A STUDY ON DESTINY OF MEDITATION AND PARADOXICAL NDERSTANDINGS IN RAJAYOGA, SAHAJAYOGA AND HATHAYOGA

Today, we the human kind, are on the way of great change and an uncertain future. The growing population in a world of limited resources, growing destructive effects of global warming, catastrophic climate change, the environmental deterioration and war are greater than ever before. Many of the world's religions are too splintered, too past-oriented and too engaged in competition with one another to alert and to prepare the human family for what is coming. . People are using God and religion to justify terrible acts of cruelty and revenge against others. This is further fracturing the human family at a time when human unity and cooperation are imperative. Yet humanity is unaware and unprepared. People are unaware about spirituality which is the communication between human wisdom and higher consciousness. They are not able to realize about their participation on this chain which is the necessity of their existence. People are unaware of the reality and power of Knowledge within them. Unfortunately, the wisdom is not the prevalent thinking in society today. Today the objective is to accumulate more and more wealth, power, fame and fortune. The value system in place supports this attitude. The rich, famous and powerful are respected, adored and applauded. They are held in high esteem and considered the role models to be emulated. With this perspective attention is not turned to meditation and fulfilling man's highest destiny, with this perspective the direction is always self-aggrandization. From the beginning of human evolution on this planet, people have tried their best to be happy and to enjoy their lives. And, over this time, they have developed an incredible number of different methods in pursuit of these goals. Among these methods we find different interests, different jobs, different technologies and different religions. From the manufacture of the tiniest piece of candy to the most sophisticated spaceship, the underlying motivation is to find happiness. We're all familiar with the course of human history; beneath it all is the constant pursuit of happiness .It is impossible to find happiness and satisfaction through material means alone. The need of meditation We, human beings, generally want to get rid of sorrows or sufferings and obtain happiness, and for this reason, we all are struggling to earn our own living everyday to get enough food, clothing and shelter. Though we struggle for our needs in the hustle and hustle of daily life, we can say that we are never satisfied and contented with whatever we have. Our desires never come to an end. So man on the whole is certainly sure to face anxiety, worry, sorrow, pain, grief, lamentation, and so on and so forth, because of his own craving. So long as man cannot overcome his craving and attachment, he has unavoidably to face a great deal of misery at present and will also be the same in the future. So if we really wish to be released from all these pains in our life, we positively need a remedy for releasing and dispelling all our miseries. The remedy is nothing but insight meditation which alone will free you from all your sufferings and enable you to attain the real peace and happiness of your life. Meditation Meditation is generally an internally-invoked, personal practice, which an individual can do by themselves. Prayer beads or other ritual objects may be used during meditation. Meditation may involve invoking or cultivating a feeling or internal state, such as compassion, or attending to a specific focal point. The term can refer to the state itself, as well as to practices or techniques employed to cultivate the state. There are dozens or more specific styles of meditation practice; the word meditation may carry different meanings in different contexts. Meditation has been practiced since antiquity as a component of numerous religious traditions. Meditation is the process of discovering our true nature which is described in Vedanta as Sat Chit-Ananda or existence-consciousness-bliss. We exist, we are conscious beings and our internal nature is bliss. We all know that we exist, we also know that we are conscious beings but we have forgotten that we are actually blissful. Meditation is the process of re discovering the fact that we are actually blissful on the inside. Meditation is the tool with which to accomplish the true purpose of human birth, to find the Truth, to find God. Methods of Meditation There are many methods of meditation. They all exist so we can see our fundamental human nature. All the prayers, meditations, and studies are for the sake of the study wisdom. After study comes contemplation and meditation practice. This wisdom can see the nature of emotions, positive and negative, and the nature of the phenomena external to us. Our study shows us that the nature of mind is clear and pure, without contamination, like a crystal that is totally transparent. But the nature of mind is covered by dust, so we cannot see the crystal's light. The covering is only temporary and we need to clean it. The way to clean it is with meditation practice. “Yoga actually means union with the fact of life. Without going into technological jargon, briefly and simply we may define yoga as union with the fact of life. Now what that fact of life is, it is up to you to find out. Or we may say, union with reality in every degree of its manifestation is yoga. You have to be in union with every fact of life and every degree of reality, if possible at all times, at every time. This is the purpose of yoga” (A Text book of YOGA by Swami Krishnananda). Various methods of meditation Hatha yoga Hatha Yoga is what yoga is popularly thought to be. 