by Advaita Mihai Stoian

The Spiritual Journey as a Practical Pursuit

In the first verse of the second chapter, Patanjali explains the Yoga of Spiritual Action that will naturally lead to an evolutionary process within the frame of daily existence. Validated by the daily life, spiritual results therefore become an achievement that is no longer lost through the waves of life.

This involves the self-assumed discipline, Tapas; self-introspection reflected through the validation of the sacred texts Swadhyaya; and Ishwara Pranidhana which is the devotion toward God or the Supreme Being. This last one represents one of the most delicate concepts presented in this work, a subject of controversy and innumerable speculations in the modern interpretation of this fundamental work.

Not being biased by any anarchic attitude toward a Supreme Spiritual authority as many people are today, without even realizing it Patanjali is introducing the notion of the Supreme Being, Ishwara, that should be the support of the individual aspirations, ideals and devotion.

It makes one smile to see how keen many authors are today to demonstrate that Patanjali could not talk about God in his work and that Yoga has nothing to do with the belief in God But this very attempt to remove God from this work through all kinds of linguistic speculations is only an expression of the anxiety the existence of a Supreme Being always creates within an ego-centered individuality.

As for the path of Yoga described by Patanjali, this is shown to be a very simple combination between individual efforts (self-assumed discipline tapas and deepened self-observation correlated with all the scriptures, swadhyaya), and an openness toward the Macrocosm. This openness is obtained and maintained through the gesture of devotion toward the Supreme Absolute Being, Ishwara. Patanjali is therefore not interested in debating who Ishwara is or entering into any ontological or metaphysical views upon the subject, but only to point out the essential role the Supreme Absolute being is playing in the evolution of the individual human being. Isnt that amazingly modern? It makes the modern new age gurus, those who are full of anxiety every time they have to explain the G word, look like rigid fanatics. Compare this simple and universal perspective from the debut of the second pada with the desperate attempts of todays wellbeing masters to strip the yoga practice of any connection with a Divine Source in order to make it fit into the atheistic paradigm that has been forced upon humanity by its ignorant architects of deception leaders. It makes the Yoga Sutras even more valuable as a fundamental work of spiritual practice.

Some are even hiding behind the argument that Ishwara refers here to the individual Supreme Self, Atman. But even so, there is no contradiction in itself because at the ultimate level of the spiritual path one will realize the identification between the individual Supreme Self Atman and the Supreme Absolute Being ParamAtman or Ishwara. And furthermore it is a proof of ignorance regarding spiritual practice to differentiate between a state of devotion toward the individual Supreme Self Atman and a state of devotion toward the Supreme Absolute, Ishwara. The problem will not be different unless one is using this individual aspect of Atman as an excuse to hide there the ugly face of a spiritual ego, transubstantiated after all the spiritual efforts into a form of personality that can pose as the spark of Divinity within the human being. In reality this becomes the scheme of saving the ego from the purge of the spiritual practice, a genuine Schindlers list for the ego and his family to pass into the realm of spirituality. This is why an individual God is accepted whereas a Universal God is feared and becomes a source of anxiety and fanatic reactions.

The second chapter is called Sadhana Pada and rightly so. The word sadhana is a conjunction of Sat and Dharana, or literally, Truth fixation. Sadhana stands for spiritual practice, the actions that are done in order to crystalize the understanding and teachings into ones individual existence. Sadhana is not a purpose in itself (as it often becomes when the basics are misunderstood) but a sum of all methods to achieve the goals of the spiritual pursuit.

It is to be noted that the pillars of the Kriya Yoga practice as described by Patanjali are found in the last three Niyamas or ethical observances of the second phase of Ashtanga Yoga. The term Kriya Yoga used by Patanjali should not be mistaken with the system of Kriya Yoga that has become popular among Yoga enthusiasts today. Some of those practices are only body actions or so-called Kriyas from the Hatha Yoga system, Prana Kriyas or breath modifications together with some distortion of the Laya Yoga Kriyas or Kundalini Kriyas. They are often only a quick adaptation for the increasingly thirsty market for spirituality that has emerged in the void left by the falling of the traditional religions, especially in the big civilization centers. They are sometimes just a severe mutilation of the integrality of a genuine spiritual system, a state that becomes detectable only when putting it near Patanjalis concept of Kriya Yoga. And since few are instructing themselves today about the basics of their spiritual practice, the fraud goes on undetected and sells a lot of dreams of evolution to a crowd that might mistake feelings of vibrations moving along the spine with the rising of the cosmic energy Kundalini and some phosphenes with the pure Spirit of God.

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