Yog – Mahapath, Gopinath Kaviraj.

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Would like to share this beautiful practical aspect of yog with all. with your interest in this blog articles we have crossed 3,37,000 footfalls till now. Thank you every body for your inspiration. Shaktanand.

Yog – Mahapath, Gopinath Kaviraj, translated by SN Khandelwal.

To enter another body is considered to be a high sadhana of Yog. Adi Shankaracharya is said to have demonstrated this kriya. He took the pran up from his left toe and carried it all the way up and left his body through the crown of the head, called Brahmrandhara. From there he entered into the body of King Amru who was going to be cremated. Staying thus, Shaknaracharya understood the Kamkala (as he did not know the subject because he was celibate from childhood itself) tattva to debate with the wife of Mandan Mishra. After assimilating the desired knowledge, he again left the body of the king from Brahmrandhra and entered into his own body guarded by his disciples. After experiencing the Kāmkala tattva, he returned to debate Mandan Mishra’s wife and defeated her too.

How true the whole episode of Shankaracharya is that one can not say, but in some scriptures, some yogis have exhibited such sadhanas. This practice represents high accomplishment of a yogi. So instead of discussing the purpose, we would restrict ourselves to the procedure part only here. Dharana explained in the yog, is actually Deh-dharana. To keep one’s Chitt located in a specific part of the physical body is Dhāranā. In the 8 limbs of yoga, first five i.e. Yam, Niyam, Asan, Pranayam and Pratyāhār are the outer limbs of yog or we can say deal with outer aspect while Dhāranā, Dhyān and Samādhi are the three internal practices of yog. In the tantrik and non-tantrik Baudh literature, definition wise or sequence wise there is difference. In Agams also differences crop up but despite all the differences at different places there seem to be no difference while understanding it at the tattva level.

Different types of Dhāranā: There are three different types of dharana mentioned in Baudhist literature.

1.Deh Dhāranā: 

Three points are generally mentioned for dharana in yog, Eyebrow centre, Nose tip and Heart. Though these are addressed by different names but still they are in our body or deh only. Hence we can say that it is deh-dharanā only whether we concentrate on eyebrow centre or nose tip or heart.   

Chitt or mind also keeps working taking support of physical body. Physical body, senses, Chitt, Antahkaran and ling sharir all are inter connected. Chitt in-fact is Vibhu but its Vrittis shine in the very physical frame in which they are based. While delving into the inner practices of yog one has to stop the outer movement of the vrittis of the chit and make them one pointed in wards. The earlier step of Yog, Pratyahār in fact is meant to stop the outer flow of vrittis’ of our chitt and make it one pointed. With moral and atmic control close association of Body, Mind and Pran is essential. What one learns from Yam and Niyam are the moral conduct rules for living our life. Above this is located our spiritual life. The purpose of asan practice is to make the body still. After this stillness of pran is desired.

If one has not achieved the stillness of the body, then by sitting for long duration in one asan some time one achieves stillness of pran also. When this happens only then pranayama can be understood and only then one can learn control over ones pran. While doing pranayama sadhana some time one attains stillness of senses too for a moment. In that state though eyes may be open but still one would not be able to see anything. Same may be the case with hearing faculty or other such senses of the body. This can be said to be a state where all the senses have been neutralized. We can say that if sight is not, the seer is not and scene is not. When this happens then Pratyāhār is said to be achieved. By continuous practice Sadhak becomes adept in pratyāhār. When this happens outer yog finishes. Now the inner yog starts thus Dharana starts.

Meaning of it is that after attaining stillness, we should direct our chitt in one direction only i.e. focused on the one-pointed goal. This goal itself is the subject of Dhāranā. For this some part of our own body is taken. In dhāranā, chitt gets activated i.e. turns into vritti. This happens when chitt is bound at one place in our body.

2.Videh Dharana:

There is another dhāranā different from above which is called Videh dhāranā. In this vritti arises outside the body. When chitt enters into videhdhāranā then karmic snares of the person gets depleted. During this state Chitt is located inside the body but its Vritti can arise anywhere outside it. It is like sun is located at one place but rays of its light can be seen in far off places in all directions. For this Videh vritti, existence of physical frame is essential. With the help of this only, yogis could generate contact with far off located persons etc. Though we feel chitt to be connected with our physical frame but it is omnipresent. Infact it is endowed with the power of changing the whole cosmos with its vritti. Thus in normal deh dhāranā, chitt and vritti both are inside the physical frame, while in Videh Dhārnā, chitt is inside the body but vritti is outside it.

3.Mahavideh Dhāranā: 

During this both Chitt and Vritti reside outside the physical frame. This is called unnatural dhāranā but is natural. Videh dhārnā is artificial and is imagined. Though it is imagined but still maha videh dhāranā comes from it only. For Mahavideh Yogi it help in realization of the self. Due to the affect of this dhāranā alone the snares or curtains on the self are removed. The curtains or covering over the self are called karm-klesh vipāk, which are due to rajo guna. In realized state of Ishwar, these covering are no more there. Ishwar himself is Satya and in it complete freedom and effulgence is displayed. When yogi becomes adept in this Maha Videh Dhāranā then he becomes free of all snares like Karm (because of dharama and adharma deeds), klesh(ignorance etc), three-fold vipāk (of birth, life and death). All these veils cover up our chitt.

Due to the fickle nature of the mind and Chitt, Chitt gets entangled in the body because of its collected karmas. With effect of Samadhi this gets depleted. As we travel from place to place taking particular roads in the same manner Chitt also travels from one place to another taking refuge in different paths called nadis. Thus through dhāranā one comes to know the pathways of these nadis. Without having the knowledge of the nadis, even on depletion of the snares to mind, Chitt can not be moved in the desired direction. The benefit of the neutralization of the karmas is that chitt can move on its speed without any obstruction. Thus without having the knowledge of the pathways one can not move the chitt as per desire.

Senses are closely associated with our chitt, where chitt goes senses also follow there. Om..Shaktanand.