A CURE-ALL FOR THE WORLD
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA codified yoga into four main streams. First, Gnan Yoga that teaches ways to imbibe knowledge. Second, Raj Yoga that enhances willpower. Third, Bhakti Yoga or the science of emotion. Fourth, Karma Yoga or the path of action.
Gnan Yoga is experimental in nature, not a blind faith, rather it is questioning in nature. In fact, modern science and Gnan Yoga are similar because both are ways of finding the fundamental reality. Raj Yoga is about using willpower to change, grow and become great human beings. Patanjali prescribed eight steps of Raj Yoga. Bhakti Yoga is all about making emotions divine and controlling them. Karma Yoga converts daily actions into yoga—be it cooking, eating or writing. All these different forms of yoga aim at the same goal—attaining perfection and taking one to a higher level of consciousness.
My mission is to take the various forms of yoga and apply these to all fields of human activity and, in the process, take society to a higher level. Yoga can give direction to modern science and technology and take things beyond the physical world to understand the subtle dimensions of the universe. In fact, yoga and modern science are complementary to each other.
I learnt this from one of the youngest ever Nobel Prize winner—scientist Brian Josephson—who won it at the age of 29. Seven years ago, he had come to attend one of my lectures on yoga in London. After my programme ended, he told me that he did yoga regularly. I went to his house and was pleasantly surprised to find books on yoga, Upanishads alongside books on science. He told me that these taught him to go beyond quantum physics and mathematics. Then he came to India on a year-long sabbatical as a guest professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and learnt chanting, meditation, asanas and pranayam.
At the Ministry of Ayush, we are doing research to establish yoga as a perfect preventive cure for diabetes. In fact, this research is almost complete. We plan to take up similar research for hypertension, heart problem, asthma, back pain, mental disorders, insomnia, obesity and others. This will establish yoga as a scientific and preventive application for a number of diseases. Our research is based on huge data. For diabetes, we scanned 250,000 people across 60 districts and found that 50,000 of them had diabetes. They were taught yoga and after three months, tremendous improvement was noticed in their health. Those who had diabetes of the worse kind saw their blood sugar level come down drastically while those who suffered lower degree of diabetes found themselves cured.
One of our achievements at Ayush is making a Common Yoga Protocol after consulting experts. This is a 45-minute regimen which has yoga, pranayam, meditation and Bhakti Yoga. If done daily, it brings about significant changes in a person’s physical and mental well-being. If 70 per cent of our population starts doing asanas and pranayam regularly, our nation’s health budget will come down drastically because it will act as a preventive. The nation’s good health can play a big role in making India the world’s number one country. Great yoga teachers like Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and others are playing a significant role in making yoga part of the daily life of a large section of people. India and, in fact, the world should be grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his efforts to get June 21 declared as the International Yoga Day. If yoga becomes a way of life at the international level, the health budget will come down globally and humanity will reach a higher level of consciousness.
The author is a Bengaluru-based yoga therapist, who gave PM Narendra Modi his initial lessons in yoga. He is also advisor to the Ministry of Ayush and Vice-Chancellor of Swami Viveknand Yoga Anusandhana Samstha, a deemed university in Bengaluru
IF 70% OF OUR POPULATION STARTS DOING ASANAS AND PRANAYAM REGULARLY, INDIA’S HEALTH BUDGET WILL COME DOWN DRASTICALLY