The Yoga rules

By Joseph Van Moorleghem

Yoga, the sanscrit word, could be translated as "to unify". It could be seen as a symbol which stands for the activity of trying to link what is above, on the spiritual level, with what is below, on the earthly level.

Yoga was specifically designed to help pupils on the path achieve the goal of uniting body and soul. As the soul is too subtle to incarnate, that is, its vibrations are too elevated to be able to maintain itself in the lower matter of which physical bodies are made, it sends a representative, or extension of itself into existence. One could compare the soul as the puppet master and the body as the puppet.

This "puppet" becomes aware that it is alive through the power of the mind, which becomes self-conscious and through its experience of life goes about the business of creating an identity, which is vital in the process of survival. Over time, the puppet completely forgets that it is a representative of the soul and often is not even aware of the existence of the soul.

Fortunately, many people started questioning the reason for the suffering this caused and went about their search for a higher meaning of life. Conscious of the fact that they lacked a dimension, that something was missing, they started searching for explanations.

It is a crude analogy, but Yogi masters have found a way to connect to the "puppet master", or the soul. When the communication channel between body and soul only exists on a sub-conscious level, the mind is left in charge on a conscious level. The entity alive in the body has no conscious contact with its soul.

By practicing yoga, the entity paves the way to creating a conscious link with the soul. Thanks to the experience of past masters, it is known that direct communication with the soul is possible when one creates perfect silence within. When the "puppet" manages to create silence, that is, to put a halt to the incessant train of thoughts that is produced by the mind, the channel of communication to the soul opens again.

Not that it was ever closed, but the chatter produced by the activity of the self-conscious mind renders two way communication impossible. Over the years, this created a way of life that polluted the body, the emotions and the mind. Yoga exercises clear out this mess and makes it possible to create conditions where meditation, or creating silence within can be attained.

Yoga, then, is the activity that prepares conditions in which correct meditation becomes possible. The body is detoxified, which makes it healthier and more vital. Now emotions and mind can enter a state of peace, allowing the entity to create perfect silence within, thus accelerating the uniting of body and soul.

Joe is webmaster for mahasaya.com and yogi4u.com where he pursues his passion for spiritual work, self-growth and self-realization. He is happy to make available his experience and 30 years of intense personal research, meditations and in-depth questioning around the three subjects mentioned hereabove and strives to create a network of like minded adepts. You can post on his two sites, either http://mahasaya.com or the blog at http://www.yogi4u.com and he looks forward to your contributions.