Patanjali’s RajYoga Meditation: An Indian Classical Intervention Technique

Meditation helps in exhausting routine stress and spreading inner peace. Numerous meditation techniques are practiced worldwide, one of them is RajYoga, the oldest but latest form of meditation, where Raj means “supreme or highest” and Yoga means “connection” (Raj S, Tiwari R, Int Res J Eng Technol. 6:4206–4210, 2019). In RajYoga meditation, there is a connection with supreme power which enlightens the person to come across his latent potentialities. Yoga is considered a therapy, which leads to a healthy lifestyle harmony and ensures mental peace. Yoga is one of the Indian classical philosophies and Sage Patanjali was the first one to write a text on it, he systematically codified the Yoga Sutra (i.e., aphorism in Sanskrit) emphasizing the eight steps of Yoga, also called Asthanga Yoga or RajYoga (Prabhavananda S, Isherwood C, Patanjali Yoga sutras: translated with a new commentary. Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, 1948). Eight steps are explained in terms of Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. It is realized that the eight steps of meditation may be practiced in a tailored form. The ancient system of Yoga may be used to make it applicable to the general population for finding the solution to mental health problems (Balodhi JP, NIMHANS J. 4:133–138, 1986). Therefore, this chapter includes a description of eight steps along with detailed commentaries. Every step is explained with the help of simple exercises. These commentaries are helpful for laypersons to understand and practice the steps of RajYoga Meditation. Hence, it may be helpful as an intervention technique.