Yoga as Union

As we approach this year’s International Day of Yoga, June 21st, it’s important to re-establish ourselves in its truest form, Union with Pure Consciousness. This day of recognition of Yoga was adopted as a United Nations (UN) Resolution in December 2014 and is referenced in the more recent adoption of World Meditation Day, which acknowledges the link between yoga and meditation as complementary approaches to health and well-being. Interestingly, it aligns with Summer and Winter Solstices, the longest and shortest of Earth’s days and nights, reminding us of our inherent relationship with the Natural Law of the Cosmos, the depth of experiencing Being in the darkness and light of our Consciousness. 

According to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the experience of the State of Yoga, also known as Samādhi or Transcendental Consciousness (TC), is essential to a holistic approach to Yoga. After studying the ancient Vedic texts of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Bhagavad Gita, Maharishi began the task of reviving long-held understandings that have long been misinterpreted as dogmatism, rule-making, and severely disciplined behavior. The very etymology of this Sanskrit word is derived from "yuj," meaning to attach, join, harness, yoke. (p.13, Sands, 2025) What is it, though, that we are to connect with?

Two Truths

Yoga is verified as existing as two truths, the state and the path. We begin by understanding that Yoga is a subjective state of Union. “The state of Yoga is the experience of the inner Self, the infinite reservoir of creativity and intelligence within each of us.” (p.4-5, Sands, 2025) The Union we experience is the connection of our outer, relative self to our inner, most absolute Self. With the understanding of Yoga as a state of experience, we can acknowledge the Path of Yoga as a set of relative practices, including postural asanas and meditation experienced through the body. (p.19, Sands, 2025)

Experiences of Union with Pure Consciousness are verified through subjective historical, personal, and objective methods. Historically, the Upanishads describe experiences of yoga and the inner Self. (p.27-28, Sands, 2025)

एष सर्वेषु भूतेषु गूढोऽऽत्मा न प्रकाशतेदृश्यते त्वग्र्यया बुद्ध्या सूक्श्मया सूक्श्मदर्शिभिः 

“The Self is hidden within all Beings. It does not reveal Itself.”

Katha Upanishad 1.3.12

Those who experience the state of Yoga in Transcendental Meditation (TM) through the path of Yoga describe a peaceful, blissful place in time, reminiscent of ancient yogis' accounts in the Upanishads. “Boundless infinitude, beautiful bliss, total silence. In activity a powerful silent wholeness rests on the surface of everything. A beautiful softness connects and interfuses all I see.” (p.29, Sands, 2025)

The state of Yoga yields measurable benefits for practitioners, including deep rest, increased wakefulness, more orderly brain function, and a greater frequency of experiences over time. (p.32-37, Sands, 2025) Pure Consciousness, as both a state and a path are verified truth in the lives of practitioners.

Natural Development

The most common translation of Dharma is a "right way of living" or "path of righteousness,” which encompasses ethical conduct, moral duties, and living in accordance with the natural order of the universe. To be living Dharma is Being in accordance with the laws of nature, progressing along in evolution and growth. This asks that we embody the understanding that violating laws of nature, harming in any way, leads to suffering, while living in accordance with growth results in Sukh, happiness. From this perspective, one's subjective experience is one reference point for assessing one's level of harmony or disharmony with natural law. Philosophy becomes practical as the path of Yoga supports living in accordance with nature's design by restoring balance in mind, body, and consciousness. This restoration of balance leads to spontaneous right action, in which one naturally does no harm to oneself or the environment and naturally radiates an influence of peace and coherence.  

In alignment with growth, those supported by the path of Yoga often begin to develop higher states of Consciousness. Higher States of Consciousness are defined as those other than waking, sleeping, and dreaming: Transcendental, Cosmic, God, and Unity Consciousness. (p.79-98, Sands, 2025) The fourth state, Turiya-Chetana, of Transcendental Consciousness is also referred to as Samādhi, a Sanskrit term describing the even state of the intellect, known as the state of Union or Yoga. (p.13, Sands, 2025)

Among the multitude of misunderstandings in Yoga, Maharishi worked to clarify the messages of ancient Rishis, re-enlivening previously defined rules of concentration, asceticism, equanimity, unattachment, and elimination of desire and focusing instead on the importance of the greater Self in all facets of physical life. (p.119-144, Sands, 2025) This improved understanding of former misconceptions is further illustrated through Maharishi’s explanations of aṣṭāṅgayoga, the eight limbs of Yoga, as the simultaneously developing 8-fold structure of Unity Consciousness.

