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Yoga for Total Health
Swami Satyananda Saraswati
inaugural Speech, International Festival of Yoga and Health, Bogotá,
October 1980
The science of yoga has always been dedicated to the physical, mental
and spiritual health of mankind. Since the advent of the current technological
age, many great thinkers have begun to suspect that mankind is entering
into another dimension of disease and suffering, one which belongs not
so much to the physical body as to the mental and psychic bodies. The
stress on the external aspects of life has become acute in the last two
hundred years. As a result, most people have lost the capacity to understand,
analyze or think about themselves, their minds and their inner problems.
The focus of their attention has become completely materialistic. The
structure of society and man's day to day life have compelled him to think
more about what is happening outside rather than what is happening within
him. So, in the course of time, he has come to neglect the fundamental
rules and signs of physical and mental health.
Over the last hundred and fifty years, man has become so sick, infirm
and unwell that he has had to come to his senses before it is too late.
Finally, in the last fifty years he has become more aware of what is happening
to him and why it is happening. Now he has begun the search for a science
that can bring him good health, tranquility and inner harmony at all the
different stages of his existence.
Yoga is not new to mankind; it has been with us right through the ages,
but there was a time when this science was completely forgotten. The people
could no longer integrate it into the context of their lives. They misunderstood
yoga and thought that it was not applicable to their day to day existence.
As a result, the great science of yoga underwent a period of decline.
During this dark age, man suffered greatly, without even knowing it. And
in this century, yoga has emerged from India to relieve this suffering.
Universal science
This does not mean that yoga is specifically an Indian science. Yoga
is by all standards and definitions a universal science. Of course, it
was only in India that the knowledge of yoga was safeguarded during the
dark period of worldwide historical accidents and crises. This is because
there has always been a tradition of swamis and sannyasins in India who
have been completely, totally and exclusively devoted to the spiritual
sciences that bring health, tranquility and peace. Through this great
tradition, India was able lo safeguard the knowledge which was lost to
the rest of the world on account of its negligent attitude.
This tradition has been kept unabated by the devoted and conscientious
people of India. As a result, in spite of the technological hypnosis that
is directing the whole world today, India is still producing the immense
and great figures of yoga. Through their teachings, the science of yoga
is again being disseminated throughout the world, dedicated to the health
of all mankind, not to a particular religion or nationality.
We must understand yoga in the broadest possible context of human existence.
The different branches of yoga, like hatha yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga,
karma yoga, laya yoga and kriya yoga, all have a deep significance and
deep influence on the human body, mind and spirit.
Hatha yoga: to harmonize the nervous system
For example, let us consider hatha yoga, one of the most wonderful sciences
to be revived by mankind in recent years. The word 'yoga' signifies the
state of harmony, and the word 'hatha' signifies the solar and lunar energies,
the two forces that reside in the human body. One is the force of bio-energy,
or prana, through which we live, and the other is the force of consciousness,
or chitta, through which we think and feel. These two forms of energy
control each and every function in the human body. They are responsible
for our mobility, our thinking and our total physical and mental existence.
When there is disharmony between them there is disease, restlessness and
disturbance; and when there is harmony between them, there is peace and
good health. Through the practices of hatha yoga, these energies are balanced
and regulated, the chakras and the whole body are purified, and a state
of union, harmony and peace is achieved.
Within the framework of the spinal column there are two channels which
flow from the bottom to the top, crossing each other at four junctions.
In the hatha yoga texts, these two channels, or nadis, are known as ida
and pingala. Ida conducts the mental force and pingala conducts the pranic
force. These two nadis emanate from the bottom of the spine at a particular
psychic centre known as mooladhara chakra, the sacro-coccygeal plexus.
They cross at the pelvic plexus in swadhisthana chakra, then at the solar
plexus in manipura chakra, the cardiac plexus in anahata chakra and the
cervical plexus in vishuddhi chakra. Finally they unite with each other
in the medulla oblongata in ajna chakra.
Psychic and somatic disease
The energy in ida and pingala nadis is both physical and psychic in nature,
and is distributed from the junction points of the chakras to all the
cells, tissues and organs of the body. When there is some sort of weakness
or shortage of energy in ida nadi, then the organs associated with ida
suffer. Similarly, when there is a blockage in pingala nadi, or in the
energy which it conducts, then the organs related to pingala are affected.
All psychic and somatic diseases originate in precisely this way.
Diseases are usually considered as either psychic or somatic. Somatic
diseases are related to pranic energy and psychic diseases are related
to mental energy. Therefore, ida nadi is responsible for psychic diseases
and health, and pingala nadi is responsible for the diseases and health
of the physical body. We suffer not only from psychosomatic diseases,
but from somopsychic diseases as well. Sometimes a disease begins in the
physical body and is transferred to the mental body, and sometimes a disease
originates in the mental body and is transferred to the physical body.
Therefore it is very difficult to determine whether a disease is primarily
psychic, somatic or both.
Purpose of asana and pranayama
In hatha yoga we consider that every disease is both psychic and somatic.
Therefore, the asanas of hatha yoga should not be regarded as physical
exercises. They are postures or positions of the body which, by their
very nature, quality, processes and influences, bring about a change in
the electrical circuits of the nadis. In order to practise the asanas
without difficulty, you should first practise the shatkarmas, the six
methods of physical purification.
Next comes pranayama, the science of the breathing process. Pranayama
is another greatly misunderstood term. People translate it as 'breathing
exercise', but it is actually a process which awakens the dormant prana,
the sleeping vital energy in the physical body, in order to repair the
different physical cells. When the physical body is purified through the
practices of the shatkarmas and you have perfected the asanas, then you
can begin pranayama. By the practice of pranayama, the energy in the physical
body is recharged and conducted by ida and pingala nadis in the form of
electrical impulses to all parts of the body, including the brain.
