Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Yoga: A Path to Nirvana

LAVOIE,ashley

On my midterm report, I discussed Hinduism. Hinduism is a religion that many people around the world practice. Hinduism is actually the third largest followed religion in the world with approximately 900 million followers [BBC]One main point I brought up when I discussed Hinduism, was Nirvana. Nirvana is the ultimate bliss. It is something that people who believe in Hinduism are constantly trying to achieve. In Hinduism, people believe that we have many lives until our souls are finally lifted to the ultimate which is Nirvana. For my first segment, I wanted to go more specifically into a path you may take to reach Nirvana. This path is called yoga. Yoga is something most people are very familiar with. This video below depicts what people generally think of when they hear the word yoga.  



For people that practice HinduismYoga is a strict practice that activates a persons, mind, body, and soul. Yoga is based on knowledge. This knowledge is not in an intellectual sense but more about a person's knowledge about Brahman. Atman, and the realization of their unity. Within the path of yoga, there are four more paths that people may chose to journey. Most people try to master all four. These are named Jnana, Bhakti, Raja, and Karma. Jnana is the path about knowledge. The ultimate goal of Jnana is to find the absolute truth. This piece of yoga is more intellectually and philosophically stimulating. Bhakti is the emotional portion of yoga. Bhakti has a large focus on devotion and love. The ultimate goal is to reach a love that is pure and emotionally stimulating. Raja is the physical and emotional portion that is largely reliant on practice. The way people practice Raja is through meditation. The practice of meditation provides unity between the mind and nature. The ultimate goal of Raja is to have ultimate mind control. The last path a person may take is Karma. Karma is an active practice. It is to eliminate a person's selfishness. A person must practice their selfless service but readily going out of their way to help other's and serve the ultimate life. The ultimate goal of Karma is complete selflessness. Yoga is just one path of Hinduism that people may take. It has a overall goal of complete divinity with intellectualspiritual, and emotional bliss. 


1 comment:

  1. Westerners with no firm commitment to traditional Hindu spirituality have taken up yoga,and created secular variants to appeal to a mass western market. In some cases they've profited from it. Hence the question "Is it Hindu?" with its implication of inauthenticity and exploitation.

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