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Yoga Nidra
Yoga nidra ( sa, योग निद्रा, ) or yogic sleep in modern usage is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping, typically induced by a guided meditation. A state called yoga nidra is mentioned in the Upanishads and the ''Mahabharata'', while a goddess named Yoganidrā appears in the '' Devīmāhātmya''. Yoga nidra is linked to meditation in Shaiva and Buddhist tantras, while some medieval hatha yoga texts use "yoganidra" as a synonym for the deep meditative state of samadhi. These texts however offer no precedent for the modern technique of guided meditation. That derives from 19th and 20th century Western "proprioceptive relaxation" as described by practitioners such as Annie Payson Call and Edmund Jacobson. The modern form of the technique, pioneered by Dennis Boyes in 1973, made widely known by Satyananda Saraswati in 1976, and then by Swami Rama, Richard Miller, and others has spread worldwide. It is applied by the US Army to assist soldie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consciousness
Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scientists. Opinions differ about what exactly needs to be studied or even considered consciousness. In some explanations, it is synonymous with the mind, and at other times, an aspect of mind. In the past, it was one's "inner life", the world of introspection, of private thought, imagination and volition. Today, it often includes any kind of cognition, experience, feeling or perception. It may be awareness, awareness of awareness, or self-awareness either continuously changing or not. The disparate range of research, notions and speculations raises a curiosity about whether the right questions are being asked. Examples of the range of descriptions, definitions or explanations are: simple wakefulness, one's sense of selfhood or sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindoo Gods; Wallpaper
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent. The term ''"Hindu"'' traces back to Old Persian which derived these names from the Sanskrit name ''Sindhu'' (सिन्धु ), referring to the river Indus. The Greek cognates of the same terms are "''Indus''" (for the river) and "''India''" (for the land of the river). The term "''Hindu''" also implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent around or beyond the Sindhu (Indus) River. By the 16th century CE, the term began to refer to residents of the subcontinent who were not Turkic or Muslims. Hindoo is an archaic spelling variant, whose use today is considered derogatory. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the local I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Advaita Vedanta
''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' (literally "non-secondness", but usually rendered as " nondualism", and often equated with monism) refers to the idea that '' Brahman'' alone is ultimately real, while the transient phenomenal world is an illusory appearance ('' maya'') of Brahman. In this view, (''jiv) Ātman'', the experiencing self, and ''Ātman-Brahman'', the highest Self and Absolute Reality, is non-different. The ''jivatman'' or individual self is a mere reflection or limitation of singular ''Ātman'' in a multitude of apparent individual bodies. In the Advaita tradition, '' moksha'' (liberation from suffering and rebirth) is attained through recognizing this illusoriness of the phenomenal world and disidentification from the body-mind complex and the notion of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandukya Upanishad
The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad ( sa, माण्डूक्य उपनिषद्, ) is the shortest of all the Upanishads, and is assigned to Atharvaveda. It is listed as number 6 in the Muktikā canon of 108 Upanishads. It is in prose, consisting of twelve short verses, and is associated with a Rig Vedic school of scholars. It discusses the syllable Aum; presents the theory of four states of consciousness; and asserts that ''Aum'' is ''Brahman'' – which is the Whole – and that ''Brahman'' is this self ('' ātman'').Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 605-637 The Mandukya Upanishad is notable for having been recommended in the Muktikā Upanishad, through two central characters of the ''Ramayana'', as the one Upanishad that alone is sufficient for knowledge to gain moksha, and as sixth in its list of ten principal Upanishads.Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 556-557 The tex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turiya
In Hindu philosophy, ''turiya'' ( Sanskrit: तुरीय, meaning "the fourth") or chaturiya, chaturtha, is pure consciousness. Turiya is the background that underlies and pervades the three common states of consciousness. The three common states of consciousness are: waking state, dreaming state, and dreamless deep sleep. Mandukya Upanishad Turiya is discussed in Verse 7 of the Mandukya Upanishad; however, the idea is found in the oldest Upanishads. For example, Chapters 8.7 through 8.12 of Chandogya Upanishad discuss the "four states of consciousness" as awake, dream-filled sleep, deep sleep, and beyond deep sleep.PT Raju (1985), Structural Depths of Indian Thought, State University New York Press, , pages 32-33; Quote: "We can see that this story n Chandogya Upanishadis an anticipation of the Mandukya doctrine, (...)"Robert HumeChandogya Upanishad - Eighth Prathapaka, Seventh through Twelfth Khanda Oxford University Press, pages 268-273 Similarly, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yogatārāvalī
