Introduction and links to related topics Below are some short introductions. Click on the blue hyperlinked word to get more related articles.
Postures - The various body movements and positions in the system of Yoga.
Sivananda - A form of Yoga integrating movement, breathing and meditation.
Karma - (Sanskrit) "Action, deed."
One of the most important principles in Hindu thought, karma refers to
any act or deed;
the principle of cause and effect;
a consequence or "fruit of action" (karmaphala) or "after effect" (uttaraphala), which sooner or later returns upon the doer. What we sow, we shall reap in this or future lives. Selfish, hateful acts (papakarma or kukarma) will bring suffering. Benevolent actions (punyakarma or sukarma) will bring loving reactions.
Karma is a neutral, self-perpetuating law of the inner cosmos, much as gravity is an impersonal law of the outer cosmos. In fact, it has been said that gravity is a small, external expression of the greater law of karma. The impelling, unseen power of one''s past actions is called adrishta.
The law of karma acts impersonally, yet we may meaningfully interpret its results as either positive (punya) or negative (papa)- terms describing actions leading the soul either toward or away from the spiritual goal. Karma is further graded as: white (shukla), black (krishna), mixed (shukla-krishna) or neither white nor black (ashukla-akrishna). The latter term describes the karma of the jnani, who, as Rishi Patanjali says, is established in kaivalya, freedom from prakriti through realization of the Self. Similarly, one''s karma must be in a condition of ashukla-akrishna, quiescent balance, in order for liberation to be attained. This equivalence of karma is called karmasamya, and is a factor that brings malaparipaka, or maturity of anava mala. It is this state of resolution in preparation for samadhi at death that all Hindus seek through making amends and settling differences.
Karma is threefold: sanchita, prarabdha and kriyamana.
sanchita karma: "Accumulated actions." The sum of all karmas of this life and past lives.
prarabdha karma: "Actions begun; set in motion." That portion of sanchita karma that is bearing fruit and shaping the events and conditions of the current life, including the nature of one''s bodies, personal tendencies and associations.
- kriyamana karma: "Being made." The karma being created and added to sanchita in this life by one''s thoughts, words and actions, or in the inner worlds between lives. Kriyamana karma is also called agami, "coming, arriving," and vartamana, "living, set in motion." While some kriyamana karmas bear fruit in the current life, others are stored for future births.
Each of these types can be divided into two categories: arabdha (literally, "begun, undertaken;" karma that is "sprouting"), and anarabdha ("not commenced; dormant"), or "seed karma."
In a famed analogy, karma is compared to rice in its various stages. Sanchita karma, the residue of one''s total accumulated actions, is likened to rice that has been harvested and stored in a granary. From the stored rice, a small portion has been removed, husked and readied for cooking and eating. This is prarabdha karma, past actions that are shaping the events of the present. Meanwhile, new rice, mainly from the most recent harvest of prarabdha karma, is being planted in the field that will yield a future crop and be added to the store of rice. This is kriyamana karma, the consequences of current actions. In Saivism, karma is one of three principal bonds of the soul, along with anava and maya. Karma is the driving force that brings the soul back again and again into human birth in the evolutionary cycle of transmigration called samsara. When all earthly karmas are resolved and the Self has been realized, the soul is liberated from rebirth. This is the goal of all Hindus.
For each of the three kinds of karma there is a different method of resolution. Nonattachment to the fruits of action, along with daily rites of worship and strict adherence to the codes of dharma, stops the accumulation of kriyamana. Prarabdha karma is resolved only through being experienced and lived through. Sanchita karma, normally inaccessible, is burned away only through the grace and diksha of the satguru, who prescribes sadhana and tapas for the benefit of the shishya. Through the sustained kundalini heat of this extreme penance, the seeds of unsprouted karmas are fried, and therefore will never sprout in this or future lives.
See: diksha, grace.
Like the four-fold edict of dharma, the three-fold edict of karma has both individual and impersonal dimensions. Personal karma is thus influenced by broader contexts, sometimes known as family karma, community karma, national karma, global karma and universal karma.
