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Four Yogas In The Bhagavad Gita – Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda brought out four yogas from the Gita:
  • Karma yoga,
  • Raja yoga,
  • Bhakti yoga, and
  • Jnana yoga.
Through his masterly expositions on these yogas, he gave to the spiritual and philosophical world, treatises that double as manuals for following these disciplines, which are meant to manifest one’s innate divinity.

The goal of raja yoga is to achieve a complete cessation of thoughts or mental activity.

The goal of bhakti yoga is to attain supreme bhakti.

The goal of jnana yoga is to attain supreme jnana.

However, the goal of karma yoga is not to engage in maximum activity but to go beyond all activity.

There is a great risk of misunderstanding this idea of karma yoga and that is why Swamiji cautioned the aspirants and advised them to emphasize on being selfless while doing work.

SourcePrabuddha Bharata magazine editorial June 2017