The people of Hyderabad as well as all the people who are here today are indeed very fortunate because you have heard two of the mantras given by Swami Satyananda. Hari Om is the mantra he gave in Munger; it is the yoga mantra. Namo Narayana is the mantra of Rikhia. Both these mantras are very important and they have now entered into your consciousness. They are mantras which recognize the divinity that is within you. And that is the subject matter of yoga: to recognize the divinity that is inside you. You have to recognize it; at present you do not recognize it.
In the Ramayana there is a very special moment. In the Ramacharitamanas it is described in ‘Sundarkand’ when Jamavant reminds Hanuman of his greatness. Hanuman has gone in search of Sita who has been kidnapped by Ravana. He is sent by Rama to locate where Sita is. When he reaches the brink of the ocean, he wonders how he would cross it. At that time Jamavant reminds him of his siddhi, psychic ability, to fly. Hanuman knew how to fly, but he did not remember that. Jamavant reminded him at that moment that he had the ability to soar across the ocean and reach the other side. Similarly, we have come here to just remind you of something which you already know, but have forgotten. You have forgotten about that yoga which is your inheritance by virtue of being born in this land of rishis and munis, sages and saints. It is the inheritance left behind by your ancestors.
We have come here only to remind you; we have not come here to teach you. You already know everything. We are just going to remove the veil which has blurred the memory in your mind. This knowledge was handed down by the rishi parampara, tradition of the sages, this great knowledge which is so essential for mankind no matter in which age we live, whether Satya Yuga or Treta Yuga. Of course in the Kali Yuga it is most important, because man has gone very far from the source of his essential nature.
What is yoga? Yoga is to live a natural life, to live a life understanding yourself. At present you don’t live that sort of life. If you lived a natural life, your body would tell you what you need to do; you would not have to ask anybody. This body is a product of nature, of the pancha mahabhootas, the five essential states of nature, and therefore whatever type of life you choose has to complement them. As the body is a product of nature, any means that you employ to improve yourself have to be natural, not chemical. We intake many things which are not natural and they cause an imbalance in the body. So when we talk of yoga, it is not just asanas and pranayamas that we have to consider. That is a very small portion of yoga. Yoga refers to a yogic lifestyle.
In Rikhia, which is the place of one of the greatest exponents of yoga, Swami Satyananda, we do not teach yoga. It was a conscious decision not to teach yoga although most people there are trained yoga teachers. We decided that instead of teaching yoga, we should encourage people to live yoga. Just to practise asana for ten minutes in a day is not enough. It is like sinning the whole week and then going for confession on Sunday, and then getting ready to sin the next week. If you fill yourself with toxins the entire week and want to eliminate them in ten minutes, it is not possible. The yogic lifestyle has to be included in your curriculum if you want to improve your lifestyle. People come to yoga when they begin to feel an imbalance in their life, an imbalance in the body, thought or emotions. It is to correct it that they come to yoga. And for this, they have to not just practise yoga, but live a yogic lifestyle.
Yogic lifestyle means two things: balance and discipline. The best example of balance is found in nature. Nature is balanced. The night is balanced by day, heat is balanced by cold. That is how nature acts all the time. It keeps on balancing everything that takes place. That is the balance that you have to bring into your own life, starting with the amount you sleep, eat, talk, think or work. You have to regulate everything. That is called balance: the middle path, no extremes. It is when you live a life of extremes that you tax your body and mind, and then you have to pay the price for that.
The second aspect is that most dreaded word: discipline. If you want to achieve anything in life you have to discipline yourself. A musician has to follow discipline, a businessman has to follow discipline, even a housewife has to follow discipline to run her home. Yoga and discipline go hand in hand. Without discipline you cannot even think about practising yoga.
So this is the yogic lifestyle which you have to think about if you want to include yoga in your curriculum, and not just practise asanas. And that is what you have to carry away from this program.
March 2008, Hyderabad