So much of our modern yoga journey begins on the mat—seeking balance, strength, and peace. But beneath the asanas lives a deeper longing: the soul’s quiet call to remember its source. In this episode, we step beyond posture practice to explore yoga as a complete spiritual map. Together, we’ll travel through the four great yogas—action, knowledge, meditation, and devotion—and rediscover the luminous thread that unites them all in the heart of Bhakti.
Inside the Divine Network
Most of us meet yoga on the mat. But what if yoga is actually a map of the soul?
Today we’ll explore the four great yogas and uncover the hidden treasure that makes them whole.
When we’re first introduced to yoga beyond the mat it can be challenging to get our bearings about the paths, practices, philosophies, and personalities because we encounter an expansive, exotic world to make sense of.
As we continue to get oriented, we learn that the yoga/asana practices imported to the West are a fractional part of one of the four yoga systems and that each school has a different spiritual aim.
This is to say that while the yogas offer us psycho-physical health and well-being, they want to give us so much more.
For some, this comes as a surprise if you’ve primarily encountered yoga in the form of fitness classes. But in its original context, yoga is a complete system designed to find the self—not to just manipulate the body.
If we’re curious and inquire into yoga philosophies, we discover refined philosophical perspectives on the nature of Reality.
So let’s get oriented with a bird’s eye view of the yoga universe to better understand what we encounter there.
You might have heard that the term yoga means “linking.” Some teachers say it’s the linking of poses. Others say it is the linking of body and mind or emotions and thoughts.
But the yoga masters of the tradition describe that the linking is the union of the soul with the Supreme.
We often speak about mind-body balance or living in alignment and this has value. Yet the yoga traditions want to realign the soul with its Divine Source. And the soul wants more than physical well being.
The poses and pranayama of the ashtanga and hatha yoga so popular in the West are tools meant to control the mind and senses so that one can meditate with a fixed mind on the Supreme.
Each yoga system conceives of the Absolute and our union with it in different ways. Let’s look at the texts that explain this to us.
The Complete Vision of the Yoga Universe
The two most popular and easily accessible texts about yoga are the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Bhagavad Gita.
The Yoga Sutras are primarily a philosophical treatise on raja-yoga, or the eight-fold path. Kriya yoga is also briefly discussed there as a preliminary part of raja yoga. In the same meditational yoga family is hatha yoga, which is most often considered a preliminary step of raja yoga.
Western yoga classes typically focus on the physical practices of hatha yoga. Yet hatha was a support to the pursuit of raja yoga. So when we just have a part of a yoga system we’re not taking full advantage of everything that it offers us.
The essence of raja yoga is to focus the mind and clear it of material impressions so that the person can achieve liberation through samadhi, or fixed meditation. Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras states that the highest object of meditation is Ishwara, the Supreme, and the sacred name Om.
In other words, asanas and pranayama are simply foundational supports for developing fixed meditation on the Divine. Of course, they have mistakenly come to the West as primary functions of yoga.
This doesn’t mean physical yoga has no value. But it’s a bit like mistaking warm-up exercises for the full athletic event. They’re a preparation not the main event.
In the Yoga Sutras we’re taught about raja yoga. In Bhagavad Gita we learn not only about raja yoga, but three other yogas. Therefore, the Gita, which is an earlier text than the Yoga Sutras, reveals the complete yoga universe – or a unified vision of all the yogas as interrelated paths.
The Gita equips us with the ability to discern the unique characteristics and benefits of each of the yogas because Sri Krishna, the speaker of the text, gives us a comparative analysis and overview of each of the four yogas.
The 4 Great Yogas: Paths of Unity and Insight
What are the yogas?
Karma-yoga = Action Yoga
Jnana-yoga = Knowledge Yoga
Raja/Dhyana-yoga = Meditation Yoga
Bhakti-yoga = Devotion Yoga
If you consider these methods, you’ll find that all world systems fall within these divisions, though their systems are named differently.
Let’s consider each yoga.
Karma-yoga is called the yoga of action because following this path, one acts virtuously and dutifully and offers actions to the Supreme.
It is based on selfless, dutiful, detached action. One works for the Supreme without attachment to the results of one’s work. Selfless action purifies the heart.
Adherents of other traditions that promote pious acts and work for spiritual and religious purposes would fall under the category of karma yoga, or action yoga.
Jnana-yoga is called the yoga of knowledge and discernment through the study of sacred texts, philosophical inquiry, and detachment.
The yogi following this yoga carefully distinguishes the self from the body and the material world by repeated study and focusing the mind on the concept of the self. This gives illumination, clarity, and detachment.
Those traditions which propose that one proceed through exhaustive study of sacred texts using reason and logic to strengthen the mind and intellect are within the jnana yoga attempt.
Perfection of jnana yoga will give realization of the self and its oneness with reality.
Raja/Dhyana-yoga is called the yoga of meditation. One controls and stills the mind with the help of bodily postures and breath to focus on the Super Soul at the heart, or Ishwara.
