Yoga

Throughout this website (and the SwamiJ.com site) the word "Yoga" is used in its traditional meaning of spiritual realization, rather
than the revisionist meaning of Yoga as a physical fitness program.

See also these related articles:

Modern Yoga versus Traditional Yoga
Yoga and the words Hindu and Hinduism

Traditionally, Yoga (Sanskrit: union) has referred to the realization through direct experience of the preexisting union between Atman
and Brahman, Jivatman and Paramatman, and Shiva and Shakti, or the realization of Purusha standing alone as separate from Prakriti.
Yoga is the realization of union between the microcosm of individuality with the macrocosm of universality.
Yoga is the union of the
- Microcosm of individuality and the
- Macrocosm of universality
Yoga is the union of the
- Atman (Center of consciousness, Self; Vedanta) and
- Brahman (Absolute reality; Vedanta)
Yoga is the union of the
- Jivatman (Soul as consciousness plus traits; Vedanta) and
- Paramatman: (Self/soul as only consciousness; Vedanta)
Yoga is the union of
- Shiva (Static, latent, unchanging, masculine; Tantra) and
- Shakti (Active, manifesting, changing, feminine; Tantra)
Yoga is the dis-union of
- Purusha (Untainted consciousness; Sankyha-Yoga) and
- Prakriti (Primordial, unmanifest matter; Sankyha-Yoga)
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please see these articles:
Modern Yoga versus Traditional Yoga

Yoga, Hindu and Hinduism

Yoga, Vedanta, Tantra
Atman
Shiva and Shakti (including Kundalini)
Purusha and Prakriti
VIDEOS on:
Om Mantra and Mandukya Upanishad
Non-Dualism (Advaita) in Yoga Vedanta Meditation
Wisdom to Live By

Yoga means to "unite" or "join" the aspects of ourselves which were never really divided in the first place. It also means to "yoke" or
to engage ourselves in a self-training program. Yoga means working with each of the levels or aspects of our being individually, and
then unifying all of those into their original whole, or Yoga. Yoga is a Sanskrit word coming from the root "yuj" and relates to both the
processes or practices referred to as Yoga and also the goal itself, which is also called Yoga. As the goal, the word Yoga is virtually one
and the same with the word Samadhi, the deep, transcendent realization of the highest truth or reality.
Click here to read the Hatha Yoga Pradipika
Click here to read the Yoga Sutras
Modern Yoga Versus Traditional Yoga

In Yoga Each Level is Trained:

Each of the aspects of our being is individually trained,
balanced or purified by doing the Yoga practices
relating to that level:

7-minutes

Awareness then Recedes to the State of Yoga:

Yoga or "Union" itself is then attained by systematically
receding inward through those levels,
so as to experience the state of Yoga:

The Goal of Yoga: The goal of Yoga is the highest Joy that comes from the Realization in direct experience of the center of
consciousness, the Self, the Atman or Purusha, which is one and the same with the Absolute Reality. (more)
Terms for the Goal of Yoga: The goal or destination of Yoga is Yoga itself, union itself, of the little self and the True Self, a process of
awakening to the preexisting union that is called Yoga. Yoga has to do with the realization through direct experience of the preexisting
union between Atman and Brahman, Jivatman and Paramatman, and Shiva and Shakti, or the realization of Purusha standing alone as
separate from Prakriti. Each of these Sanskrit terms relates to the subtleties of Yoga as described in the various paths of Yoga,
Vedanta, and Tantra.