Introduction
Over the last few decades or so, especially in Western countries, many people have
become acquainted with Yoga as an effective way to become more relaxed and healthy.
The primary aim of Yoga, however, extends beyond the cultivation of physical and
emotional well being to promote a spiritual vision of the transcendence of mundane
existence through the realisation of the Divine, the Absolute, the Ultimately Real.
This transcendence can be interpreted as the ultimate healing, as it promises liberation
from the suffering and limitations of our daily lives and the attainment of our
highest potential.
The term Yoga refers to both the goal and the means of attaining it. In the first
sense Yoga denotes a state of perfect transcendence, while in the second it represents
the vast array of paths, schools, principles and practices that have been developed
to attain this end.
Yoga cannot be interpreted as a religion in the conventional sense if for no other
reason than its presence and influence in all the major religious paths that have
their origin in India: namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Rather than
being a formal or institutional response to the human desire for the Divine, Yoga
in its broadest sense is the working out of this desire in the life of the individual
spiritual seeker.
The great diversity in the many paths of Yoga cautions us not to be dogmatic or
rigidly sectarian in the way we regard the ends and means of our spiritual inclinations.
The nineteenth century Bengali saint Sri Ramakrishna is reported to have often stressed
that the fundamental goal of human life is the realisation of God or the Divine,
and that goal can be approached in an indefinite number of ways: 'As many paths
as there are aspirants.'
The impressive complexity that the full breadth of the tradition of Yoga presents
reflects this need for a multitude of ways to the common goal of liberation. However
there are recognisable emphases in this tradition that are represented by the major
paths of Yoga. The differences between these paths relate to how Yoga is conceived
and how it is to be realised.
For instance Jnana-yoga, the yoga of knowledge or wisdom, conceives the Absolute
or Brahman as impersonal and aims to realise the Self as identical with it. In contrast
Bhakti-yoga, the yoga of devotion, upholds the primacy of a personal God and seeks
a union that doesn't extinguish the distinction between oneself and God. Different
again, Raja-yoga maintains a fundamental distinction between nature (prakrti) and
the Self (purusa), and it is our ignorance of this distinction that causes us to
be bound to the cycle of rebirth.
The articles below provide an introduction to the principles and practices of the
major paths of Hindu Yoga, as well as brief resumes of some of the most influential
styles of Yoga today.
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