A Sincere Commitment
Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra
Yoga and Total Health, September 2010
A little blind boy was thrown out of his house when he was only a child. He was asked to sit on the steps of the temple and take God's name sincerely. He did exactly as he was told and became a saint. When there is sincerity and devotion, one can reach great heights.
There are a few like Surdas who follow the path of yoga sincerely. For them, Abhyasa and Vairagya are two things like a straight road which leads them to the highest. They put in continuous efforts till the mind is fully controlled. These are the best students.
The second class of students are also very sincere. They follow Kriya Yoga. The first three Niyamas are taken separately. The Niyamas are practiced in a determined way. Tapa is done sincerely, but not in an extreme way. It increases one's bearing capacity. Svadhyaya includes thinking, perception and reading. It increases knowledge. Ishwara Pranidhana is Bhakti, it takes care of emotions. Emotions should be for God. In the material world, nobody belongs to anybody. Hence, emotions get disturbed and happiness is followed by pain. But such students have emotions for God and they surrender to Him totally.
Through Kriya Yoga one can reach Samadhi. All these constituents are equally important. Bhakta may not be strong, so Tapa has to be done. One who does Tapa well, may lean towards Ahamkara. One surrenders success or failure to God in Ishvara Pranidhana and, therefore, does not become egoistic or depressed. He always remains balanced.
Kriya Yoga was the second class of training. For the third class of students, eight steps are recommended.
The question over here is, how sincerely committed are we? If we are really sincere, we can reach the highest. Otherwise, if our efforts are half-hearted, we can play around and tell everybody that we are practicing yoga but reach nowhere.