The word Yoga embraces a big idea. In Sanskrit, it means union and its import is broad. In English translation, Yoga is generally defined as a spiritual or ascetic discipline that uses techniques of body and breath control. The purpose of Yoga is liberation and the joining of the spirit to God. God is described by Merriam Webster as “the supreme spirit” or “the universal soul.” In my book On Hinduism, I defined yoga as “A term that means a discipline used to refer to specific paths leading to enlightenment; also, one of the six Darshanas, or schools of philosophy.”
A Yogi is a person who practices Yoga. The Gita praises Yogis as follows:
The Yogi whose mind is concentrating on
God
does not shake.
He is steady
like a candle in a room where there is no wind.
The Yogi’s mind does not move away from
truth.
To become a Yogi
you have to practice being calm.
You have to practice not fidgeting
and concentrating on God.
And the Yogi who is perfectly calm
is pure and free of sin.
He is one with God
and perfectly happy.
(Gita 6:21,22,23,24,25,26,27)
Yoga is divided into various types. The Yogi described above is engaged in Raja Yoga, or Yoga of the mind. Other forms of Yoga which also promote balance that leads to enhanced consciousness include Hatha Yoga or Yoga of the body, Mantra Yoga or Yoga of chanting, and Vinyasa Yoga which coordinates breathing with movement.
Additionally, Yoga is the name of one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu Philosophy known as Darshanas (world views). These schools -Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Purva Mimasa, and Uttar Mimasa now known as Vedanta- are the foundation of Hindu thought. They all engage in analysis and interpretation of the Vedas, sacred Hindu texts. These schools consider the existence and nature of God or the Universal Soul and grapple with the issue of whether the Universal Soul is distinguishable from the human soul.
The Yoga Darshana was founded by the famous grammarian Patanjali. It is associated with meditation and it considers life’s goal to be liberation. Liberation consists of freedom from life’s cycle of birth and death through unification with God, the ultimate reality.
Swami Vivekananda, the founder of the Vedanta Society, introduced Hindu philosophy to the United States in 1893 when he presented his lecture “Sisters and Brothers of America” to the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. Since then, Yoga and other Hindu beliefs and practices have become increasingly understood and incorporated into American and Western life.
See On Hinduism and The Gita, A New Translation of Hindu Sacred Scripture, by Irene N. Gajjar.