INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA

International Day of Yoga

*Image credit: pixabay.com

In this article, I share with my readers what I avoid while doing yoga practice.


The United Nations proclaimed 21 June as the International Day of Yoga by the Resolution 69/131 dated 11.12.2014.  The aim is to raise the awareness worldwide of the importance  of practicing yoga and its benefits.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA

The first  International Day of Yoga was observed all over the world on 21 June 2015.

The idea of International Day of Yoga was proposed by Shri Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on 27 September 2014, saying that Yoga is the most precious gift of India's  ancient tradition for the human being all over the world.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA

The term yoga in Sanskrit means to get merged with (the universe). 

Maharshi Patanjali in the 5th Century BC compiled all forms of Yoga,the process and the benefits thereof in the book known as Yogasutra.

My curious readers are requested to read my earlier post  - How To Learn Meditation At Once  -  for brief relevant information on Patanjali Yoga Sutras.

Since the observation of International Day of Yoga started on 21 June all over the world in 2015, all the tv channels were busy giving the event live coverage.  

There was apparently intense competition all the world over among the political leaders, celebrities, famous personalities for displaying their enthusiasm and devotion towards this invaluable gift to human by the wisdom of ancient India.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA

A typical representative image of a person going to do Yoga could easily be expected to exhibit sports shoes, track suit, t-shirts, wrist bands, head band, Yoga mat in plastic container hanging down the shoulders, a fashionable cap, earphones of mobile plugged in and so on. That was  also the most attractive image.

The insistence on the above things was so much strong, apparently, that some times I used to have doubts whether without any one of them, one could perform Yoga at all !

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA

It is a well known fact that mental health is as important as physical health. When people wonder how to find peace and serenity in daily life, they inevitably are advised to take steps for achieving sound mental and physical health.

And thus there is great awareness regarding mental health also.  People know very well what is mental bath and  how to take it.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA

I remember one of my friends telling me that he has entered a new business venture in computer peripherals. These included devices such as a computer mouse or keyboard,expansion cards, graphics cards, image scanners, tape drives, microphones, loudspeakers, webcams and digital cameras and so on. The purposes served were various depending on the need and intentions of the computer users. However, for my friend, every peripheral unit sold generated some revenue for him. Therefore, he has included maximum number of computer peripheral units possible.

in yoga practice, it is observed that we are tempted to pay attention to the peripheral things  only and ignore the things at the core which are concerned with yoga and therefore call for due attention. 

Instead, there are more chances of getting lost in the insignificant peripheral things and thus denying oneself the real benefits of yoga practice in the form of achieving sound physical and mental health.

This is what exactly I do. Only this awareness has enabled me reap the benefits of  regular yoga practice in life to achieve further progress on the path of spirituality.  

In other words, by achieving and maintaining sound physical and mental health I can pursue the goal of attaining the ultimate on the path of spiritual progress i.e. Samadhi, the merging of the individual self with the universe.

I strongly feel that only the unfortunate ones get entangled with the worldly things which are distracting in nature on the path of spiritual progress.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA

Various business activities relating to commercialization of Yoga have already started.  Even  I read about air-conditioned Yoga studio which sounded very stylish.

Several experts emerged all over the world claiming to teach dynamic yoga and using other such attractive terms. I also heard about the classes for musical yoga also.  

Well, once you decide to do business, then there are so many ways to lure the customers.

But, this is not so in the ancient Indian tradition, the sages have been known to be engaged in selfless services to the human being and devoted their entire life for the purpose of selfless services of human being.  

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA

Doing any business was never their intention. The wisdom of the great ancient Indian heritage has been open for any one to learn and practice, irrespective of religion, region and race. 

The requirement is only of interest, willingness to learn, and ability to practice the wisdom learnt.  

And this devotion is completed by sharing the wisdom learnt with all human being, without any expectation in return, except the welfare of all.       



Next time........

THE ART OF LISTENING

THE ART OF LISTENING

MOST MEMORABLE LISTENING IN LIFE

Image Courtesy: https://pxhere.com/

Have you ever wondered if there is any art of listening? 

