Biography
Biography: Pradeep Apte
Abstract
Nisarga Yoga is not something that has come up recently but has been around for ages. Literally Nisarga means ‘natural’ and yoga means ‘union’, thus, Nisarga Yoga means a union of one with his True natural Self. This clearly points to the fact that we are not what we presently believe ourselves to be. Now, by conventional standards, this is something that is usually unacceptable, hence Nisarga Yoga has not been very popular. I am the body, I am so-and-so, I belong to this cast, creed or nation are some common beliefs that have been so strongly hammered into us that to accept it all as false appears impossible. Unfortunately very few have come to understand that these very notions are cause of all the miseries in the entire world. Nisarga Yoga offers us a way out of all the miseries and hence is The Ultimate Medicine.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981) has been known all over the world as a vehement proponent of Nisarga Yoga which rightly befits his name. Let us try to understand the basics of the Nisarga Yoga and then we can attempt to actually follow it. You have to understand your sense of ‘being’, ‘presence’ or the feeling ‘I am’ which you may also call consciousness or awareness in its absolute purity. The best way to do it is to go back in time and try to recollect when for the first time you came to know that ‘you are’ or ‘I am’, which is usually around the age of three or so. This phase of living with the pure sense of ‘just being’ or the ‘I am’ without words continues for some time and then gradually the contamination begins. This sets in the process we call ‘conditioning’ which carves you out into an individual living in the world under a certain set of circumstances. If you are unable to recollect the moment when for the first time you came to know that ‘you are’ or ‘I am’, then you can try to observe it when you just wake up. This will require some effort, because when you just wake up, the movement ‘I am this body called so-and-so in the world, I have to do this or that…’ is so fast that you fail to pay attention to the pure ‘I am’. The first may be called the ‘childhood recollection’ approach while the second may be called the ‘waking up’ approach. You may use whichever suits you best or you may also use a combination of both, the idea is to approach the ‘I am’ in its absolute purity.
After having understood the ‘I am’, next comes the abiding in it, which is the Sadhana or the practice. Many understand but very few actually undertake the practice and waste a lot of time in reading and never do the practice. If you can straightaway understand the ‘I am’ and abide it, great! But if you cannot then I can share what methods I explored and found effective. The first is through the Chakras, the second through the Ashtang Yoga and the third through Namasmarana or remembering God’s Name or a statement of Truth.
The clue to the first, which is, through the Chakras came from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj itself when he tells us that the wordless ‘I am’ is first felt in the Brahma Randhra (The Brahma aperture). This is in the mid-scalp or in the Sahasrara Chakra, the seventh primary chakra. Then as we get conditioned the ‘I am’ moves downwards and takes firms hold in the first Muladhara Chakra. Thus holding to the ‘I am’ beginning from the Muladhara we move it upwards through the frontal path traversing Svadhisthana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha, Agya, Sahasrara to the Brahma Randhra and stay there.
The second method, that of Ashtanga Yoga begins by holding onto only one control(Yama) ‘I am’, only one observance( Niyama) ‘I am’, holding onto the ‘I am’ in sitting(Sukhasana) or Lying(Shavasana) postures(Asanas), while breathing(Pranayama) inhale ‘I am’(Purak), and exhale ‘I am’(Rechak). The next comes withdrawing all senses (Pratyahara) into to the ‘I am’ and holding onto (Dharana) the ‘I am’ and finally meditating (Dhyana) on the ‘I am’. An ‘I am’ Samadhi would automatically ensue if you follow this.
A clue to the third method has also been given by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj as he has often said that the ‘I am’ and God’s Name are one and the same. Thus one can use remembering God’s Name (Namasmarana) as a practice to abide in the ‘I am’. If one is not familiar or comfortable with God’s Name, a statement of Truth like ‘I am The Self’, ‘I am not the body’ or ‘I am Unborn’ may also be used. This method can also be done while working, it appears simple and easy but not so in actual practice.
What is the ultimate purpose behind a Sadhana or practice? Or for that matter behind Yoga? As stated earlier it’s a journey or quest into one’s True Self or to the question ‘Who Am I?’ Through the methods described above you get established in the ‘I am’ in its absolute purity which is nothing else but the Fourth (Turiya) background state of consciousness that underlies the other three (Waking, Dream and Deep Sleep). In the process of doing so over a prolonged period and depending upon one’s earnestness and intensity, the ‘I am’ is transcended (Turiyatita) and then…well, I leave it there.
Leave aside transcending the ‘I am’, but to even get the slightest of a glimpse of the ‘I am’ in its absolute purity (Turiya), I can recommend a certain length of time for the practice. It maybe any type of person, he must close his eyes and regularly follow any one of the above practices for three Ghatikas (72 minutes) and one Mandala (40 days). This, if done sincerely, I can say from my own experience, will definitely give positive results.