Yoga is primarily intended for those who are suffering physically, mentally or emotionally. It is not for the recluse or for those who have a healthy body, balanced emotions and tranquillity of mind. It is for those millions of people all over the world who are suffering today. When we talk about yoga, we are not talking about a religion, mystical philosophy or about metaphysics. We are talking about a practical way of maintaining harmony between the three poles of human existence: the body, mind and spirit.
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 a way that even 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 with tensions mounting day by day; tensions in the family, tensions at the political level or on the national level and we are not able to maintain proper equilibrium. Due to this, various diseases have come up like hypertension, diabetes, migraine, coronary diseases, gastric problems and others. These diseases have come up on account of our failure to face the situations of life, and the practices of yoga give us the opportunity to create a balance in our system. The mind wanders and wavers; it does not know when to rest; during the daytime it is busy and at night, unconsciously, it is active.
The mind becomes sick on account of disturbances; it interacts with the physical body and influences the hormones, the digestive system and so on. If a man is sick, he goes to a doctor who tries to help him to the best of his capacity. He goes to a doctor of the mind who is also trying his level best to help him get out of that situation, but unless we have been able to train the very process of thinking and feeling, how can we stop the whole vicious circle? Therefore, in yoga, the first and foremost thing is the mind and to control the mind, to have mastery over the functions of the mind is the basic definition of yoga. We know one level of the operation of the mind, but the mind functions at various levels of our existence; there are other dimensions we don’t know about and we don’t know what to do with that. When your mind is functioning at a particular level of existence, but you do not know that it is functioning like this, what can you do with it? Nothing. There is a dimension of mind where we know it is functioning, but still we are unable to control the flow.
When the mind creates tension within you, when you are worried about your business or about your family, is it possible for you to stop the mind from thinking about it? 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 the mind to 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 this is the situation in life, that your own mind is not under your control, you can imagine what is going to happen.
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 a speed of 100 kilometres an hour. You do not want it to, 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.
It is not only control over the conscious mind, but you must also have control over the other phases of the mind. If you can control your thoughts by willpower, that is good. But can you control a dream? Can you control visions? No. It means that you have no control over that area of the mind, which is beyond your consciousness. You should be able to control the dreams, the hallucinations, the feelings and it is for this purpose that the whole of yoga has been systematically organized. 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 total command over 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.
We should try to set apart 15 to 20 minutes every day in the morning and at least ten minutes at night. During this period, we must do a few asanas and pranayama, a little bit of concentration and the practice of the mantra. This fifteen minutes of practice in the morning will keep you sufficiently fresh and energetic to cope with the tensions of your everyday life which you are going to face during the day. At night when you retire, devote at least ten minutes to the practice of your mantra, that is japa. This practice will balance the whole personality and you will have a sound sleep because you are sleeping after resolving the tensions of your body and mind with the help of mantra. In this modern life, when we are short of time and have a lot of duties to fulfil, it is definitely possible for all of us to devote half an hour from our life to the practice of yoga. This is one aspect.
Many scientists in the USA, Europe, India, Australia and Japan are working on the effects of yoga on coronary diseases, insomnia and hypertension. In the United States they are working on the effects of yoga in controlling the different brain waves. The conclusions have almost been drawn that yoga can be very helpful in many diseases, for instance asthma, rheumatism, migraine, diabetes and lung problems; the list is too long for me to state here. But let me say that the time has come, which the scientists have been telling us about, that yoga can help humanity as a science of therapy. This is really wonderful because all along people have been thinking that yoga is a science of mystics and once you practise yoga you are going to get out of family life and out of this world. That is how yoga has been misinterpreted and defined, but today scientists are defining yoga in a different way.
They conducted a six-month experiment and studied the wave patterns of the brain during the chanting of Aum. When ‘Au’ was chanted, they detected alpha waves. When ‘mmm’ was chanted, they detected theta waves. This is the effect mantras or sounds can have, and every sound has an effect on the nerves and brain waves, both negative and positive. A mantra or sound can bring about physiological changes in the structure of the brain. Not only this, but a mantra can also affect the process of hormones in the body; it has been seen by scientists. Yoga must be understood in our modern age in relation to science and not in relation to religion.
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 crisis, if yoga can help anti-social elements to attain mental equilibrium, if yoga can help householders maintain a dignified approach to life, then I think yoga is doing a social service for your country. And 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. 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 come here to remind you of your culture, I have not come to preach yoga.
22 November 1978, Bogotá, Colombia