Structural Consciousness

Maharishi teaches that aṣṭāṅgayoga forms a map of Unity Consciousness that arises in tandem rather than in a sequential order. (p.148, Sands, 2025) Comprising each limb of Yoga are yamas (5), niyamas (5), āsanas, prānāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāranā, dhyāna, and samādhi. While yama was, for centuries, communicated as ‘right living,’ the purpose of these limbs is to serve as the means that administer the other aspects of Yoga. Each yama then (ahimsa, non-harming thought word and deed, satya truth that never changes, asteya of what belongs to whom, brahmacharya of living Brahm alone, and aparigraha of non-accumulation) oversees the function of all limbs. (p.149-156, Sands, 2025) Niyamas, rather than self-restraint, are the principal laws through which each yama is led to function. Shaucha is purity through the Transcendental field; santosha is the acceptance that the path of Yoga is not the state; tapas represents increasingly glowing as a result of contact with Pure Being; svadhyaya opens the chapter of the Self; and ishvarapranidhan keeps awareness of the maintainer of the universe. (p.157-181, Sands, 2025) From this basis, all remaining limbs of Yoga translate as more complete. Āsana is not only a posture or a seat, but the stable place of Unity in the body. Prānāyāma can’t truly be translated as “breath restraint,” but as the coming and going (-ayama) of the life force (Prana-). Pratayāhāra is not against, opposite, or contra, but rather the natural satisfaction of nourishment (-ahara) from the opposite direction (prati-), meaning from within. As Being administers the connection between the outer body and the inner Self through yamas and niyamas, dhārana holds Unity. Maharishi states, “In this state of Yoga, the mind holds, upholds Being. The mind is held by Being, the mind held in Being - whatever we say, “in Being” or “by Being” it doesn’t matter.” (p.166, Sands, 2025) The deeper value of this holding is dhyān, meditation, corresponding to the greater intellect of Pure Consciousness rather than contemplation in intelligence. Thus, samādhi, or stable intelligence of the universal structure of Consciousness, is inherent rather than an effortful joining or combining. With each experience of the state of Yoga, the eight limbs develop further in a natural progression of evolution and growth of each individual participant.

In relation to the development of the body, it is no surprise that the 195 Yoga Sutras are perfectly correlated to 195 sets of association fibers in the human brain’s cerebral cortex. Dr. Tony Nader, MIT neuroscientist and current president of Maharishi International University, found that the four padas of the Yoga Sutras directly correspond to the four lobes of the brain: Samādhi Pada to the occipital lobe, Sadhana Pada to the frontal lobe, Vibhuti Pada to the parietal lobe and insula, and Kaivalya Pada to the temporal lobe. (p.184, Sands, 2025). 

Our bodies exist as expressions of Veda, down to the fibers of our most vital organs. With this knowledge, the comprehensive goals of Vedic literature, known as the Puruṣārthas, must also be as imbued within our physicality as the wisdom of the Veda. Dharma, our accordance with natural law, is the natural direction of our enjoyment. Artha, or wealth obtained by virtue, is then a happenstance of moving in Dharma. 

Kama, the fulfillment of desire, is the experience of the combined Dharma and Artha. So Moksha, then, is the liberation from the state of ignorance and the realization of our true nature. As Being becomes established, rather than disciplined parameters, the puruṣārthas are byproducts of Being in the State of Yoga. (p.187-191, Sands, 2025)

Conclusion

In light of Maharishi’s clarity, Yoga becomes even more simplified. Yoga is to be understood as ever-present within each of our experiences of the body. The path of Yoga cannot be fully experienced without the connection of our Self, Being, and the body in which that Pure Consciousness resides. The state of Yoga is our physiological makeup, and perhaps the path of Yoga is the practice of remembering that.

References

Nader, T., MD, PhD (2014). Human Physiology: Expression of Veda and the Vedic Literature (5th ed., pp. 167-185). Maharishi University of Management Press.

Rakesh, Y. (2021, July 11). Myth and Mystery: Exploring the untold stories of Patanjali. Retrieved April 5, 2026, from https://www.samyakyoga.org/untold-stories-of-patanjali#:~:text=Thus%2C%20the%20sage%20who%20fell%20(%20pat),from%20the%20heavens%20into%20the%20human%20realm.

Sands, W. F. (2025). Maharishi Yoga: The Royal Path to Enlightenment (1st ed.). Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House.

United Nations (2024, November 29). World Meditation Day Resolution. Un.org. Retrieved April 5, 2026, from https://docs.un.org/en/A/79/L.27

United Nations (2015, January 9). International Day of Yoga Resolution. Un.org. Retrieved April 5, 2026, from https://docs.un.org/en/A/RES/69/131