Yoga is derived from the word "Yuj" which means to unite.



Union with Cosmic Creative Intelligence is the aim of Yoga.

The Fourfold Yoga has been prescribed for Cosmic Union in

Oriental Philosophies. They are

1. Union via Action ( Karma Yoga ) 2. Union via Psychic

Control ( Raja Yoga ) 3. Union via Universal Love ( Bhakthi

Yoga ) 4. Union via Wisdom ( Jnana Yoga )

Union via Action is for the person of active temparament.

Union via Psychic Contro is for the person of adventurous

temparament Union via Universal Love is for the person of

emotional temparament. Union via Wisdom is for the person

of intellectual temparament.

These four paths are not different from one another. They

are all part of the Fourfold Yoga.

Certain qualities are to be inculcated in the seeker if he

is to achieve the Ultimate Goal.

Prajna has been defined as the discriminative intellect.

When the intellect discriminates between the Real & the

Unreal. The intellect which discriminates between Being and

Non-Being. This quality should be incorporated by the

Intellectual Man if he is to progress in the path of Jnana

Yoga.

Love is defined as the greatest of all the positive

qualities of man. This quality is to be incorporated by the

Emotional Man if he is to progress in the field of Bhakthi

Yoga.

Control of Mind or Psychic Control through Raja Yoga should

be incorporated by the Adventurous Man if he is to progress

in the field of Raja Yoga.

Selfless Service should be incorporated by the Active Man if

he is to progress in the field of Karma Yoga.

In other words, since the Fourfold Yoga has been prescribed

for mankind , all these four great qualities - Selfless

service, love, psychic control & the discriminative

intellect should be incorporated by the spiritual aspirant

to develop in the field of Yoga.

Yoga was defined by Aurobindo as a methodic process towards

self-perfection through a development of the latent

potential at the five levels of Being - physical, vital,

mental, intellectual & spiritual. Normal man lives only in

the first three sheaths - physical, vital & mental. Only

when we use our hidden spiritual potential - the

intellectual & the bliss sheaths - can be unfold our full

mental potential.

The Seven States of Consciousness

Man lives in 3 relative states of Consciousnes- waking,

dreaming & Dreamless sleep known in Sanskrit as Jagrata,

Swapna & Sushupti. Now there is a Transcendental state of

Consciousness known as the Fourth ( Tureeya ) & there are

still higher states of Consciousness.

These are the seven states

1 .Waking 2. Dreaming ( REM sleep ) 3. Dreamless Sleep (

non- REM ) 4. Transcendental Consciousness ( T C) 5.

Cosmic Consciousness ( C C ) 6. Glorified State of Cosmic

Consciousness ( G C ) 7. Unified State of Cosmic

Consciousness ( U C )

In his Phd Thesis "The physiological effects of

Transcendental Meditation, a Proposed Fourth Major state of

Consciousness " Dr Robert Keith Wallace proved the existence

of a fourth major state of Consciousness ( T C ).

Cosmic Consciousness is a state where TC & the 3 relative

states coexist. More information about Transcendental

Philosophy & Yoga can be had from

http://www.astrologiavedica.com/html/yogamain.htm

The way to achieving Higher States of Consciousness- The

Triune Meditation

Meditation is threefold

1. Physical Meditation

2. Verbal Meditation

3. Mental Meditation.

Reverence to preceptors & Yogis, worhsip of one's Tutelary

Deity, observance of Continence, non-violence - all these

constitute Physical Meditation. Speaking kind words and not

hurting anyone, Observance of Truth, Self-Study ( serious

study of the Self ) - all these constitute Verbal

Meditation.

Mental Meditation - Mental cheerfulness, humility,

observance of Silence, mastery of the sense organs, purity

of heart - all these constitute Mental Meditation.

The aim of Nature is to effect Super-Nature and the aim of

Yoga is Self_ Actualisation. The Goal of Life is

Self-Realisation, and in order to unfold our true potential,

we have to follow the Fourfold Path.

He still keeps to the high & difficult road That sole leads

to the Eternal's peaks!

Without Knowledge, without service, without psychic control

& finally Love, who have ever realised his Self ?

And what is prerequisite for this Self_Realisation ?

Sacrifice !

Only by hard sacrifice is high heaven earned ( Aurobindo ).

Attachment to the sensory world is Bondage. Sacrifice alone

can give us Liberation or Self_Actualisation and the

Ultimate Bliss.

Earth's pains are the ransom of its prisoned delights For

Joy and not for sorrow was earth made ( Aurobindo )

By sacrifice, we become the Self_Actualising person of

Abraham Maslow living in the widest possible frame of

reference.

He who to none and nowhere overbound By ties of flesh,

takes evil things and good Neither desponding nor exulting

such Bears Wisdom's plainest mark ! ( The Song Celestial )

About the Land of Wisdom, extolled by Western scholars

Walt Whitman said

To India, to primal thought To Reason's early paradise Of

Wisdom's birth and innocent intuitions Of a fair creation.

Mark Twain said: " India is, the cradle of the human race,

the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the

grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of

tradition."

Will Durant said " India is the mother of us all; through

Sanskrit, the mother of Europe's languages, through the

Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity, through the

Arabs, of higher mathematics & algebra; through the village

community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India

is, in many ways, the mother of us all"