BASIS OF YOGA
Strive Ceaselessly
Have self-confidence. Develop independent judgment. Cultivate the indomitable will.
Practise self-control and self-mastery.
Do not argue. Strive ceaselessly for Self-realisation. Kill this little ego. Develop pure love.
Rise above all distinction of caste, creed and colour.
Give up the idea of “I-ness” and “mine-ness”. Look within for the happiness which you have sought in vain in sensual objects.
Happiness Within
One anna of pleasure is mixed with fifteen annas of pain. Pleasure that is mixed with pain and fear is no pleasure at all. If you begin to analyse this one anna of pleasure, you will find that it is no pleasure at all. It is mere play or delusion of the mind. Milk gives pleasure to some and pain to others. Milk brings on retching in fever. The third cup of milk induces vomiting. What is this? This is play of Maya. This is Indra-Jala of Avidya-Shakti. The Indriyas and mind are deceiving you at every moment. Beware. Wake up. Open your eyes. Develop Viveka. If you suffer from cancer of the stomach, can you enjoy Rasagulla and sweets even though you are a multi-millionaire? The doctor will put you on a diet of pepper-water only. If your wife dies, you are drowned in sorrow. You cannot expect happiness from finite, perishable objects that are conditioned in time, space and causation. Nitya Nirupadhika, Niratisaya Ananda, eternal, independent, infinite bliss can only be had in the Atman that is hidden in your heart. Search, understand and realise Atman.
Need For Adhyatmic Knowledge
The secular knowledge that you get from Universities is mere husk only. It serves the purpose of earning the bread only. It cannot give you peace of mind and salvation. It thickens the veil of ignorance only. He who says, “I am specialist in Biology and various logies” is only a fool. One Mantra, one Sloka of the Upanishads will blow up the knowledge that you derive from colleges. Study the first Mantra of Isa Upanishad: “Isavasyam idam sarvam—The whole world is indwelt by the Lord.” Rejoice in Atman by removing the names and forms. Do not be covetous. Imbibe the ideas of this Mantra. Practise. Feel the indwelling presence. Live in the spirit of the Mantra. You will become a King of kings, Emperor of emperors, the Sun of suns, the Light of lights. Do not be puffed up with your University degrees. Be humble. Destroy scientific atheism. Have faith in the teaching of Srutis. Do Kirtan in a chorus with harmony and concord, with one Svara and one Tala. Sing Rama Nama from the bottom of your heart with Bhava. I will make you realise the infinite peace and bliss this very moment.
Importance Of Guru
Guru-Bhakti is absolutely necessary. Guru-Seva with Atma-Lakshya will take you to God immediately. People generally complain: “We do not get good Gurus these days.” This is a lame excuse. You can take even the worst possible rogue as your Guru. You will have to change your angle of vision. When you look at a coconut made of sugar, you have a double consciousness. You know pretty well that it is not coconut. In your heart there is Bhava, it is sugar and sugar alone. Even though you see the world, it is really not. This is the Nischaya of the Vedantic student. It is the determination. Even so, the defects of the ‘rogue-Guru’ do not exist for the disciple who has taken him as his Guru with Bhakti. The aspirant should deify and superimpose all the attributes of the Lord on the ‘rogue-Guru’.
You should never look into the defects of the Guru. You must deify the Guru. Guru, Ishvar, Brahman, Om, Truth are all one. You must strictly obey and carry out his orders. You must think that underneath the name and form of the Guru, there is the all-pervading pure consciousness. In course of time the physical form will vanish and you will realise your own self, the pure Brahmic consciousness that lies at the back of the physical form of your Guru. When once you have taken a man as your Guru, you should never change even if you get a man with greater developments or Siddhis. Then only you will have faith. Through strong faith, you will realise then and there, Brahman, the God in that Guru. You must become the famous Bhakta, Pipa of the well-known Bhaktamala, who took a rogue Nata as his Guru and when he saw his Nata-Guru dancing on the bamboos in the open market, he took him as Guru, the Brahma-incarnate, prostrated before him and thus eventually had his Self-realisation through the form of the rogue-Guru, the Nata.
