Celebrating The First International Day of Yoga
Yoga_Life_Winter_2015_WEB
Yoga_Life_Winter_2015_WEB
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MENTAL PROCESSES IN YOGA<br />
really use and what makes him or her happy. It is a very efficient<br />
exercise in austerity to devote time to someone else. In this way<br />
the egoism, which veils the intuition, is reduced. If we still think<br />
that we have “no time for <strong>Yoga</strong>”, then it is even more austerity<br />
to give this apparently non-existent time to others.<br />
“It requires mental training to keep your<br />
balance, which in turn needs energy,<br />
and that energy can be drawn from the<br />
practice <strong>of</strong> asanas and pranayama.”<br />
Another remarkable exercise <strong>of</strong> spiritual practice consists<br />
in taking a few minutes to see the relativity <strong>of</strong> things and their<br />
finite nature. It is the choice <strong>of</strong> seeing the glass half full or half<br />
empty. If intuition is covered by egoism, then the glass will<br />
always be “half empty” because greed has taken the upper<br />
hand and always wants more and more for oneself. But once<br />
you have determined that the car in the garage is not the basis<br />
for your happiness, you have taken a major step.<br />
<strong>Yoga</strong> is a science, because we experiment with ourselves.<br />
<strong>The</strong>refore it has nothing to do with religion, but rather with<br />
an attitude not to resign oneself to negative thinking and to<br />
cultivate the power for personal change instead. It all happens<br />
only on the mental plane. Outwardly the same things may<br />
happen as before: you get sick, you lose the job, etc., but the<br />
way you deal with it has changed, by the yogic thinking, which<br />
was developed step-by-step. This is one <strong>of</strong> the most important<br />
aspects <strong>of</strong> the yoga practice and does not require time. All it<br />
needs is strength.<br />
It is said that the seekers <strong>of</strong> self-realisation find intuitive<br />
knowledge <strong>of</strong> who we really are and what is really going on<br />
in this universe. <strong>The</strong>se intuitive revelations are the source<br />
<strong>of</strong> the yogic scriptures: the Vedas, the various Upanishads<br />
or the Bhagavad Gita. <strong>The</strong>y tell us that we have a great potential,<br />
that there is great wisdom within us, and that this great bliss,<br />
ananda, may be experienced. That is the overwhelming<br />
message <strong>of</strong> the scriptures: <strong>Yoga</strong> can be experienced.<br />
However, it requires a change <strong>of</strong> lifestyle, a transformation<br />
<strong>of</strong> habits. Actually the entire way <strong>of</strong> life has to be reviewed.<br />
Those who deal exclusively with the things which can be<br />
experienced by the senses, are veiled by the Unreal, by Maya,<br />
the illusion <strong>of</strong> life. Those who look beyond these things, turn<br />
to the Higher, the Divine. <strong>The</strong> inner path begins when the<br />
question arises: “Who am I? What is the meaning <strong>of</strong> all this?”<br />
It is really all about personal practice. Swami Vishnudevananda<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten told a joke which contains a lot <strong>of</strong> truth: I am posting a<br />
sign next to my bed or in the bathroom which says: “Tomorrow<br />
I will practice asanas.” Each time you read it, it says “tomorrow“.<br />
We get entangled in many worldly concerns and it becomes<br />
difficult to untie the knot. Only practice helps. <strong>The</strong> longer we<br />
practice with sincerity, the easier it becomes to open the knot.<br />
This condition <strong>of</strong> the human mind regarding this situation has<br />
hardly changed over the centuries. So many spiritual practices<br />
have already been <strong>of</strong>fered and so many really fantastic masters<br />
have walked on this earth, but if the respective era is over, it is<br />
only history. In this regard, Swami Sivananda clearly emphasised:<br />
“Do not make a religion out <strong>of</strong> me, be practitioners.”<br />
Getting oneself entangled in this way happens again and<br />
again, so there is no need to feel inferior and think that you are<br />
the only one to whom this happens. <strong>The</strong> whole <strong>of</strong> humanity<br />
gets itself entangled again and again. We live in this world in<br />
order to learn not to get ourselves entangled, and to recognise<br />
the entanglement and how to get out <strong>of</strong> it. In this respect the<br />
objects <strong>of</strong> the world serve as a training ground. <strong>The</strong> objects<br />
exist in order to learn how to renounce them. This is the inner<br />
path, the necessity <strong>of</strong> the inner practice.<br />
Many practitioners do recognise the entanglement, but do<br />
not understand that this is a recurring normality. <strong>The</strong>refore they<br />
say “I'm not yet ready for this.” It is recommended to be gentle<br />
with oneself when the entanglement comes up again, to look<br />
ahead and not to fall into apathy and lethargy, to become sleepy<br />
and disinterested with regard to the question “Who am I?”.<br />
Swami Vishnudevananda <strong>of</strong>ten said that many people are<br />
actually in a permanent state <strong>of</strong> sleep with open eyes. It is true<br />
that <strong>of</strong>ten life situations lead to apathy and disinterest. One is<br />
only interested in one’s own area, quickly closes the door and<br />
thinks: “Let them all do what they want.” We are lacking<br />
strength and this sleepiness is <strong>of</strong>ten enhanced by dietary habits,<br />
alcohol and the lifestyle in general. <strong>The</strong> time available to<br />
actually educate oneself and to be awake is quite short in one<br />
lifetime. During the four week yoga Teachers’ Training course<br />
one can see how much one is capable <strong>of</strong> achieving in a short<br />
period <strong>of</strong> time. This has to be experienced directly. <strong>The</strong>oretical<br />
study <strong>of</strong> books cannot give this knowledge. <strong>Yoga</strong> provides an<br />
experience that you did not know before, and this experience<br />
is based on one’s own practice.<br />
It is about the experience <strong>of</strong> real happiness that is independent<br />
<strong>of</strong> external things. It is good to remember this, so that yoga is<br />
not used exclusively on the material level, for example, to look<br />
slimmer, to be more successful or to be more relaxed. When<br />
it is seen that this inner happiness cannot be equated with<br />
money and success, then one is ready to make changes in life<br />
by making it a bit simpler.<br />
With this the confidence in the Sadhana will grow. With<br />
practice comes experience. This goes beyond belief. You do not<br />
believe that yoga is good for you, you know it. This makes you<br />
more awake and younger. It may take a while until you have<br />
found your path and the right teaching lineage. <strong>The</strong>refore Swami<br />
Sivananda says that perseverance is especially important.<br />
<strong>The</strong> five points defined by Swami Vishnudevananda appear<br />
simple and below the intellectual capacities <strong>of</strong> even a beginner<br />
student. But it may actually take years until you come to under -<br />
stand that these five points contain a pr<strong>of</strong>ound wisdom. It may<br />
well happen that one gives up the practice too early, because<br />
one does not want to hear or read always the same instructions.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is a lack <strong>of</strong> perseverance to wait and allow something<br />
to develop. <strong>The</strong> teachings have to become interwoven with daily<br />
life and that happens only through persistent practice. <strong>The</strong>re<br />
is no way around it. n<br />
Taken from lectures given by Swami Durgananda in February<br />
2015 at the Sivananda <strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Centres in Vienna,<br />
Berlin and Reith near Kitzbühel, Tyrol, Austria.<br />
Swami Durgananda is <strong>Yoga</strong> Acharya (spiritual director)<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Sivananda <strong>Yoga</strong> Vedanta Centres in Europe.<br />
e-mail: SwamiDurgananda@sivananda.net<br />
10 YOGALife |Autumn/Winter 2015