What is Yoga?

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Sayings of a Paramahamsa

Source:http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2005/1jan05/say105.shtml

 

Closing talk by Swami Satyananda Saraswati at the first

international Yoga Convention, Bihar School of Yoga Sivanandashram),

November 7, 1964, originally printed in YOGA, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1964.

 

People have many misunderstandings about yoga. Even sannyasins will

find it difficult to appreciate the obvious truth of what I am going

to say now. It will uproot many of your pet theories on yoga. What

are these ideas? Firstly, no one need leave their home and go into

oblivion to practise yoga. It is about time that we scotched the

belief that only sannyasins are fit to practise yoga. Secondly,

marital relations do not stand in the way of yoga. Thirdly, one is

not required to become a vegetarian just because he has taken up

yoga.

 

The real aim of yoga is to attain peace and tranquillity within. For

this you need not give up your normal ways. Running away from life

is not the way to deliverance. Samsara is not maya or illusion. It

may be maya to the philosopher because he lives in a world of

imagination and his feet are not solidly on the ground. Yoga is

different; it is practical. It has nothing to do with philosophical

flights of fancy. Never believe for a moment that the life of the

householder is low and the renunciate high. Let no woman think that

her status in life is inferior to that of a man.

 

We believe that yoga has a special role to play in the world of

today. It can remove our mental and physical afflictions. It can

bring joy to our hearths and homes. Our concept of yoga does not lay

down extraordinary rules and regulations of self-discipline and

behaviour. You can continue to enjoy the good things of life and

still be a yogi.

 

It is not necessary to give up your worldly ambitions and material

aspirations. If you do so, it will do you no good. It will bring

harm to society and ruin our country. However, do not become the

slave of your desires. Be like the ocean which remains undisturbed

as the turbulent, rushing waters of the rivers pour into it. Enjoy

sense gratification but don't let it overpower you. Do not despise

life. There is no virtue in retiring to the forest and sitting

enchanted in the solitary grandeur of samadhi. Heroism lies in

remaining steadfast in the tumult of life when the scales are

heavily loaded against you, and attaining the samadhi of self-

equilibrium.

 

No limiting factors

 

The physician who wants only healthy persons for patients is no

physician. Likewise, if yoga were to work its wonders on normal,

healthy people only, then the scope of yoga would become limited.

Yoga can benefit all people under all circumstances. After your

daily round of mental and physical toil, if yoga cannot bring back

your resilience and vigour, then you have learned it in vain.

 

Your life is karma yoga. Sannyasins do not do karma and therefore

they cannot realize through the duties and obligations of

householders. Life for a householder is a continuous yajna. All your

labours to keep your home fires burning, your activities to

discharge your social and national obligations are oblations. Once

you understand this truth, you can keep your vision of self-

realization undimmed in the midst of the unremitting hard work that

your station in life enjoins upon you.

 

However, ceaseless activity in the rough and tumble of life takes

its own toll. Anxieties, frustrations, exhaustion of mind and body,

all accelerate the ageing process. Yoga is a powerful remedy against

these forces of destruction. Why cling to the belief that the road

to the Himalayas is the royal road that will end all your worldly

troubles? The Bhagavad Gita does not teach escapism. When the magic

moment of his crowning achievement arrived, Arjuna faltered and began

to talk of sin and salvation and retreating to the Himalayas. The

Lord brought him back to sanity by preaching the excellence of karma

yoga.

 

Do you wish to pursue the soul lifting science of yoga? If so,

lifelong celibacy is not indispensable, notwithstanding what our

wise men of old have declared. Age does not come in your way.

Whether you are on the threshold of life or the spring of

youthfulness has yielded to the venerableness of old age,

you can learn yoga. There are no limiting factors.

 

Develop an integrated personality

 

Yoga does not mean solely the ashtanga yoga of our scriptures. Such

simple practices as likhit japa, nada yoga, trataka and mantra

anushthana are also yoga. Karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga and

raja yoga are all different facets of yoga. Because music is an

integral part of it, bhakti yoga has a soothing effect on your

bottled up and feverish mind. Trataka is a form of pratyahara. But

why go so far? Life itself is yoga. Religion is yoga. Your day

to day work is yoga. The field is vast and inviting. Let the thrill

and quiver of yoga transform all your activities.

 

In the snares and pitfalls of life, you cannot allow yourself to be

divorced from reality. Satya, ahimsa, brahmacharya, etc. are all

wonderful words, but I have yet to see the individual who can claim

that he has not departed one iota from their practice. Not even our

great saints can lay such claim. Patanjali's yamas and niyamas were

formulated for an age that is gone and done with, and they have no

place in the world of today. In the good old days the very air

that our ancestors breathed was full of these virtues The polluted

air that we now breathe is full of falsehood, violence and countless

other imperfections.

