THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS

or
YOGIC PHYSICAL CULTURE
By yogacharya SUNDARAM

AUTHOR OF

Diet & Digestion, Raja Yoga , Sri Sundra Yogic Theropy or The
Marvels of Yogic Cure, & Tamil Books Ananda Rahasyam,
Arogya Vunavu, Valivum Vanappum, Yoga Sikichai,
Santhi Yogam, Sandhya Gayathri Japayogam,
Surya Namaskaram, Kandan Pugal,
Annayin Thiruvadi Malargal Etc.

FIRST EDITION 1928

EIGTH EDITION ( Reveised ) 2000

All Rights Reserved Rs: 200/-

Postage Extra

THE YOGA PUBLISHING HOUSE,

‘GIRI KRIPA’ 462, CROSS CUT ROAD, COIMBATORE-641 012.
WEBSITE: www.girinathyoga.com
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE.
Yogacharya Sundaram of Bangalore started " SRI
SUNDARA YOGASALA" , a healing center by the application of
yogic methods of Indian Seers to releive the ailments of the body and
mind , during 1930. On 26th December 1994, Yogacharya attained
Brahamapadam , at his 94th year. Since 1970, Ygacharya's Grand
son, MrViswanathan, was helping Yogacharya to run the institution '
Sri Sundara Yogasala', Unfortunately Mr Viswanathan also passed
away during 1996.
A.R. Balakrishnan, a businessman, and Managing Director of
the 'GIRINATH' group of companies, Coimbatore, became desiple of
Yogacharya during 1950, to get rid of his obesity, and imbalance of
endocrinous system, and became normal with in a couple of years.
Since then, Mr. Balakrishnan helped Yogacharya to Publish His
Yogic Books in a befitting manner.
With the blessings of Yogacharya Sundram Mr Balakrishnan
started GIRINATH YOGA CENTER on 25th May 1987. Since then,
Sufferers take this Institution not only for authentic tution and coach-
ing in theory and practice of Yogasanas, Pranayama, Bandhas Kriyas
etc, but also look into this as a sure refuge for getting rid of chronic
ailments where all other systems fail.
The Yoga publishing House Bangalore, in which, Yogacharya
published his unieque Yoga Books,since 1930, was taken over by Mr.
Balakrishnan, and is Publishing Yogacharya's, writtings in a befitting
manner.
The publishers pray toYogacharya Sundaram,& Paramaguru,
Sri Sri Paramahamsa Privrajaka Bikshu Sivaprakasa Anandagiri
Swamigal to continue the Publishing of these marvelous works of
Yogachary to the well being of the entire humanity.

Yours service in YOGA

The Yoga Publishing House,

" Girikripa" 462 Cross-cut Road,
Coimbatore 641012.
CONTENTS
CONTENTS PICTURE NO: PAGE NO:

1. What is it? 1

2. Advantages of
Yoga Asanas 4
3. A few suggestions
to beginners 10
4. Padmasana 1, 2 13
5. Bhujangasana - 3, 4, 5 16
6. Salabasana - 3, 6 19
7. Dhanurasana - 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 21
8. Pachimothanasana -13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 25
9. Halasana - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 30
10. Mayurasana - 27, 28, 29, 30 37
11. Sarvangasana - 31, 32, 33 43
12. Matsyasana - 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 51
13. Sirshasana - 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 56
14. Vipareethakarani- 45, 46 60
15. Ardhamatsyendrasana- 47, 48, 49 63
16. Yoga Mudra - 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 66
17. Thrikonasana - 55, 56 69
18. Padahasthasana - 57, 58, 59, 60 70
19. Uddiyana - 61 73
20. Nauli - 62, 63, 64 77
21. Savasana - 65 81
22. Breath control
or Pranayam 66, 67 87
23. Siddhasana - 68, 69 99
24. Pavana Mukthasana - 70, 71 100
25. Janu Sirasasana - 72 102
26. Urdhva Padmasana - 73 103
27. Utthitha Padmasana - 74 104
28. Utthitha Hasta
Padmasana - 75 105
29. Akarshna
Dhanurasana - 76 107
30. Shat Kriya - 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 108
31. Bandas - 118
32. Yogic Therapeutics 121
33. For women - 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87 135
34. Yogic and Muscular
Exercises 142
35. Certain useful hints - 144
36. Conclusion - 148
The Secret of Happiness
or
Yogic Physical Culture

