YOGA
HAS MANY MEANINGS IN VEDANTA SOCIETY
The word 'Yoga' is derived from the Sanskrit
root 'Yuj', meaning 'to join' or 'to yoke' or 'to unite'. As per Yogic
scriptures the practice of Yoga leads to the union of individual consciousness
with that of the Universal Consciousness, indicating a perfect harmony between
the mind and body, Man & Nature.
Vedantin David Frawley writes about “YOGA AND REASON”
The related term #Yukta, meaning what placed in a state of Yoga, is usually translated as 'moderation'. We see this in such terms as yukta ahara, moderation in diet, and yukta vihara as moderation in action, for right intake of food and right expression in life as examples of the application of Yoga. Yet this is only a general approximation. Merely to be moderate in what one do means little if what one is doing is wrong or destructive.
Yoga is the highest form of reason (yukti), teaching us what is appropriate, harmonious, considerate and dharmic for the benefit of all. One who has yukti is buddhiman, one who possess the power of the buddhi or our higher intelligence, the ability to discern what is most appropriate according to the changing contexts of our lives. Yoga is not a matter of commandments or fixed rules but of conscious adaptation.
Such Yogic rationality manifests itself in principles like ahimsa. You do not want to be harmed. No creature wants to be harmed. So adhering to the logic of life and wanting to live, you don't harm any creature. Such yogic principles as in the Yamas and Niyamas are self-evident, rational in a dharmic senses.
The ultimate rationality of Yoga is not
an outer based reason or science but the rationality that arises when we
recognize and perceive the unity of all existence and the interdependence of
all life.
The
Four Yogas from the Vedanta Society of Southern
California
Meaning of Yoga
While in recent years the
word "yoga" has been heard more in gyms than in religious discourse,
"yoga" in its original sense has little to do with exercise.
"Yoga" comes from the Sanskrit verb "yuj," to yoke or
unite. The goal of yoga is to unite oneself with God; the practice of yoga is
the path we take to accomplish this.
Spiritual aspirants can be
broadly classified into four psychological types: the predominantly emotional,
the predominantly intellectual, the physically active, and the meditative. There
are four primary Yogas designated to "fit" each psychological type.
We should state from the
beginning that these categories are not airtight compartments. Indeed, it would
be psychologically disastrous for anyone to be completely emotional, completely
intellectual, completely active or completely meditative. Each yoga blends into
the next; each yoga balances and strengthens the others.
The Path of Love: Bhakti
Yoga
For those more emotional
than intellectual, bhakti yoga is recommended. Bhakti yoga is the path of
devotion, the method of attaining God through love and the loving recollection
of God. Most religions emphasize this spiritual path because it is the most
natural. As with other yogas, the goal of the bhakta, the devotee of God, is to
attain God-realization--oneness with the Divine. The bhakta attains this
through the force of love, that most powerful and irresistible of emotions.
Love is accessible to
everyone: we all love someone or something, frequently with great intensity.
Love makes us forget ourselves, our whole attention being devoted to the object
of our adoration. The ego loosens its grip as we think of our beloved's welfare
more than our own. Love gives us concentration: even against our will, we
constantly remember the object of our love. In an easy and totally painless
way, love creates the preconditions necessary for a fruitful spiritual life.
Vedanta therefore says,
“Don't squander the power of love. Use this powerful force for
God-realization”. We must remember that when we love another we are really responding--though
unconsciously--to the divinity within him or her. As we read in the Upanishads,
"It is not for the sake of the husband that the husband is dear, but for
the sake of the Self. It is not for the sake of the wife that the wife is dear,
but for the sake of the Self." Our love for others becomes unselfish and
motiveless when we are able to encounter divinity in them.
Unfortunately, we usually
misplace our love. We project our vision of what's true, perfect, and beautiful
and superimpose it upon whomever or whatever we love. It is God alone, however,
who is True, Perfect, and Beautiful. Vedanta therefore says: Put the emphasis
back where it belongs--on the divine Self within each person that we encounter.
