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The 4 Paths of Yoga
Jnana Yoga
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.
Raja Yoga
Raja Yoga is often called the "royal road", it offers a comprehensive method for controlling the waves of thought by turning our mental and physical energy into spiritual energy. The chief practice of Raja Yoga is meditation. It also includes all other methods which help one to control body, energy, senses and mind. In Hatha Yoga, a form of Raja Yoga, Relaxation and other practices such as Yamas (restraint), Niyamas (disciplines), Asanas (postures) and Pranayamas (pranic breathing techniques) Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (absorption in the universal identity) etc. are used to gain control of the physical body and the subtle life force called Prana. When body and energy are under control meditation comes naturally.
Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti is a Yoga of devotion and complete faith. Through prayer, worship and ritual one surrenders himself to God or object of faith, channeling and transmuting his emotions into unconditional love and devotion. Continuous meditation of God or object of faith gradually decreases the ego of the practitioner. Suppressed emotions get released and the purification of the inner self takes place. Slowly the practitioner looses the self identity and becomes one with God or the object of faith, this is the state of self-realization.
Karma Yoga
Karma Yoga is a path of devotion to the work. The aim is for one to loose his identity while working, only the selfless work remaining. This is a very difficult state o achieve. Normally some rewards or outcome follow the work and one is attached to those. This is not Karma Yoga. When non-attachment with the result and outcome of the work is attained the work becomes worship to God, it becomes spiritual. The practitioner achieves stability of mind in all conditions; he can disassociate himself from the ego. The essence of Karma Yoga as extracted from 'Bhagvad Gita' says: ‘The world confined in its own activity except when actions are performed as worship of God. Therefore one must perform every action sacramentally and be free of your attachments to the results.’
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