CHAPTER - I

WHAT IS IT?
VARIED are the aims of human existence. One man may live
to eat. There are gourmonds who fritter their patrimony in pleasing
the palate. Another strives to climb the highest rung of the political
ladder. A third hunts after fame; while the fourth pursues wealth.
And so on, these bubbles in Time and Space go in untiring search of
the endless modifications of deceptive Maya. There is the Vedantin.
His object is to realise Brahman - to achieve the hardest - Self
Realisation - to complete the cycle of evolution.

Whatever the object sought after, the instrument of perception

and achievement is the same. It is the God-given one, the human
body. If this breaks down, the ambition, material or spiritual, is
retarded. If it happens to be unfit, the pursuit is fruitless, nay,
impossible. Do these seekers realise the value of this instrument, this
human body? In the humdrum of life is a thought given to it? In many
cases are the persons aware of the gravity of their blunder or ne-
glect?

When wisdom dawns, when there is a set back in the smooth

working of the human machine then tardy realisation cries halt to the
faulty ways. One who feels his horse before the race, would win
over him who sleeps. This applies equally well to the body. It should
receive proper care. Knowledge of its working must guide the
conduct in life. It is no sin to care for the body. The pseudo-Vedantin
may say, ‘forget the body’. This would only mean blaspheming Vedanta
or be just like Satan quoting scriptures to serve his ends. There is no
injunction in the Shastras to perpetuate drains and dungheaps in the
What is it ?

human system. It has to be respected and treated as a Godly gift,

which it really is.

The Culture of the physique or calling it by a more appropriate

name, Physical Culture is essential to every human being. The West
has made it into a Science and an art. It has not lost by it. It has no
false tradition to misguide it. In its ancient days, there was muscle
culture. Giants of muscle and bone lived in great number. The Gladi-
ators and the Roman Cole-seum bear witness to the fact. But they
lived sacrificing intellect, ethics, morality and religion - life at which
cost was not worth living. Endurance and resistance to diseases
they could not boast of. In fact, until recently, Physical Culture for
the West meant muscle-building, manufacturing storehouses or ar-
tistic aspect. Thanks to Mr. Bernarr Macffadden and a host or other
pioneers in the field of the newly risen Physical Culture creed, it has
come to mean the real thing it ought to be.

Physical Culture in America and Europe is now utilised to pro-

duce better specimens of humanity in mind morals; yet it is far be-
hind a system perfected thousands of years ago. A few of their best
exercises could but be poor imitations of those contained in the an-
cient one. The attaiment and maintenance of Health, the indispens-
able ingredient without which the human body could never func-
tion, yet remains there, as ambitions beyond certain reach through
the best of their methods.

Who owns this system? Is the owner reaping its full benefit?
And what is it? To the first the answer is India; the second, alas No;
And to the last, the reply echoes through centuries of neglect - YOGA-
ASANA. If India has not reaped its full benefits and does not
occupy its merited place as the foremost country in the world, it is
due to the fault of its citizens. Perhaps they would have continued to
sleep and-the modern world might neither have known the system
nor appropriated its remarkable benefits. But savants have risen, and
chief among them are the authors of the “Yoga-Mimamsa” Journal,
Lonavla (Poona). They proclaim from mountain tops the existence
of this lore, far richer than Solomon’s mines, and convince the modern
sceptics and struggling humanity of its benefits, powers and utility.
The Secret of Happiness or Yogic Physical Culture

