WHAT DOES THE WORD “YOGA” MEAN?
“YOGA” is a Sanskrit word that means literally, translated into our language:unite, join, weld , and is taken from the root ” YUJ “, union . Just as when two pieces of metal are welded they become one, so Yoga, applied to the man who is a part of the divine essence, makes it possible to unite with the universal spirit and thus perceive its spiritual essence .
Naturally, this condition is obtained through the practice of certain physical and mental exercises that form a whole body of doctrine, divided and subdivided into different stages and degrees that are studied in courses and that will be called: Yogas.
Many “GURUES” ( Masters of Wisdom .) Have interpreted in different ways the meaning of the word Yoga; but everyone agrees on its true meaning:
“Yoga is the union of the human soul with the Universal Soul”.
The other definitions only express the same idea in different words:
“Yoga is the concentration of oneself in order to perceive and see how the soul is when the latter is abstracted from matter and mind.”
Another Teacher defines Yoga as “the suppression of thoughts” . But I want to make a clarification here: that “thought” should not be understood in the vulgar sense of reflection, but should be taken as the way of meaning consciousness that includes sensitivity, imagination and dreams, in short, all the thoughts that continually invade our mind and make us unable to meditate fixedly on an object. As you can see, the word YOGA has different applications and definitions according to the plans in which it is applied.
Yoga, on the mental plane, is the science that makes it possible to increase the capacity of the human mind to respond to higher vibrations, to grasp them and thus assimilate the infinite conscious movement that exists and develops around our universe. Thus the mind is converted by yoga into a true transmitting and receiving station, into a lucid antenna, capable of receiving, and also to transmit messages at any distance. Therefore, yoga is also defined as ” the art of projecting thoughts “, since transformed into a powerful focus of radioactivity, it becomes apt to vivify them and to assist them with present and absent ones, when the latter when they are in difficulties and dangers, both in the terrestrial sphere and in the invisible planes that surround us.
Now, yoga, applied to the metaphysical plane, makes it possible for man to perform the so-called miracles, which all the saints of the Sacred Histories carried out, such as Buddha, Jesus, etc …, and which are really knowledge and practice of the greatest of sciences: Yoga. The venerable Master Buddha was a perfect YOGUIN, as was Jesus.
Another definition of Yoga is the following: forceful means of spiritual liberation that leads to the obtaining of psychic powers , called in Sanskrit ” SIDDHIS ” (psychic powers, spiritual powers) by the development of latent psychospiritual faculties.The states of ecstasy caused by that high state of vibration lead to the clear and correct perception of the eternal truths , both of the Universe
visible as the invisible, that is, to the union of the divine and higher Self, through the practice of yogic meditation. Then, thanks to this mystical union, man achieves a complete control over the body and the mind, gets rid of all the fetters of the material world and develops certain wonderful faculties, latent in the whole human species, and which are naturally the cause of strangers and mysterious phenomena that seem supernatural or miraculous to all those who do not know their productive cause.
PATANJALI defines Yoga with this brief sentence:
“Yoga is to prevent mental matter” CHITTA “(mental matter) from taking various forms or VRITTIS (forms of thought that continually invade our mind)”.
This aphorism of the Master is so brief but so true in its essence because it is the first step of Yoga, without which the disciple could not advance. It means that we must begin with those waves of incongruous thoughts that almost always affect us and take various forms, thus preventing man from controlling it and directing it towards a serene and perfect meditation.
THE ALL is mind, the Universe in “mental”.
The science that studies the doctrine of “Yoga” is called yogic science; the man who obtains visible and palpable results and who manages to assimilate such science in his heart and mind, is called “yogi”. The hermetic schools that teach in India the yogic sciences, are called Yogacharyas schools, which translated from Sanskrit means mystical schools, directed by an Acharyai. There the Yogasanas are taught and practiced, which are divided into eight stages:
1st ASANA
2nd YAMA
3rd NIYAMA
4th PRANAYAMA
5th DHARANA
6th PRATYAHARA
7th DHYANA-
8th SAMADHI
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