Definitions of Yoga
These are the translated quotations from Yogic literature about
Yoga.
The Bhagavad Gita
"Yoga is skill in actions."
"Yoga is balance (samatva)."
"Yoga is known as the disconnection (viyoga) of the connection (samyoga)
with suffering."
Yoga-Sūtra
"Yoga is the control of the whirls of the mind."
Yoga-Bhāshya
"Yoga is ecstasy (samādhi)."
Maitrī-Upanishad
"Yoga is said to be the oneness of breath, mind, and senses, and
the abandonment of all states of existence."
Yoga-Yājnavalkya
"Yoga is the union of the individual psyche (jīva-ātman) with the
transcendental Self (parama-ātman)."
Yoga-Bīja
"Yoga is the unification of the web of dualities (dvandva-jāla)."
Brahmānda-Purāna
"Yoga is said to be control."
Rāja-Mārtanda
"Yoga is the separation (viyoga) of the Self from the earthly (prakriti)."
Yoga-Shikhā-Upanishad
"Yoga is said to be the unity of exhalation and inhalation and of
blood and semen, as well as the union of sun and moon and of the
individual psyche with the transcendental Self."
Katha-Upanishad
"This they consider Yoga: the steady holding of the senses."
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