Embodied Spirituality Through Yoga

Spirituality means finding out a way of living in perfect peace and happiness. Finding meaning in life. Spirituality means realizing the ultimate truth about ourselves or being Self-aware and discovering the joy within. True Self means Sat-Chit-Ananda or existence, consciousness, and bliss.

But the question is why? Why do we need a spiritual life? The answer is very simple, we are not happy. Apparently, we think we are happy. But the happiness we have are all temporary and most of us actually confess that “we are not happy”.

Spirituality leads to that inner happiness. Which is our true nature. So being spiritual means finding out who we are, our true nature, and living in joy, and bliss.

What is the path to spirituality?

There are four ways from Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita is all about the discovery of Who we are or Atma Gyana. It is the essence and practical teachings of the Upanishad. And the four Yogas are the secret of our spiritual life.

4 Yogas are the 4 ways towards spiritual living and the path to the complete cessation of suffering. We do not proceed on the same lines but what we seek is the same. We may climb the mountain by different paths but the view from the summit is identical for all. Here the paths are different Yogas.

Gita gives a comprehensive yogasastra, large, flexible, and many-sided, which includes various phases of our mental and spiritual development. Better indeed is the Yoga of knowledge than the practice of concentration or Raja Yoga. Better than knowledge is meditation, better than meditation is to give up the desires of the result of work or Karma Yoga. And with that renunciation, one can reach perfect peace. The different Yogas are special applications of our inner discipline and Everything related to that discipline is called Yoga.

What is Yoga? In patanjali yoga sutra it is said that Yogaś-citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ.

That means Controlling the tendency or whirlpool of mind. What is the tendency of our minds? It is always going or focusing outwards. Jumping around from one thought to another, that’s why it’s called the monkey mind. Research says the average person has 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. So many thoughts are going through our minds. And Most of them are negative. The mind tends to go toward negative thoughts. Thinking about the future, thinking about daily work, Thinking about money, etc etc. What is not there in our minds!

Yoga helps to control all those thoughts. That’s why it is said Yoga means Controlling the tendency or whirlpool of the mind.

On the other hand, Yoga has another meaning in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says “Yogah karmasu Kaushalam”. That means, Yoga is the Skill to work. Now we may think we do know the skills, whatever we are doing in daily life. But here the skill is pointing towards the selfless act. Here comes Karma Yoga or the yoga of action, the first step to Spiritual life.

To get a spiritual life we need to start with purification of the mind. What is the tool to purify the mind? One of the four yogas is Karma yoga.

Karma Yoga Teaches how to perform a work being detached from its result. “Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana. Gita is a paradigm of action. It explains what a man ought to do with a spiritual destiny. Karma Yoga also shows how to convert work into a spiritual practice.

There is the well-known view that we all are bound by Karma or our work. And we are only saved by real knowledge. Every work whether it is good or bad produces its natural effect and involves embodiment in the world. Every work has its ego behind it. And it becomes an obstacle to our Joy/ happiness which is called liberation. So what could be the solution? We have to leave all work and go for renounce. Actually not. Gita has the solution of twofold purposes to help us to obtain pure joy and do work in the world. That is Spirituality and. Karma Yoga is converting work into spiritual practice.

To practice Karma Yoga we need an evenness of mind. Samatvam, in the 2nd chapter of Gita, 48 no shloka, mentioned Samatvam Yoga Uchchate. Samatvam is Self-mastery. It is the conquest of anger, greed, pride, and going forward to compassion, love, and devotion.

Here I want to point out, The ideal that the Gita sets before us is Ahimsa or nonviolence. This looks contradictory, right? While Krishna asked Arjuna to go to war, where is the nonviolence? This is evident from the description of the perfect state of mind, speech, and Body. Krishna advises Arjuna to fight without passion or ill will, without anger or attachment and if we develop such a frame of mind, violence becomes impossible. WE must fight against what is wrong, but if we allow ourselves to hate, that ensures our spiritual defeat. Though it is not possible to kill people in a state of serenity. War is taken as an illustration.

Going back to the law of Karma Yoga, Work must be without concern for the result. “Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana. This famous verse contains the essential principle of detachment. When we do our work, whatever it is, office or housework or painting or singing or even thinking, we should be unattached to the result of the work. How?

All of our work must be the result of our nature. Our true nature is kind, loving, and decent.

Here comes the Second step to Spiritual life is Bhakti yoga or Yoga of devotion: Complete devotion, dedication, and love to the work without a single thought of its result is Yoga of devotion. It removes stress from work. This Yoga helps to purify the mind and heart. Whatever we are doing should be dedicated to a greater cause or to the divine. In Karma Yoga, we understood that work should be done without any desire for results. But it is really not an easy step to start. That’s why it is said that offering all the results to a super cause. Work for a good cause. Where you will not gain anything but give more. It also removes stress from work. Krishna said that if the work is dedicated to the one or divine then one will never be touched by the result of the work. How to practice this Yoga? We must empty ourselves of all desires and wait in trust for the supreme being. Surrendering is the easiest way to feel happy. Surrendering like a baby. What does a baby do? A complete surrender, and does his work. Running, grabbing things whatever it is. The responsibility of taking care of that little one is to the parents. So Babies are always happy. They get hurt, cry at the moment and then forget and play again. A very simple but joyful living. That is devotion. Not thinking but devoting the responsibility of work to the supreme.

The third way to spirituality is Raja Yoga or Meditation: This practice helps to control the destruction of the mind. Every day, fixing time for meditation or a conscious observation of the breathing helps to reach a state of a focused mind. A focused mind is a key to any success, not only in spiritual life but also in daily work life. If this spiritual condition does not arise spontaneously we must take up the practice of concentration, so that we may gradually fit ourselves for the devotion of the spirit to God.

The fourth way to spirituality is Knowledge. Jnana Yoga. Knowledge of True self or consciousness. This tradition of jnana yoga is from the Upanishadic era. It follows the path of Shravana-Manana-Nidhidhyasana. Listening to the guru’s teachings then reflect on that knowledge within and meditate upon the knowledge. Through this way one can achieve the ultimate reality of the Self or Brahma, that is Sat Chit Ananda. The answer to who we are. We are the true conscious bliss. This is to realize oneness or non-duality. The idea is this ultimate reality, discovering the true self can be realized through knowledge or Jnana Yoga. Because it is always with us only our ignorance that we could not realize it.

By following any of these four ways, Bhakti, Karma Raja yoga or Jnana Yoga with a pure mind we actually can discover ourselves. We achieve freedom from suffering, This is the Goal of Bhagavad Gita or the ultimate aim of spiritual quest.

It is to hold out the knowledge of oneness, the knowledge of perfect joy and happiness. Since ignorance is the source of bondage, therefore when the sense of difference is destroyed and actions do not bind, then the self, having attained wisdom, gets free from ignorance. One can attain this stage of liberation through spiritual practices and can be a joyous blissful person being in this world.