What is Yoga?
What is the purpose of Yoga? The answers to this question run the gamut, from becoming more flexible to achieving full enlightenment. But before we explore those answers, let’s first define the word “yoga.”
The term “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root, Yuj, which literally means, “to join.” In the spiritual sense, it is the process by which the relationship of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul is realized by the Yogi. The soul is brought into conscious communion with the Divine Reality when it is cleansed of all lust, greed, anger, and false ego. Thus, once again made pure, the soul can begin to reawaken its original loving union with God. Essentially, the yoga system is a mechanical way to control the senses and mind and divert their focus from matter to spirit. The preliminary processes are sitting postures, meditation, spiritual contemplation, mastering the air passing within the body, trance, and finally realizing God’s presence within.
The Bhagavad-gita, undoubtedly the most popular work on yoga, characterizes the yoga student and the yoga master in these words:
For one who is a neophyte in the eightfold yoga system, work is said to be the means; and for one who has already attained to yoga, cessation of all material activities is said to be the means. (6.3)
A person is said to have attained yoga when, having renounced all material desires, he neither acts for sense gratification nor engages in fruitive activities. (6.4)
When the yogi, by the practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in Transcendence — devoid of all material desires — he is said to have attained yoga. (6.18)
The perfected yogi of “steady mind” is described in the Bhagavad-gita as follows:
One who is not disturbed in spite of the threefold miseries[1], who is not elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.[2]
The Bhagavad-gita is often referred to as the “Handbook for Humanity.” Never in the Bhagavad-gita has Sri Krishna restricted the scope of the Bhagavad-gita to Hindus or Indians. It is a completely non-sectarian treatise on the science of the soul, meant for anyone inquiring about the purpose of life.
The Bhagavad-gita was spoken to guide the soul on the path of spiritual advancement. Sri Krishna’s teachings in the Gita are presented as principles to his friend Arjuna, who is essentially representative of all other souls. The dominant teaching of the Bhagavad-gita is to develop a thorough awareness of God in every aspect of our lives, with Sri Krishna explaining three yoga paths, but then declaring that the single most effective path for enlightenment is bhakti yoga or the yoga of devotion.
Yoga paths
The three paths given by Sri Krishna are karma yoga, jnana yoga and bhakti yoga. The first six chapters primarily discuss karma yoga, in which the yogi achieves liberation by performing prescribed duties. The last six chapters primarily talk about jnana yoga, in which liberation is achieved by worshipping the Lord through one’s intelligence. Concealed between these two protective covers, like a pearl in an oyster (the middle six chapters), Krishna reveals the “most confidential of all knowledge,” bhakti yoga — the path of pure, unconditional loving service. He declares this to be the highest, the easiest and the shortest path to success, and for one who is fortunate to embark on it, the binding illusions of this material world are dispelled in no time.
The word yoga is also applicable in a secondary sense to the numerous practices that are conducive to the final fulfillment of yoga, and as such indirectly lead to final perfection. In other words, though a person in a superconscious state,[3]where the mind and the false ego are completely annihilated may be called a yogi, one who is attempting to achieve perfection in yoga is also called a yogi. Unfortunately, modern so-called yogis and yoga systems are more interested in the physical benefits of yoga. In truth, according to the Gita, the main purpose of yoga is learning to forget the illusions of this world. Therefore, a lusty, unregulated and irresponsible person can never become a true yogi.
According to the Gita, the highest peace that lies beyond the cessation of material existence is found in reconnecting with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is known as samprajnata samadhi, in which one’s entire consciousness is captured by the personal charm and beauty of God.
Yoga is one of the six systems of Vedic philosophy. Unlike so many other philosophies, this philosophy is wholly practical. Yoga is an exact science based on certain immutable Laws of Nature. Yoga is respected all over the world because it contains the secrets to unlock the realms of peace, bliss, and spiritual satisfaction. Indeed, many great philosophers, mystics and scholars of the West found solace in the science of yoga. There is even speculation that Jesus Christ was a yogi of a superior order. The compiler of the yoga sutras[4], Patanjali Maharishi, who lived about one hundred and fifty years before Jesus Christ, was not only a philosopher and a yogi but a physician as well.
The perfection of yoga
The highest stage of yoga is a state of absolute peace wherein there is neither bodily attachment nor mundane desire, but complete satisfaction of the soul. Yoga can teach us how to control the flickering nature of the mind and attain liberation. A yogi who attains such a state becomes freed from the cycle of reincarnation, with the concomitant evils of birth, disease, old age, and death, and achieves liberation. However, liberation from the bonds of material entanglement is not the aim of a true yogi. Bilvamangala Thakura,[5] who in early life had followed the path of impersonalism,[6] but later adopted the devotional path (bhakti)[7] of worshipping a personal form of God, explains:
If one develops his natural devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, mukti (liberation) stands before him with folded hands to offer all kinds of service.
