MyLifeYoga

What is the scientific method?

Scientific knowledge is based on an understanding gained through experimentation. Scientific experiments have to be objective, describable, and replicable. Before something is accepted as a scientific fact, experiments establishing it are usually carried out by many different people independent of each other and validated. If Yoga is to be considered as a science it must also follow the same pattern.

Which Yoga we are talking about?

The term yoga is used pretty loosely. Before we consider the question about Yoga we must first clarify which Yoga we are talking about. Broadly speaking the term Yoga refers to the following:

Raja Yoga (Eight Fold Path Of Yoga as described by Patanjali)
Bhakti Yoga (The path of devotion)
Jnana Yoga (The path of study)
Karma Yoga (The path of selfless action)

Since Raja Yoga is widely considered as the superset that encompasses all other forms of Yoga, this discussion pertains to Raja Yoga as laid down by Patanjali.
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Credit: This is a poem by the 18th century Tamil Poet-Saint Thayumanavar as translated by Paramahamsa Yogananda in the Autobiography Of The Yogi

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The contest of ideas is vital to flesh them out. But sadly disagreement of ideas is seen as an attack on the ego. In organizations disagreement is seen as an affront to authority and is stamped out quickly. Consequently in most organizations people rarely raise their voice even when they know that things are headed in the wrong direction. This talk is a great one as it shows the depth of the problem. But what is the solution? The answer may be in building oranizations that are more yogic, where ego plays a less significant role.

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Once there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent falcons from Arabia. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained. Months passed and one day the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.

The king summoned healers and sorcerers from all the land to tend to the falcon, but no one could make the bird fly. Most who came were afraid that if anything happened to the bird the king would be very angry. He presented the task to the member of his court, but the next day, the king saw through the palace window that the bird had still not moved from its perch. The members of the court had the same fear. Having tried everything else, the king thought to himself, “May be I need someone more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this problem.” So he cried out to his court, “Go and get a farmer.”

In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high above the palace gardens. He said to his court, “Bring me the doer of this miracle.”

The court quickly located the farmer, who came and stood before the king. The king asked him, “How did you make the falcon fly?” With his head bowed, the farmer said to the king, “It was very easy, your highness. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting.”

We are all made to fly — to realize our incredible potential as human beings. But at times we sit on our branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to us. The possibilities are endless, but for most of us, they remain undiscovered. We conform to the familiar, the comfortable, and the mundane. So for the most part, our lives are mediocre instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling.

So let us learn to destroy the branch of fear we cling to and free ourselves to the glory of flight!

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Credit: Came to us via e-mail. Source unknown.