Why Were Yoga Practices Never Written Down?

How To Make The Best Use Of The Yogic Science

SADHGURU: Yoga may seem to be very simple, but when you do the practices, you will see there is a very subtle aspect to them. Many people have caused immense damage to themselves by learning Yoga through books.

Objective and subjective technologies are different. Let's say you are conducting a chemistry experiment. You put one chemical into another, watch and note your observations. This is objective technology. But when it comes to subjective technology, both chemical and chemist are you. Unless you put yourself into it, it won't happen. This requires a different kind of atmosphere, where there is the necessary level of commitment and focus. Otherwise, you will completely miss the subjective aspects of life.

Unfortunately, in so many places, only the objective aspect of Yoga is available, without the subjectivity. People practice Yoga as just a physical or mental exercise. It is neither physical nor mental; it has something to do with the core of your life. If "all of you" is not involved in the Yoga that you do, if it has not been transmitted to you, if it has just been taught to you as a bundle of instructions and not an initiation - if that is so, you are using Yoga like a car instead of the airplane that it is.

Suppose I gave you an airplane and you did not know what it was, you knew only automobiles. There are these two ugly things that hit your buildings and lampposts, so you chop off the wings and drive around happily. Likewise, you are happy your backache is gone and thyroid problem is fixed, but that is very limited. A backache may mean nothing to me because I do not have a backache, but for someone suffering from a backache, it is the biggest thing in their life. So I am not against this. But someone who knows what it means to fly, when they see an airplane with chopped off wings, they will cry.