Four Paths of Yoga

The four yogas are the four paths which lead to freedom from the cycle of re-birth and death. That means spiritual freedom, which is seeking union with the divine. Human beings are separated from divine, the supreme self by 'vasanas'. Vasanas manifest as thoughts and desires. To become one with devine you have to eradicate your desires, thoughts and vasanas through yoga.

Yoga [योग] is unification of body, mind, sole and spirit; and getting connected with the super consciousness. All people engage themselves in action, thinking, feeling and inaction doing nothing, in varying proportions according to their attitude. The four paths of yoga are akin with the above four characteristics. Action is karma yoga [कर्म योग], thinking and gaining knowledge is jnana yoga [ज्ञान योग], feeling, love of devotion is bhakti yoga [भक्ति योग] and doing nothing is raja yoga [राजा योग]. But be cautious, you may interpret these things inappropriately. So now let us look at each of these in the right perspective.

1. Karma Yoga [कर्मयोग] Path of Action

Performing action, that is work or business, without attachment or expectation of outcome is Karma Yoga. It is selfless service to the right good cause, with right feeling and right attitude. It is a way of enjoying work by doing it effortlessly. It releases accumulated karma without building up new karma.

2. Jnana Yoga [ज्ञानयोग] Path of Knowledge

A systematic way of tutoring the mind about the realities of life, by thinking in the right manner, and gaining true knowledge or more correctly wisdom, find and understand the truth, true nature of reality and self, leading to awareness. And also leading to enlightenment through process of discrimination between real and unreal. This will strip off the garb of ignorance and the mind goes to its natural state of coherence and rest.

3. Bhakti Yoga [भक्तियोग] Path of Devotion

Worship God with love and devotion. It is a systematic method of engaging the mind in the practice of divine love. This attitude of love softens our emotions and tranquillizes our mind.

4. Raja Yoga [राजयोग] Path of Meditation

Raja Yoga is about psychic control, is a systematic process of culturing the mind, introspection and contemplation. Your perception of the Devine-self is obscured by the disturbances in the mind. Through Raja Yoga you make your mind and body still and pure, then fuzziness clears to reveal your true nature of divine-self.

This is based on Ashtanga Yoga [अष्टाङ्गयोग] Eight limbed yoga, which will be explained little later.

One must follow the path for which one is best suited. But in this age special emphasis should be laid on Karma Yoga.

"Reality can be reached by silencing all our thoughts and feelings." - Upanishads

As we start calming down the mind, we move from gross to subtle state of the mind. The intellect also gets subtle and sharp. The laws of the inner world gets unraveled.

"Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy or knowledge - by one or more, or all of these - and be free." -Swami Vivekananda