What is Yoga?

Many people generally think that yoga means bending your body into a difficult posture and doing aasanas and breathing exercises. Yoga actually came from the term 'yoke' that means 'to unite'. The ultimate aim of yoga is to enable an ordinary man ( or a practicer) to get united with God, also called as 'Brahman' through process of self-elevation (sublimation and self-purification).

 The aim of Yoga is not converting a family man into sanyasi (a renounced one), but maintaing harmony in 3 ways:

1. maintaining harmony between body and life-force through physical exercises called aasanas, assuring healthy body;

2. maintaining harmony between man and society through moral life and eradication of evil natures in man, assuring social peace;

3. maintaining harmony between man and Nature through realization of the laws of Nature, especially the law of cause and effect, assuring life without suffering.

 Attaining everlasting consciousness, identifying oneself with universal spirit, self realisation and finally reaching thoughtless mind, called as Nirvana / Samati / Moktsha /salvation / Mukthi / Veeduperu/Enlightenment is the inherent spirit of Yoga.

 So Aasanas, breathing exercises and meditations are just preparatory stages in Yoga, they are not merely yoga as many people think.

Patanjali Munivar, (the above figure) is supposed to be the father of Yoga since he introduced Yoga systematically in the 2nd century B.C.