- Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra
“So it is a little cold – 14 degrees and in Yoga and Ayurveda they talk of Prajna Apradha – loss of balanced state of mind. It is the cause of all the problems in life. If we have a nose that is leaking and causing breathing trouble, pain in some joints and pain in parts of the body, the cause is simple that we are not taking care of ourselves, though we would not like to agree. You see there will be certain people who will not have much clothing, wanting their body shapes, this is our human nature. Had we been clever enough to detect changes, signs of nature and live accordingly, I think we could have lived a 100 years for sure. But we just go on making mistakes. A point worth considering – whether we can control this habit of being totally careless of many many things in our lives which all matter, not only in disease, but in all situations, upbringing your children and all that. Worth considering.”
– (9th Feb 2013 – Saturday – Prajna Apradha)
“In our Indian culture, this question about knowing oneself was important one. They often would put this question – “Who Am I?” and it can take you very deep. We know a lot about the outside. We know things by their names, certain qualities, uses, but if we turn to ourselves, what can we say? A little of our body, our name, family, work and it ends. But there is so much in us which we have never thought of. You see, our innermost feelings, our cravings in life, ambitions that we haven’t thought of it, though it is moulding us. You see, everything that we are doing, is being viewed from that angle, just like whether I earn sufficient money. This is a question that occurs to any man or a woman during the day; these are loose. And that’s just one area. Areas of one’s feelings- whether I’m feeling happy all the time or miserable, or did I have any worries, were they very hard to handle? These are all worthwhile questions but we just keep them aside. But when they confront us, we have no answers. So our life, its not working on the areas that are important for us. We just use the eyes, see something, talk about it and that is the end of it. We don’t go further.”
– (12th Feb 2013 – Tuesday – Bhagwad Gita 3.35)
“So we are talking about motivations, ‘Purusharthas’. What are the things that make us to move. Duty of course was the earlier idea, Money is the central thing, Dharma and Artha. Today we talk about the next two, They are connected with sex and desires, you see that is naturally one of the most powerful drives. And in the end Moksha. Which is not usual, it is some kind of spiritual development, improvement. So these are believed to be the motivations of life. Of course the last two i think are not to so very popular. But what they really mean that when we are living, we are also looking for the ultimate purpose of life. Just eating and enjoying is one thing, But why is all this there? what is the meaning of all this? Doing our duties, and everyone has a duty. A grown up has a duty, an adult has a duty. This has to be kept in mind, otherwise the cycle of life doesn’t carry on. Because someone has taken care of us, we have grown. When we do our jobs well ,somebody else will grow. So Dharma, Artha ,Kama, Moksha, these are very well known motivations in Indian thinking.”
– (14th Feb 2013 – Thursday – Kama & Moksha)
“See, these are ‘Parikarmas’, various activities that can help in quietening the mind, settling the mind. Persons who are disinterested, if you can imagine such individuals and think about them, that can also generate a certain, peace, quiet and steadiness. Yogis of course have this temperament, they have no interest, and yet they are there. Madhavdasji had no interest in anything and yet his presence helped the founder to learn yoga and to cultivate this attitude. So these are alternate techniques, to help the mind and to become steady.”
– (1st Feb 2013 – Friday – Yoga Sutra 1.37)