Yoga Say What? Learn. Forget. Remember.

The true definition of Yoga might very well be different dependant upon whom you ask. While I was studying at the Yoga Farm we in fact learned that there are many translations regarding the meaning of Yoga. Today, I will share those meanings and how I see them pertinent in today's world.

A little background on the source and history of Yoga before we delve into WHAT exactly it is. Yoga Philosophy comes from The Vedas. The Vedas, translating to "knowledge" are writings transmitted to the world via sages/saints over three thousand years ago. So like with the prophets of the Bible and other spiritual texts, these people sat quietly, at times for years at a time, in order to receive these Truths to assist humanity in achieving its purpose. For those of us with a sense that we ARE indeed born with purpose, these texts become something to be examined and considered. With Vedanta Philisophy (this is the philopophy of the Vedas, also known as Yoga philosophy) being "the end of knowledge", Vedanta implies that once you truly understand the message, there is simply nothing left to know.

I had a moment of intense clarity the other day (LOVE those right?) where three words came to me: Learn. Forget. Remember. In these three words I relate to the Vedas & Yoga.

• In LEARNING: we are born and we learn so much about the world around us-right and wrong. For example, we learn that we eat fruits and vegetables not rocks and dirt. This is 'right'. We also "learn" that perhaps we are not talented enough, smart enough, or attractive enough. This is "wrong". So we learn and learn and learn until one day we say, "HEY-I don't think I have this all RIGHT. I don't believe what this and that person said and I want to get back to the way I was before I believed that!".

• And so we have to work hard to FORGET. This is what a lot of the Yoga practice is meant for. To release us from the false perceptions we have of ourselves and the world around us.

• Once we do this work, we can REMEMBER. We can remember who we are, why we came into this life, and the all important work we are supposed to do. We remember our purpose. THIS, is life.

Now back to the meanings of YOGA in order to apply them to LIFE:

Yoga is:

#1. A level of bliss, maintained. In this I see that it's something that is meant to be constant.

#2. Evenness of the mind. Here is the view that it is when we have enough control over our own thoughts to not get overly excited about things. While that may sound like a downer at first, when we think about that what goes up must come down (physics), we can understand that for every super-excited thought or reaction, we level it out with an equally depressed or lethargic state of being. So the more we can keep our minds steady, the less we suffer.

#3. Skill in action. This is where we delve into what is commonly called Karma Yoga or Seva. Here we participate in our duty; whether it be as a parent, janitor, banker ect., we do our work without expectation regarding the outcome. When we can do this, we cannot be let down as we never had expectations to begin with. In this we can approach #2 much easier!

#4. A scientific method to find truth. Indeed. It is written, it is proven, it's been done for thousands of years. It is NOT a religion, it does NOT ask for any steadfast belief or surrender, it only provides a method to LEARN. FORGET. REMEMBER.

#5. Union with the Divine. This is perhaps the most popularized definition, often referring to a translation of 'yoke'. In this we can say that here is the REMEMBERING that we are no different from any other person nor from whatever That is Who created all of this!

#6. The severance from the union with pain. As is #3, when we aren't expecting things to turn out a certain way, when we simply try our best and offer the results to the world rather than laying claim to them...we don't hurt. We don't identify with 'losing' because we had never intended to put our Self out for gain. Pretty. Darn. Cool!!!!

I hope you have enjoyed this little lesson in Vedanta and that you have seen that while indeed esoteric (no matter how I could try, I could never not be spiritual...if that makes any sense!), there is a lot of meaty, relevant and useful information in all of this.

Om Tat Sat.