YOGA Year 10 Issue 1 • January 2021 (59Th Year of Publication)
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Year 10 Issue January 2021 YOGA Membership postage: Rs. 100 Bihar School of Yoga, Munger, Bihar, India Hari Om YOGA is compiled, composed and pub lished by the sannyasin disciples of Swami Satyananda Saraswati for the benefit of all people who seek health, happiness and enlightenment. It contains in formation about the activities of Bihar School of Yoga, Bihar Yoga Bharati, Yoga Publications Trust and Yoga Research Fellowship. Editor: Swami Gyansiddhi Saraswati Assistant Editor: Swami Yogatirth GUIDELINES FOR SPIRITUAL LIFE ananda Saraswati YOGA is a monthly magazine. Late Seva subscriptions include issues from January to December. Seva is a natural expression of love. Published by Bihar School of Yoga, It expands the heart and widens the Ganga Darshan, Fort, Munger, Bihar vision. Without waiting to be served, – 811201. one has to serve with love, kindness Printed at Thomson Press India and courtesy and look for opportunities Ltd., Haryana – 121007 to serve. The aspirant should serve © Bihar School of Yoga 2021 without being conspicuous, silently, Membership is held on a yearly without any advertisement. He should basis. Please send your requests do what is right and leave the results for application and all correspond to look after themselves. The whole ence to: heart, mind and soul have to be given Bihar School of Yoga Ganga Darshan when one serves. The aspirant should Fort, Munger, 811201 think how best his energy, intellect, Bihar, India education, wealth and strength can be - A selfaddressed, stamped envelope used for the betterment of others. Life must be sent along with enquiries to en is not fully lived if one does not serve sure a response to your request and love humanity. Total no. of pages: 56 (including cover pages) —Swami Sivananda Saraswati Front cover & plates: New Year’s Day 2021, Munger Published and printed by Swami Shivadhyanam Saraswati on behalf of Bihar School of Yoga, Ganga Darshan, Fort, Munger – 811201, Bihar Printed at Thomson Press India (Ltd), 18/35 Milestone, Delhi Mathura Rd., Faridabad, Haryana. Owned by Bihar School of Yoga Editor: Swami Gyansiddhi Saraswati YOGA Year 10 Issue 1 • January 2021 (59th year of publication) Contents 4 New Year Sadhana 35 Progression of Shavasana 5 New Year Plan 37 Please, Practise Yoga 6 New Year Sankalpa 38 The Ego 8 From Practice to Application 39 Substitution Method 12 The Generation Gap 41 Self-Acceptance 15 The Melody of Saraswati 44 All About Love 18 Yoga Gurukul – Seed Sown 47 Light Fire and Darkness 22 The Ultimate Aim of Yoga 52 The Bhagavad Gita 25 Yoga Kavach 53 The Plan of Spiritual Progress 32 Cultivating Awareness 54 The Process Continues The Yogi is superior to the ascetic. He is deemed superior even to those versed in sacred lore. The Yogi is superior even to those who perform action with some motive. Therefore, Arjuna, do you become a Yogi. (Bhagavad Gita VI:46) ¦ã¹ããäÔÌã¼¾ããñçãä£ã‡ãŠãñ ¾ããñØããè —ãããä¶ã¼¾ããñçãä¹ã ½ã¦ããñãä£ã‡ãŠ: ý ‡ãŠãä½ãü¾ãÍÞãããä£ã‡ãŠãñ ¾ããñØããè ¦ãÔ½ãã²ããñØããèè ¼ãÌãã•ãìöã ýý New Year Sadhana Swami Sivananda Saraswati Time rolls on. New becomes old and old becomes new again. Today is the most auspicious New Year’s day. God has given you another chance this year to enable you to strive for your salvation. Make the best use of every moment of this New Year. Unfold all latent faculties. Here is a chance to begin life anew, to grow and evolve and become a super human or a great dynamic yogi. Forget the past. A glorious and brilliant future is awaiting you. Equal vision is the touchstone of knowledge. Unselfishness is the touchstone of virtue. Oneness is the touchstone of selfrealization. Humility is the touchstone of devotion. Therefore, be unselfish, humble and pure. Develop equal vision. Be in tune with the Infinite. Satyam, truth, is the seed. Ahimsa is the root. Meditation is the shower. Shanti, peace, is the flower. Moksha, salvation, is the fruit. Therefore, speak the truth. Practise ahimsa and meditation. Cultivate shanti. You will attain the final emancipation or freedom from the trammels of births and deaths, and enjoy eternal bliss. YOGA 4 Jan 2021 New Year Plan Swami Satyananda Saraswati The auspicious arrival of the New Year is imminent. This is the birthday of a new per spec tive, new hopes and new re solves. May there be the auspi cious birth of a new mind, new enthusiasm and pure desires. Draw up a year long plan and develop the follow ing tools: Have inspiring human in ter action Accept the importance of others Feel joy, happiness and friendliness towards all Practise selfrestraint in every thing Experience a golden