It is a curious name, this Yoga-Asana, wonderful as its sylvan

inventors, the sages of India. Yoga is derived from the sanskrit root
Yujh, to join. To join what-hand to hand, or worse, wealth to wealth?
No; it is the joining, uniting of the individual soul in the Universal
One-merging of man- consciousness in God-consciousness killing
duality in the perception of the Omnipresent God-head. Engaging in
this union is Yoga; striving to reach this end is Yoga. Asana is seat.
Construing it widely, it means, posture or pose. Yoga-Asana is that
system of poses which helps the merging of the individual in
God-consciousness. This has to act through the God-given
instrument, the human body. It perfects the human body, purifies it of
all dross, diseases and defects, and prepares it for the rousing
reception of spiritual powers-the final stage in becoming the
God-man, the Jivan-Muktha.
This was the purpose of the Rishis in evolving this system of
Yogic poses. They had to perfect the body, remove its defects, cure
its ailments, give it vibrant Health, dynamic Health-Health, the equal
of which no other system in the world has given or could give,
than use it as a battering ram to storm the ramports of ignorance and
realise the treasure of God-consciousness.
Lucky for the world, the day the system was created? what-
ever the object of the sages the perfection of the human body as a
means to the end of God-realisation-it is not against reason to use it
as almost an end in itself. For those who were not born for anything
higher, limited by fate or fortune, could they not utilise it as a system
of physical culture? May not the curse of drugs and diseases be
removed through this? Should not the suffering humanity be made
properly the Trustees of this ancient secret unventilated to the world
at large through centuries of hoarding and neglect?
Health is happiness. Happiness is impossible without health.
Health is the most essential ingredient in human existence. Yoga Asana
is the means to that health. It is this aspect of the system which very
badly needs emphasising. These pages would necessarily be con-
fined to the discussion of the Asana as a system of Physical Culture.
These are days when nothing is taken on trust. Faith, thanks to
swindlers and pseudo-religious, is at a discount. Everything said and
Advantages of Yoga - Asanas

done must be reasoned, scientific and supported by facts and

figures. Conviction should percolate through the physical senses.
Spiritual results could be experienced only through the spiritual self;
but fain would the modern sceptic have the one proved through the
other. Illogical enough; and it is beyond the powers of these pages!
Proofs there are, thanks again to the “Yoga-Mimamsa” and the large
number of Yogic students-proofs substantial and scientific to
convince any rational being. The physiological, pathological and
therapeutic values of this system are immense and have to be
experienced. Even a mere reading is sure to convince; but if at the
back of the conviction there is the will to practise, Yoga-Asana would
be found true to its name and its authors.

CHAPTER - II

ADVANTAGES OF YOGA-ASANAS

Any one might combine a few movements and name it ‘My

system’ - When money is found to boost it up by wide advertising,
some misguided enthusiasts might be tempted to purchae and then
after a few days’ trial give it up in disgust. Perhaps never again to be
hoaxed by the thing ‘Physical Culture, The author of the ‘System’
gathers money and makes a comfortable living. But time discovers
the truth.

Experience is the best tester. The beneficial results of the

system for ages, transmitted from Guru to disciple from generation
to generation are the most welcome recommendation for adopting it.
Is this the only test? Is one to wait a decade before he thinks of
putting into practice anything new and useful? Certainly not! A
knowledge of human anatomy, and the working of this most wonder-
ful machine, and the effect of the exercises on the different muscles,
glands, nerves, etc are sure to discover the best system of physical
culture.
The Secret of Happiness or Yogic Physical Culture

It is no use developing only the muscles and neglecting all other

important factors. Modern civilisation relentlessly applies the guillo-
tine of the ‘Surival of the Fittest.’ The result is that human beings
work more than they ought to. They get into pernicious habits. One
day one may have to go without food, one may get a drench, work
through the night or undergo the innumerable disturbing experi-
ences which are so common in life. Their vital powers are slack-
ened. They need very badly a recouping agency. Want of it is sure to
ruin the system. This recouping effect, readjustment of the vital forces
and the furnishing or a disease proof armour, in other words, Dy-
namic Health must necessarily result from the practice of a system
of physical culture worth the name.
Many men and women are employed in sedentary
occupations. in most of them the carbohydrate metabolism increases
considerably. They get abnormally fat, pot-bellied. They suffer from
an obese-heart. Obesity becomes their curse. In such cases, the sys-
tem of physical culture must keep off superabundance of fat, reduce
the carbo-hydrate metabolism to a reasonable level and keep the
body slim and the heart active and free from fatty coverings.
The endocrine system is very important. By intepmerance, de-
bauchery, abnormal work and sufferings from any chronic disease,
this system gets deranged, and one or more of its members get
atrophied and cease to function. More is to come about this later. At
present it is enough to know that the secretions of the endocrine
glands neutralise the toxins, poisons produced in the body, keep the
youth in man or woman and give health, beauty and adornment to the
person. They are greatly responsible for the growth, stature and
character of the individual. A system of physical culture must
benefit the endocrine glands.
The nervous system plays an important part in the working of
the human machine. Nerves carry impressions to the brain and
convey order from there to different parts of the body. They control
all movement, voluntary and involuntary. Paralysis of even a single
nerve is enough to make the individual a useless member of society.
When they act well and are healthy, disease can have no hold on the
body. Diseases naturally destroy the nervous system. But when these
Advantages of Yoga - Asanas

