Ever since the dawn of human civilization, man has been in search of a mechanism or mantra that would cast his body, mind and spirit into the mould of equilibrium. Ancient Hindu saints and savants, philosophers and thinkers, pursuing this objective, converged on yoga as the elusive mantra. In fact, in the beginning, yoga was part of the practices of ancient Indian medical science as recorded in the first ever compendium of medicine, namely the Atharva Veda. Ayurveda, the most significant section of Atharva Veda, became the source of ancient Indian medical practice. It was the great scholar Patanjali who systematized or standardized the science of Ayurveda which had hitherto remained almost an appendix to Atharva Veda. While doing so, he highlighted the importance of yoga as the mantra that could, if practiced in right form and with regularity, become catalyst to bringing the triumvirate to a state of equilibrium. Patanjali asserted that a sound body pre-supposed sound mind and sound spirit. It has to be remembered that literal meaning of Ayurveda is the science of longevity of life. Entire concept of Ayurveda is based on the principle that body, mind and spirit need to be maintained through the vidhi or instrument of nature (prakruti). The masters of yogic science tell us that it is possible to control the diet to safeguard the body from impurities and it is also possible to control mind from falling prey to aberration and finally it is also possible to release the spirit from the bodily entanglement.
Yoga has five principal meanings. Summed up briefly, these are: (i) Yoga as a disciplined method for attaining a goal (ii) Yoga as techniques of controlling the body and the mind (iii) Yoga as a name of one of the schools or systems of philosophy (darna) (iv) Yoga in connection with other words, such as “hatha-, mantra-, and laya-,” referring to traditions specializing in particular techniques of yoga, and (v) Yoga as the goal of Yoga practice. Yoga is considered as a philosophical school in Hinduism and is one of the six stika schools of Hinduism (those which accept the Vedas as source of knowledge).
Owing to the influence of Vivekananda, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are nowadays considered as the foundational scripture of classical yoga, a status which it only acquired in the 20th century. Before the twentieth century, other works were considered as the most central works, such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Vasistha, while Tantric Yoga and Hatha Yoga prevailed over Ashtanga Yoga.
Yoga with combined objective of promoting physical and spiritual health was introduced by some of the western thinkers into their cultural strand. However, for many centuries in the past, it did not become so popular as to arrest the attention of various societies at large. When Prime Minister Modi suggested to the United Nations to declare 21 June as the UN Day for Yoga, majority of the members numbering as many as 177 voted in favour of the proposition. Big powers including China supported it.
The reason for the world community to vote in favour of declaring 21 June as the UN Day for Yoga, needs a little explanation. Leaving aside the origin and history of Yoga, what purpose yoga will serve became the focal point for the world community to hail it as a welcome proposition. The fact is that incredible advancement made by science and technology has been extraordinarily beneficial for the human society to come out of millennia old backwardness, superstition, penury and deprivation. It also helped nations to realize their self respect among the comity of nations. However, the negative effects of this advancement are burgeoning with the passage of time. Human beings are under tremendous stress and strain. Clash of ideologies has taken very ugly turn and societies have embarked on deep-rooted animus and hostility. Terrorism in its various manifestations, violence, aberrations, and degradation of values all have contributed to the transformation of human society from a haven of shelter and security to an abyss of destruction and annihilation. Peace of mind has become major casualty; environmental tranquility has turned into endless threat of mayhem and cannibalism. Everybody is alarmed and deep in the recess of our mind, we all are apprehensive of a great cataclysm overtaking the mankind. Most of the positive traits of human character that have been stupendously emphasized by great minds — philosophers, thinkers, humanists and preceptors of all lands and climes and of all faiths and factions —- have eroded.
At the core of everything stand the man and his mind. These days the cliché so often brought into daily narrative is ‘the mindset’. We always take it in negative sense. When we speak of mindset, we think of so many negative elements and destructive forces coming together to shape the mind of human beings. And then we say it has become difficult to change the mindset. Here comes in Yoga. The essential purpose of yogic exercise is to bar the entry of negative elements into our mind and thus allow only positive and healthy elements go into the making of the mind. Statesmen are often heard saying that violence, terrorism, bestiality and vices like that cannot be eradicated by muscle power; they aver that unless the mindset is changed, these negative traits will not be abandoned.
Mindful of the wrong direction which human mind is likely to adopt, and inability of the State to dissuade him from following destructive path, leaders of the world welcomed the suggestion that we promulgate harmless and viable instrument of helping human beings cultivate a culture that could bring about equilibrium in three components of his personality, namely the body, mind and spirit.
Credit goes to India and to Prime Minister Modi, for making an appeal to the world to do something to arrest the downslide of human values. A balanced personality can make wonders. Foremost of all is the factor of self confidence and self awareness. Sages and savants have exercised over it and achieved the goal. Yoga is not only the philosophy of maintaining our body and mind. It is a key to peace on this globe. Two World Wars including the nuclear holocaust should be good enough to induce us to search for peace first inside ourselves and then in the outer environs. History of human evolution will record the effort of Prime Minister Modi in letters of god. He had the entire humanity in his mind when he made the proposition. Nearly thirty-six thousand people came out with him on the Yoga Day, to stretch out their mats and perform all the 21 asnas on Rajpath. Ambassadors, top military bass, bureaucrats and ordinary people all joined him to observe the first UN Day of Yoga. Narendra Modi made the history.
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