Real meaning of Yoga

It is a pitiable situation of the spiritual knowledge because people are giving lot of importance to the word Yoga while not understanding its real meaning. People speak about the six wheels (Chakras) and there is no reference of these Chakras in the sacred scriptures like Vedas, Gita and Brahma Sutras. This is the creation of a middle age scholar, who has introduced the spiritual subject in symbolic language. The wheels indicate the whirlpools that come across the ocean which have to be crossed by the swimmer who likes to cross this ocean like ignorance. They are like the attractive lotus flowers, which capture and prison the soul, which is like a bee. If Yoga is understood as the concept represented by this symbolic language in its true sense, then I am very happy to the present version of Yoga. But I feel very bad if you really think that there are real wheels or lotus flowers on the spine. You are not finding such things even through very powerful microscope after doing the surgery of spine. Thus you must always have the torch light of logic and science which must be used wherever and whenever necessary. But you should also know the place where this torchlight should not be used. In analysing yourself and in analysing the true path, you should always use the torch. But when you have recognised the goal, and reached it, you should put off this torchlight because you require blind faith there. Blindness means darkness. The quality Tamas represents Siva, the final form of God and the final blind faith is Tamas only. While reaching the goal, you require the knowledge and analysis. Knowledge is Sattvam, which is the middle divine form or Vishnu. The starting person is a human being, which is highly effected by egoism indicated by Rajas representing the first divine form Brahma. Thus the soul, the path and the goal represent the nature of Dattta only.
The real meaning of the word Yoga means meeting the Sat guru. The word Yoga comes from the verb "Yuj", which means the union. Sat guru is the human incarnation of the Lord. The Lord will exhibit the Maya consisting of the three qualities. When the devotees are tested, this Maya is mainly made of the full expression of Rajas and Tamas. Such Maya is used to test your firm faith and your assimilation of the spiritual knowledge. By this devotees generally run away and such Maya of the Lord Datta is very strong and He appears as drunkard and fond of prostitutes. When Kartaveeryarjuna approached Him with his defective hands, the Lord broke the two hands. But he continued in the service with blind faith and got thousand hands. Thus we should have patience in the tests of the Lord. Lord Krishna also showed several defects like steeling the butter, dancing with the women etc., to divert the devotees. In order to have patience in His tests without being disturbed by Rajas and Tamas, you must have pre-training in this world to raise your self beyond these three qualities. In fact the Lord is beyond these three qualities and is untouched by them. To get such kind of patience before the Lord, you have to take training in the world. In such training you will develop the patience to face these divine tests from the Lord in human form. Therefore, Yoga is defined as the union or achievement of this equilibrium unperturbed by these three qualities Yoga is defined by the Lord as this equilibrium (Samatvam Yoga Uchyate?-Gita). In the chapter "Atmasamyama Yoga" the details of such training are mentioned. You have to receive both the friend and enemy with equality (Suhrunmitraryudasinah?-Gita). By this you will treat the Lord with the same devotion even if He reacts as enemy towards you to test your faith. The Lord also tests your attachment with the worldly bonds with reference to His bond. You must prove that His bond is highest. For this you have to reduce the attractions in the world. Such reduction of your attractions is a part of Yoga and is useful directly before the Lord. You should serve the Lord without aspiring anything in return and you must treat both the respect and insult with equality (Sukha Duhkhe Same, Manavamanayoh?-Gita). You must treat both profit and loss with equality because when you approach the Lord you may some times get loss instead of profit. Without undergoing such training to achieve self control or Atma Samyama, one can not succeed in the tests of the Lord. Sudama developed such self-control during the poverty for a long time. He did not do any sin in spite of the suffering of his family members with poverty. Such training helped him when he went to Lord Krishna. He stayed with the Lord for a few days. During this period he never asked the Lord for anything. The Lord also sent him back without even a trace of help. Sudama never criticised the Lord for not doing any help. He succeeded in the test of the Lord and achieved infinite wealth. Thus Gita gives the real meaning of Yoga, which is the self-control without being attracted by diversions. Such diversions are these charkas, which are nothing but the obstructions to pass in the test of the Lord. This training is like one full year academic course and is very important. The test of the Lord is a matter of three-hour examination