Essence of Yoga- Going beyond the ordinary
- In Religion
- 04:41 PM, May 04, 2015
- Govindaraju Krishna Rayalu
“Yoga” has many meanings; union, knowledge etc. Lord Sri Krishna gave the definition to the word yoga as “Art of all work”.
Everybody does some work to earn a living. But, whether one becomes an expert in that area is a billion dollar question! If one wants to become an expert in the work they are engaged in, he/she has to work extra hard. But, the negative forces that pull that same person in all tangential directions are the mind and uncontrollable senses.
When one becomes an expert in his/her field of work by sharpening his/her intelligence, and by controlling both mind and senses, then he/she can be stated to be situated in ‘yoga’, though there are many stages in the perfection of yoga, which is not the present topic of discussion.
Be Your Own Mentor
All of us have gone through schools, colleges and then professional courses if possible at a higher academic level. After that we try to get a job, a life partner and then possibly beget children. If a person is able to acquire all these material things, then he feels successful in life. Or so is the common perception or societal expectations.
Maybe he is truly successful in the eyes of the society, but what about the inside? Is he really successful in his own heart? Is he really happy? Some people may say they are really happy but don’t know what kinds of miseries they are facing and what is awaiting them later in their lives. And even if we accept that they are happy, can that happiness be permanent in their lives? Nobody has a proper answer for this.
Why can’t we activate our human intelligence to find out?
Every one of us has some or the other “problem”. Some are able to handle those in a matured way but equally some are shaken at every moment. Some try to get adjusted but the misery associated with the problem continues forever in their heart. They just can’t come out of it easily and be happy in spite of intelligence, wealth and achievements in their lives. Some are not able to handle the situation at all and attempt or commit suicide, assuming that death can only be the solution for all their problems and thus invite more miseries after death on their near and dear.
If that’s not true, then why are some of the so called educated and “successful” people dependent on a tiny sleeping pill? A small pill which is nothing but, an inert matter is able to control a person with high level of intelligence. What should we understand? Who is controlling whom? Why are we on such a low level, in spite of our so called intelligence and higher education? There is a strong reason operating in background for this.
Balanced actions through ‘Activated Intelligence’
Every one of us is conscious of the pleasures and pains of the body in part or as a whole. This spreading of consciousness is limited to one’s own body. The pains and pleasures of one body are unknown to another. For e.g. whenever I’m happy, I know how happy I am, whereas I can’t measure or know the happiness of either my close friend or family member. Similarly I can’t understand in how much pain the other person is, even though I may know or empathize in general that the other person is in pain.
According to Bhagavad-Gita (2.17), every ‘body’ is the embodiment of an individual soul, which is a fragmental portion of God. It is described as one ten thousandth part of the upper portion of the hair point in size. The symptom of the soul’s presence is perceived as individual consciousness and that is the proof of the presence of the soul, which many of us are not aware of. This atomic soul is situated in the region of the heart of every living entity. But, as the measurement of the tiny soul is beyond the power of appreciation of scientists (I belong to the fraternity but not to this school of thought), some of them assert that there is no soul. Even a layman can understand that when the soul leaves the body, the entire consciousness of the body is dead. So, whether one follows Vedic knowledge or modern science, one can’t deny the existence of the spirit soul in the body.
Now, let us think about the connection between human intelligence, soul and its consciousness. If we observe carefully, whenever we use our intelligence, our consciousness gets depicted in our actions. That’s how the actions of one person varies from another, depicting their own status of consciousness. You may ask a question - How can the same soul, which is coming from the same God, have different types of consciousness and thus different actions? Can we use our intelligence to know the reason?
Here is the explanation!
Even though the soul and its origin are the same, it is entrapped in different bodies, which have different sensory perceptions, mental and intelligent status according to the type of body it takes up. In a nutshell, a person’s intelligence is also connected to his senses, mind and soul. But, what is the connection amongst all these?
In our schools and colleges, we were taught human anatomy and how it works. If the internal homeostasis is disturbed or some external forces from the environment act upon the body, then it leads to a disease for which we have medicines to cure. As soon as a new virus, bacteria, fungi, or protozoa is detected, the scientists discover new drugs to attack the concerned organism and cure the disease. But, there is something beyond this anatomical structure, which we are not taught in our schools and colleges.
