Yoga Vs Saadhau

1270 Words6 Pages
The biggest problem today is the confusion which stems from two conflicting pieces of advice. One is how to control or handle the senses and not to engage in suppression. The second conflict is that students are often told to work with the mind so that everything can be fine. These suggestions motivate one to shun working with the senses altogether. Only people who has mastered yoga possibly have the option to do this. Those who have acquired the ability to keep the consciousness separate from the body senses and the mind may be able to work directly with the mind or bypass the mind and simply abide by the Atman. So, one must be practical till this ability is attained. Senses must be put in use as the conscious mind relies on them. If the…show more content…
Yoga=Samadhi=Concentration. Samadhi etymologically is made up of sama+aa+dha. ‘Sama’ means balance/harmony, ‘aa’ means from all sides and ‘dha’ means placing. It is the harmonious placing of the citta from all sides. That is why it is said that Yoga leads to an integrated personality, because the citta is harmonious from all sides. Samadhi is a state where there is no aadhi (mental ailments) and no vyadhi (physical ailments). It is a harmonious state of the mind; perfect state of health. Yoga is based on the metaphysics of Samkhya Philosophy. Sage Patanjali has defined Yoga as Yogaścittavṛttinirodhaḥ||2||. Citta in Yoga philosophy is what Buddhi is to Samkhya. In Sankhya from Prakrit, the principle of matter, evolves the first evolute i.e. Mahat or Buddhi. The counterpart of that first evolute (at the individual level) is citta in Yoga. So citta is the first evolute from prakriti. Citta is different from the western concept of ‘mind’, though citta is used synonymously as mind, but there is a lot of difference. In Yoga or Samkhya, the western concept of mind is divided into manas, buddhi and ahamkara. In western psychology, when they use the word mind, they include all the three faculties / functions, whereas in Sankhya and Yoga we have functionally divided the parts of the mind. Manas is the synthesizing faculty which converts the sensations into perceptions. Ahamkar is the self - appropriating entity. ‘This belongs to me, I-am-ness’. Everything is appropriated by Ahamkara. Ahamkar is not the psychological pride. It is the principle of division which divides I from not-I. Buddhi is the discriminating and decision-making faculty and the storehouse of past impressions
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