And in fact, what is the difference between hearing and listening?

What exactly is the role played by applying the art of listening in our daily life?

And what is the scope of application of the art of listening?

How it will help us to achieve the desired transformation in life?

Do you know that you can listen to your body?

And your mind?

Or does your mind listen to you?

So many interesting questions, isn't it?

Well, this article is on the significant wisdom learnt while finding the answers to the above questions and their practical applications in our life. This helps one to live daily with ease, comfort, meaningfully in a significant manner on the path of living a fulfilled life.

THE ART OF LISTENING

Generally one gets confused between the process of hearing and listening.

Merriam-Webster defines hearing as the "process, function or power of perceiving sound; specifically : the special sense by which noises and tones are received as stimuli".

Listening, on the other hand, means "to pay attention to sound, to hear something with thoughtful attention; and to give consideration."

(Reference: https://www.healthline.com/health/hearing-vs-listening#hearing-vs-listening)

You might often have heard the comments from your near and dear ones- like 'You are not listening to me!'

It is interesting to know that -

1. Hearing and Listening uses both the ears.
2. Hearing is receiving sound waves through ears while listening means hearing and understanding what we have heard.
3. Hearing is part of the five senses, while listening is a choice to hear and analyze what we hear.
4. Hearing is using our ears only, while listening is using our body's other senses
5. Listening is observing other's behavior that can add meaning to the message, while hearing is simply receiving sound vibrations.
6. .Listening can build better relationship with others while hearing can not.
7. Take good care of our ears. Because we cannot listen when we cannot hear.

(Source: differencebetween.net)

THE ART OF LISTENING -THE MEANING

We all  have heard the popular phrases -like the Art of Living- the Art of Dying- the Art of Thinking for Better Life - the Art of Reading  for achieving Life Transformation and so on. 

When we face inevitable challenges in life,we find certain processes hard and cumbersome, boring, needing hard work and continuous efforts to meet them. 

At such times, we wonder if at all there is any art of doing the same.  

Because learning the required art makes the whole exercise easy and comfortable and even enjoyable. For example, cycling.

What is the art of listening?- The need to understand.

The purpose is to understand the art, learn and apply the same for our own advantage to make our own life easy and comfortable while achieving our purpose to achieve the sense of fulfillment in life. 

Know what. we hear so many sounds using our hearing sense.  And our ears are open to all kinds of sounds.  Like eyes, we cannot open and close our ears for selecting purpose.  I mean, we cannot open our ears to listen to the only desired and selected sounds.  Nor we can close our ears to stay away from the undesired sounds. 

The effective way is to listen to only those sounds which we desire and need to in the process of achieving our purpose.

Here the process of listening plays important role.  And understanding the art of listening  enables us to exercise option of applying our ability to listen only to the meaningful, significant and valued sounds having potentials to make our life easy, comfortable, meaningful on the path of achieving fulfillment in life. 

And that is achieving overall transformation in life.

THE ART OF LISTENING KEENLY

Image Courtesy: https://pxhere.com/

Have you ever wondered as to how many different kinds of approaches are involved when you listen to others?

Let us see. 

If you observe carefully, you will find that when you listen to some body, you -

• have decided to do so
• are determined to listen
• stop talking
• are alert to listen
• try to make the speaker to feel at ease and open up
• avoid disturbances
• concentrate at what  the speaker has to say
• avoid impatience
• show your concern with what the speaker has to say
• show your empathy
• have open mindedness 
• listen to the central ideas
• interpret the tone of the speaker
• are likely to know the  hidden messages of the speaker

(Source: The 10 principles of listening)

THE ART OF LISTENING - ITS IMPORTANCE

We can understand and draw inferences of what is said only when we  listen to what is stated. 

If we are not careful while listening, we are likely to miss what is being communicated.  In this sense, effective listening is essential for effective communication. 

And failure to do so, leads to misunderstanding and wrong interpretation of the messages being communicated, and wrong decisions based on that.