That is the real object of our love.
Rather than obsessing on a
limited human being, we should think of God with a longing heart. Many
spiritual teachers have recommended adopting a particular devotional attitude
towards God: thinking of God as our Master or Father or Mother or Friend or
Child or Beloved. The determining factor here is, which attitude feels the most
natural and which attitude brings us
closest to God?
Jesus looked upon God as
his Father in Heaven. Ramakrishna worshipped God as Mother. Many great saints
have attained perfection through worshipping God as the baby Jesus or the baby
Krishna. Many have attained perfection through worshipping Christ as the
bridegroom or Krishna as the beloved. Others have attained perfection through
worshipping God as their master or friend.
The point to remember is
that God is our own, the nearest of the nearest and dearest of the dearest. The
more our minds are absorbed in thoughts of Him--or Her as the case may be--the
closer we shall be to attaining the goal of human life, God-realization.
Many people are drawn to
worshipping God through love and devotion. Yet other spiritual aspirants are
more motivated by reason than by love; for them, bhakti yoga is barking up the
wrong spiritual tree. Those who are endowed with a powerful and discriminating
intellect may be better suited for the path of jnana yoga, striving for
perfection through the power of reason.
The Path of Knowledge: Jnana Yoga
Jnana yoga is the yoga of
knowledge--not knowledge in the intellectual sense--but the knowledge of
Brahman and Atman and the realization of their unity. Where the devotee of God
follows the promptings of the heart, the jnani uses the powers of the mind to
discriminate between the real and the unreal, the permanent and the transitory.
Jnanis, followers of
non-dualistic or Advaita Vedanta, can also be called monists for they affirm
the sole reality of Brahman. Of course, all followers of Vedanta are monists:
all Vedantins affirm the sole reality of Brahman. The distinction here is in
spiritual practice: while all Vedantins are philosophically monistic, in
practice those who are devotees of God prefer to think of God as distinct from
themselves in order to enjoy the sweetness of a relationship. Jnanis, by
contrast, know that all duality is ignorance. There is no need to look outside
ourselves for divinity: we ourselves already are divine.
What is it that prevents us
from knowing our real nature and the nature of the world around us? The veil of
Maya. Jnana yoga is the process of directly rending that veil, tearing it through
a two-pronged approach.
An Unreal Universe
The first part of the
approach is negative, the process of neti,
neti--not this, not this. Whatever is unreal--that is, impermanent,
imperfect, subject to change--is rejected. The second part is positive: whatever
is understood to be perfect, eternal, unchanging--is accepted as real in the
highest sense.
Are we saying that the
universe that we apprehend is unreal? Yes and no. In the absolute sense, it is
unreal. The universe and our perception of it have only a conditional reality,
not an ultimate one. Under certain conditions, a coiled rope may be mistaken
for a snake. So, in a similar manner: the rope, i.e., Brahman, is perceived to
be the snake, i.e., the universe as we perceive it. While we are seeing the snake
as a snake, it has a conditional reality. Our hearts palpitate as we react to
our perception. When we see the "snake" for what it is, we laugh at
our delusion.
Similarly, whatever we take
in through our senses, our minds, our intellects, is inherently restricted by
the very nature of our bodies and minds. Brahman is infinite; it cannot be
restricted. Therefore this universe of change--of space, time, and
causation--cannot be the infinite, all-pervading Brahman. Our minds are
circumscribed by every possible condition; whatever the mind and intellect
apprehend cannot be the infinite fullness of Brahman. Brahman must be beyond
what the normal mind can comprehend; as the Upanishads declare, Brahman is
"beyond the reach of speech and mind."
Yet what we perceive can be
no other than Brahman. Brahman is infinite, all-pervading, and eternal. There
cannot be two infinites; what we see at all times can only be Brahman; any
limitation is only our own misperception. Jnanis forcefully remove this
misperception through the negative process of discrimination between the real
and the unreal and through the positive approach of Self-affirmation.
