The Goal

"Good," I said. "Now, what is the goal of the Vedantist?"

"The Vedantist’ s ideal is to realize his or her spiritual nature. The ultimate position, as Shankara says: To know that you are not the body, not the mind, but the spirit.

"But there are intermediate stages," he added. "In devotional language we call this quest the realization of God. In Vedantic language we call it the realization of one’s spiritual nature.

"In our ordinary lives we human beings don’t represent the full spirit because it is mixed with the body and other mental/emotional aspects — with defects.

"But, realization of one’s spiritual nature is the ultimate goal of life," he underscored.

"In the process, of course," he went on, "samadhi (superconscious awareness) is the method. Through samadhi only can you have these experiences. To gain samadhi you practice the four major yogas, which are means of connecting the individual soul with the Supreme Soul. The four yoga paths are: the path of devotion, the path of knowledge, the path of action, and the path of meditation. These are the four major ways to gain samadhi and experience the ultimate goal of life.

Four Yogas  

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