Pushkar Meditation Temple

Ancient Indian sages have explored two main paths to Reality or the essential nature of Self - Vivekaja marg (the path of distinction/discrimination) and Yogaja marg (the path of union/integration). Patanjali Raja yoga and Shankar’s Vedanta follow the Vivekaja marg by which the Purusha or Atma (the Self) is isolated from Prakriti (in Patanjal yoga) or from Maya (in the case of Vedanta).

The word Yoga does not mean union in Patanjali’s system. It means Viyog meaning separation (of Purusha and Prakriti or the Self and nature/matter.) It means samadhi or intense abstract meditation.

Shaivaagam (scriptures of Shiva followers) on the other hand has adopted the Yogaja marg in which goal is not isolation of Purusha from Prakriti or Maya but the integration of the individual Self with the Universal Self or Bhairava and realization of the universe as the expression of His Shakti or spiritual Energy. The ideal of Shaivaagam is not the rejection of the universe but its assimilation to its Source.