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An improvisation over the traditional Yoga systems of India, Purna Yoga or
Integral Yoga is the art, wherein, people are taught to loving their own self by
living from the heart. Just as the name suggests, 'Purna' which means
'complete', the Yoga aims at attaining a union of the body, mind and the spirit.
It was thought that the traditional Yoga system revolved more around salvation
and next life, rather than the present one. On the other hand, Integral Yoga
lays more emphasis on the importance of Karma in our day-to-day lives.
Purna Yoga gives Yoga a positive and dynamic form. It suggests three levels of
integration- the integration of the inner, the integration of the human psyche
with its external environment and the integration of the psyche with its
ultimate spiritual Ground. It not just brings optimism and positive energies to
the body but also to the world at large. It is this united spirituality that
proficiently combines self-transcendence with love, sympathy, and reverence for
all living beings. It outs together the varied aspects of yoga, needed for
transformation and healing.
Purna Yoga revolves around alignment-based asana, meditation and pranayama,
along with nutrition and yogic living. According to the Integral Yoga the
ultimate goal of life is complete self-integration. This self-integration
involves other important elements like action, love, wisdom and peace. The yoga
of love or devotion (Bhakti yoga) is perfectly right in affirming love as the
fulfillment of life and as an essential ingredient of salvation. It is important
to note that Purna Yoga does not separate love from wisdom and selfless action.
Love in its spiritual essence is an attribute of wisdom.
Integral yoga points out that knowledge is inseparable from love and action, but
that action is not merely a means to self-purification resulting in salvation.
The main stages of Purna Yoga include aspiration for the Divine, surrender of
the individual soul to the Universal Soul and rejection of all obstructions to
the path of total transformation. The realization of the Divine is the first
step of Purna Yoga. This can be attained through constant practice of
concentration, meditation or prayer. Once a person has attained the realization
of the Divine, the next step would be to extend this realization beyond entities
of the subjective self.
Herein, the person realizes that the Divine is omnipresent, and that human
beings have come from a common origin. The third stage of Purna Yoga comprises
of a true recognition with the 'Transcendental Divine'. It is thence that a
person realizes that the Divine is not restricted within the being of a single
individual and is neither within any other constituents of existence. The
ultimate goal of a person is to reach the higher consciousness, known as the 'Supramental
Consciousness' to attain liberation of the soul.
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