Mauna In Yoga Essay

Significance of Mauna in Yoga Practices

INTRODUCTION

Inspiration for the Thesis

As the Chinese Sage Lao-Tzu said, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a little step”, in the same way my transformative journey started with a very tentative interest in the vast world that unites body, mind and soul. Yes, to the Yoga world!

First step towards Yoga

Yoga is a very popular and common term in the world today, where Yoga classes can be found in every city, in every neighborhood. My friends used to suggest Yoga for betterment of health. Like many people, I used to identify Yoga with the physical postures or asanas, but little did I realize that asana though a good and convenient doorway into the huge temple of Yoga, was hardly the entire

‘Keep silence’, ‘be silent’, ‘don’t talk’, etc. are the disciplinary admonitions one had heard since childhood from elders, parents, teachers, etc. Libraries, hospitals and various institutions carry the big sign board, ‘SILENCE’. So, the basic understanding of silence was limited to the dictionary meaning ‘not to talk’ i.e. ‘finger on the lips’. Whatever interests us, we hear, watch or read with pin-drop silence (a silence wherein the dropping of a pin can also be heard!). One does not like to be disturbed and love to remain quiet or be left alone. Some use silence as defense mechanism. Some opine that silence comes with a price. When people are angry, they remain silent. They either stay silent or they shout a lot, and then after shouting, they become silent. Also, when people are sad, they say: “Leave me alone!” They put on a long face and keep silent. Thus, one takes the support of silence without realizing that silence is the cure because in silence one comes back to one’s source which apparently creates joy. That’s why, when people are sad they become silent and when the sadness is gone, they come out of silence. They come out of it with joy or at least with some undisturbed