Samkhya sadhana

Samkhya is an ancient yogic philosophy which rescued Yoga from Tantra which had begun to achieve notoriety with seriously disreputable beliefs creeping in. Much the same as may be happening now. Tantra should be about making things sacred and significant, but instead, both gurus and disciples complicate things and bring obedience and worship, into the equasion. Gurus somehow failing to educate disciples on the true focus of worshipful love, the Divine Self.



Samkhya provides the right kind of infra-structure for any spiritual aspirant, beginner or advanced, alike. Within it one trains themselves to become more spiritually refined, self-reliant and compassionate. There is no guru, or deities, no havan, or altar, no group antics, or 'stuff'. It is not about exercises. Instead, one turns to self-trust and communes increasingly deeply with the heart. Samkhya is SO misunderstood. So thought to be 'dry'. In my experience it is the ultimate. The juiciest. The daily life focus being on one's behaviour i.e. observing tamas, rajas or sattva. Meditation is directly on the chakras or on chanting om. The names of deities are not recited. There is no palava. And, aligning with this, is Yoga philosophy - the techniques of manipulating prana so that the body and mind are harnessed and developed.



Ancient Tantra fell into disrepute thousands of years ago, through mindless worshipping. Giving "offerings" to the gods changed from offering selfishness and hatred, to offering virgins. This seems to be happening again. Tantra, and Vedanta, have always had that element of worship, misunderstood by many to mean external worship. Supposedly, to get anywhere you have to worship, honour, obey and trust others. I couldn't do that in marriage, nor in discipleship. It has always seemed to me that each individual has uniquely creative power which requires discovering, uncovering self-trust, love, intuition and inspiration, layer by layer. Only the individual can do this. Along the way, however, there are others who inspire and teach, and who we should acknowledge, but not adore, or worship. They are doing their job as they should be. In the same way that the parents of a baby provide the best nourishment, kindness and guidance they can, giving the highest form of parenting they are capable of, without expectation, they are owed nothing; so too, any inspirer simply provides highest spiritual guidance they are capable of, without expectation, without being worshipped, owed nothing. Worshipfulness, when directed inwards, to the Divine Self, is a beautiful thing. None of us is more special, than another - some have evolved better qualities at this point in experience and time, than others, but that only makes it their duty to help the lesser evolved.



Yoking, yoga, communing, connecting mind with the Divine - is the birth-right of all. It doesn't have to be hard work, or harsh. Witness the effects of the horse whisperer as opposed to the horse beater. Harshness to further yourself, is an Old Out-dated idea. The most workable idea of all is to be nourishing, to turn, by yourself, to the highest within You. Initially, this will be to encourage and develop yourself, but from there one will want to nourish and inspire and commune with all others also.



Patanjali's Yoga Sutras come from Samkhya, and involve one practice, after the other, each a means of yoking the bodymind, to the Divine Self within. Each verse is not merely for something spiritual to read. It is workable knowledge. A few examples, are:

1. Understanding the gunas becomes a workable spiritual practice, a technique, a beautiful sadhana. If you see yourself behaving rajasically i.e. reactive, over the top, driven, stressed, speedy, you can actively change it then and there, to calm, balanced and productive sattva. The same is true if you see yourself dominated by tamas. The choice for doing this is much less without knowledge of the gunas. 
2. Understanding the kleshas makes one connect in, and work with, their own. That is spiritual practice, that is technique, that is sadhana. Not as easy to do as guna sadhana.
3. The same is true of om chanting. Another beautiful, sadhana.
4. Observation of yama and niyama is a powerful technique, a powerful sadhana.
5. Cultivating opposite virtues e.g. if feeling envious of someone, change it, feel pleased for them; etc.
6. Pranayama involving four parts of inhalation/kumbhak/exhalation/kumbhak this is a technique, a beautiful sadhana.

Additionally, Samkhya advises that self-knowledge and self-development also come through the practices of:

1. Observing the elements/tattvas of the bodymind to gain self-knowledge and development. When one feels 'unearthed, ungrounded, unstable, unbalanced, insecure ... it helps to know this is related to the earth element not functioning correctly. Disturbed perhaps, by samskaras. Chanting om, focusing intio mooladhara chakra, will help alleviate this. It will help restore stability, security, balance and groundedness. 
2. Taking the awareness through the chakras is a spiritual practice, which increases self-understanding and self-awareness without any instruction whatsoever. Give someone chakra shuddhi as their only spiritual practice and their development will blossom. This is a beautiful, sadhana. This may be related to tattva sadhana, also.

Should you want to make an altar remember that it is made in adoration of your heart, body and mind as well as the Inner Self - because these are all a part of the Divine You. An altar can be anything ... no one else need know it IS an altar. It can be a pot-plant which you water, and feed and give just the right amount of light and dark to. It might sit in a beautiful pot, on a beautiful cloth, on a beautiful table. Or not. Just whatever you have, or are drawn to, can be an altar. It can be in the kitchen, lounge bedroom, hallway, weherever you feel it works most for you.

An altar is a symbol, designed to speak to you deeply of self-nourishment, beauty and wholeness. And, symbols as we know, speak more powerfully than a thousand words.

A havan, or fire ceremony, can be done in any way at all. It just needs to be meaningful to you. One can sing hymns at a havan. Or recite meaningful affirmations. Or silently send love out into the world.



Light and dark. Masculine and feminine. Intense and ethereal. Separate and together. Dancing an communing. OM