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Is Yog the philosopher’s stone whose touch can rid mankind from all sufferings and miseries? Will Yog bring self-realisation to man and help him in finding the answer to his eternal question: Who am I?
The answer is yes and no.
No, if we are talking about the Yog that is known to the world, which consists of some breathing exercises and body postures known as Pranayam and various yoga asanas.
Yes, if we are referring to the Yog imparted by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, which is not known to the world.
The former Yog has been practised by numerous persons over the millennia but it has not saved anyone from sorrow, old age and death. It has not helped them find answer to the question: Who am I? The Yog imparted by Lord Krishna, however, can not only free a person from stress, diseases, old age and death and make him a Supreme Imperishable Being, it can also make him realise that he and all other beings are forms of God or they all are God, not ‘I’ or men/women.
At the very beginning of His teachings to Arjun, Lord Krishna revealed that all bodies are embodied by the all-pervading Indestructible, that is by God. He further revealed that all beings are eternal living beings who neither die nor cease to exist but only keep changing their bodies birth after birth. If a being is an eternal and indestructible God, who leaves one body to go to another, why can’t he save his body from perishing and live in same body forever? He can, says Lord Krishna in the Gita:
The Purush who is not disturbed by these [sense contacts], who is same in joy and sorrow, who is of steady intellect is fit for immortality. Chapter 2:15
Having crossed over these three attributes arising from the body, the dweller in the body is completely freed from birth, death, old age and sorrow and attains immortality. Chapter 14:20
The Yoga comprising Pranayam and body postures can improve the health of the practitioner like any other fitness programme but it cannot free him from sorrow, old age and death and make him immortal. As against this, the person who practises the Yog imparted by Lord Krishna can be completely liberated from sorrow (stress, worries, diseases), old age and death and become immortal. He will then stop changing bodies but dwell in the same body forever.
Yog has two branches: Buddhi Yog and Karma Yog. Buddhi Yog is a discipline of the intellect and consists of renouncing the results of all actions to God. Karma Yog is a discipline of the mind and consists of mentally renouncing all actions to God, while performing them. Lord Krishna has asked us to renounce the fruits and actions to God since this unites us to God and frees us from the bonds of actions.
Buddhi Yog is based on the scriptural ordinance that we do not have the right to the fruits of actions (Verse 2:47). Lord Krishna therefore asks us to engage in actions without motive and renounce the fruits of actions to God. To unite with God by Buddhi Yog, a person does not have to bring any change in his lifestyle and actions. He has to continue to perform all his usual actions and enjoy all the sense objects as before. All he has to do is to steady his intellect on the thought that the fruits of actions (success, failure, gain, loss, material possessions) are of God and God is experiencing the joys and sorrows. This frees the being from desire and the ego and endows him the state of Brahm, attaining which he becomes a non-perishable being.
Those who contemplate the objects and perform actions with an eye on the fruit lead themselves to death and re-birth:
A man contemplating the objects develops attachment with them. From attachment arises desire and from desire arises anger.Chapter 2:62
From anger arises delusion, from delusion confusion of memory, from confusion of memory loss of intellect, from the loss of intellect he perishes. Chapter 2:63
It may thus be seem that a person dies due to a loss of intellect that is caused by a chain reaction that starts with the contemplation of objects while performing actions. Those who seek the fruits of actions have been called unintelligent; they fail to attain peace and happiness and eventually perish due to the loss of intellect:
Mere action is far inferior to Buddhi Yog [union by intellect]. O Dhananjay, take refuge in the Buddhi Yog; unintelligent are those who seek the fruit. Chapter 2:49
There is neither intellect nor Bhavana [feeling for God] for the ununited, and to one devoid of Bhavana, there is no peace. To the one without peace, how can there be happiness? Chapter 2:66
We can also unite ourselves to God by Karma Yog, which is a discipline of the mind. It consists of mentally renouncing the actions to God while performing the actions by saying within that God is (or God You are) performing the action. Karma Yog is based on the truth revealed in the Gita that actions are performed by Nature, and not by the beings:
All actions are preformed by the attributes of Nature; he who is deluded by the ego thinks, ‘I am the doer.’ Chapter 3:27
Renouncing all action to Me, with consciousness of self-knowledge, free from hope and egoism, fight without mental fever. Chapter 3:30
Those men full of faith who constantly practice this teaching of mine and without criticism, they, too, are liberated from actions. Chapter 3:31
But those who find fault with this teaching of mine and do not practice it, ignorant in all Gyan and unintelligent, know them to be ruined. Chapter 3:32
Mentally renouncing all actions unto Me, regarding Me as supreme, resorting to Buddhi Yog, fix your mind ever on Me. Chapter 18:57
Lord Krishna asks all beings to mentally renounce their actions to God. He says that those who constantly practise this teaching with faith and without criticism will be liberated from the bonds of actions, but those who find fault with it and do not practise it will be ruined.
