Yog: Not just postures, Not just breathwork, but Goal of Life
27Jun, 2023
Whenever anyone says they are attending or conducting Yog classes, a vast majority of them mean only yog-aasan or yogic postures, don’t they? But is that all what Yog is about?
Whenever faced with doubts, one can always look at our Itihas for clues. Within Itihas, are our two great epics, Rishi Valmiki’s Ramayan and Vyas Rishi’s Mahabharat. While most Indians are familiar with the stories, going deeper, one can recognize the fact that the core of both, happens to be Yog. How? Even preceding the Ramayan, is the monumental work of Valmiki named Vashishtha Maha Ramayan or Yog Vasishtha. These were the great principles of Yog, as expounded by Vasishtha to Sri Ram. Likewise, the crest jewel of the Mahabharat is the Bhagawad Geeta – which were the divine principles, as elucidated by Sri Krishna, to the great warrior, Arjun. Deeper study and introspection would lead one to realize that both the Ramayan and the Mahabharat have many similarities, the obvious one being that their protagonists, Sri Ram and Arjun were both warriors, par excellence, who won their respective “wars”. What else is similar? They were both guided to become triumphant by their respective Gurus.
And not just in the war on the battlefield, but the war within – of the higher inclinations of human or virtues – over lower tendencies, or vices! Our Rishis were such master storytellers that the epics have layers of meaning, requiring lifetimes of study to grasp the totality of these epics. But to keep things simple, these epics had also larger messages hidden within – of the highest science – of Raj Yog. So what is Yog? Since the scope of this article is not a scholarly coverage, lets define Yog as harmony, instead of the regular “unity”. Harmony of all the human equipment – Body, Mind, intellect and Ego. One could also think of it, as the harmony of matter with energy, or harmony of the visible being with the inner being and through this, the discovery of the infinite potential within.
No wonder then, that both Sri Ram and Arjun were (even by themselves) more than a match, for the entire army of their enemies. But Valmiki’s works, are further loaded with Yogic secrets. And the epitome of these, is everyone’s favourite character of Sri Hanuman. Hanuman’s life is entirely a chronicle of Yogic concepts. This needs an intense study but for this article, lets merely look at the lineage of Sri Hanuman. Sri Hanuman is Vayu-Putra right? What does Vayu truly represent? At a cosmic level, Vayu is not just one of the five elements, but a force which governs all animate and inanimate beings. Vayu can be considered as the energy operative from a subatomic level to the Big Bang. This Vayu works in the human body in five ways, of which one is the “life-force” called Prana. Hanuman represents the cosmic Vayu manifesting through our individual prana and his depictions show us how to master the flow of Prana, through Yog and lead ourselves to success in every endeavour.
So when you think of Yog, go beyond the body postures and consider how life itself can be transformed by Yog, the Sri Ram or Sri Hanuman, or Arjun way – Happy International Yog Day to each of you!
Whenever faced with doubts, one can always look at our Itihas for clues. Within Itihas, are our two great epics, Rishi Valmiki’s Ramayan and Vyas Rishi’s Mahabharat. While most Indians are familiar with the stories, going deeper, one can recognize the fact that the core of both, happens to be Yog. How? Even preceding the Ramayan, is the monumental work of Valmiki named Vashishtha Maha Ramayan or Yog Vasishtha. These were the great principles of Yog, as expounded by Vasishtha to Sri Ram. Likewise, the crest jewel of the Mahabharat is the Bhagawad Geeta – which were the divine principles, as elucidated by Sri Krishna, to the great warrior, Arjun. Deeper study and introspection would lead one to realize that both the Ramayan and the Mahabharat have many similarities, the obvious one being that their protagonists, Sri Ram and Arjun were both warriors, par excellence, who won their respective “wars”. What else is similar? They were both guided to become triumphant by their respective Gurus.
And not just in the war on the battlefield, but the war within – of the higher inclinations of human or virtues – over lower tendencies, or vices! Our Rishis were such master storytellers that the epics have layers of meaning, requiring lifetimes of study to grasp the totality of these epics. But to keep things simple, these epics had also larger messages hidden within – of the highest science – of Raj Yog. So what is Yog? Since the scope of this article is not a scholarly coverage, lets define Yog as harmony, instead of the regular “unity”. Harmony of all the human equipment – Body, Mind, intellect and Ego. One could also think of it, as the harmony of matter with energy, or harmony of the visible being with the inner being and through this, the discovery of the infinite potential within.
No wonder then, that both Sri Ram and Arjun were (even by themselves) more than a match, for the entire army of their enemies. But Valmiki’s works, are further loaded with Yogic secrets. And the epitome of these, is everyone’s favourite character of Sri Hanuman. Hanuman’s life is entirely a chronicle of Yogic concepts. This needs an intense study but for this article, lets merely look at the lineage of Sri Hanuman. Sri Hanuman is Vayu-Putra right? What does Vayu truly represent? At a cosmic level, Vayu is not just one of the five elements, but a force which governs all animate and inanimate beings. Vayu can be considered as the energy operative from a subatomic level to the Big Bang. This Vayu works in the human body in five ways, of which one is the “life-force” called Prana. Hanuman represents the cosmic Vayu manifesting through our individual prana and his depictions show us how to master the flow of Prana, through Yog and lead ourselves to success in every endeavour.
So when you think of Yog, go beyond the body postures and consider how life itself can be transformed by Yog, the Sri Ram or Sri Hanuman, or Arjun way – Happy International Yog Day to each of you!
