Astanga Yoga

Year 2006 is 5,055th year of Kaliyuga. As per Hindu mythology the present era is Kaliyuga and it is considered as a dark age for mankind. According to this belief every face is wearing a mask- mask of artificiality.

Shirking responsibilities and buttering people have become the way of life, the way to get some quick gains!Job satisfaction is linked to the bulge of the pay packet. Who talks about that real man-making education now?

You may wonder what Ashtanga Yoga has to do with the above observations. Well, it has got everything to do! Astanga Yoga is concerned with humanity and divinity of the individual.Humanity has gone astray. Can he be called a human being, living in a brutal, materialistic culture, dehumanizing and deprived of deep inner divinity? Who, now thinks about individual sense of awareness and cosmic sense of awareness? To talk about permanent happiness and permanent satisfaction is considered tomfoolery! About 2100 years ago, matters were so confused in the human society, that even the system of yoga became distorted in many aspects.

Therefore, an effort was made by Sage Patanjali then. He worked to reclassify and codify the human techniques which he termed as Ashtanga Yoga.Ashtanga Yoga means eight limbs. Later, Swami Vivekananda called it Raja Yoga.To attain equanimity of the mind is no ordinary achievement.

To think appropriate to the occasion and act according to the requirements of the occasion requires a high degree of mental discipline. That can be achieved according to Ashtanga Yoga, by Yama-controlled conduct with others and Niyama- regulation of one's personal habits.Yama has 5 parts: Ahimsa-non harm in thought, deed and activity; Satya-benovelent truthfulness; Asteya-non-stealing; Brahmacharya-universal thinking; and Aparigraha- simple living. Niyama has 5m parts: Shaoca- purity of mind and cleanliness of body; Santosa-mental ease and contentment;

Tapah-social service; Svadhyaya-inspirational thinking; and Ishvara pranidhana- to meditate on the cosmic consciousness.Ashtavakra, a great saint named “Ashtanga Yoga” as “Rajadhiraja Yoga”- the yoga of kings of kings. Saga Patanjali used this text of Ashtavakra as the base for his subsequent classification of the yoga techniques.

He made it more relevant to the modern day requirements and changed human psychology.So practice and follow the principles enunciated in the Ashtanga Yoga for a total life. It is required to live in harmony and attain spiritual bliss which is the ultimate goal of human life. Only such perfect individuals can hope to attain the much cherished concept of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (the world is one family).

They also say that we must strive to make the concept of global village into a reality! Ashtanga Yoga has given you the ways and means to achieve it, 2000 years ago!