Yoga
Different Styles of Yoga
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Purna Yoga
Practice Of Purna Yoga - Yoga Positions and Postures
Yoga Positions and Postures
The practice of Purna yoga or
Integral yoga is different from the other
practices. Here the divine consciousness is
invoked to descend into the human souls so that
the human becomes completely merged with the
divine. There is a special process of intense
meditation to cause this to happen. The whole
system is based on the belief that the divine
consciousness descends into the human souls
through the channel of an opening created entirely
for this purpose. The process of meditation thus
concentrates upon invoking the human system to
partake into the process by letting this happen.
As the first step of this
process the Sadhak has to surrender all his ego
and worldly desires in the service of the divine.
Otherwise the descent of the divine is just next
to impossible. It is just not a simple process. It
is considered to be a psychic movement. The
practitioners of Purna yoga believe that under
this first step the ego has to be curtailed
completely because the human ego is the biggest
single obstruction in the path of the descent of
the supernatural. The next step after erasing the
existence of ego is to concentrate on gaining
knowledge and wisdom. The way to do this is to sit
quietly in meditative pose and try to concentrate
on opening the aperture of Gyana in the forehead.
The descent of the peace has to be experienced
till it engulfs the being completely. This is the
intense stage of awareness of the supreme
consciousness. The descent of the peace is the
first stage of realization that the self is now
making itself ready for the supreme to descend.
This completes the process of surrendering of the
self. In the next stage the Sadhak
develops an awareness of separation of the Purusha
from the Prakriti. This leads to being aware of a
dual state of consciousness in the being. One is a
stage of superficial state of consciousness that a
person ordinarily exists in and the other is the
state of a state of consciousness that can be best
described as the state of mystical existence. The
person in this stage becomes aware of two levels
of consciousness existing together in him. This is
considered to be a state where the being is
manifested with immense creative energy. The
practice of Yoga nidra also talks about this kind
of a mental stage which is super creative in all
its elements. In this stage the being becomes
aware that there are two conscious states one
which takes care of all the routine chores and the
other which exists as a mute observer and just
keeps a close watch on every performance of the
other. In this state all the tasks are performed
with the feeling that the tasks are not just
ordinary errands but are offerings by the self in
the path of the divine. The ultimate objective of the
Purana or Integral yoga is to submit oneself
completely to the service of the divine and to
feel from the inner core of the consciousness that
all actions of the self are directed towards the
servitude of the supernatural. This sets the stage
for the next step that is the actual descent of
the peace, light, power, depth, serenity,
consciousness of truth in the being. This is the
state of uniting with all the supernatural
elements and experiencing them in the daily life
with the aid of the human body. It is significant to note that
the ultimate derivation of Purna yoga is to be
possessed completely by the divine. It means the
person is ready to experience the nature of his
self completely uniting with the nature of the
divine so much so that both entities become one
and the same.
The constant thought and
awareness of the psychic changes occurring in the
self are the main perceptions of this type of
yoga. These psychic changes ignite the soul and a
constant flow of the supernatural energy is
experienced through the system. This channelising
of the energy is like a uniting chord that
connects the divine with the head of the Sadhak
and then his heart. This is a state of
unobstructed communication with the divine. This
brings about the feeling of integration with the
divine at various levels of existence.
Many people claim that Purna
yoga can be practiced while complete renunciation
of the world is not done. But the advanced
practitioners have always been resorting to
complete abandonment. The principles of Purna yoga
thus do not actually say that a Sadhak has to
necessarily leave all worldly attachments, but the
practice itself is so designed with mandatory
deep-rooted constancy that almost all advanced
practitioners move gradually to the path of
complete renunciation. The word Purna in
Sanskrit stands for completeness or entirety. This
is perhaps the style of yoga which incorporates
all practices which have to be done in totality so
the Sadhak also slowly gets inclined towards
complete renunciation in order to achieve the
divine communion.
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