What is Yoga?

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First lets admit, there is a lot of myths and misconceptions floating around about what 'Yoga' means.

If you ask someone on the street to know if they have 'practiced'  Yoga and what do they understand about it, you will get a myriad of answers...

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First of all, while one may have 'heard' the word, they may not know much about it..

Then for those who have perhaps some knowledge of Yoga, to most, its a system of physical exercises, stretching, twisting of the body and some breath control alone.

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Well..while physical exercises, postures etc are to some extent part of Yoga, if you limit your understanding of Yoga to just the physical exercises alone then you are very far from the Truth. 

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So lets try to understand Yoga a little better.

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The word 'Yoga' is a Sanskrit word. It literally means 'Union'. Sanskrit being India's Classical language.

The system of Yoga is several thousands of years old and was developed over millenia by various seers, teachers and philosophers. Further, the words 'Yogi' and 'Yogini' are masculine and feminine forms of someone who practices 'Yoga', depending on their gender.

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Now going back to the question, what do we mean by Yoga (or Union)?

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Simply put, Yoga is aimed at the Union or concentration of all our Thoughts, Words and Actions to the One and ultimate goal of our Human birth which is God realization as complete physical, mental, spiritual Peace and Freedom from this endless cycle of Birth Death Old-age and Disease. This union is achieved by the systematic study and practice of techniques as developed in ancient India (and referred to as 'Yoga'). The authoritative text for Yoga is Bhagavad Gita.

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Impersonalists will call this state as Mukti or Moksha or Nirvana of their soul, which means merging of their soul with the infinite universal spirit leading to a state of perpetual Peace to their soul and the Freedom from the endless cycle of birth and death in various life forms. 

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Personalists will describe this Union as the state of eternal surrender of their individual soul in service to the Supreme soul - the Personal God. In our context the supreme soul is Krishna. So then, here Yoga means the eternal Krishna Conscious state of our soul in Loving service (devotion) to Krishna leading to a state of perpetual Peace to our soul and the Freedom from the endless cycle of birth and death in various life forms. 

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Note: while the end goal of the impersonal and personal paths may be the same (complete peace and freedom from cycle of birth & death) the key difference is that in the impersonal path, through yoga, the individual and supreme soul (formless God) ultimately become one indistinguishable formless entity whereas in the personal path, through yoga, the individual and supreme souls never become one entity -- they remain individual and separate but forever attached as a 2 way relation. This is the fundamental difference between impersonal and personal paths of spiritual practices. 

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So as you perhaps have guessed by now, Yoga is much more than just physical exercises and postures.

Its more of a system of practices and disciplines that involve an individual's

• Body,

• Mind,

• Buddhi                      (Sanskrit word for intelligence - ones faculty of discrimination or judgement)     and

• Spirit soul

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As such, the whole system of Yoga is aimed at the concentration of all of ones thoughts, words and actions through various practices that involve disciplines like

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• Physical exercises

• Breath control

• Mind control

• Intellectual inquiry

• Devotional services

• Detached Inspired Actions

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And no wonder, each one of the above disciplines has a specific name to it as explained below. I've listed here some of the commonly referred terms in 'Yoga'

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As you can perhaps see by now, Yoga is a much bigger and broader system of disciplines than simple physical exercises.

As an individual, you may choose which of the disciplines works best for you, appeals best to your temperament and nature and thats your path; Then again there is no reason why you cannot practice more than one disciplines in your overall pursuit of spiritual realization. For instance, a devotee (Bhakti yogi) may also be a householder (Karma yogi) and so on. And in-fact it is encouraged to practice as many disciplines as possible so your pursuit is not limited.

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One thing to note however that the Yoga asana system that most people relate to as Yoga is at listed at the bottom while Bhakti Yoga or devotional service is at the top of the Yoga system. This is understandable because in the beginning the physical posturing and disciplining through yoga asanas can help the students mind to become more grounded and ready for higher more subtle disciplines like Dhyana, Karma and finally as Bhakti Yoga. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad Gita as follows:

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योगिनामपि सर्वेषां मद्ग‍तेनान्तरात्मना ।
श्रद्धावान्भजते यो मां स मे युक्ततमो मत: ॥ 6.47 ॥

Of all the Yogis, who try to reach Me, the one who sincerely worships Me in devotion, him I consider the highest Yogi.

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Hope this introduction to Yoga was helpful. Heres an overview of Bhakti Yoga

And another Bhakti Yoga Discussion by Srila Praphupada​

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