How should we set our goals about yoga in life after our teacher training course?
The first purpose is to go out and teach yoga wherever you are, wherever you go. Teach yoga; talk to people about yoga to whomever you wish good health, a happy and enlightened life and to help others. Talk to them. Even if they do not appreciate your talk about yoga, do not be frustrated. Do not be afraid that they will criticize you. You do your job. Whether the person is convinced or not is not your concern. Your concern is to help people through yoga as a doctor helps through medicine. Many times patients are annoyed with or criticize the doctor for the medicine or an injection that is given. Still the doctor continues to medicate, not for money, not for the wish of name and fame, but for the welfare of the patient. Like wise, you have to teach yoga to help people overcome their pain and their physical, mental, emotional, psycho-emotional problems through the knowledge.
This is only a means to reach people. This is only an excuse to be able to talk to people, give to people, and for bringing people onto the spiritual path. The purpose is not healing their diabetes, sinusitis, sciatica, asthma or anything like that. All those things are just side-effects. You practise an asana, and the automatic reaction takes place in the body, mind and emotions as chemicals change, the hormonal flow changes, and the work of the two hemispheres of the brain changes. The whole environment on the psychic plane also changes. This is an automatic effect for which you do not have to work.
If you have a physical, mental disease or any type of problem, you only have to check the sequence and type of asana and pranayama according to the diseases and problems. Otherwise, if you choose any random sequence of five asanas, two pranayamas, one technique of relaxation, any technique of meditation, or repetition of mantra they may cause some effect. But if you choose the proper ones according to the need of your whole being, not only the physical, not only emotional, not only psychological or mental, but the whole being, that will bring about the desired result.
The tree is already there, you only have to irrigate it with these practices and techniques to derive higher sattwic knowledge, supreme knowledge. To put it differently, the glands will start to secrete in such a way that the diseases will vanish from the physical body. The effects which take place on the psycho-emotional plane can be dimmed, and thereby human beings can be healthy, happy and better enlightened persons.
This is the purpose. The aim and the purpose is to cure people, heal people, help people, make them happy and bring them to a better path, a better way of living. The goal is to make everybody find the path, or at least put them on the path, of higher seeking.
8 March 1981, Bhilai, Madhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh)