Yoga Charcha-Introduction to Yoga Philosophy, by Neeraj Korde
On hearing the word ‘Yoga’, the first image that comes to our mind is that of a person doing some kind of a complex pose displaying unnatural flexibility. Almost everyone invariably associates Yoga with conditioning the body for some kind of flexibility. Indeed, the desire to keep our bodies in shape and beauty has attracted most people to Yoga. So what exactly is Yoga? Is it limited to achieving flexibility in the body? As we shall see, this is just one of the many aspects of Yoga. Yoga is a way of life. Yoga is an entire philosophy in itself. This article (which will continue into a series), attempts to explore how Yoga can affect us in ways other than improving our physical fitness.
Of course if you want the physical benefits of Yoga, we suggest you go to the nearest Yoga center!! I strongly agree that Yoga is one of those things that should be done rather than talked about. Having said that, we will attempt to read parts of Yoga literature and explore the philosophy behind it. I assume the reader is the average person in today’s modern age or Kalyug. He is trying to find answers to simple questions like ‘Who am I? What is the purpose of my existence? What is inner peace and salvation? Can I get it on Amazon?’ I started in this way and I humbly attempt to share my thoughts with you. I will quote pieces of literature and raise some questions and try to answer them in a ‘Kalyug’ style. In some cases I won’t be able to answer them (even in the Kalyug style). Maybe you can help me find them! In short, the tone for this article won’t be like that of a serious discussion but more like a light discussion in a warm and cozy café. Hence the title ‘Yoga Charcha’!
The Final Aim: Yoga is one of the most ancient practices of India and is inextricably tied to Hinduism. It has been cited in the Bhagvad Gita and has today become popular all over the world. To start off, there actually are other types of yoga which don’t involve any poses at all. People in various walks of life have used Yoga to help them achieve their goals. BKS Iyengar, one of the world famous authorities on Hatha-Yoga, writes in his seminal work ‘Light on Yoga’:
“The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word yuj which means to bind, join, attach and yoke, to direct and concentrate one’s attention on, to use and apply. It means the union or communion of one’s will with God’s will. Yoga is one of the six orthodox systems in Hindu philosophy. It was collated, coordinated and systematized by the great sage Patanjali in his classic work ‘Yoga Sutra‘, which consists of 185 terse aphorisms. In the Bhagvad Gita, Krishna explains to Arjuna the meaning of Yoga as a deliverance from contact with pain and sorrow. It is said:When his mind, intellect and self are under control, freed from the restless desire, they rest in the spirit within, a man becomes a yukta – one in communion with God. When the restlessness of the mind, intellect and self is stilled through the practice of Yoga, the Yogi by the grace of the Spirit within himself finds fulfillment. There is nothing other than this. He who has achieved it, shall not be moved by the greatest sorrow. This is the real meaning of Yoga – a deliverance from contact with pain and sorrow.”
This explanation tries to portray that the final aim of Yoga is a state of mind which is not ruled by any kind of emotion. It definitely is not a bad state since any kind of sorrow won’t affect a Yogi who has reached this state. But it seems that this state is not a ‘fun’ state of mind either. The ideal state as per Yoga is not one where we are laughing away all the time or ‘having fun’ or ‘chilling out’. Yoga literature has many references to God and the Soul. Some of us do not believe existence of God and Soul and many of us would like to believe so but act as if we don’t. After all we can’t prove it the way we like to prove normal things. But it is going to be hard to quote Yoga literature without references to God. I say for now think of God as a good thing like good friend, a genie or even a good laptop. Personally when I think of God as a selfless big brother who wants you to learn by making mistakes, the whole thing works. But that’s just me. Further BKS writes:
“Patanjali describes Yoga as ‘chitta vrtti nirodah‘ which translates as suppression (nirodah) of the fluctuations (vrtti) of the consciousness (chitta). Yoga is the method by which the restless mind is calmed and the energy diverted into constructive channels. As a mighty river which when properly harnessed by dams and canals, creates a vast reservoir of water, prevents famine and provides abundant power, so also the mind, when harnessed, creates a reservoir of peace and generates abundant energy for self development.”
It seems that Yoga tries to suppress not just effects of negative emotions like that of sorrow and pain but also those of pleasure. The above description of Yoga is neutral to emotion. It does not lay any emphasis on suppressing pain and amplifying pleasure. First of all, would we like to be live in such a state? After all we are always trying to gain pleasure, attend parties, buy beautiful shoes, outfits, impress beautiful people etc. Is it really worth suppressing the effect of all emotions including the pleasurable ones? It is said that most often the cause of pain is getting used to pleasures. If a king loses his kingdom and gets to live like an average person there will be some pain even though an average person’s life is not all that bad. On the other hand a beggar will feel blessed if he gets to live like an average person even though his standard of living is just average. It seems that pain and pleasure cause each other, and since one cannot really control the events of the world we are caught in, an endless cycle of pain and pleasure ensues wherein both feed each other. So maybe this logic of aiming for an emotion neutral state does make sense. Hmm… but becoming emotion immune looks like tough business.
