YOGA
The four primary divisions of yoga
There are four main branches as specified
in the Bhagavad Gita and of late there is a
multiplicity of combinations thereof. The
four main systems are
1. Karma yoga as the path of selfless
work or action in the world
2. Jnana or Buddhi yoga as the path of
discernment, knowledge and
intellectual endeavor
3. Bhakti yoga as the path of love,
devotion or surrender
4. Raja or Dhyana yoga as an eight
limbed path of discipline emphasizing
meditation.
The eight subdivisions of raja
yoga include
1. Yama the five abstentions of
violence, untruth, theft, illicit sex and
possessiveness.
2. Niyama of the five observances of
purity, contentment, austerities, study
and surrender to God.
6. Dharana concentration or fixing the
attention on a single object
7. Dhyana meditation
8. Samadhi super conscious state or
trance
3. Asana means 'seat' and originally
referred only to seated postures but
have come to include the whole gamut. Thus we see that asana, which is what
Hatha Yoga primarily concerns itself
with, is but a small fragment of the
enormous content of Yoga.
4. Pranayama the control of vital breath
through various breathing exercises The multiple divisions of current
yoga
5. Pratyahara a reversal of the sense
organs by turning them inwards rather
than outwards Nowadays, one finds several types of
yoga depending on the interpretation of
the teacher and their lineage as also on
the specific techniques being used.
They include mantra yoga where sound
affirmations or chanting is used,
kundalini yoga focusing on the chakras
and the energy coiled in them, tantra
yoga focusing on the union of
masculine and feminine energies, kriya
yoga as given by Mahavatar Babaji —
Paramhansa Yogananda, integral yoga a
combination of the four main schools
as given by Sri Aurobindo, nitya yoga,
maha yoga, purna yoga, natya yoga,
anahata yoga, tibetan yoga, sahaja
yoga, etc. It is an almost never-ending
list. Also there are countless links to the
terms I mentioned here so I choose to
give none!
72 www.yogicherald.com Dec. 2018