Acharya Kamal:
What is yoga philosophy?
As you know, whatever we do, those are actions, those are karma, but behind that, if here is no script, then sometimes those actions lose their value. If there is no right purpose and we are just doing things without knowing what we are doing, then there is not much value to that particular action.
We are just walking, touching something, or sometimes spending our time, and how many moments have we spent? Do we know? Not really. Because there was no purpose in our action, we just performed unknowingly. That’s why the result is almost nothing. You are walking in the garden, and you see some trees. You see a flower, you touch it, and you move from there to somewhere else. You notice someone else walking in the same garden, you just see that person, and you move on. You go to the market. You see many people but you don’t remember because your focus is not there. Your focus is on buying groceries. So the purpose of marketing was to buy groceries, and because of that, your whole attention was there, and your purpose was fulfilled when you bought the groceries. So in a similar way, we see that if we perform any karma and there is not really the intention or a clear purpose, then the results are also quite similar with no purpose.
We don’t even realize that something changed because of that. So, we get less value if there is no clarity on what we are performing. Same with life. If we do things unknowingly, life goes out of our hands. Then things happen not according to intention. So here’s what I’m trying to say: we did yoga, we did asana, we practiced meditation, we visited multiple studios, and we did so much more. Yes. But until we know the real purpose behind that practice, what is the actual purpose? If we don’t set that intention, the results will not be great, and this is why Jnana yoga exists. This teaches us to know the essence behind any practice. That’s why everything has philosophy. Everything has philosophy. How to live life.
There is philosophy. Specific disciplines have been established for you. If I’m Indian, I’m living in an Indian way because somebody like my parents, my study, my own research made a specific type of discipline for me, and that’s why I’m able to lead my life because I know the ‘behind the scenes,’ what to perform, and what I have to avoid.
Suppose I’m eating food and I don’t know that the chili is spicy, then I’ll be eating, but I’ll also be crying at the same time because I don’t know the philosophy of that particular food. So if we see anything, if we pick anything, it is the same. We should know what it is and what it is going to do to me. We should understand what asana will be doing to me, what yoga will be doing to me, what yamas and niyamas will be doing to me, what pratyahara practice will do to me, what pranayama will do to me, what impact meditation will have on me, what is that? So, knowing this big scenario behind life, behind the actions, behind your yoga practice, that is like our kind of philosophy, that is our learning, which we will be doing. Right. Any idea we say, this is philosophy. So we use this term, this particular word called philosophy, we use it like, “That person has some different philosophy, or this teacher taught me different philosophy, different ideas.”
So philosophy is used for certain ideas, theories, and concepts. So now my question is for you. What do you mean by philosophy in your own way?
We try to see the exact kind of meaning, because, you know, when we apply it in our lives, it brings discipline. So, what are we saying? What is philosophy for me? But what is philosophy in an actual way? This word philosophy is of Greek origin. A Greek word, combining two words, making this single word philosophy, philo, and sophia, which means love and wisdom.
Love and wisdom. So love and wisdom together are philosophy. And if we look at our lives, there are only two things in them. There is love and wisdom in our lives. What we want is love, and that is what can fulfill that wisdom. Right? To have a great life, we want love. We only feel better or good when we love something or when we love ourselves. So, it’s not love like ordinary love, like the love towards a boyfriend or husband. What we are speaking of is love that has a bigger meaning than liking something. Whether we are liking something with a small ratio or a big ratio, everything comes under love. A little love, a big love. I like it so much. Or I love it. That is also love. I love doing yoga, but it’s hard at the same time. But still, I like it. This is love.