Mantra, yantra and mandala: to unburden the mind
The science of mantra, yantra and mandala is even more important in attaining
total health. The science of mantra is the science of sound. Sound waves
affect both the physical and the mental bodies. Sound is such a powerful
form of energy that modern science has used it to build microwave ovens
which can cook your food in seconds.
People seem to think that only medicines, injections, tablets or herbs
can cure sickness. These things are fine, but there is definitely a more
powerful and effective formula available to man, and that is the sound
principle in the form of mantra. In mantra yoga you repeat a particular
sound or word, which is suitable to your personality and your qualities.
The mantra is then transformed into sound, a patterned form of pure energy,
which is responsible for the regeneration of dead cells in the body.
The human brain consists of billions of archetypes, which are symbols
of man's experiences from this incarnation and previous incarnations,
from his fathers and forefathers. Every experience we perceive through
the senses is registered within the consciousness, not in its original
form, but in the symbolic form of an archetype. No experience is ever
lost or left unregistered by the human consciousness. There is a constant
process of registration, transformation and storage; right from the time
of birth up to the point of death, nothing we experience through our senses
is destroyed. Even experiences in sleep, dream, deep hypnosis and complete
unconsciousness take a symbolic form somewhere in the physical, mental
or causal bodies. They are known as samskaras, the different patterns
of man's karma. And these billions of samskaras find their expression
in this life of pain and pleasure, fulfilment and failure, sickness and
health. Yantra is the science of geometric symbols. They can release the
archetypes and samskaras which are deeply imbedded in the consciousness,
either in the form of visions, psychic experiences, psychic sensations,
divine experiences, dissipation or turbulence of the mind. By unburdening
the mind and the soul, the practices of mantra and yantra liberate the
potential energy in man.
Yoga nidra: to release tension
During our lifetime, we accumulate mental, muscular and emotional tensions,
and they affect our health. In yoga, the way to release these tensions
is through the practice of relaxation, or yoga nidra. This practice induces
pratyahara, a state in which the mind is isolated and the senses do not
feed the brain with fresh information. When there is complete isolation
from the influxes of the senses, the consciousness, the mind and the brain
undergo a metamorphosis, a complete transformation. It is as if a new
brain, mind and consciousness are being created out of the old brain,
mind and consciousness. All mental, muscular and emotional tensions are
immediately relaxed.
Kriya yoga: to evolve the higher mind
There are some sattwic people who have complete harmony within themselves,
but most people have rajasic minds and much inner conflict. Others are
tamasic; they do not even know they have conflicts. Therefore, the practices
of yoga are divided according to the grade and quality of the individual.
For those who have a harmonious state of mind, with few conflicts, there
is dhyana yoga, the practice of meditation. They can concentrate on one
point, and when the mind wavers, it can be brought back and re-focused
once again.
However, for those with very keen conflicts, it is not possible to concentrate
on one point. If they are compelled or forced to concentrate, they will
develop psychic difficulties and mental problems. For these people, the
awakening of energy, prana or kundalini, the dormant potential in man,
can best be accomplished through the simple practices of kriya yoga. This
is one of the most important methods for the people of our age, because
it is not possible for most people to keep their mind on one point all
the time. Their minds are so powerfully swayed by rajasic forces and the
dissipation is so great, that even if they want to concentrate for a particular
period of time, they find they are not able to.
Through ignorance, man has lapsed into this dissipated state of being.
However, this state is not the finished product of nature. Man has much
farther to travel before he jumps over the present state of mind and develops
a higher mind. That is his destiny; that is what he must do, if not now,
then in the course of 10,000, 20,000 or one million years. Nature is evolving
through man's consciousness. The purpose of kriya yoga is to accelerate
this process of natural evolution, so that man may be able to experience
the super mind, that higher state of being, right here and now.
Happiness and health
Even if a man has no physical sickness, no blood pressure problems, rheumatism,
migraine or sinusitis, still you can't call him healthy. He may not be
able to sleep, he may be suffering from anxiety neurosis, or he may be
fighting constantly with his family. Physical health is not the ultimate
definition of health; this is one important principle of yoga.
One may achieve fine health through the practices of hatha yoga, asanas,
pranayama, right living and right diet, but still be a very unhappy person.
Can you describe a very unhappy man as healthy? Is not unhappiness a disease?
What about the mind? How are you going to restore the health of the mind?
How are you going to restore happiness within the heart? The mind has
to be peaceful, tranquil and full of ananda. This is another central principle
of yoga.
You may have enough to eat, a good house and plenty of money to spend,
but at the same time you may be groping in ignorance and darkness, the
eternal nascence, that great avidya. Is avidya not the root cause of all
the diseases of mankind? Yoga addresses itself to this as well. Yoga recognizes
that man exists simultaneously in five bodies, including the physical,
pranic, mental, psychic and causal (or spiritual) bodies. Through the
practices of hatha yoga, raja yoga, kriya yoga and yoga nidra, we can
transform ourselves on all these different levels at the same time.
What has yoga given to mankind, and what will it give? There are hundreds
of thousands of people practising yoga all over the world, ridding themselves
of incorrigible and incurable illnesses. They are developing a new quality
of mind in order to live in this society. Yoga is giving them hope and
optimism, and expanding the horizons of their lives.
People who had lost all happiness due to physical ill health are now
enjoying the best of health. As a result of this, thousands of yoga centres,
yoga teachers and yoga students are now strung across the globe. What
has yoga given to mankind? A religion? An occult sect? No. A science,
an experience of transformation of the quality of mind? Yes. This is the
practical contribution of yoga to mankind in the past as well as in the
future.
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