THE ART OF LISTENING- ADVANTAGES

Listening with patience enables us to -

• understand the problems being discussed
• understand the exact needs of the speaker
• work on the probable solutions to the problems
• command respect from others
• build good relationship with others
• attract others eager to share and discuss their problems.

THE ART OF LISTENING- RESULTS OF POOR LISTENING 

Poor listening may result in -

• taking things for granted
• misunderstanding
• errors in judgments
• wrong decisions
• harming mutual trust

THE ART OF LISTENING- SIGNS OF A GOOD LISTENER

You are a good listener if you -

• pay full attention while listening
• keep eye contact with the speaker
• do not interrupt the speaker 
• listen with keen interest
• try to avoid looking at some thing else more interesting while listening

I remember one cartoon showing annual get together of alumni of a famous college, sitting engrossed in their own mobiles and ignoring the old friends.

THE ART OF LISTENING-  for security purpose and political gains.

The Govt. security agencies do not hesitate to listen to the telephonic conversations of the potential secret agents of the  enemy nation in national security point of view.

In the democratic countries, during election campaign, phone tapping is normal phenomena the ruling party resort to. And there are lot of  heated debates during the election period waning out in due course.

THE ART OF LISTENING

As mentioned above, having understood the meaning and significance of the art of listening next important step is to implement the same in our own daily life.  

Because only knowledge is not sufficient. It must be practiced in real life.  

This makes our life easy, comfortable. This also enables us to make optimum utilization of the  important resources viz. time, money and human resources.

And the result achieved will essentially be associated with our life connected with the external world.

THE ART OF LISTENING TO THE BODY AND MIND

Now let us consider the subtle aspects of the art of listening.

Have you ever listened to your body while indulging in your favorite dish? 

One serve, and you desire to have one more, and one more and one more. The craving is tempting and insatiable. 

But at one stage your body says, enough now !  Please, stop now, for God's sake. 

Do you listen to what your body says? 

Or you listen to what your mind says asking for more and fulfill the desire?

And you know what happens, if you do not listen to your body? 

Upset stomach, bloating, indigestion and so on. In short,  you face the consequences at body level.

THE ART OF LISTENING TO THE INNER VOICE

Here, the question arises as to what about the internal world?

The world we live in is the way it has been and it will remain so for ever.  

The only thing we must be aware of is that it is our own responsibility to receive minimum damage in the world we live in.

For this, another important aspect of the art of listening must be understood. And that is one must listen to own inner voice i.e. sarasar vivek (power of discretion).

It is our experience that while indulging in some interesting acts, we often feel that the thing we are doing at the moment should not be done because it is wrong, unethical, amoral and unnatural. 

But still we yield to temptations to do so because of the desires dominating our minds - because of the interests, passions, craziness and of course vested interests involved. 

For this reason, we are unable to listen to our own inner voice.  

And the result is inevitable downfall in our own life, leading to a miserable life. 

And consequently we face sadness, frustration, depression, isolation, inferiority complex, and even mental disorders and misery in the life.

This sarasar vivek enables us to understand various important polarities in our life - like truth and untruth, right and wrong, moral and amoral, ethical and unethical, justice and injustice, and so on. And the life is full of polarities.

This understanding of polarities in life enables us to make right choice before making decisions in our daily life.

Not only that, this knowledge  builds confidence in us to accept the consequences of our own right decision making.

Therefore, the art of listening plays vital role in our life, directing us to move on the path of attaining peace of mind and fulfillment in life.

In short,we must understand that the art of listening enables us to-

• live our life with peace of mind, ease, and significantly meaningful.
• discover happiness instead of running after fulfilling of our desires one after another.
• ignore peripheral things and pay attention to the core issues.
• prioritize our desires to be fulfilled.
• choose properly when to pay attention to the desires, body and mind.
• differentiate between our body, mind and spirit.

THE ART OF LISTENING 

Let us not forget that for applying this Art of Listening in our daily life requires strong determination, strict discipline and a lot of personal sacrifices in the life. 

