Is Yoga for You?🔗

Talking on the Yoga Sutras is an intense experience not only for all of you; it is an intense experience even for me. Because this is the one book I have heard and studied directly from a master. I have spoken on many scriptures - Bhagavad Gita, Brahma Sutras, the Upanishads, Shiva Sutras, so many books! But this book, I have studied directly from a great master, at his feet. So many beautiful memories and beautiful experiences that I had with him are filling my inner space! Before entering into the sutra, let me narrate one incident that happened with the master who taught me these Yoga Sutras. The first sutra is a beautiful sutra - atha yoganushaasanam, which means 'Now begins the experience of Yoga'. My teacher's spiritual name was Yogi Yogananda Puri, and people used to call him Raghupati Yogi. You would have read and seen his name in my biography. One morning during yoga practice, he suddenly told me - JUST SIT! I sat. And he told me 'Don't move till I say.' And I sat. I thought he would make me sit for five minutes, ten minutes, preparing my body and mind for initiation. So I sat. Ten minutes went by, half an hour went by, one hour went by, and I was still sitting. I was a small boy, maybe five or six years old; not more than five or six. After some time, he just walked out. He went away somewhere. I was sitting there. I was just sitting. After ten hours, sometime in the evening, he came back. And he started the first sutra - atha yoganushasanam. Now the instruction on Yoga starts. Now the experience of Yoga starts. I asked him 'What do you mean by this?' He said 'Qualification! You need a certain qualification to enter into Yoga'. I asked him what the qualifications were. He said, 'Do not worry. I have already tested you. I have already tested you. From morning till now, I asked you to sit and you just sat. That is the qualification. You do not have to bother about qualification'. He started with this word - atha yoganushasanam. Each master has his own way of translating this sutra, but the exact translation is 'Now begins the experience of Yoga'. Let us understand this word, because Patanjali wants to make it very clear. The sage Patanjali is the Master of these Yoga Sutras. He wants to make everything very clear - what he is going to teach, whom he is going to teach, who this book is going to work for, for whom this science is expressed. With this one word 'now', he means a lot. He is conveying many, many, many things. Unless you understand this 'now', experiencing Yoga may not happen. You may have an intellectual idea, but the experience may not happen. For the experience to happen, you need to understand this word 'now'. First, you need to come to this moment, 'now'. Second, you need to understand the depth of yoga science. Yoga is not just an ordinary therapy. It is not just to heal your knee pain or back pain. It heals, that is true, but that does not mean yoga is only for the purpose of therapy. Yoga really transforms your life. When your life is transformed, you escape from everything negative, whether it is poverty or abusive relationships or disease or whatever. You escape from it or move beyond it. But that does not mean yoga is just for this. Yoga has a much deeper meaning, a deeper experience. Understanding that yoga has depth is a basic requirement to enter into this experience. There are many different ways in which books start. In India, there is one more book called Brahma Sutra - a book of aphorisms, the philosophy of superconsciousness. This book starts with the words, athaato brahma jijnaasaa. It means 'Now let us enquire into Brahman. Now let us enquire into Existence'. But here Patanjali is not saying 'Let us enquire into yoga.' No! He says, atha yogaanushaasanam. 'Now let us experience Yoga.' So, the moment you open this book, he conveys, 'I take it for granted that you are a sincere seeker. Let us start the work. I am not interested in wasting your time or my time.' Patanjali is very straightforward. He is putting things across directly. He is not interested in wasting time. Straightaway, he says, 'Now I know that you are interested sincerely in experiencing the Yoga. So let us enter into Yoga'. It is a wonderful moment. With devotion, every sutra becomes a click! Let us take a few moments to remember and pay our respects to all the great masters - Sadashiva and Patanjali and all the great masters who did research and development, and expressed this great yoga philosophy. I remember all of them with reverence before entering into these great sutras. Many times people ask me, 'Why should we have so much respect or devotion before entering into these kinds of scriptures?' You can enter into this book in many ways. You can just enter into this book as a casual reader, or you can enter into this book with intellectual curiosity. There are many ways you can enter. But if you enter with deep devotion and surrender, every sutra will become a click in you. It will suddenly click. I have seen in my life that if you approach these great scriptures with deep devotion and respect, suddenly every word clicks inside you. You know it is true, and you will experience it, you will live it.

SUTRA 1

Atha yogaanushaasanam (1.1) Now, let us enter into Yoga.