'Becoming' and 'Being' a 'Yogi'

 Is it necessary to know about the 'Ashtanga Yoga Sutras" to become a yogi? Are there real yogis or just fake ones (dhongi) amidst us? Are these yogis, sadhu santas, sanyasis are by birth or created by chance, luck, fate or destiny? Should the yogi stay aloof, far away in forests or may stay with society and serve them? All these and umpteen other questions arise when it comes to the saffron-clad people moving around us! It is difficult to answer these questions for the situation differs from case to case.

 First, a person must be fed up and averse to worldly sensuous life. Second, he must be really satisfied with his existence and expects nothing more! The Gita lays down that it is only after right knowledge that wisdom dawns, and this leads to renunciation. Then such renunciates sacrifice, give away everything in gifts (danam), and take to meditation (dhyanam) and go for penance (tapas). It is only such persons who real become the yogis- knowledgeable, wise, renunciate and sacrificing. They are qualified to serve selflessly and deserve all honor, respect from society.

  The fact that a yogi is amidst us make us wonder whether most of them deserve to be called renunciates! May be or may not be, we do not know. However, some are born saints like Shankaracharya. Great scholars, renunciate to the core! We don't have any one beside him these days? It is sheer carry-over of the fruits of previous actions (karmaphala), purva punya, that a person is born saint like him and he died very young. The life history of Sri Shankaracharya (Dharegilida teja) is quite revealing!

   A yogi is also shaped up by a 'Guru', a mentor. It is, as if, God shows some mentor to a tormented soul. There are some great yogis sitting in meditation in a cave or a forest or, on the hill without any aspirations for worldly pleasures. Here again, we cannot say anything! There are many examples and worth emulating. Great Swamijis belong to this group of renunciates. We are bound to feel the mystic powers in their presence. These are blessed souls.

 Now, is it necessary to be or become a yogi? Some one remarked that the Hindu philosophy is addictive and makes one a renunciate very early in life. It is not the story of a fox saying "Grapes are sour". It is really a great satisfaction after enjoying the fruits that one says, 'enough', It is a sense of satisfaction, contentment, fulfillment that leads a person to logical conclusion that life is worth living, but 'enough is enough' and finds greater satisfaction in renunciation than in possession. Thus, a yogi is a satisfied soul, happy, contented and looking for emancipation.