This mental stillness is meant to ultimately lead to samadhi, or steady one-pointed consciousness free from material distractions and dualities.
In this state, one is fully absorbed in the object of meditation, the Supreme.
Paths that suggest its followers cultivate contemplative prayer, meditation, and silence to seek union with the divine are comparable to raja/dhyana, or the yoga of meditation.
Bhakti-yoga entails using the mind and body in offering loving devotional service to the Supreme Personal Absolute by hearing, speaking, and remembering his qualities, activities, names, and forms.
This yoga unites the soul with the Sweet Absolute in prema, or divine love. We see threads of Bhakti prevalent in many traditions that emphasize devotion.
The Interrelationship of the Yogas and the Supreme Path of Bhakti
Now, we hear that these yogas, although independent systems, are also interconnected. How so?
Desireless action, or karma, leads to detachment.
Detachment leads to knowledge, or jnana.
Knowledge, or jnana, leads to mystic meditation, or dhyana, the goal of raja yoga.
And all three yogas lead to devotion, or Bhakti.
During their conversation Arjuna was confused about which yoga Krishna was recommending because he went back and forth in speaking about all the yogas. So Arjuna pointedly asks Krishna which yoga is the best.
In response, Sri Krishna said that Bhakti is the highest and most intimate of all the yogas because it is powerful and easy to perform. It doesn’t rely on the strength of our effort, but is infused with mercy making our progress toward the goal easier. He further explains that the benefits of all the yoga systems are available to one practicing Bhakti.
Therefore, I call Bhakti the heart and soul of yoga. It’s the very heartbeat of all the yogas. Just as our heart is our center and gives meaning and richness to our lives, Bhakti is the center of all the yogas and gives them meaning and value.
We can note something further. The other yogas use material methods such as pious works, mind and body control, and strengthening the intelligence to attempt to achieve their spiritual goal. Only the most skillful can achieve the goal but the results are achieved by one’s own effort.
These methodologies fail to acknowledge that to achieve a spiritual goal we must use a spiritual method. As we’ve heard many times, Bhakti is a spiritual energy and her practices are all beyond the modes of material nature.
The Allegory of the Treasure: Discovering the Light of Bhakti
To demonstrate the position of Bhakti, Sri Chaitanya relayed the following allegory.
An astrologer came to the house of a poor man, who was quite dejected due to his poverty.
The astrologer asked, “Why are you unhappy? Your father left you vast wealth in the ground right beneath your feet in your own home.”
Astounded and overjoyed, the poor man realized he needed more information, “How will I find it?”
The astrologer explained. Don’t dig in the southern side.
The wasps and drones of the give-and-take method—or karma yoga — will sting you. If you dig for your wealth there, you will get reactions that will capture and disturb you.
If you approach your hidden wealth from the western side, the ghost of raja yoga will confuse you into thinking that by manipulating the subtle forces of nature you’ll become a controller and will attain supernatural mystic power.
This idea is a phantasmagoria, but it will enchant you and take your attention away from your desired goal.
If you approach the treasure from the north, you will encounter the snake of jnana yoga which will try to convince you of impersonal conception of the Supreme.
The snake will entice you to give up your individual identity and then swallow you, and you will enter an eternal sleep.
This will be spiritual suicide.
However, if you approach from the eastern side, with the help of Bhakti, you will get your wealth easily.
That is the direction of the sunrise. It is the direction that gives light.
Such light is from the Source of all light coming from another realm, and it reveals the truth of BHAKTI, the path of devotional service that cultivates divine love in the heart.
Sri Chaitanya explained that just as the words of the astrologer gave news of the poor man’s treasure, the sacred texts advise us about our relationship with the Supreme Person and explain why we’re in a distressed material condition.
Although assured of his father’s treasure, the poor man couldn’t put his hands on the treasure simply by knowing that it existed. He needed to know where to dig.
The sacred texts conclude that one should give up desire-driven activity (or karma), speculative knowledge (or jnana), and the mystic yoga system (or raja or hatha) and instead take to BHAKTI, by which one can satisfy the Sweet Absolute.
Krishna says, “This Bhakti yoga system, which gradually increases attachment for me, purifies even the lowest person. In other words, anyone can be elevated to the spiritual platform by the process of Bhakti yoga, but this is not true of the other yogas.”
At the center of the yogas, as the organizing principle and final goal, stands Bhakti—the yoga of divine love.
It harmonizes the action of karma, the clarity of jnana, and the stillness of dhyana into a personal, loving relationship with the Supreme.
When we understand the map, we can walk the path with confidence, knowing that our heart’s longing for connection finds its fullest expression in Bhakti.
Thanks for joining me on this tour of the yoga universe.
If this episode gave you a clearer vision of your own spiritual direction, please like, share, and subscribe.
Until next time keep walking the path of love.
Sarve janah bhagavatah saranam yantu; tasmin sarane eva mangalasya purnata.
May all beings gently move toward the shelter of Bhagavan; in that shelter alone, auspiciousness finds its fullness.
