The reason why we practice yoga and follow it’s recommendations is reduce suffering and to live a better, happier life. Even in the modern, materialistic societies this is achievable to a large extent if we are aware of what is stated below. We encourage and motivate everyone to consider rather than consume what yoga teaches us, to live instead of acquire the philosophy that stands behind it :

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Materialism vs a spiritual approach: shift in values

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1. Spirituality and materialism are both seeking after happiness.

2. Spirituality seeks happiness within, materialism seeks happiness outside.

3. Spirituality teaches us to aspire for a more illuminated life, materialism teaches us to desire more material goods, material wealth, fame etc (abstract possessions).

4. Spirituality teaches detachment for permanent happiness, materialism teaches us to love our material wealth.

5. Spirituality teaches us to be selfless, materialism teaches us to be selfish.

6. Spirituality teaches us to love our fellow people, materialism teaches us to love our wealth.

7. “Whenever material things, money, worldliness, become the center of our lives, they take hold of us (preventing change towards real happiness in the process); we lose our very identity.”

8. Spirituality does not compare. Materialism is subject to constant comparison, the source of jealousy and insecurity.

9. Spirituality takes the help of material progress but is never a slave to materialistic desires. Materialism cannot see how spirituality helps.

10. Spirituality lives in the present moment. Materialism lives in the tomorrow’s world of endless desires and in yesterday’s world of inevitable dissatisfaction.

11. Spirituality enables peace of mind. Materialism, even with all the wealth in the world can never buy peace.

12. Materialism eventually becomes frustrated with its own limitations. Slowly, reluctantly and even unwillingly, materialism eventually turns to spirituality to feed its insatiable appetite for real happiness. IMPORTANT NOTICE: As long as spirituality is “consumed” it is just another form of materialism and understood as a “virtual, abstract possession”. It won’t make you happy for sure!

13. Materialism has taken over our lives if we are choosing all the time a materialistic way of life. This is because materialism is powerful and we want a quick fix solution to our (physical or psychological) health problems. Then yoga asanas have become a tradable commodity, sold for the ill. Then it’s likely seen on a physical plain ignoring mental and and spiritual aspects.

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Popularization of just asanas today, which even includes acrobatic feats, in our view leads to degeneration. It’s yoga and the consumer society where everything is for the consumer and everything has a price. Human’s wants are endless, fueled by her or his ignorance, greed, envy, confusion, obsession. In such an environment everything is planned and produced for consumption.

Above all the personal relationships have been the greatest stress of the consumer society, everything has become contractual.

Such a deterioration also can be observed in the field of yoga. In many cases it has become a commercial commodity, has been made materialistic. Many tend to have a very casual approach to yoga, try out and discard it. Hence, we really do not comprehend the true meaning and scope of yoga.

 

Yoga teaches self-reliance, to live a simple life, reduce one’s wants and live in peace within and with people around us. Yoga teaches us psychological detachment. Which teaches us to face life’s fortunes and misfortunes with equanimity. A serious student of yoga should think in terms how to bring less materialism and more spirituality into yoga, we ought to bring the spiritual dimension to the asanas.