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Yoga is a complete science of
self–discipline. Yoga balances, harmonises, purifies and
strengthens the Body, Mind and Soul of the practitioner.
The ancient sages developed an integral system to ward off or
retard the decaying or catabolic process, and to keep the
physical and mental faculties strong.
Proper exercise acts as a lubrication system
to the joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons. A yogasana not
only produces physical benefits but also mental exercises in
concentration and meditation.
Yoga exercise focuses first on the health of
the spine. The spinal column houses the centre of the nervous
system. Asanas work on the internal machinery key pressure
points.
The asanas also affect the deeper and subtler
parts of the body. The internal organs receive massage and
stimulation through the various movements of the asanas and are
toned into functioning more efficiently with deep breathing,
relaxation, and concentration. Asanas also help to develop
mental control.
Proper breathing connects the body to its
battery, the solar plexus, where breathing is concentrating the
Prana, or nerve energy, which increases our vital energy level.
Control of the Prana, when we concentrate and consciously
regulate our breathing, we are able to store a greater amount in
our various nerve centres and brain.
Proper relaxation cools down the system while
it is difficult for modern-day people to relax. During
relaxation there is practically no Prana being consumed.
Although a little is spent maintaining the basic metabolic
activities, the remaining portion is stored and conserved. In
order to achieve perfect relaxation, these levels of relaxation,
physical, mental and spiritual, must be attained. No relaxation
is complete until all these are reached.
Proper diet is a vegetarian one - protein,
carbohydrates, minerals, fats, and vitamins. There is a cycle in
Nature known as the “food cycle” or “food chain”. The sun is the
source of energy for all life on our planet. Vegetarians eat at
the top of this food chain, since they eat plants that derive
their nutrients directly from the sun. The yogic attitude
towards diet is “eat to live, not live to eat” with the most
positive effect on the body and mind and with the least negative
impact on the environment and least pain to other beings.
Fasting is also a part of the yogic dietary regime.
Religion of the heart is the religion of
love. Man is no longer satisfied with his intellect, the
reasoning machine that brings no answers to his questions, “What
is the purpose of life?” “Who am I?” “Where will I go?”
It is but foolishness to search for Truth
with an instrument as limited as the intellect, to attempt to
measure the unknown fathoms of the eternal question of the
purpose of life.
They use the same dissipated rays of the mind
that the majority of mankind uses for external observation and
feeling, and focus them on the dark inner recesses of the heart,
in turn the one – pointed rays of the mind illumine the dark
corners of the unknown.
As long as one’s wandering mind moves
externally towards objects, one cannot come face to face with
Truth of God. Unlimited source of wisdom and knowledge are
gained during the silent hours of contemplation when the mind
and intellect cease to function. For, real knowledge of God or
Truth and answers for all such questions come only when the mind
and senses are still and steady. When man realises Truth, he
comes face to face with something, which is, by its own nature,
eternally pure and perfect. The goal of life is to achieve,
while still alive, a state free from death, pain, sorrow, old
age, disease and rebirth.
All the founders of religions saw God, they
all saw their own souls, they all saw eternity as their future.
The Truth can be experienced only when one transcends the senses
and when the mind and intellect cease to function. As the
student moves along the path of Yoga, he becomes aware of many
new things that his teacher has already taught him
theoretically. For every man must learn through his own
experiences.
There are various forms of Yoga to attain
universal consciousness, or oneness with the Supreme Being. The
aim of all Yoga practice is to achieve Truth wherein the
individual soul identifies itself with the supreme soul or God.
Spirit or pure consciousness never changes and it is the same
spirit that radiates forth from mineral to man. In the mineral
kingdom, spirit manifests itself as the lowest form of sentiency
where consciousness is scarcely evident. Modern scientists have
proved to a certain extent that life can be created from
minerals and experimentation is being continued.
According to Yoga philosophy, there is no
lifeless matter, for everything is consciousness itself. The old
philosophy of the yogis that man, animals, birds, fish, trees,
earth, rocks and elements are one is a theory that is gradually
becoming accepted in the scientific world of the 20th century.
At last, with further development of the intellect and other
psychic functions such as cognition, perception, will and
knowledge, man is considered to be the highest in creation and
highest in the scale of evolution. Behind this changing form of
consciousness there is a changeless, formless spirit, which is
not affected or changed in any way through its expression or
sentiency, but is veiled in various stages of its development.
As the mind develops, the veil covering the soul becomes thinner
and finally disappears altogether. In this state, the soul
realises its immortality and its identification with the Supreme
Being.
Dr C C Sagy
Ph No: 044 – 2573 5800 / 098840 22742
E-mail: Drsagy_cheru@yahoo.com
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Yoga and Ayurveda
