EIGHT FOLD PATH FOR ACHIEVING SAMADHI

     We did talk about the technique for the meditation. This must be done on daily basis . However the the Vedic religion is 'way of life ' One can not expect to achieve highest levels , without 'practicing ' the way in which we live. So the Patanjali sutra Yoga tells us to follow 8 fold path . I am going to try to explain this .
    The eight things that are described in this path are as followes. These are called --      1. Yama 2 Niyama 3 Aasan 4 Pranayam 5 Pratyahar 6 Dharana 7 Dhyan 8 Samadhi .
     These are , ' Don'ts ', Does ', 'proper posture ','proper breathing technique ', ' the withdrawal of consciousness from the senses ', the remaining 3 are part of the meditation that we mentioned before.
     The Yama, which is 'Don'ts ', are 5 different behavioral rules. These are , --1 Ahinsa,( non violence ), 2 Satya (do not lie, tell the truth)3 Astyey (Do not steal ),4 Brahmachary,(Do not have indiscriminate sex -celibacy ),5 Aparigraha (Do not hoard or collect things that you don't need and give sense pleasure ).
      There are 5 Niyama or 'Does '. I will write on them latter .
      The nonviolence or Ahinsa is to be follow all the time . This is not only related to our action , but also to 'speech ' and even 'thought '. ( may be that is why the speech is organ of 'action '.) Everybody understands that killing is violence . But there are different ' shades 'of it . I can kill a roach . I can kill a chicken or fish or goat or cow . One can even murder a human being . This is 'direct ' violence . All of us understand this . But the question may arise , 'Is killing a snake or a roach  also a violence or not ?'The answer is  "any killing is violence " . When one starts thinking about this , he will avoid the situation when he has to act . We will try to maintain our house such that there may not be roaches , or if we see snake , we will let it go his way , if possible . This violence could be indirect . We may be eating meat . We ourselves do not go and kill a goat or chicken . So are we still liable ? or The one may not eat the meat , nor does he kill , but cooks it . So is he still responsible ? Again the degree may be less or more , but it is still killing . The person who sells the chicken , the one who actually kills it , one who buyes it , the one who cooks it and one who eats it, --all are responsible for the killing , either 'directly ' or 'indirectly '. So they all are responsible.