What are Ashankah yogis?

Anybody who follows or strives to learn the following way of living is

an Ashankah yogi:

First: Overcome your three enemies (the 3 E’s – Ego, Expectation and
Excitement)

Volumes can be written on each of the three enemies, which each

individual has to overcome. However, in simple words it would be
something like this-
Our Ego is our first and foremost enemy and we should never allow it to
talk or do anything for us.
We keep high expectation from others and when that’s not met, we
suffer. We should try to keep the expectation level at its minimum.
Equanimity is the state where a person feels the same way in pleasure
and pain. Yogis should attain that state for which he/ she has to
avoid getting excited.

Second: Avoid waiting and worrying (the 2 W’s)

Ordinary people cannot stop ‘Time’. We simply wait for things to

happen or not happen and we worry about things. We need to do our part
of action and then forget it until again it’s our time to take further
action on it. Between our two actions, we usually wait and/ or worry.
A yogi should give up these.

Third: Acquiring Self-realization knowledge (Guru, Scriptures, Satsang)

A yogi undergoes a Self-realization study, with or without a guru. He

acquires the knowledge about the ‘Self’ from any or all the following
three sources-Guru, Scriptures and Satsang. Tremendous knowledge is
sitting in scriptures of any religion; Bible, Gita, Koran, Tora, Guru
Granth Sahib, etc. and of course the four Vedas (including Upanisads),
Gospels of Avatars and other great saints, etc. By regular reading,
contemplating and discussing with the like-minded people it becomes
extremely easy for anyone to know one’s true nature (Spirit or Pure
Consciousness).

Fourth: Fault finding

If anything happens, people in general will find someone to be blamed

for that. Finding faults with others is very common.

Instead of finding faults in others a yogi finds owns faults and

correct them. A yogi should not blame anyone rather learn from every
mistake and take one more step towards perfection.

Fifth: Equality

In the beginning of creation there were no religions, races,

nationality, hierarchy, etc. For a yogi these do not exist even today.
A true yogi is one who can’t even imagine any difference between two
children of God in terms of distinctions such as those just mentioned.
There do exist some bad elements in the society but a yogi will
identify them only as individuals and not as representative of any
religion or race. Hate the sin and not the sinner should always be a
yogi’s teaching to bring peace to all.

Sixth: AUM

‘Om’ or ‘Aum’ is the shortest holy mantra. One elaboration of AUM is

Acharan (behaviour), Uccharan (pronunciation) and Manan (thinking). It
is said only a person whose all actions are good, whose words do not
heart others and who thinks only good about all can chant the ‘AUM’
mantra with meaning. A yogi has a very good acharan, uccharan and
Manan.

Let all our actions be good for everyone. May we always talk good and
may we always think good of others.

Seventh: Meditation

It is very important for a yogi to spend a little time in the morning

and at night in ‘Silence’. This little time can be from 5 minutes to
45 minutes session or more each. Ashankah yogis will discuss a lot on
meditation and umpteen books are available on the subject. One
excellent book in entitled ‘Inviting Silence’ by Gunilla Norris (ISBN –
0-974-24050-8). Needless to mention that there is no dearth of Asian
authors who have written excellent books on Meditations, its methods
and techniques.

Eighth: Spiritual recreation

Various spiritual groups conduct ‘Spiritual retreats’ over the weekends

or for longer period. Attending such retreats benefit a lot. People
spend excellent time together throughout the retreat like meditating,
lunching, dining, praying, studying, chanting, etc. together. Like-
minded people come together and share a lot about their spiritual life.

The major difference between a spiritual retreat and any other picnic
or outing is that the former focus more on the importance of
maintaining silence, spreading positive thoughts, discipline of timing
and sharing of spiritual wisdom.

It’s indeed a good idea to be a subscribed member of at least one

spiritual magazine. Such magazines give review of good books, movies,
etc. and also advertise the forthcoming spiritual retreats by various
organizations.

Ninth: Positive vibration

Whether it’s a coffee break in office, debate over email chain or

gossip, most people tend to talk about negative about people, system,
culture and so on. If we can change anybody or any system for better
then it’s excellent otherwise pointing the evil doesn’t help anybody
and this attitude is extremely dangerous. A yogi should not spread any
negative vibration.

It is possible that a yogi is discussing something with someone and

while the yogi is talking positive and the other person is talking
negative; even in such circumstance the yogi should try to end the
conversation as soon as he/ she finds that the conversation is going
into ego issue to prove one’s point. Thus, a yogi can stop negative
vibration creation where he/ she is present.

Tenth: Truthfulness

‘Ashankah’ means fearless and a liar cannot be a fearless person.

Lying by itself is a symbol of scare. For if a person is not scared of
anything why should he lie? ‘Will Power’ is very important and there
are certain things that increase or decrease our will power. Lying
certainly reduces our will power significantly.

On the contrary truthfulness is divine. It’s a belief that a person

who abstains from lying for a significant period of time such as a
decade or so attains a power by which whatever he speaks turns out to
be true. Like if such a person tells a dying person that the latter
will live a long life then the dying man recovers and lives long.
That’s the power of always speaking ‘The Truth’.

It is very important for a yogi to attain this power of truthfulness.

No lying, openly or secretly, is healthy for a yogi. Remember,
Yudhisthir or Mahabharata had lied just once in his life that too in a
twisted way and also to support the righteousness (dharma) but still
had to pay on his way to heaven for that single lie.

Eleventh: Non-attachment

Non-attachment especially to material things is a very important

quality of a yogi and that needs to be strictly followed. It is also
important for a yogi to have very little attachment to relationship. A
yogi should also be very clear that one could have immense love and
reverence to someone even without being attached to the person.

By practice of nonattachment the yogi dissolves all the inclinations

and desires of his/ her heart and remains in continuous ecstasy with
the Aum vibration, the expression of God in creation.

Twelfth: Reforming others

A yogi is a reformed person who has succeeded in all the eleven steps
mentioned above or is striving very hard to succeed. Having realized
the bliss of living a yogic life it is his/ her duty to show this path
to other aspirants. Thus, reforming others is another quality a yogi
should possess.

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These are some simple steps that a yogi should follow to live a Self-
realized life. Unlike any other course, which has a specific syllabus
and duration followed by exams and certification, one would agree that
Self-realization is not a fixed duration course, etc. It started the
moment we got our first human life and will end when we return back to
the Spirit (final liberation). And while in this body with mind,
intellect and ego we need to live this life acquiring the limitless
knowledge of wisdom and following the steps mentioned above. This will
give us eternal peace of mind.
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