Yoga in Modern Life

These days all over the world there is clearly a great curiosity about the science of yoga. Especially in western countries, many people seem to have been attracted toward yogic practices. Their interest, however, appears to be limited to yoga so far as it is concerned with physical exercises, and sometimes there is a curiosity about, and even an attraction to, yogic miracles. Finally, some of the aspirants are drawn toward higher practices of yoga. It is therefore necessary to clearly understand the method and the purpose of yoga practices.

The word `yoga’ is used connoting various shades of meanings. There is a reference in the Mahabharata [an epic] that shows that ‘yoga’ was used as part of a military command. The root meaning of the word `yoga’ is `joining’, from ‘yuja’, to join. When the word `yoga’ was used for giving an order, horses were joined to chariots, arrows to bows, eyes to the target, and so forth. Therefore, any act of joining is connoted by the word `yoga’. It is not, however, an ad hoc joining. The joining must result in some sort of identification or assimilation. The archer has to fix his eyes on the target at which the arrows are aimed and he has to start the operation with single-minded attention so that he gets completely absorbed in the same. This is called ‘tanmayata‘ [focused concentration]. This `tanmayata‘ is equally applicable in the case of spiritual meditation also.

The Upanishad says, `Omkar‘ [the primordial sound] is the bow, individual self is the arrow and the universal spirit is the target at which one has to shoot without committing the slightest error with complete absorption, which is sometimes called ‘samadhi‘ [deep meditation] in the language of `yoga’. `Dharana‘ is fixing the mind on something for the smallest unit of time. To remain in such a position for a longer time is `dhyana‘. Meditation and complete absorption or identification is also called `samadhi‘. Hence, yoga is the process of joining or fixing the mind on something. The result of this yoga is `samadhi‘. Many times the word `yoga’ is used both for the process as well as the result.

There are six `darshanas‘ or systems of spiritual or philosophical thought recognized amongst Hindus. Yoga is one of them, but here the meaning is yoga as propounded by Patanjali in his Yogasutras. In this limited sense, the object of yoga is kaivalya or separation of `purush‘ [supreme being] and `prakriti [creation].’ The exact definition of yoga as given by Patanjali is the control of the chittavritti. Normally, ‘chitta‘ is understood to be mind and `vritti‘ as the modification of the mind or movement of the mind, and yoga is understood to be cessation of all movements of mind. But this meaning is not the precise one. It betrays only a surface understanding, because Patanjali himself has made it clear that `vrittis‘ are five in number. These are not mere modifications of human mind nor its movements, but five states of the human consciousness. They are pramana, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidra and smirti.

These five states can be described in simple language as follows: (1) The state of mind in which we see things as they are; (2) The state of mind in which our vision is perverted, for we see some other thing for something else; (3) the state of mind in which we see something, though actually there is nothing, a state of mere imagination; (4) the state of mind in deep sleep; and (5) the state of mind in which we remember something or revive some past impressions. When the human mind transcends all these five states, it is called yoga. It is a state of pure absolute consciousness, not of something else, but of consciousness itself.

The meaning of yoga is not confined only to the aspects described above. There are other types of yoga as well. When the mind is doing some duty without any desire for fruits or without any egoistic sense, it is called ‘karma-yoga. Similarly, there is ‘bhakti-yoga’, `dhyana-yoga’, `kriya-yoga’, `laya-yoga’ and the like. This is as regards Hindu tradition of this mystic science. There have been great mystics in the western world as well and their mystic experiences have been very well studied, analyzed, and evaluated by some eminent authors like Mr. William James, but these mystic experiences in the western countries are not as so systematized as they are in India.

Mystics exist not only in the Hindu tradition, but they also exist in Jainism and Buddhism. There are many common points in the yogic practices of all these traditions. The western world is attracted not toward this spiritual side of yoga, but its attraction is mainly for miracles as well as physical exercises. Yoga is looked upon as a special therapy as distinct from psychic therapy or even psychotherapy. Healing by faith, sometimes called the Christian method, is also different from yoga therapy. This way of looking at yoga is also getting hold of the modern mind in India. The object of yoga is not to satisfy the curiosity by miracles or by curing diseases. True, Lord Jesus himself did some miracles and brought relief to some patients or the afflicted, but the message of Lord Jesus is something beyond that. His was an intensely spiritual life. So the object of yoga is spiritual and not material, though one can derive certain material benefits as well.

