YOGA MEANS UNION WITH GOD – ULTIMATELY

 The word “Yoga” means “Union with the highest Nature (or Being or Soul or Self or God)”. (The word “Nature” in Sanskrit is “Prakriti”, which also refers to God, Nature being his field or body; also His proof of existence.)

The four paths to reach God in Hinduism are: 1. Jnana Yoga (Path of Knowledge); 2. Bhakti Yoga (Devotional Path); 3. Karma Yoga (Selfless-service/Seva), and 4. Raja Yoga (Meditative Path).

We note that each one of these paths ends with the word “Yoga”. This means that whichever path we take out of the four paths, we must always have the “higher force” or, simply, God, in mind, with the knowledge that – “Whatever I am doing here, I am doing it only for You (God) and not for my personal gratification or rewards”.

We have to think this way because we are here on earth only to repay our Karma dues – we have to make right what we have done wrong to others. Our faults in our past lives and also the present life where we can accrued Karma debts is in the areas of ‘thought’, ‘speech’ and ‘action’. It is only through one or all of these ways that we may hurt someone emotionally or physically, and it all begins with the ‘mind’.

Therefore, to repair our bad deeds, we have to do the opposite of what we have been doing in so many millions of our births – do right and good deeds. While doing these ‘good deeds’, not once must we think that “I am doing this by myself and for myself (or the one’s I love), etc.”, this means it is not “Selfless service”, it is selfish service.

We must think, “While I am doing this task or job or action, my only hope is that I get to receive the Lord’s blessings in pardoning and removing my Karma so that I may escape the cycle of rebirths into this world of suffering and achieve the state of Eternal Blissfulness, here today and ever after”. Isn’t this motivation enough for anyone to take this path instead of coming back to earth (in one form or another) only to suffer?

So, “Karma” is not a man-made thing and everyone believes in it. It must to be something ‘spiritual’ then, and if it is ‘spiritual’, we can only work with a ‘spiritual force’ to help remove it, otherwise we are stuck in it, like we are right now, this minute.

From the second we wake up, till the moment we rest our heads on our pillows, God has granted us the breath to do whatever we did through each day. Understanding that He, in fact, is the “doer” of “everything”, as it is stated in the Hindu Scriptures, makes us realise who is in control of the events of life and our very existence. Everything depends on the Supreme. If He is the One who gave us breath, then what ever we think that we are doing, by our own doing, is known as ‘ignorance’ in the Sacred texts, because He is the “doer” and creator of all that we see and do not see, hear touch or feel.

We cannot follow any path, that is meant to reach God, without having God in mind, and we are meant to have Him in our minds all-the-time, non-stop, constantly. And this “union” between the individual “Self” or “Soul” with the “Super Self” or “Super Soul” or “Paramatma” or “Brahman” or “Godhead” or simply, “God” (as we prefer to call Him), that is created through the ‘mind’, leads to our liberation. Moksha.

This is the “Union” that “Yoga” means – “a mental connection/union with God” or “Meditation on God” or “Mind converged in God”, without which it is impossible to liberate a soul. This makes this “Yoga” part the most important part to achieve liberation or Moksha and must be properly understood to apply whilst performing all our prescribed actions and good and righteous duties [good Karma] (in the name of the Lord).

“For one who wishes to establish himself in the divinity of Yoga, O Arjuna, he must follow the method of doing Karma [all work] without desires [not for their fruits/rewards] of any sort [selfless-service/karma yoga]. For, giving up all worldly thoughts is the path that will lead you to being fully and truly established in Yoga [union with the Supreme]. Dear Arjuna, while trying to be come a Yogi perform Karma [action/work] without any desires [unattached Karma]. After you have become a true Yogi, resign yourself from all attachments to the world).” – Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6, Verse 3

An article on “The Meaning & Purpose of Yoga” by Bhole Prabhu, on the internet explains: “The most important teaching of yoga has to do with our nature as human beings. It states that our “true nature” goes far beyond the limits of the human mind and personality – that instead, our human potential is infinite and transcends our individual minds and our sense of Self. The very word “Yoga” makes reference to this. The root, “Yuj” (meaning “Unity” or “Yoke”), indicates that the purpose of yoga is to unite ourselves with our highest nature. This re-integration is accomplished through the practices of the various Yoga disciplines (Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, Raja). Until this re-integration (union) takes place, we identify ourselves with our limitations – the limitations of the body, mind and sense. Thus we feel incomplete and limited, and are subject to things of sorrow, insecurity, fear, and separation, because we have separated ourselves from the experience of the whole”.

As you can see from the above explanation of the word “Yoga”, nowhere does it mention stretching or pulling our body parts; instead, it talks about a connection to be made, or a ‘union’ if you like, through the mind, then Soul. An infinite amount of body or muscular stretches will not liberate anyone nor make him spiritual because Yoga is a mental thing.

Joy Nandy