Originally Posted By: coberst


Confession was the standard means for ‘erasing sin from the soul’. A confession was considered to be a ‘good confession’ only if the sinner confessed the sins to a priest and was truly sorry for having committed sin. A very important element of a good confession was an examination of consciousness, which meant the person must become fully conscious of having committed the sin.

Ignorance of the sin was no excuse just as ignorance of the law is no excuse. Herein lays the rub. Knowledge and consciousness of sin were necessary conditions for the erasure of sin from the soul in confession.


The idea of being conscious of ones sin in this case was to accept the programming which identified incorrect thought feeling and action.
Someone made a rule and in order to follow the rules one had to believe in the circumstances which led to the rule.

If you take into consideration the Ten Commandments and compare them with the the eight limbs of yoga, you get the idea that standards of thought feeling and action, are established as useful boundaries in order to nurture greater awareness of ones self and those others, that are perceived in reflection of belief and opinion.


1.Yama The yamas refer to an individual’s ethical standards and way of behaving. The yamas have five areas of focus:
Ahimsa: nonviolence against oneself or others, in actions or thoughts.
Aparigraha: noncovetousness, non-grasping, taking only what is necessary.
Asteya: nonstealing, thoughtful in what is yours, not taking advantage of one’s trust.
Brahmacharya: continence, abstinence, self-restraint, conscious awareness.
Satya: truthfulness in all dealings with the self and others.
2. Niyama The niyamas refer to a more internal view of ourselves; to behaviors and observances. The niyamas have five areas of focus:
Isvara Pranidhana: surrender to God, realizing ego is not in control of one’s existence.
Samtosa: contentment and modesty, accepting what happens through expansion of consciousness.
Saucha: purity of the body and thoughts.
Svadhyaya: the study of sacred texts, to study oneself through reflection.
Tapas: literally translated as heat; the fire tha burns away all that is not real, spiritual austerities, which means useful boundaries or focus and discipline.

3.Asana The most common discipline taught in contemporary yoga classes are the postures and movement between postures. Practicing asana helps prepare us for deeper meditation. By maintaining a healthy and open physical body, we are able to come to deeper meditation, enabling us to experience samadhi. From a yoga perspective, this is the primary reason for practicing asana.
4.Pranayama Prana translates as breath or life force. Yama translates as control. Thus pranayama means control of the breath. Through pranayama practice, we learn to energize the body and mind by becoming aware of the subtle breath of Prana that travels up the Ida and down the Pingala which are the energy channels which surround the spind represented by the two snakes intertwining thru the chakras represented in the caduceus. We can strengthen the energy within as well as making the energy more peaceful. Pranayama increases our lung capacity, decreases stress, helps us focus, and brings a sense of balance of the inner self with the world around us. If practiced correctly, the body and mind become healthier. Practicing the first four limbs of yoga, Yama, Niyama, Asana and Pranayama help us to more thoroughly experience the next four limbs, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, which focus more on the spiritual self.
5.Pratyahara Pratyahara means withdrawing from the senses. More accurately, it means to transcend the senses so they don’t influence us in a way that prevents us from reaching Samadhi, or enlightenment. By transcending the senses, we move our awareness away from the outer world and toward the inner self. Here, without outside influence, we are able to view our selves in a deeper, more intimate way, ultimately finding the true self.
6.Dharana With the help of Pratyahara, Dharana enables us to concentrate more fully, bringing a richer awareness of the mind. This step is essential to meditation. Here, we use all the previously mentioned limbs to bring our selves to a place of such peacefulness and balance, every thought or influence is met with a totally open mind, body and spirit. There is no preconception, prejudgment, conditioning, fear, anxiety, joy or sorrow to influence our meeting with each event. We meet every moment with our true selves.
7.Dhyana Dhyana is meditation. In Dhyana, or meditation, we move beyond Dharana (concentration) into a state of total awareness. We are able to concentrate on a focus point, while still being aware of everything else around and within us. This is a much more difficult task than might be thought. All the previously mentioned limbs are engaged when we come to this state. The mind and body must be totally quiet and open.
8.Samadhi Samadhi is the state of transcendence of the self, a state of ecstasy. It is the joining or union (the meaning of yoga) with all living things, with the universe, with the Devine. Here, we are in a state of bliss, beyond the place of knowledge, beyond the place of worldly things, to a realization that everything is of the same substance and that all is connected – yoga!

Here are 8 terms given to types of yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Dhyana Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga,


The rules and morals determined from chaotic changing beliefs of the world around us, which are determined at lesser states of consciousness, are rules determined by personal opinion and belief of what the world is and how separate it is from our own thoughts and ideas. Rules then are determined as protection for personal belief and ideals which are constantly changing and evolving. If one does not know the nature of Ones Self as it lives and breathes in everyone else there is no connection at a deep unchanging level of consciousness.
The only result is to put bandaids on surface appearances rather than to deal with the root of all things. This is like watering and protecting individual branches of a tree rather than to water the root.

I was addicted to the Hokey Pokey, but then I turned myself around!!