This Article is From Jun 18, 2015

Prime Minister Modi's Yoga Consultant, H.R. Nagendra

Prime Minister Modi's Yoga Consultant, H.R. Nagendra

FILE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi practicing yoga

H.R. Nagendra, a yoga therapist in Bangalore, has been consulting with Narendra Modi, now India's prime minister, since the 1980s, and has been called in to provide training to officials serving under Mr. Modi, first in Gujarat and later in New Delhi.

He said he uses "cyclic meditation," a combination of yoga postures and guided meditation, to alleviate occupational stress and treat diseases, among them asthma, cancer and psychiatric illnesses. Dr. Nagendra says many people who take part in the training are able to reduce their medications or stop them entirely.

Dr. Nagendra is chairman of the central committee for the International Day of Yoga on June 21. Here, he answers questions from The New York Times about his techniques and how Mr. Modi uses them.

Q. When you were a young man, you quit your job as an engineer to take up yoga. What prompted you to make that decision?

A. I started doing deep meditation, more and more of sadhana. I got more and more convinced this is the way the world has to progress in modern science. I went to deeper and deeper levels to get the highest levels of meditation, samadhi, and that expanded my awareness. What is the difference between meditation and samadhi? I will tell you. In meditation you have an object of meditation. I was working on "om" mediation. I would go on repeating "Om, om, om" in the mind. The mind gets distracted again, it comes back. You go on practicing. Three hours, four hours, eight hours, nine hours. The mind settles down in that "Om." The state will come when you forget yourself and become one with "Om." Becoming one with the object is called samadhi.

It is a quantum jump in our consciousness, in our mind. You know, in a quantum jump, an electron is spinning around a nucleus, you go on putting energy in, and when it receives a certain energy, the electron jumps to a higher orbit. It is called a quantum jump in physics. A similar thing happens in the mind. Samadhi goes to a higher level, an expanded level in the mind. A tremendous amount of bliss. You become very happy. All other things become very negligible. The amount of happiness is large. You become so light as if you are flying in the air.

To catch a glimpse of samadhi is not difficult. But to stay there takes years and years.

Q. When and how did you get in touch with Mr. Modi?

A. When he was not even a minister or anything, he was then full-time worker [for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh], he used to come to Prashanti Kutiram [the campus of Mr. Nagendra's research center] in the 1980s, '84, '85. Then he has come several times to our campus. Then he became chief minister of Gujarat. I used to meet him regularly at least four or five times in the year. That friendship continues. He is a very remarkable man. He is very keen to see how we are developing scientific research in yoga.

He has understood the principles of yoga, and he practices himself regularly. Not only him - his entire cabinet of ministers and entire ministry, we used to meet. He used to call us to Gujarat for three days, and we would teach them yoga. We would tell about the principles of yoga, the subtleties of yoga. He is wonderful. He grabs things very fast, and he puts it into practice. Once he says something is done, it is done. He will never change. Tremendous willpower.

Q. From what you're saying, it's not just that he has one hour of yoga in the morning. Can you describe his practice?

A. From one place to another place he will travel. During the travel, say half an hour, an hour - then he will relax, then he will remember the inner silence, the inner relaxation, the inner blissful awareness, and do the work. I always used to remember Napoleon Bonaparte, the biggest of the warriors. When he was in the war field, he would get two minutes' time, he will go into deep meditation. He will have two minutes' meditation - he said two minutes on the horse he will sleep. Then he is full of freshness, agility and energy. He has his own practice, his own ways. Once you understand the principles, you will do it your own way.

Q. Indira Gandhi was known to be very reliant on her yoga guru, but Prime Minister Modi is a famously self-reliant person. Does he sometimes need you to help with the stresses? Does he ever call you and say, "I need you to help me now?"

A. I don't think that has ever happened. He has learned the things to be self-dependent. When normally we meet, we have discussion. We meet four times in a year. That's good enough. We exchange things: This is what is happening in our university. And he will tell us how he is translating this into action.

Q. Are you his guru?

A. I don't claim that. We are good friends.

Q. Is he the type of person who doesn't need a guru?

A. There are people who do not believe in a guru, and they will learn by their own reading, by practice. He absorbs from everybody. He learns from his experience, from the books, from all the people. All different yoga gurus he meets. He takes about an hour every day for his practice. Particularly he is very fond of our cyclic meditation. That's his pet.

Q. What is the relationship between yoga practice and God?

A. Yoga practice helps you move toward that God, if you want to call it as God, call it, or if you want to call it as pure consciousness, tell it as reality. People call it moksha vedanta. Moksha means infinite freedom, freedom from all tensions, stresses, diseases, bondage of the mind, bondage of the emotions. For example, when you get up in the morning, then you sleep in the night, you go on thinking and thinking. This is the bondage. This is the slavery. Can you tell your mind to keep quiet? It won't keep quiet. This is the slavery in which we are all in. Yoga tells you tell your mind to keep quiet. Can you do that? Ten minutes, 15 minutes, one hour, two hours, as long as you want? If you can do that, then you are a yogi.

Q. You spoke of expanding your time in the state of samadhi, or deep meditation. How deep can Prime Minister Modi go in this state?

A. He is slowly growing. We are all in the process of growth. We have glimpses of samadhi.
© 2015, The New York Times News Service
.