Rāja Yoga
In Sanskrit texts, ''Rāja yoga'' () was both the goal of yoga and a method to attain it. The term was later adopted as a modern label 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 "king, sovereign, chief, best or most excellent of its kind". 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 samādhi).. The ''Hatha Yoga Pradipika'' (15th century) for example, authored by Swatmarama, presents Hatha Yoga as a preparatory and complementary practice that leads to the state of Raja Yoga: Raja Yoga ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan languages# ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jason Birch
Jason Birch is a scholar of medieval haṭha yoga and a founding member of SOAS University of London, SOAS's Centre for Yoga Studies. His research includes locating and translating early yoga manuscripts, and preparing critical editions, such as of the ''Amaraugha''. Biography Jason Birch gained his bachelor's degree in Sanskrit and Hindi at the University of Sydney. He won a Clarendon Scholarship to attend Balliol College, Oxford to study the ''Amanaska'', the earliest rāja yoga text, under Alexis Sanderson. He completed his DPhil there in 2013. In 2014 he joined the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies as a research fellow. From 2015 he took part in the five-year Haṭha Yoga Project at SOAS University of London, where he has been translating and editing Sanskrit texts on haṭha yoga and rāja yoga. He is a founding member of SOAS's Centre for Yoga Studies. His partner is the yoga Participant observation, scholar-practitioner Jacqueline Hargreaves, co-founder of the open-acce ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Samkhya
Samkhya or Sankhya (; ) is a dualistic orthodox school of Hindu philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, '' Puruṣa'' ('consciousness' or spirit) and '' Prakṛti'' (nature or matter, including the human mind and emotions). ''Puruṣa'' is the witness-consciousness. It is absolute, independent, free, beyond perception, above any experience by mind or senses, and impossible to describe in words. ''Prakṛti'' is matter or nature. It is inactive, unconscious, and is a balance of the three '' guṇas'' (qualities or innate tendencies), namely '' sattva'', '' rajas'', and '' tamas''. When ''Prakṛti'' comes into contact with ''Purusha'' this balance is disturbed, and ''Prakṛti'' becomes manifest, evolving twenty-three tattvas, namely intellect ('' buddhi'', ''mahat''), I-principle ('' ahamkara''), mind ('' manas''); the five sensory capacities known as ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose; the five action capacities known as hands (''hasta''), fee ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hatha Yoga
Hatha yoga (; Sanskrit हठयोग, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''haṭhayoga'') is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some hatha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Itihasa, Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon. The oldest dated text so far found to describe hatha yoga, the 11th-century ''Amritasiddhi, Amṛtasiddhi'', comes from a Tantra, 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 onward. Some of the early hatha 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 esse ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti yoga (), also called Bhakti marga (, literally the path of '' bhakti''), is a spiritual path or spiritual practice within Hinduism focused on loving devotion towards any personal deity.Karen Pechelis (2014), The Embodiment of Bhakti, Oxford University Press, , pages 19-24 It is one of the three classical paths in Hinduism which leads to '' moksha'', the other paths being jnana yoga and karma yoga. The tradition has ancient roots. Bhakti is mentioned in the '' Shvetashvatara Upanishad'' where it simply means participation, devotion and love for any endeavor. Bhakti yoga as one of three spiritual paths for salvation is discussed in depth by the ''Bhagavad Gita''. The personal god varies with the devotee.Bhakti Encyclopedia Britannica (2009)Karen Pechelis (2011), Bhakti Traditions, in The Conti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Atman (Hinduism)
