Kathleen Scammell
October 1, 2001

I began drawing this picture with the following statement in mind: “the practice of yoga enables the individual to be connected to the divine.” What I see in my drawing is the proposal that through yoga there are two main ways to unite with the divine. One is that by practicing yoga an individual can unite with the greater consciousness and transcend the divine. The other is that by living a good life, including the practice of yoga, one gets closer to liberation from Samsara and thus may be united with the divine. The following is a brief description of the picture and its meaning.

First I will begin by defining yoga, for the word itself supports the statement given above. The root of the word yoga means to yoke or unite a person’s will with the divine. Through yoga humans (matter) and the divine (spirit) are brought together. The Upanishads state that one can only attain liberation by perceiving the identity of the individual soul and the universal soul.

The vivid colours surrounding the yogi are taken from the bright colours found in the East Indian culture – specifically the fuscia, curry, and red. These colours were purposely chosen to make the picture alive. I have included three rings in the picture. Three is one of many symbolic numbers in Hinduism. Here it is representative of the three gunas: sattva, tamas, and rajas. These gunas are both barriers and access ways to the divine. As my opening statement speaks of the connection with the divine, this symbolism makes sense. The three rings are also depicting the number of casts which are “twice born.” The members of such castes are on their way to enlightenment and are privileged to do yoga.

The waves in the circles are representative of several things. These looping lines were drawn foremost to show vibrations or sound waves of the sound “om.” The idea that “om” is the vibration of the universe is key to moving from the individual to the divine action, because “om” is the sound of Brahman. As “om” can be repeated or chanted in yoga practice and is the closest that one can get to the divine, it bodes well with my initial statement. For this reason I thought “om” should be somehow included in the drawing.

The circles are continuous. Therefore, they were also used to represent Samsara and the cycle of reincarnation and rebirth. The goal of believers in Hinduism is to be liberated from existence and no longer be in Samsara. Yoga is one practice which can help the liberation process. If being liberated out of the realm of Samsara means that one joins the ultimate or divine, then this perpetrates the idea that yoga moves you from the individual action to the divine. The yellow lines of light are part of this moving to the divine. In this picture, these lines are demonstrative of the ultimate, or what comes after being liberated from the cycles (wavy circles) of Samsara. It is not a circle as there will be no reincarnation, thus after liberation, life will no longer be cyclical.

The female yogi in the center of the picture is in the Siddasan yoga position. I placed her hands in a prayer position because “anjali” in the name Patanjali (founder of yoga) means to have one’s hands in such a way. By holding a pose and by concentrating on one’s own breath duality is dissolved and there is union with the divine. Originally I had used the circles as a bubble, in a sense to show that there was nothing but the yogi and her breath. When the circles evolved to serpentine waves they still represent breath, but more the movement of breath. Breath is important in yoga because it is central to relaxing the body and potentially entering a state of bliss. Bliss is ascent not descent, the divine does not come to the believer, but they can glimpse it in a moment of ecstacy.

This picture incorporates much of what I have learned about the ultimate, the individual, and yoga. In a sense Brahman is the soul, so by practicing yoga one transcends the self or atman and unites with the divine. The lifestyle of yoga is both the means to an end (liberation) as well as the way to get as close to the ultimate as possible while here on earth.