The why of the interaction between so polar entities as the subject and the object

YOGA: FROM CONFUSION TO CLARITY

from Vedic Vision of Consciousness & Yoga by Mukesh

Yoga: From Confusion to Clarity Vols. 1 to 5 by Satya Prakash Singh and Yogi Mukesh, 1730 p, 5 Volumes, figs, ISBN : 81-87471-57-8, $325.00 (Includes free airmail shipping) Price for sale in India - Rs.9,000/- (Contact the Publisher for purchase in India)

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ABOUT THE SET OF THE VOLUMES

Yoga: From Confusion to Clarity is an original and refreshing series of five volumes of its own kind. Neither in the past nor in the present has such a work ever before been attempted by anybody except for the reference of a voluminous work we get about Hiranyagarbha, the Father of Yoga, in very remote past and whose work has been lost forever. The authors of these five volumes after making intensive research and study for the last 15 years endeavoured to restore the Yoga to its pristine purity.

The need for writing this work also arose out of the misconception of delimiting the root of Yoga generally midway to Patanjali, the author of Yoga-Sutra. Indeed, it is due to this misconception that Yoga has come to be mistaken as something secret and mystic, unsocial and otherworldly and hence not only difficult to take up but also counterproductive in many respects. It is due to the prevalence of this view of Yoga that such a scripture as the Bhagavadgita has been mistaken as renunciatory in spite of its most eloquent advocacy of karma-yoga. Another by-product of this mistaken view of Yoga particularly in the modern times is the delimitation of it to only a certain kind of physical and vital exercises in the form of asanas and pranayama as popularly taught by some enthusiasts of the discipline in the name of Yoga as such today.

The special feature of the present work is an attempt to explore the history of Yoga right from the Vedic or even the pre-Vedic era and to reconstruct it from the material scattered throughout the Veda as a system of Yoga by virtue of which pre-Vedic and Vedic people became seers of Vedic mantras as the treasure-chest of the profoundest kind of wisdom and knowledge even at that epoch of human history and thus laid down the foundation of Indian culture so broad and humane in outlook and so lasting in character. In fact the tapas and sadhana of the Vedic seers got crystallised in the form of the discipline of Yoga in all its dimensions, phases and varieties coming to be designated in course of time as jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, karma yoga, dhyana yoga, mantra yoga, and hatha yoga, etc.

On the other hand, so far as the psychological perspective of the discipline is concerned, instead of searching for its motivation in the desire for alleviation of any kind of suffering or affliction in this world or in the wish for the enjoyment of the plenitude of the world beyond, here it has been found to lie in man’s eternal quest for exploring into the mystery of consciousness well within himself directly through self-consciousness. As such, consciousness has been determined here as the explorer as well as the field of exploration, as the object as well as the subject. In the commonsense experience, the object is object and subject is subject, as both are conceived as categorically different from each other. The interaction between the two is considered as just a matter of fact without needing any explanation concerning the mystery behind it. Philosophical attempts to solve the problem has resulted in the East in the form of Prakriti and Purusha as two absolutely independent realities while in the West it has led to the Cartesian dichotomy between Mind and Matter. Both these positions stop short of resolving the problem of explaining the why of the interaction between so polar entities as the subject and the object.

This work is intended to show the way how to resolve the dichotomy and also to the entry into that infinitude of consciousness which, at the same time, is the infinitude of bliss, called in the Upanishad as Bhuman. In this respect, it distinguishes itself from those works which are based on the Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali and aim at just redemption from Prakriti, Nature, and hence, approve of living in isolation of it. It is for the first time that here in this work Yoga has been brought to the notice of the reader in all its comprehensiveness based as it is on the primacy and immensity of consciousness on the one hand and concordance of the results of tapas and sadhana on Vedic seers themselves on the other.

In view of these possibilities, this series of volumes on Yoga is expected to prove instrumental in restoration of peace, joy and real values of life to the humanity which it has lost, to a great extent, under the enhancement of the amenities of life and it is also hoped to prove corrective of aberrations of the religious dogmas overburdening the human mind and creating fissures in the solidarity of the society.

With all this Bhagiratha-effort made on the part of the authors to restore the stream of the yogic wisdom and method in these volumes to its pristine purity as well as to make it practicable in the modern and changed circumstances, the series expected to prove helpful in clearing the cobweb of misunderstanding about yoga formed in course of millennia since its origination and will benefit all yoga teachers, practitioners, researchers and students who intend to do graduation, post-graduation and Ph.D. in Yoga.

1. Foundation of Yoga:

The first volume is based on the novel findings of the authors of the elements of yoga in the Vedic Samhitas as well as in the Upaniñads. It deals with the life and visions of the seers who were instrumental in giving a shape to the discipline of yoga through austerities and tapas of their lives. Some of such seers are Angiras, Atharvan, Bhrigu, Vishvamitra, Gritsamada, Vamadeva, Atri, Bharadvaja, Vasistha, Patanga, Agastya, Lopamudra and Vagambhrini. The mantras seen by them and collected in the Vedic Samhitas from within the details apparently looking to relate to nature-worship, when perused closely, reveal their precise relevance to Yoga in its various aspects to be classified subsequently as jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, karma yoga, dhyana yoga, mantra yoga, and hatha yoga, etc. [The educational doctrines of Plato and Sri Aurobindo: A comparative study, Sri Aurobindo and Whitehead on the nature of God, Upanisadic symbolism, Philosophy of Dirghatamas, Sri Aurobindo and Jung: A comparative study in Yoga and depth psychology, Sri Aurobindo, Jung and Vedic Yoga, Life and Vision of Vedic Seers 2 Dirghatamas]