All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Two Steps to Spiritual Ascent:
Yoga and Tapa - III

[This is continuation of the translated version of a discourse on the vital role of Yoga and Tapa for self-development and spiritual progress. In the previous article the common misconceptions about yoga were discussed. Let us now understand the true meaning, scope, and disciplines of yoga as explained in the discourse.]

Friends,
The word “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means “to join” or “to unite”. In spiritual context it means union of the individual self (jivatma) with the Omnipresent, Supreme, Eternal Self — paramatma. Yoga is a spiritual urge, an innermost aspiration, a process, which enables awakening of the soul and its unification with its absolute origin (God). It is practiced through deep engrossment of the mind, thoughts and emotions. Morality, integrity, modesty, virtuous character and noble deeds are immediate expressions of cultivation of the spirit of yoga.

Why Yoga?
The foremost requirement for success along the path of yoga is — “complete surrender (of ego and selfish attachments) to God (paramatma)”. It is like immersion of self identity. To understand it, let us take the example of the merger of a drop of water in the ocean. When a drop of water falls in the ocean, does it have its ‘own identity’ anymore? Can you find/locate it then? Not at all; it is now unified with the ocean; it has thusbecome the ocean itself. What was the value of the tiny drop? How strong it was? How long it would have sustained its ‘individual identity’? And what is its status now after getting merged with the ocean? Now it is vast, nothing can beat it; its ‘existence’ and ‘value’ have expanded and risen like the grandeur of the ocean. Who cares for a narrow drain of rainwater? It flows or dries up, or gets blocked and filled with filth without anybody’s notice. But, if the same drain meets the currents of Ganga on the way and is merged in the flow of the river, then! Then its water would become holy “Ganga Jal”; people at some distance ahead might fill their containers with this sacred water.

Friends, the merger of one’s false identity with its divine origin — one’s real self, also brings a transmutation similar to that of ordinary or even filthy water into sacred Ganga Jal. Once the false-pride, the illusion of self-identity, the ego vanishes, and one realizes one’s true self; once the tiny drop of “I” is dissolved in the limitless ocean of consciousness, the individual self becomes the eternal, omnipresent, supreme self. But what blocks this dissolution? Why is it so difficult?

What hinders our yoga?
It is the misconception of “I”, the ignorance about true identity of the self which is the most intractable divide between a human being and God. It is this “I” which keeps spreading its delusive shadow on all facets of one’s life, one’s “existence”. It is the root of all ignorance, attachments, cravings that give rise to numerous vices and sinful actions. One, who is driven by egotism and self-obsession, will do anything (right or wrong, good or bad) to satisfy his ego and to protect and enhance his ‘self-prestige’. Once selfish interests get priority over all duties, how much time and what efforts would one devote for the welfare of the society? One who is ‘greedy’ remains ‘needy’; his passions would continue dragging his life in the mire of cravings, arrogance, and pomp; he would hardly donate anything for others sans self-interest.

I think, if there is any predominant characteristic of most people, it is the narrow domain of “I”. Whether a criminal or a policeman, an illiterate or an eminent scholar, this one or that one, almost everybody, in every walk of life, is bound within the periphery of delusive ‘self’ and its attachments in one way or the other. So powerful is the influence of self-obsession / selfishness that one’s prayers, efforts of devotion, and even one’s deeds of social service are often influenced by gaining some favor, fame, or worldly support, for himself and his near and dear ones. One even tries to link the deity of his devotional worship with his self-interest; he expects God’s Law to accommodate all his wishes.

Most often our realization of the “self” remains confined to the physical body, its sensory perceptions, experiences, passions and instinctive tendencies of the mind. This misconception coupled with the self-centric force of “I”, traps and continues to push us deeper in the dark and filthy well of ignorance, avarice, ambitions and vices; the clutches of false-pride and attachments further weaken the voice of conscience that is supposed to pull us upward. These thralldoms hold us back from coming out of the smog and moving towards the light of true knowledge. The only way we can hope to conquer is — to surrender this “I”. It is this sacrifice (of selfishness) that we are supposed to make before the Almighty. Selfishness is like a layer of ash on the ember (of our conscience). Once it is removed the ember begins to glow and burn.

You must understand and keep reminding yourself — “bigger your arrogance, the lower you are”; “stronger your selfishness, the weaker and meaner you are”. The greater the extent of one’s arrogance and selfishness, the farther is one from God. All teachings and practices of spirituality aim at reducing this distance. The endeavors of puja-upasana, tapa and yoga help you gradually dissolve your ego into pure humility, and expand your selfishness into selflessness.

How to Accomplish the Yoga of Life?
If you want to understand yoga as an ‘exercise’, then you should note that yoga in its truest sense begins with the exercise of the mind; it is an exercise of controlling and reorienting the intrinsic tendencies; it is an exercise aimed at awakening and strengthening of the soul-power hidden in the inner-self. Exercises or postures of the body, any activity of the sensory organs, or the practices of deep breathing, holding the breath, etc cannot achieve this. The real practice of true yoga begins with broadening of outlook, cleansing and freeing the mind from its delusions, vices and prejudices. After this purification, the practice of true yoga commences with cultivation of the tendency of selfless caring and sharing.

Divine powers, the gods are called “devata (in our scriptures); devata means “one who gives”. A devata always thinks and aspires to help the needy, and keeps distributing His grace upon the needy. We should also adopt such magnanimity and awaken the divine light indwelling in our soul. Once the attitude of grabbing and possessing is transformed into that of sharing, and giving, there would be no complaint of scarcity or deprivation in life.

