Isha Yoga

I attended the Isha Inner Engineering class last weekend. 

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's arguments (as per my understanding) : 

1. To achieve your highest potential as a human being you need to use abilities other than the ones you are conscious about. For this, you need to strengthen your body and mind using ancient Indian practices of yoga and meditation.  Anyways there is proof (by the scientific method) that yoga and meditation can only help the physical well being of a person. 

2. When people become meditative and are able to expand their minds beyond their immediate physical compulsions they automatically become better citizens of the world. 

3. Yoga and meditation are not at the cost of regular life activities. They are in addition and should aid one's life goals. 

I have been trying to reconcile skeptical responses to what was proposed and here are my thoughts : 

Any goal we set for our lives has to be rooted in some understanding of who we are. So far we know that one possibility is that we (life on earth) are a random chemical reaction in space and similar chemical reactions are likely to have occurred in other points in space. Humans in particular were successful by being social and by learning to communicate. 

So a person could continue to live by trying to make a good life for oneself. Social norms will make sure that you are not able to prey on others. In this lifestyle we rely on civility to curb our animal instincts. Civility is valued by humans only when the question of their survival is not dominant in their minds. So we try to establish a relatively safe and healthy society to the best of our ability. 

Now, lets say, one of us discovers a way to accelerate this process and increase our mental acuity. Wouldn't we try to learn this technique and enhance our lives as individuals and as a society. However if this method is not completely in line with the approach (rationality) that has made us a successful species, could we argue that its not worth pursuing? A rational approach would be to examine a theory that had been accepted by a part of the species (Yoga in India) at some point in the past and if it has merits, then employ those for betterment of individuals and the society. 

Remember, we are being civil and social to achieve individual happiness and pleasure. If this non-rational (although I think its very much rational in its approach only seems irrational in the conclusions it draws - and that too because the conclusions about human experiences are very personal and so cannot find a reliable group expression - its like the philosophical question about the experience of the color "red".) approach additionally promises that, by allowing us to see our complete nature (sub-conscious, conscious, physical and any others that might be) it can help us achieve happiness and pleasure for no cost, then why should we object to trying it. 

There is a valid fear that proponents and teachers of this theory could gain power over people and take undue advantage of the students. India is a living example of this phenomenon. Unfortunately there is not much we can do as a society to stop brain-washing - even a good educational system might not guarantee rational citizens.

For an individual the simple test is to not believe in a ritual just because someone is suggesting it. Experimenting is cheap and risk-free in the case its a breathing technique or an exercise. With these basic suggestions if one does not feel any improvements then there should not be any motivation to trust the proponent of the idea.