YOGA Year 6 Issue 1

January 2017
Membership postage: Rs. 100

Bihar School of Yoga, Munger, Bihar, India

 Hari Om
YOGA is compiled, composed
and pub lished by the sannyasin
disciples of Swami Satyananda
Saraswati for the benefit of all
people who seek health, happiness
and enlightenment. It contains in
formation about the activities of
Bihar School of Yoga, Bihar Yoga
Bharati, Yoga Publications Trust
and Yoga Research Fellowship.
Editor: Swami Shaktimitrananda
GUIDELINES FOR SPIRITUAL LIFE
Saraswati
Assistant Editor: Swami Yogatirth-
ananda Saraswati Perform action, O Arjuna. Be stead
YOGA is a monthly magazine. Late
fast in yoga, abandoning attachment
subscriptions include issues from and being balanced in success and
January to December. failure. Evenness of mind is called
Published by Bihar School of Yoga, yoga.
Ganga Darshan, Fort, Munger, Bihar Bhagavad Gita 2:48
811201.
Printed at Thomson Press India You should perform actions with a
Ltd., Haryana 121007 balanced mind in success and failure.
Bihar School of Yoga 2017 Equilibrium is yoga. The attainment of
Membership is held on a yearly the knowledge of the Self through pur
basis. Please send your requests ity of heart which is obtained by doing
for application and all correspond- actions without expectation of fruits or
ence to: results is called success. Failure is the
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Fort, Munger, 811201
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Bihar, India Swami Sivananda Saraswati
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Total no. of pages: 60 (including cover pages)

Front cover: Hatha Yoga Module 1 2016

Plates 18: Three generations of hatha yoga
vidya

Published and printed by Swami Gyanbhikshu Saraswati on behalf of Bihar School of Yoga,
Ganga Darshan, Fort, Munger 811201, Bihar
Printed at Thomson Press India (Ltd), 18/35 Milestone, Delhi Mathura Rd., Faridabad, Haryana.
Owned by Bihar School of Yoga Editor: Swami Shaktimitrananda Saraswati
YOGA Year 6 Issue 1 January 2017
(55th year of publication)

Contents
4 New Year Message
8 Evolution of Yoga
13 Introducing Hatha Yoga
18 Purpose of Hatha Yoga
20 Yoga Research on Practices
24 Purpose of Shatkarmas
26 Trataka
37 Yoga and the Eyes
41 Body and Mind
44 Paschimottanasana
46 Common Sense
49 Cure Becomes Possible
51 Improving the Quality of
Every Life

The Yogi is superior to the ascetic. He is deemed superior even to those versed in sacred
lore. The Yogi is superior even to those who perform action with some motive. Therefore,
Arjuna, do you become a Yogi. (Bhagavad Gita VI:46)
:
New Year Message
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

You can make this year what you want it to become. Every year
comes like a blank whiteboard with nothing written on it, and
it is you who writes on the blank board with a pen. What you
write is what is important, not what comes. How you write
and what you write is more important than thinking about
what you are going to receive.
As a spiritual person, you have to rise beyond the idea
What am I going to receive? and you connect with the idea
What can I be? If you can be then that is your achievement,

YOGA 4 Jan 2017

yet if you keep thinking about What I can become or What
I want to become, you will never be anything.

Cleaning and writing

Begin this New Year with a clean board. It is easy to say that you
have a clean board but it is not that easy to actually clean. You
can rationalize about it but you cannot change the basic nature
or the qualities with which you act and respond to a situation.
By becoming aware you can reduce the number of times
things happen. With last year you fell into the pits and traps
one hundred times. This year, if you are aware, you can save
yourself from fifty. That is fifty percent less. You will still fall
the remaining fifty times. However, the gaps between each fall
will be bigger as you will be more aware, more responsible
and more alert of yourself to achieve the best in your life.
It is the individual who is the important factor. What do
you write, how do you write and with what sentiment do you
express it? It is only juggling one aspect of the mind, nothing
more.
Here is an example: if you write the sentence I am nowhere,
it is a negation, it is a negative statement. You change the state
ment of negation into something positive by simply shifting
the letter w from where to no. Then from the sentence I
am nowhere you have the new sentence I am now here.

Shifting and connecting

This is the shift that has to take place. Only one thing has to
shift in the mind, nothing more. What has to shift in the mind
is the attitude of how you perceive yourself, your nature, your
environment, your people, your place. If that awareness can
come you will be connected, and in connection there is an
experience of love. In disconnection there is an experience of
separation and frustration.
Your positive connection will make you happy. Your
restrictive responses will make you unhappy. Decide which
dog you will feed this year, the white one or the black one.

YOGA 5 Jan 2017

 The black dog is the tamasic one, the white dog is the sattwic
one. You are the owner of these two dogs, you look after them
both. Both fight, the black dog and the white dog. Which one
will win?
The dog who you feed the most will win for it is stronger,
better, bigger. The dog you feed less will be weaker. You are
the owner of these two dogs, the positive and the negative,
the good and bad, the virtuous and the sinful, the uplifting,
the limiting and destructive. Look after both, but encourage
the one, who can bring you more happiness, more joy and
contentment. Interact with the tamasic dog less and interact
with the sattwic dog more.
This has to be your effort this year. You should be aware
of what you write on your board, on this clean board which
you begin today. Your aspiration should be to know what is
being written and to ensure that you write the best story this
year.
1 January 2016, Ganga Darshan, Munger

YOGA 6 Jan 2017

 Happy New Year
On this glorious New Years Day make a strong resolve to wipe away
the old tendencies and bad impressions and to control the senses and
the mind. Have you finished your stock taking of last year? How is
the balance sheet? What divine positive virtues have you developed?
Have you got a balanced mind and equal vision?
Or is there a standstill in your sadhana?
Know the value of time. Forget
the past. A glorious and
brilliant future is awaiting
you. Remove one bad habit
every month and cultivate
one virtue every month.
You will have quick self-
improvement. Be wil ling to
learn from whatever source
possible. Have an open heart.
Whatever you dislike in another
person, take care to correct in your
self. Try to do a task better today. The
only way you can make a better day is
to think and do today that which invites
a better tomorrow. Thus, grow, evolve and
improve yourself.
May this bright New Years Day and all the
succeeding days of this year and all the future
years bring you success, peace, prosperity and
happiness. May you all tread the path of truth and
righteousness. May you enjoy the eternal bliss of the
absolute, leading a divine life, singing the Lords name,
sharing what you have with others, serving the poor with
atmabhava and melting the mind in silent meditation in the
Supreme Self.
I wish you all a bright and a happy New Year.
May you enjoy the eternal bliss of the infinite.
Swami Sivananda Saraswati
Evolution of Yoga
From Conversations on the Science of Yoga Hatha Yoga Book1:
An Overview

What is the relative importance of

the written and oral traditions in the
evolution of yoga?
Swami Satyananda: The origin of
yoga lies hidden in the mists of pre-
history. It was slowly evolved and
developed by the ancient sages, not
only in India but all over the world.
It has, however, been modified to
suit regional languages, social ideas
and other cultural influences. The
essence of yoga was wrapped up in or
explained in different symbols, analogies and languages. Some
traditions believe that yoga was a divine gift revealed to the
ancient sages so that humanity could have the opportunity to
realize its divine nature.
Generally the techniques of yoga were passed on from
teacher or guru to their disciples by word of mouth. In this
way there was a clear understanding of the meaning of the
techniques and aims of yoga as the guru, through his personal
experience, guided the students along the right path and
away from any confusion and misunderstanding. It was only
when the various systems of yoga were written down that
people began to see contradictions in the teachings. These
discrepancies were only superficial, however, and arose
through misinterpretation.
The writers of the classical texts cannot be blamed, for they
recorded their ideas on yoga as clearly as possible in order
to avoid misinterpretation. They expounded their ideas with
the minimum amount of words so that people would not lose

