Yoga

Yoga has many a meaning in today's times. The modern world does yogAsana qualifying it as yoga. When mentioned without any prefix, its generally understood as Raja Yoga, the others being Bhakti-, Karma- and Jnana-yogas.

Yoga is basically distancing from bodily association and unity with the soul; distancing from the prakriti to reach the purusha.

The entire set of Patanjali's yogasutra has been condensed into three statements by Swami Venkatesanda. No one has ever put these shlokas into the right order for the easiest and straightforward understanding. Everything else in yogasutra is a what-to-do, somewhat how-to-do, but the following ones are descriptive of what-it-is and how-to, what-happens-by-it and finally the goal-to-reach (or the goal, as it stands always).

yogas chitta vritti nirodha
tadA drashTuswarUpe avasthAnam
drashTA drishImAtra

Most of us think of yoga as mind control from the first line, ending only as a witness from the second, but the third one puts everything in perspective. Thats where the entire episode of bashing of dualists by non-dualists is ended by SV, quoting the yogasutra declaration that "the seer no longer exists separately from the seen"!