Astanga Yoga

Pavan Kumar S N
Faculty Associate (Yoga)
Amrita Darshanam International Centre for Spiritual Studies
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Bengaluru.
 Astanga Yoga - Eight limbed path
Patanjali , composed this path in his book Patanjal Yoga Sutra. In which he
has formulated Yoga as a Eight Limbs or Eight Fold path. The Yama, Niyama,
Asana, Pranayama are called Bahiranga Yoga and Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi
are called Antaranga Yoga.
• Yama - Self-restraints
• Niyama - Personal Disciplines
• Asana - Yogic posture
• Pranayama - Regulation of breath.
• Pratyahara - Withdrawal of Senses
• Dharana - Concentration on Object
• Dhyana - Meditation
• Samadhi - Salvation, liberation.
 Yama
Yamas are self-restraints that are meant for one’s virtuous attitude towards
the society. Yamas must be followed in totality, universally with no regard to birth,
place, time or circumstance.

There are five Yamas:

• Ahimsa (Non-violence)
• Satya (Truthfulness)
• Asteya (Non-stealing)
• Brahmacharya (Abstinence)
• Aparigrah (Non-possessiveness)
 Ahimsa (Non-violence)

• Ahimsa towards all living creatures.

• Ahimsa through action, thought and speech; as the thoughts so the actions - so
purify thoughts.
• Apply ahimsa not only to others but to yourself as well. Ex: hurting yourself by
over-eating, performing asana beyond your capability etc.
• If ahimsa is followed for a long time, not only the sadhaka, but even his
surroundings are affected and enmity is eliminated in the minds of all who come
in contact with him.
• Ahimsa is not only elimination of physical, mental, oral hurt, but also wiping out
the feelings of enmity.
• It creates lot of disturbance to our mind, the harmony is lost.
 Satya (Truthfulness)

• Be truthful in your words, thoughts and deeds.

• Say only what you truly mean and mean whatever you say.
• When we try to explain something to others, the conversation if it generates
doubts or if it is not understood correctly by others, or if it is of no use to others,
then that is not truth, even if it is true.
• The truth, which results in the destruction of someone or something, is also not the
truth.
• Be truthful in your yoga practice, with your diet and in every other aspect of your
life.
 Asteya (Non-stealing)

• Taking something not belonging to you is steya (stealing); to giveup any such
desire is asteya.
• Greed (lobha) and desire (raga) cause stealing.
• Be content with what you have and do not envy what someone else has.
• Even if a thought of the theft peeps into the mind, it can affect the mental and
thereby the physical health.
• If asteya is observed, the body and the mind do not have to undergo any strain.
 Brahmacharya (Abstinence)

• Yoga sadhaka should follow continence, but this does not mean that he should
renounce family life and become a monk; such an action is not expected in Yoga
science.
• Controlled enjoyment of desires, staying within the limit of dharma can be termed
as continence.
• It is controlling the sense organs, avoid craving for sensual enjoyments.
• It is we who should control the desires and not desires controlling us. Once the
desires start ruling us, we lose our freedom. If the desires are not fulfilled, then we
lose our mental and physical well being.
• One established in brahmacharya attains ‘virya’ - indomitable courage, vigor.
 Aparigrah (Non-possessiveness)

• Aparigrah means not accumulating anything. Storing things, which are not
required by us, is known as parigrah.
• To observe aparigrah, one should not run behind acquiring things, which are not
necessary.
• Parigrah gives rise to anxiety, attachments which in turn brings stress and sadness.
• Aparigrah removes fear, hate, disappointment, attachment, anxiety and pain.
 Niyama
Niyamas are Personal disciplines or observances which are to be performed
by a yoga aspirant.

There are five Niyamas:

• Shaucha (Cleanliness)
• Santosha (Contentment)
• Tapas (Austerity)
• Swadhyaya (Self-study)
• Ishwara-pranidhana (Complete surrender to god)
 Shaucha (Cleanliness)

• Like ahimsa, Shaucha is also physical, oral and mental.

• Hatha yoga describes 6 cleansing techniques - Neti, Dhouti, Basti,
Nauli,Kapalbhati and Trataka.
• Internal cleanliness through making the mind sattvic (pure) by removing anger,
pride, arrogance, jealousy, greed, delusion etc.
• From the purification process, satvashuddhi, mental happiness, calm mind, victory
over the sense organs, and the plan to view the self (atma) are achieved.
 Santosha (Contentment)

