INTRODUCTION
OM YOGA
It is due to the persistent efforts
of the great Yogis such as Sri Aurohindo, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri
Rama Krishna and other divine personalities, that the attention
of the spiritual world is now focused definitely on yoga, the ancient
art-science of India. The worldwide interest in the subject is aroused,
apart from its spiritual value, by the scientific researches and
critical evaluation of Yoga by the modern interpreters and practitioners
of yoga. In India, the land of its birth, Yoga has been differently
regarded by the different strata of society; for some it has signified
to be the mysterious art of developing supernatural powers (siddhis),
miracles and wonder tricks, for some it meant superhuman discipline
worthy of a selected few, and for some it was so much a part and
parcel of their way of life that it could be distinguished as a
particular discipline, so much so that the practitioners were hardly
aware of it in the name of yoga. Due to a complexity of causes,
somehow or other, it came to be discarded in average imagination
as unfit for a normal life. It is primarily the Western appreciation
of the value of Yoga as a nonreligious discipline for physical and
mental health as well as for spiritual attainment that is responsible
for the revival of intelligent interest among the average people
in India.
This development, though welcome
for providing an impetus to the movement of revival of the peoples'
interest in yoga, has its own limitations and disadvantages; for,
to restrict the significance of yoga to the maintenance of physical
and mental health only, is to take too narrow and superficial a
view of what yoga actually is. Yoga is primarily a spiritual discipline
directed at an integral development of human personality in
all its aspects viz. physical, mental, moral, social and spiritual,
with a view to attain the full fruition of human life-cycle in the
transcendence of the limitations of self-centred consciousness that
characterizes the present state of human existence. Therefore, to
limit one's attention to the worldly objectives of developing a
good physical health and a sound mental balance, though rewarding
by itself if rightly pursued, is to expose Yoga to superficial activity
directed at realization of values for less desirable than what yoga
is really capable of. Recently, therefore, there has been witnessed
a clear realization that the movement of the revival of yoga in
India and its worldwide development should be broad based and properly
co-ordinated and well directed in order that the true values of
yoga, mundane as well as spiritual are fully brought to light and
made adequately intelligible to the genuine seekers of yoga.
This “Site” is a humble
attempt of our Trust (the International Yoga Coordination Centre
– YOCOCEN) at providing the necessary means of communication
of progressive ideas for a co-ordinated and all-inclusive movement
for awakening and developing true Yoga-awareness in our times, and
it is hoped that all those who are working for the unity of mankind
and for the spiritual kingdom on earth through Yoga will join their
hands and hearts with us in this noble task. |