A sincere seeker of yoga dissolves his personal ambitions and regards God’s will as his own will. He asks God to guide him for making best use of the precious gift of human life. His prayers are like conversation with the Almighty; he conveys that whatever God has bestowed upon him is adequate for happy sustenance of his life. He is contented with the minimum essential means of shelter, clothing and food. He thus has plenty of time and all his resources – including his physical and mental faculties, talents and potentials – ready to dedicate for the welfare, upliftment, and help of many others. The outcomes of such selfless activities continue to benefit many in the future as well and perennially stand as a torch of inspiration.

Often people have apprehensions that genuine self-less service or philanthropic activities cannot be done all alone. Some people are worried that their generosity would be exploited. Some think unless they have adequate resources or some organizational support they can’t do anything worthwhile for the society. You should remember that “Where there is Will, there is a Way”. If you search seriously, you would find ample examples in every part of the world where ordinary people have made significant contributions by putting in their heart and soul in it. Let me cite some such extraordinary benevolent contributions of some ordinary persons.

Distinct Tale of Thousand Mango-Gardens:

Long ago (before the British rule in India), there was a farmer named Hazari in a village of Kokrah forest region (later on a part of Bihar). He planted some trees of mangoes around the boundary of his fields. As the trees grew and blossomed, some birds nested there. The flowers on the trees, early-morning chirping of the birds — especially the melodious warbling of the Cuckoos magnified the beauty of this land surrounded by beautiful hills. Hazari happily used to distribute the fruits to his neighbors; the raw mangos were used for making chatanis, pickles, and the ripened sweet mangoes were a great delight for everyone in his family and neighborhood. The happiness of everyone around motivated him to plant more mango-trees so that more people could freely use the fruits.

For the benefit of the entire village, Hazari planted a garden of mango trees in his village. He enthusiastically continued expanding this service in the surrounding region with hardly any support from others in ploughing the land, etc. When his children grew up they also helped him in this altruistic effort. Later on, Hazari gave the responsibility of his own farms to the children, and devoted his full time and focused efforts on his noble mission. He planted one thousand mango-gardens. With so many mango-trees around, not only the people, but also the birds and animals there were benefitted. Thick gardens in the mountain-rich region invited more rains. This helped the overall farming activities and enhancement of greenery there. Nature too thus blessed the land with its generous grace. What the hard work and altruistic motivation of an illiterate, resource-less, farmer could do is, in my views, many times bigger and higher than the great scholarly works of arrogant intellectuals, or the royal monuments like “Tajmahal”.

It is because of these Hazara (one thousand) Baghas (gardens) and also as a mark of respect to the great endeavor of Hazari that the place became popular as “Hazaribagh” (which is now an important district of Jharkhand). So you see, the self-inspired extraordinary deed of selfless service of an ordinary person thus resulted in an immortal, monumental contribution to the society and the motherland!

It is these kinds of people who are the real devotees, truly religious humans who deserve to be honored and followed by everyone and not the self-styled ‘god men’ or the Panda, Pujaris (priests). Often, the ‘god men’ or the Panda, Pujaris claim to be spiritual masters, religious heads, or guides, and keep exploiting the religious sentiments and devotional feelings of the innocent masses. If you go for pilgrimage, you may meet such holy ‘guides’ and ‘mentors’ there who would arrange for your visit to the shrine, ‘dip in the Ganga (or other sacred rivers)’, make you do some rituals of worship in the shrine, and then ask for donations in the name of some religious or charitable activity. Do you really respect such Panda or ‘god men’? I think no sensible person would be a blind follower of such greedy ‘guides’. In fact, most of the serious seekers of religion try to avoid such priests.

Become a Devata, Not a Beggar:

Friends, if you are a negative person, God will run away from you, as the true seekers of religion run away from the greedy Panda, Pujaris. If you keep begging before God, or saints, what will you get? At the most you might get a few pennies; that too only once! Tell me, who likes the beggars around? So make sure that your prayers or puja-upasana are not meant for beseeching any worldly benefit or selfish purpose.

In our culture there is a custom of offering something (may be some flowers or oblation, orsome charity etc) to the deity, whenever we visit a shrine or a sacred place. This symbolizes that we should not go empty handed, or like a bagger, before anyone, not even before the Almighty God. The Almighty has already given you so much! First learn to make worthy use of His beatifying grace.

As I told you earlier, there is only one way of true devotion — become a devata; make prudent use of God’s grace; devote (dedicate) whatever you have, for the wellbeing, improvement, and enlightenment of the entire society. Do whatever you can to expand the good, and to diminish the vicious and negative tendencies. You don’t have wealth, might, intellectual accomplishments, status, etc? So what? Did Jesus Christ have any of these? Did Saints Kabir, Samarth Guru Ramdas, or Ramakrishna Paramhans, had any of these? Did Gandhiji possess these? (Look at the glorious pages of global history, you will find that most of the great personalities hailed from very humble background, they lived a life deprived of even minimal essential worldly comforts).

Don’t look at your scarcities or incapability. Look at what you have already got. Being born as a human being itself is such a great boon! You have the body to do hard work. You have a mind to think and spread good, constructive thoughts. You have a heart (core of emotions) that can feel others’ pains and also share their joys. So why not make proper use of them? Many of you aspire for more money thinking that once you have it, you would spend it generously to build temples, or donate for some philanthropic activity, etc. This ‘substantial money’ will never come to you. Moreover, such temples or activities would not be of much use, unless you put in your heart and soul to make them serve some benevolent and constructive purposes. Begin with prudent, philanthropic use of whatever you have.

Devatas never keep anything with them. They don’t wait to possess more resources, or augment some potential, before distributing it benevolently. By nature, they are generous and keep donating whatever best they can for noble causes. God Himself arranges to help success and expansion of their noble mission.