The meaning, nature and purpose of yoga

Sadhaka : Will you please explain the meaning, nature and purpose of Yoga?

Gurudev : The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root 'yuj' which means 'to join'. Yoga is the science that teaches us the method of uniting the individual soul with the Supreme Soul, of merging the individual will in the Cosmic Will. To live in God, to commune with God is Yoga. Yoga is life in God, life in perfection, peace, lasting happiness and eternal Bliss. Life in God brings eternal Bliss. Yoga shows you the way, unites you with God, and makes you perfect and Immortal.

Swamiji : The meaning of the Sanskrit term: 'a state of union with the Divine; or an experience of oneness with the great Reality'. Yoga means to direct your mind towards God, to realise your oneness with the Divine Consciousness. It implies any effort that the soul may make in its endeavor to attain God. Yoga makes available to you the scientific method for approaching God. All the techniques, which eventually bestow upon the practitioner the experience of Divine Consciousness, may also be designated by the one word 'Yoga'.

If you define Yoga in the simplest term, it is the steady movement of the individual soul towards the Supreme Soul. Yoga is a steady ascent to the Divine. Yoga and Vedanta are universal in their scope. They are the property of all mankind. Yoga uses a technique by which you overcome the bondage of body through restraining your senses, mastering your mind, and controlling your thoughts and desires. Going beyond them, you reach the inner depth of your all-perfect and divine being. Yoga is a path that leads up to the state of supreme blessedness and peace. Its practices constitute the techniques for the purification and preparation of human consciousness for entering into the experience of the supreme blissful Divine Reality.

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