Essence Of Being a Yogi.

So, Who is a yogi ? or what it means to be a yogi ? You might have heard this word ,While walking the path of yoga and spirituality. Normally people nowdays think that, If they practice some ancient exercises like asanas and pranayamas they are a yogi.

But is it really true ? Not necessarily, The word Yoga comes from an ancient sanskrit term ‘Yuj’ means union. But union of what ? It is the divine union of you and the universe. So, the one who has experienced this union or other dimensions of life, In simple terms one who has transcended the physical nature of life is a yogi.

So Who Can Become a Yogi ?

Anyone can be a yogi even if he does not practice the asanas or pranayamas, Of course it has its benefits too.
You might have heard or seen people who renunciate the world, Goes to a mountain,forest or monestery, There they practice exercises and meditation. What are they trying to achieve ? They are trying to experience that blissful union between them and the universe.
It might take lots of practice for you experience this or even 10 lifetimes but on the other hand, you might be sitting in home or praying to god or eating food and you might hit the spot and become blissful the next moment.
So, it is not really necessary for you to leave everything and go to monestery or mountains for practice, You can practice it in your home too. Keep aside just few

hours,minutes or moments for yourself, Clear your mind, feel the breath, feel the life energies flowing inside of you and around you, or just meditate on your favourite deity or anything that appeals to you, you can meditate even on a stone or tree or sound. Idea is to become one with the thing you meditate on.
Also, If you want to go to the mountains or monestery for your practice by all means do so you have my best wishes.
A renunciate might be good yogi, But a householder can be a better yogi anytime with his discipline, devotion and austerity. It all depends on your inner stability and practice.

Why Become a Yogi ?

In ancient india kings and queens used to leave for ‘vanvas’ . ‘van’ means forest and ‘vas’ means residence, So they used to leave their kingdom in the hands of their childrens and stay in forest for their rest of life. Because staying in forest seeing life around you, going through different stages of their lives and then dying was a remembrance for them and their bodies that they will die too and be prepared for death. So, when they die atleast they will die gracefully and in that state they might experience other dimensions before leaving their body. So in next life they will be little bit more spiritually inclined as their soul have tasted the bliss and now they want it all.
It is better to die gracefully then in fear and ignorance of what lies beyond this physical body.

A yogi is greater then the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the one engaged in selfish karma.Therefore, O Arjuna, be a yogi.

– Bhagavad gita: krishna to arjuna

Everyone has my best wishes on their path to seek the truth. Let us all become a yogi and learn to live the life playfully and gracefully.

Namaste.