Who is Adiyogi?
Adiyogi is the first God of Yogic science. He is the Lord of Yoga, Yoga preaching and Yogic influence. Adiyogi is believed to be the existence of the first-ever person to have known Yoga and talks about the possibility of attaining the posture that can be attained by self-understanding, self-love and most importantly, self- inspiration. Adiyogi was treated as the first instructor of everything that could be connected to inner reading and understanding to implement the same to derive benefit.
Etymology
The term Adiyogi means the Start of Yogis. Adi in Sanskrit means beginning or start or first. Yogi means the one who knows about Yoga and practices it. Adiyogi, therefore, means the one who started the Yoga and Yogic culture along with preaching it and following it by themselves.
Story
Lord Shiva was sitting at the base of the glacier that melts in the Kanti Sarovar. He was deeply absorbed in his meditation when he attained the state of oblivion. He was so engrossed in his activity that he didn’t care about the world and its repercussions. Lord Shiva was only focused upon what he was feeling and what it meant in macro as well as micro concepts. Slowly, the onlookers started developing an interest in the formation and change Lord Shiva was going through. Some of them stayed, some of them got scared so ran away and some others stood to document the details. After a long time of staying in meditation, when Shiva opened his eyes, he saw that a lot of people were scared of what bodily transformations he was going through, yet some of them stayed and did not move to document all they could understand for the masses at large. He understood that these people were sitting out of respect. He asked them to go and not be a party to something they cannot understand. This behavior of Shiva scared more people at large.
Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe and the person responsible for all the odds and unevenness on the Earth, saw this and became tense. He knew Lord Shiva had discovered something beyond words and common understanding. He understood the need for continuous monitoring of Lord Shiva by someone who holds competence in the science of understanding and virtue. This, someone, had to understand all the basic traits of behavior like psychology, personality, attitude, emotion, prejudice, thinking and reasoning. Lord Brahma knew that it will be impossible for one person to embody all these traits with perfection and then be able to capture what Lord Shiva is going through and what he will preach thereafter. Thus, Lord Brahma created 7 Manasputras (mind-born sons) who were responsible for managing all the traits, mapping Lord Shiva’s mental procedure and documenting all the activities and changes they witnessed with and around Lord Shiva in his state of meditation and deep thinking. These seven saints came to be known as Saptarishis.
These Saptarishis went to Lord Shiva and sat near him. They kept absorbing all that they observed and made sure to keep quiet and give space to Lord Shiva for his state. When Lord Shiva opened his eyes again after some time, he saw that the seven saints, Saptarishis were sitting idly, none of them uttering anything, and observing him deeply. He took them for another set of devotees who were sitting in respect and awe of the process and he scolded them asking them to leave and never return. The Saptarishis knew they will be subject to such scolding and they held their grounds. Lord Shiva chose to ignore them and be engrossed in his adventures of physical and mental transformation.
Approximately 84 years went by and there were no signs of Lord Shiva focusing upon the seven saints. But this did not deter them. They kept their Sadhna and maintained their lifestyle so that they can be a party to Lord Shiva’s unheard transformation as they were directed by Lord Brahma. After eighty-four persistent years, Lord Shiva understood that the saptarishis were finally ready to handle the details of what they had been witnessing. He took them with him to the base of Kranti Sarovar. The way to reach the Sarovar was very difficult and filled with challenges. Each day, they had to overcome a new problem to keep up with the pace of Lord Shiva while descending from the peak of Kailash Parvat in the Himalayas to the Kanti Sarovar. It took them 15 days to reach the location where Lord Shiva was already waiting for them. It was a full moon day and on this day, Lord Shiva shared with these saints the new science and field of study that he understood in his deep meditation state.
This day came to be known as Guru Purnima, as, on this very day, the most coveted God of Hindu mythology chose to share the much-awaited details of his understanding and knowledge gaining with the audience he deemed fit. Lord Shiva then explained everything he understood and then asked the Saptarishis to go and travel the world with this knowledge and spread the word. The Saptarishis were not sure what to call this entire episode. So they requested Lord Shiva to name the knowledge gained. Lord Shiva coined Yoga, or the addition of everything together to make something different, even if not new or not unheard. He explained the term by saying that he gained all his knowledge in his meditation but everything he saw there was not necessarily new but was different than the normal perspective of the same thing. He also said that his knowledge would never be true and complete if he didn’t know about the world where he lived in. So all that he knows is all the addition and interpretation of pre-existing events. Hence, the preacher of Yoga is the starter of Yoga and Yogic science, therefore, Adiyogi.
Lord Shiva told the Saptarishis that they could take out 84 years of patience and learn a virtue but it will not be possible for normal human beings. So, it will be the duty of the Saptarishis to dwell in the culture and let out small portions of knowledge every day or whenever possible. Also, Lord Shiva told the Saptarishis to divulge the knowledge in different parts of the world and make it easy for the knowledge seekers to make it a part of their lives. Saying this, Lord Shiva moved on to the Himalayas and went to start new ways of prayers and device new sources of knowledge for some other problems.
Inference
Adiyogi is the first person to know, feel and understand the problems of the world and make sure to find a solution to the same. The inference of the same is that Adiyogi is the first Guru of the universe. Due to his understanding of everything related to the human mind and body, he was able, to sum up, all the experiences and activities in human life as Sat, Chit and Ananda – Truth, Awareness and Bliss.
The Adiyogi Shiva Statue is made and established in Coimbatore, India. It is a symbol of peace, knowledge and wisdom. It represents the 112 Chakras of the human body that can be activated the moment the person worships Lord Shiva and Adiyogi and follows the steps to the best lifestyle given by the Saptarishis.
Har Har Mahadev..!!
