The word yoga is Sanskrit, it's meaning literally 'a yoke,' or 'the fixing of a yoke or harness to join a team [of horses or oxen] to a cart.' (from A Sanskrit-English Dictionary by Sir Monier Monier-Williams).
Here in the west of course the word generally is used in reference to hatha yoga, the physical practices set forth by Patanjali and now developed into the countless different schools of yoga we find in every urban center, some with a "spiritual" aspect, others concerned mostly with yoga's effectiveness as a form of exercise. In truth, yoga, in its original presentation and in all Vedic references to it, is about the joining of, the yoking of, individuality to universality, or, as Monier-Williams states, '...its chief aim being to teach the means by which the human spirit may attain complete union with... the Supreme Spirit.' This is true for hatha yoga as well as for all the other forms of yoga referenced in the Veda. All are avenues by which the student seeks 'union with.'
Dhyana yoga, or meditation, is indeed one of the paths presented by Patanjali and referenced in The Bhagavad Gita, as well as countless other Vedic texts; but it is only one. There is the yoga of works, karma yoga, the yoga of knowledge, jnana yoga, the yoga of love or devotion to God, bhakti yoga, and more. The point must be taken that the Veda, at bottom, is concerned with the attainment of union with this thing that is greater than oneself, whether we call it nature or God, oneness or Ishwara; and that everything one does, and the spirit with which one does it, is moving the individual either in the direction of union, or in the direction away from union.
One of the first benefits of the expansion of consciousness one attains from meditation is the ability to discern one's own direction in all the moments of our life. At each moment we may ask ourselves the question: is this action/thought/behavior moving me toward God or away from God? As meditators, the answer will be there. Always. Then the question becomes, are we willing to know the answer? And we will find that, some days yes, we are willing to know, and some days no, we are not willing. Which will it be today?
Today I will find at least one thing to do that unmistakably is a movement in the direction of union with. 
Yoga, Dasaswamedh Ghat, Varanasi, India All material copyright Jeff Kober |
