MY YOGA STORY

You can call yoga as just a form of physical exercise till you revert back to it just for flexibility, strength and weight loss. This definition of yoga that I presumed,  hurdled me to stick to it for anything longer than a month. Asanas are actually a preparatory tool to train the body for stillness required for the further stages. This outer most stage involving the physical body is called Annamaya kosh. 

The physical body is controlled by the sensory organs which are controlled by the mind and the mind by the breath. Controlling breathing is the next stage called Pranamaya kosh. To move further inwards to this stage however, you would need a prescription by your doctor for some ailments ( it does not show benefits so much on the outside unless it's practised for a longer period and so is not so interesting). I was though curious to know the further journey and how would that benefit me. Pranayama and asanas together ensure a healthy mind and body for the yogic progress.

A regular and steady practice of both would start affecting various spheres of your life magically. My food preferences, my mood swings, my temperament started changing. My patience, perseverance, tolerance increased in a course of time. This stage called Manomaya kosh ignites a thoughtless mind that activates the intellect.

The breath that controls the mind is kryptonite to the intellect. This activated intellect will have a hundred doubts and a million questions and will thus need direction for further journey. A good guru is a must here. I wanted to know all about yoga, it's origins to its preachers to its goals and teachings. I began reading lots of ancient scriptures and preachings by Patanjali, Swami Vivekananda and many more; asking my guru for translations and more explanations. This stage is called Vijnyanamaya kosh.

I won't say I crossed all these stages for the next one. It's not correct to cross them. You need a constant practice of stabilising at this yogic path through these stages going through lots of failures, learnings, acceptance and evolution to be able to experience the innermost stage called Anandmaya kosh or the blissful state.

FACE OFF

Facing yourself got to be the toughest task in the world. Well I don't mean, looking into the mirror, not literally of course but sure metaphorically.
There have been millions of good, bad, embarrassing, shameful incidents in everyone's lives since childhood and irrespective of the fact that we forgive those or not, they get stored into the dungeons of our minds. We lock those scary dark places, leaving those dirty, filthy prisoners to their fact hoping they would disappear with time. And then we get busy with making new experiences, busy with jobs we assign ourselves to the daytime and family and friends for the rest of the day. Nowadays not even the nights are lonely and interrogative, thanks to our cellphones and social media.
We have become so equipped with things to do, that we don't allow ourselves time to grieve our loses, time to contemplate our mistakes, time to plan improvisation. We as a community, have fought and achieved right to information but as humans we deny those rights to our minds, to question our frigidity, our cowardice, our incompetence or our successes and pleasures.
And as a result, we cannot sit alone doing nothing. Any such void becomes a sign of danger to our lives. Within seconds of stillness, our minds rush back to those long forgotten locked forever dungeons, opening every door, visiting every prisoner, digging out every I-don't-want-to-remember-that-ever moment, making it impossible to face ourselves ever alone. And then we plan our every second of the rest of our lives so carefully not to allow such moments to appear ever. But the mighty nature has planned such time for each one of us. At some point in our lives, we will have to go through the dungeons and decide either to go lock ourselves with those prisoners or to hear them out and release them, accepting all our shortcomings and strengths.
Those who have been there and done that will always love to face themselves (figuratively of course).

Introspection...

There are two kind of human beings on earth. One- who just live as humans, enjoying the perks God bestowed on our species. And two- who take the matter way too seriously and think of it as their responsibility to act as a higher being.
Mistakes still happen by both. Just the difference being, one carries on whereas other one tries to evaluate, analyse and evolve.
When you chose to be the second kind, the path gets twisted. The worst enemies you see are the first kinds.
It is hard to see how being a human being, it is not considered by them to not respect the opportunity. You think every human, has in him to act as one. So.... So you try to make them understand and in the process disturb their perfect harmony.
You are all righteous with your concept of higher being behaviour- respecting nature, protecting your loved ones, growing with the nexgen, always trying ways to self improvement and all the wacky ideas you think of as "higher being code of conduct". But while thinking all this, you in your perfect imperfection try to interfere with other's vision of themselves. You take it on yourself to make the world around you, not just better but better than the best. You reason it out as you cannot see wrong happenings in front of you and not attempting to improve it. And so you forget the fact that you cannot and should not chalk out everyone's path which would get synonymous with you being dictator. And you are ultimately not being the second type that you initially set out to be.
When Gandhiji said, Be the change you want to see in the world, he did not mean to later go and by any possible means change the world yourselves. So here is a little addition to his original saying just for these second type enthusiasts to go easy -
Be the change, you want to see in the world, then...
Be patient and give way for the world to change,
If it does not happen overnight,
Wait for a fortnight,
If not still...
Just forget it and concentrate on your personal journey.

Yoga - as in the Bhagwat Geeta

Yoga is not just skin but muscle and even mind deep.
Yoga is liberation from worldly matters and union with the cosmos.
Yoga is a human code of conduct concerning physical, mental and spiritual being of a soul.
Here is a beautiful extract from Devdutt Pattanaik's book JAYA, as Lord Krishna preaches Arjuna in the battle field of kurukshetra -
" With your head - analyse the situation and discover the roots of your emotions. Why do you feel what you feel? Are you being spurred on by your ego? Why do you wish to fight? Is it from the desire to dominate your enemies and win back your territories? Is it rage which motivates you, the desire for vengeance and justice? Or are you detached from the outcome, at peace with the act you are about to perform? If these questions don't come to your mind, Arjuna, you are not practising gyan yoga.
With your heart - have faith in the existence of the soul. Accept that nothing happens without a reason. Accept that all experiences have a purpose. Accept that the soul does not favour either you or the kauravas, that there is a reality greater than what you can perceive. Accept that infinite occurrences of the universe cannot be fathomed by the finite human mind. Surrender unconditionally, even in the absence of evidence, to the truth of the cosmos. In humility, there is faith. When there is faith, there is no fear. Is it faith guiding your hand, Arjuna, or is it fear? If it is fear, then you are not practising bhakti yoga.
With you actions - engage with the world around as a human, not animal. Animals have no intellect; their flesh is geared towards survival alone. That is why they are fettered by the law of jungle ( matsya nyaya) using their strength and cunning to stay alive. Humans have intellect and yearn for meaning beyond survival. They have the unique ability to empathise with this need in others too for they can sense the soul encased in all flesh. Humans alone of all living creatures can reject the law of the jungle and create the code of conduct based on empathy and directed at discovering the meaning of life. This is dharma. To live in dharma is to live without fear. To live in dharma is to act in love. To live in dharma is to have others as a reference point, not oneself. Function therefore in this war nor like that insecure dog that barks to dominate and whines when dominated, but like that secure cow, that provides milk freely and follows the music of the divine. Do you fight this war to break the stranglehold of jungle law in human society, Arjuna? If not, you you do not practice karma yoga."