International Yoga
Day and the Legacy of Yoga to mankind to grow in Body and Mind
(Compilation for a discourse by N. R. Srinivasan, Nashville,USA,June 2015)
What is
International Yoga? YMCA defines its mission as: A worldwide charitable
fellowship united by a common loyalty to Jesus Christ for the purpose of
helping people grow in Spirit, Body and Mind. On a similar thinking
mission of Yoga of Patanjali stated
in his Yoga Saastra can be defined as: Universal elevation of all human
beings with dedication to Supreme Being through the
growth of Body, Mind and Spirit. International Yoga can be called Yoga
with the focus on Body and Mind to
take care of our well-being rendering medical help curing diseases
or simply Yoga for preparedness for marching towards spiritual growth. Though
stated in the reverse order of Spirit, Body and Mind, YMCA program means the
same. We do not attend any religious
classesin YMCA. Christian participants
sometimes partake in
religious counselling for their
agitated minds for which provisions are made. Sometimes its strenuous and stressfull
program may cause Sports Injuries. Its benefits for curing illness
have not been much researched in its program as in Yoga. It contributes more to prevent illness by
preparing the body to be in shape. We
quit exercise when we are ill. In its
adapted form of modern Yoga you try to
Stretch and Relax but not Strain. Modern International Yoga has introduced many
programs all of which are not prescribed in Pataanjali’s Yoga Saastra which I talked
about as in Kriyaa Yoga, Tulaa yoga, Sahaja Yoga, Ishaa Yoga, Bikram Yoga, Tai Chi Yoga, Chess Yoga, Nude Yoga, Modern Physical Yoga, Modified Breathing Exercises, Hot Yoga, Chair Yoga, Water Yoga etc. Ravishankar calls his method of Teaching Yoga
to people of all faiths as Art of
Living. All these Yogas though confusing
and contradicting takes us back to the
Vedic wisdom “eko viprah bahudaa vadanti”—the One
Truth , the pundits call by many names and in different forms.
Hindu sages developed six different
systems of philosophy at different periods among which Yoga is one of them attributed to sage Patanjali. He collected
some of the surtras (aphorisms) on Yoga
that existed till then and then came out with his elaborate Yogasootras of which only a very small
number refer to physical exercises, breath control and mind control as
referred to and remembered on Internation Yoga Day. The Sanskrit word Yoga means yoke-the
connecting link between the spiritual aspirant and God. It is also a technique
to establish mental communion with God. The Yoga as commemorated
by UN is only one sided and a small portion of Raja Yoga and
not a complete form, which is mainly the
external elaborated form. Its internal
and elaborate real form is the one,
which has been practiced by ancient Indian sages and saints and people who
followed the path of devotion for deep knowledge. This path automatically leads
to physical, mental and intellectual development and Super man-hood. “When we pray we talk and God listens; when we
meditate God speaks and we listen” says Swami Chinmayananda. The kind of
external form of Yoga practice focused by UN prepares us only to reach the base of the Kundalinee dormant power in
all human beings about which I talked about.
Then on intensive Internal Yoga
awakens the dormant power lying in a coiled state and leads through several
active centers. This intensive internal
Yoga together with the external Yoga
which is called as “Yoga” today
by people celebrating on International Yoga Day leads to Rajayoga which is found in the
elaborate Sutras of Patanjali. It is also called Kundalinee Yoga by some. Hindus
and others fight for the title and ownership of so called Yoga practiced all over
the world today which is just the beginning of Yoga.
H
Hinduism speaks of different paths to
reach God: Bhakti Yoga—The path of
devotion; JnaanaYoga—the path
of rational inquiry; Raja Yoga—The path of mental concentration; and Karma Yoga—the path of right action.
Human beings are only Microcosm, an integral part of
the Macrocosm to which they will ultimately merge through various paths,
called liberation. I do not say it dissolves but remains as an integral part. The harmony between the microcosm and
macrocosm keeps the mental make up of the individual in perfect balance. The
individual soul feels at total peace
within and concentrates at the goal while departing from the body. A master of yoga knows how to withdraw the senses from the
sense object into the mind and how to fuse the mind into the breathe, and the breathe into
the light, and the light into the Sun and into the Absolute. This is the path
of light Vivekananda, a master of Rajayoga explained to World Forum in his Chicago
address, a century back.
On December 11, 2014, The 193-member
U.N. General Assembly approved by consensus, a resolution establishing June 21
as “The International Day of Yoga” (IDY).
June 21 of 2015 heralds the First International Day of Yoga. Guided by the
Vedic wisdom “Eko Vipraah bahudaa vadanti” (The One Pundits call by many names), it will not be wrong to say, The One Yoga
which is guided by the Kundalinee dormant power and Chakras in human beings
lead to many forms of yoga, practiced in
many ways (part or whole), in many lands!
Yoga leads all to the philosophy of progressive development of Body, Mind and
Spirit.
“Yoga has become a universal language of spiritual
exercise in the United States, crossing many lines of religion and
cultures.....…..Every day, millions of people practice yoga to improve their
health and overall well-being. That's why we're encouraging everyone to take
part in PALA (Presidential Active Lifestyle Award), so show your support for
yoga and answer the challenge”, said US President Barak Obama.
Narendra Modi stated that "Yoga embodies unity
of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony
between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-
being." I would however like to say unity of Body, Mind and Spirit
while YMCA Philosophy calls for Spirit, Mind and Body in reverse order being a
religious motivated Institution helping mankind. In suggesting June 21,
which is the Summer solstice as the International Day of Yoga, Narendra
Modi had said that the date is the longest day of the year in the
Northern and has special significance in many parts of the world.
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “The
International Day of Yoga would bring attention to yoga's holistic benefits
(wholesome benefit for body and mind). Yoga can contribute to resilience against
non-communicable diseases. Yoga can bring communities together in an inclusive
manner that generates respect. Yoga is a
sport that can contribute to development and peace. Yoga can even help
people in emergency situations to find relief from stress."
"In Vedic thought Yoga comes from the Sun, Surya as the Atman or Purusha, the Self and light of all. It is likely all the ancient solar religions had some form of Yoga or union with the cosmic light. Summer solstice is ideal for Yoga Day" says Padma Bhushan David Frawley,
I wonder why we had to take this issue for rcognition at UN level? After all this Yoga that is being recognized without OM or dedication to Brahman or the goal to reach Nirvikalpa Samadhi has nothing to do with Hinduism or Patanjali. In fact there are much bigger issues for Hindus or Indians than this petty subject. Hindus are benefactors and others are gainers having learnt the basics from them for the harmonious growth of body and Mind! Indians fight for very minor issues motivated by majority Hindus to change the names of cities like Baroda, Calcutta, Benares and Madras? But what about Hindu or Hinduism itself. Most of the world religions carry the suffix ism added to the roort like Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikkhism etc. “-ism” in Chamber’s dictionary means cult, doctrine or theory. We are none of these. We are dharma oriented or Maanava Dharma followers. What about the word Hindu. We are not born to Sindhu river like Bheesham who was called Gangeya. Probably we originated in Saraswati valley. Adding insult to the injury we lost Sindhu ( Hindu is the corrupted form of Sindhu) river also. In fact Pakistanis can claim authenticity to the names Hindu and Hinduism not we as they got converted to Islam later, received the ownership on a golden platter and now live in Sindhu valley which Hindus lost for ever! Cleverly, Islam and Christianity who gave us the name Hinduism carefully avoided, -ism in their names as you see. After all it is they who gave these names and we gladly accepted. They glorified Hindus for sometime and then started fighting. It is logical and appropriate that the migrated Hindu Americans must unite together and call themselves as Sanatanist Americans and also try to get the recognition from Federal Government for such a name instead of worrying about India which they have left permanently and register as an ethnic group. Even India originates from Sindhu if I am correct!
From the perspective of Hindus, the Summer Solstice
marks the transition to Dakshinayana. The first full moon after
Summer Solstice is known as Guru Poornima. According to Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev,
in the yogic lore, the first transmission of yoga by Siva the first Guru
is said to have begun on this day. Perhaps Guru Poornima could have been an ideal
day for being considered as International Yoga
Day as we are not sure about the time of
Patnajali though we read a lot about Yogasaastra either through Puranas
or history of the ancient past. Dakshinayana
is also considered a time when there is natural support for those pursuing
spiritual practices. Conventional Dakshinayana period from June 21 to
December 22 is a period packed with all important Hindu rituals, festivals and spiritually significant days like Guru
Purnima, Upakarma, Mahalaya Paksha, Kedara Gowri Vrata, Kartik Purnima, Phalgun
Purnima, Vaikuntha Ekadasi, Chaturmasa, Karva-chaut, Dhanurmasa Puja, Dattatreya Jayanti and others.
Indian Government wisely and correctly chose the Summer solstice day and
June 21 for International Yoga Day, though South Indian Panchangams indicate
July 16 as the Day that commences Dakshinayana Punyakala or Pitruyaana.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak proposes an alternative, early
Vedic definition of Uttarayana as starting from Vernal Equinox and ending
with Autumnal Equinox. This definition interprets the term "Uttara
Ayana" as "northern movement" instead of "northward
movement", i.e. as the movement of the Sun in the region north of the
Equator. In support of this proposal, he points to another tradition that the
Uttarayana is considered the daytime of the Gods residing at the North Pole
which tradition makes sense only if we define Uttaraayana as the period between
the Vernal and Autumnal equinoxes (when there is Midnight Sun at the
North Pole). Conversely, Dakshinaayana is defined as the period between the
Autumnal and Vernal Equinoxes, when there is midnight sun at the South Pole.
This period is also referred to as Pitruyaana (with the Pitrus i.e. ancestors
being placed at the South Pole).
The sun at the North Pole is continuously above the
horizon during the summer and continuously below the horizon during the
winter. Sunrise is just before the march equinox (around 21 March); the sun then
takes three months to reach its highest point of near 23½° elevation at the
summer solstice
(around 21 June), after which time it begins to sink, reaching sunset just
after the September equinox (around 23 September). At northern midsummer the North Pole is
facing towards the sun to its maximum extent. As the year progresses and the
Earth moves around the sun, the North Pole gradually turns away from the sun
until at midwinter it is facing away from the Sun to its maximum extent. A
similar sequence is observed at the South Pole, with a six-month time difference.
