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Re: Question about yogas and margas.
Anshuman Pandey <apandey@u.washington.edu> wrote:
>
> I recently read in a general text on Hindu precepts about the four yogas:
> bhakti, karma, raja, and jnana. Are these four "yogas" actually "margas"
> and properly called bhakti marga, karma marga, yoga marga, and jnana marga?
>
> Secondly, where do such yogas as kundalini, hatha, and kriya fit? Are
> these margas as well, or are they subsets of yoga marga?
>
My two cents:
I would recommend starting with the four small volumes written by Swami
Vivekananda on the four yogas. They are available in paper back
from Vivekananda Vedanta Society, 5423 South Hyde Park Blvd,
Chicago, IL 60615.
Second part of the question - hatha yoga is part of Raja Yoga (more
properly, Patanjali's Astanga Yoga, the eight limbed yoga). Kundalini
refers to the spiritual energy activated by the practice of the various
disciplines such as hatha yoga, japa yoga, mantra yoga, jnana yoga, etc.
IMO. in the West, the word 'yoga' is often misused by appending to a lot
of other terms. Indian Philosophy has the main schools:
Yoga, Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Purva Mimamsa, Uttara Mimamsa. A
good starting point is "A sourcebook on Indian Philosophy", S. Radhakrishnan
and Charles Moore,Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Kriya is a technique / method originated by Paramahans Yogananda,
who wrote "The auto-biography of a yogi" which is a must for anyone
interested in the spiritual path.
Cheers,
Mukti
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