Gateway to the soul

I begin with a caveat. The Yogic Nectar (YN) is a book by my mentor Satish K Kapoor. It was because of him that I switched from English literature – my subject for Honours – to Masters in Indian History. He introduced me to EH Carr, Toynbee, Gibbon and Jiddu Krishnamoorthy, Swami Vivekananda, among others in the late seventies, when the dominant academic trend was of looking at everything through the prism of historical materialism. He quietly explained to me that student activism was fine, but just for a year or two, and thus began the trajectory of my professional growth.

Yogic Nectar lives up to its name, for it offers not just the philosophical foundations of Yoga, but also its vast empirical expanse which culminated in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declaring the summer solstice day, June 21, as the International Day of Yoga. It explicitly clarifies that Yoga is neither physical wizardry, nor a cult of postures or breathing exercises. It is the science of self-awareness, which can be practised by all, at each and every stage of life, irrespective of race, gender, colour or faith. To some, it is ‘the poetry of the body, to others, it is the gateway to the inner being’. YN explains the many forms of Yoga, including the Raj Yoga described by Swami Vivekananda, as ‘the realisation of divinity through the control of the mind’, the Dhyana, Jnana (Gyan), Bhakti and Karma Yoga (s), as well as the Integral Yoga expounded by Sri Aurobindo, Swami Satchidananda and Swami Jnananada. He also gives credit to Baba Ramdev for having popularised Yoga through TV serials and Yoga shiviras (camps) while castigating distortions like Beer Yoga, Nude Yoga, Bed Yoga: all of which have been created for the carnal and the commercial.

The second chapter is on Pancha kosha: the five layers of the soul. These are not physical entities, but verities which can be understood by the meditative mind. These are classified, in order of refinement, as the Anaamaya kosha (sheath of food), Pranamaya kosha (sheath of vitality), Manomaya kosha (sheath of the mind) Vijnanamaya kosha (sheath of the intellect) and the Anandnmaya kosha (sheath of the bliss) – but all of them are intertwined and interdependent; ‘The physical sheath is controlled by the vital, the vital by the pomological, the psychological by the intellectual, and this in turn by the spiritual’.

We then move on to the Shat chakras, starting with the Muladhara, the lowest in the series. It is pictured as a lotus of four petals of rich, deep, red colour. If the Muladhara is balanced and poised, it vitalizes the body, evokes positive emotions and keeps one grounded. If closed, it creates physical, emotional, cognitive and behavioural problems, besides obstructing the functioning of other chakras. The second chakra, Swadhisthana is the passion chakra. It represents the water element, and is pictured as a lotus of six vermillion petals. Inside the lotus is the crescent, epitomising the domain of Varun, the rain god. Moving up the chain is the Manipura (navel) chakra, the epicentre of inner power, drive and endurance. It is represented as a lotus of ten petals; dark blue, grey or black – much like the nimbus clouds. To strengthen one’s Manipura, it is best to perform Surya namaskar, Bhastrika pranayama and Kapalbhati. The fourth chakra is Anahata, or the Hridaya chakra, and it represents love, wisdom, insight and bliss. Anahata is identified with Kalpavriksha — the wish fulfilling tree of the Puranic lore. Anahata is depicted by a lotus of 12 petals; generally red, but green in its higher aspects and representing the cosmic order. Located at the base of the throat (kantha mula), the Vishuddha Chakra is also called the gateway to higher consciousness. This is a lotus with 16 purple petals with Akash (space or ether) as the governing element, carrying within it primeval sound underlying all reality. The Ajna Chakra, identified with the third eye or the eye of Shiva is sixth in the ascending order. Located slightly behind and between the eyes, it is the confluence of the inner and the external world. Its symbol is a lotus of 96 silvery white petals. The highest chakra Sahasrara Chakra is a lotus of a thousand petals. Symbolic of supreme consciousness, it can be reached only by traversing the six lower energy centres in the subtle body.

Two aphorisms from the Bhagavad Gita (BG) — Samatvam Yoga Uchyate: Equilibrium is verily Yoga (II.48) and Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam: Yoga is skill in action (II.50) — help us to understand the real import of Yoga, which is the twining of the finite and the infinite selves. The pathway to reach the Yogic state is through the Ashtanga Yoga, or the eight-fold path comprising Yama, the moral and ethical restraints, Niyama, the principles of right conduct, Asanas, postures for health and harmony, Pranayama the breath which controls the life force, Pratyahara for the wayward senses leading up to Dharana for achieving concentration. The last two are the stages of Dhyana, mediating on mediation and Samadhi, which marks the journey into the innermost self.

We now come to the chapter on Mudras – which are easy, do-it-yourself techniques with practical implications in our everyday health. The fingers of the hand manifest energy: the thumb is symbolic of fire, the index finger of the air, the middle finger of space or ether, ring finger of the earth and the little finger of water. Finger tips and the palm of the hands, in particular, emit electromagnetic energy – when touched, stretched, bent, pressed consciously, or brought into contact with other fingers helps in controlling the senses. While there are more than 108 mudras, the 43 more important ones have been illustrated from pages 378 to 383, and these are of immense practical value in addressing the day-to-day issues faced by most readers of this column. Readers will also find the eight appendices on Swami Vivekananda — Kshama, Krodha, Mind and Food, Lord Ganesha, Lotus, Rudrakhsa and the power of crystals — of immense value.

The sixth chapter is the Triveni of Yoga – the coming together of the three streams of Karma, Bhakti and Jnana Yoga. As Swami Vivekananda said ‘remember always, that there are different Yogas for different minds, and that if one does not suit you, another may’. YN tells us that the ‘spiritual seeker can turn work into worship; combine worship with wisdom and situate wisdom in god — consciousness’. This is also the time to recall the most famous lines of Krishna to Arjuna: karmanyevadhikaraste ma haleshu kadachana, ma karmaphalahetur bhur ma te sango stv akarmani: your right is to work only, but never to the fruit therefor. Be not instrumental in making your actions bear fruit, let not your attachment be to inaction (BG II:47).

The most celebrated mantra of Hindus, Buddhists, Jainas and Sikhs — Aum, Om, Omkara — is best described by Sri Ramakrishna, who observed, ‘The sound Om is Brahman… you hear the roar of the ocean from a distance. By following the roar, you can reach the ocean. As long as there is the roar, there must also be the ocean. By following the trail of Om, you can attain Brahman, of which the Word is the symbol’. Also covered in this last chapter, aptly called Sound, Silence and Spirituality, is the discourse on Mauna — the language of silence; and as Shri Krishna says: mauna chaiva’smi guhyanam; of secrets, I am silence (BG X:38).

Let me conclude by quoting Dr Kapoor’s pithy lines in the Epilogue ‘Yoga is not an escape from life, but the art of infusing the rhythm of the timeless into the fast-moving affairs of time’.

The writer, a former Director of LBS National Academy of Administration, is currently a historian, policy analyst and columnist, and serves as the Festival Director of Valley of Words — a festival of arts and literature