YOGA 8 Jan 2017

themselves by trying to intellectualize about word meanings,
or in other cases they clothed their writings in symbolism
and analogies. This was done so that only a person prepared
and ready for a teaching would be able to understand the
symbolism, if necessary with the help of a guru.
Nevertheless, even though these precautions were taken,
many misunderstandings arose, mainly among overly verbose
and intellectual scholars who did not have the personal
experience to support their commentaries. Unfortunately
people have listened to the commentators without resorting
to the original texts and the advice of people more in touch
with the spirit of yoga. The result has been confusion, and as
a consequence many well-intentioned people have performed
the most bizarre acts in the name of yoga. Some often quoted
examples are walking on fire, sitting in the midday sun and
torturing the body in a variety of ways, such as standing on
one leg in one place for months on end.
The yoga that we now know and which developed in India,
was used, at least in its rudimentary form, more than five
thousand years ago. In archeological excavations made in the
Indus Valley at Harappa and Mohanjodaro, in what is now
Pakistan, various statues have been unearthed depicting people
practising yoga. They show Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati
sitting in asanas and practising meditation. These ruins were
once the dwelling places of people who lived in the so-called
pre-vedic age. These discoveries are a definite indicator that
yoga was practised in India even before the Aryan civilization
started to flourish on the Indus subcontinent.
The first books to mention yoga are the ancient Vedas.
Though scholars are not positive, it is generally felt that these
books were written at least four thousand five hundred years
ago. They dont give any specific yoga practices but generally
allude to yoga in symbolic form. The seers of the Vedas clearly
recognized that there existed a dynamic life principle which
they called vayu, prana. They also clearly saw that this prana
was closely related to breathing. The Vedas also briefly mention

YOGA 9 Jan 2017

the existence of chakras, pranic centres, within but not of the
physical body. The science of sound was clearly recognized
for they mention various mantras that can be used for the
attainment of both material goals as well as spiritual aims.
Therefore, it can be said that the concept of yoga was known
in vedic times in one form or another, as it had been for many
thousands of years before. In all probability, however, the
system of yoga was not properly formulated before or during
the time of the recording of the Vedas. The experiences of yoga
were known but the science of yoga had yet to be systematized.

From the Upanishads until today

With the advent of the Brahmanas and the Upanishads we
begin to see yoga take shape and assume the form that it has
today, and it is the Upanishads which put yoga on a firmer
foundation. The Sanskrit word upanishad can be interpreted to
mean to sit down near and receive teachings from a master,
and also as secret teaching. There are believed to have been
about two hundred different Upanishads. The oldest was
written somewhere around 600 BC and the most recent as late
as the fifteenth century AD.
Many of the Upanishads devote much space to describing
prana and its implications. They describe the psychic pathways
which exist within and through which prana flows, including
the major nadis, ida, pingala and sushumna. The concept of
kundalini in the form of a serpent power within the body is
also indicated. One of the so-called minor Upanishads, the Yoga
Chudamani Upanishad, covers a wide range of practical aspects
of yoga ranging from asanas and pranayamas to psychic
centres and self-realization. The other Upanishads are also a
source of many practical and theoretical principles of yoga.
The Upanishads, however, lack a systematic treatment and
summary of the paths of yoga. They are a conglomeration of
profound ideas mixed with various other kinds of information.
It can be said that the Upanishads are intended more to
inspire than to instruct. During the era of the writing of the

YOGA 10 Jan 2017

Upanishads, right up until quite recently, instructions were
always imparted personally by a guru. The writers knew this,
so detailed techniques were not recorded. This was left to the
discretion of the guru and to later yogic texts.
At the same time as the spiritual and yogic literature
was unfolding, yoga was being refined and developed by its
practitioners and gurus, who then passed on their teachings by
word of mouth. In fact, it is certainly these people who evolved
and improvised yoga practices by their personal experience
in an endeavour to achieve the best results. All the texts can
do is reflect current and prevalent ideas.
Since the teachings of yoga were generally passed on orally,
its development was haphazard. Different teachers taught
different methods so that before it was systematized, yoga was
a collection of varied and unrelated techniques, riddled with
all types of personal beliefs and superstitions. It is here that
the writers of the classical texts served their greatest purpose
by bringing all these different ideas together and intergrating
them. One of the most successful of these writers was Sage
Patanjali who wrote the text called the Yoga Sutras some time
before the birth of Christ. This is still regarded as the classical
and authoritative book on raja yoga.

YOGA 11 Jan 2017

 Large numbers of hatha yoga texts were written throughout
the ages. The most well known of these are the Hatha Yoga
Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita and the Gheranda Samhita. These
texts give details on asanas, pranayamas and other hatha yoga
practices, together with techniques for performing mudras and
bandhas. All the books, however, emphasize that the hatha
yoga practices are not specifically aimed at making the body
healthy. They are a means to higher ideals which first demand
a healthy body.
There are many sages and yogis who have contributed
to the growth of yoga, both in ancient and in modern times.
The list is endless. The number of books on yoga runs into the
thousands and the list grows with every year that passes. For
personal growth through yoga, however, it is not necessary
to read any of these books, as yoga is one hundred percent
practice. The techniques are widely available in modern books
on yoga, in ashrams and yoga schools and can be learnt from
a competent guru which is the best way.

YOGA 12 Jan 2017

Introducing Hatha Yoga
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Hatha yoga is considered to be the first yoga, and the original

work on it is Shiva Samhita. It is the first book written on
hatha yoga and it contains the teachings given by Shiva, the
originator of yogas. He gave these teachings to Parvati, his
wife and disciple.
The story goes that before beginning his discourse, Shiva
told Parvati to keep acknowledging that she had understood
what she was hearing, to let him know whether she was
following the satsang or not. Just as I say to you that if you
have understood, say Yes.
Then Shiva closed his eyes and started to speak on yoga,
and Parvati was listening. Now you know the human nature,
if you focus too hard the mind becomes introverted, there is
drowsiness and sometimes you fall asleep. Parvati went to
sleep. However, Shiva continued, as he kept hearing, Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. At the end when he opened his eyes, he saw
Parvati in yoga nidra, snoring away. He wondered who then
was acknowledging his teaching all through, so he looked
around and saw a tiny fish.
When gods speak, they speak in all languages. You can
understand God in English, I can understand God in Hindi
or Sanskrit, somebody else can understand God in their own
language. Therefore when Shiva was speaking, even the fish
was able to understand him.
As the fish had listened to all the instructions on yoga, Shiva
gave it a boon: Become the first propagator of yoga in human
society. The fish became Matsyendranath, the first hatha yogi
who propagated yoga. Credit goes to Matsyendranath for
bringing the teachings of hatha yoga to our level. He was the
first human visionary, the first human disciple who understood
what hatha yoga was.

YOGA 13 Jan 2017

 The tradition which Matsyendranath started, the Natha
sampradaya, still carries on today. The Nathas are considered
to be adept hatha yogis. They dont have many ashrams, yet
they number in thousands. They dont stay in any one place;
they are constantly travelling, and diligently practising their
hatha yoga. They are masters in hatha yoga.

Development of different schools

From the first tradition of hatha yoga evolved different bran
ches and teachers, who in different ages focused on the pre
valent need of human society and propagated the subject
accordingly. When Swatmarama was propagating hatha yoga,
he was teaching in villages and towns, to people in active social
life, so his approach was different.
Gheranda, on the other hand, was teaching not in society
but to students who came to his ashram and had a spiritual
bent of mind. Therefore, his focus was more on using hatha
yoga for spiritual gain, whereas Swatmaramas purpose lay
in helping people manage their difficulties.
There is also a third school of hatha yoga, propagated by
Sage Dattatreya, and that is a very tough school. There are
other schools not as commonly known as Swatmaramas or
Gherandas. For example, there is another major treatise on
hatha yoga, Hatharatnavali, which gives a detailed exposition
on the subject.
When we look at this whole picture, it becomes clear that
hatha yoga is not a subject dealing only with the physical aspect
of the body. It is a complete subject in itself with progressive
levels.

