Vajrakavach

Author(s): Dharnendrasagar
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Prakashan Mandir

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spiritual development. It removes the abnormalcy of the nature like anger, lust, ego, etc. Yoga also unveils the covered innate power of the self. Subsequently the soul dazzles in its luminosity. Thus Yoga is a principle means of self development.
Yoga in real sense, is nothing but the dissociations from the worldly activities of mind speech and body and association of it with the soul in order to attain salvation. It burns the accumulated karmas like the fire consigned to words amassed in a number of days in a moment. It means that although it takes many years and several successive lives to amass karmas, Yet, true Yoga like fire can burn them within short period of time.
There are six prevalent philosophies in India, viz. the Jain philosophy the Buddhist philosophy, the Sankhya philosophy, the Vaisheshik philosophy, the Nyay philosophies and the Mimansa philosophy. The Jain philosophy encompasses all the other philosophies. Patanjali Maharshi, the propounder of the Yoga discipline and author of Yogashastra seems to have two branches of Yoga in his age, viz. Rajayoga and Kriyayoga. At the time of Patanjali, India was experiencing a high tide of spiritualism and hence, people were well versed in Rajayog. Patanjali however mentions in his Yogashastra (2.1) a tradition of Kriyayoga instructing the penance, meditation and self-study. It is also said that Shri Shankaracharya and Sant Kabir were trained in kriyayoga. A Buddhist monk, Asariya by name wrote Buddhist Yoga following Patanjali's
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