Yoga is a science, not a religion

The concept of yoga is very simple; it is based on scientific principles, and through practice it brings about a great change in the physical and mental structure of every person. Yoga was designed by our ancestors in such a way that even a modern person could find at least fifteen minutes in their busy life to devote to it.

In our modern society, we have to move very fast, and our bodies must cope with all the frantic situations and activities of daily life. The demands are enormous, and tension grows day by day — tension within the family, tension at work, tension at a political or national level — and we are unable to maintain proper balance. Because of this, various illnesses have appeared, such as hypertension, diabetes, migraine, coronary disease, stomach problems, and others. These illnesses have arisen because we have been unable to face the situations of life, and the practices of yoga give us the means to create balance within our bodies. The mind wanders and wavers; it does not know when to rest; it is busy throughout the day, and at night it remains active, unconsciously.

The mind becomes ill because of disturbances; it interacts with the physical body and affects the hormones, the digestive system, and so on. When a person falls ill, they go to a doctor, who tries to help them as best they can. They go to a psychiatrist or a psychologist, who likewise tries their best to help them out of the situation, but if we are unable to train the very process of thinking and feeling, how can we ever break this vicious cycle? That is why, in yoga, the first and most important thing is the mind, and controlling the mind, mastering the functions of the mind, is the basic definition of yoga. We know one level on which the mind operates, but the mind functions on many different levels of our existence; there are other dimensions we know nothing about and do not know what to do with. When your mind is functioning on a particular level of existence, but you don't even know that it is functioning that way, what can you do about it? Nothing. There is also a dimension of the mind that we know is functioning, yet we are still unable to control its flow.

When the mind creates tension within you, when you worry about your affairs or your family, can you stop the mind from thinking about it? No. Even when you know that what you are thinking is wrong, you still cannot control the mind. You know perfectly well that you are thinking needlessly; you know perfectly well that such brooding will not help you. You want the mind to stop, but it doesn't. What does this mean? It means the mind is beyond your control; it means the reins of your mind have slipped out of your hands. If this is the situation in your life — that your mind is not under your control — you can imagine what will happen. Imagine you are driving a car, fast; a big truck is coming towards you and you want to slow down. You move your foot to the brake, it doesn't work; you change gear, it doesn't work; nothing works, and the car is doing 100 kilometres an hour. You don't want this, yet it keeps moving. Do you know what happens? An accident. And that is exactly what happens to each one of us.

DISEASE IN YOUR BODY IS AN ACCIDENT, CANCER IS AN ACCIDENT, ULCERS ARE AN ACCIDENT, A HEART ATTACK IS AN ACCIDENT, AND ALL OF IT IS CAUSED BY THE SPEED OF THE MIND, WHICH YOU ARE UNABLE TO CONTROL.

It is not only about controlling the conscious mind — you must also gain control over the other phases of the mind. If you can control your thoughts through willpower, that's good. But can you control your dreams? Can you control your visions? No. This means you have no control over that region of the mind which lies beyond your awareness. You should be able to control dreams, hallucinations, feelings — and it is precisely for this purpose that the whole of yoga has been systematically organised. Yoga, then, is for all of us a science of the entire mind. It teaches us what we must practise, what we must do, in order to gain complete mastery over the mind and its mysterious functions.

"That is why, for the modern person, we have divided the whole foundation of yoga into four parts: hatha yoga, the practice of asanas and pranayama; concentration, the attempt to focus the mind on a single point; meditation, in which we try to unite our consciousness with the greater consciousness; and finally, the relaxation of the whole body, mind, nervous system, and emotions, which is achieved through yoga nidra — together with living by the principles of Yama and practising Niyama in one's life."

We should try to set aside 15–20 minutes every morning and at least 10 minutes every evening. During this time, we need to do a few asanas and some pranayama, a little concentration, and the practice of a mantra, or japa yoga. These fifteen minutes of morning practice will give you enough freshness and energy to cope with the tensions of daily life that you will have to face during the day. In the evening, when you go to rest, devote at least ten minutes to the practice of your mantra, or japa, and pranayama. This practice will bring balance to your whole personality, and you will have a healthy sleep, because you will be sleeping after having released the tensions of body and mind through the mantra. In modern life, when we are short of time and have a mountain of duties to fulfil, surely each of us can spare half an hour of our life for the practice of yoga. That is one aspect of it.

Many scientists in the USA, Europe, India, Australia, and Japan are researching the effects of yoga on coronary disease, insomnia, and hypertension. In the United States, they are studying the effect of yoga on controlling various brainwaves. It has almost been concluded that yoga can be very helpful for many illnesses, such as asthma, rheumatism, migraine, diabetes, and lung disease; the list is too long to enumerate here. But I will say that the time has come, as scientists are now telling us, when yoga can help humanity as a therapeutic science. This is truly wonderful, because people have always thought that yoga was a mystical science, and that once you began practising yoga, you would withdraw from family life and from this world. In this way, yoga has been wrongly interpreted and defined.

But today scientists define yoga differently. They carried out a six-month experiment studying brainwave patterns during the chanting of Aum. When "Au" was chanted, they detected alpha waves. When "mmm" was chanted, theta waves were detected. This is the kind of effect that mantras or sounds can have, and every sound has an effect on the nerves and brainwaves, whether negative or positive. A mantra or sound can produce physiological changes in the structure of the brain. Not only that, but a mantra can also affect the hormonal processes in the body; this too has been observed by scientists. In our time, yoga should be understood in relation to science, not religion.

Piyush Mittal

Source: My own understanding of yoga, and part of a lecture by Swami Satyananda Saraswati