Research in yogic miracles is going on a very vast scale outside India, and even in our country some institutions have taken up this research. This research is known by various names. Sometimes it is called psychic discoveries. These psychic discoveries may mean mental telepathy, hypnotism, and faith healing, or it may mean miraculous powers of mind such as precognition and psycho-kinesis. Miracles such as sightless or eyeless vision, moving the objects by mere sight, materializing thought and many more such things have also been reported. This research is not only being carried on in western countries, but it is equally being attended to in socialist countries as well.

We need not go into this at length as volumes have been written on this subject. At the moment we should not get ourselves interested in miracles or the scientific aspect of the same. Time has now come when more and more research will reveal that the miracles are not miracles in the real sense of the term. Law of causation operates even in the case of such so-called miracles. With modern instruments it has been possible to take photographs of the invisible bodies, also called subtle bodies or astral bodies. Let us not get ourselves entangled in this at present.

To my mind, yogic powers or the yogic miracles were useful in the field of metaphysics as well. They serve as data for drawing further inferences as to the nature of the universe. For instance, we say that God created the world out of Himself without any instruments or material for this creation. What is the proof for this? It has been argued that as the yogi materializes his thought and produces a thing without any outside aid, similarly God must have created the universe out of Himself without any extraneous matter. The yogis, without any material aid whatsoever, base this theory of creation by God on the experience of materialization. It is said that God, who is of the nature of consciousness, had the whole universe in Himself and projected the same outside, at His will, in the same way as the yogi creates the material thing out of his own mind.

All things cognized by senses are a sort of data for us to infer and we construct our own universe out of this. This is the basis of philosophy. All things felt by the senses are called `pratyaksha‘, but in addition to this there is ‘yoga pratyaksha’, not cognized by ordinary persons, but by yogis. `Yoga pratyaksha’ is also data of human experience that one must take into account while constructing his ideas about the universe as such.

Similarly, yoga as therapy may be useful for curing some diseases, but perfect understanding of this power may give us ever expanding knowledge about the human mind and human soul as well.

From what I have stated above, we should try to gasp the real significance of the life and message of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. His miraculous powers cure the afflicted or the diseased. But it would only be surface understanding of Baba’s life if we are unable to probe deeper. His life gives the message of sathya, dharma, shanti, and prema [truth, right conduct, peace, and love] that is the deepest experience in life itself. I once asked Baba Himself as to how one can recognize a perfect yogi. He advised me to see two things and not to divert my attention to other matters. “Where there is perfect peace and intense joy, there is perfect yoga.” Every act of the true votary of God is an act of worship of the almighty; the very purpose of the `Avatar’ is to make people happy.

I would like to close this article with a quotation from the Yogavasishtha [a Hindu text]. Sage Vasishta, after teaching Rama the spiritual lessons, concludes as follows: Rama goes into a trance and sits silent, completely absorbed in samadhi. Guru Vasishta pats him on his back and shakes his shoulders and wakes him up. He tells Rama, “Present is not the time for rest, nor is this world a rest house. The physical body needs rest. Rama! You are not a physical body. You are `chinmaya‘ [consciousness absolute]. You have assumed this physical body to make people happy, which is the goal of the perfect yogi. Unless `lokaparamarsha‘ [the art of making people happy] is established deep in the normal activities of a yogi, his samadhi cannot be said to have been completely stabilized, nor can it be said to be spotless or pure.”

This lesson is meant for all though it was delivered to Rama. All are not avatars, but if the purpose of the Avatar is to make people happy, the same is the ideal of the devotees of avatars. The object of yoga is not only to attain a high ecstasy and make oneself happy, but to make all people happy by imparting to them, the real knowledge, especially the spiritual knowledge that would result in truth, peace, duty, and love. One has only to open his eyes and see how this is being practiced in the spiritual movement run by the Sri Sathya Sai Organizations.

~V. S. Page
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, May 1975