Editorial

Am I Ready to Leave?

Death is amongst us, assailing us in the streets and in our very homes. How to face this death? Facing death has two aspects to it. First is our own death, and second the death of relatives and friends.

Speaking of death, we use the phrase ‘life and death’ which is a wrong association of facts. It should actually be ‘birth and death’. Life is without beginning and continues until Selfrealisation. Birth and death are two repeatedly occurring related events in life, one following the other as certainly as day and night.

Therefore, “it is good to prepare for death.” How? — By the constant practice of thinking of God. The aids to this are japa, meditation, worship, and singing his glories. If we are earnest in these practices — like the woman who while ‘husking the paddy’ keeps 75% of her mind on the pestle — then, even while doing our duties in life and experiencing the joys and sorrows of artha and kama, we can, before “the pestle of death” strikes us, remove the husk and attain the rice — i.e., attain the Reality masked in the manifested world.

If this is not achieved, then by the strength of constant practice we should remember the Lord at the moment of death. The Lord assures us in the Bhagavad Gita that we attain whatever we are absorbed in at the final moment of leaving the body. So, even if our mind is still not free from vasanas, if we but give up the body “praying to God and meditating on Him”, then He will take us to his abode — just as the mahut takes the elephant to the stable without allowing it to again smear its body with dust and mud after a bath.

How to console a bereaved friend or relative?

One day as Sri Ramakrishna sat in his room speaking with the devotees, Manimohan Mallick of Sinduriapati, came and sat in a corner looking pale and haggard. He told Sri Ramakrishna that his son died that morning and he was coming directly after finishing the ceremonies of cremation. The devotees poured out hackneyed phrases of consolation. Then, Sri Ramakrishna stood up in an ecstatic mood, and with the pose and energy of a wrestler, struck his left upper arm and sang with great vigour: “O man, prepare yourself for battle / There, see Death entering your house in battle array; / (Therefore) ride on the chariot of great virtue, / Harness to it the two horses of devotion and spiritual practice, / Stretch up the bow of knowledge, / And set the unfailing arrow of the love of God ….” The vigorous singing and the “spirit of heroic renunciation and strength coursing from Sri Ramakrishna’s eyes” raised the devotees’ hearts from the realm of grief and delusion and filled them with a palpable current of wonderful hope and energy.

Truly, it is our inner awakening, our calmness, and our spirit of renunciation, that subconsciously assuages the other person’s grief of death born of ignorance.

“Day after day countless creatures are going to the abode of Yama, yet those that remain behind, believe that they will live for ever. What can be more wonderful than this?” says Yudhishthira. So, let us engage with this world holding on to the Lord within, worship Him in the people around us with selfless service, and once in a while ask ourselves, ‘Am I ready to leave?’

Practising the Four Yogas in Covid Times

SMT LAKSHMI DEVNATH

“Swamiji, how can I best help you?” A Western disciple, motivated by a sense of deep indebtedness, asked Vivekananda. “Love India!” was his spontaneous answer. On another day, addressing his countrymen, he said, “My life’s allegiance is to my motherland; and if I had a thousand lives, every moment of the whole series would be consecrated to your service, my countrymen, my friends.”

As a Vedantin, Swamiji viewed the entire universe as Brahman, but Mother India was amongst his chosen personal Gods. His love for her was deep and unconditional, one that he experienced as Bhakti Yoga. When expressed through the medium of yoga, emotions and activities become all-embracing and selfless. Swamiji’s multi-faceted personality radiated with the many dimensions of yogic wisdom that were all his own.

In an incisive recognition of the potential of yoga as a guiding star for everyday life, Swamiji endeavoured to make the yogic path accessible to the entire humanity at large. Reckoning with the diverse personality types that mark the human race, he organised the vast corpus of Yogic knowledge into four categories. They were: Karma Yoga for the man of action; Bhakti Yoga for the emotional; Jnana Yoga for the intellectual; and Raja Yoga for the dispassionate. The four were not water-tight divisions, for any human being, is more often than not, a blend of the four traits. However, the choice of yogic path could be based on his or her predilection, he said and added that irrespective of the choice, the goal of the path was, Atmano mokshartham jagat hitaya ca, ‘for one’s own personal upliftment and the good of the world.’

The 21st century is witnessing an onslaught of unprecedented magnitude by a virus called Covid-19. As if travestying the allinclusive spirit of yoga, it has cast a calamitous shroud over the entire human race, sparing no one be they king or pauper, worthy or worthless, literate or illiterate. This is a time for mankind to come together in the spirit of yoga. This is a time for demonstrating our kindred spirit. Yet this is also a time for self-isolation. This is a time for us to unite with a common ideal. This is a time for expressing abundant love, pure and unselfish. Swami Tapasyananda writes, “Bhakti in its highest sense means spontaneous and continuous attraction of the mind to God under all circumstances, favourable and unfavourable.” Such unconditional love elevates bhakti to the status of Bhakti Yoga.

Mother India, the guardian deity of all Indians, is not in an enviable position today. Therefore, it is the duty of each one of us, without exception, to express our bhakti towards her in a manner that will fortify her to continue executing the daunting task of

Lakshmi Devnath is a researcher and writer with several books and articles to her credit on different aspects of Indian cultural heritage. She holds a Masters degree in Yoga and is currently working on her Ph.D based on the Yogasutras. lakshmidevnath@gmail.com

protecting us. It is on her soil that we build our lives, day after day. It is on her bosom that we rest our heads, night after night. She is our very sustenance. Therefore, when she suffers, we suffer and the reverse holds true in equal measure. Selfless love offered by each and every individual is the only elixir that will nourish her back to health. For, actions stemming from this fount are performed in an even state of mind, consciously, and with the right motivation. Such actions earn the epithet, Karma Yoga.

