The word 'yog" means?
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Answer:
Yog” written in Devanagari as योग means 'conjunction' or 'addition', and the same word is used in both Hindi and Sanskrit.
Answer:
"Yog" means
1.मिलाप, मेल।
2. मिलन, संयोग।
- meditation
Synonym: ध्यान (dhyān)
- oneness with Brahma; enlightenment
These days when people talk of yog, particularly in the West, they think only of what should more correctly be termed "hath yog". Thus the term "yog" has been hijacked and made a synonym of "hath yog". In this mix-up, the true and broader sense of "yog" is being lost. So let us try to understand what "yog" really is and why it matters in Indian philosophy.
The word "yog" comes from Sanskrit, and is in most likelihood derived from the root "yuj", which has multiple meanings. The Indian subcontinent has been a land of multiple views and ideas. Hence it would be partial to give the word yog a single meaning, but all the meanings that it can be assigned have the sense of joining and union.
Union of what? This is where the meaning can differ. For example, according to Bhagvad Gita and from a religious point of view, this could mean the connection of human spirit (soul) with the divine. A more secular meaning is the union of body, mind and spirit or the soul's connection with its origin. For those who believe in non-dualistic philosophy, yog would simply be the achievement of that stillness and concentration of the mind that leads the spirit (soul) to higher realms.
Understanding these various viewpoints provides us with a broader picture that allows for all these meanings, for after all, it sounds impossible for one to achieve the divine connection when one has not been able to unite his/ her own body, mind and spirit. Therefore, in my opinion, yog could actually mean all these things without any conflict whatsoever. At the most material level, yog can be union of body, mind and spirit that helps one bring one's mind to peace and happiness. Once this peace has been established, at the next, more spiritual level, yog would involve establishing the connection of one's soul with the divine (within the dualistic philosophy) or establishing the stillness and concentration that leads one's soul to higher dimensions (within the non-dualistic philosophy).
As I mentioned in the beginning, these days most people associate yog with asan (physical body exercises/ poses), pranayam (breathing exercises) and dhyan (meditation) - these are constituents of the so-called raj yog. According to the Bhagvad Gita, raj yog is merely one type of yog. There are several other forms of yog, and majority of them have nothing to do with exercise or meditation. Some of the other forms of yog are: karm yog, gyan yog, bhakti yog, tantric yog, lay (or kundalini) yog.
For the sake of fairness and respect for the philosophy, one should acknowledge the diversity of the paths and practices of yog. For instance, karm yog includes the yog of action and the yog of selfless action - the practice of this yog has little to do with asans and pranayam - this yog is performed by doing actions without desire for the fruit of the action. Then there is the gyan yog, the yog of knowledge, and so on.
I will conclude by writing a bit more on hath yog because this form of yog has become immensely popular across the world these days. Hath yog is the gift of raj yogis who have in all probability been utilizing the various postures to aid their meditation since the beginning of the practice of raj yog. The various poses were collected and formalized as a means to cleanse the body-mind system and prepare it for meditation and concentration by raj yogis of the Ganges basin somewhere around the beginning of the 2nd millenium AD. Though hath yog may have been influenced by tantr, hath yog practice is different from tantric or kundalini yog practices. Hath yog was popularized in the West in the 20th century and has today become a popular practice for good health and wellness of body and mind across the world.
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