Asana as a form of yoga

 

Some consider asanas as constituting a yoga by themselves and have given them the name of asana yoga.  But it is not to be used simply for the display of physical feats and skill as some gymnasts do, or as a means of earning a livelihood.  It is yoga in the sense that without a disciplined asana, one cannot watch, weed out, and eliminate the vritis or the mental currents that keep rising in the mind-stuff or the unfathomable lake of the mind (chit).  The yoga system is generally divided into two parts: Pran-kala or the Path of the Pranas and Chitkala or the Path of the Chit.  While Hatha Yoga deals with the Pran-kala, Raja Yoga is concerned with Chit-kala.  Asanas form an integral part in both these yogic systems and in fact, are an essential sadhna in every form of yoga whatever it be.  Asanas have, on accound of their importance, been categorized as a yoga system per se, just as Dharna and Dhyan, because of their important role in the practice of yoga, have often been described as Dharna Yoga and Dhyan Yoga.  The body has of necessity to be set in one posture or position for a considerable time—i.e., three hours—because by continual shifting of posture, one cannot successfully engage in the yogic practice, for with every change of posture the vritis are set in motion and the mind never grows steady and still.  Hence the need for a firm and steady pose, but one characterized by ease and comfort, so that the practicer may not feel fatigued and tired during the time he sits for chit-vriti-nirodha (elimination of the mental modulations).

 

 



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