nerves are well-stretched, properly toned up and bathed in

necessary quantites of blood, the individual is safe from drugs and
diseases. This toning and healthy condition can be had only through a
properly constituted system of physical culture.

In most systems the brain is neglected. Requisite quantity of

blood must flow constantly to the brain. It is the centre of human
action, thought, speech, and existence. More often than not, physi-
cal development is made at the sacrifice of intellectual and the emo-
tional. This is highly objectionable. The world needs a system which
would pay attention to both and develop them side by side, the one
aiding the other.

The physical exercises that are commonly to be had and are

doled out in the crude Thalims, the old schools of Indian wrestlers
and atheletes, utterly neglect the importance of the circulatory
system. The supply of fresh blood, the venous return, the effort of
the heart to meet any demands and the mechanical advantages which
could ease the heart or in case of its inability, to supply the wants,
must all be facilitated through Physical Culture. If this is not done,
the Physical exercises become simple movements and do not
deserve the dignified appellation of ‘A System of Physical Culture’.

What about the waste of energy in any particular system of

exercises? Could the Individual afford it? Could these exercises be
of universal application - to the weak, to the strong, to the invalid?
And with conservation of energy and without undue strain on the
heart can any systems boast of benefitting any desired organ? No
muscular exercise has yet done it.

There are the systems of Kasaraths, bhaskis, grip-dumb-bells,

light dumb-bells developers, weight-lifting, etc. Could any of these
boast of showering, on its adherents necessary for a healthy and
happy life? Perhaps a few of them can confer one or two of the
advantages, but neither the West nor the modern East can boast of a
single system of exercise which would confer all these advantages.

This unique merit is reserved to the Yoga-Asana. It possesses

all the advantages detailed above and more.It tones up the muscles.
The Secret of Happiness or Yogic Physical Culture

it has stood the test of centuries. It benefits the endocrinous system

most as no other exercise could do. It reduces fat, keeps the body
slim. Blood circulation could be directed to any gland or organ of the
body without undue strain on the heart. Yoga Asana is a system
available for all-weak, strong or invalid. No physical culturist may
neglect this system. The nerves are stretched and toned up. The
brain cells receive copious bathing of blood. The superficial muscles
of the body are stretched and well toned as the nerves. The Yoga-
Asana automatically regulates breathing, steadies the breath and
fixes the mind. it keeps youth in the body.

In addition, benefit of Yoga-Asana need not be restricted to

the young or the old. Any one from 6 to 60 who is not decrepit,
beyond redemption, may practise it. There is no limitation of sex.
Girls and women would derive equal benefits as boys and men. It
makes no difference whether one is a bachelor or married. But con-
tinence and avoidance of excesses are essential conditions.

India was once fabulously rich. But she is poor now. Her wealth
is being drained away in millions by the day by foreigners. Naturally
her children, sons and daughters of Mother India are poverty-striken.
They cannot afford the luxury or grip-dumb-bells, developers,
weight-lifting apparatus and so forth. Perhaps the ancient sages had
foreseen this era of distress. To learn and practice Yoga-Asanas,
one need not spend much. The practice costs little. A blanket or
cloth at the most and a few feet of level clean space are all the
requirements.

When half-fed and non-fed people offer very easy targets for
any lurking disease, and when through the curse of past foreign
domination and poverty, doctors and drugs are out of rich of the many,
the preventive and curative powers of the Yoga-Asana are
immeasurable blessings. This would check the ravages of malnutri-
tion and help the poor to bear their lot with minimum of sufferings.