I am of the
opinion it is wrong to identify Makara Sankranti with winter Solstice Day while
it astronomically falls on December 22. It is said in Bhagavadgeetaa that
Uttaraayana represents Devatas or Divines and Dakshinayana represents Pitrus
and the significance is to seek the blessings of both at this transit periods. Uttaraayana is said to be the day time for
Devatas. In this Universe it is said
that Vaikuntam, the abode of Supreme Lord Sri Maha Vishnu is in the Northern
direction (Uttara) and the time of Sun
seen at the highest point of elevation
in the North Pole (June 21) is considered to be holiest.
Let me not question the wisdom of our astrologers
who should be having strong arguments for their differing (Chandramana,
Sauramana etc) views. I understand very little of Hindu astrology. Let me also not try to analyze the mind of our
religious Yoga devoted Prime Minister of India
Narendra Modi who decided on 21st June for IDY, being
Dakshinaayana Day. Based on his
recommendations United
Nations General Assembly on December 11, 2014 declared June 21 as the International Yoga
Day. The motion was supported by 177 countries with 175 countries sponsoring
the same. It is also the same day as the summer Solstice for all
nations, except for many Hindu astrologers in India, the longest day of the year. This was a
smart choice of India’s
religious Hindu Prime Minister since it’s already a
celebrated day for many yogis in North
India but for South Indian Hindus who pride
themselves as religious.
I am attributing this move to Modi
because he seems to be India’s “One-Man Band” today as The Economist has projected. In fact we should give credit to Balgangadhar Tilak who based his thoughts on wisdom of Vedas and redefined Uttarryana Punyakaala.
June 21 seems to be
astronomically significant and sacred day when
we as human beings see sun at its zenith at the North Pole, which in all
probability prompted Government of India to have recommended June 21 as significant day for
International Yoga Day, longest day on which Sun is seen brightest at its
highest point in the North Pole in which direction we also look for Vaikuntha: “tad vishnoh
paramampadam sadaapasyanti soorayah diveecha chakshraatatam….vishnor yat
paramam padam”—the scholars in order to look at
the Vishnu’s abode of Paramapada look at the Sun
which is spread like his
Divine eye engulfing the entire sky.
When we
travel, in a fast moving train we feel we are stationery and trees around we
see are moving very fast. It is this illusion Bhagavadgeetaa talks about as movement of the sun. But I am yet to find an answer why Krishan
said Nakshatranam aham Sasih , I am Moon among Stars? Moon is the only Satellite
of Earth and its light is that of reflected Sun? After all, Upanishads say we
live an illusory world (Maayaa). We may
say Sun which is a star does not have any movement but it is Earth which is a
planet that moves around. The earth rotates once every 23 hours, 56 minutes and
4.09053 seconds, called the sidereal period, and its circumference is roughly
40,075 kilometers. Thus, the surface of the earth at the equator moves at a
speed of 460 meters per second--or
roughly 1,000 miles per hour. The Sun and the entire solar system, orbits around the center
of the Milky Way galaxy. The average
velocity of the solar system is 828,000 km/hr. At that rate it will take about
230 million years to make one complete orbit around the galaxy. This is practically standstill and no movement
at all. The Solar System
is traveling at an average speed of 828,000 km/h (230 km/s) or
514,000 mph (143 mi/s) within its trajectory around the galactic
center, which is about one 1300th of the speed of
light—a speed at which an object could circumnavigate the Earth's equator in 2
minutes and 54 seconds.
Apparent Motions of the
Sun--During
the year the earth moves around the sun. As a result, the sun appears to
move around the sky once with respect to the stars as seen from Earth. Earth
takes about 365 and a quarter days to travel once around the sun. Since
the earth moves around the sun and we are resident on the earth, it means that
the sun appears to shift in the sky about 1 degree per day (360 deg/365.2422
days to equal about 1 degree per day).
The plane of the earth's orbit is called the ecliptic. Since the earth orbits the sun, the sun is also on
the ecliptic. As a result, the sun appears to us to move around the sky
on the ecliptic.
Though Vedas and Bhagavadgeeta have erred on these
saying Sun is moving around the
Earth, Earth is firmly fixed and Moon is
a Nakshatra, I would like to draw your
attention to a rare reference in Braahmanas as quoted in the Book of Anbil
Ramaswamy “A Critical Stydy of Hinduism
with Major Religions of the World” which Aryabhatta confirmed and corrected as stated in my discoursesome years back:
“Ancient and Medieval Hindus Contribution to Science and Technology”
“Anachronistic
as the Hindu labyrinthine mythology may appear to the foreign mind, many of India’s ancient theories about the
universe are startlingly modern in scope
and worthy of a people who are credited with the invention of the zero, as well
as algebra and its application to astronomy and geometry; a people who so
carefully observed the moon’s synodical revolution much more correctly than
Greeks… many hundreds of years before those great European pioneers, Galileo
and Copernicus, had to pay heavy prices in ridicule and excommunication for
their daring theories, a section of the Vedas known as Braahmanas contained
this astounding statement: ‘The Sun never sets or rises. When people think the
Sun is setting, he only changes about after reaching the end of the day to what
is on the other side. Then, when people think he rises in the morning, he only shifts
himself about after reaching the end of the night, and makes day below and
night to what is on the other side. In truth, he does not set at all’.
Upanishads discuss
as to what happens to a person who dies without realizing the Aatman/Brahman in
life that includes Sanyasins and those who have mastered Yoga. Those who have performed Sakaama karma (desire
motivated actions) or practiced lower kinds of Upaasana through Yoga or other
means get their desires fulfilled. Some
of them go to Svargaloka (heaven) from where they will return to this world
after exhausting the results of their good deeds. Sometimes, this movement is
described as through the Dhoomamaarga (the path of smoke, also called
Pitriyaana or Dakshinaayana) wherein the soul is led to the Chandraloka (the
world of the moon) after passing through the smoke, night, the dark fortnight
and the six months of the southern solstice. After exhausting the result of
their meritorious deeds the soul returns again to this world through the sky,
rain, vegetation and living beings. The
liberated soul travelling by the Archiraadimaarga or the Bright Path (also
called Devayaana and Uttaraayana) to the
Brahmaloka (also known as Satyaloka) and resides there permanently in infinite
peace and bliss. The various stations on the path are fire, day, bright
fortnight, six months of the northern solstice, the year, the sun, the moon and
the lightning. All these actually represent the guardian-deities of these stations.
From the last station, the vidyut or lightning, an “amanava purusha”, a
non-human (divine) being, leads the liberated soul to the Brahmaloka.
Vyaasa who is
the virtual author of Bhagavadgeetaa is credited with Yogaabhyaasa. Some even
accredit some Yogasutras to Vyaasa. In
Bhagvadgeetaa Krishna is mostly represented as a teacher of great wisdom and
erudition; he figures as a Yogi. The Bhaagvata records that Krishna sat up
every morning for meditation merging himself with the transcendental self. Also
Mahabharata says Krishna was in the
habit of meditating on Brahman in the hours before sun-rise. There is even a
suggestion that the Song of the Celestial was originally a Yoga-Upanishad which
was later Vaishnavized. Bhagavadgita in Chapter6 & 8 speaks of two paths –
Uttaradi Maarga and Dhumradi Maarga that are described in various Upanishads
and says Path of Yoga is the best way to achieve liberation or Mukti. The
following slokas elaborate on that:
Vedeshu yajneshu tapah su chaiva daaneshu yat punyaphalam pradishtam |
Atyeti tatsarvamidam viditvaa Yogee param
sthaanm-upaiticha-adyam || 8-28 ||
Whatever is
the award of merit for the study of scriptures, for the performance of
sacrifices, for the conduct of austerities and penances, and for the giving of
charity, the wise person who is devoted to the discipline of Yoga will go
beyond these and reaches the Supreme and primal state of the Supreme Spirit.
The superior
merit of Yoga is the message of this verse. The meritorious deeds mentioned
here are for worthy prosperity and for heavenly benefits. But Yoga dismisses
both these as ephemeral and associated with pain and sorrow and leads us to
the highest gain of peace and
contentment with the Supreme Spirit. Yoga meditation path is far superior to
other options of Karmayoga and Bhaktiyoga.
Tapasvibhyah adhiko
yogee jnaanibhyah api mato adhikah | Karmibhyah cha adhiko yogee tasmaad yogee bhavaarjuna || 6-46 ||
Yoginaam api
sarveshaam madgaton-antaraaatmanaa | Sraddhaavaan bhajate yoe maam sa may
yukta-tamoe matah || 6-47 ||
The Yogi is regarded greater than ascetics; even
greater than men of knowledge (Jnaanee) and also greater than those devoted to
work (Karmayogi). Therefore become a Yogee,
O Arjuna! Even among Yogees, one
who is possessed with faith worships the Supreme Being with his mind absorbed
in that Supreme Being is the greatest.
Yatra kale
tvanaavrittim-avrittim cha eva yoginah | Prayata yaanti tam kaalam vakshyaami
bharatarshabha || 8-23 ||
O Arjuna, I will now tell you the time at which, Yogis
departing from hence, will attain that time of return or non-return.
Agnir jyotir-ahah
suklah shanmaasaa uttaraayanam | tatra pryataa gacchanti brahma brahma –vidoe janaah || 8-24 ||
Departing by the path of fire, the fame, the day, the
bright half of the month and the six months of the Sun’s north path the knowers
of Brahman (those who have mastered Kundalinee Yoga) attain Brahman.
[The paths and times of death mentioned here are meant
for being remembered by the Yogins, and they are not for prescribing the time of death (commentator
says gati-dvaya-chintanaartham).
The term kaala
mentioned in these stanzas signifies the destiny (ativahikas) and not time]
Dhoomoe raatris-tathaa
krishnah shanmaasaa dakshinaayanam | tatra chaandramaasam jyotir
yogee praapya nivartate || 8-25 ||
Departing by the path of smoke, night, the dark half
of the month, and the six months of
Southern path, the Yogi attains the lunar sphere and return thence (to earth).