Progressive levels
The term progressive indicates a specific yogic sequence.
From the yogic perspective, within this physical body there
are four other bodies; we are the owners of five bodies. Just
as when you open up a Russian doll, inside there is another
doll; you open that up and inside there is another doll, and

YOGA 14 Jan 2017

so on. The first one is big and the rest are each smaller. Our
body is like that.
The outer body is known as annamaya kosha, the body made
up of matter. Kosha means dimension and maya means filled
with; therefore, annamaya kosha means dimension filled
with anna or matter. The inner body is known as manomaya
kosha, the body of mind, the mental dimension. Then there is
pranamaya kosha, the energy dimension; vijnanamaya kosha, the
consciousness dimension vijnana means specific knowledge
of the self or consciousness; and anandamaya kosha, the bliss
dimension ananda or bliss arising out of spiritual realization.
These are the five bodies, koshas, all contained within each
other.
When all the koshas work at their optimum positive level
that is perfection of hatha yoga. When your body is functioning
optimally, there is good health and the senses are all fired-
up and active, there is a sense of physical vitality, lightness,
euphoria and dynamism. When the mind is happy, there is
a feeling of buoyancy, contentment, positivity, optimism;
nothing appears dark, everything is seen as light and bright.
This optimum condition of body and mind is the perfection
of hatha yoga.

Blocks in koshas
Blocks are formed at the five levels of koshas naturally
and unconsciously due to lifestyle and circumstances. For

YOGA 15 Jan 2017

example, when you are under stress, certain areas of the body
become affected, three regions in particular. One, the neck
region, where the neck and the shoulders become tight; two,
the abdominal region, where the muscles of the abdomen
become tight, when you pull the abdomen in, in the fight or
flight mechanism; three, the perineum where you pull in the
perineum whenever there is stress.
A normal experience of stress can unconsciously create
muscular stiffness and blocks that reduce circulation of blood
and prana. Your natural pattern of sleep and hunger can
become disturbed. Sometimes when you are mentally and
emotionally burnt-out you cannot sleep; the stress affects the
relaxation pattern. The hunger is also affected, some people
cannot eat and some people overeat under stress.
Just as there are blocks of the body, there are blocks of
prana, which are also three. The pranic block is perceived
in the granthis or knots that are created in the pranic body
unconsciously and naturally. These blocks have to be cleared
for the prana to flow. Once the prana begins to flow, the
behaviour of the mind changes and there is a sense of euphoria
and happiness. Thus in yoga we work through the five bodies
to attain an optimum state of being.

Clearing the koshas

Hatha yoga takes you from annamaya to pranamaya to
manomaya. Raja yoga will take you from manomaya to
vijnanamaya, and kriya yoga will take you from vijnanamaya
to anandamaya. Therefore, Sri Swamiji has given us these three
yogas as the progression in yogic life.
You start with hatha yoga and rectify all the imbalances
and blocks of annamaya kosha or the body, pranamaya kosha
or the energy, manomaya kosha or the dissipated mind. Then
you move into raja yoga and work with manomaya kosha. The
dissipated mind is now focused, channelled and guided. You
move into dharana and dhyana, leading to a balance in the
manomaya and vijnanamaya experience. Then in kriya yoga

YOGA 16 Jan 2017

dhyana is intensified, leading to the experience of anandamaya,
the spiritual dimension. In this way, these three yogas indicate
Sri Swami Satyanandas progressive teaching in yoga.
24 September 2016, Ganga Darshan, Munger,
Hatha Yoga Training Module 1(Extract)

YOGA 17 Jan 2017

Purpose of Hatha Yoga
From Conversations on the Science of Yoga Hatha Yoga Book1:
An Overview

What effect does hatha yoga have on

the body and mind?
Swami Sivananda: By the process of
hatha yoga the yogi attains a perfect
physical body. Bala vajrasam-hanana kaya
sampat The perfection of the body
consists in beauty, grace, strength and
adamantine hardness. The power to
bear extreme cold and heat, the power
to live without water and food and
other powers come under the category
of kaya sampat, perfection of the body.
Since the body of the hatha yogi is perfect and firm, his
mind is also firm and one-pointed. By practising dharana and
dhyana he reaches the highest rung in the yogic ladder and
attains immortality through yogic samadhi. The yogi who has
reached the highest stage, will have the eight major and all the
minor siddhis. This is stated in Hatha Yoga Pradipika (3:8):
Aadinaathoditam divyamashtaishvaryapradaayakam;
Vallabham sarvasiddhaanaam durlabham marutaamapi.
Adinath said the mudras and bandhas are the bestowers of
the eight divine powers. They are held in high esteem by
all the siddhas and are difficult for even the gods to attain.

I have seen many Vedantins who are in a sickly condition

with a very poor physique. A Vedantin is afraid to do asanas
and pranayamas on the grounds that their practice will
intensify body awareness, and adversely affect the practice of
vairagya. Although the two paths of hatha yoga and Vedanta

YOGA 18 Jan 2017

are different, a Vedantin can
harmoniously use pranayamas
and asanas to great advantage.
The body is closely related
to the mind. A weak, sickly
body also means a weak mind.
This body is a horse to take one
to the goal. The body may be
inert and useless but it is an
important instrument for self-
realization. So it must be kept
clean, strong and healthy. The
Vedantin who practises a little
hatha yoga to keep his body
and mind healthy and strong is capable of doing very good
sadhana and reaching the goal of life quickly.

Does physical weakness limit ones spiritual potential?

Swami Sivananda: Unfortunately, yoga is more or less regarded
as a form of physical culture divested of all its psychological
and spiritual significance. This is due to an exaggerated
emphasis on the yoga asanas. Hatha yoga practices do form
a preliminary background for progress in yoga, but they
are not absolutely indispensable for yoga sadhana. While a
strong body is an asset, a weak body is not always a handicap.
There are instances in the history of yoga where the ultimate
has been achieved while dispensing with the practices of
hatha yoga. Nevertheless, I believe that everybody should
do asanas regularly. One of the aims of this yoga movement
is to popularize the use and the benefits of asana in the daily
life of men, women and children. Hatharatnavali (1:22), states:
Yuvaa bhavati vriddho vaa vyaadhito durbalopi vaa;
Abhyaasaatsiddhimaapnoti sarvayogeshvatandritah.
He who untiringly practises yoga in all its aspects attains
success even if he is young, old, diseased or weak.

YOGA 19 Jan 2017

Yoga Research on Practices
From the teachings of Swami Satyananda Saraswati

We have been practising different spiritual techniques for

centuries, but from time to time the intellectuals discouraged
us from doing it. They made up so many cock and bull stories,
and then they dissipated our interest.
In recent times scientists have done some very commendable
work and their investigations have at least verified scientifically
that certain practices produce positive changes in the body and
mind, nervous system and behaviour.

Change of acceptance
About thirty years back, if you told someone who was
suffering from blood pressure to sit down and practise
meditation, he would have said you were crazy. Now those
instruments that you are talking about like bio-feedback have
clearly indicated that, when the practice of meditation goes
deeper and deeper, the alpha patterns appear in the brain.
As the alpha patterns dominate in the brain, the pressure is

YOGA 20 Jan 2017

released from the heart, and there
is a great change in the oxygen
consumption of the system.
Nowadays if anyone is suffering
from high blood pressure and I
tell him to meditate, and if his
physician knows, the patient will
not object.
Thirty years back if you were
asked to practise sirshasana, the
headstand pose, many people
would have said, Dont do
that, youll go crazy. There was
a lot of controversy about the
headstand pose. Those who have
followed the scientific researches,
their minds are now clear.
About thirteen years ago, a
team of scientist conducted some
research into the effect of sirshasana, the physiological effect
of sirshasana. This research was conducted not by one man,
but by a team. They had about one hundred practitioners of
different age groups, and the experiment was continued over
a period of six months. What were the results? The same that
were given in the yoga book, Hatha Yoga Pradipika. The modern
scientific instruments have not glorified yoga, but they have
tended to dispel the ignorance in the minds of many people
about yoga.

