Yoga is the new popular craze that has spread from the East to the West throughout the past century.

The most fashionable types of yoga these days are Iyengar Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Bikram Yoga, Yin Yoga, and Power Yoga. Every day a new type of yoga is popping up on the radar like Acro Yoga, Hot Yoga, Partner Yoga, Naked Yoga, and dare I say even Jesus Yoga. Yes, even Jesus Yoga.

All of these types of yoga are “brands” which people have developed, marketed and sold to the public as a product. As a yoga practitioner and teacher I was always skeptical of a lot of these self-styled yoga genres. I wanted to learn yoga from the source in India with a real, authentic master, because I wanted to make sure I was not getting a diluted version of yoga. So off to India I went to study with my guru, enlightened Yogi and mystic Paramahamsa Nithyananda to learn the real, true, authoritative yoga to enhance my practice and yogic knowledge.

For International Yoga Day, Paramahamsa Nithyanada, in a live broadcast from India, reveals three powerful truths about yoga that we were never told.

The first major truth he revealed was: Yoga did not originate from Patanjali. With all his respect to Patanjali, he said “Patanjali is the organizer of yoga but not the originator.” At least 15,000 years before Patanjali there is recorded evidence in the Shiva Agamas and Yoga Pada giving detailed descriptions of yoga asanas, kriyas, and pranayamas (breathing techniques) showing that these yogic techniques were developed by Adi Guru Sadashiva, who is the father and founder of the yoga system. Patanjali was a great devotee of Sadashiva and he organized and presented his knowledge of yoga in the Yoga Sutras. The Yoga Pada of Agamas which is revealed by Sadashiva is the ultimate Yoga Scripture.

The second truth he revealed was yoga cannot be “developed.” He said, “Yoga is a complete science that had taken into account all types of bodies past, present and yet to come in the future. Altering yoga is not development but dilution.” Yoga has its source and roots in Hinduism and cannot be separated. “Yoga cannot be developed and it is not secular.” Sadashiva cannot be developed—therefore yoga cannot be developed, it can only be diluted.

Yoga teachers and students should always inquire about the scriptural references of what they are being taught. The person teaching yoga and their personal experience should align with the original scriptural references. If the teacher’s personal experience is not in alignment with the scriptures it can be damaging to the practitioner; what worked for the teacher may not work for all the students. A real guru should have atma pramana (personal experience) and it should be in tune with aptha pramana (experience of the great rishis). A real guru will always have both.

Swamiji has collected more than three terabytes of the manuscripts, the Agamas of Mahadeva in original form of palm leafs, which will be digitalized and released for all of humanity to be utilized on the internet. Right now 600 gigabytes of digital data has been released and more manuscripts are being acquired, researched and will soon be available for all of the public to enjoy.

The third and final truth he revealed was that yoga starts with body, but it does not end there—it is just the beginning where most people start by practicing asanas (postures). Yoga is beyond the body and it is not just to keep us healthy but it is the science to live and radiate enlightenment. It is not just the ability to move and stretch our bodies, it has the ability to manifest and create whatever we want. “It is not about making you a better man, but about making you into a superman.”

Yoga is the union of body, mind and spirit—to reconnect us to our original Source. It is spiritual alchemy not just to make us a better person, but to transcend us into the ultimate super consciousness state which is advaita (oneness).

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Resource: Hinduism Now

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Author: Sarvasmarana Ma Nithya

Images: wikimedia/commons: wikimedia

Editors: Travis May; Catherine Monkman