As the world gears up for International Yoga Day on June 21, how many of us actually understand what yoga is all about?
I get mails from across the world. One gentleman, for instance, wrote to me about shri vidya. He had learnt it from a person who calls himself an avdhoot and holds camps all over the world. He was told that it would make his business grow and was charged a hefty fee. Two months into practice, the person’s business crashed, his family broke down and he was in a state of complete mess. He asked me if he was practicing it right.
Sri vidya or any yogic science needs to be channelised through a guru who has siddhi in it, only then will it be effective. A person who is busy travelling all over the world to expand his business would have no time for sadhna and obviously no siddhi.
Another lady wrote to me recently. She visited a shakti temple to pray for her daughter’s marriage. The temple priest directed her to a woman who claimed to have Ma Adi Shakti residing in her. She assured the lady that her problems will be solved if she worshipped her feet and asked for a fee of about Rs 1,000 for the said puja! The lady asked me if she should go ahead with it.
Had the woman said that she is immersed in Adi Shakti, it could have been a fact but to claim that Adi Shakti resides in her is a false claim. Gods and goddesses don’t reside in humans, it is humans that seek to become one with god. When one realises the bliss of being connected to the divine, one leaves the realm of business. Then one does not sell but willingly shares the experience and knowledge so derived for self-growth. The law of karma says, it is in giving that you receive, something reiterated by St. Francis of Assisi.
The above are just two real- life examples. To think that such people will be representing our culture and the science of yoga is a disturbing thought. Yoga is not about tying yourself in knots or breathing funny. There are no diets, lifestyles or rituals prescribed in yoga. Yoga is the science of self-experience under the sanidhya of a guru. And gurus exude the glow of yoga, their chants provide glimpses of the divine, their gaze is healing, their touch energising, they do not promise miracle cures but help you experience the divine without charging you a fee.
So my suggestion is that one should look for a guru. No amount of television or books can grant you the experience of yoga. And experience you must, for the pleasure of that experience is limitless.
Yogi Ashwini, the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation, is an authority on yoga, tantra and the Vedic sciences. His recent book is Sanatan Kriya, The Ageless Dimension. Contact him at dhyan@dhyanfoundation.com