Three Requisites Of Mukti
Yoga is communion with Lord. The goal of life is Self-realisation. There are two ways for attaining God-consciousness. They are the Pravritti-Marga and Nivritti-Marga. Pravritti-Marga is the path of activity with detachment for attaining the cosmic vision in and through the diverse experiences of normal life. Nivritti-Marga is the path of absolute renunciation or Jnana-Yoga. Karma-Yoga is only Jnana-Sadhana, i.e., means for attaining Self-knowledge. Three things are indispensably requisite for attaining Self-realisation. They are: (1) Guru-Bhakti—devotion and Prema towards the spiritual preceptor, (2) Jijnasa—longing for liberation and (3) a taste for Satsanga. He alone who is endowed with these three attributes can cross this ocean of Samsara (Bhava Sager).
Four Kinds Of Temperaments
There are four kinds of temperaments, viz., the active temperament, the devotional temperament, the mystic temperament and the intellectual temperament.
The Four Yogas
There are four Yogas, viz., Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga.
YOGA IN DAILY LIFE
Karma is suitable for people of active temperament, Bhakti Yoga for people of devotional temperament, Raja Yoga for men of mystic temperament with bold understanding and strong will-power. Bhakti Yoga is suitable for vast majority of persons as they are emotional. Jnana Yoga is suitable for a microscopic minority only. Ladies can realise God quickly as their hearts are filled with devotion, Prema and affection. But it is very difficult for them to get Vairagya.
Yogic Diet
Food plays a very important role in exciting the senses and passions. An aspirant should be very careful in the selection of articles of diet of Sattvic nature in the beginning of his Sadhana period. Later on drastic dietetic restrictions can be removed. Havis Annam, which is a mixture of boiled white rice and ghee, is very conducive to Yogic practices. When white rice is boiled with ghee, white sugar and milk, it is called Cheru. This is a wholesome combination suitable for Sadhakas.
Milk
Milk is a perfect food by itself, containing the different nutritive constituents, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, etc., in well-balanced proportions. It leaves very little residue in the bowels. This is an ideal food for Yogins during Pranayama practice. Fresh milk from a healthy cow, free from bovine tuberculosis, is preferable to scalded milk. Milk should be scalded or pasteurised but not boiled. The process of scalding is that the milk should be immediately removed from the fire, as soon as the boiling point is reached. Too much boiling destroys the vitamins, the mysterious nutritive principles and renders milk quite useless as an article of diet.
Fruit Diet
A fruit diet exercises a benign, soothing influence on the constitution and is very desirable diet for Yogins. This is a natural form of diet. Bananas, grapes, sweet oranges, apples, pomegranates are wholesome fruits. Bananas are very nutritious. Lemons possess anti-scorbutic properties and act as restoratives to blood. Fruit juice contains a form of nutritive principle, Vitamin C.
Mitahara
Take wholesome, Sattvic food half-stomachful; fill the quarter-stomachful with pure water; and allow the remaining quarter free for expansion of gas. This is Mitahara, the ideal food for Yogins. This is the ideal for all who want to preserve health. This is quite hygienic and is in harmony with the dietetic principles of modern medical science. This is Mitahara prescribed for Yogis.
“Nathyasnatastu Yogoasti na chaikantamanasnatah
Na chaathisvapnaseelasya jagratho naivacharjuna”.
“Verily, Yoga is not for him who eateth too much, nor he who abstaineth to excess, nor who is too much addicted to sleep, nor even to wakefulness, O Arjuna.” (Gita VI- 16).
BASIS OF YOGA
“Ahara suddhau, sattva suddhih; sattva suddhau, dhruva smritih;
Smritilabhe sarvagranthinam vipramokshah.”
For spiritual practices Sattvic food is absolutely necessary. Wheat, rice, barley, sugar, butter, sugar-candy, milk, ghee, green dhal, Panchasakha vegetables, cabbages, potatoes, etc., are Sattvic articles of diet.
Forbidden Articles
Highly seasoned dishes, hot curries and chutnies, meat, fish, etc., are forbidden for Sadhakas. Meat can make a scientist, but rarely a philosopher and a Tattva Jnani. Chillies, sour articles, tamarind, mustard, all kinds of oil, asafoetida, salt, onions, garlic, etc., should be avoided. Onions are worse than meat. Too much fasting is injurious during the practice of Yoga.
