THE INNER
WORLD OF MAN-samskaras and smritis.
One day,
on my way, I found an irate mob beat up a man. He was crying for
help. I peeped through the crowd . I was really amazed to find
that he was the same man who,years back,
humiliated me in the public for no fault of mine. He beat me up.
My mind was filled with revenge; but I could not do any thing as
I was small and he was a known rowdy. I had forgotten that
incident. But now when I saw him being beaten up, my mind
recalled the entire episode. In fact I was happy as the mob was
doing the job which I wanted to do. I shouted “beat him up
again”. Had he be a man who has done a good thing for me, I
would have tried to help him. Remember Jesus Christ said, he who
sows shall reap.
Let us
analyse the above situation. Years back I had a bitter
experience with that man. I thought I had forgotten. But the
fact was that the experience was kept recorded in my psyche and
when the appropriate stimuli came the whole thing came to mind.
That means even if we feel that it is forgotten, the fact is not
like that. It has disappeared from the conscious plane, but
entered the subconscious. Every day we record into our psyche
,all our experiences. These recorded data are called samskara
and when it is recalled it is called smriti. Whatever we
experience in the universe through or senses are recorded and we
can have access to them in times of need.The yogis say that we
have the same universe outside us , within our inner self. So if
we want to explore the universe we need not travel but simply
look within and deep into our psyche.
These
samskaras,the seers say, are not only experiences of the present
birth, but also previous births. Here they believe that the
jivatma is born again and again several times till it gets
revelation.
We can
take another example. Suppose you are giving a lecture on the
origin and evolution of cricket. While speaking you may recite a
lot of things in your mind, the different aspects of cricket,
the matches you have seen,read about etc. These memories come in
neat array. At that time your mind does not recollect about wars
and battle. When you are speaking about wars and battles, you
recollect about wars and battles and not about cricket matches.
It means
the psyche records and keep the data in neat order so that we
can fall back upon very easily and recollect them seraially.
That is the power of the brain.
GOOD AND BAD TUNE
TO SEE GOOD IN OTHERS.
I had
an urgent work in an office situated up town. I was very much
unhappy as I had no friend there.The time with me was short
and I had to retu7rn at the earliest.
As I
entered the office I could find a big crowd. Not knowing what
to do I kept silent for a while,
when I heard a voice” Mr. Raman why you are here.” I
saw a man smiling towards me. I
told him my need. Immediately he called me inside and got my
work done. I could not believe. Even the man was not known to
me. I asked ,”how do you
you know me
me.” He narrated an
incident. Years back I had done him a
favour which helped him a lot in his life. I could not
remember the incident but he remembered the same as the matter
was so important for him. My mind was filled with the thought
A small
help however trivial it may be for us can yield better
rewards. If contrarily, I had ill treated him
What
would have been my fate. We can win
love, by loving. Get help, by helping. Yoga during the
practice help us develop these
qualities without even our knowledge. Similarly, man has good
and bad qualities. We cannot find a 100 percent good man and
100 percent bad man. If we identify a person with his good
aspects, he will like to be friendly with you.
Yogic
meditation helps you to transplant your
samskaras.
ASHTANGA YOGA
Yoga
has eight limbs:
1.
The yamas-the
ethical Do-nots
2.
The niyamas- the
ehical Dos.
3.
The Asanas- the
physical posturtes
4.
Pranayama-
the control of prana, the
bio-energy
5.
Pratyahara- withdrawal of senses
6.
Dharana-
concentration
7.
Dhyana
– meditation
8.
Samadhi- the transce.
The
classical yoga text is available as the
Patanjali yoga sutras by sage
Patanjali. The sutras are Sanskrit aphorisms. According
to Patanjali, Yoga is a
technic of silencing the mind.
That is controlling mental modifications.(
Yogaschitta
vridhi nirodhah.)
Sage
Vasishta has also defined yoga
as mana
prasamana
upayah.
Both points to the same
technic of controlling the mind.
All yoga practices are designed to calm down the mind and
control it. Let us examine each limb one by one.
The
Yamas- the first limb
1. Ahimsa-
do not kill. Man has no right to
kill. In a broad sense the yogis say we should not hurt others
in word thought or deed.
2.
Stayam
: Truthfulness. Always say truth. If you cannot say
don’t tell any thing. But never tell lies.
3.
Astheyam: Non
stealing. Donot aspire for others
property.
4.
Aparigraham: Do not try to amass
wealth more than wat is required.
Remember Jesus see the flies they are not sowing and
harvesting. Avoid greed in earning riches.
5,
Brahmacharya: celibacy. In fact
ther is belief that one should not
engage in sex while doing yoga. This is a misconception. In
the broader sense you should try to spend less energy as yoga
aims at conserving energy so that it gets transmuted as
ojas a refined form of energy that
gets reflected on the face of godly people. And sexual act is
one which drains up energy as if in blast. So
try
to avoid energy wastes as far as possible.