• Being contented with what we have, not desiring more than what we need.
• Being contented in all situations, under all circumstances (not constantly
complaining).
• The contentment does not depend upon these outside matters. It’s a positive state
of mind.
• Contentment certainly help us to keep our health, it reduces the pain and
sufferings. Improves the satva guna.
 Tapas (Austerity)
• Tapa means ‘to burn’, To burn away all the impurities physically, mentally and
emotionally.
• Tapa means to bear some trouble with a good intention. Even if there is some
physical or mental trouble, one should not discontinue his actions, but should
continue them.
• Resisting pairs of experiences like heat/cold, pain/pleasure, hunger/thirst etc.
• It doesn’t mean pushing ourselves harder in a physical sense, its discipline.
• When established in tapas, mastery over body and senses is achieved.
 Swadhyaya
• The practice of studying scriptures - Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali Yoga Sutras etc.,
studying the self, following the gurus dictates, listening to discourses of
saints/wise people, satsang (company of truthful people).
• Japa is also Swadhyaya. It includes both shravana and manana (listening and
contemplation).
• Our life is a reflection of the beliefs and impressions we carry in the subconscious.
Feed the subconscious with inspiring and positive information and your life
definitely transform.
 Ishwara-pranidhana (Complete surrender to god)

• Ishwara is a special purusha who is untouched by the afflictions of life, actions

and the results and impressions produced by these actions.
• Afflictions are ignorance, egoism, likes, dislikes and fear of death.
• Completely devoting oneself to god without any expectation in return.
• There are 9 types of devotions for god: Shravana, Kirtana, Smarana, Padsevana,
Archana, Vandana, Dasya, Sakhya and Atmanivedhana.
 Asana
Asana is that which contributes to stability and comfort both at physical and
mental level.
The asanas can be mastered progressively through following 4 levels:
• Asana involves stability, the body is maintained in a particular asana for a longer
duration while achieving the stability of all the muscles, whether stretched or
relaxed. The effort in this is to stabilize the body and its processes.
• Once the stability is achieved for a certain period of time in any asana, the next
level is to feel the comfort in this position. One should able to maintain the asana
comfortably and feel the ease.
• After steadiness and comfort, one should try to progressively relax the muscles,
with the practice of relaxation, one can experience greater stability and comfort in
the position. Once the body is relaxed, the mind also become calm and relaxed.
• Finally, this mind can be easily focused on an object of meditation and higher
stages of experience can be realized.
 Pranayama
• Pranayama is formed by two words i.e. Prana and ayama.
• Prana means a subtle life force, which provides energy to different organs
(including mind) and also controls many vital life processes (e.g. circulation,
respiration etc.). Ayama signifies the voluntary effort to control and direct this
prana.
• Pranayama essentially a process of voluntary regulation of the breathing. The
pause, brought in the movement of inhalation and exhalation, is nothing but
pranayama.
• On the gross level, practice of pranayama is beneficial for all the system of the
body but especially for the respiratory system.
• While on the subtle level, pranayama works on the mind level for controlling
stress by the mechanism of chitta vritti nirodha (Cessation of thoughts).
• When prana is controlled, the mind becomes stable & the body becomes healthy.
 Pratyahara
• Pratyahara means withdrawal of senses from sense organs in order to control
mind.
• In pratyahara the awareness about the external surrounding is withdrawn and is
taken to inside like the tortoise withdrawing its limbs into the safety of its shell.
• The idea is to become a witness to all the thoughts that run through the mind and
not fight them or resist them. Therefore, the mind is compelled to go inwards and
not run outwards, where it finds many reasons to be miserable and unhappy.
 Dharana
• Dharana means concentration. Dharana is fixing one’s mind to a particular object
with reference to space and time.
• Dharana is sustained attention. Consciousness towards an object
• A Single thought about single object.
• When the mind wander, bring it back to the object of concentration.
• During the practice of asana, dharana is practiced by focusing the mind completely
on inhalation and exhalation.
• This is the first stage of meditation in Patanjali’s yoga.
• Patanjali says that meditation can be done on any object. The only condition is that
the meditator should be favourably disposed towards the object of meditation or
like the object.
 Dhyana
• The uninterrupted flow of thoughts towards the object of concentration.
• The same flow of consciousness moving towards an object without any effort.
• Multiple thoughts about a single object.
• In meditation the mind remains fixed for longer duration on the object of
concentration.
• In Dharana, all the efforts are directed towards keeping the distractions away.
When these efforts succeed and there are no distractions that state of mind
becomes the state of Dhyana.
 Samadhi
• Samadhi refers to spiritual absorption or salvation. State of Super bliss, joy and
merging individual consciousness in to universal consciousness.
• Samadhi is when meditation becomes continuous & constant and the mind takes
the form of the object of meditation itself.
• Samadhi is the highest state of consciousness any individual can attain.
• This is the ultimate goal of yoga because, In Samadhi all thoughts, distractions and
suffering cease to exist. In Samadhi, the mind is completely transcended.
• In both Dharana and Dhyana, there are three elements - the meditator, the object
meditated upon and the process of meditation.
• In the state of Samadhi, the meditator and the process of meditation as if
disappear and only the object of meditation shines forth.