Yard [011] : The Art & Science of Living

Dear Friends,

Namaste!

Having seen the truth behind the prevailing misconceptions about Yoga, we will now see the real meaning of Yoga.

The word “Yoga” has its roots in the Sanskrit word “Yuj” which literally means “to join, yoke or bind together”. Therefore the literal (and correct) meaning of “Yoga” is “to become one with”.

Note that “joining” implies the existence of separate entities before and just a single entity after! When we embark on Yoga of any type, there is “us”, replete with our persona, as one of the two things and there is the “other” thing we are trying to become one with. (This ‘other thing’ determines the type of Yoga). When the process of Yoga reaches consummation, the persona “vanishes” and there remains but only one thing.

Difficult to comprehend? Let’s take an example. If you love your work so much that you get totally absorbed in it, then it is Yoga with Work or Action. You get so much into it that you forget everything else. You forget time, place, weather, your worries or needs, the results that your work will fetch you, even your own limited self. You become the work. You are living only in that moment through the work you are doing, not limited by your physical, social, emotional, intellectual identities/attributes/ constraints, not limited by any boundaries that restrict your idea of your own self, not limited by your ego!! Process that brings about such state is called as the “Yoga of Action” or “Karma Yoga”.

Similarly, while learning or acquiring knowledge, if you get so engrossed in the process that you become a veritable sponge that eagerly soaks up every little drop available – so much so that the whole world comes to a standstill and everything else ceases to matter – you are actually following “Yoga of Knowledge” or “Jnana Yoga”.

Likewise, if you are a music buff, you will actually experience Total Happiness through “Yoga of Music” (“Sangeet Yoga”). At times, we feel so extremely delighted that we just burst with joy and laughter. In that moment, we are not merely John Smith or Prasad Auty! We are ‘laughter personified’. We are experiencing Total Joy through “Yoga of Laughter” (“Hasya Yoga”). (Everyone of us must have surely experienced at least a few such moments in our lives – the key is to convert those into permanent experience!! Hence conscious and consistent Yoga practice is required).

However, all Yoga types (of which there are infinite, as we can easily surmise now) need not be positive. One sometimes may become so overcome by grief, confusion and such negative emotions, that one can actually experience “Yoga of Depression” (“Vishaad Yoga”). A very famous example of a person in “Vishaad Yoga” is that of Arjuna on Kurukshetra just before the beginning of the famous Mahabharata War. At this juncture, he had the good fortune of Lord Krishna stepping in and revealing the Supreme Knowledge (“Raja Vidya”) and Secrets of Life (“Raja Guhya”) to him which dispelled all his illusion and propelled him forward on the Evolution Path (besides making him fully mentally prepared to fight and win the War).

It emerges from the foregoing discussion that living in the moment, living life to the fullest, letting go, transcending ego, merging homogeneously with Existence, living in harmony with Environment/Nature/Universe-as-a-Whole, experiencing the unity in diversity, correcting our conscience so that it stabilizes in the Single and Absolute Truth, living and letting live, enjoying and letting enjoy, is what Yoga is all about. It is the very Art and Science of Living!

The final deliverable of Yoga, then, is to get into a state of permanent and total bliss,become one with Joy and stay that way! This state is called as “Samadhi” or “Siddha” state in the Yoga jargon and is popularly known as Enlightenment. We shall see later how the main Yoga types (Yoga of Faith, Yoga of Action, Yoga of Acquiring Knowledge and Yoga of Internalizing Knowledge), as well as the eight limbs we named in the last article, pave the way for this.

Why do we feel free from grief, free of any baggage, so very light and on top of the whole world when we achieve Yoga? The answer lies in the fact that we let go of our ego. (We shall also see later how our ego - or ignorance about our true and full ‘self’ - is the cause of all sorrow). In fact, it is impossible to achieve full Yoga, total/lasting happiness without getting rid of the ego first. When this cause (ego) evaporates, away goes the effect as well leaving us full, pure, divine and blissful that we truly are!

Next week we will mull over some famous definitions of Yoga propounded by some equally famous Yogis!

Enjoy yourselves…