Yoga is the Science of Awareness 

Online Gurukulam ‘Learn with Masters’
Yoga Sutras with Maa Dr. Hansaji Yogendra, Member, Governing Council, IYA

As we step into 2022, Indian Yoga Association brings for you all the words of wisdom from Maa Dr. Hansaji Yogendra, Member, Governing Council, IYA as part of the second series of Online Gurukulam- Learn with the Masters. She will take all of us on an elaborated journey of yoga for 8 sessions. In each session that will be held on every Sunday of January and February 2022, she will talk about a varied aspects of Yoga. In her first session, Maa Dr. Hansaji Yogendra talked in detail about Yoga Sutra, Second Chapter, Sutra 13 which went LIVE from 5pm-6pm on Facebook on January 2, 2022.

The aim of the series is to take the viewers in the journey of in-depth knowledge of different horizons of yoga making them further understand the importance of inculcating the ancient science into their lives.

IYA is a self-regulatory body of all Yoga organisations. Online Gurukulam is an endeavour to provide yoga lovers and followers of our vedic culture a chance to meet the world-renowned Yoga Gurus and learn from them free of cost. The Association aims at bridging the gap between the Guru and the disciple, and bring the wisdom of yoga in its purity and directly from the source.

Maa Dr. Hansaji Yogendra on Yoga Sutras
Today, we will talk about Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2.13 (Parisamvad). Depending on our Karmas which we might have done in our past life or in this life time we have to face the consequences. We are structured to do Karma. Let’s understand that we can’t get away with doing Karma. What we do comes back to us.

This Sutras talks about how humans suffer in life because of Kleshas and their root in ignorance. Under the influence of ignorance we do our actions. Whenever we do actions / Karma, we are not aware of the root of our actions, which are ignorance, attachment, hatred, selfishness. Are these the reasons to do the actions? And if yes, then we are going to face the consequences of our actions. We don’t just face the consequences of our actions in this life, because we do so many actions, that we die before all of it comes back to us. So the Karmas collect – Karmashaya. This causes the next birth so birth and death continues. So as they say, you create your own world because you keep doing Karmas and you are continuing your pain and suffering and so forth.

So this sutra shows you from your Karmashaya, three factors of your next birth. One is the type of birth you will have- Jati, i.e. will we be humans or dogs, cat, donkey, etc. There are two theories. One says that after a human birth, the next birth can only be human while another theory says that you can go back to being animals. In human birth also there is a Jati. Somebody gets angry very fast, some worry, someone is a clever and someone likes to cheat, etc. You are born with these traits because of the Karmas you have done in the past.

We are born with a type of personality. We don’t have any control over it. What we can control is our future actions. Suppose someone gets angry very easily. So the next time, he/she gets angry what they can so is to control their actions at that point of time. Speaking under the influence of anger or doing some action should be totally avoided. So now, what are you doing in this birth? You are getting more aware because of your type of person. You don’t do more and more mistakes and create more and more problems. Follow the path of yoga. Yoga is nothing else, but the science of awareness. You become aware about yourself, about your body and about your mind. You become totally aware about yourself.

The second is Ayu, the lifespan, i.e. how much you are going to live is fixed when you are born. Now this is a very strong point. If that is fixed, then in life we are not supposed to worry of our death. And when the time comes, you need not have any disease. Death is not linked with diseases. Diseases are because you are leading a wrong life, or because somewhere you have to suffer it out. That is Bhoga, the third part. So this sutra says not to live in fear- If I have cancer, I will die. There is no need for fear.

The third is Bhoga- what experiences you have to go through in life. If you have done good Karmas, your experiences will be good, if bad, then bad experiences. So these experiences are also fixed. So if I have to fall, I will fall, if I have to get some pain, I will get the pain and I have to experience it out.

So the point is very clear – all these things are not in our hands at all – the span of life, type of life, personality, but we must know that our actions are very much in our hands. So we have to work very hard to remove that ignorance, Avidhya, the Kleshas. So the kind of Karmas we should do are those which do not lead to suffering.

So in life, we don’t have control over the results but we have control over our actions. And the actions should be such that they remove our Kleshas. So we have to keep that in mind and live life. We have to make our life. We make or break our life, it is totally in our hands.”

Happy New Year to our Yoga Family!

The next session by Maa Dr. Hansaji Yogendra will be on Purpose of Life which will be LIVE of Facebook on January 9, 2022 from 5pm-6pm.

About Maa Dr. Hansaji Yogendra

A dynamic and charismatic personality, Maa Dr. Hansaji Yogendra, wife of Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra and present Director of The Yoga Institute, has dedicated her life to the running of the Institute and to teaching yoga as a way of life in a completely practical way. She is perhaps best known throughout the nation due to her involvement in the popular television series ’Yoga for Better Living’, first aired in 1980. She is the recipient of Bharat Gaurav award for her extraordinary contribution and excellence in the field of yoga. The honours were conferred at the UK House of Commons in British Parliament in London on July 19th, 2019 by Sanskriti Yuva Sanstha.