And having applied the same in daily life, the fulfillment achieved in the life is sustainable for a longer duration.

If we are serious to live life lightly, easily and comfortably, well, applying the art of listening in daily life will surely help us to realize it.

Friends, do not forget to comment on this article. 

Thanks for reading!

Next time......

LIFE TRANSFORMATION

LIFE TRANSFORMATION

LIFE TRANSFORMATION

Image Courtesy: Shutterstock

Life transformation

You are right! Life Transformation is challenging, yet very interesting to engage with.
Ultimately it some thing worth to achieve in our own life.

This article explains the meaning of Life Transformation, its significance, the possible hurdles on the path to achieve the same, the secrets that can be practically adapted.

Life transformation

Nature of life varies from individual to individual.  Primarily, life is commanded by the four  natural instincts of life - Food, Survival, Procreation and Sleep. These are basic characteristics of animal life, no doubt. And being at the next level of evolution we always seek some thing beyond and above these basic instincts.   This is reflected in the fact that  we human being always try to seek, express, and share happiness with others on the path of fulfillment in life. 

And achieving fulfillment in life itself is not the ultimate goal.  Even having achieved the fulfillment in life, one faces the problem of what next?

And this path is built on various stages of transformations in our life.  And achieving each stage  in  life  is the most difficult yet rewarding phenomena  of transformation in life.

Life transformation

Change and Transformation- The Difference

Change in our own actions is brought about by using external factors - for example, academic, financial and social status etc. With respective abilities one can bring about a change in life.

We often use to say "Oh, yes, I am fed up with this routine life. Need some change." For this purpose, at least once in a year, we plan grand tour, odyssey, pilgrimage,quest, safari, excursion etc. 

In the corporate world also, training camps, seminars, conferences are arranged  to provide their employees   some sort of change from their routine life to ensure their vigor is maintained to keep them engaged in their tasks fruitfully.

Transformation is related to essentially positive aspects that involves identifying, adopting, and modifying own beliefs and bringing them in practice to achieve significant results in own attitude and behavior and consequently overall up-gradation and ease in our life.

Transformation also indicates holistic improvement in our  attitude, approach and experiences of own life.

We often learn the wisdom that it is the responsibility of the parents to ensure that their kids are raised in such a manner that they are placed in life at higher levels - that of educational, professional, social, financial, family and so on. And that this is a significant step in achieving fulfillment in life.

Likewise, we must learn the wisdom that it is the responsibility of every individual to seek transformation in own life for achieving that coveted  sense of fulfillment in life.

Life transformation

When Does One Realizes the Need to Transform own Life?

Life is very challenging.   Being  too much engaged in tackling day to day life makes one unaware of the things other than those he is engaged with in own daily life.  Consequently, one is inclined to believe that life means only those things he experiences and feels on daily basis. And that there is nothing beyond and above that.

Many occasions, one feels that in spite of having every thing in life, - good education, job,lovely spouse, children,wealth,, there is some thing lacking in life.

Even there are individuals who have made enormous wealth in life, they wonder what to do with this wealth?  They are also worried that their wealth should not fall in wrong hands.  And that they must do some thing to ensure that this wealth be applied for some charity works.  Yet, they are not sure what to do? Whom to consult?

And thus, a stage is reached when questions like "Why Life Does Not Make Any Sense?"  "Why Life Does Not Have Happy Moments only?" arise in the mind.

This is what is known as spiritual awakening.  At this stage, one starts searching for ways to get connected with the divine universal force.

And one starts thinking for better life.

At this stage, a seeker is born. This is a stage when an individual is determined to transform his own life and starts searching the effective ways for achieving the same.

Life transformation

How Long It Takes To Transform our own Life?

In the contemporary lifestyle, every one wants instant result.  But if one is serious about achieving transformation in life, it is advisable better not to expect instant results on this challenging path.

In this challenging exercise, discarding old undesired habits and replacing them by new desired habits is inevitable.  And we know very well, old habits die hard.

