Celebrating life with yoga

Yoga guru Surakshit Goswami says that practising yoga regularly keeps the body, sense organs, mind and life force free of ailments

Life is a celebration and should continue to be so for as long as we live. With time, in fact, it should become even more pleasurable.

This ongoing celebration is not an external phenomenon but an internal one. In fact, it is a state of mind where everything appears blissful. However, our fickle nature makes us act according to whims and fancies, and while flitting from one thought to the next, the mind often becomes attached to unnecessary things. One wonders if the mind is fickle because we are so influenced by physical desires that our mind is always wavering and is in turmoil. The mind appears happy so long as things happen according to desire. It becomes sad and perturbed the moment life takes a sudden turn and if our wishes are not fulfilled. It then alternates between sukh and dukh. Rise above materialism But true happiness and peace does not lie in material things. Happiness and peace will continue to elude us if we remain unduly attached to material things. This fact is even more important once we realise that it is the state of our mind that controls physical health. A mind that wanders and causes tension and despair leads to sickness and ill health in the body. But how does one reign the mind and establish a communion with the inner self to manifest love, compassion, equality and bliss?

This is the state of dhyaan or meditation and is the beginning of yoga. Yoga has been practised since ages to heal physical and mental ailments. One must practise yoga regularly with a master’s blessings. Yoga fuels happiness According to Maharshi Patanjali, the basis of yoga lies in curbing certain traits of the mind like ego and attachment. A yoga practitioner gradually accepts inevitable actions, or the highs and lows that are part of his destiny. The practice expands horizons and spurs you on to positive thoughts. It helps fill you up with feelings of affection and compassion towards everyone and all confusions and doubts clear. Your face radiates with happiness and you develop integrity of mind. As you continue to practise yoga, even adverse conditions fail to perturb you – yoga then makes your whole life a celebration.