This Gujarati is not Jayaraj, but Yograj…. The story of a unique Gujarati

This article is written by famous columnist and journalist Ankit Desai

Not Jayraj, this is Yogaraj, a Gujarati

I have been following an interesting profile on Instagram for the past ten months. The name of the profile is Yogasutradhar. Although initially I did not know that this Yogasutradhar, who is doing yoga in the Himalayan hills, is a Gujarati. When I visited the profile, I came to know that the original name of Yogasutradhar is Jayraj Jadeja! Then the acquaintance started growing and as I followed his posts, one day I had a thought in my mind that I have to write something interesting on Jayrajbhai. Because the way Jayrajbhai lives his life, the way he does yoga asanas, the way he travels is something that can please and inspire anyone. I myself like his passion for yoga. And here I will also specifically admit that the fact that I have been doing pranayama regularly in the past few months has only been possible because of Jayarajbhai’s inspiration.

This Jairajbhai is a courtier, but he was born and brought up in Gandevi, South Gujarat. Until 2016, he lived a normal life, with normal goals, like most of us live. He did his diploma in civil engineering while staying in a hostel and then joined some company somewhere. Of course, in his childhood, his parents involved him in child development programs organized by Sathya Sai Seva Samiti, due to which he received ideological training and a little touch of religion and spirituality. But in college and later years, he almost became an atheist. Life went on in its routine. Earning some money every month and spending some money every week! Maybe one trip a year, and the rest of the days, entertainment meant watching movies, going to malls or shopping!

But in the year 2016, who knows what yoga became, he went straight to the Himalayas and there he practiced Vipassana meditation. Although it was Osho who led him towards this practice, whom Jayarajbhai had started listening to since the early years of his job and Osho had influenced him in many ways. And before 2016, Jayaraj had also done many Vipassanas. But this time, Vipassana was in Dharamshala and the atmosphere of the Himalayas was such that I don’t know, but the Vipassana of 2016 proved to be a turning point for Jayaraj. He says, ‘During those ten days of Vipassana, it was as if I had nothing in my hands. My life was running on some other force and instead of ten days, I stayed in the Himalayas for two months.’

Although Jayarajbhai did not stay in Dharamshala at all during those two months, but without any planning, he continued to roam the Himalayas in many areas like Manali and Ladakh. How he traveled from Manali to Ladakh in a truck in the dead of winter without sufficient preparation is the subject of another article. Also, from time to time, he also made other trips to the Himalayas. But today we only want to talk about yoga!

Yoga has not been in his life for years. He defines yoga at different levels. So here we will talk about the physical practice or what we call asanas. That yoga came into his life in the last one and a half years. Sharing the interesting story behind it, Jayaraj says, ‘Even after I left home, got out of the hectic lifestyle and started living on my terms, I started feeling that something was missing in life. It is not that life becomes perfect when you start living on your terms. Struggle (longing to keep getting something new) in life will continue continuously. At that time, I was a Manali and whenever I had any doubts in my mind, I would go to Rishikesh and whenever I went to Rishikesh, I would do yoga. Of course, at that time I did not do yoga with that much passion, rather I did not explore yoga that much. But at that time I felt that I did not get answers to the questions or doubts with which I had come to Rishikesh, but the more I did yoga, the more my questions were definitely answered.’

So at that time, Jayaraj felt an inner push that he should explore yoga more. So he turned to the practice of asanas, but at the same time he also listened to Osho’s commentary on ‘Patanjali Yoga Sutra’. Due to which he also developed a philosophical approach towards the scientificity of yoga, its spirituality and its practicality, and the physical practice of various asanas also started to unfold. He also talks pleasantly about how Osho’s commentary had an impact on him. He says, ‘Osho’s language is always simple. Osho teaches us only one thing, that whatever we do in life, we should do it in a state of awareness. But what about the day, we do not do a single thing in our life in which we are fully awake. If we are talking to someone on the phone, our ears are listening to that. Our mind is wandering somewhere else, our hands are doing something else and our feet are engaged in some other activity… Where are we awake? When I heard Osho’s commentary on yoga, I was shocked at the beginning when Osho says, ‘If you have tried all other paths in life, should you now do yoga?

… And I felt like this man slapped me on the cheek! Because this man had clearly said that if you are very stuck in many other things in life and you find all those things useless, should you now do yoga? And it was as if a turning point came in my life again and I reached Patanjali via Osho.’

Jayaraj shares another interesting story. He says, ‘Yoga may be a physical exercise, but ultimately yoga is also meditation. And meditation means being internally calm and fully awake in the principle of ‘here and now’ and enjoying life is the ultimate goal of all of us! Although not all of us are used to being in the ‘here and now’. But if we can enjoy that state even for a little while a day, then our spirituality will reach a different level. For me too, that was difficult. But as I explored yoga, I started enjoying the state of ‘here and now’. Hey man, do you know that while doing yoga, tears flow from my eyes? And what are the tears? So, gratitude! That you have started thanking the divine element that you have gone through this experience of yoga in your life!’

Jayarajbhai is currently living in Mysore and practicing yoga. He is not interested in statistics, but in just one and a half years of exploration, he can now do many types of asanas. Even now, he has not gone to Mysore to teach anyone else. But he wanted to teach and demonstrate the right ones in more depth, so he has reached Mysore and has been practicing Ashtanga sadhana for about two months for thirty hours. However, now it cannot be said that Jayarajbhai ‘does’ yoga. This man lives yoga. He eats only yoga and breathes only yoga.

Personally, I have learned one thing from Jayarajbhai that yoga is not just a physical activity. That let’s get serious and do yoga for half an hour a day. That yoga is not even a glam. Just by sitting on a mat, wearing nice clothes and doing two or three asanas, you can say to five people, ‘I do yoga every day.’ Yoga is as much related to our physical fitness as it is to our inner stability. The word ‘Keep Calm’, which has become very popular these days, and its multidimensional meanings, are directly related to yoga.

Ultimately, nowadays, being internally rich has become extremely difficult. And the lack of internal richness, internal stability is the root of all our suffering. So what if we take inspiration from Jayarajbhai and make yoga a passion? Many, many salutes to Jayaraj Jadeja. You are the modern yoga man of Gujarat. You have inspired me. On the eve of Yoga Day, you will surely inspire many others….