English

If you were reading scriptures in your past lives, you recognize them. The more you read, the better level you can reach. This is the reason why in monasteries students were reading scriptures many times (scriptures that they’d gotten from guru).

Why it is important to study Vedic scriptures:

1. They give you examples of high morals and ethics, conscious and healthy life values, that help you orient yourself in life.

2. Allow yourself to connect with high energy when you concentrate on the lives of Mahatmas, Sages, and Rishis.

3. Gives the possibility to learn from other mistakes.

4. Allow to study laws of the universe.

5. Helps to remember previous lives.… skaityti daugiau

According to yoga, human beings have 5 levels of energy. This energy coexists in a range from the most physical to the most subtle. They’re called Patta Kosha or Five Sheaths.

1) Annamaya kosha (Physical body).
2) Pranamaya kosha (Pranic body).
3) Manomaya kosha (Mental body).
4) Vijnanamaya kosha (Astral or Psychic or Intuition body).
5) Anandamaya kosha (Body of bliss).

Annamaya kosha or the physical sheath of the body, is called the food body because it depends on food, water, and air, which are gross forms of prana.

Pranamaya kosha is the pranic body, the vital sheath. Pranic body has an even more subtle nature. It supports and nourishes the physical body, pours energy into every cell of it, and the pranamaya kosha is about the same size and shape as the physical body.… skaityti daugiau

Mudras have been used for centuries in various traditions of yoga, Ayurveda, Buddhist monks, and others to heal body, mind, and soul.

Mudra in Sanskrit means ‘seal’ or ‘sign.’ Mudra can be a certain position of a body part (gesture, finger position, tongue position) or position of the whole body (asana, like viparita karani mudra).

Mudras allow you to develop the ability to feel flows of life energy, prana, inside the subtle body and consciously control these flows. Mudras purify energy channels and mental centers in the subtle body. There are a lot of different mudras: Jnana, Dhyana, Nabhi, Viparita Karani, and many more.

Benefits of using mudras

1) Health becomes better.… skaityti daugiau

Bandha – it is a special technique of yoga to keep and redirect prana energy inside the body. By doing bandhas, we gently but powerfully lock, tighten, and contract certain parts of the body and hold them. Also hold your breath by doing this. Then it stimulates our internal organs and muscles. When we contract those parts, they redirect prana energy to different parts of the body and impact our mind, emotions, actions. Body and mind become calm, they can rest and experience higher states of awareness.

Bandhas help us to prepare for meditation practice. It is important to learn to master bandhas gradually carefully in order not to harm body or mind.… skaityti daugiau

When you fully master this level, you become independent from the 5 senses: hot or cold, pain or pleasure, hunger or thirst, beautiful or ugly. Pratyahara is step number 5 in Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Pratyahara in Sanskrit means “rejection, to avoid specific thought, avoidance.”

Imagine a turtle. When he hides, he pulls inside his head, hands, and legs. Same here. When thought comes, you learn to pull inside your senses. You learn to keep distance between your senses and sense objects. Another example. Imagine an octopus. Our senses always try to reach and realize thoughts that come to our mind.

For example. Come and have a thought to eat a cookie.… skaityti daugiau

In order to grow in yoga practice, you need to understand what energy processes happen inside and outside you. It states health condition, bad or good habits and other.

Chakra in Sanskrit means ‘wheel, circle, vortex’. Chakras – it is energy centers in our energy body (pranic body, non-physical body).

In the classical yoga system, there are 7 main chakras. They are based near our spine. According to Hatha Yoga Pradipika, in our energy body there are at least 72 000 energy channels, or nadis. Chakras are places where a lot of nadi energy channels connect in one place. Those chakras make an impact on our physical body, mind, and intellect.… skaityti daugiau

Reincarnation – it is the ability of the soul to take new birth after death and get a new body. The body dies, but the soul reincarnates to a new body.

Some people believe, some don’t, and some have their own experience. Religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism their principles based on karma and reincarnation. Western religions think that humans live one life and after death go to hell or heaven.

In most ancient scriptures, Vedas, the Rigveda, Yajurveda, Upanishadas, Mahabharata, and the Ramayana, we can find knowledge about reincarnation. In Buddhism and Hinduism, there is an understanding of samsara – the wheel of life and death. Sansara means the cycle of life and death when the soul is reborn life after life.… skaityti daugiau

1) Then you create your future.
2) You can understand why situations happen in your life.

We all should make decisions in life, and it depends on what moral principles we live by, it will have different consequences for us and for other people.

Person who are responsible for his actions, will live much more conscious and moral life. He will not do any bad things to other beings. And a person who thinks that everything is coincidences probably can do something to harm others.

What is karma

Karma in Sanskrit means ‘action’.

Buddhist sutra about the Law of Karma: “Everything that you do will return back to you. Everything that happens with you – fair reward.”

So whatever you do for others in life, you get the same back.… skaityti daugiau

Ishwara Pranidhana means devotion for all living beings, devotion for the Absolute, for God. Patanjali Yoga Sutras says, “By devotion to Ishwara, attainable samadhi.”

Ishwara – Creator, God, Parabrahman, Highest Soul, Absolute, Highest Consciousness. Pranidhan means finding a shelter, devotion.

Full devotion for all living beings and full devotion for God. Always think about God, about your Divine Nature.

Most people in society are oriented only to satisfy their material needs. For them it’s hard to understand why I should serve somebody. So Ishwara Pranidhana is the best cure from our ego selfishness because when we need to serve others, we get rid of our ego. When we serve others, we return our karmic debts for others.… skaityti daugiau

Svadhyaya means reading spiritual texts, scriptures, and biographies of spiritual masters and gurus, read their books, listen to their lectures, attend satsangs, and gain knowledge that uplifts you and allows you to experience your real nature.

We need to study laws of the universe:

What is karma?
What is reincarnation?
How to live life?
How to develop inner virtues?
How to realize our true nature (Who Am I)?

It is important to know who we are, about our inner world, and about outer world. Otherwise we don’t know how to live life.

We can find answers in Vedic scriptures. Teachers recommend reading scriptures many times because from 1 time it’s not always possible to understand it.… skaityti daugiau