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श्री पुष्करमुनि अभिनन्दन ग्रन्थ : नवम खण्ड
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certain Hindu deities, and hence it can be accepted and practised by all persons irrespective of their belonging to this or that religion, creed, tradition, complexion, race, culture, language, country etc. Yoga is a universal phenomenon, and it is such that it can be learnt and practised by any person who may have nothing to do with the creed and mythology of Hindusim. Yoga belongs to and is meant for the entire humanity, and if it is practised faithfully the entire human race can improve mentally and spiritually, and attain a higher level of life and consciousness. The Yogic way of life can bring about an alround improvement of man, and it can help to evolve a man of superior calibre and attainments on the physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual planes.
The Real Meaning of Yoga
Yoga does not mean withdrawal into seclusion, renunciation and aversion for material and physical life, as it is generally believed to be. Yoga is not to be identified with the external physiological and ritualistic behaviour. Though it needs and values tremendously concentration and meditation, asanas and prānāyāma, observance of the rules of conduct, both for the body and mind, restrictions on food and sensuous and sexual experiences, the real Yoga does not amount to a sum total or aggregate of all these features, which are usually associated with the life of the Yogins. The real emphasis of Yoga has to be not so much on its external features as on its inner aspect. Unfortunately, the popular mind takes Yoga to be nothing more than the external observances and rituals, and this is indeed not a correct meaning of Yoga. It has now become necessary to remove a lot of non-sense and hotch-potch deposited on the concept of Yoga, and to free it from all its unsound, wrong and misconceived entanglements, and to present it in its real and genuine form to the younger generations so that they can benefit themselves immensely from it to enrich their life, and make it meaningful, delightful and glorious. Yoga can certainly save the younger generation from the deep-seated sense of futility, meaninglessness and absurdity of life. Man's Helplessness
It is true that Yoga aims at God-realisation. Generally the goal of Yogic life is the attainment of the higher powers of consciousness. Sri Aurobindo says that the aim of Yoga is Divinisation of human life. The contact of the human and individual consciousness with the divine is the essence of Yoga, Yoga tries to reunite the individual soul with its original source. i.e., the Supreme Self. It is possible that every human person may not be having the particular keen urge for uniting with the Divine, and may not also possess the necessary faculty for such an experience. It is a common experience that the average men and women are not only interested in and attached to the world of sensuous and mental enjoyment, but they do not as well feel the necessity to rise above the routine human experiences and activities. They feel satisfied with the world, its ways and its gains and enjoyments although they are ceaselessly tossed by certain upleasant and painful experiences. The average man is convinced that the world is not a straight road of pleasant and happy experiences. It is a mixture of good and evil, happiness and misery, success and failure and he is deeply involved in the contradictory experiences of life. He also feels helpless before the various forces of the world, and realising the limitations of human powers to control and change the conditions of the world, many times accepts a number of things which come to him unexpectedly, and mainly because he has no control over the forces which produce certain undesirable and harmful results. Every man realises that he is powerless before the natural and cosmic forces which rule our life, and then he quietly acquiesces in a situation which encircles him. Life is a series of adjustments with the environment and social situations ; but in these adjustments often man has to submit to the powerful forces which are not created by him and which also are beyond his powers. The man
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