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Wheel of Yoga
In the backdrop of the yoga can be found the systematic approaches available for different practitioners to achieve union with underlying essential nature. The ancient yogins knew that while all things in essence were composed of the same thing, because of various (karmic constitutions, mental dispositions, and physical tendencies for example) differences from one practitioner to the next would make it necessary that multiple paths be available to move back to the “one source that is all”. The wheel of yoga, as it is sometimes called, offers each yoga practitioner a clear way based on personal inclinations, to practice yoga. The most common traditions in the wheel are listed below. There are numerous subsets that one could discuss in addition to these, but many of them could be included in one of the following categories. For example, Mantra yoga, the yoga of meditative absorption through sound might be put in the Bhakti Yoga system.
In a phrase, the path of selfless service. The karmic path is based in an acceptance that a force much greater than individual ego underlies all of creation. Thus all actions are ultimately possible through this source and permitted by this source when one gives up individual ego, practices non attachment (or Vairagya), and lives a virtuous life. This is the road home through action.
The forceful path of yoga. A system based in physical and mental exercise. This system was used to prepare and cleanse the mind-body complex to house or experience the divine spark. The elements of the practice are: posture, cleansing techniques, breath control, bandhas, and mudras. These practices are commonly utilized in many schools of yoga. This is the physical road home.
Also know as the Royal path, this tradition focuses on deepening the awareness of the ecastic state of absorption in the Self. It is also known as the eight limbed path, ashtanga yoga, and Classical yoga. Each of the eight limbs of this path is designed to direct the outward moving energy of attention and awareness back to source essence. This path is a blending of the other traditions found here based on Patanjali’s condensation of earlier practices into his system.
Like Karma, Bhakti is based in selflessness. Bhaktins, are those who practice selfless devotion or love of the divine. Followers of “the path of the heart,” practice by worshipping the divine in all things, praying, chanting, and singing. This is the emotional road home.
The path of knowledge is attained by deep inquiry into the nature of the self and meditative absorption on the underlying source of all that exists as being the same. Knowledge in this tradition includes understandings of complex systems of thought and belief in sacred texts. It also, and perhaps more importantly, is the natural and progressive intuitive perception of the truth of essence.
A cluster of different South-East Asian traditions within itself, the primary intent is to arouse the power of kundalini within the practitioner. The Tantric path provides (as the word, Tantra means) continuity between the universal essence and the conditional world of physical reality as a generalization. This idea of continuity and continuance is the heart of the tradition in that the orthodox traditions eschewed many of the core elements of practices- such as worship of the goddess, and the use of human sexuality as a vehicle for divine inspiration. While often misunderstood as “sexual’ yoga, the sacred texts that explore the Tantra path and its key proponents see all of the material realm as crucial vehicles for seeking the divine in the real world on an everyday basis. The use of the Shakti principle or divine female energy (the universal womb filled with creation) is linked with the Shiva principle or the divine male energy (the unmanifested potential of the universal seed) in the form of the yoni and the lingam respectively.
Kriya yoga is mentioned specifically by Patanjali as the result of the three Niyamas of: discipline (Tapas), self-study (Swadyaya), and devotion to a personal god (Ishvara Pranidhana) being practiced in yoga. It is also mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita by Krishna to Arjuna. In its literal translation, a kriya is an action. There are numerous shat-kriyas or cleansing actions that are used to prepare the body and mind for eventual source essence awareness or meditative absorption. Kriya practice also includes the ‘spontaneous' movement as a result of the psycho-spiritual-kinetic movement of Kundalini-Shakti through the body. These actions are considered the natural flow of pranic energy and are not consciously controlled but may mimic or resemble ancient yogic postures, mudras, mantras, etc.
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