Atman or Ātman may refer to: Religion * Ātman (Hinduism), ''Ātman'' (Hinduism), meaning "Self", a philosophical concept common to all schools of Hindu philosophy * Ātman (Buddhism), ''Ātman'' (Buddhism), ''attā'' or ''attan'', a reference to the essential self ** ''Anattā'' or ''anātman'' — "not-self", central concept in Buddhism * Ātman (Jainism), ''Ātman'' (Jainism), or ''Jīva'', a philosophical term used within Jainism to identify the soul * ''Atman jnana'' — "knowledge" in the context of Indian philosophy and religions Film * Ātman (1975 film), ''Ātman'' (1975 film), a Japanese experimental short film directed by Toshio Matsumoto * Atman (1997 film), ''Atman'' (1997 film), a documentary film directed by Pirjo Honkasalo People * Cynthia Atman, American engineer * Pavel Atman (born 1987), Russian handball player See also * Ataman, a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds * Atma (other) * Atta (other) * Divine soul (disambi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jivanmukti
A ''jivan mukta'' or ''mukta'' is someone who, in the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of Hinduism, has gained and assimilated self-knowledge, thus is liberated with an inner sense of freedom while living. The state is the aim of moksha in Advaita Vedanta, Yoga and other schools of Hinduism, and it is referred to as ''jivanmukti'' (Self-realization).Gerhard Oberhammer (1994), La Délivrance dès cette vie: Jivanmukti, Collège de France, Publications de l'Institut de Civilisation Indienne. Série in-8°, Fasc. 61, Édition-Diffusion de Boccard (Paris), , pages 1-9 Jivanmukti contrasts with the concept of '' videhamukti''; the latter means "liberation or emancipation after death, in afterlife". Etymology ''Jīvanmukta'' () is an adjective derived from a combination of Sanskrit noun जीव '' jīva'', "life", and the past participle of the verb मुच् (much, or IAST muc), "to liberate". Monier-Williams gives the meaning "emancipated while still alive". ''Jīvanmukti'' (), the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Śūnyatā
''Śūnyatā'' ( ; ; ), translated most often as "emptiness", "Emptiness, vacuity", and sometimes "voidness", or "nothingness" is an Indian philosophical concept. In Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, and Indian philosophy, other Indian philosophical traditions, the concept has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context. It is either an Ontology, ontological feature of reality, a meditative state, or a Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenological analysis of experience. In Theravada, Theravāda Buddhism, ' often refers to the Anatta, non-self (Pāli: ', Sanskrit: ') nature of the Skandha, five aggregates of experience and the Āyatana, six sense spheres. ' is also often used to refer to a Buddhist meditation, meditative state or experience. In Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism, ' refers to the tenet that "all things are empty of intrinsic existence and nature (''svabhava'')", but may also refer to the Buddha-nature teachings and primordial or empty awareness, as in Dzogchen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hatha Yoga Pradipika
The ''Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā'' ( or Light on Hatha Yoga) is a classic fifteenth-century Sanskrit manual on haṭha yoga, written by Svātmārāma, who connects the teaching's lineage to Matsyendranath of the Nathas. It is among the most influential surviving texts on haṭha yoga, being one of the three classic texts alongside the ''Gheranda Samhita'' and the ''Shiva Samhita''. More recently, eight works of early hatha yoga that may have contributed to the ''Hatha Yoga Pradipika'' have been identified. Title and composition Different manuscripts offer different titles for the text, including ''Haṭhayogapradīpikā'', ''Haṭhapradīpikā'', ''Haṭhapradī'', and ''Hath-Pradipika''. It was composed by Svātmārāma in the 15th century as a compilation of the earlier haṭha yoga texts. Svātmārāma incorporates older Sanskrit concepts into his synthesis. He introduces his system as a preparatory stage for physical purification before higher meditation or Raja Yoga. S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shiva
Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, [mɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh]) and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hinduism. Shiva is known as ''The Destroyer'' within the Trimurti, the Hinduism, Hindu trinity which also includes Brahma and Vishnu. In the Shaivite tradition, Shiva is the Supreme Lord who creates, protects and transforms the universe. In the goddess-oriented Shaktism, Shakta tradition, the Supreme Goddess (Devi) is regarded as the energy and creative power (Shakti) and the equal complementary partner of Shiva. Shiva is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta Tradition, Smarta tradition of Hinduism. Shiva has many aspects, benevolent as well as fearsome. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an Omniscience, omniscient yogi who lives an Asceticism#Hinduism, ascetic life on Kailasa as well as a house ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |