Yoga Mastery

Meaning

There are are many meaning of Yoga in the literature

• dhyāna : meditation is the most accepted meaning

• upāya: An idea for a technique

• sangati: going together

• yukti: to join, as in yuj

• dhanam : the acquiring of wealth

• yoga-kshemam vahāmyaham : a Gita shloka, where yoga means to get something which is good for us

• chhalam : trickery, as in witchcraft/wizardry - indeed, yoga is really - it can be used for goodness, or to show its antagonists e.g. the infamous Rāvana was considered to be a Yoga master too.

• bheshajam : medicine

• loukike alabhya-lābhya : getting in this world what is not available 

Embodied Learning

As an embodied art, in Yoga it is best to experience these meanings first-hand.

This experience can be explored as psychic phenomena too, such as Yoga stories, which are second-hand to start, but eventually all pervades the physical body through power of Yoga.

Ultimately we have to be able communicate the meaning, through transmission of energy - and this passing on of energy, from teacher to student, without succumbing to pontificating, is an essential aspect of Yoga learning.

This experiential approach to Yoga avoids making it formulaic, for in a system that cultivates a spontaneous arousal of Natural Intelligence, there are only formulas for failure. 

Deification

This is ultimate embodied learning, literally the extreme version of spirituality, where we instill spirits within us. It's not as spooky as it sounds although it could be unsettling at first, as neurospsychological processes get instilled in our psyche.

Speaking from the lens of Yoga psychology, there is only one entity that can encompass and pervade all of existence -  that fully Conscious Being of full divine powers personified otherwise called God.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Totally Responsible

If we assume we could be that, then we realize immediately that at that point, or very close to it, we will be solely responsible for our entire condition, 

• • versus the prevalent rights based model of the oppressed by the oppressor,

  • that mostly seek to assign blame to others and cry for reparations.

The entire condition meaning:

• our own circumstance, 

• that of society, and

• the whole universe - just for good measure! 

When we understand the Self in this manner, the Yoga mind has a complete foundation to properly transform our inner condition, no matter the outer world.

And it is from such an inner space that the outer world can be well transformed too.

Empathy

If we are to be totally responsible then it implies that we embody every psyche as it where, which requires a deep sense of empathy:

• an under-standing (what stands-underneath) of the "other", as the basis of the object of meditation,

• without getting tied down in a cloud of emotion, which we may very well feel - but it's important to extract the wisdom from that experience and step back.

Empathy is how we have at the outset described the process to increase our Natural Intelligence.

Gods have our best interests at heart.

With Intelligence

When we approach Yoga with intelligence fully turned on, the only type of Yoga that is being practiced is a highly personalized, customized version suited exactly for the Self. 

Our own personal Yoga is the only “brand of Yoga” that makes sense - after all this is all about Self-realization!

Belief/Bhakti means to "be-in-love". Don't do Yoga blindly. 

When the Avatār of Yoga is fully operational within, notice how everything starts to work in life, and there is an automagical rising in love with the Self, with life, with the practice, with whatever god is working for you. 

Blindly falling in love, is the trap of religion.

Very Material

This is not mere psychology as in the common sense of the word.

In Yoga model all phenomena in the realm of Thought are considered to be material reality - which is scientifically true as indicated by the fact that Thoughts manifest in the nervous system via biochemical phenomena.

Materialize

Initially, any psychological experience is purely subjective, then as we do the Yoga practice it becomes possible to objectively materialize any of our intents

Over time as we become more adept, timelines for manifestation shrink.

Until, theoretically, with just a snap of a finger, or a blink of an eyelid, magic happens.

This is possible because there is considered only a single objective material reality of Prakriti, and our Purusha can have an impact on this through. 

The trick is to transcend the subjective into the objective - hence the Yoga of Patanjali.

Avatārs help

Becoming a Yogi is such a vast undertaking, it's sometimes hard to know where even to start, but no matter where we start, eventually, the mystery of Yoga reveals itself, and shifts the psyche of a group of committed individuals to Avatār proportions.

Having said that, Yoga let's us start with even the tiniest of scopes.

One way to keep motivated on this journey is to use a grand story that completely grabs our attention, that we wish to see its fullfilment, that is, the instilling the Avatār effect.

An Avatār level concept has to be: 

• large and amazing enough to entrance the Mind out of its everyday pettiness, and 

• yet made plausible by tying it down to actual people/places & astronomical/geographical events.

Such a chosen Avatār takes over our Mindscape completely to :

• • drive our every waking, and 

  • eventually even, sleeping moments

It is then that the Avatār effect takes hold within, and thence to manifest in the physical plane around us.

Examples

We flavor our soak here with some selection of the following Avatārs.

• the legendary Rāmāyana epic, with its profound roots in Yoga, literally a map to our own Life story, and thus our quest to sunder the roots within of the Rākshasas that beset us, and thence transform society.

• For the purist Yogi, we utilize the Avatār of Yoga, which is to see the whole of Life through the lens of Yoga.

Other Avatārs which we could embellish with would be :

• the story of how AI would enable all human endeavor and propel us to a star-based civilization.

• the fulfilment of the dream of Bhārat in its journey toward establishing Dharma universally.

• some visionary entrepreneur's determined purpose of how to accelerate techno-capitalism

The point is to see how each of the Sutra's, and techniques, can be contemplated in the context of some large, deeply fulfilling life goal/model.

Then it becomes possible to live a life of Yoga, where All Life is Yoga.

The Avatār of Yoga

For total Yoga geeks, this is the ultimate, since from this we can manifest all other Avatārs.

The Avatār of Yoga as a conscious Being we instill in our Mindscape - recalling why it is called Ashthanga Yoga, that is eight limbs (of this being), not eight parts !

We deify Yoga after we give it a suitable inner terrain in which to come to Life, and runs our entire psyche in background mode even.

Guru

The Inner Guru

The ocean of Yoga is so vast a Guru is traditionally recommended, but in true Yoga fashion it is also possible to hack this on our own and become our own Guru.