Yoga — beyond twists and turns

The term “Yoga” is not something limited to the Indian subcontinent. In some of the ancient Gospels whether it is in English or Hebrew or any other prevalent languages, the term has secured its place.

Jesus says “Come to me, for my yoga is easy and my leadership is gentle” in one of the Gospels which was initially excavated in Hebrew language and then translated to English.

Yoga is not just twisting and turning of the body parts. Of course, there are a lot of benefits to it in terms of flexibility, physical wellbeing, and health improvement. There is something beyond it.

Lord Sri Krishna gave a unique definition to Yoga where He said “Yogah Karmastu Kaushalam”, roughly can be translated to Creativity and Perfection in one’s duty is called Yoga. To become Yogis, we don’t need to take specific time-off from our busy schedules and attend Yogasana classes, browse through for so-called Yoga certifications, sit forcibly to meditate while feeling super sleepy, or even perform a crazy number of Surya Namaskaaras.

Whatever we do for our livelihood, if performed with intense focus, added with our creative touch and our best try to achieve perfection will itself be Yoga. And if we keep it doing over some time we all can become Yogis. How profound and practical!

Yoga’s flavors are available in many aspects of human life. Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Upasana Yoga, Jeevana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Sahaja Yoga, Pathanjali Ahstanga Yoga and many more. They are all certainly forms of Yoga. One thing which stands out with the definition of Yoga given by Sri Krishna is it forms the foundation for all the other Yoga forms mentioned.

If we want to reinforce a little more excellence to become Yogis, there is another line available from our ancient texts of Chandogya Upanishad which says “yadeva vidyayā karoti śraddhayopaniṣadā tadeva vīryavattaraṃ bhavatīti”. This can be roughly translated to “Whatever you do in life, first know, and then respect/believe in it, and then do it. That becomes the most powerful way of executing your task”.

Our Vedic culture never preached or taught us to believe in something with ignorance. It always gave more importance to knowing and then doing the things. If we do things without knowing it becomes “superstition” and if we just know the things and do it without any respect or belief, it becomes a way of “show-off” or a tool to exploit others. I don’t believe in what I do, but still, I do it, because you start following me and I can easily exploit you the way I want. Hence our culture gave a perfect definition which certainly helps to become better Yogis.

Any discussion on Yoga is incomplete without Numerology. There is a profound significance for the number “21” in Indian Philosophy. It is usually associated with one of the most worshipped deities — Sri Ganesha or Ganapathi or Vinayaka. He is widely revered, more specifically, as the remover of obstacles; the patron of arts and sciences; and the God of intellect and wisdom. According to Kundalini yoga, Ganesha resides in the first chakra, called Muladhara (mūlādhāra). Mula means “original, main”; adhara means “base, foundation”. The muladhara chakra is the principle on which the manifestation or outward expansion of primordial Yogic Force rests.

21 is divisible by only 7 and 3 apart from 1 and 21 itself.

Let us see some important expressions of the number ‘7’.

Ø Seven musical notes or Saptasvara — ‘Sa’, ‘Ri’, ‘Ga’, ‘Ma’, ‘Pa’, ‘Da’, ‘Ni’ (Co-incidentally 21st June is International Music day also)

Ø Seven revered saints or Saptarshi — Kaashyapa, Athri, VasishTa, Vishwamitra, Gautama, Jamadagni, Bharadwaja.

Ø Seven meters of pronunciation or Chandas — Gayatri, Ushnik, Anushtup, Bruhati, Pankti, Trishtup, Jagati

Ø Seven days in a week — Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Ø Seven lokas below — Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala, Paatala

Ø Seven ductless glands in us — Gonad, Cells of Leydig, Adrenal, Thymus, Thyroid, Pineal, Pituitary

Ø Seven Chakras — Muladhara, Swadishtana, Manipura, Anahatha, Vishuddhi, Agnaa, Sahasraara

Ø Seven Great Rivers — Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Godavari, Narmada, Sindhu, Kaveri

Ø Seven Continents in the world — Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Australia, Antarctica

Ø Seven Oceans in the world — Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean

If we add the numbers in 21, it results in 3. The number ‘3’ is also of utmost significance in our Yogic culture.

Ø Three flavors of soulful expressions — Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.

Ø Three energies for a thing to happen — Jnanashakti, Icchashakti, and Kriyashakti.

Ø Three vedas — Rigveda, Yajurveda, and Samaveda *

*The usually referred 4th Veda is complied by a Rishi called Atharva and got the name Atharvana Veda. Fundamentally there are only three vedas. Rigveda denoting the Poetic expression of the text of wisdom, Yajurveda denoting the Prose form of expressing the text of wisdom, musically composed verses of texts from Rig and Yajurveda is Samaveda. There is no other form a text of wisdom that can be expressed — Poem, Prose, and Musically composed expression.

Ø Three points of view — First person (I), Second person(You), Third-person (They).

Ø Three tenses — Past tense, Present tense, and Future tense.

Ø Three states of human life — Awakened, Sleep, and Dream.

Ø Three fundamental components of all materials of our world — Earth, Water, and Fire

Ø Three fundamental sounds in “Om” — ‘a’, ‘u’, ‘m’. This sound is regarded as the highway in the journey of Yoga.

Added to this, the International Yoga day of 2021 is on Ekadashi. It simply means 11th day in a Lunar cycle. And a term which is closely associated with Ekadashi is “Upavasa”. “Upavasa” doesn’t mean Fasting. The term “Upavasa” can be divided as Upa+Vasa. “Upa” means Elevated state. English language borrowed this Sanskrit word and used it as “Up” with same meaning, Hindi used it as “Upar” again denoting the same meaning. It became “Op” in Danish, “Appu” in Japanese, “Upara” in Punjabi, and “Upp” in Swedish. All of them are probably derived from the Sanskrit word “Upa”. “Vasa” means living. So a psychologically and mentally elevated state of living is called “Upavasa”. Fasting is one of the tools that just support attaining this elevated state of being. This state is another facet of Yoga in itself.

To summarize, we all can practice Yoga in every moment of our lives and turn to be blissful Yogis. “Yogah Karmastu Kaushalam — Creativity and Perfection in our duty” is the fundamental governing law. “yadeva vidyayā karoti śraddhayopaniṣadā tadeva vīryavattaraṃ bhavatīti — First know it, then respect/believe in it and then do it to experience a powerful execution way and powerful results”.

Yoga is everywhere, beyond our imaginations. With a sense of wholistic understanding of Yoga, let us initiate our journey to become Yogis on this International Yoga day — 21-Jun-2021.

Happy Yoga Day!