Yoga: How the great Bhartiya Knowledge System unites physical self with metaphysical beyond

Published Article

'Yog' is a holistic science of human well-being, and it helps to unite with the whole cosmos

with endless cosmic intelligence.

Sri Anish | First Post | June 21, 2023

NSG commandos of 13 Special Ranger Group perform yoga on the International Day of Yoga, at Parimahal in the backdrop of Dal Lake, in Srinagar on 21 June 2023. PTI

India has been a land of abundance, not just in natural resources or talent pool, but also in abundant spiritual, social, psychological, physical, meta-physical, economical, geographical, political and even cosmological knowledge. Great scientific discoveries & economic advancements came from this abundant knowledge. And in the past, this gave us the title of 'Sone Ki Chidiya' (golden bird) and 'Vishva Guru' (Teacher of the world).

From this abundance emerged a great knowledge system, which not only helped us to achieve perfect mental, emotional and physical well-being but also provided the entire blueprint to attain the highest conscious evolution, which we can call 'Moksh', 'Anand', awakening or liberation.

Yes, we are talking about ‘Yog’, which is one of the most sacred & transformational gifts from India to the whole world. Because of Yog’s profound effect on every aspect of our life, and its growing relevance for human well-being, in December 2014, UN proclaimed 21st June as the International Day of Yog.

Today, there is hardly anybody who has not heard about ‘Yog’ in some context or the other. But there are a few questions we must ask ourselves:

Do we really know what ‘Yog’ is?

Do we know the tremendous power of Yog?

Are we harnessing it well?

Are we integrating Yog into our daily lives?

Do we see it in its totality or just one part of it?

Is Yog transformational for us?

Do we see it as an activity, body exercise, lifestyle or anything beyond?

It is very interesting if you do a Google search on the word ‘Yog’ and look for images, you will see people in all kinds of complex body postures, we call them 'Asans'. Unfortunately, for most people, this is ‘Yog’, the ability and flexibility to move the body in complex postures. But is Yog only about ‘Asans’? Limiting ‘Yog’ to just ‘Asans’ is like having a very high-end smartphone that one uses just for calling. Then one is missing the entire capability or the smartness of the phone. A smartphone is also a camera, tv screen, voice recorder, paging & video calling device, notepad, banking counter, shopping mall, gaming console, classroom, and a device to get any information available anywhere in the world and much more. Now, if we use this high-end smartphone just for calling, then it proves that the phone is really smart but the user is not.

This is exactly what we are doing with ‘Yog’. We are not harnessing the full potential of ‘Yog’ for our physical, mental, emotional, social & spiritual well-being.

Looking into Indian knowledge systems, one would learn that ‘Yog’ originally came from ‘Mahadev’, whom we also call ‘Shiv’. And then few thousand years ago, Maharishi Patanjali compiled this vast knowledge of ‘Yog’ into a body of work known as ‘Yog Sutras’. He wrote 196 sutras and categorized them into 4 Padas or chapters. 1. Samadhi Pada 2. Sadhana Pada 3. Vibhuti Pada 4. Kaivalya Pada. You will be surprised to know that out of these 196 sutras, there are only 3 sutras on ‘Asans’.

To systematize it, Maharishi Patanjali structured Yog into eight steps, we call it 'Ashtang Yog', which literally means eight limbs of 'Yog'. They are:

Yam

Niyam

Asan

Pranayam

Pratyahar

Dharan

Dhyan

Samadhi

There are two key points to note here;

First, 'Asan' is just one of the eight limbs of Yog, it is not the only limb.

And two, the final step of this 'Yog' is 'Samadhi', a state where human consciousness expands to its ultimate possibility, a state which is devoid of all duality, a state which brings continuous endless 'Anand' bliss.

I’m not sharing these facts to dilute the 'Importance of Asans', but to expand the perception towards the full & higher potential of ‘Yog’.

Essentially Yog means ‘to unite’.

This world of multiplicity is made up of duality. We can call it 'Purush & Prakriti', 'Shiv & Shakti', masculine & feminine, or Ying & Yang. This duality seems polar opposite to each other. For example, white & black, light & darkness, knowledge & ignorance, are all two opposites.

But life is made up of these opposites and 'Yog' is the process of joining all opposites and seeing the eternal ‘oneness’ in life.

At the first level, Yog helps to unite us with ourselves, so that we start to experience a certain integration in our own physical body, mental thoughts, emotions and actions.

At the second level, Yog helps to unite us with people around us, we start to experience a deep harmony with others.

At the third level, Yog helps to unite us with all other forms of life around us, with animals, insects, birds etc.

And finally, Yog helps to unite us with the whole cosmos, with endless cosmic intelligence. We can call this cosmic intelligence as God, existence, higher self or whatever else we want to name it, it is all the same.

On this auspicious and very special International Day of Yog, let us look at 'Yog' from this original perspective, let’s approach 'Yog' as a holistic science of human well-being, which unites the physical in us with the meta-physical in us and beyond.