Belying the usual yardsticks of grandeur and scale, Karma Yoga describes actions as lofty or small only on the basis of the presence or absence of these qualities. “Each is great in his own place,” says Swamiji, enthusing us to perform our respective duties with pride and confidence. However, providing an objective and universal definition of duty is impossible for what is good for the goose need not be for the gander or even for that very goose in altered circumstances. Recognising the probability of such confusions surfacing, Swamiji helpfully provides a simple barometer to self-assess our actions. He says, “That which is selfish is immoral, and that which is unselfish is moral.” Unselfishness is the distinguishing feature of Karma Yoga.

In the context of Corona our duties range from adhering diligently to Covid-specific behaviour, down to avoiding the temptation of exploiting the situation for personal gains. Wearing of masks, restraining ourselves from reckless spitting on the roads, avoiding of gatherings, staying at home, getting vaccinated, not hoarding oxygen or medicines, not overcharging for ambulances … . Karma Yoga in Corona times envelops all these and much, much more. The burning need of the hour is a truly nationalistic spirit. Let all Indians vow jointly to heal Mother India of this tortuous virus; let all individual actions be faithful to that pledge. Let the ‘I’, the ‘me’, and the ‘mine’ submit to the ‘you’, ‘us’, and ‘ours’. ‘Little drops of water make the mighty ocean.’ The power that gets generated from singular mindful activities will converge to generate a vibrant avalanche of healing energy that will revitalize the 1.38 billion people that we are. This is Karma Yoga.

Vasudaiva kutumbakam—The whole world is one family.” Strong conviction in precepts like these will give us the realisation that we are inter-related. Notwithstanding the blatant and stark discreteness that stares us in our face, we are progenies of a single life source and it is into this inexhaustible wellspring that we ultimately merge into. This knowledge generates kinship at all times and a shared emotion during periods of calamity, resulting in people uniting to mitigate the misery and obtain deliverance from the situation. The practice of Jnana Yoga will lead us to this realisation that culminates in wisdom. A simple analogy will help further drive home this point. The inter-relationship with our fellowbeings is somewhat akin to that which exists amongst the different elements that make up the human frame. If the little toe gets hurt, the entire body reacts in pain and the hands instinctively reach out to comfort the injured toe even as cells within reorient themselves to heal it. In these trying times, the practice of Jnana Yoga will have us experience this undeniable connectivity that exists amongst us. Affinity spontaneously gives rise to empathy and supportiveness. As a corollary, Covidappropriate behaviour becomes self-regulated rather than a mere compliance to stern impositions. But it is only a fine and clear mind that can think thus, directing our attention to the relevance of Raja Yoga.

Raja Yoga is about disciplining our thought-processes to facilitate conscious living

even when involved with everyday life. A sharp brain is an asset but a good mind is a necessity. History is replete with examples of brilliant leaders making horrendous decisions. The mind is a bundle of thoughts. Thoughts are those that we generate consciously and unconsciously. Thoughts form the basis of our words and actions. And, herein, the importance of thinking deeply and dispassionately. The pandemic has succeeded in making each day a rough terrain to negotiate. Its challenges are many and their repercussions go beyond the physiological to impact our psychological health.

One such widely-experienced emotion is fear. Paradoxically, there is fear of both the disease and the vaccine. One need not stand in judgment of the feeling, because Raja Yoga accepts all emotions as being real for the person experiencing them. However, Raja Yoga, has its goal, freedom from such depleting emotions and this calls for judicious thinking. Cause and effect relationship is a fundamental tenet of yoga. Ignorance is the cause of fear. It is only light that can dispel darkness. It is only knowledge that can expel ignorance. Equipping ourselves with empirical knowledge about the disease and the vaccine is the only sheath that can protect us from the negative impact of thriving superstitions and fear-mongering rumours.

Taking responsibility for one’s overall health is the primary duty of every individual. Even in the days of yore, Patanjali, a notable exponent of Raja Yoga, devised the Ashtanga Yoga, a regimen to ensure the well-being of every aspect of our psycho-physical system. Covid-19, a highly infectious and contagious disease, has catapulted ‘personal health’ to also being a societal responsibility and a civic discipline, for, the nation’s medical infrastructure has been stretched to the maximum and the medical fraternity is being tested to the hilt. It is nothing short of irresponsibility to fall sick either out of irrational bravado or sheer negligence in these tortuous times.

In 2020, we were largely defenceless against the assault of the virus. Thankfully, in 2021, scientists have come forth with a little basket of vaccines to choose from, which if taken can provide us with a protective shield in the form of increased immunity. A vaccine can be likened to the locked front-door of our houses. They provide security at all times except against very aggressive break-ins. However, in the unfortunate situation of us contracting the disease, despite all precautions, we are uncompromisingly duty-bound to restrain ourselves from becoming a link in the horrific chain. Reason and responsibility are the hallmarks of Raja Yoga.

Distinctive problems require distinctive solutions. Covid-19 has provided us with one such situation. Right emotion, right action, right analysis and right perception underlie Swamiji’s approach to yoga as being four-fold. It is to dispel the notion that yoga is purely physical or exclusive to the domain of mystics and renunciates that Swamiji expounded elaborately on the four yogas and concurrently emphasised that yoga is an integral part of everyday life.

As India braves Corona, a yogic approach to combative and healing solutions is an absolute necessity irrespective of whether one is a leader or layman. Regardless of our individual faiths, the spirit of Yoga should be our beacon light for now and all times to come. Let us all jointly put our shoulders to the wheel and use the universal tools of yoga with all genuine intent to checkmate the virus, if not vanquish it completely.