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VEDANTA
is to say, ot bhakti, devotion w the personal aspect of the Divine Being as the all-pervading ruler of the world and the “witness” who dwells within cvcry creature, the inner controller (antaryāmin) of every action, to whom the fruits (phala) of all activities inust be resigned.
3. Āsana, the particular postures of body, hands, and feet, prescribed for all spiritual exercises and described in detail in the Yoga texts; for example, the “lolus seat” (padmāsana), the “swastika seat" (svastikāsana). Correct postures are basic to every kind of yogic exercise; they are regarded as elementary physical prerequisites to all mcditation, contemplation, and absorption.
4. Prāņāyāma, control and ordered development of the breathing. This is a highly developed icchnique in India, designed to master and curb the vital air (prāņa) in its three primary states of (a) "filling in" (püraka), (b)) "storing, or retention, as if the body were a pot” (kumbhaka), and (c) “clearing out" (recaka), according to various rhythms and quantities. This too is taught in the Yoga texts.
5. Pratyāhāra, withdrawal of the sensc functions from their ficlds of objects to the interior, so that they may be put at rest. 172
6. Dhāraṇā, concentration, firmly fixing the inner sensefaculty (antar-indriya) on the One-without-a-second.
7. Dhyāna, meditation, an intermittent activity (vrtli) of the inner sense after it has become fixcd on the One-without-a-second; an oscillation that procecds like a stream (praváha) that temporarily ceases and flows on again. The Self is visualized, but then lost again in spite of the concentration of the inner sense. This preliminary realization of the Self is followed by the supreme achievement:
8. Samadhi, absorption; which is of two kinds: a) savikalpa, sam prajñāta, which is absorption with a full consciousness of the
172 "When, like the tortoise withdrawing its limbs, one can completely withdraw the senses from their objects, then one's insight (prajña) becomes steady" (Bhagavad Gitā 2. 58).
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