This first Isha Yoga Day, is a momentous event, in more ways than most people will realise right now. It is the first time in the history of UN that 177 countries are coming together on a resolution. Initiated in the UN by our Prime Minister, it looked like almost every nation on the planet was waiting for someone to initiate this. Never before anything has been adopted in the UN with the enthusiasm that the Yoga Day has been adopted, and the level of participation is inspiring.
In pursuit of human well-being, people have looked up for a long time. In many ways, by looking up, we have divided the world, in ways it’s hard to fix in the near future. We’ve divided humanity. Many wars have happened, and we have done unspeakable things to each other. Then, in the last hundred years with Science and technology, people have begun to look outward. This has made us do horrendous things to every other creature on the planet. Every day, the pursuit of human wellbeing brings unspeakable suffering to every other creature on the planet.
Actually, human well-being is neither about looking up, nor looking outwards. It is about looking in. Light and darkness, pain and pleasure, joy and misery, agony and ecstasy, happen within us. When the source of experience is within us, we’re in pursuit of human wellbeing outside.
So what International Yoga Day means is not up, not out, in is the only way out. This is the fundamental message. Yoga Day is a dimensional shift in the sense that in pursuit of well-being, we can begin to look inwards. Your well-being need not be in someone else’s hands, it means every individual taking their fundamental well-being in their own hands. This day in many ways is a foundation stone for empowering humanity to take their wellbeing into their own hands.
In India for the last 8-10 generations, a huge mass of people has had a very bad deal. Even today, 50-60% of our population is not well nourished. We’re just breaking away a little with some economic development, but illness is spreading fast. There are predictions that 40% of Tamil Nadu will have diabetes in 6 yrs. We’ve just started our journey of economic prosperity, and half our population will be sick soon?
Also, as economic development is happening without inner balance, the use of alcohol, drugs and other addictions have risen. If economics comes without inner balance, people will end up in the hospital or gutter. It is as important as economics advancement, that individual human beings take charge of their own lives. So, this International Yoga Day essentially means that every human being needs to be empowered towards his or her own wellbeing. Health is not just physical nature. Bringing an inner balance and a necessary sense of fulfillment in every human being is important.
Take the example of US. Their population has wide variety of choices of nourishment. I’m mentioning nourishment, because in the past most of the human ailments have been linked to a lack of nourishment. In spite of their choices of nourishment, they spend 3 trillion dollars of healthcare. This isn’t because of anything else, it is just that there are no technologies for well-being. If tools for internal well-being are not disseminated across the world, the fruits of science and technology will be wasted because without inner well-being, outer achievements are pointless.
On this day, our teachers are teaching Upa Yoga in over 100,000 locations all over the world. Our digital platforms are ready to transmit this to 50 to 100 million people throughout the world.
Today is the solstice, which means we’re shifting from Uttarayana to Dakshinayana. Uttarayana means Sadhana pada, which means it’s time to work upon yourself. This day is significant, because Shiva, the Adi Yogi (first yogi), 15,000 years ago, noticed the saptarishis (the seven rishis or saints), were waiting to receive from Him. Looking at their eagerness, their preparedness, He decided to become a teacher or guru. On that day, Adi Yogi became the Adi Guru. This is when the first transmission of Yoga happened on the banks of Kantisarovar, 15,000 years ago.
This is a day of empowering humanity, to take wellbeing into our own hands. This sadhana pada, from summer to winter solstice, I want all of you to take a commitment. I want you to train yourself, and then at least 100 people.
I want you to know the joy and privilege of being a part of raising the human consciousness. We are at a historic moment. For the first time in the history of humanity, we have the necessary resources, capability and technology to address every problem on the planet. The only missing thing is an inclusive consciousness.
This is what Yoga is. It means a profound state of empathy. It is time we bring this to all human beings. If you look back upon history, you can see that what 1000 people could do the, one man can do today. When we are so empowered, how we conduct ourselves is extremely important. We’ve become superhuman beings, empowered by technology. So, it’s important to bring a certain sense of empathy, a sense of union. Otherwise, the way we’re empowered, we’ll destroy each other.
For those fearing that this will clash with their religion, let me say, yoga predates religion. When religion didn’t exist, yoga did. This is a science, a technology. Because, you don’t have to believe in anything. If you know how to use it, it works for you. Over the last few centuries, yoga has picked up frills from different cultures. I have worked for the past 30 years to remove these frills from yoga, and present it as a technology. It doesn’t matter who you are, it will work for you if you do it right.
If you say yoga is Hindu, it’s like saying gravity is Christian or Jewish. It is time everyone takes the process of wellbeing into their hands. Yoga has all the necessary tools to offer to you. This step of Upa Yoga were taking today is a simple stepping stone to deeper dimensions. The idea is that you will have a taste of yoga. The idea is that, if life hits you on the head tomorrow, you will turn to yoga instead of drugs of alcohol. We’ve taken a commitment that every child in Tamil Nadu in the coming years will have a taste of yoga. I hope that everyone here benefits from this simple practice today.