S
uklakrishne gatee
hyoetay jagatah saasvate matae | ekayaa
yaaty-anaavrittim-anyayaavartate punah ||
These
Bright and Dark Paths of the World are eternal; by Bright, one returns not; and
by the Dark, one returns.
Naite sritee paartha jaanan-yogee
muhyati kaschana | tasmaat sarveshu kaaleshu yoga-yuktoe bhava-arjuna || 8-27 ||
O Partha! Knowing these paths, no Yogi is deluded;
therefore at all times you be endowed with Yoga!
Geetaa
talks about the sun and the moon and two different paths leading to them after the so called
death or life’s journey in the above verses.
Hindus always give importance to the influence of heavenly
deities (Grahas) at the time of birth particularly to the sun and moon. So, the position of the Sun and Moon does
influence our life’s journey. Bhagavad
Geetaa therefore dwells at length on these journeys in its mystic, spiritual
and philosophical discussions between Lord
Krishna and Arjuna. It first
elaborates on the Northern path of the Sun called Aarchiraa path associated
with fire and light which can be connected to the heat in the body. At the time of death it is heat in the body
which helps the easy passage of life from the body. It is the heat that keeps the
breath and body fluids in the body function normally, the awareness and the remembrances
of the Supreme (OM) clear and precise. With the mind and intellect fully alert the
Yogi is able to direct the life’s vital forces in the desired direction. With
help of that one Nadi amongst 101 about
which I have talked about several times
that goes upwards to Brahmarandra the Yog
i is able to lead the life-force Udaana to Brahman and ultimately merge with Brahman. So the fire, light, heat in the body the day time the bright half of the moon and the sun in the Northern path all of these in unison harmonize the light and heat in the body with the cosmos. A Yogi knows how to withdraw the senses from the sense object into the mind, and how to lead the mind into breath and breath into light and light into the sun and sun into the absolute Brahman. Thus Microcosm merges into Macrocosm, its source. This is the description of the Journey through Aarchiraa marga described in Gita and several Upanishads--[Chandogya, Brihadaaranyaka, Mahanarayana (MNU), Prasna and Easaavaasya]
i is able to lead the life-force Udaana to Brahman and ultimately merge with Brahman. So the fire, light, heat in the body the day time the bright half of the moon and the sun in the Northern path all of these in unison harmonize the light and heat in the body with the cosmos. A Yogi knows how to withdraw the senses from the sense object into the mind, and how to lead the mind into breath and breath into light and light into the sun and sun into the absolute Brahman. Thus Microcosm merges into Macrocosm, its source. This is the description of the Journey through Aarchiraa marga described in Gita and several Upanishads--[Chandogya, Brihadaaranyaka, Mahanarayana (MNU), Prasna and Easaavaasya]
Bhagavad Geetaa also talks
about Sun’s southern path Dakshinaayana,
which is the Path of Darkness,
(pitru Marga) called Dhooma Maarga
or smoky path. Smoke is symbolic of darkness, ignorance and confusion. Krishnapaksha is the waning fortnight of
the Moon. Therefore, Sun’s Southern Journey in Krishna
Paksha also signifies darkness. A
person’s severely interrupted breathing rhythm and unwanted body sounds causes loss of heat in
the body and makes one uncomfortable.
This causes confusion in mind and the self in the body gets deluded.
Moon represents emotion essentially
concerned with material world. The thought process becomes scattered and the clarity of goal is lost.
When the person feels unable to
direct the breath in the desired direction, he feels totally surrounded by the
cloud of thick smoke and is helpless. Such
a Yogi lands on moon, nevertheless enjoys the coolness in Moon for some time
but unable to lift the Self up has to return back to Earth to take the next opportunity
to catch the path of light. Evidently such a person has not yet attained
Karma-Mukti, though enjoys living in moon for some time for
his good acts. That speaks of liberated
souls like Sankara, Ramnuja, Madhva Ramkrishna Paramhamsa, etc., who spent some time with us enlightening
us and then left mother earth finally. When a Yoga pursuer who
is not yet attained the status of liberated soul goes to the region of Moon,
the natural tendency is to return to the world. All the religious practices,
all austerities, penances, study of Vedas, Yajnas and charities are of course
helpful but once the Yogi identifies himself with the Divine, the Yogi
transcends all these and merges with consciousness of the Divine.
In this context it is good to know why these Sanyasins mentioned above
are called Parmahamsas for example
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa ? Paramahmsa is a mythological swan with the
ability to drink the essential part of milk rejecting its watery content. In Hinduism, a Parmahamsa is considered a
symbol of spiritually illumined soul who has experienced the Divine Essence of
everything by rejecting the worldly lures of the senses. The goal of Hinduism
is to experience this Divinity in everything and every being. Furthermore, it is seen that a Pramahamsa
remains in water and yet the water never clings to its feathers. Similarly, a spiritually illumined soul lives
in the world, yet is never contaminated by it.
It is customary to address monastery heads as Paramahamsas (paramahamsa parivrajikaacharya). Such elevated souls exhaust even their sanchita good karmas while living on
earth, become gunaateetas (devoid of all gunas—satttva, rajas and tamas for
they no longer have anu need for these Gunas) and go by either Path of Light or
Darkness depending on the time of their
so called death (leave the physical body) and reach the Brahmaloka or region of
Supreme Being never to return. Those who depart in Dakshinaayana leave by the
Path of Darkness (Dhooma Marga) rest for some time in Moon and then proceed forward
taking a little bit more time than those who depart during Uttaraayana and proceed direct by the Path of Light.
MNU says a Yogi who has reached the level of consciousness of
the Divine (Brahmopasaka) who dies during the night (Dakshinayana) also would
attain Brahman as all of Karmas--Sanchita
and Aagaami get annihilated or untainted on account of his meditation and his Prarabhda
karma would have also been fully exhausted in his ultimate body and there is no
cause at all for further bondage. Such a
yogi is called Brahmajna (one who is
possessed of Knowledge of Brahaman). Such a Brahmajna goes through the path of
Pitrus or Dhooma Marga and attains the
greatness of Moon. A Brahmajna who dies in Dakshinayana
proceeds further from the Moon to Brahman.
Bhishma had such an opportunity but as he was not sure or had the
mission to witness Viswaroopa and bringforth VSN, and was also blessed
with special powers to continue to live with his soul though mortally dead,
waited for Uttarayana to merge with Brahman.
Chandogya Upanishad
(5-10-10) says: Anyone who knows how to meditate on five chakras (energy
centers) becomes virtuous, pure and does not become besmeared with sin like
lotus leaf which does not get wet by water. This is known as gradual
emancipation of soul from the lower celestial controllers via Devayaana path
through different celestial Devas at the Chakras in the body. The body
represents both microcosm and macrocosm. The kingdom of heavens is within all of us or God is within
us says Christianity also.
MNU says, a Sanyaasin (who is
in full control of spirituality of Yoga) finds pleasure in meditating on the
Supreme within self. The Sanyaasin who lives his prescribed life until death,
is performing internally the perpetual Agnihotra (fire sacrifice) as ordained
by scriptures. And such a Sanayaasin attains Mukti through Hiranyagarbhaloka
(reaching the region of Supreme Being), even though he has not attained to
Bramabhaava (aspects of Brahman) and Sadyomukti (instant liberation) during his
life on Earth. It further explains
Karma-Mukti or gradual liberation via Brahmaloka. Death during Uttaraayana or
the period denoted by the apparent sun’s movement away from the southern solstice
point is praised as superior to death in Dakshinaayana or the period denoted by
the sun’s apparent movement away from the northern solstice point.
“…….yanmaranam tadavabhrita…satram | etadvai jaraamarya
agnihotra(ga)m satram ya evam vidvaan-udagayane
prameeyate devaanaameva mahimaanam gatvaadityasya saayujyam gacchati atha yoe dakshine prameeyate pitrunaam eva
mahimaanam gatvaa chandramasah saayujym gacchati yetau vai
sooryachndramasoer–mahimaanau brahmanoe vidvaan abhijayati tasmaad brahmanoe
mahimaanam-aapnoti tasmaad brahmanoe
mahimaanam-aapnoti ityupanishad || (MNU)
Death is the Avabhrita or
completion of sacrifice of Brahmopaaska (one who constantly meditates on
Brahman). That person who knows this—covering all the duties from Agnihotra to
Sattra and terminating in death overcome by old age—and who dies during the
period the sun’s movement to the north attains to the over-lordship of Gods
like Indra and then reaches companionship with the Sun. On the other hand he
who dies during the period when the sun moves to the south gets only to the greatness of Manes (Pitru
deities) to the companionship of the Moon. A Braahmana* (Brahmopaska) who knows
separately the greatness of the Sun and the Moon realizes the two. But one who
has become the knower of Brahman (Brahmavit) gains further. From that knowledge which was
acquired in the world of Brahman, he attains to the greatness of Brahman the
Supreme who is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss (Sat-Chit-Aananda). Thus is the secret knowledge here, in this
Upanishad and conclusion (Mahaanaraayana Upanishad--MNU).
(*Brahmana here does not mean
one who claims to be a Brahmin by birth based on modern caste-system)
IndiaDivine.Org in its write up
for Facebook says: “Today, yoga is being practiced and used in a different form
because it contains great power of increasing the physical, mental and
intellectual capacity. This form of yoga is creating and establishing its
importance all over the world. The present form of yoga is welcomed, however
this is only one side of Yoga and not a complete form, which is purely the
external and elaborated form. Its internal and real form is the one, which has
been practiced by ancient Indian sages and saints and people who followed the
path of devotion for deep knowledge. This path automatically leads to physical,
mental and intellectual development. One cannot achieve everything by
overlooking the spiritual side of Yoga, which was the main purpose of yoga.