See: karma, anava, fate, maya, moksha, papa, pasha, punya, sin, soul, karma yoga.
karmasamya: (Sanskrit) "Balance or equipoise of karma."
See: karma.
karmashaya: (Sanskrit) "Holder of karma." Describes the body of the soul,
Upaya - (Sanskrit) "Means."
A term used in Kashmir Saivism to describe the means to move from individual into universal consciousness. anavopaya: "Individual, or limited means." Also called kriyopaya, the way of ritual worship, hatha yoga, concentration and yogic breathing. shaktopaya: "Way of power." Active inquiry through mental effort, emphasizing control of awareness, japa and meditation. shambhavopaya: "Way of Shambhu (Siva)." Also called icçhopaya, "Way of will." Seeing Siva everywhere; surrender in God. anupaya: "Nomeans." Not really a means, but the goal of the first three upayas - the transcendent condition of Siva Consciousness. The spontaneous realization of the Self without effort. Also called pratyabhijna upaya, "way of recognition."
See: Kashmir Saivism.
Flow Yoga - Flow Yoga is about linking the breath with the pose. One moves from pose to pose in a smooth, easy manner, like Meditation in Motion and on a deeper level, as resistance is released and tension is shed, you flow with the present moment.
Martya Yoga - Not to be confused with Abhava, a yoga in which the yogin envisions himself as "non-existence". Martya yoga is a means of inducing self-inflicted death by awakening the "sleeping coiled serpent" in each of us. It is self-taught, but inadvisable to call it forth unless one is prepared to follow through to the end. Once seriously begun, the process cannot easily be reversed (suicice is more easily induced, it is said, by a secret acupuncture point).
So long as we continue to let go of the lower rung in oder to reach for the higher, we can ascend the ladder of evolution. As we give way to fatigue we settle for mere repetition and holding fast. Similarly, the Yoga of Death teaches us to pass through the gates between worlds with courage. Life and Death are but ways of matter which Spirit sometimes uses. In life also we are capable of moving between dimensions, from one world to the next. And if we know how to travel indefinitely from dimension to dimension, it follows that we can ultimately alter exterior Reality by both natural magick and objective magic. Self and World are connected. This does not mean, however, that we have the right to consign whomever we choose of our fellow souls to some unfortunate dimension, without understanding what we are doing. To attempt to remove evil from one sphere is simply to send it to another, perhaps even less appropriate place. Nor may we ourselves blithely move from one dimension to the next, whenever the problems of the world begin to weigh a bit heavily on us. That would be to leave an endless trail of unfinished business and irresponsibility behind ourselves like muddy footprints. The best life, therefore, is the life of sacrifice in the here and now - not sacrifice through dying, but through living.
New Age -
1. mixing metaphysical practices with a structured religion. (TRASB)
2. movement of emerging planetary consciousness devoted to making Earth a healthier, happen and more peaceful place to live based on respect for humanity’s diverse traditional way of life in harmony with the environment.
3. holistic community in general, including practitioners of yoga, meditation, natural foods, spiritual development, humanistic psychology, environmental and peace activism, psychic arts and sciences and many other approaches and disciplines.
4. Aquarius Age, coming era of peace and spiritual understanding.
5. age of group interplay, group idealism and group consciousness (Bailey)
6. an added dimension to our daily, ordinary living, a sense of empowerment and enthusiasm arising from the presence of the unexpected in our lives. (David Spangler).
7. waking up from our somnambulistic existence, turning the lights an ‘inside’ and letting live fill its place. (Swami Virato)
8. a major and unprecendened cultural transformation. (Diane Eisler) (NAD)
Kriya - (Sanskrit) "Action."
In a general sense, kriya can refer to doing of any kind. Specifically, it names religious action, especially rites or ceremonies. In yoga terminology, kriya names involuntary physical movements caused by the arousal of the kundalini.
See: pada.
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