Yoga-Asana can cure constipation, diabetes, piles, dyspepsia,

idiocy, some types of sterility, seminal defects, impotency, lepsory,
epilepsy, T.B., Asthma, Rheumatism, Nervous Debility, Diseases of
the Stomach and intestines, obesity etc., When this system of
Advantages of Yoga - Asanas

exercises can cure so many diseases its practice is an effective and

preventive measure against these pests of humanity.

Physical Culture Religion

The ceaseless struggle of the survial of the fittest leaves little
leisure for thought or care of the body. Worse still is the attention
received by the science and techinque of Physical Culture. The soul
has no place in the strife. People relegate culture to that
comfortable period of old age when the body and mind are incapable
of manipulating even the worldly functions!

It is a great scramble and hurry-the life in this planet of ours.

Human economy is of no value and receives little consideration. The
far-off goal of human evolution is necessarily and naturally
forgotten. The persistent goal is to amass and the ‘ how ’ ‘ why ’
and ‘ what for ’ are immaterial.

With the less fortunate many it is a monotonous, prolonged

wail from work to slumber, still worse, drink and poverty to tears!
Nature, so sluggish with children to the rich, is munificent in its gifts
to the poor. Where a single healthy child may relieve by its guiles
the pangs of poverty, a dozen weakly shrimps, may more, come to
accentuate misery. It is a life in the dingy hut or among the swarm-
ing cockroaches of a suburban flat. The day dawns and with it
comes the cry for the daily bread, too hard to find! The work com-
mences with ‘the weaklings’ wail and the growling gnawings of an
empty stomach. The sun sets with the bickering for the hard earned
bread and Nature bereaves the body of its anguish in irresistable
slumber. The scarcely nourished being-can he find room for the
culture of the physique and the soul amidst a life in hell on earth-God
save it!

Perhaps it is phantasy; yet people nod when the poor are said
to be blessed in the spirit better than the rich. It is common knowl-
edge that the first sign of regeneration appears in the suffering and
the upward lift from sordid things starts in the needy. The poor man
may shrug his shoulders and smile in despair when you ask him to do
this and that to maintain healthy. But tell him ‘ this is religion, friend-
The Secret of Happiness or Yogic Physical Culture

you must do penance in these forms, tapas and asans, that you
might be elected to the Lotus Feet of the Omniscient One! Then
perchance he lifts his head and soon follows you in the movements.
For, true religion has not lost its hold on the masses in spite of
frauds in churches and temples. Man’s makeshifts may mutilate
‘the Purpose’ but watchful. Divinity ever goes on setting it right.
This is the difference-this between Yoga (Asan) and the purely
physical strain advocated in so material a way by the West. The one
appeals through religion for the highest perfection of body to attain
the greatest realisation of Self and the other tries to penetrate through
the senses and stops with examples of matter-of fact progress in the
flesh and bone. Man is ancient and he knows that tremendous frames
without that spark of love, clothed the tyrants through millenniums
recurring.
But the waste is of vitality, whether in the rich or the poor. It
is of the most essential nerve energy. The incessant ambition worry
for ‘the morrows’; the tireless search into secrets of Nature; except
the steady contemplation of God, lead to endless waste of the
precious nerve-energy, the degeneration of the nerve-aura,tejas,
resulting in the complete break down of the whole nervous system.
The endocrine glands are perhaps the foremost to react and create
functional defections. This is an inevitable fruit of the present
civilisation. The doctrine of the survival of the fittest leaves no room
for any alternative form of progress. ‘Live or let live’ is quite good
in theory but often in the matter-of-fact world it is shoved into a
corner like a dead snake. He and She are therefore always ‘on
nerves’- for, it is a struggle for the powerful minority to clutch
evermore and the weak majority to hold on the shreds. Both these
do not find time and the latter the heart also. Both waste the same
type of energy.
The remedy must therefore have a two-fold advantage. It
must be one that would directly regenerate the nervous system and
need a minimum expenditure of time and energy. In whom the struggle
has told, the panacea in addition must straighten off benefit and
stimulate the endocrine system. If the same would give calm and
peace of mind also by its effect on the nerves, there would be nothing
A Few Suggestions to the Beginners

like it. But when it possesses a tinge of religion and the pathways to
meditative and realistic philosophy-it would be the very thing
necessary for the suffering humanity-for, both the rich and poor alike
suffer, though in different ways.

