Yogi's Secrets

Rama shouted across the room that she had seen an advertisement in the newspaper about a talk on "Yogi's Secrets". This broke my reverie and activated my Sahasara chakra.

"Yogi" and "secret" are words which have always visibly aroused my curiosity. Together, they are a very potent combination. My interest in Yogis got kindled when I first read "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda.


Not for nothing is it called "among the 100 most important spiritual books of the twentieth century" .Other books on the subject which have interested me are "The Path:Autobiography of a Western Yogi" by Swami Kriyananda.

Then, there are books about secrets. "A Search in Secret India" by Paul Brunton." The Amazing Secrets of the Yogi" by Charles F. Hannel.
"The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne. At book stores,I am always attracted to books which have the words "secret" or "Yogi" in its title. Of course, Victoria with secret and other similar normally gets the Muldhara or Swadisthana chakras in a spin. Ditto for Yogi and Berra. My chakras don't recognize Yogi Bear.

I quickly cross-checked with Rama on when the talk was scheduled. She did not remember much except for the fact that this was in the 3rd May at Hotel Windsor Manor at 3pm. I thought it was a rather strange time for a Yogi to expound his (if it were a her the talk should have been on a "Yogini's Secrets" - however who knows - if an actor can be a actress why not a Yogini a Yogi) secrets. I was under the distinct impression that a Yogi's preferred time would be early morning. However, modern yogis have little choice these days about timings.They cannot reach Bangalore with the help of Yogic flying - they have to depend on the availability of air tickets and are not insusceptible to the vagaries of delayed flights. Or, perhaps, this Yogi was also an expert on Hora - the astrology of timing.

The 3rd of May being a Sunday, I was as impervious to the timing of the talk as Maharishi Vishwamitra was to the charms of Mohini. If the Yogi was comfortable with the afternoon, so was I. In fact, it would have been troublesome, if like a predictable yogi he had decided to hold the talk at 5 am on a Sunday.

Like always, Sunday took a long time in coming. In fact this Sunday, I think, took a little longer. Till Sunday, I fantasized about the secrets this Yogi would reveal. The secrets revealed in the books mentioned above had whet my appetite for more. For example:
- The secret of a long life, beyond 120 years, is to breath from the left nostril during day and the right nostril past dusk (Charles F. Hannel)
- That the Yogis of ancient India (not so ancient, since this was experienced by Paul Brunton circa 1930) could bring the dead back to life ( A Search in Secret India)
- That humans go to another dimension after death. This was explained to Paramahansa Yogananda by his guru Sri Yukteswar Giri. Sri Yukteswar Giri appeared to Parmahansa Yogananda after his death and explained to him about life after death.
- That all manifestations begin from visualization. If you want to manifest a desire you have to first visualize this clearly.The more often and the more clearly you visualize the faster will your wishes materialize. This is clearly described in "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne and "The Masterkey System" by Charles Hannel.

There are other secrets in books like Harish Johari's "Breath, Mind & Consciousness". Thus, I looked forward to this Sunday with more than normal enthusiasm. On Sunday, as I entered the hotel, I noticed that the place was more crowded than it normally is. It seemed that this Yogi (I had not managed to find out the name yet) had a large following. The crowd appeared to be the corporate type which is the usual in these days of a slow-down. Astrology/Medicine/Spirituality are the very few recession resistant sectors of the economy.

Coming back from the wash room, I realized that it was almost 3pm and the crowd had disappeared into one of the conference rooms where this session was being held. I quickly move to the reception and asked " Where's the Yogi's talk being held?" Normally, at 5 star hotels they are plastically polite and unruffled.They are so well poised that you could think they are always in a meditatively calm state. However, this one seemed to have been taken aback by my simple query. Nevertheless, she quickly recovered her composure (I made a mental note to ask her if meditation was a part of the training they got) to say " Ballroom Three on the left" a little too curtly I thought.

I knew I would enjoy this talk by the Yogi and have a ball. I walked in. There were about 300 members in the audience. Everyone in a hush and my eyes fell on the banner which had the name of the Yogi.

Yogi Deveshwar. Chairman, ITC Ltd.