Page 133 - Wisdom Unfurled

absolutely necessary. Perhaps He felt that there is no need to repeat the age old and well established norms of moral and ethical life which ought to be followed by any serious spiritual seeker. Our tradition lays down clearly that for one who has not turned away from wrong (navirato duscharitat- kathopanishad 1.2.24) there can hardly be the attainment peace of mind, nor of the worlds here and the hereafter.
The great saints of the past have emphasized that unless a sahdhaka makes a firm commitment to reach the ultimate goal of human life and follow such means as are conducive to realizing such a goal and avoid all distracting matters there is little prospect for achieving the goal. They even advocated strict celibacy and adopting the ascetic way of life in this regard holding that grihastashrama would be a great hindrance in the pursuit of realization. While the Master differs markedly from the above view that it is not possible for one realize the object of human life while living the life of a householder and even advocates that it is the best environment for the purpose of realization, He is quite categorical at the same time in stating the need for developing a good moral character on the path. Revered.Lalaji Maharaj has said that even attaining very high states in spirituality is of no consequence at all if the person is devoid of a sound moral character. It is utterly impossible to reconcile a vile character with advancement in spirituality.
Asana and Pranayama
It is found that there is no stress on asana and pranayama. Asana is the pose or posture and pranayama is control of breath and both have been made much of in the current view of yoga, thanks to the proliferation of yogacharyas and literature on the subject.
The vast majority of these much touted asanas said to confer great benefits upon the practicants are only physical exercises and contortions of the body in disguise. Even the aim behind learning the above practices is not self-mastery and realization but improvement of physical health and fitness, relaxing the mind and it is quite ironical to find yoga being included as part of the fitness regime of corporate executives, the rich and glamorous clientele of the yoga exponents of the day. We can not imagine a worse state of degradation for the really sacred discipline of yoga. The lofty purpose of yoga has been cast aside and yoga itself has been equated with asana and pranayama exercises with a few minutes of meditation thrown in. The real purpose of asana is however to merely allow the aspirant to sit steadily for at least up to an hour in meditation (as in PAM) without being distracted by bodily disturbances. Sage Patanjali himself says sthiram sukham asanam, (II.46) the pose shall be steady and be at the same time be comfortable to the practicant.
We find the mention of only a few such postures not more than six to eight in