Classical Yoga, Advaita Vedanta, And Tantra Yoga - 1929 Words

The story, myth, and background of Kali can be interpreted in many different ways. There are three strands of yoga that have developed over the past centuries. The tree strands are Classical Yoga, Advaita Vedanta, and Tantra Yoga. Classical Yoga is a dualistic model in which purusha and prakriti are completely separate. Everything has an equal and opposite counter-part in this strand of yoga. Advaita Vedanta Yoga was a response to dualistic, Classical Yoga. This strand of yoga is monistic and is a view that affirms the unity of all things. Everything is one. The divine consciousness is everywhere and in everything we see. Tantra Yoga is non-dualistic while also realizing and accepting that there is diversity in the world. Each of these strands of yoga looks at Kali’s story differently and its significance is different in each view. In Classical Yoga, the view is that one must overcome prakriti. In doing so, the individual is able to free the mind from their body to experience purusha. Kali is the creator of prakriti. She is the force that drives the world and it’s lila. It is often thought that when a bad storm or tornado hits, it is her doing. A yogi of this view would meditate to Kali as the goddess of destruction, not the mother. They would face that she is the unity of all things, being the creator and destroyer of everything we embrace in this material world as seen with her dance in the myth. This yogi would learn to face the reality of life and death. If one simply