Ques: The first chapter of Bhagavad Gita is called Vishad Yoga. How can vishaad be yoga?
#SriSri: See yoga is interpreted in three ways. One is union of several herbs, in Ayurveda you call that also yoga. Ayurvedic medicines are often called yoga. And then the combination of various planets is also called yoga, it’s in Jyotish. Raj yoga, Kaal sarpa yoga, all these terms are used in Jyotish. Here in Bhagavad Gita, since it is an authority in yoga, it’s the union of the small, individual Self to the Cosmic Self and when small Self comes in contact with the Big Self, first it comes with this demand or Vishad Yoga, Vishad means regret. That is how yoga began there, regretting having jumped into the field for war, regretting the state of affairs that one is facing in life. That is Vishad Yoga, I think many people are stuck there. Often people move into spirituality because there has been some trouble. Some problem comes they move to spirituality. And with Arjuna that was the case. He was in deep trouble, he was troubled mentally, challenged physically, so he came to Lord Krishna to find an answer for it. So Bhagavad Gita began with Vishad yoga. But if you see Ashtavakra Gita, it doesn’t begin with Vishad Yoga, it begins with Jigyasa Yoga. Janak was a seeker. Here Arjuna was a sufferer. Through suffering you go into Yoga. Through seeking you go into Yoga. And from suffering Arjuna later gets into inquisitiveness, he wants to know more. But with Janka it was pure seeking. It’s very interesting. But whatever it is, you see in your life, don’t get stuck in Vishada Yoga. You should move from there to Sankhya Yoga. Most people in the planet, they are in the regret state. They are stuck in Vishad Yoga but somewhere you have to reach the twelfth chapter, Bhakti Yoga!
Ques: Yoga says we are mind, body and soul, but Buddha says there is no soul. Then who is human being? Also I would like to have some guidance to practice unconditional love.
#SriSri: It’s just a matter of saying. If a cup is half full and half empty, someone can say it is half empty, somebody else says it is half full. In Buddha’s time, people already has a lot of concept about Self, God, everything. This country was full of philosophers and each and every one of Buddha’s disciples for well-read, educated, graduated and great philosopher. So for Him, He has to take this step of nothingness. Everything is nothing, that is what He said. To say that it is all nothing, there must be something. Only something can experience the nothing. If I am saying I am experiencing nothing, then there must be me, to experience nothing. That’s what Yoga says. Adi Shankara says that, Buddha says there is no Self, ‘anaatma’, Shankaracharya says, ‘aatmavaad’. They appear to be completely opposite, but they lead to the same thing. And that same one thing is the heart sutra, that is love, unconditional love. Don’t look for it, don’t seek it, don’t try to experience it. It is beyond experience. It is the existence. So you must simply assume, you are in unconditional love, that’ it, period. Don’t question it anymore.
‘Like a flower bud, human life has the potential to blossom fully.
Blossoming of human potential to fullness is Yoga’
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji
What the world thinks Yoga is and what Yoga actually is, is very different!
There are many myths and questions surrounding Yoga. Like,
Is Yoga just postures, is it exercise, is it religious, can only a Hindu practise it or an Indian,
Is it not for Muslims, Christians or people of other faiths?
All these questions and more are answered by Gurudev in this eye opening video!
SRI SRI YOGA
