The age of (mis)information: What makes a yogi become an author?

Yogi Ashwini, of Dhyan Ashrmam

A Yogi becomes an author to change the mass mindset about Yoga

A realised soul or Yogi does not have to be an author but under exceptional circumstances. Yogi Ashwini is one such author. A rare blend of the real and ethereal, of the modern and the ancient and a personification of Vedic knowledge, he has been driven to writing by the sheer concern over the popular myths about yoga.

As he looks at it, popular interpretation and misunderstanding of the subject are bad enough. But he is even more pained at the exploitation– both commercial and sexual– in the name of Yoga and the other ancient spiritual sciences of India.

That this is happening in the age of information makes it rather ironical. For example, you just have to type the word, “Tantra”, on the net to get scores of thousands of websites that link this great Indian system of knowledge to sex. In reality, it is the ultimate formula for liberation from the limiting five senses and into the subtler realms of existence. Sex is too base to have any place in these realms. Similarly, the saffron robes that originally signify renunciation, detachment and the sacrifice of ego (that keeps an individual tied up in selfish knots) are being worn by power-hungry politicians, greedy businessmen and con-men.

The charlatans and the businessmen are exploiting the vulnerable and the gullible through the mass media and through cleverly-written literature and books, promising miracle cures. It is to stem the tide of misinformation and exploitation that Yogi Ashwini took to writing books, after “Thoughts of the Inner World”, a compilation of his discourses was published.

Sanatan Kriya

In the last five years, he has written two books and contributed to one—on his subject, Sanatan Kriya, which, according to him, is “the essence of Yoga.” In fact, the first book is titled, “Sanatan Kriya, The Essence of Yoga.”

Sanatan Kriya, meaning, the complete technique, is a Yogic Kriya based on Vedic texts that encapsulate all the eight limbs of Sage Patanjali’s Ashtang Yog. The focus of Sanatan Kriya is on breath and posture, it is simple to do; involves no complicated twists and turns of the body and has a phenomenal impact on the physical, mental and emotional health of a person. The Kriya is ideal for a serious practitioner of Yog as it prepares a person for connectivity to the subtler layers of existence. Sanatan Kriya is being taught at the Indian Medical Association; hospitals, including the Research and Referral Hospital of the Indian Army; schools like Sanskriti School and Delhi Public School; MNCs like Wipro, Infosys and Cisco; India’s Public Sector Undertakings and to the security forces, including the Delhi Police and the Indian Army’s School for Religious Integration.

The latest book, “Sanatan Kriya, The Ageless Dimension”, based on Vedic texts, has been described as a “thesis on anti-ageing” by a top doctor of the Indian army. The book explains and critically examines the process of ageing in the human body. It suggests remedies for arresting the ageing process and maintaining a youthful look till your last breath. Nearly twenty years of research has gone into Yogi Ashwini’s book, a step-by-step practical guide to the anti-ageing techniques.

Live and Glow like the Rishis

The book explains and critically examines the process of ageing in the human body. It suggests remedies for arresting the ageing process and maintaining a youthful look till your last breath. Nearly twenty years of research has gone into Yogi Ashwini’s book, a step-by-step practical guide to the anti-ageing techniques.

Techniques for enhancing the length and quality of life are explained in the book along with recipes for diet to combat the process of ageing. There is a mention of certain rare rasayans for rejuvenating the body and maintaining youth. The techniques have been taken from Shiv Samhita, Grehand Samhita, Charak Samhita, Hatha Yoga Pradipika and other ancient, some, nearly extinct texts.

The bonus comes in the form of a list of various harmful chemicals and radiations present in modern day products, authenticated by western studies. The book also provides rare and authentic substitutes and formulae for preparing these substitutes at home along with a mention of places which unadulterated products.

Vedic Techniques

Yogi Ashwini firmly believes that if the Rishis of the yore could maintain their youth and glow till the end of a very long life, leave the body in full consciousness and awareness and even know where they were going, so can modern man. Techniques for enhancing the length and quality of life are explained in the book along with recipes for a diet to combat the process of ageing. There is a mention of certain rare rasayans for rejuvenating the body and maintaining youth. The techniques have been taken from Shiv Samhita, Grehand Samhita, Charak Samhita, Hatha Yoga Pradipika and other ancient, some, nearly extinct texts.

All the three books on Sanatan Kriya have been bestsellers, but a realised soul like Yogi Ashwini neither needs money nor fame that the books bring: The proceeds from the books all go to charity and he takes a byline for them only for the sake of connectivity with the readers. Left to himself, he wrote—for several mainline publications, including The Times of India, anonymously, for 15 long years– to keep the focus on what was being written rather than on who was writing it.

Search and Research

Yogi Ashwini is a householder, who works for a living and leads a regular life while never losing focus of the purpose of his life revealed to him by his Guru: to educate whoever he can about the exploitation happening in the name of Yog.

Yogi Ashwini’s search for Truth began 20 years ago—after his mother fell prey to cancer. The modern doctors gave her three years to live after the cancer was discovered. In those three years, Yogi Ashwini literally ran from pillar to post for an alternative cure, including the spiritual. The mother, however, died just when the modern doctors had predicted she would. It made him think: modern medicine is just about 200 years old but it predicted accurately. The Indian healing sciences were documented 4,500 years ago and the healers he approached his mother who claimed to be masters of these. Why did they fail in giving a cure? Then began his research into the body, mind and soul. Inexorably, Yogi Ashwini was led to the all-encompassing ancient Indian systems of thought, available in the form of the Vedas and the Puranas. They contain the entire treatise on all aspects of life, its continuity and the art of dying. Blessedly, he found his Guru during these years.

The pall of gloom on account of the mother’s premature death lifted. He realised the purpose of life, even that of suffering. In short, He was on the path of self-realisation/Yog. More revelations were to follow, the most important being, “The only doing that counts is the doing for the other.” He says that although the journey of each individual is exclusive, the shortest cut to the goal of self-realisation is service. In his parlance, “service” is a very broad word. It not only means healing, patient care, touching the have-not through free education and feeding the hungry but also empowering the masses with knowledge about the profound system of thought that is yoga.

Originally published in Business Economics (February 2012).