Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Unique, Potent Perspective on Yoga

Yoga has diversified and proliferated into a complete #lifestyle in this day and age, having assumed diverse forms all across the globe. What the world does agree on, is its efficacy in improving each and every aspect of human life – the #mental, the #physical and the #spiritual.

There are certain viewpoints people have about this life changing system of #achieving full human #potential. These are generally accepted as true and thus dictate the manner in which #Yoga is practiced as part of a daily routine.

#Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, recognized as one of the foremost Yoga masters to have taken birth on Indian soil, had a perspective on Yoga that is based on the knowledge gleaned from millennia old Vedic system.

 Maharishi reinterpreted the knowledge in the light of #scientific viability and #ease of assimilation into our hectic, time and #energy starved lifestyles.

He demystified Yoga, removed a lot of misconceptions regarding its #practice and #simplified it, keeping the end #goal in clear #focus and the practice such, that it would be universally accessible and easy to integrate into the #daily routine.

Here is how Maharishi departed from the #mainstream approach on Yoga, yet kept true to its core message.

#Ashtanga means limbs and #limbs grow all #together

Maharishi made it very clear that #anga means limb. The eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, which is the framework behind #Transcendental #Meditation (which Maharishi spent his life teaching to the world) and its associated techniques, are meant to all develop simultaneously, like how a child’s body grows all at once.

We aren’t supposed to progress in steps from #Yamas all the way upto #Samadhi. They all progress simultaneously. The state of mind achieved with #transcending (the English term for Samadhi), or going #beyond the active, surface level of mind to experience #pure #consciousness, bestows virtuous #behavior that is in harmony with the laws of #Nature. #Yamas and #Niyamas are embedded in such a person’s #psychological profile.

The Top Down (the intended) approach

According to Maharishi, Samadhi is not the end goal of Yoga, but its basis, the edifice, as also told by the #AdiShanakaracharya before. Samadhi, or the fourth, transcendental state of consciousness, is supposed to be accessed first.

The contact with the infinite field of pure consciousness, the cosmic psyche at the source of the mind, which is the bedrock of all creation and the home of all the laws of Nature, bestows bliss consciousness to the localized mind.

 This #bliss consciousness is the basis of joy, unfolding of full mental potential and righteous behaviour borne from absence of any stress or imbalance in the mind. It allows us to automatically behave as per the yamas and niyamas, without any effort or long arduous practice; since such a mind is naturally sattvic, and these qualities come easily and naturally.

The last four limbs of Yoga are an inherent part of Transcendental Meditation

#Pratyahara, #Dharana, #Dhyan and #Samadhi are sequentially and #effortlessly achieved in the practice of Transcendental Meditation, an easy technique for transcending the active mind and contacting the source.

#TranscendentalMeditation is based on the natural tendency of the mind to want to access a higher state of happiness. It gives the mind only the direction to turn inward toward its source, pure consciousness, which is inherently full of infinite bliss, energy and intelligence.

Once the practice of Transcendental Meditation is begun, the mind settles down from its active state to subtler levels of activity, guided by a special, life supporting, meaningless sound. As the mind settles, its outward tendency is turned inward and the senses automatically controlled, which constitutes Pratyahara.

After the mind goes deeper, it slowly becomes passive and one pointed, and thoughts cease to ruffle the mind. This constitutes #Dharana.

The mind having gone #deeper, enters a state of restful #awareness, where absorption is effortless. #Dhyan or the #meditative state is thus achieved.

Having reached the #subtlest state of thinking, the mind then #transcends it and becomes completely #dormant, in essence transcending its active nature and becoming established in pure consciousness. There are no thoughts in this state, only pure witnessing. This is the #Turiya state, the state of Samadhi.

This whole process happens on its own. All it needs is the initial dive into the deeper depths of the mind and then the pull inward is absolutely natural.

Yoga paves the way for world peace

Having gleaned knowledge of the beneficial field effect of consciousness from the #Patanjali Yoga #Sutras and the Yoga #Vashishta, Maharishi encouraged groups of people to practice meditation together.

#Grouppractice, according to these scriptures, creates a localized bubble of orderly energy around the area where the group is situated, inside which negative tendencies are eliminated. It is like a sattvic shield which prevents untoward behaviour and thinking. It acts through the field of consciousness present around us, like an invisible ocean, all the time.

This phenomenon has been studied and validated sociologically in multiple cities around the world for more than forty years, and has been coined the Maharishi Effect. Numerous case studies are available in this regard.

Thus Maharishi gave the world a means to unlock the full potential through a yogic technique derived from the #Vedas, in an easy, #effortless manner suited to the modern lifestyle. It is being practiced by millions of people across the globe to achieve the apex of development of individual life, while also contributing to world peace through meditating groups.

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