Importance of yoga in modern life - 02062018
The importance of yoga at a personal level is well acknowledged. Yoga practitioners would agree that it is a central part of their lives. Active sadhana transforms people from their very core & I have seen people come to embody yogic philosophy through their actions and attitudes to life. In recent times there has also been significant research on the how it improves physical [1] and mental [2][3] wellbeing in tangible ways.
But what does yoga have to offer society at large. If a large section of people adopt yogic practices and ideals in their daily life, what sort of change would we be able to see in our culture? What are the challenges that modern life poses and does yoga have any practical solutions for us? This essay provides an opportunity to explore these questions.
First though, lets try to understand what we mean by ‘Modernity’.
What do we mean by Modern?
The modern era is described as the Age of Reason and has its roots in the period known as ‘Enlightenment’ in the 18th Century CE. The European Enlightenment itself has its origins in the scientific activity of the earlier two centuries. The rise of new scientific theories dramatically altered the relationships between the natural sciences, philosophy and theology. [4]
In this new age, it was reason and rationality which came to be valued above faith and piety. An important project during this time was to provide a rational basis for morality. European thinkers, growing up in a Christian world rapidly changing due to new scientific theories pondered on the question - Do we really need an almighty God and His commandments to tell us what is right and wrong? In fact, one of the significant contributions of Enlightenment philosophers such as Kant, Hobbes & Lock was providing a rational process to judge the morality of an action.
Such is the modern age that we have inherited. An age of amazing scientific progress, where humans are free of dogma and tradition, are free of nature and its limitations; in other words, truly free and rational agents.
However, there’s much that our modern age has still not achieved. While we are now free to rationally choose the moral course of action, do we really? Or is there a chasm between how we would want the world to be and how the it actually works? Our society is still driven by greed and apathy to the effect that we are the most inequal in terms of resources and the most insensitive to others – humans, animals or nature in general.
Clearly, modernity itself needs to evolve further. There is something lacking in western modernity at a fundamental level, because of which it is not able to reconcile our practical behaviour as a society with our system of ethics.
The Case for an Indian Modernity
Today’s India also draws significantly from the dominant global culture of the day. Not just fashion, food & the latest twitter hashtags, but in fact our very models of thought itself have been borrowed from the west. We look at ourselves through a lens of western ideas all of which have developed in a certain context alien to ours.
Our adoption of this western modernity has come at the expense of Indic traditions. In the rush to modernise, we have not waited to rationally evaluate our traditions to keep what was good and drop what was bad. Even in fields of life where Indian thought was significantly more developed, we have given up leadership and started at the back of the line.
This leads us to the question, can there be an Indian Modernity? Something firmly rooted in Indic thought and traditions, yet open to absorb the best of other cultures?
More importantly, can this Indian Modernity shape global culture? Can it fill in gaps where todays Western Modernity is found wanting?
Role of Yoga in creating Indian Modernity
Yoga Darshana has its own metaphysics and it makes certain truth claims about the nature of reality and the meaning of our lives. While it does give moral guidelines on what should and should not be done, the ultimate aim of Yoga is union with Brahman.
However, Yoga is different from most other metaphysical and theological traditions in that it provides practical tools and lays down a path for us to reach this ultimate state of union.
It does not ask you to suspend your disbelief and live life in blind faith. In fact, the fruits of yoga can be gained only through regular practice and first-person experience. Moreover, phalaprapti is possible in this lifetime itself! There is no need to wait for an afterlife to gain the benefits of all the hard tapascharya done in life.
Yoga is a system which values rationality. It stresses that people gain practical experience of the truths it describes and shows a path to wellbeing & harmony in this life.
The principles of Yoga are thus universal in nature and remain valid across time and place. They are something which can create a truly Indian Modernity as a strong alternative to Western Modernity as the dominant global culture.
What can Indian Modernity (& Yoga) contribute to Global Culture
The question now arises - What can yoga practically contribute to modern society? Is there something fundamentally different in it from Western Philosophical models?
