Yoga for Health, Happiness and World Peace-11. - Swami Chidanananda

07/06/2018
11

This is the way in which Yoga is not a physical culture; Yoga is a health culture, making use of this knowledge of Prana of which very little is known by the Western biologist and physiologist. Very little is known of this thing called Prana which holds the key to health.

Through Pranayama, they bring about psychological stability, harmony and steadiness, and through Pranayama combined with Asanas, they bring about healthy, sound functioning of all the different systems that go to make up the inner physical man, the physiological man, whose sound functioning holds the key to health.

It is supported by self-control, moderation and purity of life, the functioning of your various senses; because if the eye looks upon something very passionate, very carnal, very exciting in a low manner, in a gross manner, the whole system is shattered, shaken up by that type of excitement. If the ear hears things that are base and ignoble, low and vulgar, they excite the lower propensities of the human individual.

Similarly, any one of the senses, when directed towards that which is negative, undesirable and exciting, it brings about a drain of our vital energy and brings about a great deal of excitement in our nervous system also. Therefore, the nervous system is affected in a negative and unhealthy manner. This is the inner mechanics of the healthy effects of self-control. If self-control is done in a wise Yogic manner, understanding its desirability, value and necessity, it has no undesirable effects.

To be continued ..