Yoga Demonstration - 03/07/2009

Here's how my part of the Yoga demonstration went:
Good Evening Friends!
The subject of Yoga is as vast as the sky and cannot be bound by time. But, sadly, we all are. So let's take a short journey into the world of Yoga.
On the blackboard:
--------------------------------------YOGA------------------------------------------
Before going deeper into the subject we have to come to an understanding as to what Yoga means. The Sanskrit word 'yoga' has many meanings but is derived from the word 'YUJ' which means to control or to unite.
Control? How? Unite? With what?
To find answers to these questions we will have to travel back in history to about 4000-5000 BCE, to the Vedic period. Vedas are ancient scriptures of India, which formed the basis for philosophical thought, science and arts of India. They are considered to contain all the knowledge that man can attain. There are four Vedas which were transferred by the oral tradition of teaching from generation to generation. The Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and the Atharva Veda.
Six schools of philosophy developed based on these Vedas. There are also philosophical schools which reject Vedic supremacy, like Buddhism and Jainism. These are vast subjects in themselves so we will limit ourselves to the traditional six.
The first of these schools is the Nyaya Darshana (Darshana means vision or philosophy) developed by sage Gautama. Nyaya believes that there is a reason beyond the obvious behind everything in this world.
The Vaisheshika Darshana of sage Kanaada furthers this theory and says that a combination of atoms is the cause of everything in this world, that atoms are the underlying reason behind everything. Atoms! You must remember that this was more than 5000 years ago!
Sage Jaimini in his Meemamsa Darshana studies and develops rituals and sacrifices.
The fourth philosophical school is considered the most important one, the Vedanta Darshana. Sage Vyasa puts forward the simple vision, Aham Brahmasmi, meaning I am the absolute. This signifies the oneness and equality of everything in this world, that all are part of the supreme energy.
The fifth school of philosophy, Saankhya Darshana enquires beyond the physical world. Sage Kapila studies the human consciousness analytically and divides it into four - mind, intelligence, memory and ego.
The sixth school is our subject, Yoga Darshana. This was developed by sage Patanjali whose time can be safely said to be about 200 BCE. He is considered to be the incarnation of Adishesha, the thousand-headed divine serpent on whom Mahavishnu reclines. The story of his birth says that once a very pious childless Brahmin lady was praying to the gods with folded hands and a little snake fell into her hands which later turned into a baby and was called Patanjali. 'Pata' means fallen and 'Anjali' means folded hands. So, he literally fell into folded hands!
Patanjali's Yoga Sutras (A Sutra is an aphorism) form the base of Yoga Darshana. A treatise on Sanskrit Grammar and another on Ayurveda are also attributed to Patanjali.
Now let's take a little peep into Patanjali's ashram almost 2000 years ago. Patanjali is sitting under a huge shady tree and addresses his students with the words, "Atha Yogaanushaasanam", literally, "Now we may study Yoga". After the student has given years of service at the master's home, one day the master judging the student's readiness says, "Now we may study Yoga". This is Patanjali's first Sutra.
As is expected of him, the student asks the Master, "Master, what is Yoga?"
In his second Sutra, Patanjali explains, "Yoga chitta vrittih nirodhah".
Meaning, Yoga is the control over the modifications of the mind or the individual soul.
Our mind is said to be occupying five different states at different times. Moodham, which is the state of foolishness expressed as inactivity in a person. Kshiptham or scattered, is the state where the mind jumps from one subject to another without any control. Expressed as high agitation, inability to listen or keep quiet. The third state is Vikshiptham or zealous where the mind acquires knowledge and goes out to one particular subject but still without any control. Next state is Ekagram or concentrated, where the person is focussed. The fifth state of mind is Niruddham, controlled, where the mind is not distracted by random thoughts but is fully absorbed in the object of focus.
To summarize this long story we can say that Yoga is the control over the modifications of our mind to unite with the supreme energy and attain super-consciousness, enlightenment, realization or ultimate bliss.
So Yoga is the way to Vedanta, the way to attaining oneness with the absolute.
To understand how yoga helps to control our minds we have to have an understanding of ourselves. Valerie will help us do that.
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Conclusion
We have now seen that the ancient Indian culture of Yoga presented to us by the sages is based on essential human requirements, not only to gain physical health but also for the achievement of higher aims of life. The World Health Organization defines health as physical, mental, intellectual, social and spiritual health. Yoga is the only way to achieve such holistic health. Practice of a Yogic lifestyle and doing our duties without expecting benefit, will easily help us towards this. Yoga just as the name says is the union or harmony of our dimensions and keeps mentally and physically stable. We need this to keep ourselves free from stress in this fast-paced life.
The ultimate spiritual benefit of Yoga is the realization that we and everything else in the universe are part of the same energy. The world sorely needs this because than there would be no more wars based on differences of caste, race, sex or wealth. I wish.
Thank You.