Page 67 - Meditation – Pujya SriRamchandraji Maharaj

postures or asanas such as padma, sarvanga, sirsa, hala, bhujanga, kukkuta, matsya etc. But not all of them are useful for our meditation, though they may be good for health and other purposes. For purposes of meditation and prayer we ought to take up the sitting posture which is steady and easy and which can be maintained for at least an hour without discomfort. It is clear that siddha and padma asanas are the only two good asanas that one can assume. In these two asanas the head must be kept erect and the back must also be straight and not curved. It is to be pointed out that it helps the descent of the grace to the heart much more easily and has probably no connection with the kundalini ascent as such, though it is not ruled out.
In the asana we assume a posture of withdrawal of our sense and motor movements corresponding to our aim, namely, laya with the highest. As Sri Krishna has stated one has to withdraw one's limbs into oneself (sense- organs, motor organs and mind) even as the tortoise does. Thus asana which is uniformly assumed helps the meditation.
There is similarity to the deep sleep state in asana since as the Mandukya upanishad
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