The Hindu Article - Insecurity, root of human problems

[Guest guest]

Date:05/12/2002 URL:

http://www.thehindu.com/2002/12/05/stories/2002120501200900.htm

------------------------------

 

Miscellaneous - Religion

 

Insecurity, root of human problems

 

CHENNAI DEC.5 . It is unfortunate that Yoga has come to be

misunderstood for contorted body postures and physical exercises

today. Yoga literally means union and it is essential for everyone to

understand its meaning. If a person pauses to look at his life he

will be astonished to note that all his experiences and activities

are limited to a very small circle. The common emotion, which lies at

the bottom of his actions, is fear. All his actions are done for the

sake of security in worldly life. So it is out of a feeling of

insecurity that his social life is structured. A worm crawling on the

earth does not have any problem except its survival but for human

beings survival alone is not enough.

 

In the vast existence man is only a tiny speck and this reality is at

the root of his fear. Yoga is the means with which he can become one

with the existence so that this fear will be dispelled. Modern

science is increasingly proving that all existence is energy and this

manifests in different forms. For many centuries religion has been

saying that God is everywhere and is a unity. What science proves

logically religion arrives at by the dialectical process. The obvious

question that arises is "why do we feel distinct instead of feeling

one with existence?" It is due to the functioning of the intellect

because its nature is to think logically.

 

The logical dimension in the human personality is necessary to deal

with the workaday world. In day-to-day life man tends to structure

his activities on the basis of how he thinks life has to be lived. He

has no time, for instance, to pause and appreciate the beauty of the

sunrise or behold his child's face. If the daily routine of an

average person is analysed it can be seen that he engages in the same

acts like sleeping, eating and working day after day. Logically there

seems to be no meaning to such a mechanical existence. But extreme

logic will be suicidal as it amounts to concluding that there is no

meaning to life.

 

In his introductory lecture on Isha Yoga, Sri Jaggi Vasudev said

without the wall of logic man could not survive in society. By

allowing the mind (intellect) to dominate him man ends up being "what

he thinks" which is not the same as "what he is". The mind is nothing

but the accumulation of ideas he picks up from others and hence it

becomes conditioned by education, family and other social

interactions that have influenced him. Yoga enables him to become

unbounded without getting entrapped within the wall of security he

builds around himself to survive in the world.

 

© Copyright 2000 - 2002 The Hindu