Yoga should not be used for the
purpose of obtaining personal gains. Yoga will be centered within a limited
field until it is spread throughout the world in the form of spiritual
consciousness. The solutions to the problems like terrorism, atheism,
commercial attitude, communalism, caste system, social enmities, sectarian
fights and other related issues lies only in spiritual Yoga and not in yoga,
which is purely meant for exercise. Therefore it is necessary to embrace the
complete form of Yoga and not just a part of it and feel contended. Yoga does not
simply mean pranayama, rather resistance towards passion, rules, restraining
the sense organs, conception, meditation and deep devotion are the integral
parts of yoga, which are being neglected or considered secondary due to
illusion. Importance, utility, capability and miraculous nature of yoga will
remain stable only if Ashtanga yoga (the eight yogic practices) propounded by
Saint Patanjali are followed.
There is all-round disturbance, agitation and
killing which situation is worsening gradually due to lack of spiritual
consciousness. We can clearly see the inequality, hatred and deformity in the
fields of politics, society, administration, courts, religion, education,
service and others. Hence, in every age it has become a necessity to adopt Yoga
and not consider it to be a compulsion. People have a serious misconception
about Yoga: it is felt that a person has to sacrifice his home, family and
relations and take shelter in the mountains and forests. People need to
understand there is no condition or compulsion to do so. One can find a big
list of those people who have devoted their lives to Yoga and also continued
their household duties.”
Long-term yoga users in
the United States have reported musculoskeletal and mental health improvements
as well as reduced symptoms of asthma in asthmatics. There is evidence to suggest that regular
yoga practice increases brain GABA levels, and yoga has
been shown to improve mood and anxiety more than some other
metabolically-matched exercises, such as walking. The three main focuses of Hatha
yoga--exercise, breathing, and meditation focusing on body, mind and spirit
make it beneficial to those suffering from heart disease. For chronic back pain, Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs has been found
30% more beneficial than usual care alone in a UK clinical trial. Yoga participants also had a drop of 80% in
the use of pain medication. Implementation of the Kundalinee Yoga Lifestyle has
shown to help substance abuse addicts increase their quality of life according
to psychological questionnaires like the Behavior and Symptom Identification
Scale and the Quality of Recovery Index.
Even worst critics of
Hinduism have realized the beneficial aspects of physical Yoga if Not
Kundalinee Yoga or Raja Yoga.
In early 11th century, the Persian scholar Al Biruni visited India, lived with Hindus for 16
years, and with their help translated several significant Sanskrit works into
Arabic and Persian languages. One of these was Patanjali's Yogasutras. Al Biruni's translation preserved many of the
core themes of Patañjali 's Yoga philosophy, but certain sutras and analytical
commentaries were restated making it more consistent with Islamic monotheistic
theology. Al Biruni's version of Yoga
Sutras reached Persia and Arabian Peninsula by about 1050 AD.
In recent years, a women's rights group in Malaysia, has expressed
disappointment against fatwa prohibiting Muslims from practicing Yoga and said
Yoga was just a form of exercise. In 2009, the Council of Ulemas, an Islamic
body in Indonesia, passed a fatwa banning yoga on the grounds that it contains
Hindu elements. These fatwas have, in turn, been criticized by Darul , a Deobandi Islamic seminary in India.
Similar fatwas banning yoga, for its link to Hinduism, were issued by the Grand
Mufti Ali Gomaa in Egypt in 2004 and by Islamic clerics
in Singapore earlier. This has been met by opposition among conservatives.
Malaysia's prime minister clarified that yoga as physical exercise is
permissible, but the chanting of religious mantras is prohibited. In Iran, as of May 2014, according to its Yoga
Association, there were approximately 200 yoga centers in the country, a
quarter of them in the capital Tehran where groups can be seen often
practicing in parks. Minority Islamic sects such as the mystic Sufi Movement
particularly in South Asia, adopted Indian yoga practices, including postures
and breathe control.
A Christian view holds that meditation can lead to religious pluralism.
This is held by an interdenominational association of Christians that practice
it. "The ritual simultaneously operates as an anchor that maintains,
enhances, and promotes denominational activity and a sail that allows
institutional boundaries to be crossed." YMCA has Spirit, Mind and Body development as its goal which is the reverse
order of Yoga practice of Body, Mind and Spirit.
DO WE NEED TO MAKE IDY TO BE A SPECIAL HINDU RELIGIOUS
EVENT DAY?
We all need help maintaining our
personal health and spiritual practice. We hope that daily mindful awareness exercises and meditation
by practicing that part of Yoga prescribed for body and mind growth can be part
of bringing spirituality alive in our lives.
United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 2014 on the
recommendations of religious and spiritual motivated yoga practitioner prime
Minister Narendra Modi of India declared June 21 as the International Yoga Day. The motion was supported
by 177 countries with 175 countries sponsoring the same. It is also the same
day as the summer Solstice,
the longest day of the year accepted by all except a group of orthodox Hindu astrologers in India. By the
way, this was a smart choice since it’s already a celebrated day for many
yogis.
Hindu Mandirs Executive Council
(HMEC) of USA are quite jubilant about the same and want all Hindus to observe
this day as Special Religious Events Day in all Hindu Temples in USA even
though there is no such plan in India except to celebrate it at National Level
for world recognition of yoga at International level as an ancient
Indian practice and heritage. You can find such celebrations glorifying their
ancient culture even in China too which
is now a Communist country. HMEC has recommended the following program for the
day: Common yoga Protocol/demonstration of Aasanas (postures) for 30 minutes
and Breathing Tehniques; Surya Namaskaram Postures; Meditation Workshop;
Lecture, presentation and demonstration; meditation for optimal Well-being;
Yoga related activities by various organizations. Even though they do not want
to call this as a Special Religious Events Day it is natural for all Hindus to
rush to a temple to make it one. A Hindu’s life is so knitted with Religion he cannot think anything without
being a worshipful day like first day driving in a new car after worship only. Moreover unlike in India all Hindu American
Temples are also cultural centers. Nashville Ganesha Temple was built by few
enthusiastic philanthropists of Hindu Cultural Center of Tennessee.
In my opinion we should not take
this day to sanctum sanctorum choosing a deity to preside over the day. If chosen Hayagrieva, Yoga Narasimha and SriKrishna would be the obvious choices. We all know how
Krishna used to do Yoga practice in the early hours of the day meditating upon
supreme Being as told in Mahabharata. Even Bhagavadgeeta was called Yogopanishad
which was later Vaishnavized and renamewd Song of the Celestial. The temptations
are great because we have already promoted strongly the concept of celebrating Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Suhaasini Day, Sumangali Day,
Karwa Chaut (husband’s day) with Valentine’s Day (propitiating Kamadeva who
domesticated Rudra to bring forth popular deities Ganesha and Kartikeya; Kaama
is deified in Vedas and there is a Homa mantra for Kaamadevata
in MNU—Kamokarsheert Homa Mantra) and Labor Day (dedicated to Viswakrma
as in Hindu practice in India ) on the
waiting list. Poor Teachers have not come to lime-light still! Probably
education is not revered as in India and is considered a business in USA which
American Hindus are forced to endorse as there is no day earmarked for this
cause to go to churches! But taking yoga to sanctum will be a dangerous move.
It may amount to killing the golden goose! India fought for long against stiff
opposition from major religious followers
to get the International status and Indian origin stamp to Yoga in whatever form it is currently
practiced. We should also not worry as
to what goes on India. We have left the country and are unified as Hindu Americans.
We should plan things in our own way. It should not become an issue for Al
Qaida, Imams, Rabis or Popes.
My yoga class conducted by a
religiously involved Christian Yoga teacher usually ends his class with the
word Namaste. Others from various religious belongings including Muslims do not
object to it and repeat after. Probably they do not understand Hindu religious
significance of it though they know very well OM as Hindu mantra which the yoga teacher
avoids. May be they know it means God
within you which concept is also prevalent in all
Abrahamic religions!
Epilogue
Yoga as perceived by
the followers of Sanatana Dharma has many names following the wisdom of
Vedas Eko
viprah bahudaa vadanti-- Truth is one
and pundits call it by many names or can be simply given
up by saying neti
neti as Upanishads found hard to
define Brahman.
India based Sikhism
is clearly seems to follow Yoga Sastra of Patnajali as is clear from its famous
Satyavachan which says: Why to search in a forest and not within your Self.
Sikh spiritual hymn called "Kahe
Re Bun Khojan Jayee"
reminds us that God abides within us all and cannot be separated from us -- the
way fragrance abides in a flower and a reflection rests inside a mirror. Thus it is aimed on Self in its meditation which means
Brahman. The other Indian origin religions Buddhism and Jainisam follow
closely Patanjali’s Yoga Sastras though not clearly say that the goal is
to reach Brahman. Buddhism Yoga can be called Bodhisattva Yoga, or the path to
know the Truth. Buddha never clarified that Truth is Brahman but Sanatana
Dharma affirms it, if not Hinduism as practiced today which often does not
display what it
preaches in its religious
practices. Similarly Yoga in Jainism can
be called Jinatattva Yoga or Jina doctrine based as they also do not talk about
Brahman. In fact Early Vedic literature did not also
use the word Brahman but later Upanishads did. Perhaps this has confused
the followers of Buddha and Jina who named the religions after their Gurus.
Probably they stuck to Vedas and did not bother to read Upanishads!
Otherwise why Jina (Rishabha) and Buddha are considered as avatars of
Vishnu? It is strange that Hinduism and the religions Buddhism, Jainism
and Sikhism that branched out of it are all distinguished by the
suffix “ism” whose dictionary meaning is cult,
doctrine or theory as seen through the eyes of Arabic religions mainly
Islam and Christianity who have taken care not to add this
suffix -ism to their faith or belief to show their
superiority or Universal Brotherhood or Neighborhood. Perhaps both
do not like their origin and call it also Judaism in
a derogatory sense!
American Hindus can
also claim they are not Hindus any more or belong to any religion, if they are ready to switch over to
Spirituality, Universal Oneness and follow Sanatana Dharma from where we
started. In the true sense we can't be called Hindus as
we are not born out of River Sindhu( hindu is corrupted form of Sindhu) or cult
based for we have to follow Dharma not any religion. So Hinduism is
a misnomer given by others as is recognized by the world but nobody raises the
voice against it for they do not want to give up the practice of what they
preach! I believe Deepak Chopra once said Yoga does not belong to
Hinduism. He is right if the correct meaning of Hinduism is understood.
