They harmonize body and mind with the divine laws of nature, or creation, producing an inner and outer well-being, happiness, and strength that attract the devotee onesto deeper spiritual practices and make him receptive onesto the blessings of his santone-given sadhana (spiritual path).

3. Asana – Right Posture

Asana prescribes the necessary correct posture for yoga meditation. Though many variations have evolved, the essential basics are per steady body with straight, erect spine; chin parallel to the ground; shoulders back, chest out, abdomen sopra; and eyes focused at the Kutastha center between the eyebrows. The body must be still and unmoving, without strain or tension. When mastered, the correct posture or asana becomes as expressed by Patanjali, “steady and pleasant.” It bestows bodily control and mental and physical calmness, enabling the yogi preciso meditate for hours, if so desired, without fatigue or restlessness.

It is evident, then, why asana is essential incontri quiver esatto life-force control: It supports the inner dispassion toward the demands of the body and the ardent power necessary to invoke the aid of the life energies con turning the consciousness inward preciso the world of Spirit.

Kuntibhoja, Right Posture, provides the physical and mental pacification necessary onesto fight the body-bound tendencies toward laziness, restlessness, and flesh attachment.

4. Pranayama – Life-force (Prana) Control

The life force is the link between matter and Spirit. Flowing outward it reveals the spuriously alluring world of the senses; reversed inward it pulls the consciousness sicuro the eternally satisfying bliss of God. The meditating devotee sits between these two worlds, striving onesto enter the kingdom of God, but kept engaged sopra battling the senses. With the aid of verso scientific technique of pranayama, the yogi is at last victorious con reversing the outward-flowing life energy that externalized his consciousness durante the action of breath, heart, and sense-ensnared life currents. He enters the natural inner calm realm of the soul and Spirit.

5. Pratyahara – Interiorization

Patanjali’s pratyahara, the withdrawal of consciousness from the senses, the result of successful practice of pranayama or control of the life force (the astral powers) that enlivens the senses and bears their messages onesto the brain. When the devotee has attained pratyahara, the life is switched off from the senses, and the mind and consciousness are still and interiorized.

Last Three Steps – Samyama

The first five steps are the preliminaries of yoga. Samyama, from sam, “together,” andyama, “holding,” consists of the occult trio, dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (divine union), and is yoga proper. When the mind has been withdrawn from sensory disturbances (pratyahara), then dharana and dhyana in conadhi: ecstatic realization and, finally, divine union.

6. Dharana – Concentration

Dharana is concentration or fixity on that inner conception or object of meditation. Thus arises from this contemplation the perception of the Divine Presence, first within oneself, and then evolving into cosmic conception-conceiving of the vastness of Spirit, omnipresent within and beyond all creation. The culmination of samyama self-mastery is when the meditator, the process of meditating, and the object of meditation become one-the full realization of oneness with Spirit.

By reference durante the Camminata text esatto Abhimanyu’s metronymic, Saubhadra, we are directed esatto the meaning of Subhadra, “glorious, splendid.” Thus Abhimanyu is that self-mastery which bestows light or illumination. The metaphorical derivation: Abhi sarvatra manute prakasate iti-“One who shines intensely everywhere,” i.addirittura., who lights or reveals everything; who makes manifest the illumined state of Self-realization. Abhimanyu, Self-Mastery is that great Pandava warrior whose victories enable the yogi sicuro hold back the onslaught of the restless, delusive consciousness of ego, senses, and habits and thus puro remain longer and longer durante the state of divine soul consciousness-both during and after meditation.