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As we approach the world Yoga day on 21st June
2015, here is an excerpt from my Co-Authored book on Yoga, which I am sure will
dispel quite a few misconceptions about the practice!
Yoga is one of the most ancient cultural heritages of
India. The word yoga in Sanskrit means "to unite” and so yoga can
be said to mean a unitive discipline. In this sense it is an exercise in moral
and mental cultivation that generates good health (arogya), contributes
to longevity (chirayu), and the total intrinsic discipline culminates
into positive and perennial happiness and peace. In its spiritual sense, it is
the process by which the uniqueness of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul
is realized by the Yogi. It is the union
of all aspects of an individual: body, mind and soul.
Yoga is an all-encompassing way of life, a science of
self-culture and mental discipline that ensures the purgation of the ignoble in
man and brings forth what is most noble in him. It is relevant to all people
irrespective of their caste, creed, sex, and religion. Yoga is for all. Yoga is
universal. It is not a sectarian affair. The practice of Yoga is not
conflicting to any religion. It is purely spiritual and universal. It does not
contradict anyone's sincere faith. It can be beneficial to all - the good and
the bad, the sick and the healthy, the believer and the non-believer, the
literate and the ignorant, the young and the old.
There are too many misconceptions confusing the science of
Yoga. People perceive it to be some kind of black or white magic, sorcery,
physical or mental wickedness through which miraculous feats can be performed.
For some it is an extremely dangerous practice, which should be limited to only
those who have renounced the world.
The real
meaning of Yoga: Yogash chita vritti nirodha
Yoga is the
termination of mental fragmentation.
Yoga: Oneness, yoga. Chitta: mind. Vritti: wave,
the action of rolling, modification, way of being. Nirodha: cessation.
All about Yoga is said in the four words Yogah,Chitta,
Vritti, nirodha. The four words of the second sutra define the “discipline” in
a practical way. But then one should know their meaning and mostly what they signal
to us. Chitta is the mind field, which is the ocean of perception and
reflection. Even deep sleep is included in that world of perception, or
cognitive activity.
The meaning of vritti exceeds what we normally mean
by thought. The idea of something rolling, of a wave in motion, is the first
meaning. It is a more basic procedure than the solitary conscious thinking. We
can say mental activity of form of consciousness, and that’s how we will
translate it most of the time.
The word nirodha carries in itself the complete core
of spiritual understanding, the full grace dawning on the open soul. It is the
cessation, the silence. But what is silence? Silence imposed by thought —“what
we often designate by the word “control”— is not silence”, It is an effort, a
struggle, and uneasiness: in other words, it is still a troublesome thought:
there is still someone looking after a goal. On the contrary, the discipline of
yoga is the cessation of something that has hardly ceased until now and which
we evoke by the expression chitta vritti.
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