The meaning of yoga is very deep and is hard to explain in words. Life is the great school of learning through daily experience. If we cultivate positive sense and wisdom to understand these experiences, then we are practicing true yoga. In reality, we are performing yoga every moment of our life, not just when we are on a mat.
Yoga is the way we live our life. In other words, it shows how we should live to be a true human being. Every human being is constantly trying to adjust or balance the inner core believes with his or her outer environment. This process of being in balance is yoga.
Life is like a puzzle, full of questions. And we spend our valuable life to find out answers or solutions to these questions. But questions never end; the more we try, the more we get entrenched. Yoga does not give much importance to outer chaos. It is the way to terminate all these chaos by inverting the outer awareness inward and establish within. Yoga goes beyond object and subject; it is beyond questions and answers. It is to stabilize with our true Selves by self-realization, which is the only goal of human life.
The meaning of Yoga
The most well-known definition of yoga is to unite with God or to the higher Self. It is absolutely true! But do we know what higher Self is? The higher self is something that does not change within us. Our body, mind, sensual perspective, and thinking are changing constantly; but our true nature is staying unchanged, always.
So how do we realize our true nature? We usually say, ‘this is my body, this is my mind, and this is my senses!’ So, we are different than our body, mind, and senses. We live in this amazing temple called the ‘Body’ and experience this beautiful world through our senses. And then we interpret these experiences through our mind and intellect. These are only tools that connect us to the outer world.
Let us try to understand this concept by something profound that we usually experience around us. What happens to someone when he or she dies? The body is still lying there, no organs are missing, the same clothes are still on, etc. So what is that which leaves the body and all the body’s functions shut down immediately? Breathing stops and the life of the body is gone! In reality, we are that life or light which leaves at the time of death. Most of the religions in the world agree that we are nothing but pure light.
Yoga helps to realize the Higher Purpose of Life
Now the question comes, how we recognize that light, and how yoga helps us realize that higher self. It is the essential question! We realize at least one thing that it is extremely shallow understanding when we explain yoga as just physical exercise! Moving a few body muscles or practicing a couple of asanas do not support in realizing our true Self.
A true practice helps to gain mastery over the mind and senses. In reality, we are the controller of our mind and senses; but we work like being a slave of these. Instead of concentrating only on satisfying the needs of these tools, we should focus more on the higher purpose of life and use these tools as our aid to achieve the goal.
Yoga is a sadhana to detach our inner self from worldly chaos while performing day-to-day duties. It is the combination of spiritual practices to gain control over the body, mind, and senses. According to Sage Patanjali, we have to climb the eight-step mountain which is known as Ashtanga Yoga (Astha = Eight & Anga = Limbs).
Ashtanga Yoga starts with the first two steps – Yama and Niyama, moral and social behavior. The third step is Asana to gain control over the physical body. On the fourth step, Pranayama or breathing exercise is the best tool to reduce the number of thoughts and calm the mind. The fifth step is the practice of Pratyahara to master over all five senses. A calm mind and controlled senses allow us to hear the voice of our inner self, and we are able to establish a connection with it.
only after that, we can continue our journey to the last three steps of the spiritual mountain, Dharana to achieve one-pointed concentration, Dhyan to meditate on God, and Samadhi to be one with the Supreme!
Our true nature is Blissed Consciousness, Sat-Chit_Ananda, ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss! It is vitally important how we think of our self, just a physical human being or ever-new bliss. Dedicated yoga practice helps us to realize this knowledge of the higher self.
“The sins of identification with the transitory body and restless mind is the source or root cause of our spiritual self misery.” – By Paramhansa Yogananda
P.S. – Sivananda yoga style is the complete authentic practice which includes warm-up exercise, yogasana, pranayama, and a short form of Yoga Nidra.
