Lectures - Hatha Yoga

Hatha Yoga is a path to a precipice of dark magic

Ignorant students of spirituality do not know that Hatha Yoga is dangerous, because of strengthening the astral body. This Yoga fixes it on long time in the lowest astral layers and by that detains evolution of spirit.

In our high-speed, prompt century even in the spiritual area people aspire to receive all at once, not understanding and not knowing elementary bases of a spiritual science (religion or yoga). However, all that is constructed on sand and has not the strong foundation will be destroyed, carrying away its ignorant builders. Such builders are building their spiritual castles of sand, when being guided by different books on spiritual practices and manuals of false teachers and orators. Mistakes in books are equal to a grave crime. The lie in books should be pursued as a kind of heavy slander. The lie of the orator is pursued on number of students, and the lie of the writer - on number of circulation of the book.

Many kinds of Yoga are known - Karma, Bhakti, Jnana, Raja etc. But we are going to consider, so-called, Hatha Yoga, which many students of spirituality take a great interest in. So what is the Hatha Yoga (in Sanskrit)? This is the lower form of Yoga practice; one which uses physical means for purposes of spiritual self-development The opposite of Raja Yoga. (Theosophical Glossary by H.P. Blavatsky).

Before to state the point of view about Hatha Yoga, we shall consider the basic concepts of the practice. The basis of this kind of Yoga includes using various asanas - positions of the body - the ordered poses of the meditation. "Until you get steady immovability", Hatha Yoga says, "you cannot practise breathing and do other exercises". But "achievements" of Hatha Yogi are only based on asanas, as on the only possible condition of super accumulation of the vital energy. The major importance in Hatha Yoga is governing of prana (Pranayama).

In the modern person Prana carries out five functions, revealing actions of five types of the vital energy. They are usually called "five kinds of Prana". Svami Vivekananda said that Pranayama it is not breathing, as many think; actually breathing has less attitude to it, it's better to say has not at all. Breathing is only one of many exercises by means of which we achieve the truly Pranayama. Pranayama means governing of Prana. According to the Indian philosophers, the entire Universe consists of two Elements, one of which they call Akasha. This is something taking place everywhere and all penetrating. Everything, that has the form, everything, that represents itself the result of connections, was developed from the Akasha...It cannot be noticed, as is so subtle, that is outside of scale of ordinary senses and may be only seen in dense condition, when it takes the form. There is only Akasha at the beginning of the Creation; and all firm bodies, liquids and gases will be turned into Akasha at the end of a cycle. And the following Creation will be developed by similar image from Akasha.

What kind of force has turned Akasha into this Universe? - Prana. As Akasha is an infinite matter of the Universe, taking place everywhere, as Prana is an infinite force of the Universe, acting everywhere. At the beginning and at the end of each cycle everything becomes Akasha, and all forces which exist in this Universe, are transformed again in Prana. In the next cycle Prana will emanate all we name the energy and the force.

Prana is just the movement such as an attraction, magnetism etc. This is Prana that is observed as processes of a body, as nervous currents, as the power of thinking. Everything is only the display of Prana. The sum of all forces of a nature, spiritual and physical, reached the initial condition, refers to as Prana.

The Prana is a vital force of the eternal essence, and the highest action of Prana is a thought. Pranayama is engaged in breathing very little, only as exercise. Many students read in the books treating about Pranayama, that, inhaling we should fill all our body with Prana, not knowing that it is simply a mistake of the translators, who have used in translation into English the word "prana", instead of the word "breath". Pranayama, carried out by physical means, such as breathing, is only the physical science, which is not having any attitude to spirituality. The part of Pranayama, which tries to operate Prana as intellectual force, by means of our Consciousness, is named Raja Yoga.