Discovering the right asana

If anyone is suffering from a slipped disc or from sciatica,
I teach him just three asanas: bhujangasana, shalabhasana,
makarasana, some pranayama and simple bhastrika. It will take
a maximum of one week for him to recover even if he has been
suffering for years. How did I come to this conclusion? I will tell
you. It was by chance that I was visiting a lawyer in Calcutta,

YOGA 21 Jan 2017

 and that lawyer was also very
much interested in yoga. At
his home that day were a few
American people. They had a
number of instruments with
them, electro-encephalogram,
electro-c ard iog ra m, a n d
machines for measuring skin
resistance, portable versions of
the laboratory models.
They were measuring the
responses of each other, but
not in a particularly scientific
way. One man was tested for
muscular tension. He sat down
in the same posture that we
are in now, and the instruments were connected to him. The
muscles showed a high rate of tension. Then he was asked to
practise bhujangasana. As soon as he lay down on his stomach,
the machine indicated that the tension was falling. When he
actually went into bhujangasana, all his back muscles were
on zero, completely relaxed, right up to the sacral system.
There was not one part with tension. The same results showed
in shalabhasana and makarasana. Then it came to me that it
would be the best practice for slipped disc and sciatica.

Looking for kundalini

The scientific instruments have been revealing to us the
potentialities of yoga practices. Now many people talk about
kundalini. About ten years back, one doctor asked me, Have
you seen kundalini? I asked him, Did you see it? He said
that he had dissected a whole body and he did not see it. I
told him, What do you mean by it? He said there cannot be
a kundalini shakti, because he did not see it in his dissections.
I only asked him one question. I said, While dissecting the
brain did you find a thought?The doctor had no answer.

YOGA 22 Jan 2017

 There is a doctor in Japan, a very good friend, Dr Hiroshi
Motoyama. He is a doctor of medicine and he has improvised
an apparatus which can register the impulses in the chakras.
He has a long-size, big machine. If you are six feet, he puts the
machine at six feet. If you are short and Japanese he puts the
machine at small. He exactly fits those sections at the chakras,
mooladhara, swadhisthana, manipura, anahata, and monitors
them.
Then he will ask you to practise bhastrika pranayama, for
example, or anything else. When you are practising bhastrika,
take the breath in, practise jalandhara bandha, uddiyana
bandha, moola bandha and then you see what is happening
through the chakras. It is of course no kundalini awakening.
It is the chakra becoming active. After this investigation has
come out, many medical doctors are keeping quiet, because
now the kundalini shakti has been accepted as a force.

The monitoring system

In the last thirteen, no in the last thirty-one years, more than
one thousand researches on meditation have been conducted
by scientists all over the word. They have conducted fantastic
research on kundalini yoga, zen and on other forms of
meditation. We have many such apparatus which we can use
to explain the effects of different yogic practices on the body
and mind.
A few years back in India a swami stopped his heart and
went underground for seven days. Indian doctors, non-Indian
doctors and doctors from overseas came to investigate. They
declared him clinically dead, but after ten days he came out.
Now what did that prove? It proves that even after the
heart attack, if you know yoga you can survive it. The cardiac
monitoring system is in the brain and not in the heart. The
heart attack takes place not because your heart has failed,
but because the monitoring system has failed to regulate and
coordinate. If you know how to manipulate that monitoring
system, the heart attack can be avoided.

YOGA 23 Jan 2017

Purpose of Shatkarmas
From Gheranda Samhita, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Through the shatkarmas, harmoniz

ation of ida and pingala, the two main
flows of prana, is established, resulting
in physical and mental purity and
balance. The shatkarmas also balance
vata, wind, pitta, bile, and kapha, mucus,
the three disorders created in the body.
According to ayurveda and hatha
yoga, any imbalance in these three
disorders gives rise to disease. The
shatkarmas are also utilized before
pranayama and other higher practices
of yoga so that the body becomes free from disease and does
not create any obstacles on the spiritual path.
These powerful practices should never be undertaken
just by reading about them in a book or by learning from
inexperienced people. According to the tradition, a person
has the right to teach others only after being instructed by the
guru. It is essential that these instructions are given personally,
including the knowledge of when and how the practices are
to be done, according to the needs of the individual. Gheranda
Samhita (Chapter 1, Verse 12):
Dhautirvastistathaa netih laulikee traatakam tathaa;
Kapaalabhaatishchaitaani shatkarmaani samaacharet.
Performing the shatkarmas: dhauti, basti, neti, lauliki,
trataka and kapalbhati, is essential.

In this verse, the six types of cleansing practices are listed: 1.

dhauti, 2. basti, 3. neti, 4. lauliki (also called nauli), 5. trataka
and 6. kapalbhati. The shatkarmas purify the body. Their

YOGA 24 Jan 2017

purpose, however, is not only physical purification, but
inner purification as well. When the body is purified, internal
disorders are removed and good health is achieved. Without
such purification the body will not be ready for the higher
practices of yoga.
After purification a human being lives longer on this earth.
In the Upanishads and Vedas it states in a number of places
that human beings live for a hundred years, jeevema sharadam
shatam. This is not only the thinking of the Vedas, Upanishads
or ancient philosophies, it is the truth. If a human being
remains healthy and free from disease, living for a hundred
years or more is natural. Accurate genetic copying of the cells
can continue for that length of time if the programming is not
disrupted by impurities or imbalances.

YOGA 25 Jan 2017

Trataka
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Trataka means to gaze, and it is an important practice of

pratyahara. It is the last practice of pratyahara, which leads
to dharana.
In trataka the mind is fixed right from the word go on an
object, a visual object. In your practice of yoga nidra, you go
through a gradual introversion. From body awareness you
move to sound awareness, then to rotation of consciousness
through body parts, breath awareness, and so on. You
gradually go deeper, withdrawing the mind from its external
associations and connections. In trataka it is one hit, you are

YOGA 26 Jan 2017

there, you have to be there, for there is no gradual movement
to concentration. You have to have that state of concentration
right from the word go.

Sage Gorakhnaths mastery

Trataka involves sight, and sight is connected to ajna chakra.
There is a story that Sage Gorakhnath, one of the main
propagators of hatha yoga, perfected hatha yoga spontaneously
through trataka.
Once he was sick and bedridden. On the wall of his room
was hanging an earthen lantern with a burning wick, as it used
to be in the olden days. In the dark room the lamp would be
burning continuously, and lying on the bed he would gaze at
the lamp. By doing this he perfected trataka. While he was sick,
he watched the flame and perfected his trataka. That perfection
bestowed certain special abilities upon him, and then his guru
Matsyendranath came and took him as his disciple.

Different methods of trataka

Trataka is a visual practice and it uses sight to bring about a
state of concentration. It uses vision to still the dissipations of
the mind, and therein lies its beauty.
There are many methods of practising trataka and each
brings about a different experience. For therapy purposes the
method is different, for achieving mental concentration the
method is different, for psychic experience the method is again
different. Trataka is not one practice, though usually only one
method is taught as that is the safest. If the other methods were
taught, you could have experiences that you may not be able
to manage. Remember, this is not a subject of curiosity or of
bravado that you can manage it; you have to work from where
you are and gradually go up.
It is believed that trataka opens up the human psyche.
It activates ajna chakra, due to which you begin to foresee
things; you become the seer of events. That, however, is the
final attainment of trataka. In the primary class of trataka,

YOGA 31 Jan 2017

it is practised for two purposes: therapy of the eyes and
concentration. At the Bihar School of Yoga, trataka has not
been taught for psychic discovery or awakening.
In terms of therapy, the practice improves the eyesight.
In fact, whenever you feel that your vision is deteriorating,
perhaps at the age of forty or forty-five, practise trataka. When
you begin to have a little blurriness in the vision and notice that
you need to hold the paper away from yourself, at that time
if you practise trataka regularly for six months your eyesight
will get better. After some time, when you again notice a slight
blurriness and there is an urge to move the paper away, again
practise trataka for fifteen days. That is how trataka is used
for therapy purposes.
For the purpose of concentration, to stop the dissipation of
mind and improve concentration, trataka on a candle flame is
practised at night. That is the technique used in the Bihar Yoga
system more than any other. Rather than trying to practise and
teach twenty different variations of trataka, which will not be
used properly, this single practice helps improve the eyesight
and concentration.
Swami Satyananda was the first person to use this particular
technique while everybody else was doing trataka on yantras,
symbols and black dots. Swami Satyananda said, No, they
may be practices of hatha yoga but they are irrelevant to the
needs of today. What is relevant in relation to physical and
mental health is what we are going to use. Thus, in the Bihar
Yoga system, trataka using a candle flame is the style that Sri
Swamiji introduced.

