What does yoga symbolize?
Yoga is an art and a discipline. For others, it may categorically be a spiritual union with the divine. Some also regard it like fitness, workout, and conditioning of the body without much divinity attached to it, as per modern-day belief, fad, or fashion. Thus, the question: what is yoga about?
Nonetheless, it is, in reality, an ancient teaching in India delving into both spiritual and physical attributes of human beings, who are engaged in the practice of such discipline. Breathing methodology, physical workout, and meditation are utilized in the practice of yoga. According to Patanjali, a pioneer in classical yoga, it is the cessation of the modification of the mind – halting the mind’s thinking process.
Thus, yoga connotes higher consciousness with bodily execution, termed as poses, to indulge in self-betterment.
Why certain persons indulge themselves in the practice of yoga?
Individuals have engaged in yoga training to curb the daily stresses of life and hurdle health problems. Our lives are so frantic, and we need some outlet to release this negativity. Others, however, practice Yoga to attain higher consciousness and well-being.
It cannot be gainsaid that Yoga promotes numerous health benefits, both physical and mental health. Yoga can help you lose weight and condition your body, let alone attaining flexibility and strength. Thus, yoga has become the means to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Does yoga practice have a higher purpose and importance?
According to yoga practitioners, its complex and superior objective is to reach the perfect spiritual revelation, thus, achieving the connection with the divine. It is in consonance with Yoga’s etymology, which is Yui, meaning to join and to unite.
The highest goal of Yogis is his soul to be in one with the Brahman, the Absolute Reality.
The foundational objective of yoga is to enhance congruence within the body, mind, and surroundings. The practice of, and indulgence in, yoga acknowledges an absolute arrangement amongst physical, mental, and spiritual advancement. This school of thought has been inculcated in a true philosophy surrounding yoga discipline, and this learning has been effectively transferred throughout generations from master to student.
How did Yoga come about | Where did it come into being?
The root and ancestral pedigree of Yoga can be drawn from Northern India. It came about some 5,000 years ago reckoned from this generation. Rig Veda, an ancient sacred text and scripture, originally mentioned yoga. These sacred texts called the Vedas consist of four ancient manuscripts written in Sanskrit language.
In the Hindu Scriptures, the word “Yoga” initially revealed. It is found in Katha Upanishad, in Chapter 3 verse 11. All the Upanishads are connected and related with the Four Vedas-Rig Veda. The subject verse has shown us the import, significance, and goals of Yoga. It states:
“(10) When the five senses are stilled, when the mind
Is stilled, when the intellect is stilled,
That is called the highest state by the wise.
(11) They say YOGA is this complete stillness
In which one enters the unitive state,
Never to become separate again.
If one is not established in this state,
The sense of unity will come and go.”
– The Vedas
Who introduced yoga to the world?
Swami Vivekananda, who was a Hindu reformer in his own right, first brought the practice of yoga to a larger audience. He was an Indian Hindu monk: a foremost follower of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna.
Is yoga from Buddhism or Hinduism?
While not a religion in itself, yoga is connected to spirituality, hence, a belief in religion. Archeologically, yoga branches out from Hinduism and intertwined with Jainism and Buddhism. Buddhists and Hindus both recite and exclaim the sacred mantra ‘Om’ during their meditation.
What was the original purpose of Yoga?
The unique and inceptive approach of yoga practice, which is designed to achieve its purpose, has been interwoven into spiritual growth. It is an engagement to train the body and mind in order to witness man’s own nature by individual’s own perception and to become conscious thereof.
What are the Four Practices of Yoga?
Based on the differences amongst individuals and their respective temperaments, the philosophy of Yoga is very much aware of this variance. Consequently, there are many paths to reach Brahman, the absolute reality.
Paths to Brahman may be attained according to one’s temperament. These ways are characterized in four observances, namely:
Gyan Yoga
Bhakti Yoga
Raja Yoga
Swami Vivekanada took the time in describing these Four Practices of Yogas, to wit:
Gyan Yoga
Gyan Yoga (aka Jnana Yoga) is most depicted in the following enumeration:
First: Hearing the truth [Being mindful of it] — that the Atman is the only reality and that everything else is Mâyâ (relativity).
Second: Reasoning upon this philosophy from all points of view, thus, basing any discourse that revolves around the first.
Third: Giving up all additional debate and appreciating the truth. This realization comes from the following:
(1) being certain that Brahman is real and everything else is unreal;
(2) giving up all desire for enjoyment;
(3) controlling the senses and the mind;
(4) intense desire to be free.
Meditating, contemplating, and pondering always on this reality and retelling the soul of its real and material nature are the only routes in this Yoga.
Karma Yoga
The main thrust of Karma-Yoga is purifying the mind. It can be done and it must be done by means of actual work manifested in real attribution. Karma Yoga’s catchphrase is “Not I, but Thou”.
Likewise, no amount of self-sacrifice is too much for him. Nonetheless, the practitioner himself does this without any desire to go to heaven or gain name or fame or any other benefit in and from this world.
Bhakti Yoga
The effortless, wonderful, and most natural way of a human being is the expression of love. In the practice of Yoga, love is Bhakti or worship. Having love is also partaking attraction. The latter is the organic state of this universe. Yet, thereafter, culminating disunion undoubtedly follows.
Just the same, love is the natural stimulus of amalgamation in the human heart. While itself may be a great cause of misery, properly directed towards an appropriate object, love still brings deliverance. God is the object of Bhakti. It is indispensable that love must have an object and a subject. It cannot be without such.
Inceptively, love’s object must be a being that can reciprocate the same [love]. Perforce, the God of love must be in some sense a human God. He must be that kind of God so that he can effectively give back the said feeling and emotion to us human beings.
Besides the query of whether the subject God subsists, it is undisputed that, those who have love in their heart, this Absolute Being appears as a God of love on a personal level.
Raja Yoga
Raja Yoga is the method of religion in the same manner as each science has its particular method of investigation. Raja Yoga, being a method as described, is a science that is respectively applied according to distinctive constitutions.
The principal and main components of Raja Yoga are the Prânâyâma, concentration, and meditation. In this yoga practice, those who believe in God, an emblematical identity such as Aum or other sacred words received from a Guru, will be very insightful.
Aum is the omnipotent. The same means the Absolute. Contemplating, pondering, and meditating on the importance of these consecrated and hollowed names while echoing them have been the chief practice of Raja Yoga.
