Sometimes you learn a technique, teaching, or explanation that cannot be trumped.  I was on Facebook reading a fellow teachers notes and they reminded me of Swami Jnaneshvara’s succinct cumulative definition of Yoga.  Since it is not something that can be intellectualized, this definition is comprised of a few ways to gain a mote of “comprehension” of something that is purely experiential.  I have added links to every one of the Sanskrit terms.  Learning these relationships is a great asset in the development of a Yoga Meditation practice.  Thank you, Swami J, for your compilation.  (The full text from which this definition is drawn can be found here)

Traditionally, Yoga (Sanskrit: union) has referred to the realization through direct experience of the preexisting union between the microcosm of individuality and the macrocosm of universality, Atman and Brahman, Jivatman and Paramatman, and Shiva and Shakti, or the realization of Purusha standing alone as separate from Prakriti.

Yoga is the union of the

– Microcosm of individuality and the

– Macrocosm of universality

Yoga is the union of

– Prana vayu (the upward flowing prana) and

– Apana vayu (the downward flowing prana)

Yoga is the union of

– Atman (Center of consciousness, Self; Vedanta) and

– Brahman (Absolute reality; Vedanta)

Yoga is the union of

– Jivatman (Soul as consciousness plus traits; Vedanta) and

– Paramatman: (Self/soul as only consciousness; Vedanta)

Yoga is the union of

– Shiva (Static, latent, unchanging, masculine; Tantra) and

– Shakti (Active, manifesting, changing, feminine; Tantra)

Yoga is the dis-union of

– Purusha (Untainted consciousness; Sankyha-Yoga) and

– Prakriti (Primordial, unmanifest matter; Sankyha-Yoga)