Читать книгу Ashtanga Yoga - The Intermediate Series - Gregor Maehle - Страница 29

Whereas there is only one type of Jnana Yoga and one type of Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga has differentiated into many different modes with different names, according to precisely what actions and techniques are suggested. Kriya Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Tantra Yoga, Laya Yoga, Dhyana Yoga, Samadhi Yoga, and Raja Yoga are all different modes of Karma Yoga. In all these modes of yoga, the practitioner performs certain yogic actions intending to derive a direct benefit, such as a stronger, healthier body, a longer life, a smooth flow of prana (and eventually its arrest in the central energy channel), a powerful intellect that can concentrate at will, a penetrating insight that can be directed at objects normally hidden, the ability to know whatever one wishes — and the list goes on.

Western students are often confused by this apparent multiplicity of yogic teachings, which is replicated in the multiplicity of India’s many divine forms and images. We may understand this fact by likening yoga to medicine — as, for example, the Rishi Vyasa did in his commentary on the Yoga Sutra. In medicine we have many different remedies addressing the various ailments that patients can develop. In a similar way, the many different forms of Karma Yoga have developed to address different problems.

Although all people are essentially the same at their divine cores, they vary greatly in their outer layers: the body, mind, ego, and intellect. Because people have very different bodies and minds, different approaches have been developed to remove the different obstacles located therein. Karma Yoga has developed its many modes because it targets these variable aspects of human individuals. Jnana and Bhakti Yoga, in contrast, have not had to differentiate because they address the divine consciousness or true self, which does not vary among individuals.