Stages of trataka
There are four stages of trataka. First is bahir trataka or external
trataka. This uses an external object on which the vision is
fixed; one has to look at it without flickering the eyelids. That
is the rule of trataka: while you are looking at something you
cannot flicker the eyelids. The moment you have the urge to
blink or move the eyes for any other reason, you have to stop

YOGA 32 Jan 2017

the external gazing, close the eyes, look at the after-image, and
remain with the eyes closed until that inner image disappears.
Initially, when you are not used to the practice, the nerves
and the muscles get tired quickly and there is a strong urge to
close the eyes, and when you close them tears begin to flow.
The tear ducts become activated due to the pressure exerted
on them by steady gazing, and that is a good sign, as the eyes
are being lubricated. This is known as bahir trataka.
The second stage is antar trataka, internal trataka, and here
a symbol is used. For example, at the beginning of a class
during Shanti Path you are asked to visualize a candle flame
at the eyebrow centre. That is the beginning of antar trataka,
where you are recreating the image of a flame in your mind.
You have to recreate the flame as a 3D image: the colours, the
height, the width, all have to be seen. In antar trataka, the effort
is to actualize the form that you visualize or think of.
Then the third stage of trataka, after bahir and antar
trataka, is shoonya drishti. Shoonya drishti means gazing into
nothingness, into void. How this is practised will become clear
if you recall the practice of antar mouna. You would have

YOGA 33 Jan 2017

noticed that in antar mouna when you are asked to become
aware of your thoughts, there are no thoughts, you find that
you cannot think. That is because the moment you begin to
observe something, that activity stops. The moment you move
your mind away, again the thoughts begin to come. That
applies to trataka as well.
Vision is considered to be one of the major causes of
dissipation in the brain. You receive information through all
the senses, whether touch, smell, taste or sound, but the volume
of information received through the eyes is much more than
all the other four senses put together. Out of the two billion
bytes of information that your brain receives every second,
maybe sixty percent is vision-related, ten percent is hearing,
ten is touching, ten is smelling and ten is tasting. Therefore,
it is the vision that always creates mental disturbance, and in
trataka the vision is being focused.
If you close your eyes and remain with the eyes closed for
five minutes, your brainwaves will change. They will become
alpha waves. Then, when you open your eyes and reconnect
with the world, the brainwaves will again change instantly,
as the shapes, forms and colours are being again recognized
and absorbed. At that moment beta waves will predominate.
In bahir trataka you are focusing your jnanendriya, the
physical organ of the eyes, on an object, and with that the
agitations connected with sight stop. The brain becomes
less active, as the influx of information has reduced. When
you practise antar trataka, there is disconnection from the
outside influx and you are self-contained. You dont move
out of yourself into what is outside. With the intensity of
concentration, all chatter is forgotten and you come to a state
of shoonya, nothingness, void. The mind becomes absolutely
still, not a single thought comes. Even if you try to think, you
will not be able to, you wont know where to pick a thought
from. It is a condition of absolute void.
The fourth stage of trataka is chaitanya trataka or continuous
trataka. It refers to ones ability to remain focused at all times.

YOGA 34 Jan 2017

Once I said to Sri Swamiji
that it will be nice to have an
ashram in the mountains, in
the Himalayas. He looked at
me and said, The idea is good
but remember the purpose.
If you are thinking of peace,
then you wont find peace in
the Himalayas if your mind is
not at peace. If your mind is
at peace then even in a place
like Munger you wont hear a
single sound, as you wont be
distracted by what is around.
You will be one with the ex
perience of peace.
That is chaitanya trataka, where the focus and the sharpness
of the mind is so intense that there is no deviation of attention
or awareness. Right now your awareness can fluctuate at any
moment. A big bang behind will make everybody turn around
and question, What was that noise? In chaitanya trataka,
when you are maintaining the state of trataka continuously,
you can be in the middle of a battlefield and remain as peaceful
as Buddha.
One who is able to maintain equipoise in all the critical
conditions of life practises chaitanya trataka. One who enters
the state of samadhi experiences shoonya drishti. One who
becomes established in pratyahara and dharana experiences
antar trataka. One who learns about disassociation and
disconnection from the external influences performs bahir
trataka.

Benefits of trataka
The benefits of trataka became clear during an incident. Once
I was giving yoga classes to a group of violent prisoners
accorded maximum security in San Francisco, USA. There

YOGA 35 Jan 2017

were about fifty of them in the room. Before I went into the
class, the warden said to me, They have difficulty sleeping at
night. Can anything in yoga make them sleep better? I said,
Let me think about it.
While giving the class, an idea came, Why not make them
do trataka in their cells at night? So I said to them, Would
you like to try one yogic experiment tonight? It is something
you can do in the quiet of your own cell. They said, Sure.
I asked the warden if he could organize candles for them. He
said, Well, swami, there are safety issues. They may burn
anything. I said, Let us try for one day. If need be, you can
put a guard in front of every cell to see that nobody is burning
anything. In this way, we tried trataka.
My instructions were being boomed through the speaker
system. I was not watching them, but I was able to see them on
the CCTV screen. I led them through the practice of trataka for
half an hour, and then we finished. I returned to the guesthouse
with the warden.
About twenty minutes later as I was having a cup of tea
with him, he received a phone call: All the people who have
done that funny eye exercise are sleeping. They slept like
babies that night, and the next day they were late risers. This
incident left an impression and later when other people said
to me, Swamiji, we cannot sleep at night, I asked them to
practise trataka, and it worked.
The reason trataka helps in sleep is that you experience a
very deep relaxation in the practice. Not just that, when you
wake up the next morning the freshness and relaxation that
you experience in the body is unique. Trataka rejuvenates the
whole mind by disconnecting it from its sources of distraction.
That is the trade secret of trataka.
27 September 2016, Ganga Darshan, Munger,
Hatha Yoga Training Module 1 (Extract)

YOGA 36 Jan 2017

Yoga and the Eyes

In the Satyananda YogaBihar Yoga system, eye exercises

are taught for good reason as the eyes play a major role in
movement. The movement of each eyeball is controlled by
six eye muscles. Of all the senses, the eyes provide the most
sensory information to the brain. Through the eyes one
becomes aware of the environment.

YOGA 37 Jan 2017

 There is a strong link between the eye and neck muscles.
When one looks to one side, the head, in fact the whole body,
prepares itself to move in that direction. One can experience
that connection by placing the palm of one hand on the neck
region. Keeping the head still while moving the eyes from side
to side as well as up and down, one can use the feedback from
the palm of the hand to sense how the neck muscles respond
to the movement of the eyes.

