Being a Yogi – is being yourself. A Yogi is an aspiration and a state. Being a Yogi truly is being exactly what you are, beyond your ego, beyond your mind, beyond your intellect, going to the core, the essence of you where you are united with every aspect of creation. There is nothing apart from you. Every being, every atom in this Universe is connected and it works in synchronicity with the whole creation of the Universe.
Furthermore, a Yogi is fully tuned and attuned into this consciousness. Lord Shiva is our aspiration, a representation of the universal consciousness, always merged in the consciousness which is the basis of creation and always being impartial, neutral and at the same time fully available as the energy, the source which creates the whole structure of existence.
A Yogi is one who is connected to himself completely and a true Yogi is a true universal being. There is no selfishness. There is 100% commitment to the existence. There is no him, there is no Yogi, there is only beingness. When I say beingness, you are actually being one with the Supreme Consciousness which flows through you, into you and through you into all the beings around you. When you are absorbed into that consciousness, all the time, there is no ego, no body, no mind, you are fully integrated into the Supreme consciousness.
A Yogi is one who has gone beyond the gunas of existence. The gunas are the flavour which create a character, a constitution, something which makes you distinct from the world. Every being is a unique creation. All beings are unique. There are no two buffalos alike. There are no two beings alike. Every being is a different combination and all these combinations are important and that adds to the flavour of existence. This is not only about Earth – Earth is just one small tiny part of the whole cosmos. There are numerous, numerous locations in this universe. There are a lot of galaxies, stars, planets and satellites – quite a lot of things in this universe.
The moment you start feeling or connecting to the consciousness which is driving this whole machinery, you stop being you. You grow well beyond your limited frames and you merge into the consciousness of the society. There are numerous methods which ancient masters have codified and delivered to us, many of which are extinct. We never used them. Mostly in those days, it was only transmitted through word of mouth. It was never written. There were no scripts in print or in books. It was all written on leaves. So various things, great philosophies have already been eroded and later on various conflicts of humankind have destroyed quite a lot of substance.
Yet, what is known today as Yoga which means one who can aspire to be a Yogi by practising Yoga. Yoga is something which has survived the test of time because Yoga is nature. It can never be destroyed. Nature can never be destroyed. You may cut the trees or you may pollute the environment, but environment always restructures itself with or without human beings. So Yoga is something which has stood the test of time, this is because Yoga means being natural. A Yogi is natural. Everything amounts to being you, being natural and being one with the universal consciousness. This is a flow. This is life.
And what is life about? It is not about the paltry pleasures which we get from the outside world. Life is about being contented within and the expression of that contentment overflows from yourself into the world outside and it brightens up the world outside. That is exactly the life of a Yogi – a true Yogi. His beingness, his stature, his very existence overflows and brightens up the world outside. If each existence becomes such a glow, imagine a world full of happiness, full of glow – no competition, no anger, no jealousy, no hatred. There is no negativity of any kind. There is no comparison between people. We are all the same. Nobody is higher or lower. There is no duality. All you see is yourself in the other person. The moment you are connected to yourself in that mode, you are a true Yogi.
There is a saying,“If you consume food once a day, you are a Yogi. If you consume food twice a day, you are a Rogi i.e. a sick man. If you consume food three times a day, you are a Bhogi, i.e. a lustful person.“ There is a slight deviation to this adage. Some people say, if you eat food twice you are a Bhogi, and if you have food three times a day, you are a Rogi, a sick man. So when you are totally connected to your consciousness, when your energy flow is not wasted on paltry things outside, you won’t even need food. You will only consume what you essentially need. You won’t eat too much. You won’t eat in a kind of emotional way of eating. All our consumption, all our intake through mind, intellect, all this will be regularised so that health is maintained.
Being a Yogi is being healthy. Being healthy is a state of mind. When your mind is healthy, your body is healthy. When your body is healthy, your mind is healthy. So being a Bhogi means your are lustful in eating, which makes you sick. It takes the health away. Being a Rogi, which is a later stage, is a state where you are consuming indiscriminately not only food, but also emotions, intellect, knowledge, information, etc. When you cram all these things inside, it really chokes you. It really makes you obese. It can make you physically, emotionally, or intellectually obese. All kinds of obesity limit your movement, limit your flexibility, limit your freedom.
I wish all of you who are reading this a great state of being a Yogi. Being a Yogi is an individual path. You can do this yourself. There is no need for any external influence. You are a Yogi by birth. You are a Yogi. All you have to do is just explore it, bring it out and then start feeling it. You are a Yogi by nature.
Thank you so much. I wish you the very best.
