YOGA PHILOSOPHY
If man is the grandest miracle on earth, he is himself his greatest enigma. From time unfathomable, seekers have devoted an entire existence to solve the mystery. They delved deeper and deeper within themselves to unravel the mystery of life.
Man wants to know. He wants to know about himself. What is this existence? Why all this misery and suffering? Man wants to know the truth and free himself. What is the purpose of this life? What is the Self? The worst misery is death. Is there anything beyond death? No one escapes death. King or pauper, saint or sinner, all will die. Is there any meaning to life?
The same basic questions still haunt the human mind. What is the way to happiness? What is the root of human anxiety and suffering? The questions keep cropping up in his mind. Speculation has brought man nothing. Beliefs have not taken him any further. The phenomenal world is always changing. The mind plays havoc. It is also changing constantly. Man wants peace. He still wants to know the truth. He has no control over his life. He is a slave of nature. What is life? Birth, youth, old age, degeneration and death? Everything is imposed on him. While life remains an uncertainty, death is certain. Man is a helpless puppet in the hands of nature. Is there a way out?
The philosophy of yoga proposes the way out. Ancient Hindu seers left humanity the lofty spiritual legacy that is yoga philosophy. These enlightened souls revealed the way out of misery and suffering. They were the first seers and torch bearers in this monumental task.
Yoga philosophy centers on man’s suffering, misery and his salvation, physical, mental and spiritual. Man’s potential is infinite. The torture of human life is a result of ignorance. Yoga philosophy offers a way to eliminate suffering from human life. By achieving a higher identity he may overcome his miseries.
According to the yoga philosophy, mind, body and spirit are all one and cannot be separated. Yoga is an applied science of the spirit, mind and body. Its practice helps bring about a natural balance of body, mind and spirit, so vital for perfect health and happiness. Yoga creates an internal environment that allows man to achieve an optimum state of dynamic balance.
Yoga is a philosophy that offers insight and guidance into every aspect of human life, the spiritual, mental and physical. It shows that a well balanced, healthy person is someone who is physically, mentally and spiritually harmoniously integrated.
Yoga is the practical part of religion. Man cannot reach truth by reason alone. He has to experience it. He can only experience the truth through the soul, his higher, real Self. The Self can only be known through the medium of the mind. Ignorance is in the mind only. The Self is all knowledge and free.
Everything in time, space and causation is bound. The Soul is beyond all time, all space, all causation. Only when confused with mind and body, it is bound. Freedom from the senses, desires and enjoyment alone will bring man salvation. Yoga teaches that happiness is not in the senses but above the senses and within everyone. Life is only to give man experience, to allow the higher Self in him to manifest itself. Yoga philosophy aims at reuniting our own self with the divinity within.
Yoga is the science that teaches man control of the mind. We have forgotten that we are soul. That we have a mind. We have become bodies. Our aim should be to manifest the soul within. We can only do so through the power of meditation. It is the method that helps man realise the divine in him. Yoga is the path that makes man realise his divinity.
Yoga is more concerned with the meditative side of religion. Deep yogic breathing, concentration, purity of the mind and body are the essential requisites. The ethical side of life should not to be neglected. The mind has to be gradually and systematically brought under control. One has to practice assiduously. It is a life time endeavour, nothing less.
Yoga is the method and the goal. There are various methods to achieve the goal. Our ideals differ. A certain path will suit some better than another. Yoga consists of several paths to suit different tendencies. Among the most popular are Karma yoga, the path of selfless work and duty; Bhakti yoga, through devotion and worship and complete surrender to the Lord; Raja yoga, the realization of divinity through the control of mind; Jnana yoga, through right knowledge and direct experience.
The philosophy of yoga expounds the karmic law. There is no sinful action as such. Man is not a sinner. He suffers because of his ignorance and wrong action. He reaps the consequences of his wrong actions. If he performs good actions he will enjoy the rewards thereof. Man’s own actions will free him or enslave him. There is no unjust or just God to punish or to reward anyone.
Karma is not fate. Man has discrimination and freedom of choice and action. He is ruled by reason. He has consciousness. He has vague notion of his subconscious. It is the storehouse of all his past lives’ impressions, good or bad. These impressions will surface according to his current actions. Good actions will bring forth good experiences of the past and help him consolidate his goodness. Bad actions will invariably arouse the past bad impressions. These will tend to further degenerate the person. One can mitigate the consequences of wrong actions by doing good.
Religion without philosophy runs into chaos, breeding superstition and fanaticism. Dry philosophy, devoid of religion is nothing better than atheism. Philosophy is theoretical religion. This has to be realised. Yoga is the answer. Yoga and meditation is practical religion. One is the means, the other, the culmination. They are one and the same.
Yoga is probably the only science of religion that can be demonstrated. Yoga teaches us to do virtuous deeds which alone bring knowledge. Knowledge alone can reveal God to us. Neither reasoning nor books can show us God. God can only be realised by superconscious perception. Yoga teaches us how to attain that superconscious state.
Yoga philosophy is ageless. It is the direct experience of countless seers of the past. These have been compiled and form the profound authority of yoga. It is the very core of the spiritual realization of the seers and sages of India. What has been realised by those seers can be experienced by anyone provided one follows the rules.
Yoga is an exact science. It is the science to attaining the aim and end of religion. One does not have to believe in anything. One can experiment for oneself. If it has yielded results once, it will do so over and over again. Yoga is both theoretical and practical. The postures and meditation are the practical side while knowledge of human ills and their remedy is the theoretical.
Yoga is the science of humanity’s wellbeing. It deals with the totality of human problems. It is the science that brings forth the humanity and perfection in man.