Lalitha Kedlaya is a 78 year old yoga teacher in Udupi. She started learning yoga at the age of 60. She has trained many and has helped them transform their own lives through the practice and understanding of yoga as a way of life, rather than a form of exercise. A few nuggets from a conversation with her.
Retirement is the best time to live a meaningful life.
In retrospect, I was always interested in yoga, but did not have the time to pursue it when I was working. After taking VRS from Syndicate Bank, we moved back to our native place - Udupi. I had decided that my retired life should be meaningful. I am not used to idle chitchat and gossip and hence started looking for something to do. Near our house, there is a temple where they were teaching yoga. I started going in order to use my time well. As I learnt more and more, I realized yoga is not about the physical aspect. It is vast and there is much to understand. Through yoga, we can understand our inner emotions and control our mind. This attracted me more and more towards yoga.
I did not think of becoming a yoga teacher. My focus was only on practicing with full dedication. Irrespective of whether others would attend, I would make it a point to turn up and practice with all my attention.
Slowly I started teaching in yoga camps which were of 2-3 days' duration. As I started teaching others, I really enjoyed it, because I started learning more and more. Our own learning deepens when we teach others.
You are never too old to learn anything and when you really want to do something, you learn to overcome challenges.
My interest in teaching yoga led me to learn many other things. I knew nothing about phones and apps. During Covid, when everything moved online, I had to learn how to use them. My husband used to take me everywhere for my classes, since they were very early in the morning. 8 years ago, he fell ill. I had to depend on others to take me to the class. So I decided to learn how to ride a scooter. First, I learnt to cycle and then started riding the scooter to my class, which was 3 kms away.
Daily Sadhana of Yoga moves the mind inwards and keeps it undisturbed
When we do Sadhana (practice with conscious attention) daily, it has to be done with the correct understanding of the meaning of Yoga. When you do this daily, the mind starts moving inwards. Our mind should not be disturbed with unwanted things. Studying good books, cultivating good thoughts is essential to keep the mind peaceful.
If you are with good people, automatically you also cultivate that. We can learn a lot from others. If one is really interested. The first thing is to decide we want to change. Even from animals, there is so much to learn. They can sense our emotions. When animals can understand our emotions, why can’t we human beings do so? It In our hands. No matter what the circumstance, we can choose how we want to be.
We can only change ourselves, but that has to come from within. It is important to self-regulate. We cannot change others. We have to monitor our own actions.
To be of service is more satisfactory than earning and spending a lot of money
I believe that when we get money; we don’t get dedication. No one in our institution takes money. We feel this is a service to people. When we give service we get more satisfaction. Money doesn’t give this kind of satisfaction. We have never given much importance to money in our life. This was our way of life from the beginning. We were a big family and did not have too much money. My mother worked hard to bring us up, by selling milk, etc. We were taught to be satisfied with whatever little we had.
Discipline and the right diet is important for good health.
I am medicine free and have been to doctors on very rare occasions.
I am very disciplined about time. I am particular about starting my classes on time. All this is because of my dad’s upbringing. When we were kids, we had to get up on time. Diet and sleep had to be on time.
Once in fifteen days, we used to have a ritual of stomach cleaning. We would have a spoon of pure castor oil in warm water. Till our bowel is fully clean. Only then we would eat. We never went to doctors. For most ailments, we would have home remedies or herbal medicines. We include the skin and seeds of a lot of vegetables and fruits in our recipes, instead of throwing them out. Dinner is before 7.30 pm. Our breakfast would be the previous night’s leftover rice, which would be covered with water and left to ferment.
Service to others is service to God
Even in our scarcity, my father used to help the society without expecting anything in return. He helped many weavers. Whenever someone died and there was no one to carry the body, my father would volunteer to do that. For any community member, irrespective of their religion or caste. Born in a high caste Brahmin family, this was unusual. He worked hard to get electricity supply for our village. That nature has become part of us.
In my small ways, I try to be of service. I write articles, or stitch dresses to give to old age homes. We take care of those who are sick or dying. To us, serving others is service to God.
We don’t believe in offering poojas or giving donations to the temple. Whatever we have, we would rather give to orphanages or poor people or in hospitals. Why give to those who already have? When you serve poor people with food, they eat without wasting anything. Whereas in many ceremonies, the new trend is to make many dishes. People hardly eat them and it is all thrown away. It hurts me a lot to see such wastage.
There is too much intolerance now for other religions.
I love all religions. All religions teach us the same thing. My children would go to the temple every Thursday and every Sunday to church as kids. We participate in all prayers. I have the Quran, Bible, books on Buddha, etc. Every Friday, I do Devi puja. I read theTrishati and Lalitha Sahastranama daily. I read the Vishnu Sahastranama with my husband and read the Rama Raksha strotra daily. We have bhajans daily and every month there will be a bhajan in the temple.
Acceptance is important.
It is easy to live happily.
I never felt I had to give up on my dreams to support my kids or family. I never thought much about the future or the past. Whatever the circumstances, you have to accept and live without expectations. I don’t worry about what will happen to me, who will look after me. Nothing.
I would work and ensure that I gave money to my mother and to my mother-in-law. It would make them very happy. My mother-in-law lived in a village. Though I did not know any farm work, I would help her. Ours was a big family. We were taught to take care of the younger ones and to respect the elders. All my brothers and sisters love and support each other. If we don’t have an understanding with family members, how can we have it with others?
I have my pension, a house, good friends, I am satisfied. The only thing I want is to have a peaceful end. We avoid high living, and prefer simple living. We focus on what is really necessary for life and don’t think about unwanted things. Whatever we have, we use it properly.
Focus on your own thoughts and actions
When we have too many expectations and desires, we become unhappy. It is possible to live happily if we don't become fixated on how life should be and how others should behave. Instead of thinking about what others are doing wrong, we should focus on our own thoughts and actions. Look at who we truly are. If we are correct, others will change, but that should not be the focus. When we focus on our own inner mind and regulate it, it is the practice of yoga in every moment.
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