Yoga has already firmly taken root in the vastness of our country. However, what we, in fact, know about yoga. Basically, our knowledge ends with the fact that poses in yoga are called asanas, well, we know these three or four exercises. Still, the edge of the ear may have heard such directions as hatha yoga and raja yoga. Few people know that asanas in the literal sense is "a position of the body in which it is comfortable and pleasant."
Yoga is the whole doctrine. Yoga has many directions, the main ones of which are raja-yoga, karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, bhakti-yoga and hatha yoga. Let's take a closer look at the direction of raja yoga.
Raja-yoga brings up the mental state of a person, his consciousness, improves mental abilities, trains memory and attention, helps a person to know themselves and learn how to manage their actions. After all, it is believed that a person does not know and does not understand himself, which constantly serves as an obstacle in his life path. Raja Yoga in translation means "royal yoga", because this is the highest stage of yoga, after comprehending which you become king. This part of the teaching deserves serious attention in yoga. One who practices Raja Yoga finds himself.
Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga always go along and complement each other. To achieve results in yoga, they must be practiced simultaneously, and with the help of an experienced mentor.
In yoga, there are eight stages of development. The first four stages of yoga refer to the teachings of hatha yoga, namely:
- yama (norms of behavior, general ethical laws, moral precepts);
- niyama (personal behavior, self-discipline, devotion to spiritual practices);
- asana (a system of physical exercises for combining mind and body);
- pranayama (breath control).
The next four stages are related to raja yoga:
- protahara (liberation of the mind from the senses, separation of the senses from the object);
- dharana (concentration of the mind, concentration on the object of practice);
- dhyana (contemplation, meditation);
- samadhi (deep contemplation, state of superconsciousness).
Each step smoothly passes into the next. It is impossible to study and practice the steps separately from each other.
Books of Raja Yoga
The most popular and significant books in the direction of raja yoga are:
- "Raja Yoga" Yoga Ramacharak;
- Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda;
- "Fourteen Lessons of Raja Yoga" by Swami Sivananda;
- "Fundamentals of the world outlook of Indian yogis" Yoga Ramacharak;
- The Golden Book of Yoga by Swami Sivananda.
Yogi Ramacharaka was one of the first to describe various types of yoga. Under this pseudonym wrote the American writer William Walker Atkinson, who in the 19-20 centuries spread Indian philosophy to the west.
Under the pseudonym Swami Vivekananda wrote the largest representative of yoga, the great Indian thinker Narendranath Dutt. He was a disciple of Ramakrishna.
These works will help you learn more about yoga, its origins, understand the essence and look at yoga as a philosophy of life.
Raja Yoga art project
There is even a whole site "Raja-yoga art-project", where everything is collected about raja yoga and meditation. The purpose of this project is to inform the inhabitants about yoga through articles, pictures, posters, illustrations, animations, videos and meditations. This project is considered a creative space for all who want to contribute to the transformation of the world. And everyone can place on this space their photos, pictures, music and everything that it considers necessary, within the framework of the site's tasks. This is a very good help for those who want to know more about yoga, but can not for any reason go through a full course of study at Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKVDU).