What is Yoga?

The Yoga Sutras is a nearly 2500-year old document containing 196 verses, or sutras, defining the theories and practices of yoga. Firstly we must note that this is a text which has survived more than two millennia. It is worthy to consider the authority of any information passed down. Despite the numerous conquests and revolutions by humanity which have destroyed the books thought to be disadvantageous for the "new people's ways", some wisdom has survived. It may be logical to review these documents, as apparently enough of the humans that have passed them down to us have agreed that they are worth keeping. There must be something useful to glean.

Yoga refers to 'the Ultimate Goal'

Remember that yoga just comes from the word yuj , meaning "to yolk; to unite". Thousands of years ago, humans still had the same neurobiological systems that they do today, which means that very similar human predicaments were preventing advancement in the individual's path, as well as the collective. We fought wars over the same issues, and were upset with our neighbors, partners, and bosses for the same reasons. Everywhere, always, someone's feelings are getting hurt, and it this that is causing us to behave irrationally. We were wired the same back then, and we have been for a long time, and so things like greed, hatred, laziness, sloth, these things have plagued humanity since perhaps before we even had words to talk about it. Who knows.

Certainly there is crossover between the world today and the world back then. There is a reason for the similarities in mythological stories found across cultures, and the spiritual paths outlined in religion were of great need back then. It is also so now, only things have changed a bit. Yet the common truths still prevail, and yoga is one of the ancient sciences that can be used to discover for ourselves what these common truths are. Of course there are common truths - nature follows certain laws. Why would we be exempt?

Aṣṭ āṅga refers to the eight-limbed path as outlined in Patañjalian yoga. Ast meaning eight and āṅga meaning limb. This is important to mention as, according to this great sage, there were certain steps that must be taken in order for any endeavor to bear fruit. What he was really conveying, and this is so profound if you get this, it's this: if we have a goal in mind.... Some far off objective that we want to accomplish. It can be a feeling, an experience, whatever. The actual process that takes place before that thing is accomplished, where we have the felt experience of a new reality, is described succinctly in the Yoga Sutras. It is the outlining of a process. Do this, get this result. Or better yet - get a result, and reverse engineer how we got that result. That way might be more convincing for some. No judgment - we live in a world where we need to see it to believe it. There is no dogma. The teachings arose out of mere observation towards the way things are.

Bridging the gap

It may not be feasible for us to pour ourselves ardently into the study of these sacred texts. That's fine. There may or may not be a need. However, our culture demands that we take steps to discover our own authentic spiritual truths. There is a growing fad with spirituality, and buzz words like "awakening" "higher consciousness" and "kundalini" are giving rise to whole communities of people who are searching. We are banding together, and exchanging information at faster and faster rates. This can potentially lead us directly to the right places, and yet because of the many options, combined with the wandering tendencies of the mind, we allow ourselves to be led away and find something else. The exact same thing happens when we are inspired by a dream or an ambition, and as soon as we make moves towards achieving said dream - the mind will distract us and mislead us before making any real progress. Does this sound familiar??

Despite the rise in these trends with pop-spirituality, it is our desire to bridge this gap. The one between our dreams and reality. To dispel any disillusionment that has arisen as a result of so many failed attempts to have anything worthwhile. The average person won't look past the deeper meaning of anything, and by consequence lives on the surface of life, eyes barely open to a reality that is far deeper than can be conceived. We are not here to cater to the average. We are here to make lasting change, and to impact the world around us. We are here to bridge the gap between Heaven and Earth.

#bridgethegap #bridgethegapyoga #btg #btgy

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