YOGA IN DAILY LIFE
By
SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA
Strive Ceaselessly
Have self-confidence. Develop independent judgment. Cultivate the indomitable will.
Practise self-control and self-mastery.
Do not argue. Strive ceaselessly for Self-realisation. Kill this little ego. Develop pure love.
Rise above all distinction of caste, creed and colour.
Give up the idea of “I-ness” and “mine-ness”. Look within for the happiness which you have sought in vain in sensual objects.
Happiness Within
One anna of pleasure is mixed with fifteen annas of pain. Pleasure that is mixed with pain and fear is no pleasure at all. If you begin to analyse this one anna of pleasure, you will find that it is no pleasure at all. It is mere play or delusion of the mind. Milk gives pleasure to some and pain to others. Milk brings on retching in fever. The third cup of milk induces vomiting. What is this? This is play of Maya. This is Indra-Jala of Avidya-Shakti. The Indriyas and mind are deceiving you at every moment. Beware. Wake up. Open your eyes. Develop Viveka. If you suffer from cancer of the stomach, can you enjoy Rasagulla and sweets even though you are a multi-millionaire? The doctor will put you on a diet of pepper-water only. If your wife dies, you are drowned in sorrow. You cannot expect happiness from finite, perishable objects that are conditioned in time, space and causation. Nitya Nirupadhika, Niratisaya Ananda, eternal, independent, infinite bliss can only be had in the Atman that is hidden in your heart. Search, understand and realise Atman.
Need For Adhyatmic Knowledge
The secular knowledge that you get from Universities is mere husk only. It serves the purpose of earning the bread only. It cannot give you peace of mind and salvation. It thickens the veil of ignorance only. He who says, “I am specialist in Biology and various logies” is only a fool. One Mantra, one Sloka of the Upanishads will blow up the knowledge that you derive from colleges. Study the first Mantra of Isa Upanishad: “Isavasyam idam sarvam—The whole world is indwelt by the Lord.” Rejoice in Atman by removing the names and forms. Do not be covetous. Imbibe the ideas of this Mantra. Practise. Feel the indwelling presence. Live in the spirit of the Mantra. You will become a King of kings, Emperor of emperors, the Sun of suns, the Light of lights. Do not be puffed up with your University degrees. Be humble. Destroy scientific atheism. Have faith in the teaching of Srutis. Do Kirtan in a chorus with harmony and concord, with one Svara and one Tala. Sing Rama Nama from the bottom of your heart with Bhava. I will make you realise the infinite peace and bliss this very moment.
Importance Of Guru
Guru-Bhakti is absolutely necessary. Guru-Seva with Atma-Lakshya will take you to God immediately. People generally complain: “We do not get good Gurus these days.” This is a lame excuse. You can take even the worst possible rogue as your Guru. You will have to change your angle of vision. When you look at a coconut made of sugar, you have a double consciousness. You know pretty well that it is not coconut. In your heart there is Bhava, it is sugar and sugar alone. Even though you see the world, it is really not. This is the Nischaya of the Vedantic student. It is the determination. Even so, the defects of the ‘rogue-Guru’ do not exist for the disciple who has taken him as his Guru with Bhakti. The aspirant should deify and superimpose all the attributes of the Lord on the ‘rogue-Guru’.
You should never look into the defects of the Guru. You must deify the Guru. Guru, Ishvar, Brahman, Om, Truth are all one. You must strictly obey and carry out his orders. You must think that underneath the name and form of the Guru, there is the all-pervading pure consciousness. In course of time the physical form will vanish and you will realise your own self, the pure Brahmic consciousness that lies at the back of the physical form of your Guru. When once you have taken a man as your Guru, you should never change even if you get a man with greater developments or Siddhis. Then only you will have faith. Through strong faith, you will realise then and there, Brahman, the God in that Guru. You must become the famous Bhakta, Pipa of the well-known Bhaktamala, who took a rogue Nata as his Guru and when he saw his Nata-Guru dancing on the bamboos in the open market, he took him as Guru, the Brahma-incarnate, prostrated before him and thus eventually had his Self-realisation through the form of the rogue-Guru, the Nata.
