Why do we practise Yoga?
Many people begin Yoga to improve their health, reduce stress, or quieten the mind. These are wonderful benefits, but according to the great masters of Yoga and Vedanta, they are not the final destination.
The ultimate goal of Yoga is much deeper. It is to realise that we have never been separate from the Divine.
The ancient yogic tradition expresses this profound truth through the beautiful symbolism of Shiva and Shakti.
Shakti represents the dynamic force of creation, the life energy that animates every living being. Yoga describes this energy as resting at the Muladhara, the root of our subtle energy system.
Shiva represents pure consciousness, the silent, unchanging witness that is beyond the body, mind, and personality. He resides at the Sahasrara, the crown of the head.
The entire journey of Yoga is the gradual ascent of Shakti through the central channel, the Sushumna Nadi, until it finally reunites with Shiva.
This union is not the meeting of two separate realities. It is the ending of the illusion that they were ever separate.
Swami Vivekananda beautifully described this highest state of consciousness. He explained that when the Kundalini reaches the Sahasrara, the mind becomes completely still, the soul experiences absolute freedom, and all limitations of time, space, and causation disappear.
This state is known as Samadhi.
In Samadhi, there is no longer a meditator trying to meditate. There is no observer separate from the observed. The constant feeling of “I” and “mine” dissolves into pure awareness.
Vedanta offers a beautiful analogy.
Imagine a wave searching tirelessly for the ocean. It travels endlessly, believing the ocean exists somewhere else. Then one day it realises a remarkable truth. It was never separate from the ocean. Every moment of its existence, it was the ocean appearing as a wave.
According to Vedanta, this is our story.
We spend our lives searching for happiness, peace, love, and God outside ourselves. Through Yoga, meditation, selfless service, devotion, and self-inquiry, we gradually remove the ignorance that hides our true nature.
What we finally discover is not something new.
We discover what has always been true.
That we are not separate individuals trying to reach the Divine.
We are expressions of that one infinite consciousness itself.
Perhaps this is the greatest message of Yoga.
The journey begins with the restless mind searching for fulfilment.
It ends with the timeless realisation that the seeker and the sought have always been one.
Vedik Mind 