CHAPTER - III
A FEW SUGGESTIONS TO THE BEGINNERS
The best frame of mind calculated to give beneficient results
is to approach the Asanas with reverential faith in their potentialities
for good. Even when only physical results are desired, it would be
much soothing to the mind to treat this practice as a preliminary stage
for spiritual realisation. Before commencing, a calm meditation of
the lotus feet of the Guru ( preceptor ) for a minute would bring
progress and confidence. When there is no preceptor in person, the
Eternal Guru, Guru Brahma, must be visualised as a shining light, in
the space midway between the eye-brows, in a two-petalled white
lotus, where the Tantrics would have the Ajna Chakra. Then
commence the practice in the order given below;
1. Bhujangasana: The Cobra pose
2. Salabasana: The locust pose
3. Dhanurasana: The bow pose
4. Paschimothanasana: The posterior stretching pose
5. Halasana: The plough pose
6. Mayurasana: The peacock pose
7. Sarvangasana: The pan-physical pose
8. Matsyasana: The fish pose
9. Sirshasana : The Topsy-turvy pose
10. Viparitha Karani : The Inverted action
11. Ardha Matsyendrasana : The Spine Twist
12. Yoga Mudra : The Replacing exercise
13. Padahasthasana : The feet and hand pose
14. Thrikonasana : The Triangular pose
15. Uddiyana : Abdominal Suction
16. Nauli : Rectus Isolation
17. Savasan : The still pose
The Secret of Happiness or Yogic Physical Culture

There is a difference of opinion as to the best time for doing

the Yoga-Asanas, The Editor of the Yoga-Mimamsa Journal advises
the evenings. These Asanas require much stretching and bending.
In the mornings the body may not be very responsive, fresh from
bed. It may be stiff and a beginner would find it hard to pose
perfectly or even pose at all. But in the evenings, the body having
undergone the labours of the day and been in frequent movement,
would more readily respond and the results atleast to the beginner
would be encouraging.
It is a fact that the body is more responsive and pliable in the
evenings. But there are disadvantages also. Distinctly experience
shows that the benefit to the system is neither so marked nor great
as when the Asanas are done in the mornings. The mind also is
jaded, strained or otherwise unsuited to practise such a system of
physical culture as the Yoga-Asana. Besides, the food that we take
wants at least 7 or 8 hours for digestion and passing from the
stomach to the rectum, through the alimentary canal, while nutrition
is absorbed into the blood. Every Asana more or less, sets up
vigorous peristalsis. And in a major portion of the cases, the evening
exercise would commence 2 or 3 hours after lunch or 3 or 4 hours
after a good meal. In the result food will be hurried through the
intestines without full benefit to the system through the absorption
of nutrition. Asanas done in the morning give one unwonted energy,
buoyance and elasticity to go through the day’s work. This is a
matter of experience. There are many students who testify to the
fact. In the mornings, an interval of 9 to 10 hours would have elapsed
after the last meal. The stomach and the smaller intestine would be
empty. Absorption of nutrition would have been completed, and the
waste matter in the outer colon and the rectum is ready to be evacu-
ated. The vigorous peristalsis that is set up assists in the work of
thorough emptying of the colon contents. It has also to be noted that
asanas in the morning ensure a more complete evacuation of the
bowels than when they are done in the evening. A man who does the
poses in the morning completes them better in the evenings and gets
greater success with more difficult poses. But one who is practising
only in the evening, may not do even half as well in the morning; For
officials, workers, students, etc, morning would suit their leisure.
A Few Suggestions to the Beginners

If the Asanas are done in a room, there must be plenty of fresh

air. In a dry hot country, where no chill winds blow, open air is
preferable. In a very cold country, where heat engendered is
immediately absorbed by the atmosphere, it is best to do under a
covered space, when necessary with wollen sweaters or cotton
banians on. Freedom from noise, mosquitoe bite and flies, bad smell
and other disturbances help concentration and bestows much
benefit. For the loins longoti; kaupinam or wrestlers tights as seen in
the illustrations is the best.

