Yoga is a way of life that brings about balance and centeredness. That means you have to apply it in daily life. That is why it is so wonderful that you come to a yoga ashram to learn yoga. Because here you don’t just learn yoga only as a system of exercise you also learn yoga as a yoga life. Once you understand it you bring it into your daily routine.
Why bring yoga into our daily life?
We need to do it because normally our life is off balance, off center, stressful. There is something missing. Our life is normally fragmented. It means not together. Our life is in pieces but we don’t have peace of mind. We feel like we cannot put it together. We feel like we are working against ourselves.
What does it means yoga is a path?
Yoga is a path means something that you have to do systematically. That is called path. If you are just like following your feelings and do whatever then that is not a path. Your life has to be a path that will lead from here to there and you do it repeatedly. If there is not path you don’t know where you are going. It is path from darkness to light. It means from ignorance to knowledge. It is a path from chaos to harmony. It is a path that goes from frustration to fulfillment. It is also a journey of purification and finding our purpose in life.
Swami Sivananda said life is a conscious dream. Life is vibrant in every atom. There is life in everything. There is not such thing as inanimate matter. Life is a journey in the infinite ocean of time. The scenery is perpetually changing. Life is a journey from impurity to purity, from hater to cosmic love, from death to immortality, from imperfection to perfection, from slavery to freedom, from diversity to unity, from ignorance to eternal wisdom, from pain to eternal bliss, from weakness to infinite strength. Life is a great opportunity provided by the Lord to his children to evolve into Himself. Life is service and sacrifice. We are here as passing pilgrims. Our destination is God. Our quest is for the lost inheritance, the forgotten heritage. The great center aim in life is the coming into conscious realization about oneness with God. Life has not meaning as a separate life. Has meaning only when it comes full when the individual joins the supreme soul.
What is the true goal of life?
The true goal of life is to get back to the source from which we came. Just as rivers flows restlessly until they join the ocean the ultimate source from which they got their supply of water. The soul’s object of life is attainment of Self realization or absolute freedom and realize our own true nature.
Modern life is unreal. That means all this life that you see is fragmented and distorted, unhappy. It is only an appearance. It is not really the truth of it. The truth of life is a yoga path to be able to bring you to the space where you see things united, perfect, complete, and whole. But when you see things artificially like that then it is illusory and transitory, worthless. There is nothing but constant gossiping and eating and sleeping.
Yoga life is a spiritual life. It is a conscious life. It is a life that understands the true meaning. You have to understand what is that Self. Because sometimes we think that the self is the ego. We think the Self is what we think about ourselves. It is the true Self that we talk about. The moment that you remember to be the true Self then your life becomes very meaningful.
Yoga life brings you through this path these systematic things that you do that make you progress on that path and brings you to the realization of the Self.
Life is a struggle.
He says life is a struggle. To live is to fight for the ideal. Life is fight for fullness and perfection. It means don’t have this romantic idea about life. Life is not having the ideal conditions, and the ideal home, only nice people around, etc. If life is a journey that brings from ignorance to knowledge (wisdom) you would have to work for it. When you work for it and you have a meaning, you have a purpose then you know that when you are doing it you will get your self better, then it is worthy. Life is a battle for attaining supreme independence. Life is a series of conquest. Man evolves grows and expands gaining various experiences through struggle. You will cease to exist the moment that you cease to struggle. If you know why you struggle and it is worthy the struggle then it is okay. But if you struggle and don’t know why you are struggling then you don’t know where you are going
Fight bravely
He says, fight bravely with the internal foes (enemies within) on the battleground of your heart. It is not an external way of fighting with each other like for a new job, more money, etc. That kind of fight only gives you sorrow and stress. You have to turn within and fight with the eternal foes like selfishness, egoism, and ignorance on the battleground of you heart. That means in the core of your believe system. Even a little victory of the inner battle with your mind and senses (that is yoga life) will develop your will power. The harder the struggle the more glorious the triumph. People think that yoga life is just chanting and enjoying life. That is only the outside. The inside working with yourself is tough but outside peaceful and calm.
How to live a yoga life
Live boldly, face all the difficulties and tribulations of this life. Be courageous. Climbing a mountain, crossing a channel, bombing a city, these are not the true acts of heroism and true courage. Controlling your mind and senses overcoming anger, passion, egoism by attaining self mastering this constitute the real heroism in man. So life is a school. Yoga life is to go to school to learn many useful lessons of development of character and divine virtues. Life on earth is a mean of self perfection. The world is your best teacher. There is a lesson in everything. It is not what happens what is important it is how you react to it. It is not the way our life is it is how we see it.
Sure way for success in life and God’s realization
Have a simple and unassuming manner of life. Meaning approach life simply. Unassuming means don’t think of your self to be anything. The opposite of unassuming is a person who is not full of himself. They are assuming a lot of thing in their head. They are assuming to be this and that. They are full of ideas and that time things are very frustrated because things never turn out to be what you are assuming to be. When you are full of expectation it makes you unhappy. The key is to let go of this idea and have a simple open manner of life then at that time you can be flexible.
Live is not to eat but eat to live. This is another guidance for successful life. It means turns things around and put things in the right place. Bear not envy. Means live your life without looking at other people with envy. Commit no slender. Means do not try to destroy somebody. Speak not falsehood. Practice not deceit. You will be ever joyful happy and peaceful.
The salt of life is selfless service. If you don’t do selfless service then your life is lacking salt. The bread of life is universal love. Life is not fully lived if you don’t serve and love the entire humanity.
The secret of true life is the love of God and the service of humanity. Live to help others. The divine power will stream to you as the life giving force.
So serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize. That is the teaching of Sivananda.
Take hold of each day as it was the last day and utilize every second in prayer meditation and service. Live in the present. Forget the past. Give up hopes of the future. Work in the present but do not hope. We always miss the present by just hoping. Understand well the meaning of life and then start the quest. Have a comprehensive of life. All life is one. All life proceed from the absolute which is one and only reality. All is one. The world is one home. All are members of the human family. No man is independent of that home. Man makes himself miserable by separating himself from others. Separation is death. Unity is eternal life. Cultivate cosmic love. Always recognize the work of others. Destroy all barriers. Recognize the non-dual principal the immortal essence within all creatures. Protect animals.
OM OM OM
