Yoga Philsophy: Yoga and humility

By Dipankar Khanna

The essence of yoga is humility! Therefore, it is not surprising that the symbol of yoga or yogamudra is a posture that fosters an attitude of humility. Can one say more on the importance and vital significance of humility in the practice and philosophy of yoga? The phrase 'practice and philosophy' itself is redundant because, in Indian Ontological systems, philosophy translates as darsana , which suggests a first-hand personal experience of the seeker. So, philosophy in India was totally devoid of mere armchair ruminations or meanderings of white collared scientists in their ivory towers.

Western systems

In Western systems , philosophy is a mental activity quite separated from practice and action. But not so in the East, where such endeavours are severely frowned upon. Here, speculation of the mind is considered frivolous, redundant, meaningless, and of use neither to the individual nor society.

Now, humility is a philosophical tool to propel one towards higher stages of self-realisation on the road to discriminative wisdom and enlightenment. The term self-realisation is a paradox in this context since humility implies putting others above oneself and, to that extent, the self as we understand it is pushed to the background. It becomes the means to cutting through the root of ignorance that engages in ego-grasping and self-cherishing attitudes. We all know how dearly and zealously we guard our self-cherishing and ego-grasping attitude.

We should carefully understand that humility at a day-to-day level is an important attitude to possess since it acts as an antidote to the undesirable and negative traits of self-pride and egoism. An individual has to acknowledge both intellectually and in practice that he or she is not the be-all and end-all, and is not the centre of the universe around which it revolves. Much less is the fact that we are masters even of our own selves. We are just tiny, almost negligible parts of a larger process of the universe and life emanating from God. The only sensible thing that we are capable of accomplishing is to regulate our life in tandem with the ebb and flow of nature - with humility!

Humility is suggested as being twofold.

Firstly, we should be humble enough to have faith in the processes of life and the laws of the nature. Secondly, we need to exhibit humility towards our preceptors, teachers, and gurus from whom we seek to learn the various categories of wisdom teachings pertaining to nature of our own self on the path towards self-realisation.

Hence, the yogic concept or practice of forbearance, fortitude, or tapa is suggested in the practice of humility. In order to attain the advantages arising from humility, we should not succumb even if we are faced by unpleasant or inconvenient situations. As suggested in the Yogacyclopaedia :

'' The world process must be accepted like a big wheel of a machine, each aspect of life being like a cog related to one another. As beneficiaries of this process, everyone must contribute to its smooth rotation. The philosophy of karmayoga is to accept that the individual microcosm does not run the show. Each one is a part of a intrinsically good universal process. ''

Therefore, with this attitude and focus of a karma yogi , we should go about our day-to-day activities with both faith and humility, fully accepting and believing that our work is also the highest form of worship. Our pure motivations then lead world processes that, in turn, contribute to our own personal growth and long-term happiness.