Yoga and its wider connotations

The wider meanings of the term ‘Yoga’ are discussed in the second chapter of the Bhagavad Geeta. While speaking about the importance of doing one’s duty without any expectations of rewards or recognition, Lord Krishna says ‘maintaining one mental equipoise is Yoga”. In the course of discharging his duties, man has to face myriad difficulties which manifest themselves as the dualities of life like praise-censure, good-bad and so on.

In the face of all these obstacles, carrying out one’s work with a sense of purpose, with all sincerity, doing it in as detached a manner as possible, without the egoistic approach of ‘I am the doer’, ‘I should get this reward for this work’ is what is meant by mental equipoise here, which is termed ‘Yoga’. The Lord now takes this explanation further by unravelling the mental processes that take place in the execution of any human activity.

There are two levels of consciousness, the lower one, the mind, also called ‘Manas’ and the higher one, the intellect, also called ‘Buddhi’. The mind must always be controlled by the intellect which imparts balance and poise to man’s conduct.

This state where the mind is controlled by the intellect is called 'Buddiyoga’ or simply ‘Yoga’. When man tries to achieve this state, he moves towards the attainment of mental equanimity. Any action done by man creates mental impressions in him. Over his lifetime, man accumulates innumerable such mental impressions, both good and bad, manifesting as his behavioural tendencies. In reality, most people exist just at the level of this material world, the physical body and the lower consciousness of the mind. All activities are devoted to the fulfilment of the pulls and attractions of these three entities, where the mind overrides the intellect.

In this scenario, work is done with an eye on the final outcome, wherein purposeful and concentrated work, dedication, sincerity and quality of work take the backseat. This last aspect ‘quality of work’ encapsulates the meaning of the second definition of ‘Yoga’ as ‘skill or dexterity or efficiency in work’ as mentioned in the well-known phrase ‘Yogah karmsy kaushalam’.

When the mind is controlled by the intellect, there is mental equipoise and formation of positive mental thoughts which reflect in work quality.