Yoga - Being a Part of Everything

“Yoga” is a comprehensive word suggesting union. Whatever leads to union can be called yoga. The word “yoga” has been used in the past with a certain understanding, but today it is used loosely, frivolously. Only the surface of yoga has come to the West – not the soul of yoga. This is a serious problem. Thinking that yoga is a practice is like having a stillbirth – there is no life in it.

A lot of people think Patanjali is the origin of yoga – he is not. When Patanjali came, yoga had evolved and developed into over 1800 schools. Over 1800 varieties of yoga were going on in India at that time.

When Patanjali came, he saw this immense knowledge, but it had become impractical for anyone to grasp everything. So he reduced the whole thing into a few sutras – eight limbs of yoga – so that it is a little easier for people to grasp. It was not wrong that there were 1800 varieties of yoga – it was just impractical.

Patanjali defined and described yoga in many ways because he was more of a scientist than a saint. He went about it very mathematically. A sutra is like a formula. He simply said, “Chittavrittinirodha.” This means if cessation of intellect happens, you will be in yoga. The fundamental nature of your intellect is, it is divisive. It is a knife-like instrument.

The way for the intellect to analyse and know anything is to dissect, to cut up everything and look at it. If you keep dissecting everything, you will know one aspect of life, but you will not know the nature of life.

By dissection, you can know the physicality – you cannot know the entirety of life. So Patanjali said if you cease your intellect consciously and you are still alert – not drugged out – if you bring your intellect to a hold and it is not cutting up anything, then it is in a state of nirodha. That means the intellect is not active, but you are fully conscious. Then you are in yoga, because if you do not divide the world, as you breathe, as you pulsate with life, you will know you are a part of everything.

Courtesy : isha.sadhguru.org

Ho Ho Ho

The year is coming to a close

And what have you done this  year?

One more year gone

Are your still alive?

And what are your alive to? And What are you dead to?

When was the last time you saw a full moon?

Or a sun rise?

When was the last time you gazed at a mountain or the ocean?

Or looked at a butterfly fly?

When was the last time you saw a flower blossom?

Or kicked a ball?

When was the last time you smiled at yourself?

When was the last time you looked back and could laugh at yourself?

For the last few days of the year and for the years to come,

get into the act and make it happen for yourself.

 Come Alive,

Sadhguru