According to the doctrine of Yogis, there are two nervous conductors named Ida and Pingala in a spine column, and the empty channel passing through a spinal cord, named Sushumna. In the bottom end of the empty channel there is the Kundalini Lotus called so by Yogis. Under their description it has the triangular form. They say that in this centre is contained the force named in Yogis' symbolical language - dozing Kundalini. When the snake of Kundalini wakes up, it tries to lay a way for herself, when passing through the empty channel, and consciousness of Yogi opens as though a layer behind a layer till he or she gets ability of the perception from supreme spheres and the great power. When it reaches a brain, Yogi is quite released from a body and the earthly consciousness. The soul becomes free.

Thus Pranayama has to awake the force dozing in Muladhara. When Kundalini is woken and enters into Sushumna channel, all perceptions occur in intellectual space. When it reaches that end of the channel which opens in a brain, the shapeless perception is being established in the Space of Knowledge.

It is not necessary to exaggerate achievement of Hatha Yoga, speaking that similarly to Raja Yogis its adepts waken Kundalini, get siddhis, reach pleasure and release from fetters of a physical matter... It is not absolutely so. The level of the achievements of such adepts is very relative, and any freedom of fetters of a physical matter, in that sense as it is understood by Teachers of Occultism, cannot be reached by means of Hatha Yoga. As it is told in the Teaching: "We do not know anybody who had reached by Hatha Yoga". Even the development of the lowest siddhis which they get by persistent and awful mechanical exercises (the western literature does not know even a half of these horrors) unsteadily, and in the following incarnations may be lost. Only those achievements are strong and valuable which come naturally, for then they are actions of internal spiritual development and may be never lost, all the possible phenomena can be accessible at such spiritual development then. Only the easiest pranayama as exercises of Hatha Yoga, made with the best care, may strengthen health, in opposite they will result mediumism, possession or madness.

Completely fairly Hindus of the high spiritual development, looking at Hatha Yoga with the big disapproval, speak that ,at the best case ,Hatha Yoga only suits to "the corpulent and patients". Svami Vivekananda was also very much against a pursuit for siddhis and miracles, and gave an example, how he had seen the terrible demonic persons making the biggest miracles, down to healing incurable patients by one sight. Therefore the main touchstone for all spiritual Teachers lays not in miracles, but in Their Magnet of Heart, in Their occult ability to transmute spiritually environmental spaces and get reborn consciousness - the essence of disciples. And these all need not the lowest siddhis of Hatha Yoga, but the fiery synthetic ray inherent in the open centers. Any pranayama will not give you necessary purification and high consequences, if the consciousness is not the high quality. For supreme forms of Yoga pranayama is not in demand. Every kuli in India knows about pranayama; each average Hindu makes it daily, but they are so far-off from spiritual achievements! Therefore do not rely on the pranayama!

The highest achievement of Yogi is opening the Eye of Brahma. This is not that, they call a clairvoyance, but awakening of the straight-knowledge which cannot be reached by any pranayamas, because it is a consequence of the thousand-year cumulation of incessant spiritual aspirations and self-denying lives, accumulated in the Chalice. Every not-the-bookish occultist should aspire to awakening of earlier-accumulated energies and gaining new ones.

The Hatha Yoga was never approved by the Arhats and, now it is not. It is injurious to one's health and can never be developed to Raja Yoga independently. Ignorant students of spirituality do not know that Hatha Yoga is dangerous, because of strengthening the astral body. This Yoga fixes it on long time in the lowest astral layers and by that detains evolution of spirit. Sometimes there were Hatha Yogis held at temples of India. Nowadays, being strictly watched for their life purification they are used here and there for some lowest needs, but none of them never might be those Initiates "who really knows". Hathi that once had left a temple, could not return any more, for ,having easy access to the lowest layers of the Subtle World, he was deprived of the supreme control, being given only to himself, became a victim of the most dark forces making him their dwelling and instrument. That is why Hierophants of ancient Egypt never took disciples and avoided servants who had bent to mediumism. Any medium or lymphatic one cannot become real Yogi.

Yet it is not necessary to exaggerate value of pranayama; the science about breathing practiced by true Raja Yogis, has a little to do with pranayama. Hatha Yogis try to control the vital breath of lungs whereas ancient Raja Yogis understood it as mental breathing leading to the supreme clairvoyance, functioning of the third eye and true achievements of Raja Yoga.