at the end of the year. If you have finished this training, the Lord Himself will come to you in human form, conduct the test and will give you the certificate. Therefore you should concentrate on the Gita, which is called as Yoga Sastra or The scripture of Yoga. The examiner, examination and the certificate are consequent steps, which will take place spontaneously on the divine will. Therefore the study of Gita helps you really on this day of festival and eating these sweets leads only to problems of indigestion. Praising the examiner with songs (Bhajans) also will not help you because the examiner is very clever and strict and cannot be pleased. It is better to hear His divine knowledge, assimilate and pass the examination. Such path gives you a dignity and respect to the divine teacher also. Instead of taking this royal path, why are you sorting to unlawful means of pleasing Lord by chanting His name (Japam), worshipping Him (Puja), singing (Bhajans) in order to get such certificates. Hanuman never did these things except participating in the service of the Lord. He never aspired any thing in return to his service also. He was made the future creator (Brahma) by the Lord and this is the highest certificate. Therefore you can get the highest fruit from the Lord if you practice Yoga in this world in your day-to-day life, which gives you all the necessary training to succeed in the test of the Lord.
Looking at the goal should not discourage you, because the goal is very far with so many difficulties. You may fear that you may not reach the goal before the end of this human birth. You keep on trying for it and be in constant trail (Sadhana). In such case the Lord will co-operate with you by granting you any number of human births. The Lord will do His part (Daivamchaivatra?-Gita). Even if you slip back in such a trail you will be still granted the human re-birth with favourable spiritual atmosphere (Yogabrashtobhijayate?-Gita). But you should sincerely put your effort and should not act artificially. The Lord is omniscient and you cannot fool Him and get the rare human rebirth.
One should not think of leaving the family members and house as the real spiritual step. You cannot get the grace of the Lord by simply sacrificing your house and family and claim that you have become the saint. The sacrifice should not be based on your effort and it should be a spontaneous consequence of the devotion to the Lord. Gopikas were wandering in Brindavanam leaving their families and the reason for such detachment was the attachment towards the Lord. They became mad due to the absence of the Lord and this madness cannot be compared to the madness of a person obtained by the shock of brain in an accident. In both cases the madness is same but the reasons are different. When Lord Krishna was staying with them, they neglected Him and were doing all their family duties. When the Gopikas were going to Madhura city to sell the butter, Krishna used to obstruct them. They were requesting Him not to disturb their duties. But when Krishna left Brundavanam they became mad and left all the duties. The reason for this difference is that when the human incarnation is near negligence enters. Only in His absence the devotion reaches climax and this is human psychology. Human form itself leads to negligence and if such human form stays constantly near the negligence is doubled. By leaving the families and by simply wandering in Brindavanam, one will not become a Gopika. Of course, in the Yogavasishtam it is said that an ordinary human being should stay far from the attractions and this will help the concentration on the God initially. But the actual attachment towards the Lord is the only reason for spiritual development. I will give an example. A boy is in love with a girl. In the beginning the boy would leave the house often in order to develop the affair with the girl. But one day the love reaches the climax and now the boy is prepared to leave the parents, house and a lot of property to run away with the girl. Now the reason for leaving the parents and property is love with that girl. Some times a boy having psychological disorder may also leave the house. Both the cases are quite different. But again one point should be remembered in such sacrifice. Sankara left His mother because she was fond of Sankara. This bond is a hindrance in the spiritual effort of Sankara. To avoid this Sankara left His mother. If His mother was congenial to the spiritual path of Sankara, Sankara would not have left His mother. Therefore, one should leave the house only when the atmosphere is opposing your spiritual effort. Even in that case one should try his best to change the atmosphere by preaching the family members. Ramanuja left his wife when she continued to obstruct him from his spiritual path in spite of his repeated spiritual advises. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa did not leave his wife since she was fully co-operating with his spiritual effort. Even if the atmosphere is neutral one should not leave the house and hurt others. Only in the case of extreme opposition one should leave the house and go away for the association of real devotees (Nachasanyasanadeva?-Gita).
