![\"bhagavadgita](\"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/bhagavadgita-manjovich-199x300.jpeg\")
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The terms hatha-yoga, karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, bhakti-yoga, laya-yoga <\/em>and others are familiar to everyone and they play an important role in positioning yoga as a system. Although they are not used in Yoga Sutras (except for the term kriya-yoga), these terms are rather old and one can find them already in Mahabharata\u00a0[1]. This division of yoga into types was often mentioned in yogic Upanishads and other medieval texts. For European people this division (in some simplified version: only hatha, raja, karma, bhakti<\/em> and jnana yoga<\/em>) became available due to Vivekananda.<\/p>\n Yet\u00a0when\u00a0coming\u00a0to\u00a0study\u00a0habitual\u00a0(for\u00a0instance, those\u00a0widely spread in the Internet) definitions one cannot but notice that rather often there is some\u00a0ordourof religiosity in them. An inexperienced reader may have difficulties in understanding:\u00a0where is the yoga in all this? The term \u201ckarma yoga\u201d is being actively and constantly used for direct exploitation of western students in India, not to mention the \u201cbhakti\u201d\u2026 An\u00a0erroneous\u00a0or,\u00a0better\u00a0to\u00a0say,\u00a0degenerate perception\u00a0of\u00a0karma yoga lies in thinking that a person can advance through \u201cdevotion\u201d and \u201cdedicated work\u201d, by carrying out some useful social activity. I\u00a0will\u00a0latershow\u00a0that\u00a0this\u00a0idea\u00a0has\u00a0some\u00a0reasons\u00a0yet\u00a0in order to become a truly sound one\u00a0it lacks a fundamental element.\u00a0Some\u00a0religionized\u00a0schools\u00a0take\u00a0this\u00a0statementand\u00a0draw from\u00a0it\u00a0a\u00a0simple\u00a0(and\u00a0there fore\u00a0incorrect) practical conclusion,\u00a0\u201cloading up\u201d the students who come to learn with various socially beneficial activities like washing floors or peeling potatoes. In\u00a0order\u00a0to\u00a0understand\u00a0what\u00a0karma\u00a0yoga\u00a0is\u00a0let\u00a0usturn\u00a0to the concept of the development, the advance as such, based upon Yoga Sutras and common sense.\u00a0<\/strong> Let us take the simplest and the most widely spreadvariant of such development \u2013 one\u2019s adaptation to new activity, new profession and social environment. Person\u2019s getting into some activity it is inevitably associated with some hardships. And on the contrary: the activity that is too easy and obvious is not that attractive. In\u00a0their\u00a0bones\u00a0people\u00a0feel\u00a0that\u00a0they\u00a0canadvance\u00a0only\u00a0when\u00a0they\u00a0set themselves inevident tasks, by reaching up the \u201cceiling of their competence\u201d. Eachtype\u00a0of\u00a0activity\u00a0in implicit form contains the Laws of Nature that a person must comprehend in order to become effective. In\u00a0this\u00a0sense\u00a0the\u00a0social medium is transcendental in\u00a0relation to\u00a0a person, and finding by a person of these regularities comes\u00a0as the act of self-expansion and extension of his consciousness. Let\u00a0us\u00a0notice\u00a0that\u00a0this\u00a0interpretation\u00a0of\u00a0karma\u00a0yoga totally resounds with its recital given in Bhagavad Gita where this term was actually used for the first time. It is this very love that comes as your motivatorhere. Yet mere experiencing this state of love of itselfdoes not stimulate your advance. It will develop youonly in case when under the influence of this energyyou start to do something with your self \u2013 by changing yourself, or for this other person \u2013 by trying to improve his life. In the same way, the energy of fascinationupgrades a person only when having admired something the person starts to strive for something previously inaccessible, once again mastering\u00a0the new skills. One\u2019s mere staying within the state of dulladmiration and \u201cdrying scarce tears\u201d does not develop.