The striving for happiness is the basic characteristic of all living things. The four categories of human needs — physical, psycho-physical, psycho-spiritual and spiritual — and which kinds of yoga help to satisfy them.
The striving for happiness is the fundamental characteristic of all living things. All beings — instinctively, consciously and unconsciously — strive for happiness.
Happiness is a state of rest in which all needs are satisfied.
For animals, happiness is the chance to fulfill their instincts: for example, to build a nest, to live freely in a particular territory in the forest, on the Arctic ice or in the desert. Developed animals have emotional expressions as well as physical needs.
They feel attachment, fear, shame, jealousy and other emotions. Human beings stand at the summit of evolution, and their needs go beyond the physical and emotional spheres. People will be truly happy only when they fulfill all their needs.
The ancient philosophers — or, more accurately, practical psychologists — described four fundamental categories of human needs: physical, psycho-physical, psycho-spiritual and spiritual.
Physical needs include everything necessary for the health and longevity of the body: good food, shelter, medical care, exercise and so on. We can say that physical security, health, strength and vigor are the first level of human happiness.
Psycho-physical needs are mainly emotions, the mind's needs in the material sphere, individual preferences and tastes, and intellectual pursuits connected with the objective world. If on the level of purely physical needs we say "I'm hungry," on the psycho-physical level we say "A Margherita pizza and a cola, please." The mind wants not simply to fill the stomach or rest the body; it wants to experience precisely the sound, touch, image, taste and smell that will leave a sense of both fullness and satisfaction inside. Emotional and intellectual joys belong here too. Interesting work, gaining new knowledge, harmony in the family, music, clothing, housing, surroundings, food and so on that suit one's individual taste — this is the second level of happiness.
Psycho-spiritual needs. Having fulfilled the first two levels of needs, a person inevitably begins to feel an emptiness and is pursued by questions about the meaning of it all. What do I live for? Why was this world created? How should I live in this world? Who am I, and what am I? Simple formulas like "you need to build a house, father a son and plant a tree" no longer satisfy them. Their soul strives toward infinity; they become aware of an infinite thirst within. Whatever I achieve, it will still not be enough — with this realization a person's search shifts from the physical level to the spiritual. At this stage, lacking proper understanding and guidance, people often subject themselves to self-destruction. They look for happiness in alcohol, drugs, extreme sports, endless romantic affairs and so on.
"You'll be content with yourself and your wife, and with your stunted constitution, but the poet is on a worldwide binge, and no constitutions will do for him." — A. Blok
If at this stage a person does not get help and does not learn to direct this thirst into the right channel, degradation is inevitable. But if this energy is directed properly, they will become a great personality. Feeling the deep meaning of life, being inspired, coming to know ever deeper and subtler layers of reality, engaging in true creativity, understanding and enjoying poetry and other forms of art — this is the third level of happiness.
Spiritual needs. Each of us subconsciously believes that one day, when the struggle is over, a flawless state of happiness, peace and one-hundred-percent contentment will come — that very "complete happiness" we mean when we ask, "What do you need to be completely happy?"
Such flawless peace and happiness is impossible as long as the source of restlessness — an agitated mind — exists. Abiding in perfect peace and complete happiness, which the yogis call "bliss," is the fourth level of happiness.
In seeking a method of attaining happiness that works, people created the practice of yoga. Over the many thousands of years of its existence, thousands of trends and schools have arisen, but according to the levels of happiness they can give the practitioner, they can be divided into three kinds (whatever names they are promoted under). And even this division is relative, because every kind of yoga is part of one integral classical system.
Hatha yoga (yoga of the body) includes ásanas (yoga postures), prańáyáma (breathing exercises) and shatkarmas (cleansing practices). This kind of yoga helps one reach the first two levels of happiness: satisfying physical desires (health) and psycho-physical desires (emotional balance).
Rája yoga (yoga of the mind) includes eight classical components that allow one to develop both the body and the mind. Hatha yoga is an integral part of Rája and Rájádhirája yoga. Rája yoga satisfies physical, psycho-physical and psycho-spiritual needs.
Rájádhirája yoga (yoga of the spirit), as a practice, consists almost one hundred percent of Rája yoga, and differs only in that it places a strong emphasis on love for the Supreme and on service to humanity. This system is the most complete and gives a person harmonious development on all levels. On this channel we will be getting to know Rájádhirája yoga.