A BIRD'S EYE-VIEW OF YOGA

A BIRD'S EYE-VIEW OF YOGA

A BIRD'S EYE-VIEW OF YOGA OF EAST

You can hear the word YOGA in every nook and corner of the world. It is freely used by those lucky ones who gulp gallons of champagne and consume tons of Caviar. But few have detailed knowledge of it. I am not here to state that Yoga is real or not real But to just state the facts regarding it. It is very important to know the whole story.

Even though Yoga orginated in Hinduism, YOGA has nothing to do with any religion.

It is a Sanskrit word but still it covers the goal of every religion and every culture on earth. When some one prays to Krishna , he is following BHAKTI YOGA. If some one prays to Jesus, he is also following BHAKTI YOGA. Yoga is like Physics or Chemistry; It is universal.

So, I firmly believe every one on earth should give more importance to spirituality that is developed through practicing different Yogas and less importance to religious dogmas.

We have to do things that will elevate us spiritually. We have to slowly eradicate negative thoughts and pump ourselves with positive thoughts.

Eventually we have to even eradicate “positive thoughts” and attain “thought-less state”. We have to raise our vibrations to higher levels so that we can deal with day to day problems in a very constructive manner. Slowly and steadily we will reach there. That is what Hindu salvation process is all about.

WHAT IS YOGA?

Yoga means “ Union with divine” or “Self Realization of the immortal soul or Atman within you.”

Of course, it has many other meanings too. The word Yoga came from the root word Yuj to Yoke or join. So yoga teaches one to join the individual soul or Atman with the absolute soul or Parmathman or God. The word Yoga is defined by sage Patanjali in his book Patanjali Yoga Sutra.

He summarized YOGA as CHITTA VRITHI NIRODHA.

CHITTA means MIND
VRITTI means VIBRATIONS
NIRODHA means STOPPAGE

So according to him, SELF-REALIZATION means

" Stoppage of Mental Vibrations or mental activity within a man."

Sage Vasishta told Lord Rama in the Yoga Vasishta:

“Chit Chalathi Samsare;
Nichale Moksha Muchayatha
when chit [mind] vibrates"

When the mind vibrates [when one thinks];

This whole world come to existence”

When the mind stop vibrating [stoppage of thoughts];
This whole world is destroyed;
And person attains salvation

According Hindu scriptures, all of us have the IMMORTAL SOUL or Atman within us and that IMMORTAL SOUL is an exact replica of the ABSOLUTE SOUL or GOD.

HINDU SALVATION:

Hindu salvation is different from Christian salvation.

Hindu salvation is known as self-realization and it is the process a person is realizing that he/she is indeed the ATMAN [ the immortal soul within] and not the perishable material BODY. In Hindu salvation, a person is merging with the PARAMATHMAN [ or God].

The process of Hindu salvation is exactly like a pinch of salt trying to find the bottom of the ocean. The moment the pinch of salt touches the surface of the ocean, it becomes the part and parcel of the ocean...

HOW DID THE CONCEPT ORIGINATE?

Hindu scriptures state that man's problem is FALSE KNOWLEDGE that HE IS THE BODY. So through YOGA one try to achieve the true knowledge that he is not the body but the immortal soul within The moment one realizes that fact, one is a realized soul.

All mystics were and are the people who reached that state of Absolute knowledge. Once some one attain that state, concept of duality like yin & yang cease to exist.

WHAT IS THE IMMORTAL SOUL?

All eastern religions believe that there is an immortal soul within a man, which is an exact replica of the God Almighty.

To give a perfect example, let us take the computer. Electricity with the computer is its immortal soul. It is constantly connected to the network electricity, which is the God Almighty. It is the electricity within any equipment giving that equipment individuality.

Same electricity makes electric iron hot and refrigerator cool….Get the picture!

HOW MANY TYPES OF YOGAS ARE THERE?

Basically there are four Yogas, or four different ways of self-realization.

1. JNANA YOGA - PATH OF KNOWLEDGE –through meditation and contemplation.

2. BHAKTI YOGA - PATH OF DEVOTION ----total surrender to God.

3. KARMA YOGA - PATH OF ACTION—path of unmotivated, unattached actions.

4. RAJA YOGA - PATH BASED ON THE PRACTICE OF PRANAYAMA AND THOUGHT CONTROL

There are other types of Yogas which originated from those four paths .

Such as Hatha Yoga - systematic exercises and body controls; Kriya Yoga - Psychic Pranayama taught by Self-realization fellowship, Los Angeles; Kundalini Yoga - stressing on serpent power within the body; Laya Yoga - stressing self realization through activation of Chakras or psychic centers in the body etc.

T.M. [Transcendel Meditation] is Mantra Yoga using powerful potent words for self-realization . ISKCON [International Society of Krishna Consciousness ] follows Bhakti Yoga or Yoga of devotion. They believe in total surrender to God. So too Christians.