The ''Yogatārāvalī'' ("A String of Stars on Yoga") is a short yoga text of 29 verses from the 13th or 14th century, covering both haṭha yoga and rāja yoga (the yoga of Patanjali). It mentions the yogic sleep state of samadhi or yoganidra. The text was used by the author of the 15th century '' Haṭhapradīpikā''. The ''Yogatārāvalī's'' first verse is chanted by Ashtanga vinyasa yoga students, following Pattabhi Jois's practice, at the start of each class. The text leads up to the teaching that yoga brings "complete transcendence of the world and mind", uninterested in gaining siddhis (powers). Compared to earlier yoga texts such as the 12th or 13th century '' Dattātreyayogaśāstra'' and the 14th century ''Amaraugha Prabodha'', the ''Yogatārāvalī'' omits mention of mantra yoga, and treats hatha yoga as the only way to practice rāja yoga. It makes use of the three bandhas (locks) to attain kevala kumbhaka ''Kumbhaka'' is the retention of the breath in the yoga prac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rāja Yoga
In Sanskrit texts, ''Rāja yoga'' (; राजयोग) was both the goal of yoga and a method to attain it. The term also became a modern name for the practice of yoga in the 19th-century when Swami Vivekananda gave his interpretation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali in his book '' Raja Yoga''.Swami Vivekananda, ''Raja Yoga'', Since then, Rāja yoga has variously been called aṣṭāṅga yoga, royal yoga, royal union, sahaja marg, and classical yoga. Etymology and usage Rāja (Sanskrit: राज) means "chief, best of its kind" or "king". Rāja yoga thus refers to "chief, best of yoga". The historical use of the term ''Rāja yoga'' is found in other contexts, quite different from its modern usage. In ancient and medieval Sanskrit texts, it meant the highest state of yoga practice (one reaching ''samadhi''). The ''Hatha Yoga Pradipika'', for example, states that Hatha yoga is one of the ways to achieve Rāja yoga. Rāja yoga is discussed in the '' Yogatattva Upanish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hatha Yoga
Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon. The oldest dated text so far found to describe haṭha yoga, the 11th-century '' Amṛtasiddhi'', comes from a tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the terminology of ''hatha'' are also Vajrayana Buddhist. Hindu hatha yoga texts appear from the 11th century onwards. Some of the early haṭha yoga texts (11th-13th c.) describe methods to raise and conserve bindu (vital force, that is, semen, and in women ''rajas –'' menstrual fluid). This was seen as the physical essence of life that was constantly dripping down from the head and being lost. Two early Haṭha yoga techniques sought to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahāmāyā Tantra
The Mahāmāyā Tantra,Toh 425, Degé Kangyur vol. 80 (rgyud ’bum, nga), folios 167a–171a () (Tibetan: ''sgyu 'phrul chen po'i rgyud'') is an important Buddhist Anuttarayoga tantra or Yoganiruttaratantra particularly associated with the practice of Dream Yoga. The Mahāmāyā Tantra is a short text, having only three chapters and it deals with subjects such as Siddhis, the classification of Hetu, Phala and Upayatantras, and manifestations of the deity Mahāmāyā. This text should not be confused with the Mayajala-tantra. History Origins The Mahāmāyā Tantra probably first appeared within Buddhist tantric communities in the late ninth or early tenth centuries CE. Based on instances of intertextuality Verses 3.12–14 of the Mahāmāyātantra contain a number of close correspondences with verses 12.52, 53, and 55 of the Guhyasamājatantra. it is considered to postdate the Guhyasamāja Tantra; and because it is less doctrinally and structurally developed than tantr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asura
Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the word is sometimes translated "titan", " demigod", or "antigod". According to Hindu scriptures, the asuras are in constant battle with the devas. Asuras are described in Indian texts as powerful superhuman demigods with good or bad qualities. In early Vedic literature, the good Asuras are called ''Adityas'' and are led by Varuna, while the malevolent ones are called '' Danavas'' and are led by Vritra. In the earliest layer of Vedic texts Agni, Indra and other gods are also called Asuras, in the sense of their being "lords" of their respective domains, knowledge and abilities. In later Vedic and post-Vedic texts, the benevolent gods are called ''Devas'', while malevolent Asuras compete against these Devas and are considered "enem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yuga
A ''yuga'', in Hinduism, is generally used to indicate an age of time. In the ''Rigveda'', a ''yuga'' refers to generations, a long period, a very brief period, or a yoke (joining of two things). In the ''Mahabharata'', the words ''yuga'' and ''kalpa'' (a day of Brahma) are used interchangeably to describe the cycle of creation and destruction. The names "''Yuga''" and "Age" commonly denote a (pronounced ''Chatur Yuga''), a cycle of four world ages, for example, in the ''Surya Siddhanta'' and ''Bhagavad Gita'' (part of the ''Mahabharata''), unless expressly limited by the name of one of its minor ages: '' Krita (Satya) Yuga'', ''Treta Yuga'', ''Dvapara Yuga'', or ''Kali Yuga''. Etymology ''Yuga'' ( sa, युग) means "a yoke" (joining of two things), "generations", or "a period of time" such as an age, where its archaic spelling is ''yug'', with other forms of ''yugam'', , and ''yuge'', derived from ''yuj'' ( sa, युज्, , to join or yoke), believed derived from ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within the Trimurti, the triple deity of supreme divinity that includes Brahma and Shiva. Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism' (1996), p. 17. In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is the supreme being who creates, protects, and transforms the universe. In the Shaktism tradition, the Goddess, or Adi Shakti, is described as the supreme Para Brahman, yet Vishnu is revered along with Shiva and Brahma. Tridevi is stated to be the energy and creative power ( Shakti) of each, with Lakshmi being the equal complementary partner of Vishnu. He is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism. According to Vaishnavism, the highest form of Ishvara is with qualities ( Saguna), and have certain form, but is li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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