What is Yoga?

Yoga for many of its practitioners is an art of living. For some it is the symphony of life. The term yoga is from the Sanskrit word Yuj which means to join or unite. The joining and integrating of all aspects of individual take its highest form when the mind, body, and soul obtain a happy and well lived life.

When practised well, yoga can give people immeasurable benefits. However, the original and ultimate purpose of yoga is to reach Kaivalya which depicts emancipation or achieving the ultimate freedom. This can only be experienced by a person’s innermost being, the soul.

As one gets emancipated from cause and effect or Karma there will be a continuous tie that will bond a person to incessant reincarnation.

Living the Kaivalya Way

The achievement of ultimate freedom through Kaivalya is to live in peace and tranquillity. And as a person lives in this state, an individual has also achieved absolute knowledge which in turn is considered to be the desirable life.

And so, if you will look at yoga with the consideration of its context, it can be identified as a spiritual quest. Apart from the spiritual emancipation that a person achieves, the candidate also experiences happiness and peace and gain knowledge and good health.

The Pathways of Yoga

There are four main pathways (Marga) of yoga based on Bhagavad Gita which can direct a person to achieving the ultimate goal or Kaivalya and they are:

1.    Jnana Marge the pathway to knowledge since there is a learning process  that will determine which is real and which is illusion
2.    Karma Marga or the path to selfless work
3.    Bhakti Marga or the path in controlling the power of mind
4.    Yoga Marga or the path wherein all activities of the mind and your           consciousness are learned and bring into control

Other pathways that can be followed by a person who wants to achieve ultimate emancipation are the following:

1.    The Raja Yoga more on mastery of the mind and the senses
2.    The Hatha Yoga more on controlling the will
3.    The Mantra more on reciting sacred syllables to reach perfection
4.    The Laya more on god absorption that will lead to ultimate bliss
5.    The Bhakti more on absolute dedication to god
6.    The Karma more on selfless work without expecting rewards
7.    The Jnana more knowledge, spiritual reality against the illusions of the material world

Finally as you learn the pathways of yoga, you have to know that there are no straightforward and precise limits that can be drawn to perfect the practice of each philosophy because as the belief goes all paths lead to a single goal which is the Kaivalya.