International Yoga Day

Yoga is the word commonly used by foreigners for Indian traditional concept of Yog. As clear from the word itself, Yog means addition i.e. Yog means the experience of oneness or unity with your inner being. This unity comes after dissolving the duality of mind. Yoga was originated in Indian sub-continent & the word was first mentioned in the oldest sacred texts, the Rigveda. According to the tradition & scriptures, Lord Shiva is the founder of Yoga. It is said that there were originally 84 Lakhs asanas, which represent the 84 Lakhs incarnations every individual must pass through before attaining liberation from the cycle of birth & death. Throughout the centuries these asanas have been modified & reduced in number so that there are now no more than a few hundred known. Of these only thirty or so are commonly thought of as being useful to modern man.

The first historically recorded exponent of Yoga was the great Yogi Gorakhnath. In ancient times, a sage named Patanjali wrote a book in Sanskrit named "Yogsutra" in which he thoroughly described about all the forms of Yoga, the methods & it's benefits. Swami Vivekananda & Mahatma Gandhi are the two most prominent names among the followers of Yoga. Swami Vivekananda had written many books on Yoga along with the adaptation of Patanjali's Yogsutra in Hindi. All the books became instant success & were highly influential in the western understanding of Yoga, thus he introduced Yoga to the western world. Gandhiji also used to do Yoga practices & meditation on a daily basis.
As a consequence of slavery of 200 years to the Britishers, after independence Indian people started following western culture blindly. Especially in educated societies of urban India, people used to feel shame in performing traditional rituals & practices of Indian culture without knowing their scientific importance. By doing so they were willing to look modern. Thus, stuff like Yoga, Ayurveda, Classical dance/music, Traditional attire along with Vegetarian food became so old fashioned at that time. Foreign culture of late night parties, alcohol & junk food steadily invaded in our lifestyle. During this time when Indians were busy to change their routine life as per western standards, people in west were looking towards India & it's ancient culture in search of a subtle inner peace, as there was no such means available for this in western culture. Therefore they explored Indian yoga & found it like a magic in their straggling lives.
As a result of living such unhealthy lifestyle, Indians were getting Diabetic & Obese and struggling with mental illness too. Then Indian Yog had returned to it's origin after many decades with International fame & name of Yoga. For Indians, anything with international label is considered the guarantee of a quality product or service. In our country, intelligence is not measured by a person's knowledge but his/her ability to speak English. So after getting appreciation around the globe, Indian Yog passed the test of Indian quality standards & again comprised in our life. Credits must be given to Baba Ramdev for the revival of Yoga in India.
Nowadays Yoga is not only the necessity of the modern world but has become a fashion statement too, especially for those who do Yoga only for 1 day just to capture themselves doing it so that they could upload it in the social media. Some daily practitioners also do so but for creating awareness towards health & fitness, such people inspire many others to wake up early in the morning & to do some physical activity. Yoga is not a body building technique, it is not designed specifically to develop huge, unnecessary muscles. Gymnastic exercises, weight lifting & other cardio activities are not suitable for everyone. A sick or weak person, small children or old people certainly can't do them. Furthermore, they don't provide the relaxation which people need. For these heavy physical exercises either you need a well equipped gym near by your home or you have to buy those costly cardio machines to install at your home, you pay a handsome amount to your gym instructor despite that often you miss the gym due to tiredness of your heavy workout or late night working. Sometimes you get bored with your monotonous workout routine although your gym trainer tries to engage you with the loud party music playing in the gym but it becomes so annoying at times. One more lesser known fact about gyming is that it could be only effective when you follow strict diet plan prepared as per your BMI (Body mass index). Generally boys join the gym just to get giant Biceps & 6 or 8 pack Abs and girls do so to get a slim figure. But as soon as you discontinue your body building practices for even a month, you will start rapidly accumulating fat in place of your overdeveloped muscles.
People leave their favorite food, spend most of their time & money in the gym just to get a physical resemblance to an actor/actress & this physical appearance is misinterpreted as fitness. Gyming is good enough for this kind of short term goal of fitness because it can give you the desired results within a short period of time. But beyond this physical obsession if you really want a long lasting overall good health along with the additional benefits of a fit body & stable mind then you must invest your time & energy in Yoga. Yoga has a deeper significance value in the development of the physical, mental & spiritual personality. It can be done by both healthy & unhealthy people, young & old. Have you noticed that in the gym, you do physical exercise that involves heavy breathing & sweating; you are running on a treadmill in an air-conditioned hall accompanied by many others who are also breathing, sweating, sneezing & coughing at the same time in that place and you are inhaling the same impure air. That's why Gym is considered one of the most vulnerable places for germs. These days when contagious Corona virus has captured the planet & now we are learning to live in the New normal with the formula of SMS (Sanitizer, Mask, Social distancing) then the concept of gym has become outdated. I know that engaging ourself in some physical activity is very much essential in this period to boost our immunity but we just can't ignore the fact that the machines & tools used in the gym could be the carrier of this dangerous virus. Here our ancient Yoga comes to save our lives which strengthen our immune system without contacting any infected surface. We can do Yoga in an open area in the fresh air by easily maintaining social distancing.
Meanwhile i am writing this article, all news channels are broadcasting the shocking news that one of the leading actors Sushant Singh Rajput has committed suicide because of Depression. As I have said earlier that exercising in the gym could only give you a physical satisfaction of looking good, but Yoga has the capability to give you mental satisfaction of being good. Yoga acts like a bridge b/w the body, mind & soul and creates a beautiful balance among these three. Yoga doesn't encourage us to leave this world & become Sanyasi to achieve happiness rather it teaches us the method of how to detach ourselves from temporary emotions of the outer world by enlightening our conscience. Yoga makes one's mind strong enough to endure pain & unhappiness. The power of determination & concentration are developed. You will be able to face the sorrow, anxieties & problems of the world with peace, without being disturbed. Stability of mind is developed, life becomes easy & difficulties become stepping stones to perfect mental health.
I had been doing gym for 2.5 years consisting Aerobics & Cardio and i was pretty much satisfied about my physique, but later on i had realized an urge to find something better. Somewhere in my mind i was actually searching a technique that could control my emotions. As being a working professional i needed something which could help me to reduce my stress, worries, anger, frustration, insecurities regarding my future, something that could improve my concentration level along with physical benefits as well. As I had been doing Surya namaskar since my teen age, so i have decided to join Yoga class nearby my home which i had continued for next 1year. During this time, i have experienced something that i have never experienced before in the gym & that was the mental stability. I was feeling immense pleasure while dealing with complexities of my life, this never happened before to me. I started feeling confident & optimistic towards my life. Since then i have been doing Yoga at my home only & this is the best part with this that unlike the gym, you can discontinue your Yoga class after learning it & then you can start doing it at your home on daily basis.
Now, in this modern age, Yoga has spread in all over the world. Our PM Mr. Narendra Modi also has been promoting Yoga frequently on various occasions. One of the fittest bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty is like an unofficial brand ambassador of Yoga. Many doctors & scientists are advocating the practice of Yoga as it's been medically proved that health of the Yoga practitioner can be wonderfully improved & many diseases, even the so-called incurable ones can be eliminated. Now people have realized that Yoga is not only for sages who have gone into seclusion; it is for everyone.
Hence it is proved that YOGA SE HI HOGA.