Chapter 1 Yoga and You   What the word yoga means   Yoga in India compared with yoga in the West   The physical side of yoga   The teacher of yoga   Does it make us indifferent and irresponsible?   Useful books   Introduction Maybe you've taken classes for a couple of years or more, and mastered the Plow and the Twist and you're wondering what's next; or one of your friends has been trying to get you to go along with her in "taking it up" and you've always hesitated; or you've heard the word all your life, without knowing what was involved -- and anyway you may have figured you were too old for it; or, being a person of some dignity and religious conviction, you've considered it low-brow and not worthy of pursuit. If any of the above apply, this chapter is for you.   What the word yoga means First, about the word itself: the Sanskrit root yuj means to join. It could be used in any sense -- joining the thumb and forefinger in a gesture (mudra), joining the "serpent power" at the base of the spine to its target in the brain, joining the soul to the Universal Spirit. In fact, the word is so general in meaning, it has been easy for teachers to use it in their own patent formulas; the result? mantra-yoga, laya-yoga, hatha-yoga, kriya-, integral-, kundalini-, in a bewildering variety of brands on the market. Every year we see new ones.   Yoga in India compared with yoga in the West To get a proper grasp of the subject we must see what it means in India, the land of its origin. Spending years alone on a mountain-top, sun or snow -- not with parkas and mittens but dressed in animal skins; subsisting on raw roots and fruits and grains; forswearing the contact, in body or mind, with flesh and its attendant satisfactions; wandering homeless over hill and vale, barefoot, depending on handouts; sitting in one place in one posture for hours regulating your vital energies and turning them to one point, till ants build hills around you and serpents slide over you as upon stone -- this is the picture of what yoga has meant for centuries in India. It still does, but today perhaps we would pinpoint such a person as a raja yogi. The essence of this practice might be put in several ways: a physicist might say, the yogi is attempting to reverse the effect of entropy, re-collecting the scattered. It is swimming upstream to our own source. This yoga practice has taken, through the centuries of Indian history, many forms and applications. In addition to this raja yoga there is the hatha yoga -- employing the bodily practices for the sake of the body, its health, flexibility, longevity, etc. All the other forms Swami Vivekananda has nicely grouped under three headings. Jñana yoga is the sharpening of the sword called intellect. Bhakti yoga is the purifying of heart in the fiery crucible of love, and karma yoga is the transforming to selfless service of the usually self-serving ambition of will power. You can well understand that because these are difficult practices, yoga as taught in the West (and even in modern India) is a considerable compromise. There are two ways in which Western teachers have done their adaptation: one is, as we said, to combine some yogic postures with calisthenics and diet control leaving all advanced practices aside; the other is a compound of hatha yoga and raja yoga, where the student is instructed in the primary steps of breath-control and meditation and may be told something of the philosophy of yoga as well. Seldom is the pupil advised of any value in making much change in his or her life style. Adaptation has its place, and the West has made some positive contributions to the science, particularly by introducing principles of natural-food nutrition into the yoga picture; the Indian diet can stand improvement. But always, in adapting, we want to understand just what we are doing. Let us not be deluded by euphemistic labels. Undoubtedly we in the West have come late to this science and have far yet to go.   The physical side of yoga The physical side of yoga brings definite benefits. It tones up the muscles and circulatory system; it massages, with a gentle angular pressure, the glands and internal organs, helps to retard fatigue and the aging processes; deepens our breathing and can extend our endurance, will power and mental outlook. Sometimes the Swamis of our Order are asked why we do not teach at the "primary" level. A few do. But we specialize in the Vedanta philosophy. In spiritual life our problem is not so much with the body as it is with the mind. The whole purpose of the exercises, for the raja yogi, is to free one from body-consciousness, enabling one to sit undisturbed for meditation. If you become fascinated by postures there is the possibility of getting stuck at the body level. Extra sensory powers may develop, through unguided and over-ambitious attempts at breath control and trance, bringing distraction from the spiritual goal. It is very important to find a qualified teacher of yoga. For all these reasons we insist on the value of qualified guidance and do not separate yoga, the method, from Vedanta, the theory.   The teacher of yoga Teachers of yoga are, broadly speaking, of two varieties. There are those who conceive of you, the student, as basically a body-mind, and who for altruistic/commercial reasons are promoting a system which can raise the organism to superior health and efficiency. The other, smaller class, regarding you as basically spirit -- a soul -- understand yoga as a comprehensive program of physical, mental, moral and spiritual disciplines designed to dispel mistaken patterns of thinking and feeling about yourself and the world around you. Vedanta teachers of yoga come in the second category.   Does it make us indifferent and irresponsible? Vedanta offers more to the modern mind than the old Samkhya Yoga system does, by way of relating yoga to our corporate and public life. What part is yoga playing in the present and future evolution of the species? What happens if, after attaining a state of absorption, I should lose that concentration? With what am I attaining "union" -- my soul or a universal one? Where does God come into the picture? -- all these questions are better handled and answered with greater satisfaction by Vedanta, which tells us of the need for a holistic approach to the human situation of our day. The disciplines of heart, hand and mind, found in any spiritual system, which cultivate in the individual the experience of that faith, its mysticism, can be called yoga. Thus it is not unreasonable to speak of a Christian yoga, a Sufi yoga, or a Native American yoga, etc. A yogi is a yogi in any country, professing any faith, for Vedanta declares there is a universal science of mysticism making it possible for us to appreciate and feel one with all traditions. "Yoga is preventing the mind-stuff from being thrown into waves," says Patanjali. Another definition is given by the Bhagavad Gita: "Yoga is skill in action." (Chap. 2) or, "the state of separation from the contact with pain." (Chap 6). Each of these definitions has attempted to put yoga into an aphorism. But it is an idea so general and comprehensive that definitions cannot capture it. According to Vedanta, everything in life is yoga. What is not yoga? Breathing and its cessation, eating and fasting, procreation and abstinence, sleep and vigil -- all involve sacrifice, all require yoga. We have the application of it available everywhere in our daily living. Self-mastery is another synonym for it. It can also be summed up in the word transformation. Yoga is the transforming of our murky and muddied minds into mountain streams that are crystal-clear; the transforming of our helpless and hurried hearts into pulsars of peace and deep compassion; it is the transforming of our ambitious, ego-centered activities into selfless and astounding service; in short, the transformation of our lives from the animal to the fully human and the human to the divine.   Useful books Yoga for Beginners, by Swami Gnaneshwarananda Jñana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga Small books by Swami Vivekananda, sold separately and also in various combined forms. The Bhagavad Gita (there are many good translations) Meditation and Spiritual Life, by Swami Yatiswarananda Yoga and Western Psychology, by Madeline Coster Silence as Yoga, by Swami Paramananda   Aum | About | Calendar | Articles | Stories | On-line books Bulletin board | Books & tapes | Links | Search | Contact