Yog: A Larger Perspective

Yog is a burning topic in today's world torn by constant stress and strife. The fact is that the word Yog is pronounced wrongly by about 90% speakers as Yoga. The correctness of the pronunciation of the basic word requires due clarification. The word ‘Yog ’comes from Sanskrit root as “Yuj”, meaning oneness, togetherness or linkage. The complete word Yog has three independent alphabets Y, O, G,. The last one ‘G ’is also a full letter and in English version a full letter is denoted by adding ‘a ’to it (like Veda) so that it is spoken as ‘GA ’and hence most people pronounce it as ‘Yoga ’but those well versed in Sanskrit Grammar still call it Yog, being the most authentic pronunciation. In my exposition I have used the word Yog only. I have endeavoured to pursue various views concerning the right presentation of Yog, leaving behind the proverbial narrow sense in which it is generally understood by people at large. The foremost central theme of yog has been propounded in one of six Bharatiya Scriptures, called Maharishi Patanjali's aphorism or his short phrases of wisdom. Prior to Patanjali Yogiraj Shri Krishna had revealed divine and most ideational theories about Yog which he said had pre-existed in ‘Ved Shruties. Other exponents in 19th and 20th Centuries were significantly Swami Dayanand, Vivekanand, Paramhansa Ramakrishna and Yogananda. They stressed Yog to be merging human soul into Infinite spirit with God-gifted inward perception.