Yoga - Beyond The Body And Mind - Times Of India

[Guest guest]

Yoga - Beyond The Body And Mind

Times Of India

 

Yog means union. Union with a supreme power which is the source of

creation, perfection and destruction. Union with the supreme

intellect and the guiding force behind the perfect mechanism of the

universe. Yoga is merging oneself with this force that guides the

human being to a state of total bliss. A human being is a small

universe in itself. When the consciousness of this small universe

unites with the energy prevailing in the vast canopy of the universe

the union is complete and the light of wisdom starts flowing in the

human body. The light contains everything a human needs to evolve. A

human is a part of nature and constantly striving for perfection.

This is the natural course of evolution because god is the

personification of ultimate perfection.

 

Evolving by flowing along with the universal force or balancing with

Nature reveals the truth automatically. Balance is the key to the

powers of nature. There should be a balance between two extremes

because the Universe is balancing all extremely contradictory forces,

day-night, sun-moon, man-woman, God–Satan. No hectic or tortuous way

can lead to the truth. Balancing the body and mind and attuning both

to Nature is certainly a step towards realization. Nobody can put

down any syllabus or a short cut for self-realization. Yog, Jap,

Tap , penance and many more so-called ways can help to control and

develop self-discipline but certainly not guarantee the ultimate

union.

 

The basic requirement for attaining realization is Truth i.e. to be

truthful on the three planes of Mansa, Vacha, Karmana (thought, word

and deed). A person who is truthful on these three planes naturally

gets guidance from the Supreme. It just flows spontaneously to the

person who is balanced in emotions, tolerant, patient, humble,

fearless, confident, satisfied, spreads happiness always, has speech

full of love and compassion. Such a person becomes a perfect channel

for cosmic energy that symbolizes the cosmic Mother. That is why

Nature is called Mother Nature. She is the best guru . She just gives

and shares her bounties without any commercial calculation. The human

body has built-in remote controls for all mental and physical

ailments. We only need to know how to operate these. Eighty percent

of all diseases are the outcome of mental and physical abuse. Ill-

balanced and unnatural ways of life cause the malfunctioning of

hormonal glands. Hormonal secretions are the regulators of the body

and mind.

 

These regulators operate properly only if we are tuned to Nature.

When we strain our relations with Nature by living an artificial

life, there is an imbalance which causes the accumulation of toxins

in the body. These toxins are to be removed from the body by thorough

cleansing. Yoga helps to detoxify our body and regulate hormonal

secretions, thus channelling our life force towards spirituality.

Yoga is thus just not twisting the body to perform certain asanas or

postures but balancing the mind and body, making it more receptive to

the universal life force pouring from the Supreme Self. Hence, be

truthful, do your duty and love all, along with a few asanas daily to

keep yourself on the path of evolution.

 

Remember always whatever we send forth on the waves of thought and

deed in the universe will definitely boomerang. Our miseries, sorrows

and diseases are all the results of our deeds. Our world is the

creation of our thoughts. We tend to blame others or circumstances

for our failures and miseries. Our mind - a product of our

environment and worldly education - wonderfully advocates for all our

sins and wrong deeds. The interference of the so-called knowledge

stops the natural flow of consciousness, which is ever truthful.

 

miseries are Tap, granted to us by the Supreme for our evolution. We

should be grateful for these because they provide us an opportunity

for penance without leaving our homes. There is no need to go to the

jungles for tap, these sorrows are forms of tapasya , we should bear

them like truthful warriors and we will come out victorious as good

individuals. The Supreme intelligence wants us to evolve naturally by

acquiring perfection.

 

Yogeshwar Shri Krishna teaches us everything in the Geeta. The Geeta

is not just another granth. It is a Mahamantra for attaining the

status of God . Krishna has shown various paths for achieving this

and Yoga is one of them, but along with this other natural qualities

are to be practised also. The ultimate condition for attaining

realization is total surrender. Oh! What bliss this total surrender

is. The Supreme has its own mechanism, which organizes everything for

a truthful yogi in such a manner that it strengthens the vertical

path of the final union. This intelligence knows what we deserve. It

is only interference of our so-called educated mind that creates

further problems for ourselves. We get what we are capable of through

the channels chosen by the Supreme.

 

We should learn yoga from a guru who is leading a Yogic life and not

from a person who himself is leading an untruthful life and teaching

yoga for the sake of teaching! Everyone has his own pace of evolution

depending on his conscious awareness. Practising yoga and

simultaneously correcting a commercial, calculative and artificial

lifestyle can help us accomplish the aim of human life. It can evoke

tremendous strength. It can develop mind power to the extent that one

starts getting direct signals and instructions from the cosmic

energy. One then becomes a medium to carry on the task assigned by

the Supreme. There are no coincidences in life. All is predestined

and definitely has a message. Once we start communicating with the

reality of the universal life force we can channelise our life force

for spreading love, truth and light. The world seems to be a

beautiful place to live in. Everything starts falling into place. The

heart is filled with the truth that the whole world is a family. We

are all from one source, sparks of the same light. Vasudhaiv

Kutumbkam becomes a reality. The joy of being a human being is

realized. A feeling of abundance and gratitude oozes from the aura

affecting the surroundings.

 

Enough work has been done on Yoga and the other paths of

enlightenment. The human race already has had an overdose of

knowledge. Volumes have been written by so many learned people, the

libraries are full of them.

 

Now the wheel of time is turning and all we need is Wisdom. The

wisdom which has no label of religion. That which will prepare us for

a new age. Only consciously aware people will evolve towards success,

perfection and total bliss for mankind. This is the truth.

 

Yoga has eight steps for self-realization. Of these two are most

important. These need to be mastered before heading towards the other

six because without these the asanas will end up being just mere

exercises to keep the body fit.

 

The first two steps are called Yam and Niyam . These need to be

followed internally for preparing oneself for the higher

consciousness.

 

Yam contains five disciplines:

 

Ahimsa – means not giving pain to anyone through speech, deed and

mind

 

Satya – to be always truthful

 

Asteya – not to get attracted by the wealth of others, or get

affected by what others have

 

Aparigraha – unnecessary collection of luxuries or attachment to

collections

 

Brahmacharya – natural discipline of the body

 

Niyam also dictates five disciplines

 

Sauch - cleanliness of the body, mind and soul

 

Santosh – or contentment in every aspect of life

 

Tap – to bear all pains and hurts bravely and be unaffected by them,

which means, bearing everything with peace

 

Swadhayay – constant learning by self meditation

 

Samarpan – total surrender but not complacency. Doing everything that

comes our way with all our mental and physical capacities i.e. living

the moment to perfection.

 

These are the prerequisites for yoga and are to be mastered to attain

the next step. The other six steps of yoga are: Asanas, Pranayam,

Pratihaar, Dhayan, Dharana, Samadhi.

 

Yoga - Beyond The Body And Mind

Times Of India