Correct posture
One can practise moving the eyes independently from the head.
This is particularly useful when performing daily activities
such as using digital devices smart phones, laptops and
computers where one tends to look down and the whole
body tends to go into a stooped flexion pattern. As a result
one can lose the support of the sitting bones and the breathing
becomes more shallow as the diaphragm muscle has less space
to expand.
In order for the eyes to move independently the head
should ideally move from the top two vertebrae of the spine,
C1 and C2, with the lower regions of the neck remaining
passive. Two requirements are necessary to make this
possible. The first one is finding a dynamic skeletal support
while sitting. From the side the pelvis looks like a triangle
pointing down. Finding the support on the pointed parts
of the pelvis at the bottom of the pelvis (the sitting bones)
allows one to sit upright with ease. Then the tail bone (the
tip of the coccyx) is pointed back upwards, accentuating the
forward slant of the pelvis. This establishes stability in the
natural forward-pointing curve in the lower back ensuring an
upright position of the spine, back and head, with minimum
muscular effort.
The second aspect is that the jaw can move freely. The jaw
connects to the skull in the region of the ears. Loosening the
jaw by practising the roaring lion pose enhances the capacity
of the head to move freely. This allows the head to sit balanced

YOGA 38 Jan 2017

on top of the neck so that the torso can remain in an upright
position while the eyes look freely in any direction. When one
moves the head with the lower part of the neck the eyes tend
to lock. When the eyeballs are fixed within the eye sockets, the
ability to move freely is lost.

Eyes and asana

The eyes can also be used to lead one into an asana as
the brain organizes movements in patterns rather than as
singular muscular activity. Using the eyes consciously one
can engage the body in an asana. This has the advantage that
the demand, both on a muscular and skeletal level, is more
evenly distributed over the whole body. The thoracic spine,
where the ribs are attached, is invited to become more active.
Areas like the neck and lower back which are often overused
have a chance to recover and heal.
One can also use the eyes to tone the muscles once one
is established in a twisting asana, either standing or sitting,
by keeping the head and torso still while moving the eyes
slowly in the opposite direction. When one looks to one side
the neck muscles prepare the head to turn to that side. Eye
and neck muscles move in the same direction in a coordinated
manner. By moving the eyes in the opposite direction to the
head movement, the neck muscles have to work harder. In the
process the neck muscles are toned and movements become
more fluid and efficient.
The brain learns by recognizing differences and relation
ships. Moving the eyes and head in opposite directions requires
higher organization and attention. Unusual and unfamiliar, the
brain becomes aware of the strong influence the eyes have on
movement. When the eyes and head move again in the same
direction one will find that the quality and range of movement
has improved and increased.
Looking straight ahead, one can keep a relaxed focus on
the horizon while moving the head from side to side or up and
down. The same can be done by lying on the back, looking

YOGA 39 Jan 2017

 straight up to the ceiling while
the head is turning from side to
side. This has the advantage that
the brain receives additional
feedback through the contact
with the floor.
The eyes also play a major
role in maintaining balance.
One can experience this by
establishing oneself in a bal
ancing asana. When the eyes
are closed, one relies more on
the joint receptors to maintain
balance. The joint receptors
give information about where
one is in space as well as
the direction and speed of
movement. The brain uses the
periphery of the visual field to
orientate and maintain balance. Due to modern lifestyle and
the use of digital devices people tend to use only the central
part of the visual field. As a result the brain is deprived of
the visual information coming from the peripheral field that
is essential to maintain balance.
One can practise shifting from focused to peripheral
vision by extending the arms with the thumbs pointing up.
Slowly moving the hands and arms apart and back together
and following the movement of the thumbs provides an
opportunity for the eyes to re-establish an awareness of the
peripheral visual field.
Consciously using the eyes in the various asanas can bring
more ease and comfort, thus increasing the range of movement
and the ability to relax into a pose.
Sannyasi Prabhavananda, New Zealand

YOGA 40 Jan 2017

Body and Mind
From Conversations on the Science of Yoga Hatha Yoga Book3:
Shatkarma

How can stress be managed by life

style?
Swami Sivananda: If there is mental
fatigue in students due to too much
strain and study, if there is mental
fatigue in merchants on account of
business worries, if there is fatigue in
officers on account of overwork, they
should take proper rest at once. They
should go to the hills or the seaside for
a change. They should do pranayama
and take a light, wholesome, nutritious
diet. They should do japa and kirtan vigorously and practise
easy asanas.

Why does hatha yoga recommend a regulated and moderate

lifestyle?
Swami Sivananda: Physical health is an important condition of
mental health. Strain of any organ, excessive fatigue and mental
strain should be avoided. Ones life must be well regulated
and disciplined. Samyama, restraint, must be practised in all
things. Excess of any kind should be avoided. Stick to the
happy, golden medium. Rest is necessary. Yogi Swatmarama
advises such restraint in Hatha Yoga Pradipika (1:15):
Atyaahaarah prayaasshva prajalpo niyamagrahah;
Janasangashcha laulyam cha shadbhiryogo vinashyati.
Overeating, exertion, talkativeness, adhering to rules,
being in the company of common people and unsteadiness
(wavering mind) are the six (causes) which destroy yoga.

YOGA 41 Jan 2017

How do the conditions of the body and mind affect each
other?
Swami Sivananda: The mind is intimately connected with the
body. The mind acts upon the body and the body reacts upon
the mind. The mind influences the body a pure, healthy mind
means a healthy body. Grief in the mind weakens the body.
The body influences the mind in its turn. If the body is strong
and healthy, the mind also becomes healthy and strong. If the
body is sick, the mind also becomes sick. A pain in the stomach
causes depression in the mind.

YOGA 42 Jan 2017

 The primary cause of diseases which afflict the body is bad
thoughts. Whatever is held in the mind will be produced in the
physical body. Any ill feeling or bitterness towards another
person at once affects the body and produces some kind of
disease in the body. Intense passion, hatred, long-standing
bitter jealousy, corroding anxiety, fits of hot temper actually
destroy the cells of the body and induce disease of the heart,
liver, kidneys, spleen and stomach. Violent fits of hot temper
do serious damage to the brain cells, throw poisonous chemical
products into the blood, produce general shock and depression
and suppress the secretion of gastric juice, bile and other
digestive juices in the alimentary canal, drain away energy
and vitality, induce premature old age and shorten life.
When the mind is agitated, the body is agitated. Wherever
the body goes, the mind follows. When both the body and mind
are agitated the prana flows in the wrong direction. Instead of
pervading the whole body steadily and equally it will vibrate
at an unequal rate, without rhythm.

How can anger be managed with hatha yoga?

Swami Sivananda: Prana entwines the mind like a creeper.
Pranayama leads to the control of mind. Pranayama will put
a break on the impulse of speech. It gives one an abundance
of energy to check anger.

Do asanas and pranayama also affect feelings and moods?

Swami Sivananda: When one is not practising yoga, the nervous
system is slow, and as a result, there is a sort of depression.
Additionally, the energy in the body usually remains blocked
at one or more centres as the nervous system is not activated.
When yoga asanas and pranayamas are practised, the various
systems in the body, such as the respiratory, circulatory, cardiac
and nervous systems, are properly activated. As a result of this,
the feelings in the brain that had been blocked are released,
and pranic energy is introduced into the higher centres of the
brain, allowing one to feel light and relaxed.

YOGA 43 Jan 2017

Paschimottanasana
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

There are different machines which measure the stress of

muscles. Not EMR, EMG, but other electrodes which are
put over the body and measure the stress level as you are
performing an activity. Once that experiment was done with
asanas. The entire body was covered with electrodes and
people were made to do asanas to measure the stress level. The
measurement used to happen in units, so many units of stress.
We did paschimottanasana, touching the toes. While doing
paschimottanasana the muscular stress, the physical stress
reduced by 90 units. Visually, it is a difficult asana as you
are stretching every part, every muscle, and trying to touch
your toes. So your whole body is in a state of chronic tension,
but what is perceived as chronic tension or difficult, what is
perceived as aches and pains in the back, stretching out and

YOGA 44 Jan 2017

grabbing the toes, is actually relaxing the muscular system of
the body. When you release and lie down in shavasana, the
whole body suddenly flops and relaxes more than what it was
used to before like you stretch a rubber and then you release.

