Today, World Yoga 2022 is celebrating International Day of Yoga to raise awareness about the health and wellbeing benefits of yoga. International Yoga Day also educates about yoga, which began thousands of years ago in India. It is a collection of physical, mental and spiritual disciplines that have become popular as a lifestyle in modern times. When we hear the word “yoga,” we think of exercises that help us stretch or keep our bodies flexible. This western-inspired, transmogrified and innovative form of yoga has made us forget our ancient roots.
The word “yoga” is derived from the Sanskrit root verb “yuj”, which means “to unite”. Yoga is the process through which we connect with the Supreme Lord and discover the reality of our true self. Thus, it is said that Yoga is the path from Jiva (personal) to Shiva (Parabrahm). To achieve this integration with the Higher Reality, Guru Patanjali says that one must be “Iswara Pranidhana Va”, that is, the practitioner of yoga must have steadfast devotion to the deities. Lord Shiva is considered to be the first Adi Yogi or Yogi. It was given to his seven disciples, and they spread it throughout the world. But we have no record of it because in ancient times it was written on palm leaves, which we gradually lost over the centuries and millennia.
Thus the real meaning of yoga is to connect us with nature and the people around us. It helps us to remove negative energy from our body and most importantly from our mind. It gives us more power to focus on our work and gives us lots of positive energy and eternal peace, which helps in improving our physical strength.
Origin of Yoga
The proof of yoga begins with the Bhagavad Gita, in which Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna its importance “samatvam yoga uchyate,” meaning yoga is a balanced state. Yoga strives for unity between man and nature. It balances us and takes us back to our blissful state.
There are three more major yogas mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita:
1) Bhakti YogaAccording to the 15th chapter of the Gita, Bhakti Yoga leads to the attainment of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The world is described inverted as the imperishable Peepal tree whose root is Lord Krishna and the branches are Lord Brahma.
Anyone who knows the elements of the tree down to its root understands its meaning. Branches are attachment and need to be cut by means of a weapon of detachment or separation. Then one has to seek God, where once he has gone, he never returns. According to the 10th chapter, those who feel the yogic power and vibhuti of the Supreme Soul, they are completely in Bhakti Yoga.
2) Sankhya YogaAccording to the second chapter: Arjuna on the Question of Knowledge and the Actions of Wise Men, Krishna explains that a wise man immerses his mind in meditation and is completely detached from sensory defects. He becomes stable. His dispassion is his main weapon because he has no desire. Therefore, by realizing one’s true self, one leaves the ego. This philosophy of knowledge is Sankhya Yoga.
3) karma yoga: According to the philosophy of the second chapter of Karma, yoga is about doing the right thing without thinking about the consequences. One should not insist on earning karma but on liberating oneself from the consequences of one’s actions. Selfless Karma or Karma Yoga leads you to the right path of Self-realization.
We can see the term Yoga in many ancient Indian scriptures, which are Vedas and Upanishads, such as Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Katha Upanishad, etc., some of which are given below:
Katha Upanishad 2.3.11
Keeping the senses stable is considered yoga.
Yoga then remains unaffected by the process of creation and destruction. 11. 11.
The firm control of the senses is called yoga. One must be alert then; Yoga can be both beneficial and harmful.
Patanjali Yoga Sutras 1.2
Yoga is the restraint of the attitude of the mind.
Yoga: Mind, Vritti, Sanyam.
Artha yoga is to prevent the mind-matters (chitta) from taking different forms (vritti).
Patanjali Yoga Sutra 11.29
The eight parts of the body are called Yama, Karmakanda, Sitting, Breathing, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dhyana, Dhyana and Samadhi. 2.29.
Meaning: yama (control), niyama (discipline), sana (postures), prana (control of the breath), pratyahara (withdrawing the senses), dharana (meditation), dhyana (identification with the true self), and samadhi (true Experiencing the Self) , combined with the Supreme) There are eight parts of Yoga.
We can also see some evidence of Indus Valley Civilization. We have also found seals which depict the practice of yoga during that period. It dates back to 2700 BC, in which we can see people doing spiritual practice.
Maharishi Patanjali, the father of yoga, told everyone about yoga and its purpose in his Yoga Sutras known as Raja Yoga.
