Namaste, My name is Ajay. I was born in a small town cum village
called Dumariya Ganj in India. It is located on the border of India and Nepal
in the middle of Lumbini (Birth Place of Buddha) and Ayodhya (Kingdom of Rama).
I was born in a Hindu family raised by a father who doesn’t practice any
rituals. But my father is a very strong believer of Ishvara and Karma. He is a
man of principles. He taught us the law of Karma. He always tells us that never
hurt anyone and never do anything bad to others, Karma will come back to
you.
During my childhood I heard and read stories about stories about
spiritual figures, gurus and deities such as Shiva, Rama, Krishna, Hanuman,
Saraswati, Durga, Lakshmi, Kaali, Buddha, Mahaveer, Kabir, Vivekananda and many
more. These stories inspired me. Be it Rama’s path of truth, commitment and
good governance. Be it Buddha’s path of peace and non-violence and his journey
of enlightenment, Be it famous poet Kabir’s poetry on humanity and
divine. Be it Mahaveer’s pursuit of spiritual awakening or Durga’s fight
with Mahisasur for justice. Do I follow any
religious faith? I don't know but I respect other people's faith and belief
system.
I left home when I was just 16 years old. Since then I have been
travelling for academic education and employment. I have lived and travelled to
various parts of India in towns and cities. First time out from India I went to
Toronto, Canada, I lived and worked there for about a year. I came to New
Zealand in the year 2013 as a new immigrant and I fell in love with this country. Beautiful nature of Aotearoa also brought me
back into yoga and spirituality.
My association with yoga:
In school, Yoga was part of our curriculum and in many aspects
yoga was part of our life style. We did yoga asana almost on a daily
basis except on extreme hot days in summer and rainy days. Chanting mantra and
meditation were part of our daily routine and eating sattvic Ayurvedic diet
meals of Daal, Rice and locally produced fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables;
cleansing through fasting were part of lifestyle. But I don’t think at that age
I understood the meaning and the importance of yogic lifestyle.
Breakup with yoga:
I finished school and I went to university. Now I am in the real
world at least some part of the real world and its problems. And during this
very busy time of chasing my dream I don’t have time for my yoga practice. Few
years passed I completed university, graduated in Computer Science and
Engineering. Later I started working as a Software Engineer. I am still out of
touch with my yogic lifestyle.
and re-association with yoga:
I got back into yoga practice since last three years. In start I
noticed that I have lost flexibility of body, focus, concentration and
discipline. I was worried what I did I to myself. When I recall last 10 years
of chasing my dream. The dream which is sold to all of us. Going to university,
Get a job, buy an apartment in a big city and pay mortgage all your life.
All of these materialistic needs. All these years during my disassociation with
yoga practices, I was going through a
lot of physical and emotional instability, I used to be unhappy, stressed and
unsatisfied with current situation of life. I was disconnected from
myself.
Don't get me wrong I am not implying to be a monk here. I do want
to have a house one day with a small farm. I want to have my own family. I still use a smartphone for
communication, information and taking pictures. I also like trendy clothes.
What I am trying to say is, I am satisfied with whatever I have with me and I
am coming to this realisation about the purpose of my life. I wont say that I
am fully there but I am getting there and yogic lifestyle is helping me. These
9-10 years had been very difficult. I was continuously running and chasing.
After reaching one milestone, I will start running after the second one.. and
the third one.. the fourth one.. and so on... It was never ending. I am not
saying that I don't have aspirations but my goals for life are different now. I
feel the stillness and calmness in my life.
I remember my school days, there were so many problems at home.
Those who know us they know what we have been through. They wonder how we
survived. It was tough and painful but I had a sense of fulfilment and
satisfaction. I wasn’t bothered about the future. I was living the moment.
Nowadays we forget to live in the moment. Now I can say, it was the yoga
practices which were helping me to go through that difficult situation, the
pain, the hunger.
Now when I find myself back into my yoga practices, I started to
realize that I was lost somewhere in this materialistic world. My worries and
my hustle of chasing dream had nothing to do with my body, mind and
soul.
We all go through problems in our life at different levels. I am
not saying that yoga would solve all of your problems but it brings stillness
and calmness. Calm mind helps you to think. You develop the courage to accept
the problem; over a period you witness the change and you have enough strength
to handle difficult situations in your life. Yoga practices help to keep our
mind and body healthy, which is also backed by so many scientific
researches.
Reasons makes me to love yoga.
Union of my body, mind and soul - Yoga makes me to relax and observe myself. It connects me with
myself. It brings stillness in my mind and flexibility to my body. It also
helps me to be grounded and coming out from the “Mayavi”
(delusional) cloud. It reminds me to “be
here and be now”.
Utsav (Celebration) - One of the most joyous things for me is to chant and sing
mantra with fellow yogis. I was never sure about my favourite music but I think
chanting and singing mantra is the music I definitely enjoy.
Seva (Service) - I teach classes as a service to the community. I also lead a
small session of yoga practice at my workplace. When I see the expression of my
colleagues. They tell it feels great after the session, that expression gives
me immense pleasure to serve. I think “Seva Bhav” (Intention of service) is one
of the very important factors for me be a Yoga Teacher.
In start I mentioned that I had lost flexibility and concentration
when I stopped practicing yoga. But yoga is phenomenal, when you start
practicing; over the period you notice the improvement. As the meaning of Yoga contains “join”; I can definitely feel the
union of mind, body and soul.
I would recommend you to bring yoga into your lifestyle.
Take a mat and visit any yoga classes happening nearby. Give it a try.
Thank you so much for reading.
Thank you so much for reading.
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| नमस्ते Om shanti shanti shanti |
ॐ शांति: शांति: शांति:
Ajay Agrahari is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with the Yoga
Alliance, which acknowledges the completion of a yoga teacher training with a
Registered Yoga School (RYS) Kawai Purapura, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand.
