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INTRODUCTION

Yoga is becoming popular in all parts of the world. For the restless mind it offers solace. For the sick, it is a boon. For the common man it is the fashion of the day to keep him fit and handsome. Some use it for developing memory, intelligence and creativity. With its multi fold advantages it is becoming a part of education. Specialists use it to unfold deeper layers of consciousness in their move towards perfection.

Promotion of positive health is being nurtured by many who do not want to be the victims of modern ailments. Yoga is playing a vital role in this aspect in the new millennium.

A person appeared on a spacious dais with a long rope in his hand. Drawing the attention of the curious audience he threw one end of the rope holding the other. The rope went swirling up and stood vertically quite unsupported in mid air. The person using the vertical rope as a ladder climbed up effortlessly to reach the top and saluted the audience from his mid air position. This rope trick cannot be called as Yoga.

A long haired half naked person was seen ready to enter a pit which measured 2 x 1 x 1 meters and had been dug specially for the demonstration. He entered into it and then the top of the pit was totally covered, so that no air could pass in. The man remained inside for several days. He emerged out of the pit after a long stay, fresh and agile, with no symptoms of fatigue. This feat is called Bhūgata Samādhi. He is a great Yogi, the common folk think. The demonstration of Bhūgata Samādhi, Siddhis, Magic, Mantra, and Tantra etc., is what most people, even in India, associate with, when they hear the term YOGA.

THE ROOT OF WORD YOGA

The term Yoga has its verbal root as Yuj (युज्) in Samskrta (संस्कृत). Yuj means joining, Yujyate anena iti Yogah (युज्यते अनेन इति योगः). Yoga is that which joins. What are the entities that are joined? In the traditional terminology, it is joining of the individual self, Jivātmā (जीवात्मा) with the Universal SELF, Paramātmā (परमात्मा). It is an expansion of the narrow constricted egoistic personality to an all pervasive, eternal and blissful state of REALITY.

Patañjala Yoga is one among the six systems of Indian philosophy known as şațdarśanas (षट्दर्शनम्). One of the great Rşis (Seers), Patañjali, compiled the essential features and principles of Yoga in the form of ‘Sütras’ (aphorisms) and made a vital contribution in the field of Yoga, nearly 5000 years ago (as dated by some famous western historians). According to Patañjali, Yoga is a conscious process of gaining mastery over the mind.

The scope of Yoga as portrayed in Bhagavadgītā and Upanişads is far more comprehensive. As Swami Vivekananda puts it ‘It is a means of compressing one’s evolution into a single life or a few months or even a few hours of one’s bodily existence.’ In general, there is a growth process due to interactions with Nature in all creation. But it may take thousands and millions of years for this natural growth; that is the long, instinctive way in animals. Man, endowed with discrimination power, conscious thinking faculty, the Mind (Buddhi) and well-developed voluntary control systems, aspires to accelerate his growth. Yoga is that systematic conscious process which can compress the, process of man’s growth greatly.

Sri Aurobindo emphasizes that Yoga is a methodical conscious effort towards self development of the potentialities latent in the individual. He emphasizes an all- round personality development at the physical, mental, intellectual, emotional and spiritual levels. It is a process by which the limitations and imperfections can be washed away resulting in a superhuman race.

Thus, Yoga is a systematic process for accelerating the growth of a human being in his entirety. With this growth, man learns to live at higher states of consciousness. Key to this all-round personality development and the growth is culturing of the mind.Yoga Mastery over the mind (Yogascittaveitinirodhaḥ)

As mentioned earlier, Patañjali defines in his second Patanjali’s aphorism योगः चित्त वृत्ति निरोध: ‘Yogaścittavettinirodhah’ (Yoga Sütra: 1.2), ‘By so controlling the mind we reach our original state, Then the Seer establishes himself in his causal state. तदा दृष्छु। स्वरूपे अवस्थनम् ‘tada drstuh svarupe avasthanam’ (Yoga Sütra: 1.3). This is the technique of ‘mind control’ prescribed by Patanjali. Control involves two aspects a power to concentrate on any desired subject or object and a capacity to remain calm and quiet all the time. All of us have been developing the first aspect, namely, concentration. Rarely, the second capacity of man, to remain calm and silent, has been harnessed. Hence, Yoga mainly emphasizes this second aspect.

In Yoga-Vasistha, one of the best texts on Yoga, the essence of Yoga is beautifully portrayed thus, मनः प्रशमन उपाय। योग इत्यभिधीयते ‘Manab praśamanopayah yoga ityabhidhiyate’ (Yo Va: 3.9.32) Yoga is called a skilful trick to calm down the mind. It is an Upayah, a skillful ssubtle process and not a brutal, mechanical gross effort to stop the thoughts in the mind. An unskilled layman trying to repair a television set is almost sure to spoil it, while an experienced and skilful person knows exactly on what to lay hands and to rectify the malfunctioning. He operates at the right place. Knowledge is the key. Similarly, in the control of mind, a novice tries hard and gets disgusted when he finds himself more messed up, while Yoga gives him the necessary techniques to operate at the right place at the right time to gain complete mastery over it. This skill is the trick of allowing the mind to calm down and not to use brutal force to stop it.

In action, Yoga is a special skill which makes the mind reach its subtler state: योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् ‘Yogah Karmasu Kauśalam’ (Gītā 2.50). Yoga is dexterity in action. The dexterity is in maintaining relaxation and awareness in action. Relaxed action is the process. Efficiency in action is an outcome. Thus, Yoga is a skillful science of gaining mastery over the mind. Yoga is normally and traditionally conjectured, popularly known as a process or a technique to reach the ultimate state of perfection. However, in the scriptures Yoga is also defined as the states of higher powers and potentialities and even as ultimate state of SILENCE, Further, Yoga is also described as the power of all creative endeavors and creation itself.