Four yogas for the aatma

[1]

Sri Rameshji Jain [1]

Yada yada hi dharmasya, Glanirbhavati bharata
Abhyutanam adharmasya, tadaatmanaam srujamyaham

In Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna said that whenever there is excessive crime, injustice, cruelty, pain, suffering, violence, I take birth (incarnate) in this world to free people from their sufferings.
When Krishna was born, cruelty and evil forces were at their peak. These powerful evil forces considered themselves demigods.
When the vibrations of suffering emanate from the hearts of the people through prayers to the almighty, they invoke the universal energy for rescue and protection. These vibrations force the universal energy to incarnate itself. The birth of Krishna was the result of such prayers.
The arrival of Lord Krishna at midnight is symbolic of removal of the fear by the presence of divinity. His sermons in Bhagvad Gita are symbolic of the removal of ignorance by the light of knowledge.
When Arjuna became dejected, despondent and grief overpowered him in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Krishna gave him spiritual teachings to free him from grief, ignorance and attachment. Lord Krishna revealed the secret of our real entity, the self as aatma. He revealed that we are not the physical body which we experience but we are aatma (pure consciousness). Under ignorance we consider ourselves as physical body, and thus all our actions get centered around the physical body, such as earning wealth, name, fame, status, big house, car, travelling, entertainment, indulgence in other vices and hunger for power and passion to rule others. These attitudes, habits and indulgences become the main cause for pain, joy, happiness, sorrow, grief and pleasure, power, cruelty, violence, enmity, revenge etc.
When we realise our true self as aatma and establish the aatma bhava, then we find eternal peace and bliss. We get freed from fear, anxiety, hatred, jealousy, enmity, sensuous passions, undue attachments and aversions. We start loving all beings equally and unconditionally.
To achieve aatma bhava Lord Krishna suggested four paths or yogas — Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Dhyan Yoga and Gyan Yoga.
In Karma Yoga, he advises us to perform karma without expecting any results. Accept whatever result we get as gift from God. In Bhakti Yoga, he advises us to have complete and unfaltering faith in the Divine Being and remain surrendered at His feet. Chant his name, sing his glories and always remain focused on Him in all situations and circumstances of life.
In Dhyan Yoga, He advises us to withdraw our mind, senses, ego from the external world and meditate on the Divine Being and in Gyan Yoga, he advises us to know who we really are. He has declared that we are aatma (the consciousness) and not the physical body nor the mind nor wisdom nor senses nor the ego. As aatma, we are formless, eternal and blissful and so is everybody else in this creation. We must see in everything and in everyone the same aatma (consciousness) and, thus, lead a liberated life.
Thus, Lord Krishna’s birth is to awaken within us pure spiritual wisdom and free us from all the pain and suffering of the world.