The
Niyamas the second
limb
1.
Soucham:
Clenliness. Clean up your body and
keep it dirt free.Keep the mind
also clean with sublime thoughts .
Don’t let sinful thoughts enter your mind.
2.
Santhosham:
Happiness. Try to cultivate thehabit
of being happy always. Face unhappy situations with
equanimity.
3.
Tapas:
persevere . Fix an aim in life and
persevere to reach the goal .
Relentless pursuit.
4.
Swadhyaya:
Self study that is study about our own self. Who am I. My mind
etc. Upanshadic philosophy gives
insight into the self.
5.
Iswarapranidhana:
Surrender to God. Mother Teresa said I am pen at the hands of
Jesus.
6.
Every action of yours is not yours but of god. Prayers help
materialize this surrender.
The
above yamas and
niyamas are moral discipline and
irrespective of whether you are in the yoga lore or not, the
practice of which helps you to lead a tension free life. Yoga
is a way of life and
while
practising yoga, try to imbibe the
above even if you feel it is difficult. Remember slow and
steady wins the race.
STRESS , PSYCHOSOMATIC AILMENTS AND YOGA
Harold
was a dedicated worker. He was very much duty conscious and
tried to perform the tasks with utmost sincerity. His
colleagues were not as good as him and many important tasks
were assigned to him.
One day
his boss called him into his cabin and fired him left and
right. A few of the clients with whom he had maintaind good
rapport were inside the room. Harold knew the fault was not
his; yet the boss was very cruel. Harold felt humiliated in
front of the outside clients and blood rushed on to his
face.Unable to say any thing to the boss he swallowed the
tension and came out. The whole day he was depressed and
could not do any thing. He made a lot of mistakes that day.
Next
day agin the boss called him into the cabin. Contrary to his
expectation the boss seemed apologetical and wanted Harold to
forget the incident.. Harold never expected such a behaviour
from his boss. He felt elated and came out happy. That day
he performed well.
The
above is a typical case of stress and release of stress. The
first day he was stressed up , his mind laden with sorrw and
humiliation. He had no way to release the stress. But when
the
boss
apologized his sorrow melted out and the stress got released.
In
daily life we face a lot of stressful situations like this.
Some get released and and some do not. These stresses pack up
into your system till a saturation point is reached wherein
the pwer to accommodate is lost. This causes imbalance and
this imbalance results in functional disorders which get
aggravated as psychosomatic diseases. Asthma,
diabetics,hypertension, angina, low back pain, insomnia, etc
are the main psychosomatic ailments. Medication
can
only control the symptoms and once medication stopped the
symptoms again spring up.
Yoga
works miracles in reducing stress levels and the diseases are
attacked at their very root.Scientific researches show that
yoga is effective in controlling psychosomatic diseases.
See
www.vkyogas.org.in - RESEARCH. The
rishis of India had branded these diseases as Aadhija Vyadhis
meaning
vyadhis born out of aadhis. In Sanskrit aadhi means psychic
distractions ,vyadhis
means
diseases and ja means born out of.
ASANAS OR
POSTURES The Third limb
In yoga many asanas
are practiced. Asanas are
physical postures generally imitating animals and birds in
nature.These
asanas can be broadly
classified in to 2.
The meditative postures and cultural
postures.
The
sitting posturtes are
meditative postures, that is
postures used for meditation.
The
cultural postures culture the body.
The
cultural postures are again classified into
1.
Standing
2.
Sitting
3.
Supine-that is lying on the back; and
4.
Prone – lying the
frontside down.
There
are so many types of asanas.
Similarly, the same asana is given different names.
People usually get confused, which is better. In fact one
has to choose the number, type
Etc according to his
capacity and time. The effect
of yoga is obtained not by doing
difficult asanas but by doing
tha proper way. Always remember
yoga asanas are to be
practised in a gentle way.
NA
HATAT NA BALAT- NOT WITH BRUTAL
FORCE. No suffocation , no
gasping, no shivering and no jerks. After the practice you
should feel cool , relaxed and
energetic.
An
ideal selection should contain one forward bent, one
backward bent. One lateral bent and
sideward
twist.
Always there is a principle of counter
posture , i.e. a forward bend to be followed by
backward bend
One
lateral bend to one side followed by lateral bend to the
opposite side and one right twist followed
by
one left twist.As almost all
asanas involve movement of
spine, it is important to take care not to get the spine
injured. The final posture as in picture may not be
possible. Need not worry. Bend as
much as possible with out any discomfort. Remember one day
you will reach that stage, even after months of practice. Be
patient and stead fast. Else you may damage your spine.
Even before reaching the final stage, you will surely get
the benefits.
Thank you
Raman
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