Bhoga, Roga, And Yoga
by Sushil Vasudeva
         
What we seek as our highest goal depends upon what we think ourselves to be. If you think you are solely a physical creature, subject to biological laws, "the highest goal you can aim at has to have physical limits", says Ramanuja, a luminous figure of medieval India. One would just end up seeking physical gratifications.

A current conviction is that we are what our genes are. This may be true of the physical body but perhaps not of your character and behavior. The genetic code may have little impact on the determination of these two vital components of human beings. The capacity to change our character is the most glorious asset we possess. Look at the great men and women of yore who transformed themselves from being cross to compassionate, from insecure to indomitable, and from human to divine.

Human beings are privileged to have freedom of will. Animals seemingly do not have this choice; they are bound to bear out the rigors of life. Life affords man a unique blend of options to choose from. Though beings take birth under the subordination of past karma, man differs from other beings as he is conferred with the faculty of discrimination. Experiencing the fruits of past karmas - bitter or sweet - he can also improve upon and move up in the cosmic order of consciousness.

The broad spectrum of choices available to man may be categorized into bhoga, roga and yoga. While the former two present a cause and effect syndrome, the latter opens up higher possibilities at the moral and spiritual levels. The practice of yoga helps us to tide over the negative effects of indulgence (bhoga) and saves us from affliction (roga).

Those who opt for bhoga - over-indulgence to satiate biological needs - live life at the animalistic level; satisfaction of organic needs is their sole concern. Remaining stagnant at the materialistic level is the greatest folly one can conceive of. Excessive obsession with bhoga leads to roga - physical and mental maladies. Moral degradation, ethical decline, aesthetic impoverishment and spiritual blindness are natural concomitants to materialism. No one advocates, however, forgoing consumption of material objects. Rather, such consumption must be done in a spirit of detachment.

Yoga is the perfect antidote to bhoga. Lest it is mistaken, yoga here means the ancient yoga - divine knowledge - as illustrated in the Bhagavad Gita by Lord Krishna. In Chapter 4, Verse 1 of the Gita, Lord Krishna says, "I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun god, Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Iksvaku." This verse implies that yoga is a system of divine knowledge that was taught from the beginning of time. Moreover, it has been handed down to posterity from master to pupil.

This Sanskrit word, when translated, means union with God. The scriptures declare in unequivocal terms that this eternal knowledge alone puts the seeker on the path to merge individual consciousness with the ocean of universal consciousness.

Armed with ancient yoga, the great sages plumbed the far reaches of the world within. These 'Atmanauts' studied the infinity of inner space and made dazzling discoveries. This is possible for any ordinary mortal under the patronage of a perfect sage. Such a sage unfolds to the ardent seeker supreme science of Brahm Gyan, knowledge of the Absolute. You too may testify like Prince Arjuna, who exclaimed on initiation, "If hundreds of thousands of suns rose up at once into the sky, they might resemble the effulgence of the Supreme Lord in that universal form" (Gita, Chapter 11, Verse 12). The choice is yours - bhoga or yoga. While people of divine disposition choose yoga, those of lower temperaments show propensity to bhoga. The latter category of people work for sense gratification while the former ones take to eternal path that brings them to realization of the ultimate truth. The path of yoga - union with the universe - takes them to the blissful state of liberation.

A liberated soul - jivan mukta - has no more vicious cycles of birth and death. There is no fear of reduction to lower levels of consciousness. Those who adopt the path of bhoga may feel joyous for some time, assuming sensual pleasures to be real happiness. The end product of their karmas and pursuits, however, is roga - suffering. They squander the prime of their life in running after objects of sense satisfaction. In their case, the process of decay sets in very soon. They are bound to take birth into a lower order of species. By their wrong priorities they are dragging themselves to bondage.

The sooner we realize the importance of human birth the better. None can deny you are essentially divine; your real self is spirit. Human birth is for realizing the divine within us. We have to strive hard to attain the goal of merging with the universal consciousness. For attaining this goal, the path is not bhoga; the course is yoga.

Source: The Satya Circle (www.satyacircle.com)

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