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on mentally retarded or sick people.
Another swami from Italy, namely Swami Anandananda Saraswati, gave his experience as to why he took up the cause of mentally retarded people in his country, where the mental hospitals had virtually become dumping grounds for the mentally sick members of families who are alienated from the patients. He explained his own handicap, saying that his patients were such that they would refuse to lie down or sit down even for a moment to learn yogic meditation. But the techniques he employed were simply pawanmuktasana or body rotation techniques with breathing and Om chanting. These yielded wonderful results in a fortnight and the first goal he achieved was that his patients become responsive. Gradually, he observed that he could induce physical awareness which further developed into deeper awareness of the mind. Swami Nischalananda from Wales, U.K. expressed his firm belief that yoga and spiritualism had a definite answer to the ongoing chaos caused by the automation of mankind. Himself an engineering graduate, the Swami found all his answers at the feet of his guru, Swami Satyananda, who taught him the science of yoga which conforms to all scientific principles and has no room for blind faith or myths.
Swami Vidyananda Giri of Kailash Peeth complimented the Bihar School of Yoga for taking
yoga from door to door and from shore to shore. According to him, yoga practices guaranteed stillness of mind which though it sounded small had great significance. On the concluding day, the polo ground had turned into a mini kumbh as people from remote rural areas had thronged the pandal to have darshan of the spiritual luminaries and hear the deliberations.
Incidentally the day was bright yesterday after intermittent rains during the past three days, and delegates were seen charged with renewed spiritual inspiration.
Thousands of enthusiastic delegates listened with rapt attention to the four speakers, each stalwarts in their own fields. They were Dr. H. R. Nagendra of Vivekananda Kendra, Bangalore; Mr. S. K. Vyavahare, President of Ghantali Yoga Mitra Mandal; Dr H. S. Wasir, head of the Department of Cardiology of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Swami Sivapremanandaji Maharaj from USA. Dr. Nagendra explained the scientific aspects of nature with which human beings interacted unconsciously and said at times contradictions occured in one's personality for want of proper knowledge about these automatic processes. The various schools of thought known as raja yoga, karma yoga, gyana yoga and bhakti yoga, he said helped in harmonizing the various shades of the human personality.
Mr. Vyavahare presented his
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