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Excerpts
from Part II: The
Art and Science of Raja Yoga
Ananda Course in Self-Realization
From Step 1: The
History of Yoga
Section VII, Meditation
"Meditation is to religion what the laboratory is to physics or chemistry.
Whether one follows the outward form of religion depends more or less
on personal taste, but whether one seeks in his life some of religion's
practical, inner benefits is a matter of life or living death. The reason
religion persists in spite of the general worldliness of man is not because
a few otherworldly types keep fanning the dying embers, but rather that
all human life would be insufferable without at least some of the inner
peace that religion offers. The essence of religion is not it's ceremonies,
nor even it's talk of a life hereafter, but it's emphasis on an inner
life here and now, and on the lasting peace that accompanies this inner
life once it is discovered. The true purpose of religion is to point out
that human existence on every level is empty when emptiness is affirmed,
and when inner awareness is allowed to become nothing more than an echo
of the world, offering nothing creatively to the world in return."
"What is meditation?
It is not, as so many people assume it to be, a process of "thinking
things over." Rather, it is making the mind completely receptive
to reality. It is stilling the thought-processes-those restless ripples
that bob on the surface of the mind-so that truth, like the moon, may
be clearly reflected there. It is listening to god, to Universal Reality,
for a change, instead of doing all the talking and "computing"
oneself.""
 Learn
the benefits and philosophy behind a yogic vegetarian diet, along
with recipes to help you get started. |
From Step 1: The
History of Yoga
Section VI, Diet
Insomnia, Part Two
"Before sleep and also before meditation, it is better not to eat
anything. Especially to be avoided are starchy or other high carbon foods.
The heart and lungs clear the body of waste products, expelling them in
the form of carbon dioxide. Starches and sugars give the heart more carbon
to pump out of the body. A hardworking heart, with resultant heavy breathing,
makes perfect rest perfectly impossible."
From Step 7: Affirmations, Part 1
Section II, Yoga Postures
"There is, as I have already said, a connection between physical
posture and mental attitude. Many of the postures of Hatha Yoga are related
to specific and wholesome attitudes of the mind. All of the postures help
in a general way to produce inner peace, contentment, and spiritual harmony.
As you practice each pose, do not ask yourself merely, "What do the
books say I should be feeling in this position?" Feel, rather, what
the total significance of the pose is to your own inner consciousness."
"Every time
a thought comes into the mind, there is some message sent, if only a sort
of psychic overflow, to the body. Different parts of the brain stimulate
different parts of the body. When a particular thought or feeling comes
into the mind, it entails a flow of energy to corresponding parts of the
brain. This stimulation sends messages, in turn, to related parts of the
body. When a person experiences fear, for example, the stimulation of
the fear center in the brain sends impulses to the heart, quickening it;
it stimulates the flow of adrenaline; it tenses the muscles that may be
needed for self-defense or for flight.
A state of spiritual
absorption, similarly, focuses energy automatically in the frontal part
of the brain. The stimulation of this part of the brain sends messages
to the body of a very different nature from those born of fear: The heart
slows down, the breathing becomes calm, the whole body becomes relaxed."
From Step 9: Energy and Energization
Section I, Philosophy
"Energy is the connecting link between consciousness and matter,
between mind and body. For energy is, in its turn, but a manifestation
of consciousness."
"In the last
analysis, all things are but manifestations of Spirit. The amount of energy
flow, as well as the simple fact of its flow, depends on the exertion
of will. If you go to pick up what you think is an empty bucket, the energy
you exert will not be enough to lift it if in fact it is full. In this
case, you must exert more will, and send more energy; you will then be
able to lift the bucket easily. To put it simply, the greater the will,
the greater the flow of energy. There is, literally, no limit to the degree
of will, and therefore to the measure of energy, that one can summon in
any undertaking, simply because a strong will is not limited by the actual
energy potential of the body; rightly applied, it draws directly on the
energy of the universe."
From Step 4: Yama
Section V, Healing Principles and Techniques
Chronic Fatigue
"Chronic fatigue is one of the most widespread ills of our age. It
is not due to overwork (modern man does not work nearly so hard as his
ancestors did), but rather to a scattering of our forces. Ours is not
a "focused" age. Countless influences pull us in conflicting
directions. We find ourselves trying to do a hundred things hastily, rather
than one thing at a time carefully and well. We measure achievement by
numbers rather than by excellence. A result is the exhaustion that one
finds written on the faces of so any men and women in our bustling cities,
where strangers pass one another with never a smile nor even a glance
of greeting."
"A technique
for drawing energy into the body is to stand facing the sun. Raise your
hands above your head. Feel the warmth of the sun striking your forehead
at the point between the eyebrows, and the palms of your hands. Feel that
you are drawing warmth and energy into your body through those "windows."
After some time, turn your back to the sun, and feel its warmth upon the
area of the medulla oblongata (at the base of the brain). Keep your hands
raised above the head. Again, draw the sun's rays into your body."
From Step 5: Niyama
Section IV, Breathing
"The yogi should combine breathing with an endeavor to expand his
consciousness. As you inhale, feel that you are drawing strength, courage,
and joy up your spine to the brain. While holding the breath, mentally
affirm the positive state of consciousness that you are trying to develop.
As you exhale, feel that you are throwing out of your body all opposing
states of weakness, discouragement, and sorrow. If you have a specific
problem, physical or mental, you may use this technique to affirm the
opposite state of well-being, and to throw the negative condition out
of your system.
In meditation, however,
the exhalation may be used also in conjunction with a feeling, not of
negative despair, but of positive surrender into the arms of Infinite
Peace.
A breathing exercise
that is intended to help balance and harmonize the two currents in the
spine (known as pran and apan) is a technique known as alternate breathing.
Close the right nostril, inhaling through the left for a count of 8; hold
the breath, counting 8; close the left nostril and exhale through the
right to a count of 8. A slight constriction in the throat, so as to make
a gentle sound there during respiration, will help to increase the consciousness
of the corresponding movement of energy in the spine. Repeat six times.
The proper position
of the fingers during this breathing exercise is to extend the thumb and
the ring and little fingers, closing the forefinger and middle finger
against the palm. Close the right nostril with the thumb of the right
hand. Close the left nostril with the ring and little fingers."
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