29 May, 2013

Yoga and Doctor -

Barring a few exceptions, a human is gifted with a fine tuned instrument called the human body. The total responsibility of maintaining the body perfectly tuned and disease free is ours until we leave this body. It is possible to accomplish it through an age old proven system called Yoga and its full dimensions are described in a system called Ashtang Yoga Sadhana, which was eloquently summarized and  demonstrated by Rishi Patanjalin around 300-200 BCE. Rishi Patanjali is credited for brilliantly capturing and encapsulating the body and spirit of human knowledge about Yoga that  was considered ancient even during his era!

The 8-step Ashtang Yoga Sadhana is a philosophical and spiritual (not about spirits and angels) treatise on Yoga system for engaging life to experience its fullest possible dimensions.

Yoga’s fundamental approach is to insure pleasurable physical and emotional balance for constantly maintaining the human body properly tuned, balanced and disease free without any synthetic medications. Vedic medicines derived from natural herbs and Vedic medical diagnostic techniques are integral and complementary disciplines for addressing physical, chemical and emotional imbalances in human body.

The ultimate accomplishment of a Yogi is to leave or shed human body clean and unharmed by disease and voluntarily cross over the threshold of the death of body. In this case, the body dies by voluntarily ceasing the life sustaining breathing.This supreme state of consciousness has been experienced by self-enlightened Masters of the Indian sub-continent and referred to as Nirvana in Buddhism and Mukti or MahaSamadhi in Hinduism.... as described by Sadguru Vasudev of Isha Yoga. When internalized and experienced, this philosophical perception takes us far beyond the concepts of Hell and Heaven as physical realities and places of residence with dubious immigration status.

If this was true, then why don’t people follow Yoga for enriching life? The casually asked  question has a casual answer “Because it takes effort”. A realistic answer to the same question surfaces in consciousness only when the pain of Ignorance about the life process becomes excruciating and tears you apart; like an intense toothache.  

On the flip side with the mundane habits of indulgence in cyclic pleasures and pains of life, the human body gradually encounters disease in repetitive cycles and ultimately succumbs when it is unable to breathe. That stage is death of the body. With the help of modern medical sciences,  a human body is kept alive beyond its natural abilities to sustain life, which is a common scene in modern hospitals....making the process of dying unnatural and unnecessarily painful.

A modern medical doctor discharges his essential role in minimizing discomforts of a sick body with injections, tablets and various other technological means at his disposal. Specifying medications to address the illness and antidotes to overcome their side reactions are not uncommon. Unfortunately, the Doctor cannot inject spirituality in the veins. That is not the realm of his responsibility. Based on his daily experiences in treating patients, the Doctor also knows that most patients do not change their ingrained habits and lifestyles.

Some humans resort to self prescribed potent drugs to soften the pain of Ignorance.

A Yoga teacher teaches a life long discipline to avoid all tablets. A Doctor is bound by his responsibilities to comfort his patients. While a Doctor charges for each visit, a genuine Yoga teacher traditionally offers a helping hand at no charge, The age old tradition of Yoga teaching discipline is to offer the life-enriching science at no charge...treating it as the supreme gesture of charity and selfless service. However, it will be unwise to discount a modern Yoga teacher who has to charge a nominal fee for daily sustenance.