Yoga is good for physical and mental health and wellness but it is not the means for Self-realization.

 

Manduka Upanishad:~ Yoga is in the sphere of duality and is unnecessary to one who knows non-duality.

Yoga is good for physical and mental health but it is not the means for Self-realization.

Buddha gave up his austerities of yoga as impossible and useless. (Page.70/71 "Buddhism in Translation” by Warren)

Thus, Buddha got enlightenment only after he gave up Yoga. Unless one exercises their reason, there is no chance of getting truth

Lord Krishna confesses that the oldest wisdom of India (Advaitic wisdom) has been lost: people misinterpret and falsify it today as they did then. It is not yoga but the philosophic truth. But nobody knows it. The teachers of philosophy and leaders of mysticism or religion do not want to inquire into truth and have no time for it. (Gita ~ Chap ~IV~ v.2)

In the Gita Chap.IV where Lord Krishna says: ~ “This yoga has been lost for ages" the word yoga refers to Gnana yoga, not other yogas: the force of the word this is to point this out.

Lord Krishna describes some of the other yogas, but devotes this chapter separately to Gnana yoga. So one sees even in those ancient days, people did not care for Advaita; they wanted religion; hence, Gnana got lost. That is why Krishna calls it "the supreme secret." Krishna points out that the yoga must see "Brahman in action."

Gita Chap.IV:~ “He who achieves perfection in Yoga finds the Self in time." This means that after his yoga is finished, he begins the inquiry into ultimate truth and in due course this inquiry produces the realization of the universal spirit as the result.

Until a man is ripe to receive Self-knowledge, it is fatal to ask him to give up meditation.

The novice seekers must understand that yoga is all right in its places and that it is good at the beginning of the pursuit of truth, but when yoga is made ends in itself and not means to acquire the Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana.

The yoga and meditation are not useless, they are useful to bring the restless ego under control. Yoga and meditation are not final. By indulging in yoga and meditation it will lead not lead to the ultimate end of understanding. Yoga cannot remove ignorance. It is only a step. It removes obstructions.

Sage Sankara definitely says that yoga is not the means of liberation (page 132-133 of his commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad).

Yoga is based on the body as the Self. The deeper investigation reveals the fact that the Self is not the body. Therefore, the body-based practices will not yield truth. Yoga has its own value in practical life within the practical world. But yoga is nothing to do with the ultimate truth or Brahman.

The path of wisdom is nothing to do with yoga and religion. The path of religion, the theory of karma, yogic path and the path of wisdom were intended for different classes of people.

The Advaitic wisdom is for the advanced seekers of truth. It deals with the nature of the ultimate Truth and Reality. It is meant for superior aspirants who have an inner urge to know the truth and it is not for those who are immersed in earthly desires.

As per the scriptures, the three "Ashrams" or stages in life were originally intended for three grades of intelligence thus: ~

Religion: low intellects had to do 'karmas', works, ritual actions, chanting of mantras and indulging in bhajans and prayers etc.

Middle intellects: Yoga: taking yellow robes, going to caves, ashrams etc.

High intellects: wisdom who wanted truth are concerned with no external rites or sanyas but depend solely on intelligent inquiry for their path.

Sage Sankara says: - Yoga is not the means of liberation (page 132-133 - Commentary on Brihadaranyakopanishad).

In Sutra Bashya and Mandukya: - The Samadhi and sleep are identical.

Brihad Upanishad does not advocate Samadhi.

Sage Sankara in the commentary to "Brahma Sutras: - " "The highest beatitude is not to be attained by Yoga." (Sacred Books of the East Series page 298 Vol 1.) And he also says Samadhi is the same as sleep (p.312) ---this indicates that yoga is not the means to Self-realization.

Yoga can yield only the duality because everything that one can do or practice becomes a vanishing 'known.' It yields relative truth based on imagination, which is true from the physical viewpoint of view, not the non-dualistic truth, which is ultimate reality or Brahman.

Realizing the universe is created out of single stuff and that single stuff is the invisible Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness, leads to non-dualistic or Advaitic Self-awareness. Self-awareness is freedom or Moksha. Moksha is unity in diversity in the midst of duality. : ~ Santthosh Kumaar