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opinion of the person who says that it is quite hot is the truth. It is his personal experience relative to the circumstances. Another example: let us take the distance of one kilometer. Now for a young man it is a short distance, while to an old man it is a long distance. So for an old man, or a sick man, it is a tiring walk, while for a young man it is a very easy walk.
So there may be more than one opinion. But at the common meeting ground, in order to make truth operative, we have to come together. One basic fact, one common agreement, one common understanding, to make truth operative for the moment is the wholeness of yoga. We can all come together with that common point of agreement, and then we can search more and more.
Some say that yoga is an exact science. It has never been an exact science. It is a soft science like medicine. Chemistry is an exact science, but medicine, which is applied chemistry, is a soft science, each body interacting in a different way. It is not an exact science like physics, it is a science like sociology, like philosophy, like politics. It is a flexible science, a soft science and, therefore, it has infinite possibilities of expansion. Yoga is not necessarily a hard truth, but a search for truth, a very practical truth which can be applied in scientific research.
Now, take justice. We cannot call a law a just law unless there is a collective acceptance of its usefulness, of its feeling of welfare, of its benefits. Until then, we cannot call it a just law. It has to have a collective universal experience. Yoga is aachaarasu kaushalam, yoga is karmasu kaushalam, yoga is viveka, vichaara sukaushalam, yoga is sraddhasukaushalam, yoga is samata sukaushalam. Here we use samata in the sense of raja yoga, viveka and vichara in the sense of jnana yoga, sraddha and bhakti in the sense of bhakti yoga, karma in the sense of karma yoga. As I told you, samata in the sense of raja yoga and achara is the basis of all the yogas. Whatever you are doing in the practice of yoga, it ought to be whole.
There is a little story probably attributed to Sri Ramakrishna. There was a guru who had a few disciples in his ashram. Many years passed, and the guru thought that he had taught all that he had to teach to his disciples, and he said, “Now you must go and search for yourselves and find the true meaning of yoga in your lives." So different disciples branched off in different directions and set up their own ashrams. Many years
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Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
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| SR No. | 014011 |
| Book Title | Yoga Sagar |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Paramhamsa Satyananda |
| Publisher | Bihar School of Yoga Munger |
| Publication Year | 1994 |
| Total Pages | 436 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Seminar & Articles |
| File Size | 24 MB |