This paper was presented at the
National Seminar on
Indian Psychology: Theories and Models
SVYASA, Bangalore,
December 26 - 28, 2007
 

Hatha Yoga and health

L. Bhagya Lakshmi & Moturi Ravi Kumar — R.V.R.R College of Education, Guntur

“The body is the boat on which we voyage across the oceans of worldly life that has to be kept trim and sea-worthy. The voyage too has to be strong, confident and courageous.” Bhagawan Sathya Sai Baba

The human personality consists of the body and mind, it is necessary to have good physical health and mental health. The body is the temple of God. Health is wealth. For one’s life’s sojourn a healthy body is a great asset. In the same way purity of mind is essential. For only a pure mind will have the necessary discrimination to recognize the ultimate aim of life and direct the senses along the right path.

There is a close mutual relationship between the attitudes of the body and the attitudes of the mind. So people’s inner feelings will be evident from their physical bodies. Bodily and mental training is needed to have health and this can be achieved through Yoga. Yoga has been defined as the science of uniting the individual soul with the universal soul.

Hatha yoga is the part of yoga typically associated with the physical postures, and is one limb out of the eight limbs of Raja or Classical yoga. ‘Ha’ means ‘Sun’ and ‘tha’ means ‘moon’. Hatha yoga means the union of the pairs of opposites. Hatha yoga is also known as ‘forceful yoga’, because it seems to require the most physical exercises of all yoga types.

Health is necessary for gaining this world and the next for earning worldly and other worldly progress for which the self has embodied itself in the human form, namely to become aware of its source, the Eternal absolute. In order to attain this goal, the ideas of righteousness, prosperity, moral desire and absence from grief have to be practised with the help of a sound mind in a sound body.

Email the author, Dr. L. Bhagya Lakshmi, at lbl_sairam@rediffmail.com