There are three types of people. The first type of people are ordinary human beings who do not start the spiritual journey. They are strongly attracted by this world and these attractions are the qualities accumulated from millions of births in the soul. Such people are called as Ayukta (Ayuktah Kamakarena Phalesaktah?-Gita). The second type of people are called as yogis who practice Yoga and who have not yet completed the training in Yoga. They cannot sacrifice their fruit of the work to the Lord. They can sacrifice the work, devotion by mind, discussions with intelligence and any work with senses of their body like singing songs etc (Kayena Manasa Buddhya?-Gita). The third type of people are called as Yuktas, which means the people who have finished the training in Yoga. Such people sacrifice the fruit of work also along with the above (Yuktah Karmaphalam?-Gita). The aspects to be achieved by Yoga are the equal reaction to all types of incidents and the reaction must be only peaceful undisturbed balance of mind (Sarvatra Samadarsanah, Prasanta Manasam?-Gita). Another aspect is not to think of any worldly matter in leisure time. Such thinking will lead to loss of energy (Nakinchidapi Chintayet?-Gita). Another aspect is to realise the achievement of grace of God as the highest profit in the life (Yamlabdhva Naparam?-Gita). Another aspect of Yoga is to maintain constant mind even if a mountain of misery falls on you (Na Duhkhe na Gurunapi?-Gita). Another aspect of Yoga is not to have even a single worldly desire in mind (Nisspruhah Sarvaakamebhyah?-Gita). Another aspect of Yoga is to control the worldly activities to the possible minimum level because if God's grace is there, any worldly affair will succeed even with minimum effort (Yuktacheshtasya?-Gita).
The Lord criticised both science and arts related to worldly aspects (Vedavadaratah, Trigunya Vishayah?-Gita). The Lord says that both are waste since you are not touching anything about the Lord (Namyadastiti?-Gita). Such people are attracted to the worldly selfish pleasures only and not to please the Lord. The dynamism observed in such people is also not appreciated by the Lord because both walking and running in the wrong direction are useless (Kriya Visesha Bahulam?-Gita). The Lord is giving stress on the devotees to cross the difference between good and bad faced in the world. You should be showing the same love and kindness to both good and bad people and also love friends and enemies in the same way. If you praise a good person and a friend and scold a bad person and enemy, you have failed in the Yoga. Tomorrow when you reach the Lord in the human form, He will appear bad and damage you like any. Then you will scold the Lord also. For example the devotees of Vishnu criticise Lord Siva, since Lord Siva appears with the qualities of Tamas. This is very important essence of Gita that one will succeed in the tests of the Lord in human form only if he raises himself above the three qualities (Satvam, Rajas and Tamas). Therefore you should not be disturbed by the negative qualities or positive qualities in the world like insult and honour, enmity and friendship, loss and benefit, misery and happiness etc (Gunanetanatetyatrin?-Gita). Only such devotee can succeed the tests of the Lord and can please the Lord. This yukta state, which is the final stage of the Yoga, is called as the real sanyasa. Here the word sanyasa does not mean the external indications like saffron cloth, leaving the house etc (Naniragnih?-Gita). The sanyasin is that person who has completely sacrificed everything and everyone for the sake of the service to the Lord. Such sanyasin or yukta alone can be fully blessed by the Lord and enters the inner most circle of the Lord (Brahmabhuyaya?-Gita).
ParaBrahman is the unimaginable Lord who is speaking Gita. Such ParaBrahman is speaking through the mouth of the external body of Lord Krishna. The ParaBrahman or the Lord with His characteristics is completely unknown and nobody can ever know at any time (Mantuveda Nakashchana?-Gita). This Lord generates the power called Maya. The characteristics of Maya are awareness, force and work. These three qualities of Maya are wonderful and are beyond the rules of Prakruti or Nature (Jnana Bala Kriya cha?-Veda).