Essays

The choice is wholly yours: bhoga or yoga. "Right Intention is to the actions of a man what the soul is to the body, or the root to the tree," said Jeremy Taylor.  What you seek as your highest goal depends on who you think you are. If you think you are just a physical entity Subject to biological laws, the highest goal you can aim for would very likely have physical limits, says Ramanuja.

You culd just and up seeking physical gratification.  In other words, human suffering is the result of our own Opinion and aspirations.

Scientists tell us that we are the sum of our genes. The Genetic rude has, however, no impact in determining the Two vital of human beings: character and conduct.

Human beings have the capacity to adapt, to change, To evolve from one stage of mental evolution to another. The capacity to change is one of the most precious assets we have. Look at the great men and women of yore who transformed themselves from being angry to Compassionate, from insecure to unshakeable and from Human to divine.

No one can deny that you are essentially divine, and that your real self is spirit. Irrespective of your past and the present, you can shape or mould your destiny as you will.

Human beings are privileged to have the freedom of will. Exercise of willpower. Animals do not have this choice.

Man differs from other beings as he is conferred with the faculty of discrimination.Enjoying the fruits of past karma. Whether bitter or sweet, he can also improve upon and move up in the cosmic order of consciousness. The    practice of yoga can help us tide over the evil effects of] indulgence; thus saving us from roga.

Those who opt for bhoga, live life at the animalistic level. The satisfaction of organic needs is their sole concern. Remaining stuck at this level is the greatest, folly one can think of. Living at this level results in pathetic and perilous conditions all around.

You need not forego consumption of material objects. Rather, do it in a spirit of detachment. The art of renunciation becomes natural and spontaneous once a perfect sage blesses the seeker with knowledge of metaphysical form of the Supreme Brahman.

An excessive obsession with bhoga however leads to roga. Roga refers to physical and mental maladies—of which there is no end.

Yoga is a perfect antidote to bhoga or over-indulgence of biological needs. Yoga here means the ancient yoga— divine knowledge as illustrated in the Gita by Krishna, The Sanskrit word, yoga, means union with god. Armed with ancient yoga the great sages plumbed the depths ofi the world within. These 'atmanauts' studied the infinity j of inner space and made dazzling discoveries. This is the power of true yoga. Saint Teresa testified: "It is a world of perpetual light; even the sun and stars borrow light from the light of consciousness." You are not only transformed but transfigured. There is complete, metamorphosis,

Such is the glory and story of the human form. We join poet John Wesley when he said: "Do all the good you can By all the means you can/In all the ways you can/In all the places you can/To all the people you can/As long as 1 you can."