Jnana Yoga and others (ritual, blood, hell, experience, pray)

[harikrishna]

Nice. Yoga is needed for physical body and also helpping somewhat in spirituality such as meditation. But to actually relaise God and know his greatness, only Bhakti is best. Also sankirtan also helps mostly. This is best in Kaliyug.

[Don Penguinoini]

Isnt Karma Yoga best? I don't know properly, but using logic, i guessed that being good to others might create a vibe of goodness among people. I don't know, jst an idea.

[michaelm]

"most of it is hogwash" - so very true. a minefield indeed. if you have a teacher who keeps a careful eye on your practice like that then they are to be cherished. It is so easy to be taken in, or simply to slightly misunderstand and thereby misunderstand what oyu should do or how you should do it.

As to one practice being superior to another..well, all of them have their proponents, all will tell you that their preferred method is the best, is superior or even is the only way to liberation. In a way that is true...but they dont realise that is true only for them. It is the cunning ego playing tricks!

Find out about different methods and find what suits you, what you feel most comfortable and confident with and then persue that further, but DONT do anything that you feel uncomfortable doing. It is best to not do something harmless than to mistakenly do something harmful. sometimes you may feel pressured to do some act, especially in a group situation. Use it as a test of the group, or the teacher that you politely say you are not comfortable with doing that (yet). A good teacher or group will respect that. Any group that tries to persuade or pressure you should be avoided (always making some consideration ofr the ocassional overenthusiatic individual within an otherwise good group - most groups have a few overzealous ones, just skirt around them!)

[harikrishna]

Nice. Yoga is needed for physical body and also helpping somewhat in spirituality such as meditation. But to actually relaise God and know his greatness, only Bhakti is best. Also sankirtan also helps mostly. This is best in Kaliyug.Everything else is included and attained within this.

[Aupmanyav]

"Ati Sarvatra Varjayet" (Excess should always be avoided). Even in Sankirtan. Like what MichaelM said about Yoga. Do not get bound in group mentality. There are ways other than Bhakti too.

[Pariah]

Jnana, Bhakti, and Karma yoga are different ways of realization depending on the personality of each person. Santana Dharma (the real name of Hinduism) is unique in allowing people of differing countenances to achieve the same goal of enlightenment.

[zenzero]

Friend Saint Tigress,
Firstly try and understand what is YOGA.
Yoga means addition in Sanskrit / hindi.
So what is added? One is trying to add the individual energy with the universal energy.
One may call Yoga, connection too.
So to do so one can do it by various WAYS which is why HInduism is not a religion as religion means a particular WAY but Hinduism embrasses all the possible WAYS and so Buddhism / Jainism extended the way where it is all about NO-FORM.
So for the different types of people different ways are there; one has to choose what suits his / her temperament etc and practice that.
Gyana means knowledge and by using ones intellect one develops an understanding about god. Vedanta is all about gyana yoga. Lao Tzu's TAO is also saying the same thing that just by understanding that you are just an ordinary being is enough.
I could connect through sex too which is Tantra yoga but one has to understand what it is all about, not plain wham-bam-sam-thank-you-mam type.
I would say one can connect [yoga] by eating too. That reminds me the TEA ceremony of Japanese Zen is all about it by drinking tea. meaning to state that one has to be meditative, aware in whatever one does and slowly by and by one will connect.
Love & rgds

[Saint Tigeress]

Thank you all very much for your replies. I am not practicing yoga at the moment, althugh I'm sure I will eventually.

What peaked my interest with Juana Yoga in particular is how profoundly intense our instructor made it sound, but then never gave details on what the experiences are like.

That of course does mean I am going to fiddle with it. lol

[Don Penguinoini]

Tahts great

[Aupmanyav]

Saint Tigeress, I do not know if you are still around. I have come back to the forum after a long time. But this is what I would like to say on the subject:

Shorn of semantics, Jnana Yoga is scientific investigation. I have done it and have obtained the results. But one basic requirement is that you cannot have your prejudices. One who cannot get out of prejudices is not the right candidate to pursue Jnana Yoga, because it is going to shatter many of them. Since I have engaged in Jnana Yoga, so I do not believe in Kundalini and feminine energy. That is Tantra, coiled or uncoiled. Please take care not to get involved with phony gurus who could cause you a lot of monetary loss. Don, a Jnana Yogi does not abandon his 'dharma' (duties or righteous action), that would not be Jnana.

Michaelm, I rever Ramana Maharshi and Swami Nisargadatta. I appreciate your posts in the topic. Harikrishna, it depends on the person's inclination, yes, for some Bhakti Yoga is the best.