Three Requisites Of Mukti
Yoga is communion with Lord. The goal of life is Self-realisation. There are two ways for attaining God-consciousness. They are the Pravritti-Marga and Nivritti-Marga. Pravritti-Marga is the path of activity with detachment for attaining the cosmic vision in and through the diverse experiences of normal life. Nivritti-Marga is the path of absolute renunciation or Jnana-Yoga. Karma-Yoga is only Jnana-Sadhana, i.e., means for attaining Self-knowledge. Three things are indispensably requisite for attaining Self-realisation. They are: (1) Guru-Bhakti—devotion and Prema towards the spiritual preceptor, (2) Jijnasa—longing for liberation and (3) a taste for Satsanga. He alone who is endowed with these three attributes can cross this ocean of Samsara (Bhava Sager).
Four Kinds Of Temperaments
There are four kinds of temperaments, viz., the active temperament, the devotional temperament, the mystic temperament and the intellectual temperament.
The Four Yogas
There are four Yogas, viz., Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga.
YOGA IN DAILY LIFE
Karma is suitable for people of active temperament, Bhakti Yoga for people of devotional temperament, Raja Yoga for men of mystic temperament with bold understanding and strong will-power. Bhakti Yoga is suitable for vast majority of persons as they are emotional. Jnana Yoga is suitable for a microscopic minority only. Ladies can realise God quickly as their hearts are filled with devotion, Prema and affection. But it is very difficult for them to get Vairagya.
Yogic Diet
Food plays a very important role in exciting the senses and passions. An aspirant should be very careful in the selection of articles of diet of Sattvic nature in the beginning of his Sadhana period. Later on drastic dietetic restrictions can be removed. Havis Annam, which is a mixture of boiled white rice and ghee, is very conducive to Yogic practices. When white rice is boiled with ghee, white sugar and milk, it is called Cheru. This is a wholesome combination suitable for Sadhakas.
Milk
Milk is a perfect food by itself, containing the different nutritive constituents, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, etc., in well-balanced proportions. It leaves very little residue in the bowels. This is an ideal food for Yogins during Pranayama practice. Fresh milk from a healthy cow, free from bovine tuberculosis, is preferable to scalded milk. Milk should be scalded or pasteurised but not boiled. The process of scalding is that the milk should be immediately removed from the fire, as soon as the boiling point is reached. Too much boiling destroys the vitamins, the mysterious nutritive principles and renders milk quite useless as an article of diet.
Fruit Diet
A fruit diet exercises a benign, soothing influence on the constitution and is very desirable diet for Yogins. This is a natural form of diet. Bananas, grapes, sweet oranges, apples, pomegranates are wholesome fruits. Bananas are very nutritious. Lemons possess anti-scorbutic properties and act as restoratives to blood. Fruit juice contains a form of nutritive principle, Vitamin C.
Mitahara
Take wholesome, Sattvic food half-stomachful; fill the quarter-stomachful with pure water; and allow the remaining quarter free for expansion of gas. This is Mitahara, the ideal food for Yogins. This is the ideal for all who want to preserve health. This is quite hygienic and is in harmony with the dietetic principles of modern medical science. This is Mitahara prescribed for Yogis.
“Nathyasnatastu Yogoasti na chaikantamanasnatah
Na chaathisvapnaseelasya jagratho naivacharjuna”.
“Verily, Yoga is not for him who eateth too much, nor he who abstaineth to excess, nor who is too much addicted to sleep, nor even to wakefulness, O Arjuna.” (Gita VI- 16).
BASIS OF YOGA
“Ahara suddhau, sattva suddhih; sattva suddhau, dhruva smritih;
Smritilabhe sarvagranthinam vipramokshah.”
For spiritual practices Sattvic food is absolutely necessary. Wheat, rice, barley, sugar, butter, sugar-candy, milk, ghee, green dhal, Panchasakha vegetables, cabbages, potatoes, etc., are Sattvic articles of diet.
Forbidden Articles
Highly seasoned dishes, hot curries and chutnies, meat, fish, etc., are forbidden for Sadhakas. Meat can make a scientist, but rarely a philosopher and a Tattva Jnani. Chillies, sour articles, tamarind, mustard, all kinds of oil, asafoetida, salt, onions, garlic, etc., should be avoided. Onions are worse than meat. Too much fasting is injurious during the practice of Yoga.
YOGA IN DAILY LIFE
By
SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA
website: http://www.SivanandaDlshq.org/
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