About 2 weeks ago, I had the fortune of listening to a mind-blowing webinar by Paramahamsa Nithyananda on “Secrets of Yoga and Awakening the true teacher in you”. The truths revealed in this webinar completely shifted the way I approached Yoga and set the clarity in terms of what I need to do next.
Here is a part of the excerpts of the webinar which I would like to share with my readers:
Yoga – It has almost become the word representing India, the great heritage of India and Hinduism. With wide practice comes huge dilution. With customization comes dilution and pollution also. Today, I am here to remind all of you that a huge following does not necessarily require dilution. Yoga is designed, developed, shared with the world, not by one individual, but by a group of great enlightened beings who were specimens of all types of human-beings. Because it was designed by a group of human-beings, who represent various possibilities and specimens, they themselves have customized it without diluting it. The founder and organizer – the word “Vyasa” does not mean “writer” or “author”; it means “editor”, “organizer” – for Yoga, “Vyasa” is Patanjali. The organizer, editor of the Yoga system is Patanjali. He is beautifully represented with a snake body, it means, just like snake’s body, his body is so flexible; that is why he is represented as having a snake’s body.
It is a group of saints, rishis, sages who created this system. In that group, all types of human specimens and samples were there. It means, for all of you, they made Yoga. The good news is, you don’t need to dilute it when you are customizing it for yourself i.e. Yoga can be customized. The best news is, it does not need to be diluted. I am here standing to declare this message to the world: The good news is- Yoga can be customized. The great news is – It does not need to be diluted. You can customize it for your office, for your field, for your department, for your purpose, for your need, but you do not need to dilute it or lose the original strength of it.
Yoga is our heritage. We don’t copyright it, but we will not keep quiet seeing the dilution. We don’t copy right it because it belongs to the whole world. Yoga belongs to the whole world. I don’t support efforts of copyrighting it, but I strongly support the efforts to protect it without getting diluted. Customizing should not lead to dilution. A true yoga teacher should customize but not dilute yoga.
Yoga has given certain “Adhikaara” meaning, “authority” and “rights” to people who are teaching. And, I am all supporting to use those adhikaaraas, those authority when you teach. But don’t go beyond the authority, adhikaara given to you by the Yogic scriptures. Yogic scriptures give the adhikaara, authority to teachers to develop their own permutations and combinations. And we accept the mastery of the Masters. Their expertise naturally gives them the clarity and understanding to develop new permutations and combinations. But stop with that! Don’t try to be originator! Don’t try to play the game of “my invention”! Stop it! This “my invention” theory is great for Science, but not for the traditional lifestyle related, especially conscious related knowledge. It is the unnecessary, unfortunate confusion of the glory associated with invention being misused by a few manipulators who are trying to fish in muddy waters. Then there is a confusion. Trying to fish in muddy water, dirty water. Please understand, all confusions in the Yoga field have been created by these so-called inventors.
With this original reference, every action you do should be from that Yogic text, age-old, timeless, eternal Yogic text. It should be authentic. If your teacher is not able to give the reference of the original Yogic text and its original translation, translation can be in the language you speak, but the original Yogic text should be given in the language in which it is written – Sanskrit. Please understand, for every action, if they are able to give the original text and you are asked to do, it is great. Then the person, your Yoga teacher can be trusted. He or she can even customize it for your need. But if the teacher is not passing this examination of being able to give the original Sanskrit verses and the source book name with its translation, then you are learning misrepresented, altered, manipulated Yoga. You are in a danger zone!
An important truth you need to know about Yoga – It is not just all about body. Please understand, it starts with body, but it is not all about body. Some of the greatest yogis of this country, I had the fortune of sitting at their feet. Some of the greatest yogis, I met in my life. Some of the greatest yogis, I had the opportunity to be at their feet in my life. Please listen! The next line I am going to utter may shock you. Some of those greatest yogis whom I had the fortune to touch their feet, forget about their bending and touching their feet, they cannot even bend and touch their own belly! That is the size of their belly! Why I am making this statement you need to know? I wanted you to understand, Yoga starts with body, but Yoga is not all about body. It is not just body. It starts with body, but it is something beyond body. If you think Yoga is all about body, it is like you are having pizza box, but not pizza inside; you are having only the bottle, but not the water inside. It is not all about body. Yoga is a system developed for you to reach your peak possibility in your body, mind, emotions, and being level. And everyone, every human-being should have at least the basic Yoga in your life, the basic Yoga in your life.
