Description
Yoga (Sanskrit: योग, translated: "yoke", "union", "mastery", also "reborn") is in its broad context a Hindu philosophy that teaches mastery of the mind, emotions and body, in order to attain union with God.[2] In a more common Western concept, yoga refers to hatha yoga: a branch of yoga (hatha-yoga) consisting of a system of exercises. Indian scholar Jean Herbert also defines yoga with two closely related meanings. His definition is as follows: “Yoga is the state in which man is yoked to the Divine, that is, united with the Divine, as expressed in the word religion. In a slight variation, the word yoga expresses the state in which the ‘observable human being’ is also united with the ‘essential human being,’ that is, in which man has regained his true nature and lives in accordance with it. The yoga technique, whatever its form, is a discipline through which man strives to attain the state of yoga.” The Buddha is often called the Mahayogi, the great Yogi. The Maya teaches an ascending series of meditations and contemplations that lead to samadhi, the mystical, visionary ecstasy in which one experiences Nirvana (“without forest,” from nir “without” and vana “forest”). Furthermore, in "Autobiography of a Yogi," Paramahansa Yogananda wrote about the connection between the dust-dwelling Mahavatar Babaji, who, together with Jesus Christ, worked on the transmutation of the divine plan for the earth in this age. Their mission was supposedly to inspire nations to abandon wars, racism, religious sectarianism, and materialism. While Krishna is known as "gopi-vandana," the beloved of His maidservants, always to be found somewhere in the forest, the impersonal radiance (also called brahma-jyoti) is a derivative form of awareness of the Absolute Person. The religious aspects of yoga have been a significant theme in the dialogue between Christian theology and Indian studies that has developed since the 1970s.