Connecting to the intention and spirit

So you stretch your muscles, then you release it. If you use this
knowledge to create a specific condition in your body which
can counteract stressful situations, then no matter where you
are in life, in profession or in renunciation, you can manage
the psychological effects of stress and anxiety in a much better
manner.
This is an indication of understanding and applying the
yogic practices to create a definite change in the pattern of
the body and psychology. Then yoga does not remain only
a mechanical practice that by habit you are doing morning
or evening, but it is a conscious practice to create and alter
something in your life, and that is how we had learnt.
It is that teaching of Sri Swamiji which again we are
presenting, for in the last 50 years there has been lot of dilution
of yoga teaching according to the teacher who is teaching.
Practices are remembered but not the original intention nor
the instruction that Sri Swami Satyananda gave.
We are reviving that and connecting with the spirit with
which he taught us the practices not to become a teacher but
to become the experiencer of yoga.
30 September 2016, Ganga Darshan, Munger,
Hatha Yoga Training Module 1 (Extract)

BSY

YOGA 45 Jan 2017

Common Sense
From Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Swami Muktibodhananda

Vahnistripathisevaanaamaadau
varjanmaacharet
Tathaahi gorakshavachanam
varjayed durjanapraantam
vahnistripathisevanam
Praatah snaanopavaasaadi kaayaklsha-
vidhim tathaa.

Fire, women and long pilgrimages should be avoided.

Therefore Gorakhnath said: Bad company, mixing with
women, bathing in the early morning, fasting and tasks
which produce pain in the body should be avoided.
(Chapter 1, Verse 61)
Anything which demands excess energy and depletes the
system should be avoided. Standing or working near a fire
exhausts the prana. Bad company means those who live an
anti-spiritual life or who think negatively. People without any
purpose in life, who are unaware of the importance of spiritual
evolution do not enlighten ones soul and should be avoided
by a sadhaka.
Involvement with the opposite sex and sexual intercourse
for pleasure alone, deplete energy and tax the nervous
system. Sexual desire can never be fulfilled and when you
feed that desire it is like throwing kerosene on a fire. It is not
the physical act which is bad but the mental repercussions
which can be harmful for the sadhaka. Thus it is better not to

YOGA 46 Jan 2017

indulge for some time if one wants to awaken prana through
hatha yoga.
One is also advised not to undergo long journeys or
pilgrimages. Of course, it should be remembered that when
Hatha Yoga Pradipika was written, jets and fast cars were not in
existence. People travelled by foot, physically exhausting the
bodily and pranic reserves. A pilgrimage implies a religious
search to find God somewhere else. The hatha yogi can realize
that highest state travelling anywhere.
Bathing early in the morning
should be avoided, but the
sentence is incomplete without
adding with cold water when
the weather is winterish. In
India most people bathe in
water from the well or water
reserve, few take a hot bath.
Particularly when it is very hot,
nobody wants to bathe in warm
water. However, in winter it is
cold in the early morning and
if one bathes in cold water it
strains the nervous system and
lowers the body temperature.
Hot water baths weaken the
bodys resistance to the outside
temperature and can make one
feel very lethargic and sluggish.
The hatha yogi should eat regular meals and not make
a habit of fasting often. Fasting is useful to stimulate the
digestive system, to eliminate toxins and to help bring the
senses and mind under control. In sickness it stimulates the
body to produce the necessary antibodies to fight disease and
rebalance the body structure.
In India many people follow the age-old tradition of fasting
in conjunction with the phases of the moon. There are particular

YOGA 47 Jan 2017

days which are conducive for either a full or half-day fast,
e.g. the fourth, ninth, eleventh, fourteenth and fifteenth day
of either the bright or dark fortnight. Swami Sivananda says,
Occasional fasting once a month or when passion troubles
you much, will suffice.
Though fasting has a lot to offer and many people advocate
it, one who devotes many hours to hatha yoga sadhana
should not strain the body in such a way. Any actions which
are strenuous and create pain or extreme conditions in the
body should not be undertaken by the yogi. Without being
fanatical, one should take proper care of the body and avoid
any unnecessary strain or injury, as the body is the vehicle to
higher consciousness. Of course, one has to be sensible about
all these instructions and take into account the situation and
conditions.

YOGA 48 Jan 2017

Cure Becomes Possible
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Nowadays people connect asanas with the body and disease.

They say, if this asana is performed then that particular disease
will be cured. These are words spoken by people not yoga.
Teachers may say that they can cure a particular disease with
the help of yoga, yet yoga does not say so. According to yoga,
diseases are not cured and one should not even try to cure
them. All one has to do is manage and discipline ones life,
and diseases will be cured automatically.

I am not sick
Sri Swami Satyananda said that people generally believe that
yoga cures the disease. However, if a sick person always thinks
about his sickness and believes that he is sick, then no form of
medical practice is going to help. Therefore, the first therapy
for a sick person is to remove the thought from his mind that
he is sick. As long as one does not remove this thought, there
wont be freedom from the disease. The first thought which
must come to a sick person is I am not sick, I am not sick.
When the person thinks I am not sick, the mind starts
affecting the body. If one constantly thinks about physical
ailment and disease, then even a healthy person will get sick
due to constant negative thinking. The first principle is I am
not sick, and the second principle is the appropriate practices.
It means for every condition there are not more than four to
six practices. The general practices are for the enhancement
of health and not for the cure.

Three aspects for maintaining the body

When one connects the body with yoga in hatha yoga then
three effects are seen. The first effect is if there is any disease
or ill health then its removal becomes possible through yoga.

YOGA 49 Jan 2017

After that, one strives to enhance health, to become free from
disease and ill health, and to make the healing condition all the
more powerful. After that comes prevention. If any condition,
tension, germ, bacteria or pollution affect the body, the body
must have the immunity, power and strength to fight it. If
before one would have fallen sick for ten days, then now one
would fall sick only for two days.
Yoga has three aspects considering the body: curative,
preventive and promotive. Generally people should practise
the promotive aspect. They should do the practices for the
enhancement of health, and allow regulation, discipline and
organization to come into their lives.
Otherwise people sleep until eight oclock, eat at eleven and
call the yoga teacher at ten. They complain of pain and ask to
be taught asanas. They eat breakfast at twelve, lunch at three,
sleep at eleven in the night and want to keep themselves fit. By
being in the mud, they want to keep their clothes clean. That
is impossible. By going into the coal mine, they want to keep
their clothes clean. That is impossible. Wherever they will go,
the clothes will be stained.
If you go into the world, you have to bear the suffering of the
world, with discrimination, not with fear and anxiety. When
you are afraid of disease and tension you cannot treat yourself.
However, if you perform your work with discrimination, then
every type of cure becomes possible.
29 July 2014, Netaji Subhash Stadium, Kolkata

YOGA 50 Jan 2017

Improving the Quality of
Every Life
If the system of yoga included
only asanas many people in
the world would be excluded
from practising it. Fortunately
the original tradition of yoga
deals not only with the physical
aspect of yoga, but takes a com
plete and integral approach to
human life, addressing all the
layers of the personality by
using all the branches of yoga.
This is how physically disabled
people can also benefit from it.
This is a story of a woman who not only became a student
of yoga, but also a sincere and committed practitioner despite
her difficult condition. When I met her she already lived yoga.
In theory she did not know anything about yoga, but she
expressed a yogic attitude in action, thinking and behaviour,
being one of the most intelligent, positive and optimistic
persons I have known.
One day a friend asked me to meet a paralyzed woman
with the view to help her through yoga. I asked him, How
do you think I can help this lady? He said, You are the yoga
teacher, go and find out. So I went. She was waiting for me,
sitting in a wheelchair. We had a chat and she told me that she
was 60 years old and had had a car accident nearly 20 years
ago in which her neck vertebrae and spinal cord were broken,
paralyzing her from the neck down.
She explained to me that there were different degrees of
paralysis, with some still being able to move their upper body,

YOGA 51 Jan 2017

the arms and hands. She was paralyzed to an extreme degree,
which allowed her just a slight movement of her head, and so
she required the care of nurses 24/7. She also added that she
was looking forward to our yoga sessions very much as my
friend had told her that it would help her. Frankly speaking at
that moment I had no idea what to do with her, but I offered
to come and see her twice a week.

