The
many shades of Yoga
With the International Yoga
Day looming ahead we tried to read up on Yoga and found to our utter confusion that
there were many shades of this thing called YOGA. There was Jnana Yoga implying
intense meditation and an attainment of knowledge and wisdom; there was the
physical Hatha Yoga to improve the suppleness and strength of one’s limbs;
there was a Bhakthi Yoga to enable one to dissolve oneself in the divine and
there was the Karma Yoga of the selfless
man who works for the well being of fellowmen. Besides, we also had lesser known
variations such as Kriya Yoga, Swara Yoga,
Mantra Yoga etc. – and no less the modern American practices of hot yoga or
yoga in a sauna.
Which of these many Yogas do
we choose for the International Yoga Day? Just stretching our limbs in calisthenic
poses and chanting OM hardly does justice to the ancient concept of yoga.
By grafting on to the contemporary
postural yoga the vocal, loud utterance of OM, exemplifying the power of the word,
and hence the mind, we are attempting to literally yoke mind and body into a
union of physical and spiritual praxis.
Swami Viekananda had
rejected Hatha Yoga as it was very difficult, not quickly learned, and did not
lead to much spiritual growth. For him Raja Yoga was the way and we can now make
pretence with a pale imitation by pronouncing OM while practicing our postures.
Of all the extolled virtues
of Yoga perhaps the most wondrous is the mind reading capability posited by
some ancients and my story with the link given below may entertain. It is International
with some Yoga thrown in.
It’s
my offering for The International Yoga Day of 21 June 2016.
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