voice of our deep intuitive feelings. The Bhagavad Gita is one of the foremost of India's scriptures.

Yoga is a science (Darshana)
‘Darshana' means that which has been perceived or experienced. It refers to wisdom that has been discovered by a seeker through self effort. Yoga sutras of Patanjali is one of the most popular darshana of India.

Yoga is the science of release from the Law of Karma.
Karma binds us to the physical body and the lower planes of existences which creates pain, suffering and much sorrow in human life. Yoga frees us from its binding effect and its consequent pain.

Yoga is the science of freedom from the cycle of birth and death.
Human life is not one. We are involved in a series of many lives. Each life with its inevitable birth, death, growth and change gives us much pain. Yoga frees us from this recurrent pain.

Yoga is the science of quickening human evolution.
All human beings are evolving from a low state of animal like existence to the state of divine existence. This evolutionary growth takes place slowly and it has been found that it takes at least a million years for Mother Nature to complete the evolution on her own. By self effort and practice of yoga this evolutionary time can be reduced to one life or a few lives.

Yoga is the science of awakening Kundalini energy.
The soul in us splits into two opposite polar units, one is pure consciousness and the other is pure energy. The soul with its pure consciousness resides at the top of the head and pure energy called kundalini resides at the base of the spine. This division is responsible for our experiences of duality and its consequent limitations and pain. Yoga helps us to unite these two and free us from this pain.

Yoga is the science of soul and its union with God.
This union with God is understood in two different ways by two major schools of thought. In the devotional school God is a person with a Name and a Form and resides in the highest plane of existence called Satya Loka. Here union means, after death the soul on living the physical body, goes to this plane of existence and there taking on a form similar to God, remains in close proximity to Him and spends his time eternally in loving service of Him. In the school of wisdom God is not a person but an impersonal, Nameless, Formless ocean of pure consciousness. A part of His consciousness called soul remains encaged in the body of man. When man by wisdom can free this consciousness from the prison house of the body then the soul merges with the infinite ocean of pure consciousness. This mergence is called union.

Scriptural definitions

Yogah Chitta Vritti Nirodha (PYS Ch1, Su-2)
Yoga is a slow, gradual process of bringing the mind and all its activities to a state of stillness.