There is more to meditation than yoga postures and breathing exercises
Today there is an increasing number of people practising yoga and breathing exercises the world over. Swami Ramdev has become very popular among those who want to become stress-free and have good health. This man is no doubt doing a good job. Likewise, there are many other yoga teachers who teach yoga and breathing exercises. While these can help people to have a good health and do away with stress to some extent, they are not necessarily spiritual practices and therefore may not lead one to self-realisation or the deep meditative state.
Anyone can master the physical aspect of yoga and breathing exercises by going through the yoga literature such as Yoga Darshan, Yoga Shastra and other manuals written by famous masters of physical yoga like Iyengar and others. That, however, does not make them enlightened beings. It is sad to note that masters of physical yoga pose as enlightened masters these days, and consequently people who do not wish to face themselves or have their egos broken through enlightened guidance and wise counselling, very often prefer to go to such 'masters'.
It is good to know that spirituality or meditation is more than mere postures, morality, vegetarianism and breathing exercises. One needs to relate to a genuine master who will transmit vibration, will advise, admonish, guide, shatter the ego and shake one. One should be in regular contact with such a master and be ready to open oneself up so that guidance becomes easy. But no, people are escapists of themselves by nature. They do not want to follow a master who will break their sleep and dreams.
Spirituality is a pilgrimage to the centre of our being and soul. Meditation is the cream of spirituality. The spiritual journey involves many ups and downs, pitfalls, attractions, doubts, queries and experiences that can easily lead the aspirant astray. Thus the importance of an enlightened master. Learning yoga, breathing and concentration exercises or even some meditation techniques is not a bad thing in itself. However, for the purpose of inner transformation and cosmic consciousness, that is definitely not enough. But then it also depends on what the individual is seeking. Spiritual life is the greatest adventure and it is undertaken with the company of a master. He can guide us for he has already trodden the path.
At this juncture, let me remind the reader that I am neither against yoga and breathing exercises as I myself practise and teach them, nor am I against those who practise and teach them. However, I am certainly not in favour of those who think that yoga postures alone and breathing exercises can transform people, nor I am in favour of getting stuck and stopping with them, thinking that there is nothing more beyond them. Jesus, Buddha, Shirdi Sai Baba, Osho, J. Krishnamurthi and other super souls of their calibre have not taught yoga postures, yet they have produced wonderful people and bequeathed a treasure-house of knowledge.
My own beloved spiritual guide did not practise yoga, nor did he teach same to his disciples, yet he was a spiritual sun. So let those who wish to attain peak consciousness beware. Remember that to become spiritual or to attain the "rebirth state" or second birth, the ego has to be broken and no individual can do that by himself. It is the master who does that, and this is one of the reasons why many avoid following a master. Some prefer to follow dead ones.
