Yog-asanas vs Gurmat
Asanas are yoga-poses. Guru Granth Sahib strictly rejects Aasan as mean to attain almighty. Even it guides Siddhas to abandon them: Abandon your Yogic postures and breath control exercises, O madman. Renounce fraud and deception, and meditate continuously on the Lord, O madman. (857).
Following are excerpts from Guru Granth Sahib on Yogasans:
| ਨਿਉਲੀ ਕਰਮ ਕਰੈ ਬਹੁ ਆਸਨ ॥ ਜੈਨ ਮਾਰਗ ਸੰਜਮ ਅਤਿ ਸਾਧਨ ॥ ਨਿਮਖ ਨਿਮਖ ਕਰਿ ਸਰੀਰੁ ਕਟਾਵੈ ॥ਤਉ ਭੀ ਹਉਮੈ ਮੈਲੁ ਨ ਜਾਵੈ ॥ ..... |
| Ni▫ulī karam karai baho āsan.Jain mārag sanjam aṯ sāḏẖan. Nimakẖ nimakẖ kar sarīr katāvai.Ŧa▫o bẖī ha▫umai mail na jāvai. ...... |
| you may practice techniques of inner cleansing and all sorts of Yogic postures;you may adopt the self-mortifying ways of the Jains and great spiritual disciplines; piece by piece, you may cut your body apart;but even so, the filth of your ego shall not depart |
| ਪੂਜਾ ਤਿਲਕੁ ਤੀਰਥ ਇਸਨਾਨਾ ॥ ਨਿਵਲੀ ਕਰਮ ਆਸਨ ਚਉਰਾਸੀਹ ਇਨ ਮਹਿ ਸਾਂਤਿ ਨ ਆਵੈ ਜੀਉ ॥੨॥ |
| Pūjā ṯilak ṯirath isnānā. Nivlī karam āsan cẖa▫orāsīh in mėh sāʼnṯ na āvai jī▫o. (2) |
| they perform worship services, wear ceremonial religious marks on their foreheads, and take ritual cleansing baths at sacred shrines of pilgrimage. They perform the inner cleansing practice with water and adopt the eighty-four Yogic postures; but still, they find no peace in any of these. (2) |
| ਆਸਨੁ ਪਵਨ ਦੂਰਿ ਕਰਿ ਬਵਰੇ ॥ ਛੋਡਿ ਕਪਟੁ ਨਿਤ ਹਰਿ ਭਜੁ ਬਵਰੇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥ |
| Āsan pavan ḏūr kar bavre. Cẖẖod kapat niṯ har bẖaj bavre. (1) rahā▫o. |
| Abandon your Yogic postures and breath control exercises, O madman. Renounce fraud and deception, and meditate continuously on the Lord, O madman. (1)(Pause) |
| ਸਿਧਾ ਕੇ ਆਸਣ ਜੇ ਸਿਖੈ ਇੰਦ੍ਰੀ ਵਸਿ ਕਰਿ ਕਮਾਇ ॥ ਮਨ ਕੀ ਮੈਲੁ ਨ ਉਤਰੈ ਹਉਮੈ ਮੈਲੁ ਨ ਜਾਇ ॥੨॥ |
| Siḏẖā ke āsaṇ je sikẖai inḏrī vas kar kamā▫e. Man kī mail na uṯrai ha▫umai mail na jā▫e. (2) |
| Even if one learns the Yogic postures of the Siddhas, and holds his sexual energy in check, still, the filth of the mind is not removed, and the filth of egotism is not eliminated. (2) |
