YOGA has become very popular around the world. Thousands of persons are attracted every year to the practice of yoga in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. However, most of them see yoga as a kind of physical exercise.An ancient Vision of Yoga is infact, the basis of the many Indian spiritual faiths. Its purpose is finally to create a stability of the mind and to unite one with the divinity that pervades all of creation. The physical axanas are only one of the steps towards achieving this aim.
Yoga is an essential part of the Indic vision of life. In the West, efforts have been made over the centuries to study the external world and to formulate scientific understanding to control it. A few thousand years ago, one does not know exactly when, thinkers in India realised that material aims and ambitions did not really lead to true happiness or even to good health. They began to map the world inside us, to explore it and to find ways of truly creating lasting joy. It is the science of the mind, of life and of the inner world, that is expressed in yoga. Yoga, in its many different manifestations, is the path towards final knowledge and ultimate joy. Asanas have their importance, but they are only a small part of the practice of yoga. Leading scientists and doctors around the world have found yoga to be extremely beneficial to all people. Yoga is the most profound and deep study of the human mind ever conducted. The entire world can benefit from yoga. In an age where considerable medical problems and psychological disorders are created by the pressures of the commercialised world, the only answer appears to be yoga. Representations of yoga are to be found in the Indus Valley seals of 5,000 years ago. The Upanishads, formulated by the eighth/ninth century BCE, put forward the concepts of yoga. Ancient Indian philosophy is deeply related to yoga. Regards Satyen Mahanta Sent from my iPhone _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