A bath after asanas followed by breath control ( breathing

exercise ), a little of contemplation or meditation ( Gayathri ) f inished
by a Namaskar (Prostration dips) would keep one in the pink of
condition and exuberance of health.

Intemperance of every form must be avoided. Drink

(alcoholic) should be abandoned and smoking reduced to the
minimum, if it could not be avoided to begin with. Snuffing is a
disgusting habit and persons addicted to it should clean their nostrils
with cold water prior to commencing the Yoga. Snuff-student are
finding the habit leaving them due to the practice of Sirshasana.

“Be with caution, hold” is the advice given by the Yoga-

Mimamsa Journal to the students of Yoga. Never be put down by
the tales of dangers of Hata Yoga. The danger in practising Yoga-
Asana is much the same as in walking the street. If one is careless
and rushes indiscriminately in the middle of the road, he is bound to
come to grief in the heavy onrush of traffic. Similarly if the student,
over-anxious to get quick results goes out of the way, or strains too
much, or over-exerts before the body gets accustomed to the strain,
he must blame only himself and not the Yoga-Asana. Regular
practice, graded according to capacity, is what a student must have
for progress and perfection. Reading over the techniques given, now
and again, would help to correct mistakes and attain good results.

Milk is a valuable food and should be taken in fair proportion.

Tamarind and chillies ought to be given up altogether. Lime fruit
could take the place of tamarind and a little pepper that of chillies.
Plenty of butter milk is good for the body. Generally, all irritant diets
The Secret of Happiness or Yogic Physical Culture

such as hot and fried stuffs should be avoided. Fruits and fresh
vegetables should form a wholesome variety in the daily diet, if the
cost could be afforded. Two meals and one tiffin, with nothing
between, are enough. Wheat may be freely used according to the
means of each individual.

Boys addicted to masturbation and unclean habits must forget

them and the Asana would act as a sedative and help them in their
task. Married people should restrict their sexual intercourse to the
minimum possible. It is impossible to suggest any limit. But
continence is essential in every respect. For what is recouped through
the Asana would be lost by abnormal indulgence.

Doing Asana must become a regular habit as eating and

sleeping.

CHAPTER - IV
PADMASANA
( The Lotus Pose )
Look at the Lotus! The heart flowers; the mind enters an aes-
thetic grove. The charm of the vision, alchemises into fragrance. It
is not mere smell; it is an experience. The beauty of form is there.
But there is something else transcendental!
This PADMASANA - this Lotus Pose! how rightly the Yogis
of Bharath have termed it and so aptly! Supposing one were not a
learner, he could do it with ease and sit in comfort. The mind seems
to transcend petty turmoils. The calm obtained seems to breathe fra-
grance. That feeling of wellbeing - where does it originate? Is it
purely physical or only mental, or both? Perhaps there is also emotioal
balance!
As in the mysteries of higher Yoga, words fail to denominate
the experience in Padmasana. Come, learn it and be at ease in it!
Then one may feel these words have been inadequate to express the
experience!
Padmasana
1. PADMASANA-1st Stage 2. PADMASANA ( foot lock picture-2 )
The Secret of Happiness or Yogic Physical Culture

Is this simply a thing of crossed legs? Then this crossing the

legs seems to be worth more than a mere physical effort. The back
is erect. The face is square and facing the front. The eye lids
automatically drop to half close; and one would fain like to forget the
watch.
Stiff knees, stiff ankles and stiff hips melt as one practices and
they also offer resistance. Start this pose! Sit with both legs stretched
preferably with the back to the wall if hips are stiff. Catch hold of
one foot and pull it over the opposite thigh. ( See picture 1 ) Then
catch hold of the other foot and pull that over the folded thigh. Sit
erect and with hands as in Padmasana ( Picture 2 ). Remove legs
one after the other and repeat, till comfort is attained. one can sit not
only for minutes but hours.
Yoga classifies certain poses as fit to sit for prolonged periods
for realisation of higher Yoga, the preliminary for which starts in
Japa or a repetition of a name or string of letters with spiritual
significance.
For worthwhile reasons, this Padmasana has been given spe-
cial place and special position in this book. If there is a good wish to
be conveyed to a friend, then say,
“ Wish you a good Padmasana! ”
CHAPTER - V