He has been fair to both sides and made his fast buck too! Yoga belongs to Patanjali, though he may not be remembered on International Yoga Day, who practiced Sanatana Dharma by
employing physical exercises, breathing and meditation techniques to
attain Nirvikalpa Samadhi or the Union of the Microcosm with Macrocosm while
the Yoga that is practiced today world over or talked about is not what
Patanjali preached though taken help from him.
APPENDIX I
Yoga Is Exemplary Way of Life For Ourselves And Our
Planet
The Huffington Post
The Early Days:
As
our car pulled into the driveway, my dad checked the mailbox. “Did it come? Did
it come?” I gasped excitedly. The year was 1986, and I had been waiting in
breathless anticipation for the past two days. I knew that the results of my
black belt test had been mailed and my heart plummeted into my stomach every
time I thought about it. My dad handed me the thick envelope filled with
handwritten evaluations of the five senior black belts who had assessed my
test. Each would have written “pass” or “fail” at the bottom of his detailed
analysis of every mistake I’d made in my katas and sparring. At fifteen, I was
one of the youngest girls, and certainly one of the few non-Asian girls, to
ever test for black belt in Los Angeles. As I forced myself to keep breathing,
I gingerly opened the envelope and reviewed the results. One by one they said
“pass.”
“Oh
my God, I passed! Oh my God, I passed!” I shrieked as only fifteen-year-old
girls can.
We
jumped in the car to go tell my mom who was in her evening yoga class. My
mother was the first one I knew who ever did yoga. In fact, in the early to
mid-1980s, none of us had heard of yoga as something to be done by non-Indians,
before she started taking classes. My mother’s, and therefore my, introduction
to yoga came at the behest of a physical therapist to whom she had gone for
treatment of a hip injury incurred during a Jane Fonda aerobics class. As my
teenaged self-bounded up the steps to her yoga class, I could see, through the
glass doors, about twenty women spread throughout the room bending down over
blankets, bolsters and blocks. The idea that my intrusion may have been
inappropriate was inconceivable. Of course Mom needed to know I had passed and
of course a 30-second ecstatic intrusion couldn’t possibly be any big deal.
It
was a big deal. The teacher lovingly, but sternly, explained to me, in the
midst of my exuberant outburst of “I passed!”, that yoga was not merely the
physical exercises my mother and the other women were doing, but that it also
was a state of mind, a state of the breath, a mindful awareness. Exercise might
not be disturbed by a 30-second interruption of an ecstatic teenager, but yoga
was.
The Global Spread of Yoga:
Today,
almost 30 years later, yoga has become globally ubiquitous. Fifteen-year-olds
don’t only understand the yoga that their parents do, but in many cases, they
are also doing it. The practice of yoga has burgeoned and blossomed throughout
the world, leaving almost no corner untouched. When we started organizing yoga
classes and courses in English and then hosting the International Yoga Festival
at Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, in 1998, the foreigners came primarily
from America, Canada, Europe and the United Kingdom. Today, there are
participants from more than 60 countries around the world, including not only
the ‘West’ as we envision the Americas and the European Union, but also large
groups from countries that didn’t even exist when I was learning geography.
Countries from the former Soviet Union, countries including Uzbekistan,
Ukraine, Croatia, countries throughout Africa, and of course throughout Asia,
ranging from Mongolia to Taiwan.
Yoga
has now joined rank with other crucial and inextricable aspects of our daily
life and society as toilets, hand-washing, forests, water, mothers and fathers
in being allocated its own official day by the United Nations.
Yet,
when we think of yoga today and speak of yoga today, what do we mean? What is
that yoga of which we speak? Sadly, most of us still view it as the art of
perfecting physical exercises, a more sophisticated and subtle form of the Jane
Fonda aerobics class.
The Fullness of Yoga — True
Divine Union
Yoga,
the word itself, literally means “union.” It is not merely a union of our
forehead to our knee or our fingers to our toes. It is a union of the self to the Divine, a union of the small self to the
universal self, a merging of the drop back into the ocean.
Patanjali
spoke about eight limbs of yoga or ashtanga yoga, of which asana (the postures)
is limb number 3 and Pranayama (breath exercises) is limb number 4. Limbs 1 and
2, the very foundation of yoga are the yamas and niyamas, or the do’s and
don’ts of a yogic life. In fact, the yamas and niyamas have nothing to do with
what most of us consider a yoga practice. There is no bending or twisting or
stretching. There is no contraction or elongation. There is simply non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing,
control of the senses, non-hoarding, purity, contentment, dedicated practice,
self-study and surrender to the Divine. These, what we might call the 10 commandments of a dharmic or
righteous life, are the foundation upon which Patanjali’s yogic philosophy
is based.
“Suddenly
we embark on a practice of being present and mindful with all of our actions,
not only those performed on the yoga mat.”
When
we realize that a righteous life, a life of honesty, integrity, non-violence
and purity, is the foundation of a true yoga practice, then suddenly the
looseness or tightness of our hamstrings becomes only one of the many aspects
of our life into which we shine the light of mindfulness and awareness.
Suddenly we embark on a practice of being present and mindful with all of our
actions, not only those performed on the yoga mat. Are we truly non-violent in
word, thought and deed? Are our choices, including what we eat, what we wear
and what we buy, choices for non-violence and purity? Are we truthful, not only
in letter but in spirit, in all of our interactions?
As
every builder, contractor and architect knows, one cannot build a structure
beginning with the third floor! Regardless of the beauty and elegance of the
building, if there is not a strong foundation, that building will collapse in
the slightest storm. Similarly, we cannot base our yoga practice exclusively on
limb three. We may become fabulously strong, limber and flexible but the moment
the winds of change begin to blow in our lives, the best asana cannot keep us
grounded if we have no foundation. The yamas and niyamas are inextricable,
crucial aspects of any true yoga practice. Without them, our asanas become
acrobatics or aerobics — still fabulous of course for the body, but not “yoga”
in its fullest meaning.
“The
yamas and niyamas are inextricable, crucial aspects of any true yoga practice.
Without them, our asanas become acrobatics or aerobics – still fabulous of
course for the body, but not “yoga” in its fullest meaning. ”
Lastly, our 8-limbed tree of yoga also
does not stop at limb 3 or even 4. It grows and expands gloriously up through
the practice and experience of pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana
(single pointedness) through dhyana (meditation) and ultimately into Samadhi
(complete ecstatic, blissful Union). Resting your forehead on your shin
in janushirasana for the first time is an experience
of great relief and release. The muscles of the back, the neck, the head and
even the chest let go as we rest in the elongation of our spine, as prana is
breathed into the space between our vertebrae and into every muscle in our
body; despite the “ahhh” experience of relief and release in the physical
postures, the tree of yoga has juicier fruits to offer us if we just keep
climbing.
Thus,
as we do not start with limb 3, so we do not end with it. The asanas are
windows into the possibility of what yoga holds. It is said “sthira sukham
asanam” — that which is stable, that which brings true joy, that is asana. Yes.
And that is a window into not just stability and joy IN the asana but in every
moment and every breath of our life.
Yoga to Save Ourselves and Our
Planet
It
is this stable joy, this health and wellness of the entire being, this balance
between the body, the breath, the mind and the heart, this opportunity to melt
and merge into something deeper than ourselves, the infinite ocean of
expansion, it is this which draws more than 1,000 people from more than 60
countries across the world to the banks of the Ganga River, to Parmarth Niketan
Ashram, in Rishikesh for the International Yoga Festival each year.
It
is this which our world is turning to as we celebrate International Day of Yoga
on June 21st. We are not celebrating aerobics. We are not celebrating
calisthenics. We are not celebrating stretching exercises. We are celebrating
Yoga, ultimate union, a union that — beginning with uniting the body and the
breath and leading to a union of body, mind and spirit — takes us into a union
between ourselves and the Divine. It is a union of our small, isolated,
individual, limited, physical existence, with all of Creation.
In
separation, the opposite of yoga, the world is made up of objects. We are each
the “subject” of our own subjective reality. Everyone and everything else is an
object — the animals whose flesh becomes our meal, whose skin becomes our car
seat or belt, the impoverished sweatshop workers who produce our “rock bottom”
priced clothes, the precious trees of the Amazon felled by the acre to make
room for the grazing of hamburgers-to-be, the indigenous people whose lands are
being cleared across the rain forests, the coffee and cotton pickers whose
children have birth defects due to the toxicity of their pesticide-ridden
working environment.
In
a yogic life though, in a life committed to the awareness and experience of
unity we realizae that these are all us. Hence, we don’t need to put sticky
notes on our computers to remind us to practice non-violence, to remind us not
to steal or hoard, to remind us to live a pure life. The practice of “yoga”
leads automatically to a life in which our choices are ones made in an
awareness of unity and oneness.
This
is what our world needs. As individuals, to overcome our depression, loneliness
and numbness, we need to feel connected. As a society, in order to function
well, we need to be connected and in harmony. As an international, global world
family, we need to realize that we are inextricably connected, as Chief Seattle
said so beautifully, to “the web of life.” Yoga, a true realization of union,
could save not only our health, but also our planet.
The
Ancient Hindu Sages had no advanced astronomical instruments ;
they had yoga
Today, kids in school learn that the sun is
93 million miles from the earth and that the speed of light is 186,000 miles
per second. Sayana, a fourteenth
century Indian scholar in his commentary
draws our attention to a hymn in
the Rig Veda, the oldest and perhaps most mystical text ever composed in India
: "With deep respect, I bow to the sun, who travels 2,202 yojanas in half
a nimesha." A yojana is about nine American miles; a nimesha is 16/75 of a
second. 2,202 yojanas x 9 miles x 75/8
nimeshas = 185,794 mps. Basically, Sayana is saying that sunlight travels at
186,000 miles per second! How could a Vedic scholar who died in 1387 A. D. have
known the correct figure for the speed of light? If this was just a wild guess
it's the most amazing coincidence in the history of science! The yoga tradition
is full of such coincidences. Professor
Kak of Louisiana University points
out many such coincidences beside the
one above.
