Deepak Chopra: The word yoga is the same as the English word “yoke”. So in the New Testament when Jesus Christ says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light,” my interpretation is that he’s referring to yoga. It means “union”--Union of the body, mind and the spirit as one continuum of consciousness.
I think the Bhagavad Gita is about both the forces of light and the forces of darkness that exist within our own self, within our own soul; that our deepest nature is one of ambiguity. We have evolutionary forces there – forces of creativity, and love, and compassion, and understanding. But we also have darkness inside us – the diabolical forces of separation, fear and delusion. And in most of our lives, there is a battle going on within ourselves between the sacred and the profane; between the evolutionary impulses and the destructive tendencies that we have; between creativity on the one hand and addictive behavior on the other hand; between the divine and the diabolical; between the light and the shadow; between the sacred and the profane.
So the Bhagavad Gita is an understanding of this battle that we have in our consciousness that ultimately is played out in the battlefield that we call our physical bodies and physical universe.
So by understanding the dynamics of these forces within our own consciousness, and by beginning to harmonize our impulses with the evolutionary impulse within us, we heal ourselves. And in doing so, we heal not only our physical bodies, but our world. Because the world that we find ourselves in is a projection of both our personal consciousness and our collective consciousness.
It’s very relevant to modern times when you see things like global warming, climate chaos, changing weather patterns, natural disasters like hurricane Katrina, extreme poverty, economic disparities, social injustice, war, and terrorism – these are the projection of a collective consciousness that’s in disarray. A very collective consciousness where there is a rift in the collective soul. A collective consciousness that is evolving, but is going through a lot of turbulence.
Spirituality is experiential. And classically in India, it is taught through yoga. But most people have a misunderstanding of yoga. They equate it with the physical postures that they do in the yoga studio, which are one component of yoga. But yoga classically is divided into four types. And they have to do with four basic instincts that human beings have: being, feeling, thinking and doing.
So the yoga of being is meditation, self-reflection, the ability to shut off the world of the senses and go to the source of our own thought. It’s called raja yoga
The second yoga is the yoga of love through relationship, and understanding that love is the ultimate truth at the heart of creation; and that through relationship we can move progressively from attraction, to infatuation, to communion, to intimacy, to passion, to detachment, to ecstasy – which is our ground state and the exaltation of our spirit.
So love and relationship is the second means of experiencing spirituality. If somebody doesn’t understand spirituality, ask them if they’ve ever been in love. That’s an experience of spirituality.
The third way of understanding yoga or having the experience of spirit is through service. When you perform service without any selfish motivation, it’s called karma yoga. Then you also get in touch with the same domain of awareness that we call spirit.
And the fourth way of understanding spirituality is through the intellect, through the mind, through signs, through understanding how the laws of nature work, because the laws of nature are, in fact, the mind of the universe.
Recorded on: Aug 17, 2007
Discuss
James Aitken on November 16, 2007, 11:54 AM
Most people don't understand that yoga is more than physical.
James Aitken on November 16, 2007, 12:20 PM
It is pure yoga and is very liberating. But don't hurt yourself.
James Aitken on November 16, 2007, 4:54 PM
Most people don’t understand that yoga is more than physical.
James Aitken on November 16, 2007, 5:20 PM
It is pure yoga and is very liberating. But don’t hurt yourself.
Kathy Cunningham on January 16, 2008, 4:58 PM
I think that yoga is to help you leave the dichotomy behind and get to a natural place of more peace and clarity. So, postures are great, but as Chopra says, there are other paths too. We naturally do bits of them throughout the day. Yoga is a more structured way to bring some calm into our lives and perhaps make a positive impact on our whole world.
Kathy Cunningham on January 16, 2008, 9:58 PM
I think that yoga is to help you leave the dichotomy behind and get to a natural place of more peace and clarity. So, postures are great, but as Chopra says, there are other paths too. We naturally do bits of them throughout the day. Yoga is a more structured way to bring some calm into our lives and perhaps make a positive impact on our whole world.
Holly Bilski on January 30, 2008, 10:21 AM
I couldn't agree more. I think in the west, yoga classes only serve to remind those who attend (if the classes are well-taught by a good yogi) that reflection and mindfulness are key to the integration of body, mind, spirit, and the experiences of the three. It doesn't achieve anything for the participants—it merely acts as a touchstone.
Holly Bilski on January 30, 2008, 3:21 PM
I couldn’t agree more. I think in the west, yoga classes only serve to remind those who attend (if the classes are well-taught by a good yogi) that reflection and mindfulness are key to the integration of body, mind, spirit, and the experiences of the three. It doesn’t achieve anything for the participants—it merely acts as a touchstone.
Cindy Wang on February 22, 2008, 7:48 PM
High-temperature yoka is more and more popular in my city cause it says could help women losing weight.Some guys fall asleep during yoga,it's funny,do they find peace at all?
Cindy Wang on February 23, 2008, 12:48 AM
High-temperature yoka is more and more popular in my city cause it says could help women losing weight.Some guys fall asleep during yoga,it’s funny,do they find peace at all?
Henk Poley on March 31, 2008, 1:08 PM
I have the suspicion that he means something different with 'evolutionary impulses/forces' than, let's say a biologist. The distinction centers around to the question wether or not evolution (or even bigger, the universe) has intentional behaviour. Biologists tend to see evolution as a weeding out of slightly less favorable behaviour (natural deletion/selection). This 'selection' is more as an afterthough when something dumb has already been done, than as an anticipatory step that actively looks ahead.
Henk Poley on March 31, 2008, 5:08 PM
I have the suspicion that he means something different with ‘evolutionary impulses/forces’ than, let’s say a biologist. The distinction centers around to the question wether or not evolution (or even bigger, the universe) has intentional behaviour. Biologists tend to see evolution as a weeding out of slightly less favorable behaviour (natural deletion/selection). This ‘selection’ is more as an afterthough when something dumb has already been done, than as an anticipatory step that actively looks ahead.
Kathryn Courtier on January 11, 2009, 12:09 AM
I have found, in order to really derive the full benefit of doing yoga, that the act of surrendering is requisite. When I manage to do this, and for now it is rare (an unexpected gift), the postures become effortless, natural. Everything then just falls into place and all I am left with is a feeling of simple peace. This can’t be bad for you… :)
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