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How to recognise yoga exercise?

Authentic yoga is found in ancient, vetted scriptures, not modern commercial adaptations.

Yoga has become a commercial venture with many invented practices like laughing yoga, which are not in the śāstras. While personal practice is healthy and better than nothing, one should not be fanatical. To continue genuine sādhanā, seek authentic ancient literature. In the past, authentic texts were scarce and rigorously checked by Sanskrit and spiritual scholars for logic and proof. Today, anyone can publish a book, but that does not make it authentic. An authentic book is like a regulation, validated through scholarly examination. The core of yoga is well-being; there is no separate concept of "wellness yoga." The goal is simply to be happy through genuine practice.

"An authentic book is like a regulation; it has been checked by many scholars... and it has been proven and explained until it is logical."

"Yoga is always well; there is no separate concept of 'wellness.'"

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Unfortunately, in the last century, yoga began for many people as a commercial venture. They produced numerous different commentaries on yoga—postures, meditations, prāṇāyāmas, and so on. Recently, someone asked me, "Do you know laughing yoga?" I replied, "Well, in the śāstras, there is no laughing yoga." I do know one thing: for many years, an Austrian newspaper had a column titled, "Who laughs, lives long." That is in Austria, but by Śiva, nowhere in the scriptures is it like this, of course. The idea is simply to be happy. Now there are many different kinds of yoga. People just do something and call it yoga—wellness yoga, for instance. Yoga is always well; there is no separate concept of "wellness." So, dear friends, bhaktas, devotees—I especially respect through this webcast those who are listening to me—I respect your self-practice. It is better than nothing; it is healthy. Do not become fanatic. If you are practicing yoga or would like to continue your yogasādhanā, then please seek out authentic, ancient yogic literature. Authentic literature. In ancient times, there was not so much literature. Now everyone prints a book. Everyone types something on their computer, makes a folder with photos, writes something, binds it, and then says, "It's my book." You have the freedom to make your book as you like. But whether it is authentic or not is another matter. An authentic book is like a regulation; it has been checked by many scholars—Sanskrit scholars, spiritual scholars, philosophers—and it has been proven and explained until it is logical. Then, yes, it is accepted as authentic or potentially so.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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