Alternative Yoga: Those in touch with yoga developments in India will be aware that Swami Ramdeo has taken teaching Yoga to new heights by teaching on national TV channels and running Yoga camps attended by lakhs of people. Interestingly in ‘Yoga Sadhana va Yoga Chikitsa Rahasya‘ he talks about other types of Yoga which involve no asanas or pranayamas !
“(1) Mantra Yoga: Meditation on certain mantras for 12 years. (2) Laya Yoga: Meditation on God’s name while doing daily routine activities. (3) Hatha Yoga: Purifying the mind, body and soul by practicing various poses, asanas, pranayam. (4) Raj Yoga: Purifying the consciousness (chitta) by practicing yama, niyama etc and thereby meeting the enlightened soul. Further, the Gita also describes Sankhya Yoga and Karma Yoga. We can conclude that in spirituality all the methods followed are referred to as Yoga.”
From what I see Mantra Yoga doesn’t seem to be popular with today’s generation of youth unlike Hatha Yoga (the Yoga with the cool poses). I remember my grand parents and people of their generation took some time aside daily to do their jap or chant their mantras. On asking my grandma why she did it, she replied it gave her peace of mind. Of course then I couldn’t understand and I simply offered her to watch TV with me. Also people who do Mantra Yoga tell me it instills a discipline and determination in the sadhaka in subtle ways. BKS also mentions about other paths to salvation.
There are different paths or margas to salvation, the common thread being that each should be followed with the right knowledge and attitude. The active man realizes this through the Karma Marga, in which he realizes his own divinity through work and duty. The emotional man realizes it through the Bhakti Marga, where there is realization through devotion to and love for a personal God. The intellectual man pursues the Jnana Marga, where realization comes through knowledge. The meditative or reflective man follows Yoga Marga, and realizes his own divinity through control of mind.
This raises some interesting questions. For instance, if I follow the Karma Marga, is it then true that just by doing my job I am getting closer to salvation? I guess the answer to this is – depends on the job. If your job is selfless service to the society then you probably are on your way to salvation. If it is just short selling stocks to make money I would not expect salvation any time soon. The essence of Karma Yoga hinges on the definition of Karma. I will explore it in a future article.
Bhakti Marga is interesting too. All great saints can be said to have taken this Marga and spread their love for God everywhere they went. Love for God may seem like a strange concept. Love for a man/woman is more understandable but why would one love God? I do not really know the answer but I can attest to beautiful poetry of Kabir and Tulsidas that makes me forget all my worries - albeit temporarily. Love for God somehow tends to inspire people to come with incredibly beautiful art creations. Be it painting, music, dance, sculpture or literature love for God has always created the most beautiful masterpieces which somehow temper down the brittleness of our daily grind. All of us have definitely experienced the power of Bhakti Marga at some point since we are all emotional to some extent. Not to say that the great saints were just good artists. There is divine wisdom in their works. The works of saints like Kabir, Ramdas, Dynaneshwar are full of wisdom but they owe their origin to love of God.
Now as per the Jnana Marga, is a scientist also on his way to salvation? Maybe Jnana here refers to spiritual knowledge as opposed to material knowledge. BKS comments on Raj Yoga as follows.
The word ‘Raja‘ means king. Mind is the king of all senses. He who has conquered his mind, senses, passion, thought and reason is a king among men and is fit for the royal union with the Universal Spirit. It is believed that Raj Yoga and Hatha Yoga are entirely different. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali deal with the spiritual discipline and the ‘Hatha Yoga Pradipika‘ by Swatmarama deals solely with the physical discipline. It is not so, for Hatha Yoga and Raj Yoga complement each other and form a single approach towards liberation. Just as a mountaineer needs ladders, ropes and crampons as well as physical fitness and discipline to climb the heights of the Himalayas, so also the Yogi needs the knowledge and discipline of Hatha Yoga of Swatmarama to reach the heights of Raja Yoga as dealt with by Patanjali.
Anyways the good news till now is that it is possible to achieve salvation without doing all those complicated poses! We will continue our charcha in the next edition of ‘Tattva’.
Neeraj Korde is a software engineer based in Seattle. You can reach him at nkorde@gmail.com
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