MAAsterG
For the past several years, Yoga Day has gained tremendous popularity, and ever since the United Nations officially recognized it, yoga has spread across the globe.
What exactly is Yoga? Yoga is connected to the physical body – to the fitness of the vehicle we call body. When a vehicle breaks down, it needs servicing. Now this vehicle i.e. our body is deteriorating, that’s why hospitals are getting overcrowded. Around 40 years ago, there were not as many hospitals as there are today. There are many diseases everywhere and the body keeps falling ill. So now yoga is being taught to overcome these physical ailments.
When we hear the word “Yog,” we get connected to great sages and rishis – like Rishi Patanjali, who gave the world this concept of Yog. But the term “Yoga” (as commonly used today) focuses mainly on the physical body. Can Yoga and Pranayama alone fix everything in the body? It may, but only to the extent of 30-40%.
The word “Yoga” originated from “Yog”, not “Yog” from “Yoga”. Patanjali went into the cave for Yog – the deeper union. But what was this Yog / union about? The battery within, the energy, the consciousness, the soul that drives this vehicle-like body. Where does this soul-energy come from? It is said to come from the Supreme Soul, the Divine. Once we are in union with that Supreme, our energy radiates in all directions. If there is any disease in the body, this energy begins to heal it naturally because the energy reaches the affected area on its own. But in the present times, that energy does not reach to the affected area because we have drifted away from the Supreme. Yog means the union of one’s inner consciousness (soul) with the Supreme Consciousness (Divine). Today, we will all practice physical exercise i.e., Yoga, but I want to draw your attention toward “Yog”. Without Yog, Yoga remains incomplete. Just look around and you will see that mental health issues like depression on the rise.
Our mental energy can heal our entire body, but we waste it on useless thoughts, sights, distractions, and mobiles, computers play a major role in this. We have started considering these lifeless tools as life itself. This living body is our life which has consciousness inside, but these dead bodies (mobile, computers) are only running on artificially gathered energy. And these lifeless devices are draining the living body, that’s why our minds feel exhausted! No matter how much physical exercise we do, our bodies will not become healthy; body will become healthy only when we concentrate fully on ‘Yog’.
Patanjali went in search of Yog – not Yoga. But while deeply immersed in penance for the union of his soul with the Supreme Soul, his body experienced certain movements which brought him physical relaxation, and after returning to the world, he called that experience “Yoga.”
So let us not forget the Father who drives this body because without that Yog with soul, no matter how healthy the body is, it will eventually collapse. If we attain Yog, then Yoga automatically happens. Therefore, on this International Yoga Day, it’s equally important to pay attention to Yog.
(The above wisdom is an excerpt from MAAsterG’s discourse on the subject of Yog.)
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