What is Brahmacharya, and how helpful is it in life or spirituality and meditation?

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This word Brahmacharya is probably the most misunderstood word. People somehow link it to ‘preserving sexual energy’, being celibate, transmuting the ‘sexual power’ etc. There is a long history behind all these notions and it is hard to see the light.

What is realization, and what happens when you reach there as per Upanishads?

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As per the traditional belief, whatever truth one finds in the Upanishads is an attempt by the Upanishadic sages to explain their experience, that they had when they were in deep state of meditation. That is the realization they arrived at. It is a different matter whether they could describe their experience exactly as they went through it. But anyone who goes on their path, would surely experience the very same truth and it needs no further validation.

What is this realization as per the Upanishads?

Thought 41. Yoga is like the reverse of creation

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Many modern Yoga teachers define Yoga as union. Union with what? Many definitions have been given. But the fact remains that most of us mean body exercises, when we say Yoga. It is about manipulation of the body, it is about fitness of the body, it is about ‘control’ of the body and its instincts. That is the domain of Hatayoga.

So, what is this union about?

Patanjali Yoga goes a step further. It talks about moving beyond the body and mind. It talks about the soul. And if at all you can use such a word, it talks about uniting with your real self, or attaining Kaivalya – a state where the soul is completely free.

But is that the end? That is what we will be seeing in this episode.

 

 

Thought 40. Is your mental EPROM corrupted?

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Just like our modern-day computers, our minds too have EPROMS with pre-stored instructions that enables us to boot strap, and go on with our lives. These instructions are essential for living. But they become a problem when they somehow get corrupted. Imagine how a computer would behave if its EPROM is corrupted. It just crashes 😉 That would also be our state, if we have a faulty mental EPROM. Before we talk about how the practice of Yoga helps in setting right a corrupted mental EPROM, let us face the fundamental question namely -

 

 

Thought 39. What happens in the final stage of Samadhi?

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One goes through a long process of Yoga, following its 8 steps. And finally, he or she attains the state of Samadhi. Is that the end of the journey? What exactly happens at that final stage, in anticipation of which the Yogi had dedicated all his life, going through the arduous practice of Yoga? That is what we are going to discuss in this episode.

 

 

Thought 38. The mind as Patanjali sees it

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Patanjali’s Yoga is centered around mind. But throughout the discussion about Yoga, Patanjali rarely describes this mind nor how it functions. The reason is that Patanjali assumes the model of the mind as put forth by Samkhya. So, it becomes necessary to know what Samkhya says about the mind in order to fully understand Yoga. In this episode, we will be doing exactly that.

Thought 37. The mind as Buddha saw it

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It is amazing how ancient Indians were preoccupied with coming up with various theories about the mind. These theories were not aimed at understanding the mind, the way our modern neuroscience does. But they were driven by practical applications.

One such theory of mind was Buddhist theory of mind as recorded in the Buddhist scripture, namely the Abhidamma Pitaka. Based on this theory, Buddhists developed various meditative practices. We will discuss this Buddhist theory of mind in this episode.

Thought 36. What is mind - did you ever mind?

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Whether mind is just the brain or is it something mysterious, has always been a point of debate. The more we understand our brain, more we will be closer to understanding the mind, as well as the limitations in our scientific methodology. For more than one reason, it seems that there is something more to the mind than just the brain.

In this episode, we will see why it is necessary to keep an open mind before arriving at any conclusions.

Thought 35. Is there a mind beyond the brain?

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In the previous episode we stopped at ‘stages of samadhi with awareness’ and showed how all the steps of Yoga till that point can be completely explained in terms of neuroscience. That means, all that can be scientifically verified.

But beyond that point, when one gets into the ‘stages of samadhi without awareness’, we have to leave behind science since our brain has no direct role in those stages.

Does that mean that there is something even beyond brain? That is what I am going to discuss in this episode.

Thought 34. What happens when you meditate?

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Contrary to common perception, Yoga has more to do with Meditation than physical exercises. There are lot of misconception about these real aspects of Yoga. Lack of knowledge and willful distortion by many commercially motivated Gurus, have earned the name pseudoscience to Yoga. This is quite unfortunate.

In this episode, we will discuss how the entire Yoga, including the meditation, can be scientifically studied and verified. Our current knowledge of neuroscience and the gadgets that we have at our disposal, empower us to undertake such an objective study.

Thought 33. Some interesting aspects of meditation

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In the past episodes we saw how yoga helps in minimizing the thought-wars that generally give rise to stress. But mere stress reduction is not the ultimate goal of Yoga.

In the previous episode we also saw why it is necessary to minimize the thoughts completely to march towards a completely tranquil mind – an entry point to the final goal.

We talked about focusing the mind on specific targets through a process called Dharana – the 6^th step of Yoga. Dharana is the precursor to meditation or Dhyana that takes us to the ultimate goal of Yoga.

Before we dive deeply into Dhyana, let us look at some interesting aspects of Dhyana or meditation in this episode.

Thought 32. The Yogic way of fooling the thoughts!

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In the past episodes we saw how yoga helps in minimizing stress. Lesser stress means better health. Most people turn to Yoga with that goal. But Yoga is not really about stress reduction, though that is one of its byproducts. There are far more interesting things that Yoga can achieve. It takes us to an altogether new dimension of our existence far beyond mundane. That is achieved by the advanced steps of Yoga that we are going to discuss in this as well as subsequent episodes.

Thought 31. The most important step of Yoga.

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Unless you are a novice who is just introduced to Yoga, you probably have noticed that the effectiveness of Yoga practice gradually tapers off over a period of time. It is no longer as effective as it once used to be. Why does that happen?

Thought 30. Neuroscience of Asana or body postures (Thought soup series)

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For most of us asana or body posture is purely a physical thing – stretching, contracting and balancing the body in a specific way. So, you must be wondering what has neuroscience got to do with it! But you may be surprised that even this seemingly physical ‘thing’ has underlying neurological basis! That is what I am going to discuss in this episode.

Thought 29. Neuroscience of Pranayama - the most mystic concept of Yoga (Thought soup series)

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In this episode, we will briefly discuss the neuroscience behind many techniques that result in a sharply focused mind – or ‘Ekaagra Citta as Patanjali calls it. Along with the well-known Pranayama of Patanjali, I will touch upon the so called ‘Mindfulness’ techniques as well.

#Thought 28.# Neuroscience behind the #Yogic step #Pratyahara (Thought soup series)

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In this episode, we will briefly discuss the neuroscience behind a very important step of Patanjali Yoga namely Pratyahara. This is an in between stage of ‘mundane’ and ‘spiritual’ steps of Yoga.

Thought 27. She declares that she IS God! (Thought soup series)

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The topic of this episode is a strange case where a young girl declares herself to be God. It may sound crazy or height of arrogance, and even blasphemous, in some of the majority religions

Thought 26. The Man with thousand heads! (Thought soup series)

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In this episode, we will take up one of the well-known ‘creation hymns’ of the ancient Indian Vedas. But we will be looking at this hymn from a slightly different point of view.