The topic for the English Satsang on Sunday, 6th January, 2013 was ‘Physical Culture v/s Yoga Education.’
Following is the transcript of the speech made by Smt. Hansaji Yogendra on the topic.
“Right from birth, the past life’s impressions, Sanskaras are there in a child and you can see its tendencies from childhood – someone tends to get angry, gets scared, is very restless, keeps thinking too much, prefers staying alone or loves to be with people. These different Sanskaras can be seen in children. Now we cannot change the past, but the present is in our hands. We can work hard right now to develop some good values. What a man does when he is alone and no one is watching; is his Sanskara. When interacting with others, he may show something other than what he is inside. And so it is wrong to assume someone’s values and Sanskaras based on just what can be apparently seen. How a person behaves and thinks in adversities and difficult situations; is where the true Sanskaras can be seen. One has to delve deep to find out the truth. And so, do not judge someone by what they say or do. Their reaction might have depended on the situation.
How to develop good Sanskaras? Children learn by watching their parents. If I have never seen my parents fight, I will also not do so when I grow up. No matter what you verbally teach the child, he/she will learn from what they observe. So, if we want our children to have good values, we adults will have to walk on the right path. Our thoughts, behaviour, food habits, all have to be right. If you go out to eat often, food is not being cooked at home, the daughter does not need to cook, then she will not want to be a housewife when she grows up. She will want to do a job. The trend that is forming now is that people think that being a housewife has no meaning, it is valueless. The children of working parents do not think anything of creating something at home or taking care of the household. So a lot of such confusion is happening in the world today. It is difficult for anyone to change. It is necessary to bring in some new thinking. A person is open to suggestions when the state of mind is quiet. If that atmosphere can be created in a home, it would help develop the right values. Avoid scolding a child when he is making a mistake. Correct him when he is calm and in a state to listen.
So in today’s age where we cannot see much good around, people have become materialistic and think only of money, humanity is missing, people are cheating others for their gains, it does not mean that if you have good values, you will be poor and those who don’t have values will be rich. We can earn based on right values. A criminal lawyer who comes to the Institute said he chooses only the right case. Why should he prove a lie to be the truth? These days it is hard enough to prove the truth as the truth. Life is not just about money. We must look at life with a different perspective. So think on what you want in life and what you need to do for it.
To get good values, you need to repeatedly keep doing good things. Then only will they make deep impressions – Sanskaras. So on waking up in the morning, think of Higher Reality, take a few deep breaths, stretch, etc. These routines should be repeated till they become habitual and make impressions.
There is the story of a family that used to live in the jungles. So sometimes, they used to come across wild predators like lions. The boy in the family developed a fear of lions and used to have nightmares and trouble sleeping at night due to the fear. So the nearby villagers thought of doing something to ingrain the Sanskaras of courage in him. They kept telling him stories of how a lion can be scared off or fought. One day the boy claimed that in his dream, he defeated a lion. That is when the villagers celebrated. Values can be ingrained in such a way that they go into the subconscious. So all we must do is to keep thinking good things, contemplate on good philosophies and keep trying till the right Sanskaras are ingrained.”
Satsang is an open meeting held every Sunday from 9:30 to 10:30 am at The Yoga Institute, Santacruz East, Mumbai. It involves an interesting presentation to the public, made by the students of the Teacher Training Course. Each week, a new presentation of a Yogic concept is made in a simple way through skits and decoration for the general public, followed by a short speech from our Gurus, Dr. Jayadeva and Smt. Hansaji Yogendra.