Yoga as enhancing the Scientific Method
Yoga, in its approach, is scientific. It gives primacy to pratyaksha pramana or direct experience as a valid means of knowledge of our true natures.
While the scientific method will continue to give us greater understanding of the world around us, it is limited by its own methods. Science can only make claims about things which can be objectively verified. Falsification of a hypothesis is a core requirement of science.
Consequently, science can’t make claims about our subjective experiences.
Yoga speaks about our inner subjective states but does not need you to consider it as a belief. The metaphysical model it presents is but a tool that helps you understand the nature of your own experiences gained in sadhana. It provides a framework where you can fit in your own understanding and realisations. In this way, it furthers the quest of science & helps gain a fuller understanding of reality - combining subjective truths only available to the individual, with objective truths shared by society.
In this way, Yoga can help provide a deeper understanding and meaning that humans crave while being scientific in its temperament. Thus, in our conception of Indian modernity there is no conflict between science and spirituality. Scientific progress and spiritual progress can move hand in hand.
Yoga as making us capable of handling scientific progress
In fact, spiritual progress is what will make us fit to wield the enormous power that scientific progress brings us. Every individual today has powers that can cause havoc in the world. Powerful nations have the means to destroy the whole world themselves. Moreover, our ambitions as a society continue to expand in all directions.
As our mastery over the material world increases, it is imperative that we increase our mastery over our-selves. Only a general awakening of spirituality in society will ensure that we are mature enough as a society to wield this power responsibly.
Yoga as a means of moulding an ethical society
Prof. Paul Macneill, while talking about Yoga and Ethics, describes the current state of Ethics discourse in the west -
Ethics in the West (with few exceptions) is identified with reason and the intellect rather than with practice. The emphasis in Western philosophy is on the question ‘what is ethics?’ and the professional response has been to reason in terms of theories of ethics and codes of ethical behaviour. Yet there is a gap between reason and practice. Knowing something to be the right thing to do is different from practicing it. [5]
Indeed, logic and reason aren’t the best way to achieve an ethical society for the simple fact that when push comes to shove, logic and reason are the first to be thrown out of the window. When humans are put under increasing stress, we naturally constrict our identities to an ever-smaller in-group of nation, state, tribe, family and finally the self.
For ethics to be brought into daily practice, it must take the form of habit and not just thought. It is here that the approach Yoga takes towards ethics is distinctive and worth adopting.
Yoga can be practiced with the entirely selfish goal of enabling us to reach our full potential as humans. Daily yogic practice is aimed at gaining control over our sense organs and the mind. Only when we are complete masters of our mind and body can we effectively act in this world.
As a sadhak progresses in their practice, their awareness of their selves increases. Ultimately yogic practise should lead to a dissolution of the feeling of ‘I am’ as separate from everything else. This state of union with the world is the source of compassion of the yogi. This dissolution of the self and its identification with the universal self is the foundation of yoga ethics: that when we realize our expanded nature, even to a small extent, we are naturally inclined to treat others well.
Crucially, while yogic practice leads to ethical actions, that is not the aim of it. In practicing yoga and working toward the goal of self-realization, we naturally become more ethical, not from duty but from inclination. Yoga forms a habit of ethical behaviour as a side-effect to the overall development of our consciousness. This I think is the missing link which can bridge the gap between reality and our ideal ethical society.
In conclusion, the importance of Yoga to modern life is that it can be the tool to develop an Indian Modernity as an alternative model to Western Modernity & in doing so help the world progress on the spiritual path & give birth to a truly progressive society which is ethical in practice.
References----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A systematic review and meta-analysis of yoga for low back pain: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23246998
Yoga for anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29697885
Yoga for depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0058926/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/enlightenment/
Yoga and Ethics: The Importance of Practice. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236170454_Yoga_and_Ethics_The_Importance_of_Practice