Achieving transformation in life involves our own determination, consisting of putting efforts to bring about transformation by way of identifying and modifying  life values and practicing them in daily life  as also many personal sacrifices related to our old habits, temptations, shortcuts.  

We must not forget that transformation achieved by sheer hard work,  personal sacrifices is sustained for a longer period.

When we achieve transformation in our life, it also brings about significant transformation in the life of our near and dear ones.  This is reflected in the standard of living, extent of peace of mind, happy and healthy atmosphere in the family, being connected with own near and dear ones and that coveted feeling of always being in touch with the divine universal force which a religious person addresses as God.

What is Internal Transformation?

Identifying  the old, outdated  and unwanted beliefs and values in life and replacing them by newly identified beliefs and values in life that are essentially helpful in bringing about the desired transformation in life is what is internal transformation. This internal transformation guides one's thought pattern, the nature of our behavioral attitude.

How Internal Transformation is Connected with External Transformation?

Our beliefs and life values are build up right from our childhood. And our thinking and behavioral attitude is based on these beliefs and life values.  And the same is reflected in our actual behaving in our day today life.

When internal transformation happens, external transformation naturally takes place without any deliberated attempts from our side.

How To Maintain Ideal Life?

The secret of an ideal life is having a perfectly healthy life. Let us see what is a perfectly healthy life.

Healthy life indicates -

• sound physical health
• sound mental health
• spiritual progress

Physical Health is most important. We must remember- Health is Wealth!

For this, sufficient exercise is needed - Surya Namaskara (sun salutation), morning walk, Pranayama, breathing exercises, asanas (postures) etc.

One must be aware of-

• own diet - both quality and quantity.  We must eat at least four morsels less than actually required. 
• half the capacity of the stomach should be filled with solids, a quarter of the capacity with liquids and the rest be left empty for the free movement of gases.

Mental health is equally important but unfortunately not much attention is paid to the same.We need to be careful what we feed our mind.  We must be extra-careful of each and every media our mind is exposed to. It means we must be cautious about what we feed our mind while engaging in activities like reading, watching tv, surfing the internet etc.

For this purpose, one must know what is mental bath and its importance to maintain healthy mind.

We must remember  that healthy mind ensures healthy body.

Spiritual Progress- About spiritual practice one becomes aware late in life, say in fifties plus.  One should get awareness of the same at the earliest to achieve progress on the path of spirituality which is a step to achieve fulfillment in life.

What are the signs of perfect health?

According to me, a person can be said to have optimal health status if he -

• is able to follow the basic instincts of life - ahaara, nidra, bhaya, maithuna (ie food, sleep, survival and procreation) effectively.
• has ability to feel happiness and express happiness.
• is not dependent on medicines on regular basis.
• has a healthy mind.
• is independent both mentally and physically.
• has ability to engage himself in positive acts.
• does not need help from others.
• is able to help others.
• is able to go to sleep at the scheduled time and to get up in the morning as he decides.
• once having awakened in the morning does not simply spend time lying in the bed.
• exercises his mind control to have optimum level of food and sleep.

Having ensured perfect health, next step is self-realization.  This process has strong analogy with the modern management technique of SWOT analysis.  

Generally, every one  does not understand the concept of self awareness. So let me explain in detail.

Awareness simply means being aware of things we are connected with, (mostly outwardly things).

In day-today activities, one interacts with the things both he knows and knows nothing. Yoga Nidra, in this context, introduces this self awareness very effectively. And one feels really amazed having so many internal organs, systems, that generally one is not even aware of!

It is an interesting fact that while playing our thumb gets hurt and we suddenly become aware of the existence of our thumb.  Till then, we are not even aware of this reality.

In short, unless some thing happens, we do not become aware of the related things.

For effective and easy daily interactions one must be aware of one's self (self aware) and also aware of the things one is interacting with.

One interesting example is giving respect - we do respect people on different counts - due to authority of the person, due to the person's status -family,social, political and so on - due to the person's muscle power etc.

