Bihar Yoga Bharati Convocation Address

Address by the Paramacharya and Chancellorat the first convocation of

Bihar Yoga Bharati on November 12, 2002.
Swami Niranjanananda
Saraswati

It is a moment of great happiness as today we have accomplished a

chapter in the history of yoga. We are witnessing this particular
moment in time after an interval of many thousands of years. There
have been many convocations in India and around the world.
However, what sets this convocation apart is that the education
provided here and the degree you have received here is not in a
subject which falls in the normal social and academic environment,
but in a cultural, a spiritual and a yogic subject. This degree in yoga
is cultural, spiritual and academic - all three. It is being awarded
after a gap of many thousands of years to a group of students who
have completed their education in the spiritual sciences. This event
is historic in nature.

Although the beginning of Bihar Yoga Bharati is small and simple,

remember that a giant tree comes from a small seed. Today we are
witnessing the sprouting of this seed, and the planting has been
successful. Even confirmation from Lord Indra has been received, in
the form of rain. When a seed is planted, you need to give it some
water, not so much that it floods the ground and destroys the seed,
but enough to provide it with humidity, sustenance and
nourishment. This is what has happened today.

What has been the history of yoga in this present age? In the sixties
the word yoga was almost unknown in India or abroad. It was only
in the early 1970s that yoga came to society and became popular
with the public, albeit for reasons of physical health, or with ideas of
managing one's stress levels, learning how to relax through the
practices of yoga. Today yoga has definitely become an international
subject in the sense that people from different walks of life,
cultures, traditions and religions find solace and relief through yoga,
whether physiological, psychological or spiritual.

The yogic wave

In the past there have been masters who have talked about yoga,
but now yoga has emerged as a wave. In The First Wave, the writer
Alvin Toffler spoke about the agrarian revolution which changed
society. In The Second Wave, he talked about the industrial
revolution which changed human life. In The Third Wave, he speaks
of semi-autonomous societies, groups and cultures which will be
self-sufficient and which will also have a strong psychological and
mental character. And today, yoga is the fourth wave.

It is this yogic wave that will give an indication of what a human

being can become. Whether you call that being a new man, or a
superman, or a man of stable wisdom, sthitaprajna, the fact is that
yoga opens up different possibilities for the individual to experience
that creative nature within. This creative change that we feel,
experience and attain within, eventually reflects in the betterment
of human society and human civilization.

How can one progress in the material dimension, in the social

environment, if there is no mastery, knowledge or understanding of
one's own nature? Human civilization and human society has always
aspired to achieve the best in life, but the greatest failure of human
civilization has been in the ability to know oneself. This is not a
philosophical question. It is not even a spiritual discovery. If you live
in a house, you have to know what is in it; which utensils are in the
kitchen, what the contents of the bedroom and sitting room are.
Just as we are aware of each and every item in our house because
we live there, so we have to be aware of each and every expression
and experience of mind and senses and body because we live here,
and that is something that has not been done so far. Our search for
pleasure, for happiness, for satisfaction has been sensorial, sensual
and external. We have negated those aspects of our nature that can
be cultivated and developed to bring forth a different expression of
personality.

This new expression of human personality and nature, a

homogeneous, balanced approach, is the yogic approach. Yoga does
not aspire to make one religious. Yoga has presented clear ideas in
believing, in knowing and in teaching that spirituality is different
from religious behaviour. Spirituality is a connection with the inner
spirit. It is a connection between the spirit and the mind. It is a
connection between the mind and matter. The ability to creatively
use the faculties of the senses, the brain, the mind and the spirit is
what makes one a yogi.

Becoming master of one's life

In this context a yogi is a complete being. We have been fortunate

in our lifetime to have encountered the teachings of great yogis, the
saints and savants of the age. In every tradition, in every culture, in
every civilization, such people who have become masters, who have
attained unity of body, mind and spirit have come forward to
indicate a way by which we can make ourselves creative and more
enlightened. This journey of yoga in the last forty years has been
the turning point in the history of humanity. From being a subject
confined to yogis and sadhus in remote corners of the mountains in
isolation, yoga has become a science, idea and practice which is
being applied more and more at different levels of society for the
improvement of personalities, mentalities, attitudes and habits. The
ultimate aim? Becoming master of one's own life.

