What is Ashtanga Yoga

In the mythological period, Maharishi Patanjali has defined Yoga as Chittavrittinirodha and he has compiled a collection of Yoga Sutras named “Yoga Sutra”, in which he has elaborated a path of Eight-limbed Yoga for complete well-being and physical, and mental and spiritual purification. Ashtanga Yoga means yoga with eight limbs in which all eight dimensions are practiced simultaneously. Under Ashtanga Yoga, the first five limbs – Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, and Pratyahara are called “external” and the remaining three limbs – Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi are called “Antaranga”. Before starting internal sadhana, a person has to first complete external sadhana.

Yama

The term Yama here denotes just conduct or right conduct. In more simple terms, this term denotes maintaining moral ethics. While there are many rules under this, a few principles are universal with respect to the various different interpretations of Yama.
Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Brahmcharya, and Aparigraha are the five main rules that must be observed under this fold.

1. Ahimsa: Not causing unnecessary harm to anyone through words, thoughts, and actions.
2. Satya: Truthfulness in thoughts, remaining situated in the ultimate truth, speaking authentic things as per the thoughts in the mind.
3. Asteya: Do not steal.
4. Brahmacharya: It has two meanings – to fix the consciousness in the knowledge of Brahma and to exercise restraint in all sense-generated pleasures.
5. Aparigraha: Not being greedy not accumulating more than necessary and not desiring the things of others.

Niyam

While Yama denotes moral ethics, Niyam denotes rules to be followed with respect to physical conduct. This also has five major rules which are Sauch, Santosh, Tap, Svadhyaya, and Ishvar Pranidhan.

1. Shaucha: purification of body and mind.
2. Santosh: Being satisfied and happy.
3. Tap To be disciplined by oneself.
4. Swadhyaya: Self-reflection.
5. Ishwar Pranidhan: Complete dedication and complete devotion towards God.

Asana

The third limb of Ashtanga is often mistaken as the asan we sit on or as the sitting postures such as padmasan, etc. While the asan here indeed does include sitting postures such as padmasan, it also includes other practices such as Sirsashan or headstand and many stretching exercises, even Surya Namaskar, which is a set of many exercises combined together. The asan here does not denote the square or rectangular piece of cloth we sit on during our sadhanas.

Pranayama

This is the practice of breathing common to almost every tradition in existence and is given a lot of importance. Pranayam is the process of controlled and conscious breathing in a specific way to obtain specific results such as better mental clarity, more energy, and such, all of which help in samadhi.
Pranayam is composed of three major steps: purak, or breathing in; kumbhak, or holding the breath inside; and rechak, or breathing out. There are several different variations with respect to how purak and rechak are done, but the steps remain in the same chronological order: purak, then kumbhak, and then rechak. Based on what’s done during rechak, there are two major divisions: the first is sadharan pranayam, where one simply breathes out at rechak; the second category is sva mantra pranayam, or pranayam, in which instead of simply breathing out, the breath is cast out of the body by means of chanting mantras.

Pratyahara

When the prana becomes relatively calm through pranayama, the extroverted feeling of the mind naturally reduces due to which the senses move away from their external objects and become introverted. This is called pratyahara (prati = adverse, ahara = instinct). Turning the senses inward, moving those senses away from their objects, and imitating the form of a concentrated mind is Pratyahara. With Pratyahara, the senses remain under control, and complete victory over them is achieved.

Dharana

When the outward movement of the mind is stopped, it turns inward and tries to become stable. The name of the initial state of this effort is perception. Focusing the mind on any part of the body or an external object, such as God, is called “Dharana”. To concentrate is to control your mind.

Dhyana

This is the further state of perception when the knowledge of the target object flows uniformly. It is necessary to concentrate the mind in both the states of Dharana and Dhyana. But the difference is that in Dharana, the mind can be engaged in more than one thing, but in Dhyana, the mind gets fixed on one thing.

Samadhi

Samadhi is the maturity of meditation among Ashtanga Yoga. In this the entire world becomes void and the mind becomes absorbed only in God. Samadhi is the state of connecting with the soul and being beyond words. After Samadhi, wisdom arises and this is the ultimate goal of Yoga.

Philosophy OF Ashtanga Yoga

Now coming to the synchronization of the asthangas, if one notices the eight limbs are in a specific chronological order, that is because until one passes through the first, one can’t go to the next.
If one can’t practice ethics, one can’t develop the proper mindset and physical state to follow rules; without these, both can’t get into Asan, which requires mental and physical resilience.
Without control over oneself, one can’t effectively control breathing and is bound to make mistakes.
Without the implementation of all these, one can’t directly go into directing perception from external to internal experiences; they can’t even do the basics of this step.
If Mind is not in control, it is impossible to do proper dhyan and Dharan, which in turn also means no samadhi. Thus, the system of Ashtanga yoga goes in chronological order, and each step must be passed before moving on to the next one.

However, moving on to the next step does not mean discarding the previous ones, as essentially, by means of the prior steps, the next ones can be achieved.

Even the philosophy of Ashtanga yogi is based on the principle of controlling the mind and directing one’s prana to Ishvar, who is in a state of pure consciousness, which is achieved by the means of samadhi. Thus, the ritualistic steps and the philosophy of the system are in alignment, and one cannot truly understand the concept of yogi darshan unless they become its proper practitioners.