My guru, Sri Swamiji, used to say many times, that he does not subscribe to an hour of yoga teaching daily. He used to say, ‘Yoga training has to be fully residential.’ One day I asked him why we did not accept day students, and why he is insisting upon residential training? He simply said, ‘If I wanted to teach yoga without any concern and care for the tradition, then I would accept day scholars. If I have to consider yoga as a tradition, and as a vidya which has to be imbibed, then residential training is always better, as aspirants are imbibing many ideas and thoughts, with which they can experiment in an ashram environment.’
At home, there is a disconnect; you get diverted and the mind becomes engaged in other things of home, profession and family. If you have habits, they do not go. If you are smoking, you are smoking. If you are drinking, you are drinking. In an ashram, there is a controlled environment. Disciplines and systems are there, and they regulate the experience of the ashram. The people who are able to spend time in an ashram, will have a better, a more definite, and a deeper experience of yogic practices.
Gradually we have to build up to that, for yoga is not just training in one aspect of yoga. I would say that nobody teaches yoga in the world. Yoga is just a name. Everyone is teaching asanas, postures, and they call that yoga. They are yoga asanas, the name is clear. When we say the word yoga, we think of yoga as a whole subject. That whole concept of yoga is not confined to the practice of asana only. The impact of yoga has to be on lifestyle.
Generally, all the questions that are being asked are piece-meal enquiries. What do I do, if I get pain in my thumb, in my ankle, in my back or head? ‘How do I manage my ego? How do I know when I should act, and when I should not intervene?’ These are piecemeal expressions of an individual. Instead of worrying about one little component or aspect of body or life, why do we not try to manage the whole body and life?
That is the aspect of lifestyle. It is not intervention, correction, therapy or alteration. It is regulating the lifestyle. To think of yoga as a lifestyle and not as a practice was one of the biggest teachings of Swami Sivananda and Swami Satyananda. That is what we are developing more and more at Ganga Darshan. It has started. It has not come to its fulfilment, completion or conclusion. The process has just started and a few steps have been taken. The benefit of these few steps has been immense. The mind has its own nature, its own conditionings, its own likes and dislikes. Ego has its own nature, its own conditionings, its own expectations. Everything has its limitation in this life. Everything is conditioned in this life. What we experience in our life as success or failure, elation or depression, are only expressions of what we are feeling in our mind, in the realm of manas, buddhi, chitta and ahamkara. We are reacting to that. If these four components are in harmony, there will not be any problem at all. Not of uncertainty, not of ego, tension and anxiety, or about how do I live in this material world. The yogic attitude will be there all the time with you.
People ask how to live in this consumeristic world. If there is this yogic attitude, you can easily live it. That yogic attitude and awareness has to be cultivated. When that awareness and attitude is there, you can ask yourself, ‘Do I desire it? Do I want it? Do I need it?’ Then make a decision. You see a new model of a car, a fridge, a stove, anything. You want to get it, but you never ask yourself the question, ‘Do I desire it? Do I want it? Do I need it?’ A person with yogic awareness, a person with a yogic attitude, will definitely ask. That is the counterweight to the consumeristic hypnosis.
When you do window shopping, ask yourself, ‘Do I want it? Do I desire it? Do I need it?’ You will discover an interesting side of yourself. One will be greed, which has attracted you to that item in the first place. ‘So nice, so beautiful. I want to have it. It is something that will take me one step above my status.’ You get caught in that desire. If the yogic awareness and attitude is there, you say, ‘Just let me see whether I need it or not.’ That is the counterbalance to the desire.
I am giving you a lecture or an idea. This is the result, the outcome of a yogic lifestyle. The yogic lifestyle is lived 24/7. Even when you sleep, your mind is at peace. It is not restless, anxious, worried, fearful or insecure. There is harmony. When you are awake, you interact with the world with wisdom. It is lack of wisdom which creates problems in people’s lives. If there is wisdom, there will not be any problem. Rather, you will find solutions to challenges, difficulties and problems.
Asana is necessary for the body; pranayama is necessary to oxygenate the brain; mantra is necessary to access the subconscious mind; relaxation is necessary to eliminate all the stresses of life; meditation is important to clean the mind of negativity, and to again bring back awareness of positivity. For you have to reconnect with the positive continuously, and that happens when you live a yogic lifestyle.
