Hatha Yoga

Saturday December 25 2004 08:54

By Karmayogi

Life, in its existence, is many-sided in the sense that a goal can be accomplished in more than one way. Absence of rigidity makes for creativity. Moksha is the goal of Indian spirituality. There is no one fixed path for it. There are as many routes to reach moksha as there are parts of being, viz., mind, vital, body. Hatha yoga is the path of the body to moksha.

Today we know how exact science can be. Its measurements are precise. Scientific instruments could measure the speed of light per second a hundred years ago. Precision and Prediction are the pride of science. Astrology is a subtle science or a science of subtle forces of life. Sri Aurobindo says Hatha Yoga is devised with scientific precision. Yogis suspending their heartbeats for days is a known practice in India. When a certain yogi was demonstrating this feat in the US, people saw he was waiting for some time in the course of the exercise. To their question of why he was waiting, he said he was waiting for the consent of his subtle heart which he was consulting.

Indian yoga has full knowledge of the subtle body of man and the seven chakras in it. They say our physical body is carried by the wider subtle body. A lady from the US had the faculty of seeing a person's aura. Meeting devotees of Sri Aurobindo, she saw their heads, and sometimes other parts of the body also, covered with blue or white light. She could see golden light around a few of them. Golden light is the light of the Supermind.

There was a young boy who clearly saw a column of light over the houses of devotees. Mother saw a pillar of light in the centre of Pondicherry town when Her ship was approaching the harbour. Hatha yoga seeks the power to reach the chakra, muladhara, to release the power coiled there, as if it is a serpent. They call it kundalini. When released, the power ascends through all the other chakras till it reaches Sahasradala, the chakra above the head. Moksha is attained at that point.

Here, as elsewhere, quieting the restlessness of the being, especially the physical being is the important first step. Asana does it. Pranayama removes the disturbing excess energy that unsettles the QUIET of the body. The world knows of Life Sciences. It has not yet thought of the Science of Life. Indians have reached the peak of perfection in it, as the birds and animals have instincts from birth and enjoy them well.

The material comforts we enjoy as a result of modern science have made human life civilised and physically enjoyable. The next grade of it is the inner psychological well being that comes from affectionate human relationships. It is a cherished possession. Romance is the acme of it. The world will be ushered into the Marvel of love, if it discovers the Science of Life and enjoys its bounty.