Goal of yoga
The goals of yoga are varied and range from improving health to achieving Moksha.Within
Jainism and the
monist schools
of
Advaita Vedanta
and
Shaivism, the
goal of yoga takes the form of Moksha, which is liberation from all worldly suffering
and the cycle of birth and death (Samsara),
at which point there is a realisation of identity with the Supreme
Brahman. In the Mahabharata, the
goal of yoga is variously described as entering the world of Brahmua,
as Brahman, or as perceiving the Brahman
or Atman that pervades all things.For
the bhakti schools of
Vaishnavism, bhakti or service
to
Svayam bhagavan
itself may be the ultimate goal of the yoga process, where the goal is to enjoy
an eternal relationship with Vishnu.
History
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
In Indian philosophy, Yoga is the name of one of the six
orthodox philosophical schools. The
Yoga philosophical system is closely allied with the Samkhya
school. The Yoga school as expounded by the sage Patanjali
accepts the Samkhya psychology and metaphysics, but is more theistic than t
he Samkhya,
as evidenced by the addition of a divine entity to the Samkhya's twenty-five elements
of reality
Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita ('Song of the Lord'), uses
the term yoga extensively in a variety of ways. In addition to an entire
chapter (ch. 6) dedicated to traditional yoga practice, including meditation, it
introduces three prominent types of yoga:
Karma yoga: The yoga of action,
Bhakti yoga: The yoga of devotion,
Gnana yoga: The yoga of knowledge.
Hatha Yoga
Hatha Yoga is a particular
system of Yoga described by Yog i Swatmarama, compiler of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika in 15th century
India
. Hatha Yoga differs substantially from the Raja Yoga
of Patanjali in that it focuses on shatkarma,
the purification of the physical body as leading to the purification of the mind
(ha), and prana, or
vital energy
ASTANG YOGA(
IN HINDU METHOLOGY)
-
Yama (The five "abstentions"):
non-violence, non-lying, non-covetousness, non-sensuality, and non-possessiveness.
-
Niyama (The five "observances"):
purity, contentment, austerity, study, and surrender to god.
 -
Asana: Literally means
"seat", and in Patanjali's Sutras
refers to the seated position used for meditation.
-
Pranayama ("Suspending Breath"):
Pr?na, breath, "?y?ma", to restrain or stop. Also interpreted as control
of the life force.
-
Pratyahara ("Abstraction"):
Withdrawal of the sense organs from external objects.
-
Dharana ("Concentration"):
Fixing the attention on a single object.
-
Dhyana ("Meditation"):
Intense contemplation of the nature of the object of meditation.
-
Sam?dhi ("Liberation"):
merging consciousness with the object of meditation.
Yoga practices in other traditions
Buddhism
Early
Buddhism incorporated
meditative
absorption states.
The most ancient sustained expression of yogic ideas is found in the early sermons
of the Buddha.
Yogacara
Buddhism
Yogacara
(Sanskrit: "yoga practice"), also spelled yog?ch?ra, is a school of philosophy and
psychology that developed in
India
during the 4th to 5th centuries. Yogacara received the name as it provided a yoga,
a framework for engaging in the practices that lead to the path of the
bodhisattva.
Ch'an (Seon/Zen) Buddhism
Zen (the name of which derives
from the Sanskrit "dhyaana" via the Chinese "ch'an") is a form of
Mahayana Buddhism.
The Mahayana
school of Buddhism
is noted for its proximity with Yoga. In the west, Zen is often set alongside Yoga
Indo-Tibetan Buddhism
Yoga is central to Tibetan Buddhism. In the Nyingma tradition, the path of meditation practice
is divided into nine yanas, or vehicles, which are said to be increasingly
profound. The last six are described as "yoga yanas": Kriya yoga, Upa yoga,
Yoga yana,
Mah? yoga,
Anu yoga and the ultimate practice,
Ati yoga
Jainism
According to
Tattvarthasutra,
2nd century CE Jain text, Yoga, is the sum total of all the activities of
mind, speech and body.Umasvati calls yoga as the cause of
asrava or
karmic
influx as well as one of the essentials—samyak caritra—in
the path to liberation.
Islam
The development of
Sufism was considerably
influenced by Indian yogic practises, where they adapted both physical postures
(asanas) and breath control (pranayama). The ancient Indian yogic
text, Amritakunda, ("Pool of Nectar)" was translated into Arabic and Persian as
early as the 11th century
Christianity

In 1989, the
Vatican declared
that Eastern meditation practices such as Zen and yoga can "degenerate into a cult
of the body".In spite of the
Vatican
statement, many
Roman
Catholics
bring elements of
Yoga, Buddhism, and Hinduism into their spiritual practices
Tantra
Tantrism is a practice that
is supposed to alter the relation of its practitioners to the ordinary social, religious,
and logical reality in which they live. Through
Tantric
practice, an individual perceives reality as maya,
illusion, and the individual achieves liberation from it.
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