2. What are the different types of yoga as explained by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita? How can modern women use the teachings of yoga to live a life of purpose, happiness and grace?

Krishna teaches Arjuna about different types of yoga and explains that these practices will ultimately support one on the path to enlightenment. Ultimately, yoga is much more than the physical asana practice that many westerners know. According to Eknath Easwaran, “Yoga is evenness of mind: detachment from the dualities of pain and please, success and failure. Therefore yoga is skill in action.” Therefore, the practices of yoga support detachment from the mind, compulsive reaction, and conditioning, and instead allow action to stem from freedom. Easwaran writes that Krishna tells Arjuna:

         that if he can establish himself in yoga--in unshakable equanimity, profound peace of mind--he will be more       

                 effective in the realm of action. His judgment will be better and his vision clear if he is not emotionally     

                 entangled in the outcome of what he does. 

Doesn’t that sound great? To be able to act and live from a place of “unshakable equanimity, [and] profound peace of mind?” According to Statistic Brain, there are 15 million people who practice yoga in America and 72.2% are women. Historically, in ancient India, yoga was solely for men and consisted of mostly meditation techniques. In sharp contrast, in America, yoga is primarily practiced by women and consists mostly of physical asana practice. Certainly it is important to take care of our bodies on the physical level but spiritual and mental health are just as important. Therefore we can learn from the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Indian holy text, how to live a life full of purpose, happiness and grace. Asana practice can help settle the “monkey” mind for meditation and deeper practices.    

Jnaana yoga is the yoga of knowledge: “The wise are not sorry for either the living or the dead . . . The wise man whom they do not trouble, for whom happiness and unhappiness are the same, is fit for immortality” (Buitenen, 75). Krishna teaches us that it is the wise who find contentment in literally all things, so that we can be peaceful and at ease within our ocean of emotion that ebbs and flows. Krishna’s teaching reminds me of the mountain meditation that I learned from Pema Chodron (an American Buddhist teacher). The visualization is one of a mighty mountain that stands strong through every season: through chillingly cold snow storms, heavy pounding sleet, the blazingly hot sun, the mountain remains, strong and steady. This is what the yoga of knowledge allows the practitioner to accomplish: peace and contentment through every weather of emotion. Furthermore, upon gaining wisdom the individual attains insight: “Not distressed in adversities, without craving for pleasures, innocent of passion, fear and anger, he is called a sage whose insight is firm. Firm stands the insight of him who has no preference for anything, whether he meets good or evil, and neither welcomes nor hates either one” (Buitenen, 75). Therefore, it is from knowledge that wisdom and insight are revealed. Ultimately it is the quest for reality that leads one to the path of knowledge. As Klostermaier confirms, “The quest for Reality finally leads to the discovery that Reality cannot be found outside but only inside. Thus the . . . path of knowledge, does not constitute a system of objective conceptual statements but a way towards self-discovery” (161). Therefore, devote yourself steadfast to a daily practice of yoga and meditation and you will experience your true Self. The Self in Hindu is known as atman or soul. As you begin or continue the journey of self-discovery you will find you have more peace and more love within--and all pervading throughout the universe--than you ever could imagine. From this place of peace you will intuitively know how to act skillfully with Grace.

Bhakti is another form of yoga that Krishna reveals to Arjuna. Bhakti is loving devotion and is popular among the untouchables (lowest class in India) and women because it does not require sacred text or ritual sacrifice but merely a state of the heart. An example of a bhakti practitioner is one: “who thinks of me continuously without ever straying in thought to another, that ever yoked yogin finds me easy to reach . . .” (Buitenen, 103). I find it extremely interesting that the practice of bhakti is also very popular in the western world. The practice of bhakti allows the individual to devote self, thought and action to something greater (Krishna, god/God, Love, Peace, etc.). Specifically, the chanting of sanskrit connects the individual to their heart in a very deep and profound way that is unexplainable and powerful.