Ideal of Yoga
The understanding of Yoga and
Vedanta is not an intellectual acceptance. Salvation from birth and death in
this phenomenal world is possible only through Yoga. Miseries start due to
ignorance by which the soul gets attached to human name and form. All the elements
of the body are subject to change, disease and death. The mind, too is subject
to change. The only changeless entity is the Immortal Soul, and its realisation
is the ideal of Yoga.
The individual soul’s
identification with the physical sheath is so deep-rooted that it is difficult
to break oneself free from the thraldom of earthly life. The human life is a
continuous process of self-perfection. No one is born perfect. In the
childhood, when the scope of reason and discrimination is yet unfolded, we
acquire various impressions from the environments. We acquire habits, tastes,
likes and dislikes which go to form what is called character.
In the common parlance what we
mean by character is just a pattern of correct, dignified, honest and suave
manners or behaviour. But character means much more than that. It essentially
implies self-culture, purity, self-restraint, unselfishness and nobility of
thought, word and action. The process of Yoga is a means to the attainment of
the finest of character.
Life opens up two paths before
every individual—one is called the Preyo Marga and the other Sreyo Marga, i.e.,
the path of pleasure and the path of goodness or righteousness. The path of
pleasure has an easy access; it is momentarily very exhilarating, titillating,
tantalising and fascinating but in spite of all these, the Preyo Marga is
always fraught with deceit, fear and ignomity, hostility and dissension,
frustration and derision. Yet, the power of illusion is such that people
invariably prefer the path of pleasure, irrespective of all its calcining
ill-effects. While, on the contrary, the path of righteousness or goodness is
very hard to tread and its exacting demands might often deny one the common
pleasure of life, and yet this Sreyo Marga is the only way out of mundane
unrealities. It is the only consolation of our existence.
The ideal of Yoga points out
to man the transitoriness of earthly pleasure, or the finitude of temporal
objects. It extols the value of righteousness and emphasises the need of
detachment and selflessness in the performance of that which is good. Through
this process of selfless actions, one purifies the heart.
Through the process of Raja
Yoga, one restrains his senses and the mind, cultivates ethical propensities,
cleanses and strengthens the internal vital organs, and thereby prepares
oneself for spiritual enlightenment.
Then there is the process of
Bhakti Yoga. It is the process of pulverising one’s ego and emptying oneself of
all impurities for the love of God. It is the path of self-dedication or
self-surrender. All loyalties are centred here in God alone. He alone is
perceived in all creations. He alone is worshipped everywhere. He alone is
sought at all times and in all places.
Bhakti has several stages.
From gross stages, it takes one to subtler states. It has to be cultivated
gradually and must find its expression in one’s every action and behaviour with
others.
Then the final stage of
evolution is the fruition of the process of Jnana Yoga. It is the path of
self-enquiry and self-analysis. Here one attempts to penetrate into the very
core of things and perceive the Reality behind. Here one identifies oneself
with the absolute Consciousness that repletes all creations and yet remains
unaffected by the pairs of the opposites, by change and finitude. This
Consciousness is the real nature of man. The veil of illusion envelopes this
Consciousness and its forgetfulness entails sufferings and fruitless groping in
the void of unreality. The process of rending asunder this veil is called Jnana
Yoga, and one’s identification with the supreme Consciousness and merging ones
individuality in it is called Self-realisation.
All paths are interconnected
and interdependent. One has, therefore, to take the aid of all the processes of
Yoga in order to effect a harmonious development of the human personality. The
ideal of Yoga enables one to live a happy and fruitful life, conducive to one’s
own personal usefulness as well as to that of others. No crude denial or
suppression is implied in the ideal of Yoga. What is required of us is a
rational, judicious attempt in purifying and perfecting ourselves, to sublimate
carnal drags, to dedicate to and submerge our individuality in the cosmic Will,
to rise above the pairs of the opposites, to be ever intent in grasping the
lessons that Nature provides us, to evaluate between the right and the wrong,
the real and the unreal, and to direct our attitudes accordingly, and finally
to fruitfully use our capacities in the service of the creations of God.
Hindu and Buddhist thinkers,
with a singular unanimity declare that Avidya (ignorance) is the source of our
anguish and all our trouble. Man’s nature of oneness with the living universe
is lost. He develops an egocentric view of life and puts his individual
preference above social welfare. He develops an acquisitive instinct and looks
upon every other being as his potential enemy. He clings to nature, to his
neighbours, in short, to everything, which is evanescent. He becomes a divided
being, tormented by doubt, fear and suffering. There is a split in his oneness.
The world in which we live today is the world of incessant fear. But the
tragedy is that we are not as yet fully conscious of our ignorance. The more
sick we are, the less sensible we become. Religion is the conquest of fear, an
antidote to failure and death. We cannot dispel our doubts by drugging
ourselves with myths and illusions. A temporary psychological peace may be
obtained, but it cannot endure. True freedom from fear can only be obtained by
Jnana, Wisdom.
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