Yoga and Meditation

Morals and Ethics are two pillars of yoga. Any aspirant, who wants to practice yoga and gradually rise to the final stage of ‘Samadhi’, has to start with the process of purification called ‘yama’ and ‘niyama’, the external and internal purification processes. Patanjali explains three paths to yoga in Sanskrit: “tapa-svadhyaya-iswara pranidhanani-kriya-yogah”. Yoga has three components, Self discipline, self-enquiry and orientation to the ideal of pure awareness. He never uses the word ‘God’ but he mentions “pure awareness”, which is a separate entity within us other than our conscience, but ever present and ever witnessing. The self-discipline includes the purification of body and mind. In our present world it is almost impossible for an individual to adopt this purification process as Patanjali describes. It is similar to what Jesus Christ said, “Love your neighbor, like you love your-self”. How many of us can do it that can truly reflect the actual meaning of his words? The yama, external purification requires Ahimasa (non-violence, not harming others), Satya (Truth), Asetya (not stealing), Bramacharya (Celibacy, impeccable conduct), and Abarigiraha (not being acquisitive). Similarly the Niyama, the internal purification requires such as Succha (purity), Santosha (contentment), Tapa (intense discipline or austerity), Svadyaya (self-study), Iswara Pranidhanani (dedication, surrender, alignment with ideal of pure awareness). The yoga aspirant should take a universal vow to follow the above, crossing all boundaries of land, sea, nations, languages, religions, cultures etc. He has to strictly follow his vow, irrespective of any circumstances. I share here my own personal experience in practicing yoga. I have been trying to practice yoga for nearly 10 years but with very little success.I became a vegetarian for the past 10 years but I could not give up alcohol. But recently, I decided to follow vigorously and I became very conscience of each and every word and action of mine. I can now say with certainty, that there is a gradual change in my personality and my outlook. I remember the Autobiography by Mahatma Gandhi, “My experiments with Truth” in which he explains his very intimate feelings so openly and honestly to the readers, which makes this book one of the greatest in the history. It is a rare gem. The changes in personality happen very gradually but steadily. When I kicked off my alcohol habit overnight, which I followed for the past 25 years of my life, then I knew I changed. Where did I get that will power and steadfastness? For me, it is a simple miracle. I did not attend any ‘Alcohol anonymous’ or take any medical treatment, nothing.The only reason to kick off this habit is my self-realization. I realized that my body is a ‘temple’ in which the ‘the pure awareness’ called ‘Iswara’ is ever-present and ever-witnessing. I cannot do anything that will taint the presence of this eternal and formless “pure awareness” within me. This self-realization changed me completely. Any of my physical act due to intoxication of alcohol is an insult to the presence of ‘Iswara’ within me.It is unpordanable.I changed for good. I even stopped all my medications for high blood pressure and cholesterol overnight. I decided that anything other than natural materials consumed by my body may taint the presence of “pure awareness”. My blood pressure now is normal and I have no health problems. The whole purpose of ‘Yoga’ is to distinguish this difference between your conscience and the “pure awareness”. But you can distinguish this pure awareness from your conscience only by using your conscience. When you mistake your conscience for “pure awareness” then there is a conflict. This mistaken identity is called ‘Avidya’ ignorance, the root cause for all the human sufferings in the world.