Spiritual Message for the Day – Asana by Sri Swami Krishnananda

Baba Times Digest© | 11 December 2014 13.24 EST | New York Edition

The Importance of Mastery Over The Posture (Asana) of the Body

Divine Life Society Publication: The Importance of Asana and Pranayama by Sri Swami Krishnananda

Why is it that we feel hungry? Why are we thirsty? Why do we feel sleepy? Why are we exhausted? The causes of this should be found out. If we can have a control over the causes to some extent, the effects also are controlled. The causes are, at least in their outer shape or form, the activity of the physical body, which is kept always in a state of restlessness on account of its needs, its demands and its requisitions of various types, which go hand in hand with the cravings of the senses. The control of the senses and the reduction of the needs of the body organism go together – and it is not an exaggeration to say that even the powers of the senses get reduced if there is a mastery over the asana, or the posture of the body, in which one can be seated for hours. It is to be emphasised that this posture should be maintained for several hours in a day, though not necessarily continuously – with breaks. The practice has to be one of intense continuity and persistence, so it may become necessary, where the practice is very arduous and earnest, to sit for several times in a day.

One of the hints that can be given for easy success in a posture is to be seated in a chosen posture always, whatever be the work that one does. Even if we sit for a cup of tea, we sit only in that posture; we do not sit on an easy chair or on a couch. If we talk to our friend, we sit in that posture and talk. If we have our meal, we sit in that posture and eat. Whatever be the work that we do which can be done while seated should be done only in that particular posture, so that even unconsciously, spontaneously, as a matter of course, the posture is maintained. Then, even without our knowing what we have been doing, we have been sitting in that posture for hours. Even in satsang, we sit in that posture only. We do not go on fidgeting and changing position. Wherever we are, and whatever we are doing, we should let that posture be maintained, unless of course we are compelled to walk for some reason or the other. When it is not necessary to stand or walk, this posture should be maintained – whatever be the work that we are doing, even if it be office work – so that this becomes a habit. We will have no other alternative than to sit only in that pose. Then the body gets accustomed and it will not feel pain when we are seated for meditation.

This habit of sitting becomes second nature to oneself on account of this adoption of the pose under every circumstance, at every time, whatever be the function that one may be performing. Due to this control that one gains over the system due to the reduction of rajasic activity, there is, as I mentioned, a reduction in the intensity of the metabolic activity of the system, and one will feel less hunger, less thirst, and need less sleep. This can be seen by practise, and one cannot know it merely by hearing or studying. The appetite for food will lessen. The habit of gorging will become less, and we will have the least desire to eat or drink anything, or even to see people. We will have no desire afterwards. We would like to close our eyes and shut ourselves off, merely because of the reduction of rajas. It is the intensity of the rajasic property of prakriti in the system that perpetually compels us to be outward-looking through the senses and the mind, so that it is impossible for a person to sit alone – even for a few minutes – without anxiety, restlessness and unhappiness.

These are the ways in which we have to diagnose our system and find out what is the extent of our fitness for meditation. But, when this diagnosis becomes successful and we have a proper knowledge of what our strengths and foibles are, the results that are indicated in the sutra, tataḥ dvandvāḥ anabhighātaḥ (II.48),follow automatically. Dvandva is a pair of opposites, one counterbalancing the other. Where there is heat, there can be cold; where there is pleasure, there can be pain; where there is exhilaration, there can be sorrow. These oscillating, ambivalent moods – physically, socially and psychologically – are the processes and vicissitudes through which our organism has to pass, due to which it is always kept in a state of sorrow, whether visibly or invisibly, consciously or subconsciously. This can be obviated, says the sutra, by mastery over the asana.

Therefore, a great importance is laid upon the practice of the posture for meditation. Here the posture, or asana, does not necessarily mean the eighty-four lakh (8,400,000) postures mentioned in the hatha yoga shastras, but a single chosen one for the maintenance of the balance of the system, because the aim of yoga is meditation. Everything has to converge on that point. For the purpose of this ultimate aim of yoga, which is meditation, all these practices are undertaken. For the purpose of the fixity of the mind there should be fixity of the body, fixity of the muscles, fixity of the nerves, fixity of the pranas and fixity of emotions. For this purpose it is that the limbs of yoga are prescribed – asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. These stages of yoga are the steady practices of control of the various layers of the body – the physical, the vital, the emotional, the intellectual, etc.

Hence, the first and foremost requisition, as mentioned in the sutra, is the gaining of an appreciable mastery over asana. It goes without saying that when the first step is taken, and it is taken firmly without there being any need to retrace the step, the foundation stone is automatically laid for the next step. The harmony that is introduced into the system by one particular step spontaneously invites the harmony of the next stage, and there is an inclination of the next step to tend towards the harmony which is the aim of the practice in the higher stage.

Excerpts from: Asana  - The Importance of Asana and Pranayama by Sri Swami Krishnananda

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