Take for instance the maala (bead necklace)
many yoga students wear around their neck. Since these rosaries are used to
keep track of the number of mantras a person is repeating, students often ask
why they have 108 beads instead of 100. Part of the reason is that the maala
represent the ecliptic, the path of the sun and moon across the sky. Yogis
divide the ecliptic into 27 equal sections called nakshatras, and each of these
into four equal sectors called paadas, or "steps," marking the 108
steps that the sun and moon take through heaven.
Each is associated with a particular blessing
force, with which you align yourself as you turn the beads. Traditionally, yoga
students stop at the 109th "guru bead," flip the maala around in
their hand, and continue reciting their mantra as they move backward through
the beads. The guru bead represents the summer and winter solstices, when the
sun appears to stop in its course and reverse directions talked about in
Bhagavadgeetaa. In the yoga tradition we learn that we're deeply interconnected
with all of nature. Using a maala is a symbolic way of connecting ourselves
with the cosmic cycles governing our universe.
The distance between the earth and the sun is
approximately 108 times the sun's diameter. The diameter of the sun is about
108 times the earth's diameter. And the distance between the earth and the moon
is 108 times the moon's diameter. Could this be the reason the ancient sages
considered 108 such a sacred number? If the microcosm (us) mirrors the
macrocosm (the solar system), then maybe we could say there are 108 steps
between our ordinary human awareness and the divine light at the center of our
being. Each time we chant another mantra as our mala beads slip through our
fingers, we are taking another step toward our own inner sun.
As we read through ancient Indian
texts, we find so much the sages of antiquity could not possibly have known-but
did. While our European and Middle Eastern ancestors claimed that the universe
was created about 6,000 years ago, the yogis have always maintained that our
present cosmos is billions of years old, and that it's just one of many such
universes which have arisen and dissolved in the vastness of eternity.
In fact the Puranas, encyclopedias of yogic
lore thousands of years old, describe the birth of our solar system out of a
"milk ocean," the Milky Way. Through the will of the Creator, they
tell us, a vortex shaped like a lotus arose from the navel of eternity. It was
called Hiranya Garbha, the shining womb. It gradually coalesced into our world,
but will perish someday billions of years hence when the sun expands many times it present size, swallowing all
life on earth. In the end, the Puranas say, the ashes of the earth will be
blown into space by the cosmic wind. Today we know this is a scientifically accurate, if poetic,
description of the fate of our planet.
Knowing the
unknowable: To us today
it seems impossible that the speed of light or the fate of our solar system
could be determined without advanced astronomical instruments! How could the writers of old Sanskrit texts
have known the unknowable? In searching for an explanation we first need to
understand that these ancient scientists were not just intellectuals, they were
practicing yogis. The very first lines of the Surya Siddhanta, for of the Golden Age a great
astronomer named Maya desired to learn the secrets of the heavens, so he first
performed rigorous yogic practices. Then the answers to his questions appeared
in his mind in an intuitive flash. Does this sound unlikely?
Yoga Sutra 3:26-28 states that through, samyama (concentration, meditation,
and unbroken mental absorption) on the sun, moon, and pole star, we can gain
knowledge of the planets and stars. Sutra 3:33 clarifies, saying:
"Through keenly developed intuition, everything can be known." Highly
developed intuition is called pratibha in yoga. It is accessible only to
those who have completely stilled their mind, focusing their attention on one
object with laser-like intensity. Those who have limited their mind are no
longer limited to the fragments of knowledge supplied by the five senses. All
knowledge becomes accessible to them.
" There are [those] who would say that
consciousness, acting on itself, can find universal knowledge," Professor
Kak admits. "In fact this is the traditional Indian view."
Perhaps the ancient sages didn't need
advanced astronomical instruments; after all, they had Yoga!
[Based on a personal discussion of my cousin Dr. Vatsala, Professor of Mathematics in Louisiana State University with another
Prof . Siddharta Kak ]
[Of course we often come across some absurdities too.
Both Yajurveda and Rigveda are wrong in stating the Sun moves around earth
in Early Vedic Literature. This was also the early thinking in many
cultures and religions. Later we come across Upanishads
and many sages like Sayana and Aryabhatta who were not too for from
modern scientific postulations. I
usually focus on such points where science, religion and spirituality conflate amazingly by coincidence as some say!]
APPENDIX II
Report from New York Times on the Eve of International Yoga Day
Shripad Naik, India’s first minister overseeing yoga and traditional medicine,
who has helped organize this month’s celebration of International Yoga Day, said it was time to
clear away the vestiges of a Western lifestyle left behind by colonial powers.
According a memorandum senior officials of Government of India in New Delhi were to familiarize themselves
with certain postures ahead of International Yoga Day this Sunday, when they
will take part in a mass outdoor yoga session scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. At the front of the room, the instructor was
folding and unfolding himself like a pocketknife, and pointedly reminding
members of the class that they would soon be performing under the scrutiny of
“Modi-saab.”, the One man Band of India,
reported New York times. Earlier Economist reported him as One Man Band of India.
Of
the major initiatives that Prime Minister
Narendra modi has introduced since taking
office, few have generated as much static as
Yoga Day which will feature a 35-minute public
demonstration of poses by more than 35,000 government employees, students and
other citizens. Though the Western world regards yoga primarily as physical
exercise, Indians are more apt to see its postures and Sanskrit chants as
freighted with ideological or religious meaning.
Preparations for the event set off a
chorus of criticism, mostly from a handful of Muslim activist groups that say
they should not be compelled to chant “Om,” a sound sacred in Hinduism, or
perform the sun salutation, which they say violates the monotheistic nature of
Islam.*
Mr. Modi’s officials have hurried to
address those complaints, assuring the public that participation in Yoga Day is
optional and that it focuses exclusively on health, not religion. “Om” is not
part of the Yoga Day protocol, nor is the sun salutation. The debate so
incensed one right-wing member of Parliament that he suggested that those
displeased by the sun salutation “drown in the sea.”
“Earlier,
our people used to get up before sunrise and sleep before sunset, but now our
lifestyle has changed. They are going to the pub, they will go in the middle of
the night, at 12 or 1, and eat chicken and many, many new dishes,” said Mr.
Naik, who, like the prime minister, rises before dawn and practices yoga daily.
He recommends going to sleep by 9 p.m., gets his news from the Hindi-language
press and proudly declares that he has never had an injection. “There will be a
lifestyle change,” he said. “Our style will come.”
Mr. Modi is not the first Indian leader
to promote yoga. Indira Gandhi was so devoted to her yoga instructor,
Dhirendra Brahmachari that he accompanied her family when it traveled and
became known as the “flying guru.” In the late 1970s, Mr. Brahmachari hosted a
weekly television show, and yoga was included in some school curriculums. But
after Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, his influence waned, and he withdrew
behind the walls of his ashram.
Mr. Modi has no guru of that
importance, but since the 1980s, he has consulted regularly with H. R.
Nagendra, a Bangalore guru who focuses his practice on achieving samadhi, a
state of profound meditative absorption. Mr. Nagendra said Mr. Modi drew from
the thinking of various popular teachers, including the gurus Baba Ramdev, Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar, Jaggi Vasudev and Mata Amritanandamayi.
The strains of yoga arising now are, in
many cases, intermingled with Hindu religious thought. Sun salutations and Sanskrit chants are part of the
daily, military-style drills of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the right-wing
Hindu group that started Mr. Modi on his political career. The daily shakhas,
as the drills are known, were designed to “create an all-Bharat national
consciousness.” Bharat is the Hindi name for India.
Mr. Nagendra, the nephew of a prominent R.S.S.
leader, says his techniques have sent cancer into remission in 350 cases, weaned thousands
of asthma patients off medications and treated psychiatric
disorders, as well as homosexuality. “It is the extreme stress that takes
place, the stressful life, the wrong lifestyle, which makes them go for
homosexuality,” he said. “We work to
reduce the craving at the deeper levels. Once you do that, your desire to have
sex or excessive sexual indulgence is gone.”
At events, Mr. Modi
often shares the dais with Baba Ramdev, who presides over an ayurvedic medical
empire and has preached against influences he describes as foreign, among them
the English language, chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Mr. Naik, the yoga minister, himself learned
yoga through the R.S.S., and he said he hoped that the widespread practice of
yoga would lower rates of violent crime
As for government workers,
Mr. Naik said, they will become more productive and less corrupt. “There will
be a definite change in the way the bureaucracy functions,” he said. “When they
are thin, all their energy will go into producing better work. There is no need
to do it forcefully, once we have put them on the right path.”
[* Why can't they chant Ameen and do Moon Salaam (Chandra Namaskar) to the borrowed light of Sun instead, since they are the late risers. Moon comes after Sun. Islam came after Judaism and Christianity. This should be acceptable to Hindus who make Moon also a star like Sun. " I am Moon among stars says Geetaa (nakshatraanaam aham Sasih). Krishna made Moon also a Star for them which is a Satellite of Earth and shines with borrowed light of sun. After all Geeta likes all religions and says world needs many religions.They talk about Judaism and Hinduism and added ism to these names which means CULT. We enjoy the name Hinduism which they gave us! They could not pronounce Sindhu made it Indu but grabbed Sindhu which we surrendered, an act of Saranaagati!
"Āmīn (Arabic: آمين) is the Arabic form of Amen. In Islam, it is used with the same meaning as in Judaism and Christianity; when concluding a prayer, especially after a supplication (du'a) or reciting the first surah Al Fatiha of the Qur'an (salat), and as an assent to the prayers of others (Wikipedia). Hindus end with OM"]
[* Why can't they chant Ameen and do Moon Salaam (Chandra Namaskar) to the borrowed light of Sun instead, since they are the late risers. Moon comes after Sun. Islam came after Judaism and Christianity. This should be acceptable to Hindus who make Moon also a star like Sun. " I am Moon among stars says Geetaa (nakshatraanaam aham Sasih). Krishna made Moon also a Star for them which is a Satellite of Earth and shines with borrowed light of sun. After all Geeta likes all religions and says world needs many religions.They talk about Judaism and Hinduism and added ism to these names which means CULT. We enjoy the name Hinduism which they gave us! They could not pronounce Sindhu made it Indu but grabbed Sindhu which we surrendered, an act of Saranaagati!
