What is yoga?
Yoga is derived from the root word ‘uj’, meaning union. The scientific process deeply hidden behind any union is the process of merging of two distinct aspects or entities or objects.
When we are listening to music that we really like we tend to loose touch with the outer aspects and somewhere, get lost deep within the rhythm, words or tune of the composition. In that very fraction of moment merger has happened, and yoga (union) has begun!
Once you get to that point, the attention automatically subtly shifts from the music to a much deeper aspect that gives us solace, peace, bliss, happiness, a sense of deep calm somewhere inside. This is the beginning of transcendence from the sensation to the sensor - to the one who is witnessing the sensation through the sensory aspect.
Suddenly one seems to loose touch with material reality and gets engaged with some mystical, magical, spiritual almost non-real hidden invisible aspects. Staying there even for a micro-nano second is good enough to give us so much energy that not only does it recharge and rejuvenate us, but also takes us to an unknown realm beyond visible reality. At this point one has already gone beyond to the other side, in simpler word, one has transcended the senses and reposed in on’es higher Self.
Even when you are reading this article, somewhere deep the connection got established and you seem to have lost touch with the outer and are engaged within. As your intellect is processing each sentence, your attention on the article is growing deeper and is getting you in touch with your SelfIsn't it so? This is Yoga! This is what going beyond is all about, beyond visible, towards the invisible, beyond time, towards bigger time (mahakaal) where time doesn't exist and matter and everything material seems to cease to exist.
Yoga is a state of being
Yoga is not only something that you do on a yoga mat at a particular time of the day to exercise your body. In fact, the whole universe is in a continuous state of yoga all the time. The sunrise, sunset and the times in between, the transition, is nothing but union of two apparently distinct phases - moving from one state of darkness to another of light. This is yoga!
For even knowledge to flow from the giver to the recipient yoga needs to happen. Unless the listener is tuned into what the speaker is saying and is able to connect with the meaning that is flowing with the words in the very moment, the assimilation cannot happen. It's not by elimination but by assimilation that the understanding develops. That is also Yoga!
In fact yoga is in the flow. The flow is the very essence of life. A river that flows remains fresh and alive. Similarly our lives are in continuous flow from this moment to next yet there is a union between the two moments, the connect is the Yoga, the flow is life! Saying that without yoga life is impossible won't be an exaggeration. Yoga is our very nature. Yoga is the nature of whole nature and universe. Just a look around into the nature, observing a simple act of a bee sucking onto a flower for nectar, is nothing but yoga. You cannot observe the phenomenon without yourself being in state of yoga. The observation is itself yoga too. Isn't it so? In fact, the the yin and yang, that is the male and female aspects, uniting to procreate every aspect of this universe as we see it now this moment is an outcome of the process of yoga. The whole creation could not have existed without the process of yoga.
Shiva: The solidified silence
When you want the noise around your to quieten you say "’shee to those making sound and then when everyone has kept quiet and you close your eyes you reach a plane of deep consolidated silence. In that you begin to feel calm peace a very deep sense of ecstacy which makes you experience the solidified silence within. That is Shiva. The soundless sound of deepest silence through which this whole universe has sprung up and into which we all yearn to merge back. And without yoga it would be impossible to get there. Dont you think so?
Be Upayogi
Upanished means, sitting close to the master. When you are connected to what the master is saying to you through whatever medium he may chose to, that connection itself is yoga. When you are thus closely connected, knowledge begins to flow. That flow brings up a sense of being useful for others. Upyogi is a yogi by default, while a yogi alone may or may not be upyogiDo you get what is being said here?
When you feel that You Owe Gratitude Always for whatever has happened in your life through you or through anyone else, YOGA has happened. With a yearning to contribute back to society with whatever one can offer, when you begin to serve, yoga has gone into action. Clarity in mind, purity in heart, sincerity in action is what the science of yoga delivers unto the practitioner.
Physical to Spiritual aspect of yoga also happens through understanding of the scientific aspect of yoga. Only through understanding the science behind yoga is your mind ready to relate the physical aspects of yoga to be a step towards the transcendental spiritual aspects of yoga. Thus the scientific aspect is the uniting point between physical and the spiritual aspects of yoga. One can say science and spiritual aspects as both two sides of the same coin, that we can call the physical aspect of yoga.
Are you all here? What makes you so sure that you are here right now this moment? Let's reflect on these questions for a moment. ... The reflection can only happen through the science of yoga, do you see what is being said here through me? You realise that a bigger force is talking to each one of you through me? This is Yoga and as I said in the beginning the science of yoga is in the union the merger of two aspects and going beyond to the only one that is was and will be in this form or other as well the formless form of all forms, what we call Shiva. m Namah Shivaya
Written by: Neeraj Kohli
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.