Self-Affirmation
In Self-affirmation we
continually affirm what is real about ourselves: we are not limited to a small
physical body; we are not limited by our individual minds. We are Spirit. We
were never born; we will never die. We are pure, perfect, eternal and free.
That is the greatest truth of our being.
The philosophy behind
Self-affirmation is simple: as you think, so you become. We have programmed
ourselves for thousands of lifetimes to think of ourselves as limited, puny,
weak, and helpless. What a horrible, dreadful lie this is and how incredibly
self-destructive! It is the worst poison we can ingest. If we think of ourselves
as weak, we shall act accordingly. If we think of ourselves as helpless
sinners, we will, without a doubt, act accordingly. If we think of ourselves as
Spirit--pure, perfect, free--we will also act accordingly.
As we have drummed the
wrong thoughts into our minds again and again to create the wrong impressions,
so we must reverse the process by drumming into our brains the right
thoughts--thought bof purity, thoughts of strength, thoughts of truth. As the
Ashtavakra Samhita, a classic Advaita text, declares: "I am spotless,
tranquil, pure consciousness, and beyond nature. All this time I have been
duped by illusion."
Jnana yoga uses our
considerable mental powers to end the duping process, to know that we are even
now--and have always been--free, perfect, infinite, and immortal. Realizing
that, we will also recognize in others the same divinity, the same purity and
perfection. No longer confined to the painful limitations of "I" and
"mine," we will see the one Brahman everywhere and in everything.
Karma yoga is the yoga of
action or work; specifically, karma yoga is the path of dedicated work:
renouncing the results of our actions as a spiritual offering rather than
hoarding the results for ourselves.
Karma is both action and
the result of action. What we experience today is the result of our karma--both
good and bad--created by our previous actions. This chain of cause and effect
that we ourselves have created can be snapped by karma yoga: fighting fire with
fire, we use the sword of karma yoga to stop the chain reaction of cause and
effect. By disengaging the ego from the work process, by offering the results
up to a higher power--whether a personal God or to the Self within--we stop the
whole snowballing process.
Whether we realize it or
not, all of us perform actions all the time since even sitting and thinking is
action. Since action is inevitable, an integral part of being alive, we need to
reorient it into a path to God-realization. As we read in the Bhagavad-Gita,
one of Hinduism's most sacred scriptures:
Whatever your action, food
or worship, whatever the gift that you give to another,
Whatever you vow to the work of the spirit, lay these also as offerings
before Me.
All of us tend to work with
expectations in mind: we work hard in our jobs to get respect and appreciation
from our colleagues and promotions from the boss. We clean our yards and make
them lovely with the hope that our neighbors will be appreciative if not
downright envious. We work hard in school to get good grades, anticipating that
this will bring us a fine future. We cook a splendid meal with the expectation
that it will be received with plaudits and praise. We dress nicely in
anticipation of someone's appreciation. So much of our lives is run simply in expectation
of future results that we do it automatically, unconsciously.
This, however, is a
perilous pattern. From a spiritual viewpoint, all these expectations and
anticipations are Trojan horses that will bring us misery either sooner or
later. Misery is inevitable because our expectations and desires are unending
and unappeasable. We will live from disappointment to disappointment because
our motivation is to gratify and enlarge the ego; instead of breaking the bonds
of karma, we are forging fresh chains.
No matter whether we are
devotional, intellectual or meditative by temperament, karma yoga can easily be
practiced in tandem with the other spiritual paths. Even those who lead a
predominantly meditative life benefit from karma yoga, for thoughts can produce
bonds just as effectively as physical actions.
Just as devotees offer
flowers and incense in their loving worship of God, so can actions and thoughts
be offered as divine worship. Knowing that the Lord exists in the hearts of all
creatures, devotees can and should worship God by serving all beings as his
living manifestations. To paraphrase Jesus Christ: What we do for the least of
our brothers and sisters, we do for the Lord himself. "A yogi," says
the Bhagavad-Gita, "sees Me in all things, and all things within Me."
