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Like so many other words, the ancient word of yoga started out as something much more encompassing than the current Western definition of it. we take it now to mean the practising of body postures or asanas with a view to gaining some flexibility or peace of mind, but thousands of years ago yoga meant a path by which you could be united with God, a path where the finite and the Infinite became one. Indeed the word yoga means exactly that - union.

Just as there are differing personality types across the spectrum of mankind, so there were different paths, or branches of Yoga which a person could make spiritual progress according to his or her temperament. These are traditionally divided into three main branches:

1. Jnana Yoga - the yoga of knowledge

The practitioner of jnana yoga strives for direct experience and knowledge of the truth, sometimes through studying ancient scriptures, but also by discriminating with a cold eye between the real and ephemeral things in life. 'Neti, Neti' (not this, not this) is the watchword of the jnana yogin as he turns away from the illusory niceties of outer life and searches for the real truth. 'Who am I?', the twentieth century jnana yogi Sri Ramana Maharshi used to instruct people to ask themselves. The Buddha is possibly the most well known example of a jnana yogi, and his resolve not to rise from the bodhi tree until he had attained enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings typifies the steely determination of jnana.

2. Bhakti Yoga - the yoga of love and devotion

When we meditate on the heart, we feel its foremost quality, which is its capacity for unconditional divine love. Typically human love always attaches emotional strings to its giving, but when we enter into the heart we experience a love that is given freely and unconditionally, a goodwill that extends to all. Many spiritual teachers say the fastest way to make spiritual progress is by offering this kind of unconditional divine love to God. This love, or bhakti, acts as a magnet which draws God and the seeker closer to each other. Bkaktas commonly relate to a personal aspect of God, and often are ridiculed for simplifying the Infinite fown to a mere person. However, Sri Chinmoy, a noted authority on bhakti yoga, comes to their defense: "A Bhakta sincerely feels that he is a tiny drop and that God is the infinite Ocean. He feels that his body is an infinitesimal portion of God the boundless Whole. A devotee thinks of a God and prays to a God in his own image. And he is absolutely right to do so. Just enter into a cat's consciousness and you will see that its idea of an omnipotent Being takes the form of a cat — only in a gigantic form. Just enter into the consciousness of a flower and you will see that the flower's idea of something infinitely more beautiful than itself takes the image of a flower." Bhaktas commonly relate to God in the form of Father, Mother or Friend. The West, with his history of worship and devotion, has had more than its fair share of bhakti yogis and yoginis - for example, St Teresa of Avila or St Therese of Lisieux.

3. Karma Yoga - the yoga of work

Whilst the other two yogas would prefer not to let the outer world interfere with their spiritual practise, Karma Yoga is performed whilst living in the world at the same time. It is the art of living in the world and yet not being affected by its ebbs and tides. A karma yogin aims to do something because it is the right thing to do and not because he expects success or failure from it. When one is released from expectant some particular result of his action, he can then keep his poise and equanimity no matter what happens. With karma yoga, you realise your kinship with the world and you work for its betterment without expecting anything. Mother Teresa is probably the most well known example of a practitioner of karma yoga.

Photo of Ganesh taken by Bipin Larkin at Aspiration-Ground, New York - where meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy meditates with his students

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