I have listened to both the older and the latest version of the discourse on Patanjali Yoga Sutras by our beloved Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar over 15 times from the invaluable The Art of Living App in the past two years!
Often, it is our unanswered questions of life running in the mind that drain away our energy and make us feel restless. The sutras of Maharishi Patanjali simply clear away these blocks and make us calm and peaceful by providing us the answers and help us understand the nature of the mind and its modulations. The first time I heard Patanjali Yoga Sutras. The very first time itself I felt so grateful to have heard this knowledge in this lifetime. I have never before thought that just listening to knowledge will bring such a huge amount of energy to the body and mind. I started to contemplate each sutra and relate them to regular life situations. Moreover, Gurudev’s way of explaining each sutra is so profound that even a stone would be shaken by the flow of wisdom!
I’m grateful to share one of the verses that impacted my life after listening to Gurudev’s discourse on Patanjali Yoga Sutras for the very first time itself.
Teevra Samvegaanaam aasannah (1.21)
While explaining this sutra, Gurudev asks what preference we give to our spiritual practices in our day-to-day life. He says that when it comes to prioritizing between putting clothes for laundry and doing sadhana, most people will give higher priority to laundry! Even though it sounds funny,(Gurudev’s way of imparting knowledge with humor!) it’s true that, personally, I’m not giving more priority to my sadhana compared to regular mundane chores. Innately, I know that sadhana is more important than any other material activity. But, still, something in me is not allowing me to give more priority to it. After listening to these words from Gurudev, I started to contemplate more and more and gave my practices the highest priority. I started to discard everything that distracted me from sadhana. It came to a point where I resigned from my high-paying software engineering job at a reputed company when my manager said that I should give a break to yoga practices and concentrate on completing the tasks. After resigning, I continued to volunteer for The Art of Living Online programs teaching asana sessions and providing technical support. Then, with the guidance of The Art of living teachers, I did the 200 Hours online registered Yoga Teacher Training from the Sri Sri School of Yoga (January - March 2021) which transformed me into a professional yoga teacher after which I started to teach Sri Sri Yoga Online programs. So far, I have taken 15 batches for more than 150 people in 3 months!
Experience of taking yoga classes
In every course, I felt the grace of Gurudev while reaching out to people about the course, during the course, and also after the course when people started to bless me. Never before have I thought that I could be so useful to society and it’s amazing when I look back on how things are connected and how well the Divine is taking care of each one of us. The amount of confidence and contentment that this knowledge is giving is unimaginable and beyond my perception. So, I always believe that ‘I’m not the doer’ and have a sense of surrender to the Divine.
This one verse - “Teevra Samvegaanam Aasannah” has not only transformed my life but also others with the blessing of beloved Gurudev.
Written by: Devarajan D
A little note: As community conversation facilitators, we believe in giving an individual the autonomy of expression. The views expressed in this piece are the author's own.
