Essence and Purpose of Yoga: Initiatory ways to the Transcendent (ASRAM VIDYA COLLECTION)

Today the word ‘yoga’ appears with increasing frequency in the world of culture as well as in the realms of philosophy and spirituality. It has come to be part of our current jargon as social media and the many schools and groups that have arisen under this umbrella have contributed to its spread. But what, in fact, is yoga? What are its philosophical, spiritual, and practical/operational aspects?The term yoga, from the root yuj, means ‘to join, unite’; and so the essence of yoga constitutes union, contact, the reintegration of individualised into universal consciousness. The human being is an entity that is cut off, separated, fragmented, expressing only a tiny fraction of its full range of consciousness. In its authentic nature it is universal and cosmic; in its illusory egotism it remains individual and particular.Yoga, in its true connotation, transcending all the deformities that this term may suffer, is ‘experiential vision’, theory and practice; and these two aspects have to be integrated if one wishes to gain the right result.In this book Raphael offers a cognitive and practical synthesis of the various pathways of yoga: cognitive because he expounds its theoretical essence, reminding us that Yoga is one of the six darsanas or ‘perspectives’, ‘viewpoints’, in relation to the Vedas; and practical because he shows clearly and unequivocally the stages and steps that we must go through in the various types of yoga in order not to fall into illusions or errors that may compromise the final result. Approaching a realisative path whose implications and end are not fully known can produce major conflict rather than harmony in the individual. Because the expressive tendency of an individual is determined by the predominant energy complex within the given life or set of circumstances, the ways corresponding to the different ‘callings’ or individual attitudes could be identified in the different types of yoga. In this respect, Raphael emphasises the need for seekers embarking on a pathway to get to know their own constitutions as a preparation for choosing the type of yoga most appropriate for their capacities, in order to derive the greatest benefit from the whole of their training in yoga.Raphael is a Master in the Metaphysical Tradition of East and West. He has written several books on the pathway of Non-duality (Advaita) and has translated a number of key Vedanta texts from the Sanskrit. He has also commented on the Orphic Tradition and compared it to the works of Plato, Parmenides, and Plotinus. Read more