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Yoga & Meditation

Yoga and meditation are one and the same. All techniques of yoga are meditation and the meditative techniques are yoga. Only today’s marketplace has made a distinction between them. The body and breath practices are typically part of Hatha Yoga’s approach to meditation but commonly called “yoga” today. “Meditation” today then has become known as all the sitting and mental type practices. In reality these are only part of it. However, for the purpose of modern understanding we can say that we offer several sitting and mental approaches to meditation practice, during the morning, early evening, and specifically scheduled nighttime sessions.

Yoga & Meditation Programs

(1) Bhakti Yoga : Primarily loving devotion. 

Bhakti Yoga is a certain science of using songs and offerings to manifest a powerful experience in your living space. This particular Bhakti Yoga is known as Shodashopachara, which refers to sixteen ways of welcoming a God. Bhakti Yoga is offered to a lamp as a symbol of all great teachers, no matter what culture or religion they belong to.

How to Practice Bhakti Yoga

The Beatles were right when they sang "the love you receive equals the love you make." Bhakti is about making more love, putting it into the world, not only in principle but also in practice. There is no "right" way to do it, but bhakti yoga offers a number of tools to steer the heart in the right direction.

One of the best-known traditional practices of bhakti yoga is kirtan, the devotional chanting of God's names. Other classical Hindu methods focus on prayer, japa (repetition of the mantra) and devotion to the Divine: in society, in nature, in the S-capital Being and in all of creation. The path will look different for each being who walks it, says singer and songwriter Jai Uttal, who created bhakti yoga.

"It's so individual, and that's what's so beautiful about it," he says. "Each person has a different emotional landscape, and in bhakti yoga we can let our emotions be our internal compass. No one can tell us how or who to worship, but we can resort to techniques that act as keys to opening our own hearts."

What is the best bhakti practice for when you have suffered a loss, romantic or not? Brooks has a ready answer: be willing to do it again. "Fall in love again, and never stop. Bhakti is not a zero sum game. You never run out of love. You must hope that you will find love again, and even if you find more pain, there will always be more love." "

That was certainly the case for Cornell. "I went to India for six weeks after my breakup, and during that time I invited a feeling of fulfillment to fill my loneliness by imagining a life in which I was loved and in love," she says. "It had started dating, but somehow I knew how to wait for what I really wanted in a couple. Two months after coming home, I found it."

This is how it should be, says Brooks. Since you cannot transcend heart pain, you must embrace it. "We were all created out of love but we were born in separation the moment the cord was cut," he says. "That is being human. Anguish is not the end of love. It is the beginning."

 (2) Karma Yoga : Selfless service 

Karma Yoga: Karma is all about doing good and reflecting on the actions you have done in the past! The Path to Selflessness, Positivity & Inner Peace. Karma Yoga is selfless service unto humanity. Karma Yoga is the Yoga of action which purifies the heart and prepares the Antahkarana (the heart and the mind) for the reception of Divine Light or attainment of Knowledge of the Self. The important point is that you will have to serve humanity without any attachment or egoism.Karma Yoga is the branch of service or action, often referred to as selfless service. The concept of karma refers to the effects of one’s past actions on future circumstances. The more we engage in selfless service, the better our karma and, thus, the better our future circumstances. The Bhagavad Gita discusses the philosophy of Karma Yoga and offers stories as examples of the practice.

Karma yoga is one of the main paths of yoga that a practitioner can follow. The name comes from the Sanskrit term meaning “action” or “deed.” Therefore, it is the path of action, or selfless service towards others. It is considered by some that practicing karma yoga is the most effective way to develop spiritually. Karma yoga is relevant to all yogis because, to some extent, everyone must undertake some actions during their lifetime. By practicing karma yoga, all of these actions, even the most mundane, can become part of one's spiritual path.

How to Practice Karma Yoga :

Karma Yoga Service: There are many ways to adopt Karma Yoga in your life. Whether it's to help a neighbor or travel abroad to participate in a global service, the opportunities are endless.

Regardless of what you choose to do, making service a regular part of your life is key to practicing karma yoga. We recommend making a weekly commitment to commit to a local charity, giving your time and talent to support the work they do. Another option is to make global service an annual tradition. Or both!

When it comes to karma yoga, it is important that the service comes from a selfless place. It is about giving to those in need, sharing love and spreading the light. Some ways to encourage this mindset are to practice holding a mental mantra. Something that reminds you of the purpose of your service and keeps you out of the ego. Another useful practice is to get to know the people you serve. Instead of thinking of service in the abstract, get in touch and communicate with those you serve.

Let yourself be humbled by their knowledge and experience. Forge meaningful connections and let yourself be touched by their lives and stories. In this way, karma yoga can become more than just a practice. It can become a way of life.

 (3)  Jnana and Raja Yoga : Knowledge and meditation 

Jnana Yoga is the process of converting intellectual knowledge into practical wisdom. Jnana literally means ‘knowledge’, but in the context of yoga it means the process of meditative awareness which leads to illuminative wisdom. It is not a method by which we try to find rational answers to eternal questions, rather it is a part of meditation leading to self-enquiry and self-realisation. Before practicing Jnana Yoga, the aspirant needs to have integrated the lessons of the other yogic paths – for without selflessness and love of God, strength of body and mind, the search for self-realization can become mere idle speculation. Jñāna yoga is the path towards attaining jnana. It is one of the three classical types of yoga mentioned in , the other two being karma yoga and bhakti. In modern classifications, classical yoga, being called Raja yoga, is mentioned as a fourth one, an extension introduced by Vivekananda. Jnana yoga, states Stephen Phillips, is the "yoga of meditation".  Raja yoga, meditation through contemplation and concentration on universal truths. 

Jnana yoga is the philosophical path of attaining self-realization experience through acquired Knowledge, practice, wisdom, and experience.

Swami Vivekananda ³ said – “God manifested himself on earth in the form of living creatures.”

 

Self-observance is the key quality of Jnana Yogi seeker. This quality helps the seeker to grow & evolve knowledge inwardly.

In Jnana Yoga, practitioner seeking the truth of ‘Who am I’.

The moment practitioner experience True-self lies within, the practitioner got the True-knowledge. Now, a practitioner can distinguish the duality of Truth-untruth.

For Jnana Yoga, there must be a Guru under the guidance of which student acquire knowledge. Then seeker starts meditating on Supreme-God or Brahman with the help of knowledge acquired from the guru.

Jnana Yoga according to Bhagavad Gita

Jnana Yoga described in Bhagavad Gita chapter 4 consists of Transcendental Knowledge.

 

Lord Krishna said The Transcendental Knowledge of the Soul can be achieved when seeker freed from attachment, fear, and anger, & fully absorbed into the divine. It is the True knowledge.

Krishna further said True knowledge comes as the fruit of selfless devotional-action (Karma Yoga). Once seeker attains the experience of True-knowledge all the ignorance of heart can be slashed out of it.