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the Bhagavad-Gita, Vol. I, p. 157)
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". . .when I say yoga merely, we only recall
Pranayam, or standing on the head,
and all these physical exercises. Nothing of that sort is meant here. It is a practical philosophy
of life. . ."
(- Swami Ranganathananda, Universal Message of the Bhagavad-Gita, Vol. I, p. 157) |
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| Prologue
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Misuse and Abuse of a Great Philosophy (this page)
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What is Yoga |
| Why Yoga | What is Meditation | What is Pranayama |
| What is Japa | What is a Mantra | How to Meditate |
| How Long to Meditate | Best Place for Meditation | Best Time for Meditation |
| How to Perform Japa | How Many Times to Repeat the Mantra | What is Initiation |
| Who is the Guru | Qualifications of a Guru | Restrictions in Yoga |
| Obstructions to Yoga | About Kundalini | Cautionary Advice |
| Epilogue |
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Yoga has received so much hype lately in the West---perhaps since the advent of the hippie culture of the 1950's and 60's---that its meaning is no longer clear. The word itself and other Sanskrit words, such as guru, Brahman, Atman, mantra, dharma, Avatara, etc. from the Vedanta and the yoga literature have found places not only in the common parlance of English, but also in English dictionaries. Celebrities are practising yoga these days, and so are politicians and corporate executives, professionals and athletes, married couples and single parents, young and senior citizens. And why not? It's a crazy world out there. There is intense competition to keep up with progress, down sizing and restructuring, inflation and recession, drugs and crime, 9/11 and anthrax, corporate and political scandals. We live in a crazy world---not that the world has drastically changed lately---the world is the same as it has always been. Indeed, it's the technological advances that have brought the different parts of the world closer to each other. As a result, the world appears to be more chaotic than ever. Whatever the reason, we all need some peace of mind and relaxation in such a world. Don't we? What could be a better way to get peace of mind and relaxation than to practise a few yoga postures and breathing exercises for a few minutes every day? After all, this ancient technique is supposed not only to relax us, but it also promises to make our bodies healthy and beautiful, cure ailments, give us success in life, and so forth. So we are told by the proponents of the so-called yoga. No wonder that yoga institutions, studios, and classes are growing all over the world, especially in the United States---the land of opportunities and the free market---the supermarket of the world where anything sells! With so much hype, yoga has become a multi-billion dollar industry in this country. Ironically, what people learn from most yoga classes and what they usually practise is not yoga at all, but rather Hatha yoga. Sri Ramakrishna always cautioned his followers not to indulge in Hatha yoga. The Vedantists do not accept Hatha yoga. There is also Raja yoga. Raja yoga describes how to achieve union with God through the mind. . .This yoga is good. Hatha yoga is not good. (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, tr. Swami Nikhilananda, p. 331) And Swami Vivekananda echoed his guru's advice: This portion of yoga [asanas or postures] is a little similar to the Hatha-yoga which deals entirely with the physical body, its aim is to make the physical body very strong. We have nothing to do with it here [yoga]. . . .health is the chief idea, the one goal of the Hatha-yogi . . .He lives long. . . .But that is all. A banyan tree lives sometimes 5000 years, but it is a banyan tree and nothing more. So, if a man lives long, he is only a healthy animal. (Complete Works, Vol. 1, p. 138) In hatha yoga, which is radically different from Patanjali's system, greater importance is attached to the practice of asanas, or postures. Hatha yoga is a system of physical exercises and can hardly be correlated with systems the purpose of which is the attainment of spiritual freedom. Physical health is its principal objective. Many of the exercises in posture are not dissimilar to the practices recommended by Delsarte and other Western teachers. The hatha-yoga exercises no doubt have definite therapeutic value. (Swami Prabhavananda, The Spiritual Heritage of India , footnote, p. 251) Unfortunately, in spite of such warnings, opportunists have defiled yoga---a profound philosophy, psychology, and science, an all-in-one discipline---into a commercialized and publicized set of physical exercises and occult mumbo-jumbos for their selfish motives and for making money. Yoga has been erroneously interpreted as crystal gazing, fortune telling, fire eating and other types of miracle-mongering. Yoga has nothing to do with any kind of miracles or occult practices. Yoga is a rational method of self-discipline and purification of the heart. