Sanjay Puri
As there is a science and technology for external well being there is an entire science and technology for the inner bliss and ecstasy. Around 200-400AD, a sage called Patanjali composed the Yoga Sutras. His “eight limbs” of yoga still inform practice today and discuss posture, breathing, meditation and correct living.
Yoga does not remove us from the reality or responsibilities of everyday life but rather places our feet firmly and resolutely in the practical ground of experience. It is for people of any faith, or even no faith. You can be a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or atheist and do yoga.
In our country, one of the important features of religion is religious toleration. Religion has been defined differently by our sociologists. According to Comte, “religion involves consensus and agreement between groups.” According to Marx, “Religion is the opium of the masses”. It has also resulted in wars, devastation, communalism and genocides.
Yoga is democratic and experiential. You don’t have to believe anything except what you observe with your own experience. Yoga makes you look inward. The only way to experience true well-being is to turn inward. This is what yoga means-not up, not out, but in. The only way out is in. Also it may help you to remember that all religions are based on love, devotion and doing the right thing and if you bear that in mind, most conflicts with religion and yoga should fall away.
If religion means man establishing a direct connection with the universal consciousness, then indeed, I think yoga is a religious practice. The word yoga itself is derived from the Sanskrit Yuj, i.e. to yoke or bind the individual soul with the divine soul, so we can’t shy away from its spiritual heritage. But if religion means rituals and dogma, then no, yoga isn’t a religious practice. It is a solution to address the question of human well being scientifically; to present the inner mechanics of human nature not as a philosophy or belief system, but as a technology.
It is a practice which is adopted by many people to attain inner peace and maintain bodily harmony. Yoga involves meditation and it has been a part of the society since ages. Yoga is the only system which has lived for over 15,000 years without any papacy or enforcement. It is a technology by the highest of beings who walked this planet. That we cannot understand them is shameful enough. At least let us not make a mockery of their work by evaluating it using nonsensical paradigms like Religious beliefs! 177 countries have accepted yoga and found good for health and Indians are making noise and finding religion in this.
What Yogis realised thousands of years ago-and what scientists are just now catching on to-is that changing dysfunctional habits is largely a matter of the mind. This is a subject that yoga has studied systematically and which until recently medical researchers pretty much ignored. What yoga can do, which can make the critical difference in your health and well-being, is give you greater control of your mind.
Another thing is, generally in the world, people – young or old – are stressed like never before. Man has become excessively preoccupied with materialistic pursuits. The excessive urge for material possessions has made him oblivious to spiritual and moral deeds. Today man is disillusioned because he is unable to find peace and happiness through the gratification of senses. He feels lost. Unless there is revival of spiritual and moral values, this sense of monotony and unhappiness will lead him to chaos. People are anxious and neurotic and whatever methods they employ to handle internal turmoil – by going to a disco or going for a drive or climbing a mountain – it has worked to some extent, but it has not given them a solution. The only so, looking towards yoga is a very natural thing. Yoga does not give you a religion but a methodology to follow. It helps you understand your mind, body, actions and emotions. Yoga is used for medicinal purposes. It helps cure ailments like asthma. In a recent study by the researchers it was found that yoga reduces BMI (Body Mass Index), cholesterol and the risk of heart attack. Yoga costs less than the huge amount you spend on machines in a gym. It is particularly helpful for people for whom exercising at the gym is difficult.
We are seven billion people, and it is expected that by 2050, we will be 10 billion people. Whatever be the number of people, if we seek well-being from within, we are not in conflict with anything. If we look up, we are in conflict. If we look out, we are in conflict. But if we look inward for our wellbeing, there is never any conflict – not in the world, not within us.