re birth of ideas focused on walking your path Develop loving speech and balanced recreation Cultivate unlimited enthusiasm for selfrealization. A new year comes, the old one goes away. New leaves sprout, old ones fall off. A new life pulsates, the old one disappears. New attitudes are cultivated; old habits are left behind. New activities are initiated; old ones are put aside. Today is a day of selfintrospecting, developing and dedicating oneself. Sit, think and make a new resolve. —26th December 1959 YOGA 5 Jan 2021 New Year Sankalpa Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati This year is for progressing in yogic life. Until now many of us have been practitioners, but we have never experienced any real change or development in our life. To attain the fulfilment, wholeness and completeness of yoga, resolve to observe the following points in the coming year: Sincerity in practice To think and live yoga, to make yoga a part of our lifestyle, just as eating and sleeping are a part. Yoga is a way of life, not just a practice to be done for half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening, and then forgotten. Discipline of the inner being To observe our emotional, mental, rational and irrational actions, reactions and interactions and thereby develop self discipline. Only then can we experience real freedom. Discipline is not an imposition of rules. Rules are only guidelines, but through them we learn to observe ourselves. Inner strength To achieve selfdiscipline, inner strength is necessary. We can not attain the fulfilment of yoga in our life if we are loose and undisciplined within ourselves, if we follow the sway of the mind. We must be very strong, and for acquiring inner strength, ashram life is helpful. A regulated life is necessary to discipline and to focus the internal being. Purity of intention The intention, the goal of life, has to be pure and clear, then only can we progress towards it. If our intention is not pure, all of our efforts in spiritual life will be futile. YOGA 6 Jan 2021 Consistent lifestyle Our lifestyle should be based on spiritual principles, not on the whims of the mind. If we live according to the whims of the mind, we will wake up at 8.00 am and have tea in bed. That is a lethargic lifestyle. To reach the fulfilment of yoga, our lifestyle must be conducive to our mental, emotional and spiritual growth. These are the five points which can help us in the coming year in order to experience the wholeness and fulfilment of yoga and to realize the ultimate purpose of our life. Wishing you all a happy New Year. YOGA 7 Jan 2021 From Practice to Application Swami Shivadhyanam Saraswati The theme of this webinar is about taking yoga from the level of practice to the level of application. Swami Niranjanananda says knowledge by itself is not of much use, only when knowledge is applied does it become wisdom. Applied knowledge is wisdom. Today the need of the hour is to be able to apply yoga in the right and proper manner. The years of yoga propagation are now over, people know about yoga and about the benefits of yoga. Now the challenge before us is to apply yoga in our daytoday life to see what the benefits and the potential can be in our own lives. Personal application There are three main levels of yoga application: the first level is applying yoga at the personal level with the two main components of sadhana and lifestyle. As yoga sadhakas we need to deepen our own sadhanas and apply the principles of yoga in our daytoday life. This is the theme of the second chapter of yoga, launched by Swami Niranjanananda after the World Yoga Convention of 2013: to live yoga from moment to moment with seriousness, sincerity, commitment and with positivity. For yoga sadhakas the first challenge is to integrate yoga in our life and not let it remain something that is just practised on the mat; rather we should live it from moment to moment. In the struggles and challenges that we face in our daily life, when we find ourselves becoming agitated, anxious or tense, that is the time to put a little practice of pranayama into practice. That is the time to put the raja yogic concept of pratipaksha bhavana into practice. Finetuning our own responses, attitudes, our awareness from moment to moment, so that each moment becomes a joyous moment, a moment of positivity, which not YOGA 8 Jan 2021 only uplifts us but the people around us. This takes us to the second level of application, the social level. Social application We may use yoga as a system, a science, a technique which allows for the harmonious development of our head, heart and hands, but then what we gain through yoga has to be shared by the people around us.