What is yoga?

Yoga’s Sanskrit root word “yuj” means to yoke, join, or unite. The goal of any yoga practice is to unite with the universe.

Consider the classic hero-in-crisis scenario of The Bhagavad Gita, one of the foundational texts of yoga. Arjuna, a warrior at his weakest, is paralyzed by confusion. Krishna, a god standing in as charioteer, has come to the battlefield to snap Arjuna out of his daze. Arjuna doesn’t get it when Krishna first says, “Do not worry.”[1] Through the 700 verses of The Bhagavad Gita, Krishna advises Arjuna.

In an early verse, the divine Krishna tells the despairing Arjuna, “When you are unmoved by the confusion of ideas and your mind is completely united in deep samadhi, you will attain the state of perfect yoga.”[2]

Krishna is telling Arjuna three things in this verse. First, Arjuna should embrace stillness, not uncertainty. The man is about to wage war on family and friends. Who wouldn’t have doubts? Krishna is letting Arjuna know the battle in his brain is not helping this situation, or any other situation for that matter. Focus, Arjuna!

Second, despite impending skirmish, Arjuna should seek samadhi. In samadhi, all individual separation dissolves into pure consciousness. The id, ego, and superego are completely absorbed, and the higher self is one with the universe. Krishna is letting Arjuna know the battle in his brain is holding him back from this oneness. Unify, Arjuna!

Third, if Arjuna can manage to focus and unify, he can attain the state of perfect yoga. Did you catch that? Yoga is a state of mind. Krishna did not say, “Arjuna, when you are unmoved in sirsasana* and your head is united with the floor, you will attain the state of perfect yoga.” Friends, if you take away anything from this essay, please let it be this: yoga is a state of mind.

Krishna details for Arjuna at least four different paths to the yoga state of mind. Jnana is the yoga of knowledge, bhakti is the yoga of devotion, karma is the yoga of service, and raja is the yoga of meditation. What the West commonly refers to as yoga—asanas, postures which prepare the body for meditation—falls on the raja yoga path. In Krishna’s advice on raja yoga, he instructs Arjuna only thusly regarding the body: “Hold your body, head, and neck in a straight line, and keep your eyes from wandering.”[3] But remember, Krishna was not teaching Arjuna about his body; Krishna was teaching Arjuna about his mind. 

In the closing lines of The Bhagavad Gita, Krishna once again advises Arjuna, “Do not worry.”[4] This time, Arjuna gets it. He can attain the perfect state of yoga even in the middle of a battle, but first he must end that battle in his brain. He understands that “if he wholeheartedly takes refuge in the [divine] within, then through [divine] grace he will find peace.”[5]

This peace is yoga. No matter the path, and there are many, yoga is the divine grace found within. Whether refuge is achieved through meditation, knowledge, devotion, service, or another means, yoga is a perfect state of mind in oneness with the universe.

*Sirsasana is the Sanskrit name of the asana we call headstand in English. Westerners are often misled to believe that inversions like headstand are the pinnacle of yoga. Not even close.

[1] Project Shivoham, “The Bottomline of Bhagavad Gita and the Last Words of Sri Krishna,” youtube.com, Google, published September 1, 2021, https://youtu.be/hbEA5sQbOUM.

[2] Eknath Easwaran, The Bhagavad Gita: Introduced and Translated by Eknath Easwaran (Tomales: Nilgiri Press, 2007), 95.

[3] Easwaran, Bhagavad Gita, 141.

[4] Project Shivoham, “The Bottomline of Bhagavad Gita” https://youtu.be/hbEA5sQbOUM.

[5] Easwaran, Bhagavad Gita, 254.