H.P. Blavatsky wrote that truly, that called "pranayama" or "the death of breath" every time comes to death for that practises it - moral always and physical quite frequently. Some impatient chelas, whom she personally knew in India, practised these exercises of Hatha Yoga despite of her warnings. Two of them were taken consumption and one from those died; others became almost idiots; the third finished with the suicide, and one turned into a real black sorcerer, but, fortunately for him-self, his pernicious activity was stopped by fast death. The Teachers unanimously forbid exercises of pranayama.

Exercises of Hatha Yoga strengthen our lower bodies and detain the further evolution, for Hatha Yogi may stay in the world of the dark vestiges for a long time, even during many centuries, and becomes a black magician - the black magician, because for the White Magic one must, first of all, open the highest centers when living on the physical plane, but not strengthen the lowest sexual centers. Such black magicians are very dangerous for both the earthly and the astral planes, and pernicious for evolution of humanity.

The natural way of opening of internal abilities and lighting of fires is safe, while the violent one, by means of different exercises and breathing, is dangerous. In the first case the development goes side by side with broadening and the purification of consciousness and, in the latter the opened forces may be not appropriate to a moral level. And then the fall is inevitable. For example may be taken the ability to create bright mental images, proof and active. If they are dirty, sated by exhausting desires, they carry away their creator into the chasm. The subtlety of receptivity is rather dangerous, too, for accord with various spheres of space goes on the conformity of the receiver's openness with that spirit is aspired to. If the aspiration is insufficiently high, the contact to undesirable spheres of the astral is inevitable. It is better to go in the natural way, rather than, having developed in them some abilities to become a victim of dark enslavers which are constant on the guard and ready to take advantage of each stain on aura to influence persons through it.

It was the reason why the Lord Buddha said: "I do not teach, oh monks, how to improve a concentration on breathing those who is deprived attentiveness and who cannot clearly realize what he does". In spite of the fact that all meditations can be only carried out successfully by those who is attentive and clearly realizes, however, in all other cases, excepting this, the object becomes more distinct, when the attention repeatedly goes on it. But the meditation connected to a concentration of attention on breathing, is difficult and improving it demands the big tension. In addition to this, it needs to say that the correct object of attention can be generated only by the great people, such as Buddhas, Pratyeka Buddhas and Sons (disciples) of Buddhas. This is not a trivial thing, and it cannot be cultivated by trivial people ".

The purpose of the person is to learn to govern a body and all other shells. During the evolution everyone has achieved the certain step of this mastering. These steps are various at all people. One - the slave of the body and environments, another - the master. One - the master of the physical body, another perfectly governs the astral shell, the third - the mental body, the fourth - everything, but in a various degree. There are many slaves of the astral body. The disciple aspires in each embodiment to promote, as it is only possible further, to subordinating all the conduits to will. They do not submit at once, but he has all time. It is possible to practise in all kinds of mastering one's self daily. It is important to understand, that the prophesied lord of all the transitory shells is the person. But enter into rights of the authority above oneself one can gradually and systematically, not breaking harmony of extreme complexity of the personal apparatus. Fanatics of Hatha Yoga try to govern the physical body by extreme measures inadmissible. In result the dense body appears overloaded and amplifies one-sidedly and inharmoniously. Ancient ascetics tried to govern the astral, torturing and tormenting their physical bodies.

There is a lot of absurd, extreme measures and incongruities was supposed by humanity in the aspiration to rise spirit above flesh, but the people hardly thought of all-round, lawful, harmonious development of human microcosm. The Teaching of the Life shows the way of Fiery Yoga (Agni Yoga) getting developed all shells, all bodies of the person meaningly and the mastering of them goes naturally and evolutionally, but not violently and one-sidedly. Every day the disciples is given the opportunity somehow to strengthen something in him or her, to subordinate something to will and, asserting the primate of spirit above everything, to go confidently and meaningly on the path of ascension and growth of mightiness.

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