Yoga Revisited
I wrote a blog on Yoga more than a year ago. However, there were some misgivings about the concept in my mind which I could not verbalise at that time.
I recently read Nehruji's Discovery of India where at one point he discusses the philosophy of Yoga which clarified and concretised my views on the subject. I am giving excerpts from his book below:
"Some people learning odd tricks of the body presume to become authorities on the subject . . . and impress and exploit the credulous and the seekers after the sensational. The system is much more than these devices and is based on the psychological conception that by proper training of the mind certain higher levels of consciousness can be reached. It is meant to be a method for finding out things for oneself rather than a preconceived metaphysical theory of reality or of the universe.
The later stages of Yoga are supposed to lead to some kind of intuitive insight or to a condition of ecstasy, such as the mystics speak of. Whether this is some kind of higher mental state, opening the door to further knowledge, or is merely a kind of self hypnosis, I do not know. Even if the former is possible, the latter certainly also happens, and it is well known that unregulated Yoga has sometimes led to unfortunate consequences so far as the mind of the person is concerned."
Isn't this what Baba Ramdev's brand of Yoga doing with the general public?
I recently read Nehruji's Discovery of India where at one point he discusses the philosophy of Yoga which clarified and concretised my views on the subject. I am giving excerpts from his book below:
"Some people learning odd tricks of the body presume to become authorities on the subject . . . and impress and exploit the credulous and the seekers after the sensational. The system is much more than these devices and is based on the psychological conception that by proper training of the mind certain higher levels of consciousness can be reached. It is meant to be a method for finding out things for oneself rather than a preconceived metaphysical theory of reality or of the universe.
The later stages of Yoga are supposed to lead to some kind of intuitive insight or to a condition of ecstasy, such as the mystics speak of. Whether this is some kind of higher mental state, opening the door to further knowledge, or is merely a kind of self hypnosis, I do not know. Even if the former is possible, the latter certainly also happens, and it is well known that unregulated Yoga has sometimes led to unfortunate consequences so far as the mind of the person is concerned."
Isn't this what Baba Ramdev's brand of Yoga doing with the general public?
posted by Sushil Prasad @ 9:40 PM
2 Comments:
At 9:35 PM ,
Unknown said...
Baba Ramdevs' doing something great , popularyzing yoga in the country , suffering from million obese ppl . Yu can't underestimate him , when he breathes @ telly million ppl wud be breathing with him in million homes .He is doing the same , as Anup Jalota did to bhajans , brought back yoga and bhajans out from temple singing and books to normal ppl .Unless yu give it to masses , how wud it survive? And to appeal mass , yu need to make it less complex , anything in pure form wudn't appeal mass .
At 9:43 PM ,
Unknown said...
It's more like *Yoga Revived* :)
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