It openeth wide Plain for all feet to tread, easy and near, The noble eightfold path, it goeth straight, To peace and refuge. Hear! Light of Asia
NOTWITHSTANDING the various schools of Yoga which accommodated all forms of thinking in relation to man and the ultimate, and notwithstanding even the differences held by various authorities in regard to the number of yoga accessories (yogangas), the basic fact remains about the classic Yoga being always spoken of as the eightfold path (ashtangayoga).
What is this classic Yoga? It is that part of the yoga philosophy which is attributed to Patanjali and therefore also referred to as Patañjalayoga. It covers both the yoga ideology and yoga technology in their foundational form. Whatever has evolved from this classic Yoga is in the form of traditions, and not any new Yoga. So while ideologies have some sort of personal or group endings, the technology has remained firmly grounded to the roots. The apparent differences are merely the simplifying, elaborating, softening or shortening of the basic technology. Therefore the practical means of Yoga (kriya yoga) have to be largely accepted in toto by almost all the schools of Yoga.
To lend weight to one school of Yoga against another is as unyogic as it is unreal, and as condemnable as it is perfidious. Yet many continue to extol the specific Yoga they follow and disprize the others. This tendency which is so evident has been born of ignorance since all the elements of yoga technology are needed and present in the success of all Yogas. What are these elements on which the structure of yoga technology is built? These are the eight accessories (angas) or steps as the main limbs of yoga technology which should be present during the practice, progress and success of Yoga. They are therefore also referred to as the appropriate requisites of a would-be-yogin. What is relevant is that the success of one's yoga endeavours depends solely upon the scrupulous observance of the yogangas and not upon any school of Yoga one follows.
No matter what school of Yoga you might follow, it must have the following: (1) conditioned yoga behaviour, both personal and social (yama); (2) attitude sublimated to yoga norms (niyama); (3) physical discipline (asana); (4) control over bionergy (pranayama); (5) abstraction (pratyāhāra) (6) concentration (dhāranā); (7) meditation (dhyāna); and (8) consciousness absolute (samādhi). Of these, the first five which constitute the psychosomatic approach are referred to as external Yoga (bahiranga), while the latter three which affect the psyche are known as internal Yoga (antaranga). Their respective sequence is calculated to increase moral, physical and mental purity as each is gradually perfected.
Why purity? Because man with his inheritance of an animal has to outgrow his animality - for that, in fact, is the essence of evolution. Yoga refers to the refining process in case of man as purification. The average man when screened through yoga norms- or, for that matter, even through popular norms- is naturally so impure (unhealthy), physically and mentally, that it is nearly impossible to try internal Yoga before completing the external.
This evolutionary process of refining man at all levels of his consciousness is called śuddhi or purification. The yoga technology does not merely remove the impurities of both the body and mind but also helps the mind by removing all such obstacles as stand in the way of highest discriminative knowledge. They are thus supposed to operate in two directions (i) in disassociating the impurities (viyogakārana) and (ii) in removing the obstacles which obstruct the course of mind for attainment of the desired perfection (aptikāraņa). According to Yoga, citta (personality-complex) becomes pure in proportion as the impurities are cleansed.