So, the ratio is somewhere less, somewhere more. And this ratio keeps on changing. This ratio keeps changing. For example, I will give you one ice cream. You will eat it and say it’s so good. I like ice cream. I love ice cream. Then I give you a second. Oh, I like ice cream. Have more. And then the third, and then the fourth, and then the fifth, and like 10 ice creams, and then you’ll be saying I hate ice cream. So slowly the ratio of love is dropping down. Right? So love means any type of love, a small one or a big one, everywhere. Even though, like exams, your exams when you were a kid. I don’t think any kid loves exams, but somewhere they do, because if I pass this exam, I’ll be in the next standard. So somewhere, a little love is there, and that is the reason they try to do things. Love is the driving force. You know why you are here right now, sitting with me? Because you love something about yoga. That’s why you are taking some yoga classes now. So this is your love, which gives you the drive to do things, and wisdom, which tells you how to do things. Wisdom will tell you whom and what to love, actually. Wisdom only will tell you whom to love. Wisdom only will tell you how to do it. Right? So, both go in parallel—love and wisdom. And to fulfill that love, your wisdom works, creating new theories, learning different things, and fulfilling your love part. And your love part will fulfill your wisdom part. Try to remember, maybe we don’t know how many relationships we had, but in one relationship, you liked a specific type of personality. But then you develop wisdom, and that wisdom gives you a liking or love for a different kind of personality. Then you started loving that. Then you understood something from there. And then you started liking something else. Like how, in general, a little girl likes the color pink, but as she grows, her definition of liking clothes is not pink. Now those are changed. Some like purple, black, something else, something different. How did this happen? Something new is understood. So you started liking something. Then you understood something else. So you started liking something else. And because you’re liking something, you’re ready to understand it. So, because you like this program, this is the reason you can understand it. If you didn’t like it, you will be irritated, and you will not listen. You will say, ‘No, I don’t want to understand.’ This is your love, which is making it possible for you to stay and read this, and giving you that kind of drive, and you are understanding me. If you don’t like it, there is no way that you can stay here and read patiently. Not possible.
This is your love, which makes you understand things. That’s why, when you lack love, when you miss the element, you feel dry and stop pursuing anything. Then life looks like, oh, there is nothing to understand. There is nothing to do because you get dry from somewhere, and you lack interest in any understanding, and because you do not understand things, you stop liking things. So both go in parallel. Slowly, slowly, your love develops your wisdom, and your wisdom develops your understanding. Love and Wisdom, Wisdom and Love. Both go in parallel. You can’t be missing any one of those. Suppose there is only love. There is no understanding, no wisdom. What will be there? Only love is there. There is no wisdom. Love cannot sustain. It turns to misery. It’s like pure sugar and no other flavors. Love without understanding, love without wisdom is misery because then we don’t know how to continue this; like a teenager always ends up with a breakup, right? With tears because love is the game of wise people. Love is not for the immature. They can feel more and more, but in the end, without any discipline, without any wisdom, without any understanding, they end up with misery. And now think about only wisdom, no love. Without the nectar of love, wisdom is dry. There is no drive, no sense of purpose, “What am I doing? Why am I doing it?” There is only pure information, and it will be dry. At the end, what I did in my life was all about just studying, or only research, or only business. What did I do with that? I didn’t enjoy it, and I regret it. Without love, only wisdom, only understanding, brings the regression of dryness. So we need both love and wisdom. Think of a tree. For a tree, if you give so much love, so much water, because I love I love I love, and you keep on pouring water, the tree will fall because you are lacking the understanding that the tree doesn’t need or want that much water. It required a little less. Water it accordingly. Then only the tree will grow nicely. So, the tree is our life, and to grow that life with the right purpose in a healthy way, love in amounts according to wisdom, and know that wisdom is there to fulfill love. So, love and wisdom, these together give us life. If we try to conclude whatever is happening in our lives, whatever it is, we can conclude them with love and wisdom. See any example in your life, and you can set it within these two pillars: love and wisdom. Love alone is kind of like diabetes, very sugary. Wisdom alone is dry like a stone, which is going to give us only loneliness, nothing more. Both are required with good management, and for that, we bring certain ideas, certain understandings, and certain concepts; the rules, the disciplines we apply in our lives for love and for wisdom; that is called Philosophy.