Thus Spake the Divine - Karma (Duty) is Starting Point for Yoga

Thus Spake the Divine

Karma (Duty) is Starting Point for Yoga

There is a general perception that Yoga is nothing but controlling breath and sitting like a statue. It is not so. The literal meaning of Yoga is “Uniting” or “Joining”. We have to be associated or united with

several substances all through our life. But none of these associations remain permanent. That is why the mind keeps wandering everywhere.

Yoga is when we reach a state of associating ourselves with an eternal substance from which we will never part. This substance is none other than Paramatma, who is the source of all our minds. Yogis divert their minds towards that source, the Paramatma, by controlling their breath. This is because the root of thoughts is also the root for breath. Once the breath is fixed on the source, mind too will reach that source and subsume into it.

The opposite of yoga is “Viyoga”. ‘Vi” in Sanskrit refers to “Without”. When a man dies, we say he has attained viyoga. Lord Krishna says that ‘Viyoga’ is also a kind of Yoga! He elucidates beautifully that if a thing departs from something else, then that is Yoga! What is it that departs? It is the sorrows. If you part from sorrows, there emerges Yoga in you (Tam viyad dukha-samyoga- viyogam yoga-samjnitam). That is the Yoga of dissociation! All the so-called ‘worldly pleasures’ are sorrows; the feeling of separating away from Paramatma too is sorrow.

Since thoughts are continuously drifting in and out of our mind, we have both happy and sad experiences. If the thoughts come to a halt, then there is absolute peace. One should therefore train one’s mind to focus on one substance. This is what is known as ‘cleansing the mind’. Cleansing the mind is the prelude to attaining a state of Yoga. We are not like Yogis who can control their breath at the starting stage itself. Our mind is bound to wander in a directionless manner. Therefore, what we have to do is focus our mind towards a virtuous practice. Then, there is less space in the mind for any

wavering thoughts. This is the way we can keep our mind flawless to a great extent.

In ancient times, people used to wear an iron ring (Arikandam) around their neck to always keep themselves erect. It did not let them sleep at unwarranted times and also enabled them to follow their rituals rigorously. Even if a person wanted to lie down, the Arikandam did not let him do so. Likewise, it is essential for us to totally focus our thoughts on some good deed to control our mind from wandering.

When people engage in different activities, such as performing Yajnya, fasting, building huge temples and gopurams, digging ponds etc. their focus is not confined to the respective activity. The predominant objective of all these activities is to focus the mind and cleanse the same. Unmindful of any possible humiliations or disgrace, people have to keep moving forward to accomplish their objective of cleansing their own thoughts.

There is a marble like grey-coloured seed known as kazhakkodi in Tamil. It keeps rolling on without gathering any dirt. Even if you smear it with some ash, the ash will not stick to it. Like the kazhakkodi, we too must not be worried of pain or pleasure, but keep journeying to immerse ourselves with the Paramatma. Such a union or association is called Yoga.

Kazhakkodi is our original state and Yoga is our ultimate state. In between, we may have to go through different states. It is adherence to Karma that helps us move from one state to another state. Thus, Karma is the starting point of yoga.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.

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