God is a distant reality in the life of a person. Strive to realize it,

yes! But also know that the vision of God or the vision of the Higher
Self is only an outcome of having attained creativity inside. Just as a
headache or hypertension are symptoms of a high stress level in the
body, in the same way God-realization or the vision of God is also
an outcome, a symptom, of a person who has become creative in all
dimensions of life. Therefore, do not think of God-realization as
being different from the effort we make to improve ourselves. If we
say that God made man in His image, then definitely by looking at
ourselves we will also discover who God is. It is no use saying, "I
am God," because you are not God. In order to experience that
godly nature there has to be a different quality within you. As long
as gold contains impurities it cannot be an ornament. Only when the
gold has been fired, the impurities removed and a shape given can
that raw gold be appreciated. In the same way, we are the raw
gold, we have not yet been fired; the impurities have not yet been
removed. We are just a lump of gold in the ground; the jewellery is
yet to be made.

This idea is expressed in Indian thought. A blind man wants to see

the sun, but is seeing the sun the priority of a blind man? It may be
his desire, his cherished aspiration, but not his need. His need is not
to see the sun, but to have eyes.
If that blind man has eyes, he can look not only at the sun but at
the entire creation and admire its beauty. In the same manner,
God-realization can be our wish, our cherished desire, but not our
need. Our need is to be able to manage the conflicts that disturb our
peace and success. The moment we are able to manage our inner
conflicts, confusions and complexes and develop truthfulness,
honesty, integrity, humility, compassion and love, we will
experience the divine nature.

This is the vision of yoga. Develop eyes. If we are blind, then our
effort should be to ensure that we have sight. We are all blind,
obsessed by our own egos. We are blind due to our own creations of
ideas, concepts and beliefs. We build a house, but we close the
windows and doors and we live inside the house in total isolation.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, "In my house I want the windows and
the doors to remain open so that the winds of different cultures and
creeds can flow through my house." This is the statement of a
person who aspires for openness, integrity and homogeneity in life.
This is what we have to become. This was the inspiration given by
our paramguru Swami Sivanandaji. The same inspiration and vision
was carried forward by his competent disciples, one of them being
our own guru, Swami Satyananda Saraswati.

Develop humility and compassion

In this journey of yoga, with the awarding of degrees to the

successful candidates, we have taken a step in furthering that vision
of the saints of India. This degree in yoga represents your
inclination to live and believe in a lifestyle and idea which is
transcendental and yogic. After all, you all had the opportunity to
take up any profession, to go to any university in the country, to
study any subject you wished. Why did you choose yoga? Whatever
your reasons may be for choosing yoga, now that you have the
degree and a growing understanding of what yoga is, the seed that
has been planted in you will grow. In order for the seed to sprout,
the seed has to die. In order for a yogi to emerge, the self-centred
ego has to die.

Satyam vada - speak the truth, has no meaning if the ego is not
dead. Dharmam chara - walk the righteous path, has no meaning if
the ego is alive. As the recipient of the degree, now you have to
ensure that you kill your ego gracefully. Killing the ego gracefully
can happen by developing humility, integrity, serenity, honesty,
truthfulness, love and compassion. Vidya dadati vinayam -
knowledge gives humility. The way to overcome Ego is through
humility. Nature provides the example. The tree which stands
upright during a storm usually breaks in two and the blade of grass
which bends in a storm can survive a thousand storms. It is humility
and compassion that are used as instruments to develop a pure
personality.

Today's Convocation Day of Bihar Yoga Bharati is Sankalpa day. You

have received the degree. May it brighten up the space above your
mantelpiece. But after you hang your degree on the wall, what will
happen? Does it only remain a showpiece? No. You have to prove to
be worthy of the degree before you die. If you can prove your worth
before you die, you will inspire many others to recognize their
worth. And that is the greatest service that you, as yoga
practitioners, can do for others. Help people to recognize their
worth, help people to recognize their inner strength, and to use
these for the creation of a better life, a better society and a better
community.

It was Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, our paramguru, who

originally envisioned the idea of a yoga university for the benefit of
humanity. Swami Satyananda then brought forth the sankalpa to
fulfil his guru's wish through creating the Ganga Darshan complex,
and with his ongoing blessings and guidance we can say that this
sankalpa has truly come to fruition - the university is now firmly
established. And the future remains bright and promising as BYB
continues to mature and expand.

My heart is full because I have been looking forward to the first

convocation of Bihar Yoga Bharati since its foundation. Today the
successful MA and MSc candidates for 2000-2002 have received
degrees from Bihar Yoga Bharati. In this convocation degrees have
also been given by T.M Bhagalpur University to the 1998-2000 and
1999-2001 candidates. I am sure that the goodwill of everyone will
continue to inspire you to live the yogic life and to walk the yogic
path. It is with gratefulness to the inspirers of our tradition, Sri
Swami Sivanandaji and Sri Swami Satyanandaji, that I wish you all
the best and success in your life, and may you fulfil the aspiration of
ancient India - Atma deepo bhava.