Yoga – a way of life for self-management

Self-management is an internal process of managing one’s body, thoughts, intellect, emotions and spirit. Yoga is not only asanas and panayama but a way of life for self-management. It is a process of trying to get control over negative emotions like anger, jealousy, greed, ego, and undue attachment.

It is also a process of developing concentration, equipoise, tolerance, risk-taking capacity and ability to think long-term. Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root word ‘yuj’ which means ‘to join’. The original definition of yoga is ‘yujyate anen iti yogah’, meaning ‘what joins or connects is yoga’.

Yoga in its true essence is supposed to be a technique by which the individual self (jivatma) is joined to the universal self (paramatma), a state called moksha or jeevanmukta.  But in simple language we can say that it is a technique of aligning our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual personality.

We have discordance in these four parts of our being and so we do not get the best out of life. Our heart wants to do something but the body fails us. Or our mind is ill-trained to experience bliss. Such discordance can be removed by adopting yoga way of life.

The science of yoga is spread over so many scriptures in India. The basis of yoga lies in Taitriya Upanishad, which states that human personality consists of five layers called ‘Pancha Kosha’. The first kosha is Annamaya kosha – the gross physical body that we have. The next layer is ‘Pranamaya kosha’- a layer of ‘prana’ in and around our body. Prana is a subtle form of energy, which is flowing in 72 lakh ‘nadis’ of our body.

The third is ‘Manomaya kosha’ – the layer of mind.  Unlike in modern science, the mind in yogic literature consists of four things – mana, buddhi, chitta and ahankar.  Out of these four, mana (emotional mind) and chit (subconscious mind) are part of Manomaya kosha while buddhi (intellect) and ahankar (ego) fall in the fourth layer called ‘Vigyanmaya kosha’.

This fourth layer is a layer of our convictions and beliefs in life which is the result of our discriminating faculty.  Fifth kosha is ‘Anandamaya kosha’- a layer of bliss all around us. The true happiness lies in Anandamaya kosha’.

The purpose of yoga is to transcend our existence from Annamaya kosha (i.e. gross physical level) to Anandamaya kosha (spiritual bliss level) and beyond. For doing this, we have to use different parts of yogic practices from four different streams of yoga – Raj Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Karma yoga.

For setting right our Annamay and Pranamaya kosha, we have to practice asana and pranayama techniques of Raj yoga. For controlling Manomaya kosha, we have to use Raj yoga practice of meditation and Bhakti yoga practice of emotional cleansing.

For correcting our Vigyanmaya kosha, we have to get into Gyan yoga to understand logically ‘who am I and what is this world’.  We can enjoy bliss of our anandmaya kosha by adopting Karma yoga, the path of blissful action, and though meditation.