The concept of yoga is very simple; it is based on scientific principles and by its practice, a great change is created in the physical and mental structure of every person. Yoga was designed by our ancestors in such a way that even the modern man can find at least fifteen minutes from his busy life to devote to yoga. We have to move very fast in our modern society and our body has to cope with all the hectic activities of life. The demands are great and the tensions are mounting day by day; tensions in the family, tensions on the political level or on the national level, and we are not able to maintain proper equilibrium.
When the mind is creating tension in you, when you are worried about your business, or about your family, is it possible for you to stop the mind from thinking about that? No. Even if you know that what you are thinking is wrong, still you cannot control the mind. You know very well that you are thinking unnecessarily; you know very well that this kind of brooding is not going to help you. You want that the mind should stop, but it does not. What does this mean? It means that the mind is out of your control; it means that the reins of your mind are out of your hands. If that is the situation in life, that your own mind is not under your control, you can imagine what is going to happen.
Just imagine you are driving a car, fast; there is a big truck coming and you want to reduce the speed. You move your foot to the brake, it does not work; you change gear, it does not work; nothing is working and the car is moving at 100 kilometres an hour. You don’t want it, but still it is moving. Do you know what is going to happen? An accident. And that is what is happening to every one of us. A disease in your body is an accident; cancer is an accident; ulcer is an accident; heart attack is an accident, all caused by the speed of the mind which you are not able to control.
Yoga, therefore, for all of us is a science of the whole mind. It teaches us what we have to practise, what we have to do in order to obtain a total command of the mind and its mysterious functions. Therefore, for the modern man we have organized the whole foundation of yoga into four parts: hatha yoga, the practice of asanas and pranayama; concentration, trying to focus the mind on one point; meditation in which we try to fuse our consciousness with the greater one; and lastly, the relaxation of the whole body, mind, nervous system and emotions which is done with yoga nidra.
Yoga in this country has now taken strong roots but please remember that we are not an institution of crazy brains. We believe in science and we believe in discipline. We believe in a process of education of mind and body. We also believe in the training of emotions. That is our system of education. It will be better if the system of yoga finds recognition not only from the people, but also from the government. If yoga can help boys get out of their crises, if yoga can help anti-social elements to attain mental equilibrium, if yoga can help householders to maintain a dignified approach to life, then I think yoga is doing a social service for your country. If that be so, then not only the people but also the government should recognize it.
We are not a movement of dissipated souls. We are very clear in our approach, and the approach is so clear. Man is unhappy and he has to find his happiness himself; man is sick and he has to cure himself; man is groping in ignorance and he has to get out of it. This is a glimpse of the vision of yoga. Yoga was the culture of your continent, but you have forgotten it. I have not come to preach yoga, I have come here to remind you of your culture.
22 November 1978, Bogotá, Colombia