How can yoga be Hindu when Hindustan itself is not a religious idea?

There is a lot of negative resistance attached to yoga currently. Yoga is a science in its fundamental form and a technology in the many forms in which it is found. Whether Hindu, Muslim or Christian, if you learn to use it, it works for you. It consists of yoga sutras, which are really formulas which can be used as much by a great yogi as an ignorant person.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the word Hindu. But Hindustan itself is not a religious idea. Hindustan is the name of the land between the Himalayas and the Hind Mahasagar (Indian Ocean). We have had a free run of this land for seven-eight thousand years with no external disturbance. These two geographical features have given us a profound way of looking at life. The fact that we did not have wars in this period meant that in gratitude we called ourselves Hindustan. So by that token, everything here is Hindu. The grasshopper is Hindu just as the elephant can be African.

But all these ideas have become mixed up in our head. There is no such thing as Hindu or Muslim. We never encouraged such beliefs because we never set out to seek God, we seek mukti. The highest goal in this land is freedom and liberation from God. God is an imported word. We believe in devas, exalted human beings. Whether it is Shiva, Rama or Krishna, all the gods who walked through this geography had a normal birth. They had a regular childhood, they had families, they went to wars, all the time exhibiting an inner balance that did not waver. We worshipped this quality in them and our aspiration was to become like them. Yoga is the methodology that allows this.

We need to say this out loud and our people need to be told this even louder. If there is resistance to it, it is not from a community but from a few leaders who feel insecure at the idea that their people can achieve well being by themselves. If they can do so, why are their leaders, who survive on their people's insecurities, required? Yoga is a way of self-help. Yes, you do need a guru, just as you need a sherpa to help you in unknown terrain, because every time you enter a new dimension it makes sense to take instruction, from a Guru Positioning System as it were. Your need of a GPS increases or decreases depending on what type of seeker you are.

Human beings comprise four things - body, mind, emotion and field of energy. You have to come to terms with this. You can only work with what you have. You cannot work with what you have on your mind. If you use your body as a means to ultimate well being, it is karma yoga; if you use your mind, it is jnana yoga; if it is emotion, it is bhakti yoga and if it is energy, it is kriya yoga. You can call it a religious or spiritual process. This is yoga, the union. You can use your mind to be well or you can use it to create hell. Each person has these four things in unique proportions. Your life guru can help you find the right concoction.

(As told to Kaveree Bamzai.)