What is the true meaning of Yoga?
Is it an exercise of body and mind?
If you go on a quest, you will know this is a myth
What it truly is, you will find
The whole world is doing Yoga
Two billion they say are at it
But isn't it a pity, though the whole world does it
What they are doing is nothing but a myth
Yoga actually means Union
It is Union with the Divine
It is realizing that we are the Divine Soul
Not the ego, body, and mind
The whole world is talking about Yoga. It is considered to
be some mystical, Divine Indian concept that gives instant
peace. People say it is the Union of body, mind, and Soul.
But is this what Yoga truly is?
Yoga today is primarily taught as a set of body postures or
Asanas. Some take it a step further and include breathing
exercises referred to as Pranayama.
But this is not true Yoga! This may be good for our physical well-being and excellent as breathing exercises, but true Yoga is something completely different.
Foreigners ock to the Yoga capital of the world – Rishikesh on the foothills of the Himalayas in India to learn Yoga. There are hundreds of Yoga institutes and thousands of Yoga teachers, each teaching Yoga in their own unique way, based on certain ancient principles, but not many know what the true meaning of Yoga is.
Yoga is so popular that it has spread its inuence globally.
There are many Yoga journals, Yoga institutes and several
millionAmericans,Europeans andothers aroundthe world who practice Yoga on a regular basis and the numbers are growing. Unfortunately, while they enjoy a good workout of body and mind, they have not discovered the Divine Truthabout Yoga.
Most people think of Yoga to be a magical exercise tha
promises good health and well-being through proper exercise of the body and modulation of breath control. In reality, Yoga has very little to do with physical and breathing exercises. In fact, Yoga is all about transcending the body and mind. Unfortunately, we think of Yoga as a Yogic activity that circles around the body and we have become prisoners of the myth called Yoga.
Those who think that Yoga is just about stretching the body will be in for a big surprise when they read this book. It will trigger their mind and help them overcome the mis-conceptions about Yoga.
Yoga has become a global fashion with manufacturers
producing special clothing, unique mats, and yogic music to facilitate the practice of Yoga. The commercialization of Yoga has reached its peak with special Yogic teas and decoctions. The creativity in Yoga merchandise is truly amazing!
All this is perfectly ok and there is certainly no harm in
following and practising these body postures. In fact, it is good to perform these physical exercises and breathing practices for our general health and wellbeing as they help strengthen our physical and mental state. However, these twin practices that have become a global fad, in no way represent what Yoga truly is.
Yoga,inreality,is aUnionwiththeDivine.There isnodoubt that as part of the entire Yogic experience, some saints advocated
certain body postures and breathing exercises to be a part of the overall Yoga practice, but most denitely, these by them selves are not Yoga.
True Yoga is a Soulful and Divine Experience and doesn’t
necessarily need one to do Asanas and Pranayama. These
physical and breathing exercises are not mandatory to experience the benets of Yoga.
Unfortunately, now that Yoga has become a fashion, people are blind to its true meaning. It has become so commercial that many hotels in India advertise Yoga sessions to lure foreign tourists to stay in their hotels.
In fact, there are thousands of Yoga retreat centres that have
mushroomed all over India and many parts of the world that boast of teaching Yoga and assure guests of a Yogic transformation after their Yoga retreat.
It is not only foreigners who have been carried away by a
wrong understanding of Yoga. Most Indians too say that they are doing Yoga when they stretch their body a bit and when they perform Asanas or Pranayama.
This breath control along with physical exercises, without the other aspects of Yoga, are ineffective in achieving the true objective of Yoga. It is only the tip of the iceberg
Those who think that Yoga is just Asanas and Pranayama do
not realize that an essential and a large part of Yoga is missing and this results in ignorance.
The true meaning of Yoga remains elusive as it continues to remain unknown to the world. In reality, the true meaning of Yoga is no secret but because of the mass commercialization of the myth that is called Yoga, the Truth about Yoga has lost its importance and signicance.
Yoga is the key to unlock the ultimate goal of life - ‘Liberation’, but to do so, we must understand the true meaning of Yoga. We must bust the myth about Yoga that is circulating all around the world and discover the true meaning of Yoga.
This book attempts to explain everything about Yoga, its actual meaning and signicance, how it must be practised and how through Yoga, one can be liberated and experience ultimate Divine peace and bliss. Come let us discover the Truth about Yoga.
Yoga is not just moving your hands and legs,
Yoga has a different Goal.
Yoga is realizing we are not body and mind,
Yoga discovers we are the Soul.
door to our ultimate goal of Life and then show us a way to
everlasting peace, joy, and bliss. Most of Yoga in the world today is about physical exercise, popularly known as Yogasana. While these are body postures that were originally
designed to create a sitting posture so that one could remain in a state of silent meditation, Yogasanas have modernized into something else. Modern Yoga encompasses all kinds of physical exercises which include stretching of the body, reclining, standing, squatting, inverting and twisting the body.
While these physical exercises may help improve Fexibility and well-being, they have nothing to do with true Yoga. The most exotic Yogasanas today seem to be Tadasana, or mountain pose, Vrikshasana or tree pose, Adho Mukha Svanasana or downward facing dog pose, Trikonasana or triangle pose, Kursiasana or chair pose, Naukasana or boat pose and Bhujangasana or cobra pose.
These unique postures are the brainchild of man, who
started with simple postures like Sukhasana, a comfortable
cross-legged position, Vajrasana or sitting on the heals,
Padmasana or lotus position and ultimately, Shavasana or the corpse pose where one ends a Yoga session lying down, face upwards with body and mind focussing on nothing. Yoga has promised the world not just peace of mind, but the well-being of the physical and mental faculties that ultimately lead to the union of body, mind, and Soul. How these physical postures will take us to such a union, remains a mystery!
Another myth about Yoga is that one has to be exible when
in reality true Yoga has nothing to do with the physical self. No doubt a sick body cannot be in Yoga, but this myth that having a exible body is a must to do Yoga is an illusion. It confuses people about Yoga’s true goal of Enlightenment. Instead of using the body and its physical presence as basic preparation for the advanced spiritual activity called Yoga, most of the world is just going around in circles and reaching nowhere. A true Yogi must be physically t because a sick body cannot achieve the true objective of Yoga. To that extent, certain physical postures may be relevant for practicing Yoga, but they will not form the essentials of Yoga.
Those who go beyond physical exercises have made Yoga a
set of breathing techniques, popularly known as Pranayama.
Pranayama is all about controlling the breath. Pranayama
advocates that the purpose of Yoga is to regulate prana or
the vital life energy which is our very source and if we can control it, we will be blessed with peace and tranquillity. There is no doubt that breath control is important for our mental wellness and helps us achieve a state of momentary peace, but this by itself is not Yoga.
Today’s Yoga, promises the sky as followers perform
Asanas, Pranayama and evolve further into several Yogic
practices like Bhramari, Anulom-Vilom, and Bhastrika
Pranayama. By themselves, these unique breathing exercises might have their own benets, but they cannot take one into a state of Yoga.
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