Pratipaksha bhavana is changing the negative into positive. That creates a change in the inner mental perception. It changes the behaviour and nature of the mind, but then you have to start somewhere. You have to deal with your body, your senses, your mind and your emotions, and have this harmony. Then the yogic lifestyle begins. So, focus on the practices which can lead you to the development of a better lifestyle. Once you come upon a better lifestyle, while you are living at home, in society, then balance and harmony can be maintained.
During Corona times in 2020, 2021, when people were living at home, we put out a program called Yogic Lifestyle. That gave an engagement of twelve hours to everybody, while they were doing their normal activities at home, or in the office for their profession. The response that we had from people about this particular program was overwhelmingly positive. They said, ‘Even in isolation, even when we were not meeting with people, even when there was fear around us, we lived happily without any stress and anxiety. We utilized that period to develop a yogic lifestyle and awareness which has helped us and is helping us even now. Yoga now has become part of our life. It is not a practice anymore.’ In this manner, many people commented on making yoga a part of lifestyle, rather than practising yoga for a limited time during the week.
Yogis envisioned this. When yogis were exploring yoga and experimenting with yoga, they were looking at yoga as a lifestyle. Of course, thousands of years ago they were not living in a consumeristic society. Their lifestyle itself was different with less hassle than today. However, even then, they were looking at an ideal lifestyle which would help them fulfil all the aspirations of life, from the material to the spiritual. They hit upon yoga. Yoga could help them physically, psychologically and spiritually. That is how yoga has to be looked at.
We have to relearn how to live our life, no matter where we are. With more awareness, more dignity, more self-control, with a better attitude, with better interaction and communication, with more joy and happiness. There is a poem:
It’s a small world after all.
There is just one moon and a golden sun.
And a smile means Welcome to Everyone.
Though the oceans are wide,
And the mountains divide,
It’s a small world after all.
We are part of that small world. We are the Little Prince of our own planet. So, why don’t we learn to live like a prince of the planet? When you become prince of your own planet, not in arrogance, wealth and prosperity, but in humanness, then the world will become a better place.
How can we manage subtle influences? If an animal dies at some distance, the stench will travel a long way. If the wind is blowing towards you, you will smell the stench. Although the animal is dead far away. Something like this happens in the dimension of consciousness as well. I have been a witness to that in the ashram. When social media started and as it picked up pace in the outer world, I started noticing a change in the mentality and attitude of the ashram residents. Although they have no mobiles, change started. Their responses started to change. For quite a few years I observed them, and I questioned, ‘Why are they changing?’ Is it the psychic influence, the inner subtle influence of society, which is now so overpowering that it is affecting everyone? So, there is a subtle change.
If a fire is burning, the smoke will be smelt at some place at a far distance. If the global mind-set is behaving in a particular manner, the collective consciousness is also going to shower on people who are totally separate from society. Even in deep jungles and forests, people will be affected. We live in two dimensions: the individual consciousness and the collective consciousness. Although we identify with the individual consciousness, we are influenced by the collective consciousness. That is a big challenge.
At this time, meditation helps. If you are aware of some-thing that is changing in you, meditation will help you to fix it. If you are not aware of the change that is happening within you, you will change and no meditation will help. So awareness has to be cultivated. Nobody noticed the change that was happening. Only I was seeing the change that was happening in people. Why? If today you ask me, I will say that they had no awareness. Otherwise they would have seen, ‘How am I responding? What am I thinking? How am I acting? How am I performing?’ When a person is on the move, they are not aware of the movement.
What is yogic awareness, what is a yogic attitude? It is walking and being aware of the walk, it is taking a step and being aware of each step, it is breathing and being aware of every breath, it is thinking and being aware of every thought, it is feeling and being aware of every feeling. The torch has to shine in the whole room, not just in one spot in the room. When the torch shines only in one spot, you are not seeing the dark space. When the light of the torch shines in the whole room, there is no dark space.
The mind has to develop; the mind has to expand. Energy has to be liberated. This means that the lens of our torch has to become wider and more energy has to be given to the bulb, so that it shines brighter. That is expansion of mind and liberation of energy, which is an indication of a developed awareness. With this developed awareness, you can manage the subtle influences better.
10 March 2024, Ganga Darshan, Munger