Friday, July 8, 2016

YOGA: A modern Day Perspective


Yoga has been one of the most popular exports of India to the world in the 21st century. This was recognized when the UN 20th June as the International Yoga Day. In the Gita it is mentioned that the knowledge of Yoga was passed on by the Sun to Manu in the beginning of the creation. Since then it has evolved in many ways in its practice and knowledge. Each tradition has had its own adepts who transcended the mundane boundaries and realized the eternal truth.
Existence of multiple methods often leads to lack clarity about the objective and the people end up focusing more on the method rather than the objective. Patanjali in is Yogasutras has defined Yoga as the cessation of the perturbations of the mind. This succinct definition may seem too surreal to the topsy turvy postures and vigorous breathing exercises that we may usually associate with Yoga. Hence, Yoga when practiced in the right spirit bears fruit to any person irrespective of the age, place and condition. This is because everyone, from every walk of life, is afflicted by some or the other perturbation of the mind, usually. These afflictions on the subtle level surface as diseases on the gross level.   
Sage Patanjali by his Ashtanga method of Yoga has presented a systematic disciplined way of tackling the mind to reach a state where the mind floats like a lotus in the pond of this world, unaffected by the water underneath. In today’s fast paced world driven by materialism Yoga can be the anchor that provides physical, mental and spiritual stability to the individual. This is possible when the each limb of the eight fold path is imbibed in its essence in every sphere of our life.
A holistic understanding of the various limbs is essential to make the Ashtanga method relevant in the modern day perspective. The first limb of the Ashtanga method starts with Yama. It deals with the conduct of an individual that shapes his approach to life. There are five yamas to be followed-satya(truth), ahimsa(non-violence),asteya(non-stealing), brhamacharya(celibacy) and aparigraha (non- accumulation). A generic approach to understanding these concepts makes them applicable from the workplace to home. Persistent contemplation of these principles in our day to day activities reveals their esoteric nature that is beyond the literal domain.
The first limb leads us to the next limb which is niyamas. These are certain physical activities and mental observations which one is supposed to observe in their daily lives. These cleanse the body and mind preparing oneself for further training ahead. The niyamas are shaunch (internal and external cleansing), tapas (mindful exertion of the senses), santosh (satisfaction), swadhayay (self study of the relevant texts), Ishwar pranidhan (belief in God). Yamas and Niyamas when observed diligently, prepare a strong foundation for proceeding further in the discipline of yoga. These foundational stages in Yoga are liable to be ignored by the people where the practice may revolve around the notion that yoga is only the ability to flip over your back or having a toned body.
Asana is the next stage after the yamas and niyamas. Asana or the postures have been inspired from the various life forms existing in the nature. The human body has been considered the most privileged to be born into out of the 84,00,000 life forms in the nature. Hence the ideal human should have a body fit and supple enough to resemble any of the living forms. While it is practically infeasible for an average person to master all the asanas or postures possible, practice of some chief ones is enough to achieve the desired objective. Practice of asanas removes the blocked energy channels of the body and improves the concentration of the mind. An asana practice that proceeds keeping in mind the individual body’s requirements and limitations minimizes the chances of injury giving multidimensional benefits to the body.
Once the energy and nervous channels of the body have been strengthened enough by the practice in the aforementioned 3 stages, one can move to the practice of pranayama. Pranayama is the increasing of awareness of the life energy or prana in the body. A fairly clean body with a strong nervous system is a prerequisite for success in the pranayama.
So far we delved on the outer limbs of Yoga. These lead to the inner limbs which start with pratyahara-the fifth limb. Pratyahara deals with directing the awareness of our senses from the outer world to the inside. The realm of inner awareness brings profound calm to the mind and serves as a fertile ground for the cultivation of thought. Practice of pratyahara aids in development of the concentration power.
Dharana- the sixth limb develops the thought of the aspirant in a particular direction towards the supreme reality-the object of yoga. In the Gita it has been said that there are infinite ways to achieve union of the individual being with the supreme spirit. Hence, dharana will be practiced by the aspirant based on his mental conditioning that involves his past actions and their accumulated effects on his subtle body and mind. It can be construed as a particular body of thoughts and beliefs that a yoga practitioner should build up aided by the preceding limbs.
The practice of dharana paves the way for the seventh limb- Dhyana or meditation. It’s a state where the mind ceases to fluctuate in the past and future and becomes effortlessly aware of the present. Meditation practice should be done in a generic manner to bring under its ambit all our basic and specialized activities.
Meditation is the key that unlocks the door to the state of Samadhi. The heightened self-consciousness achieved from the practice of meditation gets dissolved in the ocean of supreme consciousness in this final stage of yoga. One may not be necessarily sitting in the lotus position in this state. It’s a state where one gets into harmony with the universe in which ever manner or place he’s exists.
Each limb should be understood in its essence and accordingly applied in every aspect and stage of our life. Coordination of all the eight limbs leads to a yogic lifestyle for the person. It is pertinent to note that a yogic lifestyle doesn’t necessarily mean a hermitic lifestyle. Yoga transforms the level of awareness in our life from mere existence to liberation. The Yogi becomes a jivanmukta-one who’s attained a sense of inner freedom while living. He’s free from the clutches of desires and ego. His state can be summed up in the words of Ghalib :
Duniya mein hoon duniya ka talabgaar nahin hoon
bazaar se guzra hoon kharidaar nahin hoon

Zinda hoon magar zeest ki lazzat nahin baaqi
har chand ke hoon hosh mein hoshiyaar nahin hoon
       

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