The highest of all yogis, the Gita continues, is one "who burns with the
bliss and suffers the sorrow of every creature" within his or her own
heart.
Jnanis take a different but
equally effective tack. They know that although the body or the mind performs
action, in reality they do no work at all. In the midst of intense activity,
they rest in the deep stillness of the Atman. Maintaining the attitude of a
witness, Jnanis continually remember
that they are not the body, not the mind. They know the Atman is not subject to
fatigue or anxiety or excitement; pure, perfect and free, the Atman has no
struggle to engage in, no goal to attain.
The point of all the Yogas
is to spiritualize our entire life instead of compartmentalizing our days into "secular"
and "spiritual" zones. Karma yoga is particularly effective at this
since it won't allow us to use activity as an escape. By insisting that life
itself can be holy, karma yoga gives us the tools of everyday life to cut our way
to freedom. To quote again the Bhagavad Gita regarding karma yoga:
Thus we will free ourselves
from both the good and the evil effects of our actions. Offer up everything to us if our heart is united with us; we
will be set free from karma even in this life, and come to us at the last.
The Path of Meditation: Raja Yoga
Raja yoga, is the royal
path of meditation. As a king maintains control over his kingdom, so can we
maintain control over our own "kingdom"--the vast territory of the
minds. In raja yoga we use our mental powers
to realize the Atman through the process of psychological control.
The basic premise of raja
yoga is that our perception of the divine Self is obscured by the disturbances
of the mind. If the mind can be made still and pure, the Self will
automatically, instantaneously, shine forth. Says the Bhagavad Gita:
When, through the practice
of yoga, the mind ceases its restless movements,
And becomes still, the aspirant realizes the Atman.
If we can imagine a lake
that is whipped by waves, fouled by pollution, muddied by tourists and made
turbulent by speedboats, we'll get a fair assessment of the mind's usual state.
Should anyone doubt this
assertion, let the intrepid soul try to sit quietly for a few minutes and
meditate upon the Atman. What happens? A thousand different thoughts fly at us,
all leading the mind outward. The fly buzzing around suddenly becomes very
important. So does the thought of dinner. We now remember where we left the
keys. The argument we had yesterday becomes even more vivid and powerful; so
does the perfect retort that we've cleverly composed during our
"meditation." The minute we stop thinking one thought, another jumps
in with equal force. Were it not so dismaying, it would be funny.
Most of the time we remain
unaware of the mind's erratic movements because we are habituated to giving our
minds free reign: we've never seriously attempted to observe, let alone train
the mind. Like parents whose indiscipline has created children that everyone
dreads, our lack of mental discipline has created the turbulent, ill-behaved
minds that have given us endless difficulty. Without psychological discipline,
the mind becomes the mental equivalent of the house ape. And all of us, sadly
enough, have suffered mental agony because of it.
Mastering the Mind
While we may have grown
accustomed to living with an uncontrolled mind, we should never assume that
it's an acceptable, if not inevitable, state of affairs. Vedanta says that we
can master the mind and, through repeated practice, we can make the mind our servant
rather than being its victim. The mind, when trained, is our truest friend;
when left untrained and reckless, it's an enemy that won't leave the premises.
Now, instead of the
polluted lake we previously envisioned, think of a beautiful, clear lake. No
waves, no pollution, no tourists, no speedboats. It's clear as glass: calm,
quiet, tranquil. Looking down through the pure water, you can clearly see the
bottom of the lake. The bottom of the lake, metaphorically speaking, is the
Atman residing deep within our hearts. When the mind is pure and calm, the Self
is no longer hidden from view. And, Vedanta says, that mind can be yours. How?
To again quote the Bhagavad Gita:
Patiently, little by
little, spiritual aspirants must free themselves from all mental distractions.
