The third, the soul still stands abandoned, desolate and little understood.No one can really be blamed for this state of affairs given the difficulty to understand and deal with something that even while being present in us, rarely manifests itself in any worldly manner.
That said, the soul and its troubles are something all of us face all the time in our lives and very few know how to deal with it.That’s unless you are into Yoga!Yes, yoga, the ancient India science of living, exercise and meditation finds mention in scriptures that are as old as 5000 years!
It finds mention in practically every ancient scripture from Rig Veda to the Upanishads, and the Bhagawad Gita.Religions running parallel to Hinduism being Jainism and Buddhism too have detailed accounts of Monks and Ascetics practicing yoga for varied reasons including so-called self-enlightenment.
From Patanjali to Sushrut to Panini, each one of these Sages of ancient India have spoken eloquently about Yoga and its benefits.Over the years, yoga has been refined and described to suite various needs and situations be it related to warfare, peacetime, mental alertness, physical strength and sustenance, stamina, health or even frugal minimalist living while giving up so-called outward display of carnal pleasures.
Yoga if seen in the context of yogis and yoginis, be it Indian or Chinese means giving up desires and concentrating on achieving goals for a larger cause and larger good.In fact, if seen from the preserve of disciplining the body and mind to follows rigours and make the body strong, supple and obedient to the mind without getting swayed by temporary feeling, yoga was equated to an ascetic life.
So strong were these percefeeling that till about a century back, barely anyone from the subcontinent other than the usual stock of ascetics, monks and minimalists were ever associated with it.And then came the likes of the Beatles, their visits and myriad modern-day yogis who among other constitute leading lights in cinema, music and industry in the west.