"Āmīn (Arabic: آمين) is the Arabic form of Amen. In Islam, it is used with the same meaning as in Judaism and Christianity; when concluding a prayer, especially after a supplication (du'a) or reciting the first surah Al Fatiha of the Qur'an (salat), and as an assent to the prayers of others (Wikipedia). Hindus end with OM"]
APPENDIX III
Muslims, Yoga
and the Empty Heart of Fanaticism: Kaif Mahmood, June 2015
Guest post by KAIF MAHMOOD in Facebook
As
a Muslim, a student of Comparative Religion and a practitioner of yoga for over
a decade, I believe that both those Muslims who object to the practice of yoga
on religious grounds and those others who force the practice on the unwilling,
trivialize their own traditions in the service of power and identity politics.
Neither is Islam an inane system of punishments and rewards, nor is yoga an
ancient version of a modern gym. Both groups are a parody of what their
traditions were meant to be, and pose to us the question of how to be
culturally rooted without assuming an isolationist, chest thumping fanaticism
of the religious kind on the one hand, and of a culturally deracinated,
materialistic kind on the other – two sides of the same coin. I attempt here a
reading of both the religious traditions involved in a manner that is both
philosophical and personal.
The
recent objections by certain Muslims over compulsory yoga in schools brings to
mind a scene from Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi.
A
group of RSS workers, waving black flags, stop Gandhi’s car and request him to
not meet with Jinnah. Gandhi replies with a sorrowful agitation: “What do you
want me not to do? Not to meet with Mr. Jinnah? I am a Muslim, and a Hindu, and
a Christian, and a Jew, and so are all of you. When you wave those flags and
shout, you send fear into the hearts of your brothers. That is not the India I
want. Stop it, for god’s sake, stop it.” The car moves on, leaving the
protestors, including Nathuram Godse, in anger and incomprehension.
The
difference between one who breaks down walls of separation and one who creates
them could not have been clearer. In the controversy about Muslims
practising yoga, the destruction and creation of the same walls is at the heart
of the issue. I am a Muslim who has practised yoga for 11 years, and this
practice is one of the most important aspects of my life. I have no problems
doing the surya namaskar or reciting a mantra. From this
position, I offer some reflections on the topic.
First,
in the worldview of those Muslims who object to practising yoga, god appears to
be a being whose chief concern is which way your torso bends, rather than what
lies in your heart when you perform that action, or any other action. If god is
such, I would rather not worship such a petty god. Such a worldview is
the trivialization of a profound idea regarding the nature of reality – namely,
the absolute uniqueness of the divine principle.
Those
who object to the practice of yoga – and to chanting mantras, singing vande
mataram, attending temple services, or even saying namaste –
seem to be utterly unfamiliar with the idea that a human being has a conscience
which is solely her own. For those of us who are religious, the judge of that
conscience is ultimately not a self-appointed religious authority but god. The
spiritual and intellectual poverty of fanaticism makes it unable to comprehend
that religion is primarily a way of cultivating an inner life rather than
fighting battles of identity. The transition of religion from a matter of the
inner life to an ideological construct played to strengthen identity and power
in the last four centuries is now a well documented phenomenon in the academic study of religion.
Second,
I am yet to meet anyone – Hindu, Muslim, atheist or of any other persuasion –
who does the surya namaskar thinking that the sun is the religious absolute, or
god in the sense of the Abrahamic religions. Anyone with even the smallest
capacity for reflection knows that the deities of what we today call Hinduism
are not the same category of beings as god in the Abrahamic religions. Most of
us who perform the surya namaskar do it just as any other asana.
The few who may have any philosophical thoughts while performing this asana
think of the sun as an astounding element of nature, terrible in its beauty, a
spectacle of fire worthy of our awe and reverence. This attitude is profoundly
Islamic. One of the most palpable features of the Quran is its immense
reverence for nature and its stirring, poetic descriptions of the vast skies
that envelop the solitary traveler in the desert, the alteration of night and
day, of the cooling rains and the blazing heat, and of the sun and the moon –
all as signs meant to make us reflect on the nature of our existence.
Unfortunately, for the objectors to yoga, the core of their religion seems to
lie not in its openness of being and inclination towards reflection, but in the
norms of blasphemy and punishment that may be derived from it to make us feel
better about our own self-esteem.
Third,
those who make yoga compulsory for school children, such as those running the
government of Rajasthan, only trivialize their own tradition. Nobody who holds
something precious and close to her heart would force it upon another. This
trivialization comes primarily from a moral bankruptcy, but also from an
intellectual ignorance of one’s own tradition. For Patanjali, the ancient
codifier of yoga from c. 200 CE, ahimsa is the first and
absolutely fundamental precondition for anyone wanting to practise yoga. In the
Yoga Sutras (2:35), Patanjali says, “In the presence of one rooted in ahimsa,
all others abandon their hostility.” Forcing people to practise yoga, or
telling those who do not want to practise it to drown in the ocean – a new alternative
to migration to Pakistan – is anything but ahimsa and quite unbecoming of one
who prefaces his name with the title ‘yogi’.
Fourth,
yoga as a matter of physical exercise would e unrecognizable to the ancient writers on Yoga. Nobody in the Upanishads or in the Yoga Sutras and their ancient and medieval
commentaries thought of yoga as physical exercise. Yoga – as far as it has a
bodily aspect, which incidentally, is not its most important aspect – is, and
always was, a method of knowing oneself through a subtle, experiential,
intimate awareness of one’s musculature, breath and emotions, and the links
between them. Other religions have developed tai chi and qigong for
similar purposes. By its very nature, yoga cannot be taught to one uninterested
in it, and certainly not to hundreds of people over a loudspeaker or
television. Patanjali’s text is so terse that, for the most part, it remains
incomprehensible without the aid of an oral explanation by a teacher rooted in
a living tradition. The reason for this is not primarily the lack of writing
technology in Patanjali’s time, but the fact that yoga is a personal experience
meant to be handed from one human being to another. To make it a compulsory
form of physical exercise for masses of people is to rob it of all it has meant
over the ages. The notion that our ancients used yoga for physical fitness and
taught it en masse has as much
historical evidence to support it as the notion that they flew around in pushpak
vimanas. The use of yoga for physical fitness is largely inspired by modern
Western ideas in the last two centuries, like much in Hindutva – from its dress
codes to its ideas of nationhood. Of course, the true roots of these traditions
are lost – like much else in Hinduism – to those for who it becomes an
instrument of chest-thumping nationalism.
Fifth,
coming back to the Muslims protesting against their children being made to
perform yoga, what impact is this going to have on those children for whose
sake this battle is purportedly being fought? Is it going to deepen their
faith, to enhance their capacity for compassion, creativity, understanding and
reflection? It is difficult to see how it would ever have such a result. It is
easy, however, to see that these protests will give the children a particular
image to grow up with and for the adolescents to base their identities around –
the image of the other who is not just different from us, but also ignorant and
dangerous. It will tell the children that we are swamped, in small numbers, in
the midst of hordes of this dangerous other, we must continuously be afraid and
alert, and build walls to keep the other and his traditions out of our lives. A
good Muslim is one who stays away from all things Hindu.
Sixth,
the Quran (25:1) calls itself al-Furqan, that is, “the Criterion”. Like
a sword of gnosis, it cuts through the mass of people who receive it and makes
clear the distinction between those with a good heart and those without it.
Hence, what one takes from it is more a reflection of one’s own consciousness
than of the scripture itself. Like many scriptures, one can interpret the Quran
to live a life permeated with compassion, and one can also interpret it to
become a mass murderer. Clearly, there are examples of both. The Bhagavad
Gita has been interpreted in the same way. Godse cited the Gita as
his inspiration to murder the man who lived by the Gita all
his years a life of nonviolence. The interpretations of their scripture and
their religion by those who object to yoga are only one kind of interpretation
and they tell us much about the inner lives of those who make it. The
interpreters remain unaware of the riches their own tradition holds in showing
a path of openness and engagement with the other. The Quran (49: 13) says, “O
mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and
tribes so that you may know one another.” The entire purpose of diversity, from
this perspective, is its appreciation. In ahadith qudsi, God speaks, “I
was a hidden treasure, and I wished to be known. Hence, I created the world.”
To know, in the Quranic understanding, also means to appreciate, understand,
and indeed, to become the other. The Sufi mystics were in agreement
with Plato that ultimately, to know means to be one with the known. For the
creators of walls, these words mean little, if anything at all. The words of
reward and punishment mean everything.
The
Quran also has much to say about those who call themselves Muslims for social
and political reasons, but their hearts are empty of faith. Islamic scholars have written with o passion and insight that
the central characteristic of Muslim fanaticism is that it entirely misses the
inward element of this spiritual tradition and that its hearts are empty. With
silly quarrels like the one over yoga, we are likely to become such Muslims, if
we haven’t already. We are becoming Muslim versions of Godse who from all
authentic purposes was Hindu only for social and political reasons, like his
mentor and inspirer for the murder, Vinayak Savarkar who many now seem to
regard as ‘Hindu hero’. That the two fanaticisms are mirror images of each
other in more ways than one is no surprise to anyone who has studied them.
Finally,
the controversy about yoga makes us ask if it is possible that we may
understand our indigenous traditions without falling into the two usual traps.
One of demeaning them by making them instruments of power and identity politics,
and the other, of ridiculing them as idiocies, which is often the inclination
of the culturally deracinated intellectual. Both sides feed on each other,
providing each other the fuel of antagonism to live on in a never-ending
battle. Several among us today attribute the rise of Hindutva partly to the
shunning of our traditions as backward superstition by the intellectual elite.
Perhaps
there is a way to be rooted in our cultures without being a fanatic, either of
the religious or the modernist kind. This article offers some possible paths.
Kaif Mahmood teaches at the Centre for
Study of Comparative Religion and Civilizations, Jamia Millia Islamia, New
Delhi. His areas of study are the psychology of religion and the comparative
study of religion.
