Yoga
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Purna Yoga - Poses and Postures
Philosophy Of Purna Yoga Or Integral Yoga - Yoga Poses and Postures
Yoga Poses and Postures
Purna yoga is also known as
Integral yoga. The philosophy of Purna yoga is
based on the recognition of importance of perfect
integration of the human being with the divine
consciousness at all levels of existence. This is
a very difficult pathway of yoga and requires
complete dedication and support of a guru. The
people seeking only a few yogic benefits should
not try to attempt this style as this would not be
beneficial to them in any way.
Purna yoga is a way of
integrating the being with the divine at many
levels. These are integration of the inner self
with the divine, integration of the human psyche
with the divine and integration of the soul with
the ultimate divine consciousness. This is a
dynamic form of yoga and incorporates many other
forms also at least in part, if not as a whole.
The pathway is certainly not easy and it involves
the usage of all human faculties and goes even
beyond the human body to integrate the self and
the divine. This is rather a complicated process
and has to be understood completely before
attempting. In the modern times Sri
Aurobindo in the main educator of this age old
practice of yoga. With the tireless efforts of
this guru new dimensions and new definitions to
this ancient practice of yoga were made possible.
He made it comprehensible and accessible to the
common man. Purna yoga is based on the self
affirmative action which reaches out to the search
of the divine incorporating all the human senses
and ultimately the soul also. It includes a
pathway of positive action of Karma yoga. It is
also the pathway of deep devotional love as in
Bhakti yoga. It amalgamates all the knowledge as
in Gyana yoga but still it is not about forceful
detachment of mental faculties to direct them
towards God. It is yoga of complete integration of
the self through action, wisdom, peace and love.
Integral yoga sees love in the spiritual form as
the highest sense of achievement and experience of
the divine in itself. The experience of such love
leads the path to wisdom that is divine in its
fundamental nature. Integral yoga suggests that
action alone is not possible to purify the soul
that could lead the Sadhak on the path to
salvation. Action, wisdom, love and knowledge have
to be used as a means of self purification of the
soul. The object of Integral or Purna
yoga is to allow the self to become an instrument
for the divine to manifest. All the human
faculties are given to an individual for this
greater cause only. The instrument of the human
body is made available only to get absorbed into
and experience the divine in every way. The
consciousness of the self should be awakened so
that the divine can descend upon it. This has to
be done for the sake of the divine alone, not as a
reason of upliftment of the self. The self is just
an instrument to reach the divine. The passage
towards the divine consciousness happens first at
the stage of the body, then at the stage of the
mind and then at the stage of the soul and
ultimately the self becomes completely integrated
into the divine so that there remains no
difference between the self and the divine. The Purna yoga insists on
submitting the self completely to the service of
the divine and to nobody else. It embellishes the
importance of transcending all the physical,
mental and emotional barriers so that the power of
supernatural can descend with all his divine glory
into the self. This can happen only when complete
submission happens between the self and the
divine. This yoga believes in complete
renouncing of the world for the sake of
achievement of the integration with the divine. It
recognizes the world as the path of distraction
which will not allow the descent of the divine and
almighty into the self. Many steps have to taken
in order to make this descent possible. It is not
a task that can happen in quick succession of
events and within a short while. The Purna yoga philosophy believes that normally a human being
lives in a very superficial stage of conscious
existence where he performs all his actions with a
certain routine monotony. In this stage of
consciousness he cannot achieve integration with
the divine even if he continues to pray each and
every day of his life. This superficial stage of
consciousness has to be awakened into something
that is mystical in its essence. It is
experiencing the beyond, which is a level up and
above the basic state of existence. At this stage,
and the further stages to follow, the being
becomes receptive to the divine. Then the passage
of smooth descent of the divine is actually made
possible. This stage is of awakening to the
reality of existence of self, which takes birth
for the sole reason of becoming an instrument of
integration with the divine. The human birth has
the opportunity of divine realization, which is
not possessed by lower forms of births. This
instrumental characteristic of self is to be
recognized for the sake of better harmonization of
this life and to realize the real purpose of the
existence.
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