Sutras II.40-II.45 describes the effects of practicing the five niyamas. They are the internal disciplines or individual rules of conduct. They are the positive and help one to follow the yamas. If one is disciplined in niyama it will be easy to follow yama.
As we come to the last week of the Winter Yoga Session, we also arrive at the last of the Niyamas.
This is not the end of our journey though. Our yoga practice is not a linear journey. Like the body, where all the systems must work together to complete the whole, the same is true of Astanga Yoga - the eight limbs. They need to all be integrated.
Y.S.II.45 samadhisiddhih Isvarapranidhanat
Surrender to God brings perfection in samadhi.
Isvara pranidhana is the study of the scriptures and surrender to God. In Light on Life, Mr. Iyengar says Isvara means God in the universal, comprehensive sense. It is Divinity in a general and nondenominational sense. We surrender our ego through meditation and devotion.
B.K.S. Iyengar says in Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, that when one surrenders to God through intelligence then the sadhaka is released from the bondage of earthly desires. This is done by stilling the body and mind so one can reach pure awareness. When we let life happen and not control it one can attains real pure awareness.
Judith Lasater, in Living Yoga, translates the fifth niyama as "giving up the fruits of all practice to God." We do the best we can and then we let go of any attachments we have to our actions and the outcome of our actions. Then we can live in the present moment.
As I understand it, Isvara Prandihana does not mean doing what we think God wants us to do. It is following the yamas and niyamas and then surrendering ourselves, our ego so that our individual self can merge with our Universal Self.
Namaste.
Pamela Nelson
http://www.plnyoga.vpweb.com/
As we come to the last week of the Winter Yoga Session, we also arrive at the last of the Niyamas.
This is not the end of our journey though. Our yoga practice is not a linear journey. Like the body, where all the systems must work together to complete the whole, the same is true of Astanga Yoga - the eight limbs. They need to all be integrated.
Y.S.II.45 samadhisiddhih Isvarapranidhanat
Surrender to God brings perfection in samadhi.
Isvara pranidhana is the study of the scriptures and surrender to God. In Light on Life, Mr. Iyengar says Isvara means God in the universal, comprehensive sense. It is Divinity in a general and nondenominational sense. We surrender our ego through meditation and devotion.
B.K.S. Iyengar says in Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, that when one surrenders to God through intelligence then the sadhaka is released from the bondage of earthly desires. This is done by stilling the body and mind so one can reach pure awareness. When we let life happen and not control it one can attains real pure awareness.
Judith Lasater, in Living Yoga, translates the fifth niyama as "giving up the fruits of all practice to God." We do the best we can and then we let go of any attachments we have to our actions and the outcome of our actions. Then we can live in the present moment.
As I understand it, Isvara Prandihana does not mean doing what we think God wants us to do. It is following the yamas and niyamas and then surrendering ourselves, our ego so that our individual self can merge with our Universal Self.
Namaste.
Pamela Nelson
http://www.plnyoga.vpweb.com/
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