Nithya Yoga is the complete authentic form of Yoga from its source. Every small action, including the way you open your Yoga Mat and roll it back, ask me, I will give you the reference from the original text, original Yogic scriptures, the verse, and the translation. That is the uniqueness of Nithya Yoga. And Nithya Yoga is created for the purpose of Completion – Completion with your body, Completion with your mind, Completion with your being, Completion with your consciousness. That is what is missing in many other form of Yoga in the world. As a yogi by birth, trained in all dimensions of Yoga from birth by great yogis, here I stand to save the Yoga tradition in all its original and pure form.
Nithya Yoga is in its original, pristine, pure, authentic form. Nithya Yoga awakens Yogic power and helps us to fulfil the reality we wish to experience. I tell you, in its pure, authentic form, Yoga is not just related to body; it can awaken your Kundalini Shakthi and give you miraculous powers, extraordinary powers. It can just give you extraordinary powers. Especially when it is practiced directly by the guidance and in the presence of the enlightened yogis and in their energy field like Bidadi’s banyan tree. And I also wanted to tell all the Yoga teachers, you are all doing a great job of raising the consciousness of the planet. My only request is, don’t allow your greed and fear to enter into your system. Go for the original authentic sources. Even you might have been misled and manipulated. Even for you to get rid of your doubts, go back to the original source. And, thanks to great Yoga institutes for translating and making all the knowledge available with the original verse and the English translation! Gheranda Samhita, Kumbhaka Paddhathi, Pranayama Paddhathi, all of them are available now completely with the translation. Take from those sources.
The unique contribution, the uniqueness of Nithya Yoga is its authenticity. No action you are asked to do is without the reference from the original text. Teachers are given freedom only for permutation and combination, not to create new steps. Yogic system gives freedom to teachers only for permutation and combination as per their experience and expertise, but not the freedom to create original steps. The teachers have the freedom to plan which pranayama can be next to which pranayama, which asana can be next to which asana; that much freedom you have; but not to create a new asana, create a new pranayama.
The moment a Nithya Yogi tells you, ‘Inhale through right, exhale through left’, he knows why he is telling you, and he can give you the original quote from the original scripture, Yogic scripture with the verse number and the translation, word by word meaning. For that you need a guru. Guru is required to keep the authenticity alive, to allow the customization, but not to allow the misrepresentation and manipulation.
So, for all our teachers, Nithya Yoga teachers, now it is your responsibility to know the original and answer when your students ask. At least you need to know where what is available in our website, so that when your students ask, you can guide them directly and show the original source as it is. I don’t undermine, disrespect the creativity of the Yoga teachers, but your creativity in no way can disturb the authenticity. Creativity and authenticity, when it goes hand in hand, integrated together, that is the best form of teaching. Acharya = “Aa Charathi” – “One who lives the authentic, Yogic lifestyle as it is.”
I wanted to put this on record: All the extraordinary powers and enlightenment, I achieved by following the original authentic scriptures, and not by any of the inventions and interventions. All my gurus were original, authentic-source-based, scripture-based teachers, and I am proud about it! And I declare, I will continue to be that! And I wanted my Sampradaya, the Nithyananda Sampradaya Sannyasis, Brahmacharis, gurukul kids, Balasants, Mahants, Kotharis, Thanedars, to stand by this truth. I achieved everything by the authentic scriptures, and I support, promote the authentic scriptures as they are. And, I also declare, all my disciples have to stand by it as it is. Even for building our temple, the amount of Haritaki needs to be added, the kind of stone needs to be used, I am not changing one inch of scriptures. The size, direction, measurement, everything, I am bringing the original Aagama as it is, the shaastraas as it is. I wanted all over the world that same tradition to be followed in our Sampradaya as it is. “AS IT IS” is our mantra! The Quality Statement we are ensuring is: “Right To Information of the Source”. Just like our government has the Right To Information Act, I think all religious organizations should have RTIS – Right To Information of the Source Act.
I can see this webinar will set off a revolution in the yoga industry with the advent of Nithyananda. 😀