In other words, a bhakti (devotional) yogi is already liberated. There is no need to aspire for different types of liberation. The pure devotee of God automatically achieves liberation, even without desiring it.
The impersonal philosopher believes that spiritual perfection or liberation is attained when the individuality is lost. In other words, everything becomes one, and there is no difference between the knower, the knowable, and knowledge. But by careful analysis, we can see that this is a false argument. Individuality is never lost, even when one thinks that these three principles are merged into one, because the very concept that the three merge into one is another form of knowledge, and since the perceiver of the knowledge still exists, how can one honestly claim that all three have become one? The individual soul who perceives this knowledge still remains an individual. Whether in the material realm or the spiritual dimension the individuality continues; the only difference is in the quality of the identity.
Yoga lifestyle
Equanimity, serenity, and gratitude are all found in yoga. Indeed, anything by which the highest in life can be attained is also a type of yoga. Yoga is thus all-inclusive and universal in its application, leading to all-round perfection of body, mind, and soul. Pure food can therefore also be used to achieve success in yoga. In fact, all the yoga traditions of the world demand it, advocating a pure diet of fruits, vegetables, and grains. Since equanimity and peacefulness are so essential to yoga, the killing of animals is clearly unjustifiable.
Yoga is primarily a way of life, not something that is divorced from life. Yoga is not inaction, but rather pure action with pure attitude. Yoga is not running away from home and human habitation, but a process of molding one’s devotion to home, occupation, and society with a new and divinely inspired understanding. Yoga is not a renunciation of life, but a spiritualization of life. Controlling the mind and senses is fundamental to all yoga practice. Yoga is never about becoming a human “pretzel,” nor is it meant for increasing sexual powers. Yoga’s only purpose is to reawaken our divine nature and reunite us with God.
Enlightened Karma Yoga
Karma yoga is essentially acting or performing one’s dharma, or duty, without concern for results or thought of profit — a sort of selfless sacrifice of action to the Supreme. In a more modern interpretation, Karma yoga can be viewed as duty-bound deeds performed without allowing the result to affect one’s attitude. In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna advocates Nishkam Karma (Selfless Action) as the ideal path to realize the Absolute Truth. Performing allocated work without expectations, motive, or thinking about the outcome will purify one’s mind and gradually make an individual fit to see the long-term benefits of renouncing the work itself. This enlightened karma yoga concept is vividly described in the following verses from the Gita:
You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. (2.47)
Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga. (2.48)
To achieve true liberation, one must control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy gross sensual pleasures independent of a thorough understanding of one’s spiritual nature. The following verses illustrate this:
While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment, lust develops, and from lust, anger arises. (2.62)
From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool. (2.63)
By raising one’s consciousness to the highest level, one can know that everything, including food, has a divine reality. Those who lack such a comprehensive spiritual understanding may try to renounce so-called “material” objects, but although they desire liberation from matter, they are not able to attain the perfect stage of renunciation. Their so-called renunciation is called phalgu, or artificial, according to the Gita.
On the other hand, a truly enlightened person is aware of the divine essence of all things and therefore knows how to reconnect everything to its original divine purpose. He does not, therefore, become a victim of materialistic consciousness. For example, to an impersonalist,[8] God is formless energy and therefore cannot eat. Whereas such an impersonalist tries to avoid tasty edibles, a personalist (or bhakti yogi) knows that God, being unlimited, is also the Supreme Enjoyer and therefore can eat all that is offered in devotion.
After offering suitable food or preparations to a personal form of God, a devotee accepts the remnants, known as prasadam, whereas the impersonalist rejects prasadam as material. The Bhagavad-gita claims that an impersonalist may rise up to the point of liberation, but because they have not reached a state of absolute satisfaction, they must take birth again.
Excerpt from FOOD YOGA — Nourishing Body, Mind, and Soul
Footnotes —
[1] The three-fold miseries are suffering caused by nature, our body, or by other living entities.
[2] Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Verse (2.56)
[3] A state of complete loving union with God.
[4] Yoga sutras: a collection of aphorisms on yoga practice.
[5] The author of Sri Krishna Karnamrutham is Vilvamangalam Swamiyar. (AD 1268–1369)
[6] According to Advaita Vedanta, the attainment of liberation coincides with the realization of the unreality of personal self and the simultaneous revelation of an ‘Impersonal Truth’ as the source of all spiritual and phenomenal existence.
[7] In the Vaisnava traditions, the perfection of liberation is defined as the loving, eternal union with God (Ishvara). The bhakti yogi attains the abode of the Supreme Lord in a perfected state but maintains his or her individuality, with a spiritual form, personality, tastes, and so on.
[8] One who does not accept that God has a form.
