The published version of the "Yoga Practice Journal" can be
purchased direct from the publisher or
ordered through your local bookshop.
Excerpt from "Yoga Practice
Journal"
© 2005 by Witold Fitz-Simon
THE MAP OF EXISTENCE
Yoga and Shamkhya, two of the six classical schools of
Indian philosophy, developed side by side, each influencing
the other. Whereas Yoga takes a more practical approach to
liberation, Shamkhya is an intensely intellectual
philosophy concerned with enumerating and classifying the
different parts of nature. This map of existence is based
on the Shamkhya system of classification which is somehwat
more detailed than that of Patañjali’s Yoga.
According to Yoga and Shamkhya, all of the natural,
phenomenal world emanates from the same raw material,
referred to as Prakrti. Spirit,
or Purusha, and
Prakrti never actually come in
contact. They are forever separate. But, somehow,
Purusha and
Prakrti have an effect on each
other, causing vibrations in
Prakrti. These vibrations start
out very subtle, as an imbalance between the three
qualities of nature (see Page 80) and become progressively
coarser as consciousness evolves. The highest form of
consciousness is the discerning mind, the
Buddhi, the part of the mind that
qualifies and categorizes. From there consciousness
devolves into the sense of self,
Ahamkara, and the part of the
mind that manages and responds to the senses,
Manas. From there the vibrations
devolve further into the
Tanmatras, the subtle energies
carried by the senses, and finally resolve into the five
coarse physical elements, or
Bhuta, of which the material
world is made.
On the gross, material side,
Ahamkara, the sense of self, can
interact and manipulate the material world with the senses
and the organs of action, the
Jñanendriyas and
Karmendriyas.
This process happens in both directions, from the subtle to
the gross and from the gross to the subtle, a process of
evolution and a process of involution. Almost like a
continuing series of Big Bangs, the Universe is created,
destroyed and recreated. With each cycle of evolution and
involution, the different potentialities change proportion
and we perceive change in the material world.
Our goal, as yogins, is to still the fluctuating
potentialities, to counter the evolution with techniques of
involution. With the potentialities stilled, then
Prakrti has the chance of knowing
Purusha, pure being.
The published version of the "Yoga Practice Journal" can be
purchased direct from the publisher or
ordered through your local bookshop.