Ashtanga Yoga Bend

The Yogic Intention for Practice and Action:

BG Ch. 5 v. 11

Purely for the sake of self-purification (atma-shuddhaye), the yogin engages the body, mind, intellect and senses, and practices yoga (karma-yoga) without being attached to obtaining any specific results.

BG Ch. 3 v. 20

… you should act for the benefit of maintaining the world.

BG Ch. 18 v. 23

That yoga practice (karma-yoga) which has been ordained to be done – when done selflessly without attachment to the fruits and with disregard to one’s own desires and aversions – becomes uplifting (sattvika) because it has been imbued with a pure motive.

The Two Stages of Yoga Practice – Karma Yoga & Jñana Yoga:

Bhagavad Gita Ch. 3 v. 3

There are two main types or levels of yoga: karma-yoga (the yoga of action) which is for those who are striving for more harmony in their lives, and jñana-yoga (the yoga of knowledge) which is for those who are already able to distinguish the difference between their minds and the True or Eternal Self.

BG Ch. 3 v. 3 § 1

Jñana-yogis are those who disciminate between Self and non-Self; they are the renouncers who have established themselves in the Ultimate Reality.

BG Ch. 3 v. 4 § 0

Yoga practice (karma-yoga) promotes life’s end by endowing aspirants with the necessary capacity to understand and practice jñana-yoga (the discipline of knowledge).

BG Ch. 3 v. 4 § 1

Yoga practice (karma-yoga) … serves to attenuate the sins incurred and to purify the mind; thus this gives a start to the discipline of knowledge (jñana-yoga) by generating knowledge.
 
Transcendence of practice … arises from abiding within the very essence of that True Self which performs no action … not by merely abstaining from practice.

The Process & Stages of Yoga:

Bhagavad Gita: [BG] Introduction § 5

When observed with dedication to God and without expectation of rewards, yoga practice (karma yoga) purifies the mind. It is this purified mind that becomes fit for practicing the discipline of knowledge (jñana yoga); this then generates Self knowledge and hence liberation (kaivalya, moksha).

BG Ch. 2 v. 11 § 0.c

Prior to the birth of Self knowledge is the state of yoga characterized by the performance of those practices which are conducive to Self knowledge [e.g. yoga practice]. The performance of such actions is based on certain concepts such as the self being the doer and the reaper of the fruits from those actions, as well as a perception of plurality [rather than unity] in the world.

Yoga is Mental Equanimity and Non-Attachment:

BG Ch. 2 v. 48

Yoga is mental and emotional steadiness or equanimity. Therefore, to become established in yoga, practice selflessly (i.e. without attachment to the results) and with the mind steadily self content through both your successes and your failures.

BG Ch. 2 v. 55

When one casts off all desires of the mind/heart, and becomes exclusively content with the Self (atman, the God within), then one is said to be established in wisdom.

BG Ch. 2 v. 55 § 1

The idea is that contentment should be independent of external gains and losses; contentment should be derived soley from the Self (atman) … One who has renounced the desrire for progeny, wealth, fame, etc, and rejoices and revels in the Self, is established in wisdom.

BG Ch. 2 v. 57

For one who does not cling to anything, whether it be good or bad … and who also does not seek or shun [the good and/or the bad], such a one is established in the wisdom of their True Self.

When There is No Yoga:

BG Ch. 2 v. 67

Just as the wind sweeps a boat of its course, the mind that follows the roaming senses takes discrimination and correct perception away with it.

Yoga Practice, Selflessness & Self Purification:

BG Ch. 5 v. 5 § 1

Karma yogins are those who, without seeking the fruits of yoga for themselves, practice yoga – while dedicating all of it to God [or for the benefit of the world] – as a means to attaining Self knowledge.

BG Ch. 5 v. 27 § 0

The Lord has repeatedly affirmed … the need for yoga practice (karma yoga) to be dedicated to God (Brahman) with complete mental dedication; the object being to win liberation by first gaining purification of the mind, and then by aquiring knowledge…

BG Ch. 6 v. 2 § 1

Any performer of works who has given up clinging mentally to the fruits of works is a yogin; their mind is concentrated, because they have abandoned the causes of their distractions.

Scaling the Peak of the Mountain of Yoga:

BG Ch. 6 v. 3

For the yogin who seeks to climb to the peak of the mountain of yoga, [yoga] practice is said to be the method; as regards to the yogin who has already reached this peak of yoga, equanimity and meditation on the eternal (shama) is said to be the cause.

BG Ch. 6 v. 3 § 1

For one who seeks to scale yoga’s peak – but who has, as yet, not scaled it – yet who has discarded the fruits of works, but is not yet established in the yoga of meditation – for that one, yoga practice (karma) is the means.

Yoga Practice:

BG Ch. 6 v. 10

The yogin should practice yoga incessantly… free from cravings and owning nothing.

BG Ch. 6 v. 10 § 1

“Free from cravings and owning nothing” means without mental clingings nor posseviness of any kind.

Yoga & Moderation:

BG Ch. 6 v. 16

One who eats too much or who eats not at all, who habitually sleeps too much or who keeps awake, such a one has no yoga.

BG Ch. 6 v. 16 § 1

“The food, in sufficient measure, protects and does not harm. What excedes it is harmful. What is less does not protect [the body nor mind].”… “Half of the stomach, fill with food and condiments; the third quarter is for water; leave the fourth quarter for the movement of air.”

BG Ch. 6 v. 17

One who eats and plays in moderation, who is moderate in sleeping and waking, and who is disciplined with their yoga practice, for such a person, yoga destroys all suffering.

Taking Refuge in God:

BG Ch. 7 v. 1 § 1

Whoever seeks to achieve a human goal resorts to a [material] means to accomplish that goal – e.g. yoga practice, charity, sacrifice, etc – but the yogin resorts exclusively to [God] as the only true refuge.