Two days ago, we celebrated International Yoga Day. It is interesting to see celebrities, politicians, monks and lay public all practising asanas with great enthusiasm. Most people who take to yoga take it as an alternate form of exercise for better health — do asanas, pranayama or what they refer to as breath work. Some people approach it as an alternate form of gentler exercise. But yoga is much more than that. In books that define yoga like Patanjali Yoga Sutras, yoga is defined in the second sutra as chitta vritti nirodha, meaning mastery of the mind is yoga. All of yoga is meant to master your mind.
So, it starts with certain disciplines, and value structure called yama and niyama. Discipline starts with the mind that practises values and right attitudes. Then is the asana and pranayama practice. Then comes the next step of pratyahara - withdrawing from non-productive activities, activities which don't fall within one’s life priorities. Some people mistakenly think that pratyahara is not reading the newspaper or not watching TV. That is foolishness. One needs to be a well-informed individual. Then there is Dharana, learning to focus. This involves practices of focusing your mind on a single thing like concentration, as well as cultivating diffused awareness i.e. awareness of the whole environment without paying attention to any one thing in particular.
These combined together becomes the main part of yoga, which Swami Vivekananda presented as Raja Yoga — Dhyana (contemplation), Dharana (meditation) culminating in Samadhi practice. These are the eight dimensions of yoga. When one does this, one can have a completely mastered mind. What would you do with a mind that is mastered? You can do anything that you want — be more successful, productive, lead a happier life. But in the tradition, this mastered mind was used to know the truth about yourself and the world through the Upanishads known as Vedanta. Therefore, Yoga and Vedanta go hand in hand. You learn to master your mind. At the same time, start studying Vedanta to know the truth about yourself and the world.
The writer is the founder of Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him at aarshavidyaf@gmail.com