This external body of ours is made up of two bodies (gross and subtle body) and one soul. Gross body is made up of earth, water, fire, air and ether, which are called as panchabhutas, whereas subtle body is made up of mind, intelligence and ego. Thus, the soul, which is a tiny atomic particle, is covered by subtle body, which in turn, is covered by gross body. Also, we have five senses i.e. eyes, ears, nose, skin and tongue.
Now, what happens if there is a disturbance in the subtle body system? Have you ever thought of this? We are not taught about it in the modern education system. We may have many sophisticated instruments in the labs, but there is no proper training to uplift our consciousness.
Thus, the material body, apart from the anatomical organs, consists of senses, mind, intelligence and soul. The body’s activities are sensual. However, above the senses is the mind, and above the mind is the intelligence and above the intelligence is the spirit soul. This is the authentic order of our creation. So, the fact that spirit soul is superior to all is not taught in our modern education system. But, when the spirit soul remained in dormant state, the power of attorney has been snatched away by the tricky mind, though by hierarchy, that power actually belongs to intelligence.
However, when the soul is awakened by God conscious process (as its origin is from God), he once again becomes the master and takes complete control of the situation, thus making the subordinates - intelligence, mind and senses –to act as per the hierarchy. Then, the intelligence starts playing its superior role over mind and senses resulting in perfect balanced actions in life, and gets designated as “ACTIVATED INTELLIGENCE”, which is competent for not only self-mentoring, but also mentoring others. Is it not interesting and amazing?
Consciousness
“It is a fact that there is a point, one single point in the immeasurable expanse of mind and matter, where science and therefore every causal method of research is inapplicable, not only on practical grounds, but also on logical grounds, and will also remain inapplicable. This is the point of (our) individual awareness.”
- Max Planck
Many brilliant scientists of the twentieth century also agreed that consciousness could not be explained in terms of the material paradigm. Niels Bohr expressed that, “We can admittedly find nothing in physics or chemistry that has even a remote bearing on consciousness. Yet all of us know that there is such a thing as consciousness”. Consciousness is a principle that transcends not only physics and chemistry, but also the mechanistic principles of living beings.
According to Bhagavad Gita 3.42 “The working senses are superior to dull matter, mind is higher than the senses, intelligence is still higher than the mind and he (the soul) is even higher than the intelligence”
Making the best of Life!
Every one of us are participating or waiting for the opportunity to arrive, for our moment of success. But are opportunities destined or are opportunities made by our actions?
This age old question has haunted many and raised debates between those who believe in destiny Vs those who believe in action. Some say we make our own destiny while others argue everyman’s kitty is predestined and cannot be changed. We often ponder whether all that happens to us is pre-decided or do we have anything to do with it? In its answer lies the fate of our dreams, aspirations and goals alike. The Bhagavad Gita answers these questions by saying “You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.”
In simple words every action has a reaction – ‘karma’ and results of our past karma manifest as destiny. Depending on our past action a certain set of circumstances/opportunities – good or bad are presented to us which we call fate or destiny. How we act in those ‘Maukas’/opportunities /circumstances decides our future reactions. So in a way we are responsible for our destiny (past actions) and simultaneously past destiny will come immaterial of what we do now (present actions).
Understanding this basic principle one can see every circumstance of life as an opportunity or Mauka to improve oneself and react better. One need not reconcile to fate & inaction or act whimsically and thence suffer. Neither does one need to lament over past mistakes and brood. Life presents each ‘Mauka’ after another to make oneself more enlightened and his future brighter.
The famous scientist and philosopher of science, Albert Einstein once said “the only thing that interferes with my learning is my education”. A contrivance usually extracted is “I was born intelligent, education ruined me”. This means that our education system is not training us to grow internally and thus making us dependent on others to uplift us through their seminars and discourses. Such a type of education provides only information (an overload at that) but no transformation. We are not using our complex meshwork of energetic neurons to understand even simple matters. We are born with innate capabilities but we are neither activating our level of real intelligence nor using it for a higher purpose.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Sri Krishna says ‘Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga’. And further He says ‘Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme’. All we need to do is not to be worried about the circumstance in front of us or be attached to what will happen, but see it as an opportunity to do our best and change our future destiny. Hence make the best of every Mauka (no pun intended at Mauka Mauka) without worrying about results will enable man or woman to always be blissful and to see every moment as a Mauka - a loving gift from God.
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