Yoga nidra the first gift

Before our first session the only thing which came to my mind
was yoga nidra, where the body has to be still, which was very
much the condition of her body. I started to teach her yoga
nidra. In the beginning I had to slow down the tempo, as it took
her longer to navigate through the body with her awareness
than for a healthy person. For the first time after so many years
she became aware of and felt into her body parts. After a few
weeks I could increase the speed to normal and she was able
to follow it with ease, and gradually we progressed to the full
yoga nidra with sankalpa, visualizations and opposites. Then I
recorded a CD so that she could practise when I was not there.
Weeks and months passed and we met twice a week,
continuing with yoga nidra. After the sessions I stayed with
her for some time to chat. On one of those occasions she told
me that she was very grateful that we had met, because yoga
nidra was helping her considerably. She said that by the end of
the practice all her pain was gone. This had already happened
at our first session, but she could not believe that it was because
of the yoga nidra. However, this occurred each time we met, so
she was sure that it was yoga nidra which caused this painless
state, which was an unimaginably great relief for her.
She explained that this pain is called central nervous pain
and is a well-known phenomenon for paralyzed people. When
I asked her to describe the degree of the pain she said, Imagine
that you deliberately make a very deep cut on yourself with
a razor blade and try to feel that pain in a thousand places in
your body simultaneously. She added that most times it is

YOGA 52 Jan 2017

unbearable, so doctors normally treat it with morphine which
reduces the pain but has many negative side effects. The first
gift for her was yoga nidra which helped her to manage the
pain. Since then she has been practising it on a daily basis.

Snuffle pranayama
The second big positive change in the quality of her life
happened through pranayama. I noticed that she was lying in
her bed covered with a minimum of two blankets even on hot
summer days as her body temperature is lower than normal,
due to the lack of physical movement and activity. Another
consequence of this is low blood pressure which especially in
the mornings causes dizziness and general discomfort. It took
her about two hours every day to recover from that extreme
state to her more normal one.
I decided to teach her some basic breathing techniques
starting from simple breath awareness, to abdominal breathing
to full yogic breathing. We were progressing slowly as she
had to develop the right breathing patterns first, which was
quite difficult for her. Then one day when we were practising
abdominal breathing I told her to speed it up little by little.
Eventually it became a kind of bhastrika, which she enjoyed
very much and called snuffle. The next time, she was already
sitting up in her bed and smiling. When I asked what had
happened she said that this snuffle had changed her life.
Now, the first thing she does in the morning is bhastrika
and it immediately raises the blood pressure and body
temperature, so instead of two hours it takes her only ten
minutes to normalize her condition.
I was very glad to hear that it helped her, and the first thing
which came into my mind was that all this would not have
been possible without our tradition and gurus. This shows
the power of yoga, that even the simplest practices can have
profound effects and can indeed bring about positive change
in ones life.
Swami Bhaktananda, Hungary

YOGA 53 Jan 2017

 Blessing to Yoga
Like the rays of the moon
The light of yoga is expanding.
All religions, beliefs and sects
Are receiving shelter
Under the kalpataru of yoga.
Towards the evolution of consciousness
Yoga has done unforgettable work.
Yoga will become tomorrows culture
And will show
A new way of life for mankind.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

YOGA 54 Jan 2017

 Yoga Publications Trust

Yoga Chakra 3:
The Seven Foundations of Jnana Yoga
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
76 pp, soft cover, ISBN: 978-93-84753-56-6
From 1st to 7th November 2015, Swami Niranjanananda gave a
series of satsangs during the Yoga Chakra program held at Ganga
Darshan Vishwa Yogapeeth. The theme was jnana yoga, one of the
spokes in the six-spoked yoga chakra, the wheel of yoga. Swamiji
explained the sequential process inherent in this yoga, which is often
misunderstood as abstract self-enquiry. Beginning with shubhechha,
positive intention, and ending at turyaga, transcendental awareness,
the seven-step ladder of jnana yoga leads one to apply the learning
and develop strength of wisdom. This allows one to manage the New
negative manifestations of the mind and experience inner positivity
and purity.

Yoga Publications Trust, Garuda Vishnu, PO Ganga Darshan, Fort, Munger, Bihar 811 201,
India, Tel: +91-06344-222430 , 06344-228603, 09304799615 Fax: 91+6344+220169
A self-addressed, stamped envelope must be sent along with enquiries to ensure a response
to your request

Websites

SATYANANDA YOGA
BIHAR YOGA

www.biharyoga.net
The official website of Bihar Yoga includes information on: Satyananda
Yoga, Bihar School of Yoga, Bihar Yoga Bharati and Yoga Publications Trust
catalogues.

www.yogamag.net
The official website of Yoga magazine contains
an archive of over 30 years of the magazine. This
archive is fully searchable and ever expanding.

Avahan Online
www.biharyoga.net/sannyasa-peeth/avahan/
provides online access to Satya ka Avahan, the bi-
monthly magazine of Sannyasa Peeth, which contains
the higher teachings of Sri Swami Sivananda, Sri
Swami Satyananda and Swami Niranjanananda, along
with the programs of Sannyasa Peeth.
 Registered with the Department of Post, India issn 0972-5717
Under No. HR/FBD/297/1618
Office of posting: BPC Faridabad bar code
Date of posting: 1st7th of every month
Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers, India
Under No. BIHENG/2002/6305

Yoga Peeth Events & Yoga Vidya Training 2017

Jan 2831 Sri Yantra Aradhana
Feb 1 Basant Panchami Celebrations/
Bihar School of Yoga Foundation Day
Feb 6May 28 Yogic Studies, 4 months (Hindi)
Feb 1218 Yoga Capsule Respiratory (Hindi)
Feb 14 Bal Yoga Diwas, Childrens Yoga Day
Feb 26Mar 4 Yoga Capsule Digestive (Hindi)
Mar 1925 Yoga Capsule Arthritis & Rheumatism (Hindi)
Apr 919 Total Health Capsule (Hindi)
Oct 130 * Progressive Yoga Vidya Training (English)
Oct 2Jan 28 * Yogic Studies, 4 months (English)
Oct 1620 * Kriya Yoga Module 1 (English)
Oct 1620 * Kriya Yoga Module 2 & Tattwa Shuddhi (English)
Nov 410 * Hatha Yoga Module 1: Shatkarma Intensive (English)
Nov 410 * Hatha Yoga Module 2: Asana Pranayama Intensive (English)
Nov 1Jan 30 2018 * Yoga Lifestyle Experience (for overseas participants)
Dec 1115 Yoga Chakra Series (English)
Dec 1823 * Raja Yoga Module 1: Asana Pranayama Intensive (English)
Dec 1823 * Raja Yoga Module 2: Pratyahara Intensive (English)
Dec 25 Swami Satyanandas Birthday
Every Saturday Mahamrityunjaya Havan
Every Ekadashi Bhagavad Gita Path
Every Poornima Sundarkand Path
Every 5th & 6th Guru Bhakti Yoga
Every 12th Akhanda Path of Ramacharitamanas
* Indicates training for overseas participants

Please be aware that mobile phones are NOT permitted in the ashram.
Ensure that you do not bring your mobile with you.
For more information on the above events contact:
Bihar School of Yoga, Ganga Darshan, Fort, Munger, Bihar 811201, India
Tel: +91-06344-222430, 06344-228603, Fax: +91-06344-220169
Website: www.biharyoga.net
- A self-addressed, stamped envelope must be sent along with enquiries to ensure a response to
your request