Some Yogis perform sacrifice to gods; others perform sacrifice by offering sacrifice itself in the fire of Brahm. Chapter 4:25
Yet others give away wealth as sacrifice, perform penance as sacrifice, do Yog as sacrifice, undertake rigid vows as sacrifice and study the scriptures to attain knowledge as sacrifice.Chapter 4:28
Yet others offer as sacrifice Pran [incoming breath] into Apan [outgoing breath] and Apan into Pran; restraining the courses of Pran and Apan, some are absorbed in Pranayam [breath control]. Chapter 4:29
Neither by Vedas, nor by penance, or charity, nor by sacrifice can I be seen like this as truly entered, O Paramtap. Chapter 11:53
But by exclusive devotion (to Yog) I may be seen like this, O Arjun, and also known and truly entered, O Paramtap. Chapter 11:54
He who performs actions for Me, regarding Me as Supreme, is devoted to Me, free from attachment, without enmity towards any being, he reaches Me, O Pandav. Chapter 11:55
A person reaches the Supreme God only when he is without enmity towards any being – good, bad, holy or sinner – having realised that all beings are forms of God or they are God. This Bhava of sameness towards all beings is the Supreme God that pervades the entire existence. A person who attains this Bhava while living is liberated from birth and death.
Even here birth is overcome by those whose mind rests in sameness; Brahm is indeed without blemish and equal, therefore they (hose mind rest in sameness) are established in Brahm. Chapter 5:19
He who keeps the same intellect towards the good-hearted, friends, foes, the holy and also the sinners, he excels. Chapter 6:9
At last after many births, one who has attained Gyan reaches Me, realising that All is Vasudev [Supreme Reality]. Such a great soul is very difficult to find. Chapter 7:19
That is light even of lights, said to be beyond darkness. Gyan, that which is to be known, the goal of Gyan, seated in the hearts of all. Chapter 13:8
The Wisdom or Bhava of sameness towards all, which is the Supreme God, cannot be attained by the Vedas or by the performance of any sacrifices, austerities and charities. But a person who performs his actions by Yog, that is by mentally renouncing the actions and fruits to God, attains Gyan on being established in Yog:
Therefore, engage in work always without attachment; for by performing action without attachment, the being attains the Supreme. Chapter 3:19
Verily, there is no purifier here like Gyan; he who is perfected in Yog find it in the self in time. Chapter 4:38
But Sanyas, O mighty-armed [Arjun], is difficult to attain without Yog; the sage who is established in Yog quickly attains Brahm. Chapter 5:6
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever charity you do, whatever austerity you observe, O son of Kunti, offer all that to Me.
Chapter 9:27
Thus freed from the bonds of actions and good and bad fruits; the Atma [Self] united by Sanyas Yog, liberated, shall come to Me. Chapter 9:28
To attain the Supreme God, that is Wisdom, and thereby become free from sorrow, old age and death, a person has to neither perform any specified actions nor abstain from any actions. He does not have to abandon the acts of Pranayam, asanas or other sacrifices and austerities being performed by him. He only has to perform them without attachment:
The acts of sacrifice, charity and austerity are not to be relinquished, but should be performed; for sacrifice, charity and austerity are indeed purifiers of the philosophers. Chapter 18:5
But even these actions should be performed relinquishing attachment and fruit. This, O Arjun, is My firm and final view. Chapter 18:6
Being Wisdom, the all-pervading God can be worshipped by beings by their respective actions:
Devoted to his own respective actions, each man attains perfection. How does each man, engaged in his own actions, attain perfection, that do thou hear. Chapter 18:45
He from whom all the beings emerge and by whom all this is pervaded, by worshipping Him with one’s actions, does man attain perfection.Chapter 18:46
The Yog by way of the renunciation of actions and their fruits to God is the highest Wisdom of God. It can liberate all of us from sorrow, old age and death and make us Supreme Imperishable Beings.
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