om yoga book

om yoga book, @Yoga

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Om Yoga
Its Theory and Practice
by
Swami Nirmalananda Giri
©Copyright 2006 by Atma Jyoti Press
Contents
Preface: Yoga and Freedom .............................................................................................5
Chapter One: Why Yoga?................................................................................................. 6
Chapter Two: The Word That Is God............................................................................ 15
Chapter Three: Om Yoga Meditation............................................................................ 21
Chapter Four: Breath and Sound in Meditation.............................................................42
Chapter Five: Points For Successful Meditation ...........................................................52
Chapter Six: Om Yoga–Ashtanga Yoga.......................................................................... 65
Chapter Seven: The Foundations of Yoga..................................................................... 69
Chapter Eight: Om in the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Yoga Sutras ..................... 86
Afterword: It Is All Up To You .......................................................................................91
Appendix One: The Yoga of Sound................................................................................ 93
Appendix Two: The Glories and Powers of Om.............................................................97
Glossary....................................................................................................................... 106
Preface: Yoga and Freedom
“Which is the form of meditation that came to be foremostly employed by seekers after
liberation? What should be the object of meditation by such seekers? The form of meditation
that came to manifest as the foremost of all, for the regeneration of all seekers, was the First
Word, indicative of Brahman: the Syllable Om. Meditation on Om should be resorted to by
seekers after liberation. This Syllable
is
the Supreme Brahman.’” (Atharvashikha Upanishad
1:1,2) (Please see the Glossary for the definition of unfamiliar words and also for brief
biographical information on unfamiliar persons.)
Yoga is all about freedom. Only a fraction of the world’s population is formally imprisoned,
but the entire human race is imprisoned in the body and the earth itself. None are free from
the inevitability of sickness, age, and death, however free of them they may be at the moment.
The human condition is subject to innumerable limitations. Who really controls his life fully,
attains all his goals, and knows no setbacks of any kind? No one.
Our real self, the spirit, is ever perfect and free. But we have forgotten that. So we identify
with our present experience of bondage and consequently suffer in countless ways. Our
situation is like someone who is asleep and dreaming that he is being tortured and beaten. In
reality he is not being touched at all; yet he is experiencing very real pain and fear. He need
not placate, overpower, or escape his torturers. He needs only to wake up. Yoga is the
procedure of self-awakening.
Om Yoga is the way to freedom from suffering and limitation. “What world does he who
meditates on Om until the end of his life, win by That? If he meditates on the Supreme Being
with the Syllable Om, he becomes one with the Light, he is led to the world of Brahman Who
is higher than the highest life, That Which is tranquil, unaging, immortal, fearless, and supreme.”
(Prashna Upanishad 5:1,5,7)
Regarding Om, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (1:28) simply says: “Its repetition and meditation
is the way.” The Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, as well as the Yoga Sutras, advocate
meditation on Om, the sacred syllable that both symbolizes and embodies Brahman, the
Absolute Reality. (See Chapter Eight: Om in the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Yoga Sutras.)
It is my hope that you will test for yourself the spiritual alchemy of Om Yoga that is set
forth here.
“This is the bridge to immortality. May you be successful in crossing over to the farther
shore of darkness.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.6)
Swami Nirmalananda Giri
Atma Jyoti Ashram
www.atmajyoti.org
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Chapter One: Yoga
“Yoga” is a Sanskrit word that means “to join.” Yoga is both union and the way to that
union. What do we join through yoga? First, we join our awareness to our own essential being:
the spirit whose nature is pure consciousness. In yoga philosophy this is known as the Atman
or Self. Next, we join our finite consciousness to the Infinite Consciousness, God, the Supreme
Self (Paramatman). In essence they are eternally one.
According to yogic philosophy the individual atman-spirit originally dwelt in the consciousness
of that oneness. But in its descent into the material world the spirit lost its awareness of the
eternal union, and lost the capacity to live in and manifest the union on a practical level.
Through yoga the lost consciousness can be regained and actualized in the individual’s practical
life sphere.
Regarding this, a yogi-adept of the twentieth century, Dr. I. K. Taimni, remarks in his book
The Science of Yoga
: “According to the yogic philosophy it is possible to rise completely above
the illusions and miseries of life and to gain infinite knowledge, bliss, and power through
enlightenment
here and now
while we are still living in the physical body.…No vague promise
of an uncertain postmortem happiness this, but a definite scientific assertion of a fact verified
by the experience of innumerable yogis, saints, and sages who have trodden the path of yoga
throughout the ages.”
Since rational thought precedes rational action, we should begin with the philosophical
side of Yoga.
Yoga philosophy
Hinduism embraces six systems of philosophy (darshanas), one of which is the Yoga
Darshana. The basic text of the Yoga philosophy is the Yoga Sutras (also called Yoga Darshana).
It is the oldest known writing on the subject of yoga, written by the sage Patanjali, a yogi of
ancient India. Further, the Yoga Philosophy is based on the philosophical system known as
Sankhya, whose originator was the sage Kapila. Sankhya is the original Vedic philosophy,
endorsed by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, India’s most widely-read scripture. (Gita 2:39;
3:3,5; 18:13,19. Also, the second chapter of the Gita is entitled: Sankhya Yoga.) The
Ramakrishna-
Vedanta Wordbook
says: “Sankhya postulates two ultimate realities, Purusha and Prakriti.
Declaring that the cause of suffering is man’s identification of Purusha with Prakriti and its
products, Sankhya teaches that liberation and true knowledge are attained in the supreme
consciousness, where such identification ceases and Purusha is realized as existing
independently in its transcendental nature.” It is not surprising, then, that Yoga is based on
Sankhya.
In contrast to the other five systems, Yoga is a philosophy which stimulates its investigators
to engage in yoga as a practice through which they will experience and demonstrate its truth
and worth. What begins as theory develops into practice which culminates in realization. Yoga
is philosophy, discipline, and experience. It is a revelation of consciousness.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna the teacher tells Arjuna the student: “There was never a
time when I did not exist, nor you, nor any of these kings. Nor is there any future in which we
shall cease to be.” (Bhagavad Gita 2:12) We are eternal beings, without beginning and without
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