<\/p>\n Similarly,\u00a0the\u00a0state\u00a0of\u00a0love\u00a0to\u00a0a\u00a0deity\u00a0(even\u00a0if\u00a0onemanages\u00a0to\u00a0nurture But\u00a0why\u00a0did it happen \u2013 this degradation of the term and the practice? I think the situation here is similar to ordinary love that\u00a0is\u00a0also\u00a0\u201cover-chattered\u201d\u00a0in the social environment, in\u00a0the\u00a0sense\u00a0that\u00a0it\u00a0is\u00a0much and obtusely talked over\u00a0so that people are\u00a0istilled\u00a0with erroneous stereotypes. Yet many people lack the\u00a0veryexperience of this love. _____________________________________________<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]\u00a0Though\u00a0the\u00a0context\u00a0of\u00a0using\u00a0these\u00a0terms\u00a0in,\u00a0for\u00a0instance, Bhagavad\u00a0Gita,\u00a0somehow\u00a0differs from that of today. The terms hatha-yoga, karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, bhakti-yoga, laya-yoga and others are familiar to everyone and they play an important role in positioning yoga as a system. Although they are not used in Yoga Sutras (except for the term kriya-yoga), these terms are rather old and one can find them already in Mahabharata\u00a0[1]. This division of yoga… Continue reading On \u201cTypes of Yoga\u201d: Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[200],"tags":[644,663,668],"class_list":["post-32746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-yoga-sutra-en","tag-bhakti-yoga-en","tag-karma-yoga-en","tag-laya-yoga-en","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.in.yoga\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThat\u00a0is why\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0decided\u00a0to\u00a0deviate\u00a0a\u00a0bit\u00a0from\u00a0the text of \u201cYoga Sutras\u201d in order to explain these two notions.<\/p>\n
\nThe\u00a0ideology of\u00a0this\u00a0act,\u00a0just\u00a0like\u00a0its\u00a0effectiveness,\u00a0painfully resembles that \u201csending\u201d of scientific workers and intellectuals \u201cto dig potatoes\u201d\u00a0that was\u00a0practiced in the USSR.<\/p>\n
\nThe development\u00a0is\u00a0the\u00a0expansion\u00a0of\u00a0one\u2019s\u00a0range\u00a0ofcapabilities, mastering of new skills and abilities, crystallization of inner observer, gaining the independence from\u00a0vritti\u00a0and expansion of one\u2019s consciousness.<\/strong>
\nAnd if we take a look from any of the mentioned positions it will be obvious that it is notevery type of socially beneficial activity that leads to one\u2019s development but only the one related to ultimate self-exertion, the attempt to do more than you were able to do before. The activity \u201con the verge of one\u2019scompetence\u201d. It is here that we understand the corepoint and the action mechanism of karma yoga<\/em><\/strong> whichidea is that a person can develop through his social activity.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe most curious thing is that these laws may be obvious toeveryone but for the searching person himself, they canbe even more than once uttered by his colleagues or set forth in writing, but still taking these Laws as spiritual ones is a difficult act related to overcoming the habitual boundaries of one\u2019s self. Thus karma yoga<\/em> is not just the readiness to follow one\u2019s dharma (social functions) but it is also the whole of efforts of mastering the skills and states required for this.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nArjuna experienced emotional difficulty in fulfillinghis dharma of a hero and a leader. In fact he faced theproblem that \u2013 no matter how banal it may sound \u2013 is known well to many leaders and managers: the need to sacrifice good fellowship with someone (or this person himself) for the weal of one\u2019s own business. Krishnahelped to come out of crisis or, more exactly, gave anumber of variants of coming out of it, including exposition of the karma yoga doctrine that in fact camedown to total acceptance of one\u2019s role: \u201cIf you are a warrior \u2013 fight as a warrior\u201d. The same choice is madeby a leader who should choose between being a \u201cMr. Nice Guy\u201d for an employee under dismissal or a \u201csuccessful manager\u201d.
\nOf course the methods ofdismissal used by Arjuna were a bit too drastic if compared with those conventional today, but the core point is the same ;). Similarly to this the religious degeneration of theterm bhakti-yoga also takes place.
