Chapter 2 - Yoga - What is it?
A Tibetan aphorism says: "An art of living enabling us to use every activity of the body, language and spirit as an aid on the Path is indispensable." An art of living, a way of life... not yet Yoga, but an indispensable aid on the way to it, a preparation for the higher Yogas. This preparation is called Hatha Yoga.
"There is an inmost centre in us all
Where truth abides in fullness; and to know
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape ..."
- Browning
Opening out a way, that is the method of Hatha Yoga in preparation of the ultimate realities.
Yoga, the Sanskrit word for yoke or union, can be briefly defined as a religious, philosophical and scientific system, the origins of which are lost in the mist of time. Disciples and teachers of Yoga are to be found to this day in India, Tibet and, occasionally, in China. The adepts of Yoga are called Yogis. The influence of Yoga on Asiatic culture and civilization has been, and is, considerable. In more recent times, Yoga, as a way of life, has spread increasingly to western countries, especially in its preparatory form, Hatha Yoga, which aims at perfect control of body and mind.
According to Vivekananda, one of the greatest exponents of Hindu wisdom in modern times, the entire Yoga philosophy lies in the precept that it is through ignorance that the soul has been joined with nature and the idea is, therefore, to get rid of nature's control over us. In fact, this is the goal of all religions. It is to manifest the divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. The Yogi tries to reach this goal through psychic control.
The paths to this goal are various, just as there are infinite ways which lead to the sea of immortality. In Yoga, these paths are called Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga, all of which we shall speak of in turn. In view of the fact that Hatha Yoga is the preparation for all the higher Yogas, and because it is most accessible to western habits of thought, we shall devote an important part of this book to it.
Sivananda, the great modern Indian Saint, gives the following definition: The word "Yoga" means union between Jivatma and Paravatma (individual soul and supreme soul). The science which teaches the way of acquiring this occult knowledge is called Yoga Sastra. Hatha Yoga concerns the physical body and control of breath. Raja Yoga deals with the mind. Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga are necessary counterparts of each other. No one can become a perfect Yogi without the knowledge of the practices of both. Raja Yoga begins where properly practiced Hatha Yoga ends.
Hatha is a compound word formed of the two syllables, ha and tha. Ha means the sun and tha means the moon. These correspond to the breath which flows through the left (Ida) and right (Pingala) nostrils. Hatha Yoga, taken in a narrower sense, teaches the way to unite the sun and the moon through regulation of breath.
"Women should also practise Yoga Asanas. They will have healthy andd strong children. If mothers are healthy and strong, children also will be healthy and strong. The regeneration of young women means the regeneration of the whole world. Women who practise a course of Asanas systematically, with interest and attention, will have wonderful health and vitality. I hope they will give patient hearing to my earnest and sincere prayer and start practising the Asanas from the very day they read the Yogi lessons. Glory to these women who tread the Path of Yoga!" - Sivananda.
Hatha Yoga deals entirely with the physical body. It is not a religion or a mystic cult. It is really a technique, a "Know-How", a sort of psycho-physiological gymnastics. The great and essential difference between Hatha Yoga and all the western physical culture systems consists of the fact that Hatha Yoga is not an end in itself, but a preparation to a higher end; it is to deliver us from ignorance. Another difference is that while Hatha Yoga deals with the body, it is in order to overcome the body. In working with the body, it is the mind we aim at in Hatha Yoga, but the conscious and unconscious mind. It is to give us such mastery of the body that it will not stand in the way of spiritual development.
Hatha Yoga, like other Yogas, is, therefore, less a doctrine than a method. Its ultimate goal is mystic and aims at the preparation of the soul to enter into union with God. In a way, this is the goal of all religions, but Yoga is not in itself a religion. Its method is not bound to any dogma or ritual and it may be practised by adherents of any religion, or even by those who adhere to no religion at all. There are many Christian Yogis.
True, there are many Yogis whose aim is less noble. They see in the practice of Yoga merely a means to acquiring certain supernatural powers, such as the power of levitation.
The technique itself consists of a technique of training in various degrees. At the top degree, the training is purely spiritual, at the bottom, purely physical, both mental and physical at the intermediate level. The two latter, as we have said, continue a preparation for the purely spiritual training.
To occidental eyes, the importance lent to the physical side of the training may seem contradictory to the final goal of Yoga, which is mystical. The immediate object of the first part of the training seems opposed to this, as being purely materialistic in nature, maintenance or re-establishment of health, prolongation of youth, development of the will, - all things which seem to be very much of this world. The contradiction is, however, more apparent than real.
To Hatha Yoga, pain and ill health, preoccupation with poverty, worry and all sorts of moral suffering are insurmountable handicaps to spiritual development. Before, therefore, taking the path that leads to union with the divine ground of being, it becomes necessary to learn how to live. For this reason, we have called Hatha Yoga a technique of the art of living. True mysticism is realistic, and this is a lesson which the occident might well learn from the Orient.
Not everyone has the mystic vocation, but everyone would like to learn how to maintain good health and, in a general way, to be as happy as possible. The wonderful advantages to be gained from the practice of Hatha Yoga, in a purely material sense, could not fail to impress, and thus an ever greater nuber of people sought in the practice of Hatha Yoga immediate and practical benefits. In such a way, a sort of popular Yoga was created, the widespread practice of which has exercised a strong influence on the development of Asiatic civilization. If Orientals strike us with their calm demeanour, their self-mastery, it is in no small degree to be ascribed to this influence, and not to any particularity of their physical or moral constitution.
The practice of this popular Yoga has remained for a long time a purely individual matter. Since a number of years, however, instruction in the practice of Hatha Yoga is given in special institutions in India without any particular preoccupation of a religious or philosophical order, somewhat resembling schools of physical culture in America and Europe, although the methods used in Yoga schools differ widely. Similar schools have only recently been founded in Europe.
The practice of such a popular form of Yoga without any admixture of religious and philosophical considerations would, no doubt, be of great benefit in occidental countries. Our scientific and technical civilization has produced prodigious results, of which we can be justly proud, but it is certain that the ever increasing nervous and mental tension our civilization implies, has need of some sort of counter-weight, without which a rupture of the balance seems inevitable. This counter weight might well be found in Hatha Yoga.
As we have mentioned at the beginning, it is often asserted that the Yoga exercises have been devised by and for Orientals, whose physical structure is different from ours, and that for this reason they are dangerous for us. This assertion is completely unfounded. The organic makeup of people all over the world is exactly the same. The pretended differences between different races are, at most, quite superficial. As to the fear of danger connected with the practice of Hatha Yoga, it is based in pusillanimity; nothing we do is quite without danger; it is dangerous to fly, to drive, to walk. And even if one abstains from these practices and remains at home, there is always the danger of accidents, more frequent at home than abroad, as insurance statistics show.
The fact is that the practice of Yoga, in its popular form, is far less dangerous than the practice of any western form of sport, not to speak of American football. The Yoga exercises, both physical and mental which will be described in these pages are not only not dangerous, they are supremely efficacious and of easy execution, accessible to people of all ages and of both sexes. Their practise only takes a few minutes a day and once the habit has been formed, they leave an impression not of fatigue, like ordinary physical exercises, but of relaxation and wonderful refreshment.
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