The Yoga Process and Its Goal

Millions of Americans love doing Yoga (hatha yoga more specifically) so much so that it is growing in popularity at some 15% a year. As to why I can attest with my own experience that I always feel so good and wholesome afterwards.

However, many do not know that hatha yoga is just one part of Patanjali’s eight-fold yoga system, which is also called astanga-yoga. The eight parts include: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. The beginning parts – yama and niyama – are do’s and don’ts, or prescriptions and restrictions of personal actions and behavior. The next stage, asana, is the popular part, and pranayama, or breath control, is also gaining in popularity.
The yogi then must withdraw their senses from all sensual activities. This is called pratyahara. Then comes dharana, conceiving of the form of the Lord in the heart as the Supersoul, and then dyana, or focusing the mind on the Supersoul as the object of meditation. The object of all these steps is to bring the mind and senses under complete control by conviction, meditation, and cessation from the senses, with the final step is trance, or Samadhi, and the ultimate goal is personal darshan with the Lord of the heart.

The word ‘yoga’ means to link, or connect, and the object of all yoga is to establish one’s eternal connection with the Supreme Lord. Astanga-yoga is actually just one of various yoga methods practiced in previous ages. Sri Krishna explains the system of yoga in the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita (25-29):
Some yogis perfectly worship the demigods by offering different sacrifices to them, and some of them offer sacrifices in the fire of the Supreme Brahman. Some sacrifice the hearing process and the senses in the fire of mental control, and others sacrifice the objects of the senses in the fire of the senses. Others, who are interested in achieving self-realization through control of the mind and senses, offer the functions of all the senses, and of the life breath, as oblations into the fire of the controlled mind. Having accepted strict vows, some become enlightened by sacrificing their possessions, and yet others by performing severe austerities, by practicing the yoga of eightfold mysticism, or by studying the Vedas to advance in transcendental knowledge.

Still others, who are inclined to the process of breath restraint to remain in trance, practice by offering the movement of the outgoing breath into the incoming, and the incoming breath into the outgoing, and thus at last remain in trance, stopping all breathing. Others, curtailing the eating process, offer the outgoing breath into itself as a sacrifice. All these performers who know the meaning of sacrifice become cleansed of sinful reactions, and, having tasted the nectar of the results of sacrifices, they advance toward the supreme eternal atmosphere. All these different types of sacrifice are approved by the Vedas, and all of them are born of different types of work. Knowing them as such, you will become liberated. O Arjuna, without sacrifice one can never live happily on this planet or in this life, what then of the next?
Because in this system of yoga one artificially controls the mind and senses there is always the danger of accidentally falling from the path of yoga back to sense enjoyment. An example of this sometimes given is that of Saubhari Rishi.

Saubhari Rishi was a yogi who followed the path of astanga. He performed various austerities and had been meditating underwater for a prolonged period of time. Once he happened to open his eyes and before him were a pair of fish that were copulating. Seeing this sexual desire was awakened within the rishi and he was forced to give up his yoga practice and find a mate. He married and became entangled in family affairs and sensual activities for many years. Ultimately however, remembering his former practice, he was able to free himself from family life, and again practicing the yoga system, achieved liberation.

Actually, the Vedas recommended the yoga system as the process of self-realization for former ages when people lived fantastically long lives of up to 10,000 years. At that time the world was much more peaceful and astanga-yoga could be successfully performed, but this system is impractical for our present age. Instead, Lord Krishna, speaking the Bhagavad-gita at the beginning of this age, instructs on the most appropriate method of self-realization for this age, that of bhakti-yoga, or devotional service.

The bhakti-yoga process, in contrast to previous methods of astanga-yoga, engages the senses in the service of the Lord rather than artificially restricting them. By the practice of such devotional service one not only satisfies their senses, but experiencing a higher taste than ordinary sense gratification. Thus the senses, being satisfied, are easily subdued and controlled, allowing one to focus on spiritual pursuits without distraction. This process of turning the senses from material attachment to the loving transcendental service of the Lord is another form of pratyahara, and pranayama. Bhakti ultimately and naturally ends in samadhi of being absorbed in pleasing the Supreme Lord Hari by all means.