The word “yoga” as you may know, is a Sanskrit word translated to mean “linking up with the supreme” or linking up with the divine. It’s not that you link up as the divine, or that you become the divine, but rather that you make contact in a relationship with the divine. The difference appears externally minor and quite subtle but the conclusion is profoundly important. We are all divine beings, in that as spirit soul we are of the same quality as the divinity. But in quantity we are minute or fragmental compared to the absolute and complete whole or the original personality of godhead.
Some schools of thought like to say that we merge with the divine like a river flowing into the great ocean to become one, but this is not the conclusion at the top of the ladder of transcendence. It is indeed a rung of the ladder in that one can merge with “brahman” or the all-pervading spiritual energy, but that energy is nothing more than the effulgence emanating from the supreme personality of godhead.
The impersonalist school of thought will use the popular Sanskrit phrase “aham brahmasmi” which means “I am spirit”, to justify their philosophy that we are god, but they miss the subtle point that we may be spirit – in quality the same as god – but in quantity we will always remain a fragmental portion, with unique individuality.
At the time of transcendence we do indeed lose our temporary personality which is related to this particular mind and body, but we awaken our original spiritual personality with all its likes and tastes, and particularly its unique personalized relationship with the original supreme personality of godhead. That is the complete understanding, based on Bhagavad Gita and the Sanskrit Vedanta Sutra and Bhagavat Purana.
I understand that the Adwaita non-dual impersonalist school of thought may differ in this detail, but I am not denying the possibility of impersonalist liberation and merging with brahman. I am saying that according to the Vedas, this is at best a temporary experience. Because the spirit soul is by nature active and conscious and animated, it can only spend so much time merged within brahman before it seeks out individuality once more and has to then take birth again.
There are, in other words, grades and degrees of liberation or existence in the so-called kingdom of god. There is the non-dual merging with the spiritual effulgence of god, there is the kingdom where one is a servant in awe and reverence of god, and then on the topmost level there is the meeting and entering into the loving pastimes with god as a peer, not as a servant in awe and reverence.
As a peer, one exists in a mood of friendship and playfulness with god, or also a mood of loving romance with god, all the while unaware that the personality who is the object of your affection is even god at all. In other words the lower mood of awe and reverence to a powerful supreme deity is absent, reserved only for the lower rung of transcendence, to a realm called “Vaikuntha” in Sanskrit, meaning the place where there is an absence of anxiety. This is the kingdom and god is the king.
But in the highest realm of the godhead, called “Goloka” you are reunited with god as a fellow playmate or lover, and you spend eternity in play, as a unique separate personality, along with all the other spirit souls in their original personalities, all engaging in loving pastimes with god, but never aware that this is god. This is all achieved through the covering potency of god, where we are not aware of the truth, ironically.
This potency is called Maya, which means illusion, among other things. In the material world, we are said to be under the influence of Maha Maya, and in illusion regarding our original spiritual personality and identity, while all the while taking this world as the real feature, while in fact it is only a small fragmental portion of the entire creation of god. When in the spiritual world however, we are said to be covered by Yoga Maya, also an illusory potency of god, but one used specifically to allow yoga to occur, or the linking up with god in the moods described, namely friendship or love.
So there are degrees of liberation or levels within the kingdom of god. “In my father’s house there are many rooms” as Christ said, or something along those lines. There is the merging with the brahman effulgence of god, then there is the worship in awe and reverence in Vaikuntha, and finally there is the topmost linking up in love and friendship found in Goloka. These are, of course, highly esoteric teachings and I am only able to give my limited understanding of what is an unlimited concept. But it is important to know these subtle details and differences lest we become enamored by the allure of the lower rungs of liberation due to not realizing the higher rungs that exist.
This is all information based on the Sanskrit literatures and Vedic texts going back thousands of years. At different times in history the different rungs of liberation are emphasized more than others. The Buddha as well as Shankaracharya both emphasized the lower rungs of impersonal liberation while on the planet a few thousand years ago, but other teachers have also taught the higher levels of liberation and goals of yoga at other times in history. Teachers like Madhvacharya and Ramanujacharya, who came after Shankaracharya, for example. My references here to these various realms of the kingdom of god come specifically from the Brahma-Narada-Madhva-Gaudiaya sampradaya or lineage in India.
Also some parts of the great body of literature called the Vedas do mention one type of liberation while other parts mention the others. So all of them that I mentioned here are valid but not all are equal in the results they bring. Similarly not all yoga techniques are going to take you to the same destination. It depends on what your focus is on. Whether you practice jnana yoga, or dhyana (astanga) yoga or bhakti yoga, you will gain the concomitant result accordingly. And according to our levels of consciousness we may apply ourselves to one or the other, in different ways.
This is stated in the Bhagavad Gita thus:
आरुरुक्षोर्मुनेर्योगं कर्म कारणमुच्यते ।
योगारूढस्यतस्यैव शम: कारणमुच्यते ॥ ३ ॥
ārurukṣor muner yogaṁ
karma kāraṇam ucyate
yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva
śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate
“For one who is a neophyte in the eightfold yoga system, work is said to be the means; and for one who is already elevated in yoga, cessation of all material activities is said to be the means.”
Bhagavad Gita As It Is chapter 6:3 translated by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta
So as you can see, there are different ways to apply ourselves and also different results according to our level of consciousness as we climb the yoga ladder. I’m personally still a beginner so my understanding may be that of a novice. I cannot claim to be a master of the process but merely a beginner. You may have different realizations or may have focused on another teaching of the Vedas, and so have a different conclusion. I can only respect anyone who is applying themselves to the path on whatever level they find themselves.
(image pixabay)
WoW
Your level of understanding is really great!!
Keep sharing
Wonderful text, Jules.
To read again and again. I love the way you go conjugating the different texts as, in my opinion, it has to be. Because that also gives a broader view of the conception of truth you want to share.
Thank you, for sharing.
@karmadorje
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FREEhere. We support writers sharing about herbalism, TCM, yoga, meditation, vegan and other healthy diets, as well as earth centred practices such as foraging, permaculture and biodynamics - read more about us on our Welcome Page!Love this. Thank you for sharing the knowledge. Namaste :) <3