New Vision

Life is absolutely dependent upon the act of breathing. “Breath is Life.” Differ as they may upon details of theory and terminology, the Oriental and the Occidental agree upon these fundamental principles. To breathe is to live, and without breath there is no life. Not only are the higher animals dependent upon breath for life and health, but even the lower forms of animal life must breathe to live, and plant life is likewise dependent upon the air for continued existence. The infant draws in a long, deep breath, retains it for a moment to extract from it its life giving properties, and then exhales it in a long wail, and lo! Its life upon earth has begun. The old man gives a faint gasp, ceases to breathe, and life is over. From the first faint breath of the infant to the last gasp of the dying man, it is one long story of continued breathing. Life is but a series of breaths. Breathing may be considered the most important of all of the functions of the body, for, indeed, all the other

  One of the cardinal principles of the Hatha Yoga Philosophy of Health is the intelligent use of Nature’s great gift to living things—Water. It should not be necessary to even call the attention of men to the fact that Water is one of the great means of maintaining normal health, but man has become so much a slave to artificial environments, habits, customs, etc., that he has forgotten Nature’s laws. His only hope is to return to Nature. The little child knows, instinctively, the use of water, and insists upon being furnished with it, but as it grows older it gets away from the natural habit, and falls into the erroneous practices of the older people around it. This is particularly true of those living in large cities, where they find unpalatable the warm water drawn from faucets, and so gradually become weaned away from the normal use of fluids. Such persons gradually form new habits of drinking (or not drinking), and, putting off nature’s demands, they at last are not conscious of t

 Nature’s shrewdness in combining several duties into one, and also in rendering necessary duties pleasant (and thereby likely to be performed) is illustrated in numberless ways. One of the most striking examples of this kind will be brought out in this chapter. We will see how she manages to accomplish several things at the same time, and how she also renders pleasant several most necessary offices of the physical system. Let us start with the statement of the Yogi theory of the absorption of Prana from food. This theory holds that there is contained in the food of man and the lower animals, a certain form of Prana which is absolutely necessary for man’s maintenance of strength and energy, and that such form of Prana is absorbed from the food by the nerves of the tongue, mouth and teeth. The act of mastication liberates this Prana, by separating the particles of the food into minute bits, thus exposing as many atoms of Prana to the tongue, mouth and teeth as possible. Each atom of fo

  Perhaps it will be as well for us to give an exercise in Mental Relaxation before we conclude this chapter. Of course, physical relaxation reacts on the mind and rests it. But Mental Relaxation also reacts upon the body and rests it. So this exercise may reach the needs of some who have not found just what they required in the preceding pages of this chapter. Sit quietly in a relaxed and easy position and withdraw the mind as far as possible from outside objects and from thoughts which require active mental effort. Let your thought reach inward and dwell upon the real self. Think of yourself as independent of the body and as able to leave it without impairing the individuality. You will gradually experience a feeling of blissful rest and calm and content. The attention must be withdrawn entirely from the physical body and centered entirely upon the higher “I,” which is really “you.”  Think of the vast worlds around us, the millions of suns, each surrounded with its group of planets l

The Science of Relaxation forms a very important part of the Hatha Yoga philosophy and many of the Yogis have devoted much care and study to this branch of the subject. At first glance it may appear to the average reader that the idea of teaching people how to relax—how to rest—is ridiculous, as everyone should know how to perform this simple feat. And the average man is right—in part. Nature teaches us how to relax and rest to perfection—the infant is a past master in the science. But as we have grown older we have acquired many artificial habits and have allowed Nature’s original habits to lapse. And so at the present time the people of the Western world may well accept from the Yogis a little teaching along the lines of this subject. The average physician could give some very interesting testimony on the subject of the failure of the people to understand the first principles of relaxation he knows that a large percentage of the nervous troubles of the people are due to ignorance of

 Socialization is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. It encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained". Humans need social experiences to learn their culture and to survive. Socialization essentially represents the whole process of learning throughout the life course and is a central influence on the behavior, beliefs, and actions of adults as well as of children. Socialization may lead to desirable outcomes—sometimes labeled "moral"—as regards the society where it occurs. Individual views are influenced by the society's consensus and usually tend toward what that society finds acceptable or "normal". Socialization provides only a partial explanation for human beliefs and behaviors, maintaining that agents are not blank slates predetermined by their environment; scientific research provides evidence that people are shaped by both social influences and ge

 Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, known as Guruji, played a crucial role in rise of more than 70,000 daily shakhas (training camps), around 4,000 full-time pracharaks (cadre) and 36 organisations working in every sphere of society, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has emerged as the largest voluntary movement in the world.  It was under Golwalkar’s leadership that the RSS attained a truly pan-Indian character by expanding rapidly from 1940 to 1973 even as the organisation and the country went through some tumultuous times like Partition in 1947, the ban on the organisation following Mahatma Gandhi’s death in 1948, the debacle of the 1962 war, and the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971. Golwalkar ensured that not only did the RSS get over the ban but also emerged as an organisation with greater ideological clarity and stronger organisational structure. He traveled the entire country over 65 times to set up RSS- inspired organisations in every field, ranging from tribal welfare to stude