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God", says Christ. (Swami Aseshananda, cited in: Living Wisdom, ed. Pravrajika Vrajaprana, p. 74) The West, ignorantly, has connected the word yoga with acrobatic feats, sword-swallowing, lying on spikes, crystal-gazing, and so on. The so-called yogis who are to be met with in the busy streets of Benares [a holy city in northern India] or in the places of pilgrimage are never regarded by the Hindus as genuine yogis. They make a practice of showing their feats, or lie in the public gaze, proclaiming the mortification of their flesh in order to obtain a few cents from the credulous and the ignorant. . .Unfortunately, however, the pictures of these fakirs are printed and reprinted in American newspapers and magazines as pictures of the genuine yogis of India. (Swami Prabhavananda, The Spiritual Heritage of India , footnote, p. 251) . . .when I say yoga merely, we only recall Pranayam, or standing on the head, and all these physical exercises. Nothing of that sort is meant here. It is a practical philosophy of life. . . (Swami Ranganathananda, Universal Message of the Bhagavad-Gita, Vol. I, p. 157) In fact, yoga is a balanced way of life---a practical philosophy of life as quoted above, which has been an integral part of the Indian culture for almost five millennia now, irrespective of one's religious faith or sect. Also, as noted in the Prologue, certain elements of yoga can be found in some form or the other in all the major religions of the world. (Ref: The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley) So, why this misrepresentation and defiling of yoga? First, ignorance and lack of understanding of the depth and the profundity of this discipline by a vast majority of the people of India during the last millennium. A little learning is a dangerous thing. (Alexander Pope) Very often, even the clearest teaching can confuse people. . .Shankaracharya refers to this in his commentary on the Kena Upanishad (II.i), in a beautiful Sanskrit sentence:Among a number of students listening to a teacher in a class some students understand exactly what the teacher has said. . .some understand it wrongly. . . .some understand it just the opposite of what was said and some will not understand even a word. The second reason for the defilement of yoga is that, any system--- whether it's spiritual, social, educational, economic, or political---deteriorates as time passes. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Sri Krishna, says: I taught this yoga Furthermore, not only the system deteriorates and deviates from its principles and goal, it becomes infected with avarice, power, hatred, or with the business principles of making money. A few examples of our time:
The list goes on and on. And yoga by no means is an exception to these two basic rules. In fact, a religious/spiritual discipline, such as yoga, is especially vulnerable when it's turned into a commercial endeavour. For as soon as we bring money into religion or spirituality, it loses its profundity and objective. History shows that religion infected with avarice, power, greed, jealousy, hatred, and so forth, has brought many civilizations to ruin. To quote Swami Vivekananda: My Master [Sri Ramakrishna] used to say, "Religion is not talk, or doctrine, or theories; nor is it sectarianism. Religion cannot live in sects and societies. It is the relation between the soul and God; how can it be made into a society? It would then degenerate into business, and wherever there are business and business principles in religion, spirituality dies. (Complete Works, Swami Vivekananda, Vol. IV, p. 179 - 180) Unfortunately, this is precisely what happened to yoga: We [Indians] had associated yoga with everything except what Sri Krishna meant it to be---with changing one's external dress or appearance, with pranayama, with miracles, etc. In all these, we had neglected the fundamental buddhi (intellect) yoga, emphasis on work efficiency and character efficiency, renunciation of the ego through detachment, and service of fellow human beings. It was. . .misuse and abuse of a great philosophy. . . (Eternal, Values for a Changing Society, Swami Ranganathananda, Vol. IV, pp. 394 - 395) It's sad and alarming as well to observe that such misuse and abuse is taking place now in the West where opportunists---known as entrepreneurs in a free-market society---are misusing the word yoga to make money.
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