 

Admittedly satya, ahimsa, etc. are forces of great potency, but they

are only so if one practises them to perfection in obedience to

inner compulsion. Yoga is not concerned with the cultivation of

impossible virtues. We leave them to the moralists. Yoga is a

system, a technique for stilling the turbulence of the

mind, for harnessing it and maintaining its resilience. Aim at

developing an integrated personality. The best way to achieve this

is a synthesis of bhakti, karma, jnana and raja yoga. You should not

be all intellect or all emotion. There should be a happy blending of

both, otherwise you will have no peace in life.

 

Learn to benefit others

 

When I was in Swami Sivananda's ashram, I kept no money on me or in

my room. I thought this was aparigraha, but Swamiji thought

differently. He saw no harm in my keeping money and giving it away

to whoever needed it. The real meaning of aparigraha then became

clear to me. If you have money and can use it when necessary to help

others, seeing no differences between one person and another,

then it is aparigraha. What is the use of developing virtues in the

solitary confinement of your room entirely for your own spiritual

progress with no benefit to society as a whole?

 

If you practise aparigraha in its strict scriptural sense,

individually it may bring you spiritual gain, but collectively it

can only bring poverty and starvation to your whole family and

society. The householder takes one path and the sannyasin another.

The paths differ but the destination is the same. One has a small

family; the other adopts an infinitely large family. Whether one is

a householder or a sannyasin, a single test applies to both. How far

do your attainments and siddhis benefit others? Remember that any

religion which aims at individual improvement in isolation cannot be

a good religion.

 

Extend your horizons

 

Unless we make root and branch changes to our traditional concepts

of yoga, we cannot fully bring the blessings of this wonderful

science to humanity. The word `yoga' is of great significance. It is

derived from the word yuj, `to unite'. It means Union,

identification. If you identify yourself with the joy and sorrow of

everyone, extend your horizons, rise above the pettiness of life,

this is yoga. If you take identification in this sense, it ceases to

be personal. Mother and son have an emotional identification. If the

son is unwell, the mother does not feel well either. Another such

relationship is that of husband and wife; if one is unhappy, the

other is also unhappy.

 

Have emotional integration with everyone around you. That is the

yoga my master, Swami Sivananda, taught me. He wanted me to identify

myself with the mind of a thief, of a liar, of one who spoke ill of

me. His advice to me was, " Put yourself in their position, then you

will understand them better. " If you can develop such an attitude in

life, then you are not very far from yoga siddhi. To attain psychic

powers is easy, but to understand yoga is very difficult.

 

Householders are real yogis

 

Yoga stands for physical well-being. It comes as a blessing to

suffering humanity, as a form of psychosomatic treatment. It comes

as the shortest cut to God-realization for seekers of truth. It does

not stand for magic mongering or mystifying the unwary. Half-truths

and untruths have been propagated in the name of yoga. People have

been taught to look down upon grihastha ashrama, householder life.

However, my guru, Swami Sivananda, was one to give it a lofty

status. Householders are real yogis. They have great duties and

responsibilities. Sannyasins have kept themselves away from the

stormy seas of life. How can we treat grihastha ashrama lightly?

Swami Sivananda used to say, " Grihastha ashrama is the crucible

which burns the dross of past samskaras and tempers the steel in you

so that your personality can develop to its fullest potential. " A

householder's life is a long, continuous sadhana. When the storms

and tempests of life threaten to sweep you off your feet, you have

to stand firm and hold on to your duties.

 

Why should you consider your station in life as less worthy than

mine? You have the capacity to earn, to feed yourself and others, to

acquire wealth and throw it away. I am a penniless, vagrant sadhu. I

have nothing to give; I can only take. Like the wick in the lamp,

you burn yourselves away so that others may live. Those who say that

grihastha ashrama is inferior do not know what they are saying. They

speak from a mental perch so remote that they cannot see the

glory and grandeur of life around them.

 

Having said so much in praise of grihastha ashrama, I must also tell

you that it is up to you to uphold its sanctity. Live in the world

but renounce all that is vulgar and petty. Perform all your actions

in a spirit of detachment. That is how you can have renunciation in

the midst of samsara. Strive for perfection in every action. That

will be the yoga of efficiency mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita.

 

My own ideas on yoga differ widely from what has been taken for

granted all along. I do not believe in making prim and proper

speeches. I have no time for moralistic talks. What I have to say, I

say with full conviction and with all the force I have at my

command. I have a mission to fulfil.

 

Do you enjoy a happy and harmonious home life? Are you afire with

enthusiasm in your day to day activities? When adverse circumstances

squash and suppress you, do you rise above them with a cool head and

an easy assurance? If so, you are a yogi. Strive to put your house

in order. Strive for the betterment of society.

Strive, strive with every fibre of your being for the welfare of

humanity. Let caste, creed and sex be no barriers to you

gokulmuthu narayanaswamy <gokulmuthu