An Introduction To Yoga
In a brief introduction on the vast body of knowledge known as the Vedas it is imperative to understand the fundamental paradigms of such knowledge. Just in the same way that if one wants to understand the construction of a building, then one should emphasise upon the base on which it is built. Veda means knowledge and is etymologically derived from the verb root 'vid' meaning ‘to know’. The Vedas propound four human goals of life and three yoga systems as means to achieve them. These are: Dharma (religiosity), Artha (wealth), Kama (sensual pleasures) and Moksha (liberation or salvation). The three Yoga systems are: Karma yoga (surrendering the fruits of action), Gyanayoga (empirical process of search after the Absolute Truth) and Bhaktiyoga (devotional surrender to the Supreme). Later day preceptors may have deemed it as expedient to subdivide the core Yoga systems, even giving them other nomenclatures. The Vedas are believed to have been in existence since time immemorial and are divine revelations from the Supreme Godhead. The Vedas are treatises on every conceivable aspect of human existence, from the supra-mental state of being, to nitty-gritty of ethical co-existence in tune with time, circumstances and space, which are perceived to be under the clutches of duality and illusion, to the ravages of nature and the influences of material energy, to the mysteries of the unseen and unknown.