[Advaita-l] Sankhya and Yoga can give Moksha?

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,
 
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But what are the simple Asanas and Pranayamas? Is only Padmasana
enough? What is the list of simple Asanas we can practice?
 
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As far as i am concerned, i do surya namaskaras with 12 asanas.  Each asana should be
performed by uttering 1 mantra of surya.  So, total 12 mantras are chanted alongwith 12 asanas.  This is one complete round of surya namaskara.  These can be repeated depending upon the time and stamina.  Each round takes hardly 10 minutes which is very refreshing early in the morning.  
 
Now, when prANAyAma is concerned, this has to be learnt under good yogacharya.  prANAyAma is a must in sandhyavandana without which sandhya is useless.  Even Acharya Sankara says in gAyatri mantra bhASya as *EvaM vidhA gAyatrI prANAyAmaiH upAsyA* ie., gAyatri mantra upAsana is done with prANAyAma only.  
 
This cannot be mastered in a single day but requires practice.  Slowly, the cycles of prANAyAma should be increased.  A total of 16 prANAyAmAs are prescribed in sandhyAvandana.  In sandhya, the prANAyAma is called *vihita prANAyAma* whereas
Shri Abhinava Vidyatirtha practiced the prANAyAma as per the Raja Yoga (as you mentioned).  This is practiced as:
 
4 seconds (puraka from left nostril): 16 seconds (kumbhaka) : 8 seconds (rechaka from right nostril) ; 4 seconds (puraka from right nostril) : no kumbhaka ; 8 seconds (rechaka from left nostril) ;Then breath should be held for 16 seconds
 
The above method is one cycle of prANAyAma in Raja Yoga. 
 
However, in vihita prANAyAma as a part of sandhya:
 
4 seconds (puraka from left nostril) ; 30 seconds kumbhaka ; 
 
For each 10 seconds of kumbhaka, gAyatri mantra alongwith 7 vyAhritis and shiras should be chanted.  So, for 30 seconds of kumbhaka, 3 times mental chanting of gAyatri is done. 
 
This is 1 cycle of prANAyAma.  This is reversed again with right nostril.  Like this, 3 times should be performed after each Achamana.
 
So, if sandhyavandana is done as it ought to be, it would take a min. of 1 hour with complete cycle of prANAyAmAs and 108 gAyatri mantra japa anuSTAna.
 
Now, the main part of sandhyavandana is gAyatri dhyAna and japa.  In what way, the *bhargas* of the savita is being visualized.  What is the mode of the bhargas dhyAna paddhati.  All these issues are extremely important.  The dhyAna of bhargas itself is a 
yoga which comes again through practice. One must learn how to visualize the jyotirdhAraNa paddhati though trATaka abhyAsa. Gradually, the sAdhaka is able to visualize a while dazzling light.  Initially, the lakSya of dhyAna should be *bahir-lakSya* as explained in *maNDala brAhmaNa upaniSad*.  Gradually, the *antarlakSya sAdhana* should be practiced.  This is the steps involved in *jyOtir vidya* for the jyOtir darSana. 
 
trATAbhyAsa vidhiM vidyAdhi kAraNaM chAha / darsanam jyOtiSOyAvat tAvat
trATakaM abhyAsEt vidyAdhikArI bhavati / tataH shrIgurubhaktimAn shrIgururukti
prakArENa samAhita manObhavan abhyasE trATakaM samyak jyOtiSO 
darshanAvadhIH 
 
The maitrAyaNi upanishad & maNDala brAhmNa upaniSad are the user manuals for
this jyOtirvidyA.  
 
The puruSa splits itself into 2 as aditya and prANa.  The prANa splits itself as 3 ie., prANa, apAna & vyAna.  These 3 constitute as gayaH.  The mantra that protects these 
3  (tri) prANAs (gayaH) is called gAya-tri.  The antarlakSya of the aditya is dakSiNa akSi.
And hence, he is called akSi-puruSa. The bahirlakSya is nAsAgrasthAna.
 
So, when gAyatri mantra is chanted, the dhAraNa should be on the above mentioned
bhargas in the form of jyotis only.  So long as you are chanting the gAyatri mantra,
you must be able to visualize this dazzling white jyoti before you.  This comes with the practice of dhAraNa of yoga.  
 
So, sandhyAvandana itself comes with a wholistic package that has all the aspects of 
yoga, dhyAna, dhAraNa, prANAyAma etc. 
 
If at all one cares to do it perfectly the way it should be done, then perhaps, one doesn't
need any other upAsana, mantra, tantra, vidya.  This is more than enough for a life time to achieve !
 
regs,
sriram