It is interesting to mention that generally we are aware of other's  potential strength to cause harm to us. And hence we are on the alert while interacting with such people.

At the same time, we also must be aware of own strength, weaknesses, potentials before deciding to enter into any kind of interaction with others.

Therefore, it is essential to develop self awareness.


At this stage, the seeker starts making self inquiry such as -

• What am doing? 
• What is my potential strength? 
• How can I develop them? 
• How can I apply them in daily life? 
• What are my weaknesses? 
• How can I eliminate them? 
• Why I am restless? 
• What are the causes thereof which should be overcome? 
• Where can I get proper guidance for the same? 
• Should I look inward or outward? 
• What is transformation in life? 
• How can I achieve it?

Life transformation

What Are Possible Steps For Achieving Transformation in Life?

Following steps are promising-

• Self Analysis.
• Understanding and accepting the need for having transformation in life.
• Have determination of achieving transformation in life.
• Identifying the values and beliefs presently one is holding.
• Analyzing them vis-a-vis their practicality in the life.
• Identifying the values and beliefs that need to be discarded.
• Identifying the values and beliefs that need to be accepted and practiced. 
• Identifying and tapping the sources of information that will strengthen the newly adopted values and beliefs. For this, a seeker can come across various books on the subject- for example -  Get Savvi, Inner Engineering by Sadhguru, What If This is Heaven?, Ikigai.  In fact, there are a number of books available on the subject significant for able readers.
• Engaging oneself in the meaningful company of sources of wisdom - they can be a spiritual Guru, Books, Old Scriptures (which one should not ignore in an attempt of projecting own image of being a modern fellow).  Quality reading. The purpose is to hammer our own mind with the thoughts, values and beliefs that are going to play important role in achieving transformation in life.
• One must not forget that acquiring knowledge when implemented becomes wisdom. And wisdom learnt must be practiced in life on the path of seeking transformation.
• Persuasiveness and consistency in putting efforts therefor is of paramount importance. There should not be lethargy in this respect. In fact, one should be merciless in this respect.
• Must discard old, unwanted (bad)habits and replace them by the required and supportive habits that will support one's own mission of achieving transformation in life.
• Be prepared for personal sacrifices in the form of luxury, convenience and other such temptations.
• Have patience.  It is not instant coffee.  Wait till the right and appropriate time.
• Go step by step.  There is no short cut in the path of achieving transformation in life.
• Do not insist on a Guru in the external world.  One can find the best Guru in own self.
• One must practice strict self-discipline.
• Set the proper goals.
• Adopt the proper way for achieving the set goals.

Life transformation

What are the Possible Hurdles on the Path of  Achieving Transformation in Life

When one becomes seeker of achieving transformation in life, it is better to be aware of the possible hurdles on the path of achieving transformation in life.

• Lack of determination and preparation.
• Lack of hard work.
• Lack of preparedness to go through sacrifices of personal liking.
• Old undesirable habits.
• Succumbing to the temptations in life.
• Failure to identify proper ideal life values.
• Failure to adhere to the discipline in life.
• Being too liberal to the self in relaxing the newly acquired practices.
• Allowing the self to become topic of the town regarding seeking transformation in life.
• Failure to engaging the self in the company of wisdom in the form of quality reading,and tv, internet and social media.
• Failure to identify the peripheral things and ignoring the things at the center.
• Having misconceptions - like trying shortcut to success.  This is due to lack of sarasar vivek ie power of discretion. Remember- Goals achieved with hard work, personal sacrifices, are sustainable in the long run. 

Whatever written above is out of my own personal life experiences (and that of others also), observation, learning  (this is a continuous process) and being particular to practice the wisdom learnt in the life.

If a common man like me can do this much, any body can do the same easily.

My ardent and able readers are most welcome to read, share this article in any form/social media with their near and dear ones.

Readers are requested to comment on this article to enable me to improvise further.  I know it is a continuous process.

Thanks.

Next time .......