Mircea Eliade YOGA IMMORTALITY AND ... - Brihaspati.net

Note II, 1: The concentration of obstdculos
In the Yoga-Surra, I, 30, is a list of the nine obstacles to the merger. Vyasa explains them
thus: 1 *) vyadhi (illness) is the disturbance of physiological balance; 2 *) Styan
(languor) is the lack of disposition of the mind for work, 3 *) samsaya (indecision) is the
notion that debuts between the two sides of a problem: "this may be one way or another",
4 ') pra-mada (neglect, insensitivity) is the lack of initiative that prevents the samadhi; 59)
Alasya (laziness) is the inertia of body and spirit due to the "heaviness" (guralvat) 6?)
avirati (sensuality) is the desire that arises when the objects of the senses take over the
spirit; 7 *) bhranti darsana (false notion, worthless) ts knowledge false; 8 °)
alabhadabhumikatva (inability to see reality because of the mobility that disturbs the
grounds), 9 *) ana-vasthitattva (instability), which can not maintain continuity of thought,
precisely because the spirit has not r.lcanzado the ekagrata. These obstacles are added
pain (duhkha).'s Descsperaci6n (daurmanasya), eta (YS, I, 31). "To protect themselves,
get used to the truth" (YS, I, 32). Similarly, cultivating universal amistv.d (Maitri), piety
(fawuna), the sing-ment (mudita) ymostrandose indifferent to happiness, to the misery,
virtue and vices - it purifies the mind (YS , I, 33). All this belongs to the domain com> 'in
de! To Indian erica, and find examples in literature and popular both orthodox and
sectarian.
Note II, 2: About Asana
The technical term, asana, it is not the most archaic. It is found in the earliest Upanishads
(is first mentioned in Svetasvara Upanishad (I, 10). We'll meet again in the Bhagavad-
Gita, where it has the same meaning as in the Buddhacarita of Ksurika Vpanisady
Asvaghosa (first century of. Christian era): Paul Deussen, The Philosophy of the
Upanishads (Edinburgh, 1906), p. 387-388; EW Hopkins, Yoga-technique in the Great
Epic (JournalAmerican Oriental Society, XII, p . 333-379), p. 348. Also many references
to the asana in Sainti-Parva of the Mahabharata, chapter 237, 241, 317. But we can not
doubt the antiquity of this practice while the Vedic texts sometimes refer to the yogi
posture (JW Hauer, Die W ~ fange der Yoga-Praxis, p. 21-31) and numerous seals found
at Mohenjo-Daro representing deities in asana position (see p. 342). Among the
Upanishads yogis who had extensively the asana, let us note the Trisikhibrah-mana-
Upanishad, 34-52. The treaty Gheranda hathayogui Samhita gives the description of-32
asana, the Pradipika defines Hathayoga-15 and the Shiva Samhita, 84. For Hathayoga,
posture Magic has a very pronounced value, eg padmasana cure any disease
(Gherandasamhita, II, 8), muktasanay vafrasanaconceden the "miraculous powers" (ibid.,
II, 11-12), MRTA-stirring sound calms the spirit (II , 19), awakens the Kundalini
Bhujangasana (II, 42-43, etc.). There are certain asana to "conquer death" mrtyum Jayati,
duplicator features of the texts hathayoguis. Theos Bernard, Hatha Yoga (Columbia
University Press, New York, 1944) and on p. 224 of this book.
On the asana in the Pali canon, see The Yogavacara's Manual of Indian mysticism, as
practice by Buddhists, edited by T. W. Rhys Davids (London, 1896) and translated by
Woodward in the title of a Mustic Manual (London, 1916), p. 1, footnote 2.
See also Arthur Avalon, The Serpent Power (ed. II, Madras, 1924), passim; R. Rossel,
Die Grundlagen der psychologischen Yoga-Praxis (Stuttgart, 1928, p. 16-23.