhavana Arthascha. Kleshatanukaranartum; tanukarna is a beautiful word, that is to thin out. That means you cannot jump from one to another suddenly now  you have anger and tomorrow I don’t have anger, no. Anger gets reduced in its intensity, in its frequency and thereby goes. And even in the treatment of diseases that’s what we see. The frequency of asthma reduces , the intensity or the severity of asthma reduces, duration of asthma reduces as you start using Yoga and therefore it is the thinning process that we have to understand. Therefore day by day the thinning or the purification takes place so that’s whole essence of this. Therefore you can choose any of them and it is not necessary you have to go through the asanas, pranayam, or mudras, pandas, kriyas. There could be great masters. Probably Ramakrishna Paramahamsa did not undergo any of these process. But he reached the highest heights. The Shankara did not probably practice asanas as we do in Hatha yoga. So it is not a must that you have to do asanas, but if you do its good, nothing wrong in it. Then you will be very congenial, to be helpful