With the aid of the
intelligent will. They must fix their minds upon the Atman.
And never think of anything else. No matter where the restless and unquiet
mind wanders. It must be drawn back and made to submit to the Atman
alone.
The mind is cleansed and
made tranquil through the repeated practice of meditation and through the
practice of moral virtues.
Popular wisdom aside, there
is no way to practice meditation without practicing moral virtues in tandem. To
try to do otherwise is as effective as sailing the ocean with a leaky boat.
For such a Herculean task
as realizing the Atman, all areas of the mind must be fully engaged. We cannot
compartmentalize our life and assume that we can have both a
"secular" area (in which we can live as we please) and a
"spiritual" area. Just as we can't cross the ocean in a leaky boat,
so we can't cross the ocean with two legs in two different boats. We must fully
integrate all aspects of life and direct our energies towards the one great
goal.
This doesn't mean that in
order to realize God a person must totally renounce the world and live in a
cave, monastery or convent. What it does mean is that all aspects of our life
must be spiritualized so that they can be directed towards attaining the goal
of God-realization.
Because raja yoga is the
path of meditation, it is--when practiced exclusively--generally followed by
those who lead contemplative lives. Most of us will never fall into that
category. Raja yoga is, however, an essential component of all other spiritual
paths since meditation is involved in the loving recollection of God, mental
discrimination, and is an essential balance to selfless action.
Meditation
As for directions on how to
meditate and what to meditate upon, such issues must be taken up directly with
a qualified spiritual teacher. Meditation is an intensely personal matter; only
a genuine spiritual teacher can accurately gauge the student's personal
tendencies and direct the student's mind accordingly.
Further, spirituality is
caught, not taught. A genuine spiritual teacher ignites the flame of
spirituality in the student by the power of his or her own attainment: the
student's candle is lit by the teacher's flame. Our candles cannot be lit by
books any more than they can be lit by unqualified teachers who speak religion
without living it. True spirituality is transmitted: only pure, unselfish
teachers who have achieved some level of spiritual awakening can enliven our
own dormant flame.
That said, some basic
guidelines can be given: any concept of God--whether formless or with
form--that appeals to us is helpful and good. We can think of God as being
present either outside of ourselves or inside. Ramakrishna, however,
recommended meditating upon God within, saying "the heart is a splendid place
for meditation." Repetition of any name of God that appeals to us is good,
so is repeating the holy syllable "Om" It's helpful to have a regular
time for meditation in order to create a habit; it's also helpful to have a
regular place for meditation that is quiet, clean, and tranquil.
''Present days, Yoga Education is being imparted by many eminent Yoga Institutions. Yoga Sadhana of all hues and colors is considered panacea for a meaningful life and living. Its orientation to a comprehensive health, both individual and social, makes it a worthy practice for the people of all religions, races and nationalities. Now-a-days, millions and millions of people across the globe have benefitted by the practice of Yoga which has been preserved and promoted by the great eminent Yoga Masters from ancient time to this date. The practice of Yoga is blossoming, and growing more vibrant every day.
The government of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gained the UN approval for International Yoga Day in 2015, has designated #InternationalYogaDay2022 as "Yoga for Humanity". #Purusha is a manifestation of the cosmic person, the supreme Purusha, the universe as one Self. The entire universe is one Being and Person, a single organic reality. We are all but different manifestations and functions of that infinite and eternal Self.
Yoga for Humanity is #PurushaYoga, a common humanity and consciousness in all beings and in all existence, including in every aspect of nature. The goal of Yoga is the realization of that Purusha or Self as our own true nature. All divisions in humanity and in the universe dissolve in that supreme Purusha.'--David Frawley.
Om Sri Yoga Purushaya Namah
--June 16, 2022
Appreciation:
Very nice description of yoga. Yoga as being practiced by millions around the world emphasizes body building more like gymnastics. This is wrong. It should be taught as a holistic development of an individual.
--A. S. Narayana
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