Modern Yoga and the Post-Classical Period
The classical period lasted until 1700 CE, in which many yogis such as Sri Acharya Traya, Sri Adi Shankaracharya, Sri Madhvacharya, Sri Ramanujacharya, Mira Bai and Purandar Das played a significant role in the development of yoga and its culture around the world. Sri Adi Shankaracharya devoted his time to practicing Jnana Yoga and Raja Yoga and empathized in meditation, which helps to overcome negative thoughts.
Hatha yoga, still practiced in the present day, was practiced by Tulsidas and Purandara Das, who worked on the science of yoga and introduced the physical postures and breathing techniques that later became known as hatha yoga. .
In the late 18th century, Swami Vivekananda spread yoga to the world. When Swami Vivekananda visited Chicago in 1893, he delivered a lecture on Yoga, which inspired everyone to follow and practice it.
Hatha yoga became more popular after the 1920s. As time goes by, many people have forgotten the true meaning of yoga, which was practiced in ancient times. The main purpose of yoga was to focus on breathing techniques and to free the body, spirit and mind. Our ancestors knew about the importance of mental hygiene, for which they practiced yoga, so that all unnecessary pollutants could be cleared from the body and soul. The true meaning of yoga has been left behind by the predecessors with the passage of time and no one bothers to know about its real meaning.
The most important people and yogis in the present age have forgotten the eight limbs of yoga, which were created to help us understand what yoga was.
eight limbs of yoga
1. Yamsee Teach us how to deal with nature and other people around us.
One. non-violence It means that we should treat everyone equally and without any discrimination.
b. truth That is, what we have learned, what we hear, what we see, and what we believe should be expressed in the same way without any manipulation.
C. asteya That is, we should never take anything without the permission of the owner, never ask anyone to do it, and we should never think about it.
D. celibacy This means that we should control our mind and senses, which will help us to control our physical strength, and we should read scriptures and share them with others.
I. Aparigraha That is, we should control our greedy thoughts, which are the mother of all evil, and never think about it.
2. Niyamas Help us practice self-discipline
One. Shudhi, which means self-hygiene, are of two types. One is Brahma Shuddhi, which teaches us to keep our body, clothes, utensils, places clean. Another is inner purification, which teaches us to purify our thoughts by reading scriptures, doing satsang.
b. Satisfaction It means that we should be satisfied with what we have and should not ask for more.
C. tapWhile doing all these things we should not think of anything else, like hot or cold, hunger or thirst, profit or loss, honor or disgrace. We must overcome all this.
D. svadhyaya That is, we should read the scriptures leading to salvation and abide in the ‘O’ mantra and all other mantras and practice meditation.
I. Ishvarapranidhana That is, we should dedicate our whole body, knowledge, senses, power to God so that we get salvation and do not use it for other purposes.
3. Posture It means how we should practice our yoga. Like Padmasana, we should keep our body still while meditating.
4. Pranayama That is, when we control our senses by sitting in a stable position and start doing breathing exercises, which is like inhaling for 1 second, holding our breath for 4 seconds and then exhaling for 2 seconds. It is called Pranayama.
5. Pratyahara Means sense withdrawal. It teaches us the ultimate peace. When we disconnect our senses from the outside world, we can dive within ourselves to discover the vast universe that exists within us.
6. picket This means that while meditating we should focus on only one thing and not allow anything else to enter our mind. It will help us to focus on one goal and save us from distractions.
7. Dhyan Means meditation. It is a process in which we should think only of God and nothing else. And try to recite mantras. We should not think about anything else. We can improve our chances of experiencing meditation by sitting in a quiet place and using pranayama, pratyahara and dharana together.
8. Tombstone: Means enlightenment. When we complete all the above steps and become aware of the real power within us and forget everything else, we can attain Samadhi.
It’s all about yoga, which we all should practice because it is based on meaningful lessons for the betterment of life and not just for fun or a fit body. It is all about how to attain enlightenment, or samadhi, guiding us on how to connect with the people around us, how to connect with God, and how to attain salvation.
In the present time we have seen many benefits of yoga. In the COVID-19 pandemic, people started doing yoga more than anything else and started believing more in Sanatan Dharma and its importance in our lives. But we must not forget its real power and meaning, for which it was initiated by our Gurus. We should try to do all the points of yoga and there should be enlightenment in our life and all the people around us.
Yuvraj Pokharna is a freelance journalist and columnist. Ankur Agarwal is an entrepreneur and blogger with Finding Temple. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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