Systems of Indian Philosophy

Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay

Page 96

THE YOGA PHILOSOPHY
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14. The third stage is posture. Various modes of keeping the body in position at the time of performing Yoga are given in different books. The general and most convenient definition of posture is that it should be perfectly steady and should cause no painful sensation.26 There is a class of yogis in India who hold that the breath in the body is a part of the universal breath and that the health of mind and body accompanied by spiritual bliss and knowledge will follow on controlling the individual breath in such a manner as to attune it to the cosmic breath. Their methods are more physical than mental. They give much attention to the different postures of the body to be assumed while practising the yoga. These postures are said to be 84 in number and each has its peculiar influence in the body and the mind. By various kinds of postures and modes of controlling the breath the yogis get over almost all kinds of diseases. Of these postures four are considered the best for yoga practice. The first is Fala posture. In that posture you have to sit with the body perfectly straight placing the right foot in the cavity between the left thigh and calf and the left foot in the cavity between the right thigh and the calf. The second is the face posture, the third is the 99 posture and the fourth is the HSE posture. As none of us is ready and willing to pass through all the difficult stages of the yoga it is needless to describe these postures. Suffice it to say that the Fourt having mastered one of the postures commences the actual practice of yoga. Hatha Yoga Pradipika-the text book of these yogis says: “One who abstains totally from sexual intercourse, keeps temperate habits and remains free from worldliness becomes a yogi after a full twelve month's practice. By temperance in eating is
26. YS. 2.46