BHUJANGASANA

One who knows the A,B,C, of physical culture pays much

attention to the spine. He recognises its importance. On its elasticity
and health depend on the vitality and youth of an individual. The
stiffness of the back-bone means old age. This factor has come to
be well-realised in the world of physical culture. Any modern
treatise on this subject devotes some attention to this important mem-
ber of the body.

Need one ask why? Through the spinal column passes the
aerial of nerve action and sensations, the spinal cord. Its defection
means partial paralysis of the human body. Various nerves take root
to the spine. In the muscles lying on either side is imbedded the
sympathetic nervous system. So youth of the spine is all in all for
the life and functions of the body.

The clarion call is therefore sounded by the Western physical

culturists to ‘youthify the spine’. All honour to them and may they
meet with success! But they would do well to come here and learn
what India has to teach. They would know first that the cry for
youthifying the spine was started thousands of years ago, when as
civilised countries their lands had no existence. This cry had come
from bookless sages experimenting without laboratories and
vivisection. Secondly, they may learn humility as well as useful
lessons in physical culture. For their best innovations in scientifically
modulated exercises may never equal these which have been left by
the Indian sages for posterity-for the benefit of humanity.

This statement is no exaggeration. A scientific analysis of

Paschimothanasana and Halasana has been given in ensuing chap-
ter. The physiology of these poses proves what elasticity and health
could be given to the spine by their practice. A further lesson to the
same effect consists in Bhujangasana, Salabasana and Dhanurasana.
The Secret of Happiness or Yogic Physical Culture

Picture - 3 BHUJANGASANA ( 1st stage )

Picture - 4 BHUJANGASANA ( 2nd stage )

Picture - 5 BHUJANGASANA (Final stage )

Bhujangasana

Technique:- The perfected pose is shown in picture 5. The

student first lies face down on a spread with all the muscles
completely relaxed picture no-3. Then he places both his hands on
the ground, palms down just beneath the shoulders and elbows up as
shown in the picture-4 Then he lifts the head up and backwards
breathing out tilting the chin. He contracts the deep and superfi-
cial muscles of the back and bends the spine backwards and raises it
gradually. The pressure on the spine travels downwards from the
For further details: Refer the Book
“The Secret of Happiness
or
Yogic Physical Culture”
CONCLUSION
The body is the instrument for Existence, Perception and
Realisation. Everyone must be able to spare some useful time to
spend on this body. It is ignorance to say that one has no time to
attend to one’s body. No man, who is really energetic and physically
conscious, will say this. The fact is not that one has no time but one
is physically lethargic. What is the use of all efforts, ambitions, study
and amassing of wealth, if during and at the end of this process one
finds that life is ebbing out of his body and he is becoming a physical
wreck? Unfortunately, the India of today is lacking very much in
physical consiousness. Foreign domination has brought in its wake
physical weakness and want of effort. In Asanas, Indians have in-
herited a precious heritage of physical wealth.
This heritage, to the millions of modern India does not exist. It
should be the effort of every thinking person to practise this system
and spread it to his neighbours, friends and relations. No better ser-
vice can a man do either with his money or his leisure than by incul-
cating this system of physical well being to men, women and chil-
dren. There is a set of people who will neither do themselves, nor
allow others to do Asanas. These people criticise destructively and
mock at those who attempt physical reforms. They flaunt before
them dangers which are non-existent and imaginary. Those people
are doing a disservice to their country and committing a crime against
humanity. Unfortunately, this type of person makes no effort to-
wards health and vitality and will certainly not have studied the lit-
erature about the system. These are best avoided. Every man must
start his life with health and strength. He must stick to these two
things and attempt other things in life taking care always to see that
these two precious possessions are never weakened or destroyed.
May the all intelligent, all pervading Omnipotent Being bless
every one who attempts this path with health, strength, vitality, long
life, happiness and peace!