\nThe traditionaldefinition states that bhakti-yoga<\/strong> is the \u201cyoga of divinelove\u201d or \u201clove for god\u201d, but they forget about the most important thing that yoga is the development<\/strong> that has this love as its tool (or source). In order to understand this let us turn to the experience available \u2013 the love for another person or fascination with another person. Indeed, when you fall in love \u2013 and people always fallin love with those who are unlike them in some aspects \u2013 you suddenly find out that this other person is a whole world that is dissimilar to you and lies beyond you. And in order to even co-exist together you need tolet this world in, to get to know it, to master new skillsand capabilities that you earlier used to do fairly well without, to act in the way that you would never act before.<\/p>\n
\nit)\u00a0does\u00a0not\u00a0develop\u00a0of its own accord but only when it incites\u00a0to some certain actions.
\nIndeed,\u00a0what\u00a0does\u00a0it\u00a0mean\u00a0\u201cto\u00a0feel\u00a0love\u00a0for\u00a0God?\u201d\u00a0If translated to\u00a0standard\u00a0language this\u00a0will mean\u00a0to love this Universe.\u00a0Including the aspects that are so far transcendent in relation to\u00a0you, that\u00a0go beyond the scope of your understanding and conceptualization.\u00a0Itis a human norm \u2013 to love one\u2019s own life, own small world,\u00a0the\u00a0nomos,<\/em>\u00a0if to have it in Greek. If a person does not love it \u2013 this is a symptom of a disease. But to love something bigger, the thing that goes beyond the scope of your habits, views and creeds\u00a0(pramana,viparya,\u00a0vikalpa<\/em>\u2026) \u00a0\u2013\u00a0\u00a0this is something more difficult.It always requires the ability to sacrifice one\u2019s own habitual boundaries.
\nFor\u00a0instance,\u00a0due\u00a0to\u00a0love\u00a0of\u00a0truthone\u00a0has\u00a0to\u00a0sacrifice one\u2019s conventional views. And the majority of people are not able to do this \u2013 to give up their views in order to see something bigger, more global.\u00a0Not\u00a0only\u00a0in\u00a0scientific\u00a0sense\u00a0but\u00a0in\u00a0the \u201ccommonplace\u201d one as well (if it does exist).
\nForinstance,\u00a0to\u00a0give\u00a0up\u00a0the\u00a0habits\u00a0in\u00a0order\u00a0to\u00a0take a totally new experience\u2026\u00a0And\u00a0this\u00a0is\u00a0it\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the\u00a0genuine,non-ambivalent\u00a0bhakti-yoga<\/em>:\u00a0bright, emotional and \u2013 what is most important \u2013 active\u00a0thirst for comprehending something beyond you, based upon genuine love for Life.<\/strong>\u00a0And\u00a0this one\u00a0is\u00a0far\u00a0from\u00a0ecstatic drumming\u00a0and delirious\u00a0mumbling of mantras.<\/p>\n
\nMerely\u00a0saying\u00a0\u201cI\u00a0love\u00a0you\u201d\u00a0iseasy,\u00a0and\u00a0suffering from\u00a0\u201cone-way\u201d\u00a0love is glamorous;and it goes\u00a0without doing anything for another person,just\u00a0taking offence at\u00a0him or being jealous. But\u00a0what\u2019s love got to do with this?\u00a0This\u00a0is\u00a0just\u00a0an\u00a0erroneous\u00a0useof\u00a0the\u00a0\u201cvoid notion\u201d\u00a0(vikalpa<\/em>).\u00a0However a substantial part of social life is based upon this very \u201cvoid\u201d understanding, giving rise to disappointment and aggression instead of development.
\nThe\u00a0same\u00a0happensto\u00a0the\u00a0concept\u00a0that\u00a0they use to refer to as\u00a0bhakti-yoga<\/em>in\u00a0pseudo-esoteric\u00a0environment.\u00a0<\/em>The\u00a0external entourage has been preserved, the words used seem to be correct \u2013 but there is no sense there, and no development in it.<\/p>\n
\nThereevery\u00a0chapter\u00a0ends\u00a0by\u00a0the\u00a0words\u00a0\u201chere\u00a0endeth\u00a0chapter x entitled \u201c\u2026-Yog\u201d and yoga rather means something we would treat as a method or certain psycho-practice, while today each type of yoga is associated with an institutionalized system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"