Karma Yoga: the doctrine of action

More than two thousand years ago, a sage named Patagiali lived in India. And to all admirers of Indian philosophy he is known for his work "Yoga Sutra." This opus consists of 185 short and expressive aphorisms in which the sage most fully represents the system of yoga. The very word "yoga" comes from the Sanskrit root "yug", which translates as "bond, mix, merge". And in Indian philosophy it means harmony and unity of a person's physical and mental state .

Many people saw on television how yogis lay on nails or running around broken glass. But this is only advertising, which demonstrates the possibilities of this teaching. And this is not at all the goal of true yogis. They actually learn to completely control their mind, body and thoughts with the help of self-knowledge and self-study. That is, yoga is the science of how to live, and it can be used everywhere and always. It also has no relation to any particular religion or to a particular nation. This science can master any.

And yoga has many directions, one of which is karma yoga. The word "karma" here means "action." After all, almost everyone has to act. And this science can teach what kind of actions will be beneficial for us, and which - not very. And comprehending this knowledge, a person will be able to change his own destiny and guide it in the right direction.

Therefore, karma-yoga teaches how to change the inner relation to one's own action and to various things. After all, the same action can be performed in different ways. Also, in a different way, one and the same event can be experienced. And if a person learns to change his attitude towards the events that happen to him, then, according to karma yoga, in due course he will change the character of the events that will happen to this person.

Also, karma-yoga has its "occult" side, which is a doctrine of the laws and forces governing a person. And having comprehended this teaching, a person begins to understand that he only seems that he acts independently. This happens, of course, but only in very rare cases. But in fact, the force that passes through it acts, and it is one of the parts of this power.

And realizing these ideas, a person begins to feel like a tiny detail of a huge machine. He understands that all the successes and failures that occur to him, little depends on his actions. Man ceases to fear failure, for he realizes that even the greatest failure can subsequently lead to great success in his inner struggle with himself. To do this, he only needs to find the right approach to any unfortunate event.

Therefore, karma-yoga specifically changes a person's life. After all, if you take an ordinary man in the street, then he tries in all possible ways to avoid all troubles, failures and difficulties. A supporter of karma yoga not only does not avoid them, but on the contrary - even welcomes. And if in life everything develops too smoothly, he tries to create difficulties for himself artificially. These troubles help the adept of karma yoga create favorable conditions for working on oneself and for one's inner development. And then his life becomes the main teacher.

The yoga teaching also pays much attention to sleep. And to learn to manage this state will help nidra-yoga. After many people, falling asleep, immediately pass from one state to another. They do not even try to stretch the transition stage, which is between wakefulness and sleep. And try to make it worth it. After all, this will eventually lead to the fact that a person can not even lose consciousness during sleep. And this will lead to harmony of all three levels - consciousness, subconsciousness and superconsciousness. And the yoga-nidra will help to achieve this.

A method of expanding the mind in yoga is meditation, that is, concentrated thinking. After all, in ordinary thinking, a person's mind wanders wherever it is and how horrible and it is difficult for him to concentrate on one thought. And yoga meditation is the process when thinking is tied to one idea. This is achieved through concentration or a single center of thinking. The mind here also wanders, but it constantly returns to one object. And if a person learns to do this, he will be able to more closely control his thoughts. And this will lead to a psychological and biological transformation of man. His nervous system and brain will begin to work more rationally, which, undoubtedly, will affect the general condition.