'Hatha' literally means 'force' in Sanskrit therefore Hatha Yoga means 'forceful yoga'. It is the exercise part of yoga and is the third step of Ashtanga Yoga called 'asana' as described in what is yoga section. Hatha Yoga holds its own place as an independent subject which was initially compiled into a system by the great yogi Swami Svatmarama who wrote the extensive manual entitled 'Hatha Yoga Pradipika' around 1350 AD. Since then Hatha Yoga has evolved into many branches under the hands of many teachers and students who have taken the original form and molded it into specific systems. Not all these systems of Hatha Yoga can be considered good and some of them are downright pretentious and non-traditional and some even dangerous. To be safe you might want to stick with the traditional systems of Hatha Yoga which came from a few of the great masters of Yoga from India. Some of these great teachers are B.K.S Iyengar, Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, Pattabhi Jois, T.K.V. Desikachar, T. Krishnamacharya and perhaps a handful more. A lot of the greatest teachers of today have either studied directly under these masters or studied under their disciples. Hatha Yoga consists of many yoga postures (called 'asana') which benefit various parts of the body. Hatha Yoga is meant to be gentle, which basically means that you should be gentle with yourself during practice. Hatha Yoga is NOT a 'do this exercise for that problem' type of system. Hatha Yoga is a holistic system - which means, yoga treats the body as an integrated system. A good practice always consists of a set of asanas which should be practiced regularly. Yoga isn’t merely yoga postures, it isn’t just physical exercise of the body, as is often misconstrued; it encompasses something vast and varied that impacts the gross body and the subtle layers as well, invigorating the mind and soul. If you read the ancient treatise of yoga – Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras – you will know that Yoga is a way of life. It needs to be imbibed at all levels of human existence in order for mankind to find both spiritual and material joy. Pranayama in Hatha Yoga Pradipika Prana is vital energy, and ayama is control and extension of the Pranic energy. Swami Swatmarama in Hatha Yoga Pradipika talks about Pranayama as the way to awaken the kundalini, regular practice of Pranayama can lead to spiritual awakening and self realization. He describes various types of Pranayama, which has different effects on the body, mind and spirit. Rajayoga: Räja Yoga ("royal yoga", "royal union", also known as Classical Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga) is concerned principally with the cultivation of the mind using meditation (dhyana) to further one's acquaintance with reality and finally achieve liberation. Raja yoga was first described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and is part of the Samkhya tradition. The term is also used to describe the entirely unique meditation practice of the Brahma Kumaris. In the context of Hindu philosophy Raja Yoga is known simply as yoga. Yoga is one of the six orthodox (astika) schools of Hindu philosophy and is practiced by the Prajapita Brahma Kumaris religion. Brahma Kumaris Rajayoga A neo-Hindu religious movement, the Brahma Kumaris pre-dates the New Age movement but has developed characteristics that link them to its thinking. It advocates a lifestyle which includes a vegetarian diet, celibacy, and avoidance of alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU) or Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya is a monastic, renunciate, Millenarian, new religious movement of Indian origin. Founded in 1937 by the charismatic Sindhi businessman and spiritual teacher Dada Lekhraj (widely and affectionately known as Bap Dada) in what is now Pakistan, the organization was relocated to Rajasthan, India in 1950. An important aspect of the Brahma Kumaris (BK) teaching is: 'I am a soul, my body is a garment'. The key aim is to realize one's essential nature as a soul, partly through the purification and sublimation of the body and its needs and desires. Meditation is integral to the faith. Images of Brahma and incorporeal Shiva are used in the meditation practice. The main practice is simple Rajayoga meditation, in the morning and evening, and throughout the day, when possible. The main emphasis is on spiritual education, self-empowerment and self development. A main belief of the faith is that 'When we change, the world changes'. Sahaja Yoga Sahaja Yoga is a new religious movement founded by Mrs. Nirmala Srivastava, more widely known as 'Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi' and affectionately as 'Mother' by her followers (Sahaja Yogis). According to the movement, Sahaja Yoga is the state of self realization produced by kundalini awakening and is accompanied by the experience of thoughtless awareness or mental silence (Nirvichar Samadhi). Practitioners of the Sahaja Yoga meditation technique feel a cool breeze on their hands and on top of their head while meditating, other sensations include a dilation of the pupils and deep physical and mental relaxation. Thus Sahaja Yoga is not only the name of the movement, but also the technique the movement teaches and the state of awareness achieved by the technique. This inner awakening is called by many names: Self Realization, Second Birth, Enlightenment, Liberation, Moksha, Satori and it is the goal of all religions and spiritual traditions of the world. This knowledge is ancient, but for a long time it was available only to a few souls, being kept secret and transmitted from guru to disciple, since Self Realization was extremely difficult to achieve. In these modern times, through Sahaja ("spontaneous") Yoga ("union with one's Self"), this experience has become effortless and available to everyone, for the first time in the history of human spirituality.