APPENDIX IV
Hear is a Facebook message from a Muslim Yoga Teacher on International Yoga Day.
BSK Iyengar on Yoga
Aasanas are my Prayers.
Before we can find peace among nations find peace inside that small nation which is our own being.
In each pose there should be repose.
When you begin Yoga, the unrecognized pains come to the surface.
When we are able to use our intelligence to purify our bodies, the hidden pains are dispersed.
With your true dedication to Yoga I am always with you.
Live happily and die majestically.
My ending should be your beginning.
REFERENCES:
"I've been waiting for this day for a long time!
The moment I had Muslim + Yoga + Hindu + Surya Namaskar pop up on my newsfeed in one headline.I couldn't resist but write this.
But before I begin, let me introduce myself: Muslim, girl, religious, spiritual, yoga teacher and practitioner.
Now let's cut to the chase. This whole 'yoga is un-Islamic' banter is absolute rubbish. Let's work backwards. I want to track back to the essence of all Islamic practices, i.e. intention.
In Islam, intention defines whether your deeds are in fact good deeds or things you did to show-off/ hurt someone / disrespect the religion / disrespect the tenants of the religion etc.
Yoga is the practice of syncing the mind and breath with the help of asana and meditation practices. And the Surya Namaskar in question, is a set of asanas combined to achieve the above.
Yes honey, it's called Surya Namaskar. And no, it is not the equivalent of worshiping the sun.
Ancient and traditional yoga applied this as a practice to connect deeper into a yogi's spiritual connection to God since their life was consumed spending hours in meditation and surrendering their mind and soul in search of inner peace and to find God.
That being said, nobody in today's day and age stands facing the sun to worship it and perform a set of physically challenging poses solely for that intention and purpose. If you want to worship the sun, you get up, hold your hands in prayer, and pray to it. When you do a physical practice facing the sun, I doubt that makes it an act of worship.
As a Muslim, attending a yoga teacher training was at first a major culture change. (Notice I call it a change and not a shock.) There is chanting of OM, reciting of slokas, discussing god, and such. But when I was able to step back from the source and focus on the meaning, I found that it's all the same. One of my favorite things to do at my teacher training was listen to my teacher sing the Gayatri Mantra. And just to add some perspective of where I come from, I grew up in Saudi Arabia wearing an abaya and head scarf and had zero to no understanding of Hinduism. Knowing anything about Hinduism was considered anti-Islamic.
But then...I stumbled upon this beautiful prayer:
Oh God, the Protector, the basis of all life, Who is self-existent, Who is free from all pains and Whose contact frees the soul from all troubles, Who pervades the Universe and sustains all, the Creator and Energizer of the whole Universe, the Giver of happiness, Who is worthy of acceptance, the most excellent, Who is Pure and the Purifier of all, let us embrace that very God, so that He may direct our mental faculties in the right direction.
Isn't this what everyone (who believes in God) wants? As a Muslim I ask this of Allah in my Namaz everyday. To guide me on the path that is right. I praise Him and confess I am nothing but his creation and need His guidance.
Tell me then, how is this prayer different from anything we would want in our life?
As a Muslim, I gained huge insight into my religious and spiritual beliefs through yoga. Yoga opened up a sea of deeper reflection I never thought I had access to.
As a Muslim, I gained huge insight into my religious and spiritual beliefs through yoga. Yoga opened up a sea of deeper reflection I never thought I had access to.
Yoga allowed me to focus during my Namaz. With every breath I take as I bow down to God, I am focusing on my words as they flow out of my lips, completely aware that I am bowing before Him and am completely present. With no wandering thoughts.
No wandering thoughts? How is that possible.
Pranayama every morning taught me to stay grateful to my breath. Every inhale and exhale is a moment to be conscious of. Every waking moment requires you to stay present. That's training the mind. And I learnt it through yoga.
I am now more aware during my Namaz. More present in my Dua. More grateful to the Creator for giving me a healthy body and mind. I'm also a better human being to people of other belief systems. All because I practice yoga.
So to sum this up: I am a practicing Muslim who teaches the Surya Namaskar as a means of physical and mental well-being and advocate the practice for deeper self-reflection and focus in religious meditative practices as well!
May all who are ignorant and malicious find knowledge and perspective.
Ameen.
Namaste".
--Muslim, girl, religious, spiritual, yoga teacher and practitioner.
BSK Iyengar on Yoga
Aasanas are my Prayers.
Before we can find peace among nations find peace inside that small nation which is our own being.
In each pose there should be repose.
When you begin Yoga, the unrecognized pains come to the surface.
When we are able to use our intelligence to purify our bodies, the hidden pains are dispersed.
With your true dedication to Yoga I am always with you.
Live happily and die majestically.
My ending should be your beginning.
APPPENDIX V
Health and Exercise According to Ayurveda and Yoga Shastra
(BY Dr. Dharmaveer langayana)
The human body is the chariot and the sensory organs are horses. The mind makes the horses ride the chariot, in other words the sensory organs are the driving force for the mind. They make the mind wander in all direction, in heaven and hell. If the wheels of the chariot become weak or lose, if the reigns do not have the strength to drive it then the journey of life becomes difficult.
The great poet Kalidasa has said, sariramadyam khalu dharma sadhanam, this means the first source for duty is a healthy body. If the body is not healthy then the mind is not healthy. If the mind is not healthy then thoughts are also not healthy. If the thoughts are not healthy then how can one fulfill the duties? Therefore it is necessary to keep the body healthy, this is the first duty.
Sushrut Samhita mentions the following qualities for healthy body – the body where the tridoshas i.e., vata, pitta and kapha are in equilibrium, the digestion process is functioning properly, the process of evacuation, bowel movement and humors is carried properly, the sensory organs, soul and mind are healthy.
samadoshah samagnishca samadhatumalakriyah
prasannatmendrivyamanah svastha ityabhidhiyate
prasannatmendrivyamanah svastha ityabhidhiyate
Actually health is most important for all the activities. An unhealthy person cannot enjoy the worldly happiness. A sick person cannot enjoy the taste of delicious food items, wear good clothes, cannot take part in celebrations and other festivals. All these things have no value for a sick person. Therefore it has been aptly said that the first happiness is a healthy body.
Proper exercise is necessary to keep the body healthy and strong. Those who do not do exercise they become lazy and inactive. Exercise makes the hands legs and the whole body strong, it makes the body active and fit. -The digestion process is maintained, the appetite improves, the mind remains happy and the person feels like working. The blood formulation is proper and the person gets a good figure. Regular exercise reduces the weight of the person due to vata dosha. The person who enjoys exercise does not fall sick. His body is strong like a diamond. His heart is always filled with enthusiasm, self-confidence and he is brave hearted.
Saint Charaka says that regular exercise makes the body healthy, gives glow to the cheeks, develops the muscles, increases the digestive fire, gets rid of laziness, gives stability, evacuates feces and other waste and makes the body light.
Therefore exercise is the main basis, which provides rasa to the tree like body and maintains good health. The deeper the roots of the tree, the stronger and long-lived it is. In the same way the person who practices exercises regularly, his life is full of zeal and happiness. Exercise not only makes the body health but it also strengthens the mind and brain. The strong mind and brain glows the personality of the person and becomes capable of being called a good human being. This is not important that a person is at a good position and is related to a special religion or community, what is important is that he is a good human being and he has the feeling of helping others.
There are different ways of doing exercises. Dips, wrestling, running, horse riding, swimming, short put, football, kabbadi etc. games and sports are prevalent in India since the ancient times. Yoga asana and pranayam also makes the body healthy. Brisk walking is also beneficial for the overall health. Exercise should be practiced depending on the condition of the person. All the exercises are not helpful for everybody. Running and jumping exercises are beneficial for the children, the youth can benefit from sports, the old and people related to the mental work should go morning and evening walk. Cricket, hockey, football, volleyball, polo and tennis are some of the popular sports. There are good sources of exercise. Dancing, grinding, drawing water from the well and simple yoga asana are beneficial for the women.
Some people work very hard throughout the day for sake of living. Such people enjoy good health, but the people working in sedentary jobs have poor health. Every person should practice exercises depending on his physical requirement and strength. Over exercising can be very harmful. Charak Sanhita mentions the harmful effects and says – over exercise can result in tiredness, weariness, deterioration, bleeding piles, palpitation, cough, fever and vomiting.
shrama klama kshayastushna raktapitta pratamakah
ati vyayamatah kaso jvarachardishva jayate
ati vyayamatah kaso jvarachardishva jayate
Some rules should be followed for doing exercises. Exercises should never be done after taking meals. It should be practiced in open air, gardens etc. The mouth should be closed while doing exercises and deep breaths should be taken through nostrils. Massage the body with oil and then take bath for activeness. Eating simple, pious food and having pure thoughts is the basis for healthy life.
The habit of doing exercises should be developed from childhood itself. Those who practice exercises from young age, have sharp brain, healthy and fit body. Sports and exercises should be compulsory for the students in the schools. The schools where this type of provision is not available there it should be implemented. Every person has a desire that he should live up to 100 years with name and fame but this is possible only when his body is healthy. The body can remain healthy only when the person practices exercises regularly. Hence proper exercise is a must for a healthy body and they are supplementary to each other.
REFERENCES:
1)
Prabha Duneja, The Legacy of Yoga of Bhagawad Geeta, Govindaram Hasanand,
Delhi, India.
2) Swami Harshananda, The Ten Cardinal
Upanishads, Ramakrishna Math, Chennmai,
India.
3)
Ramanda Prasad, The Bhagavd-Geetaa, American Gita Society, Fremont, CA, USA.
4)
Swami
Vimalananda, Mahanarayana Upanishad, Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, India.
5)
Ananta Rangacharya, Mahanarayana
Upanishad, Bengaluru, India.
6)
Wikepedia and Various Internet Sources
7) Srinivasan, N.R., Discourse on Ashtangayoga
of Patanjali,
<nrsrini.blogspot.com>
8) Path of Yoga, IndiaDivine.org, Internet.
9)
Ramachandra Rao S.K., Geetaa Kosha,
Kalpatharu Research Academy, Sharada Peetham,
Shankar Math, Bengaluru, India. 
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