Is it possible to separate Soul from the body through Yoga

Question

I have heard that through Yoga a person can achieve inner peace and happiness. I know that It requires lots of practice to take actual benefits from yoga. I have also heard from plenty of sources (Osho also says) that, through Yoga, a person can detach his soul from his body.

• Is it possible to detach your soul from your body ?

If yes then how does it feel and what person will achieve by doing this

• How to differentiate Yoga from Dream ?

After doing yoga and coming to your senses, How would you differentiate that what you just did was yoga, not the dream. The same question I asked to one of my friends and he said (and I quote) "You Would Know" with a smile on his face. He didn't say anything more. What was he trying to say, I didn't understand.

Answer 1

The answer to your question is: yes, it is possible to to separate the soul or jivatma from the body. Even one can enter another body through this process:

When the bonds of the mind caused by action have been loosened, one may enter the body of another by knowledge of how the nerve-currents function. [PYS - 3.37]

But from your question it seems you have some wrong information about yoga which needs to be corrected.

First is, yoga is that state where all the activity of the mind ceases (PYS - 1.2). So the idea that in yoga one must be somewhere thinking something is incorrect. If one is thinking something then he might be practicing yoga, but he is not in yoga.

And secondly, not only detaching the soul, but there are other such siddhis (skills) which automatically arise when one practices yoga. Even one can go to other planes of existence and interact with other beings. But all these are not the purpose of yoga and are simply obstacles on the way because the yogi may get diverted from the true purpose on the achievement of these things:

To the outward turned mind, the sensory organs are perfections, but are obstacles to realization. [PYS - 3.36]

Regarding how does it feel, I have not felt it but it can't be expressed just like we can't express how sweetness feels, it has to be felt by oneself. And by freeing the soul from the body the yogis can achieve moksha voluntarily or go to the plane of existence they would like. There are many examples of such saints and yogis in puranas.

Now regarding differentiating yoga from dream, you don't need to use a totem as they did in the movie Inception (just kidding); you would be able to know it yourself. How? Because there are four fundamental states that a jiva goes through, wakefulness, dream, sleep and turiya. Apart from the last state, every other state is simply not yoga. And just like you are able to differentiate wakefulness from sleep and dream, you will be able to differentiate the state of yoga.

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On a sidenote, it is better to know and learn about Yoga from a qualified teacher. Forming ideas by listening to and reading text of unqualified persons can be harmful. The Patanjali Yoga Sutras has a lot of information in a condensed form. One can know the right things by understanding it from a guru.

Answer 2

Study the life of Ramakrishna -- to know that it is possible to detach one's soul from the body and bring it back.Ramakrishna , however , discouraged his disciple Swami Vivekananda ( Naren) from experimenting with this exercise --because he believed that Naren may not be able to come back to his body after separating the soul from the body.
The details of Spiritual Practices and Experiences are given in Patanjali Yoga Darsana .
There is no difference between Hallucinations ,Schizophrenic Experiences and Yogic Experiences.The objective of Yoga , is to Unite the three states of consciousness --the Waking ,The Dream and the Deep Sleep states .Uncotrolled combination of these three states of consciousness ,gives rise to Hallucinations , Schizophrenia and Insanity.
Yogic Exercises are like experimentations with Insanity . That is why a Guru is needed.
The Eternal Sleep or Maha Nidra refers to the Death State .Mother Earth is the ultimate Death State --also is the source of all creations.Identifying oneself with the Earth or merging the soul with Earth ( Prakriti) leads one to permanent Bliss .
Merging the Soul with Shunya ( Infinite Space,Purusha) give Mukti ,Nirvana or Ultimate freedom .
What about merging the Soul with Sun God ? Not much is said about it.

Answer 3

What you call real i.e. this world is a dream, but what you call dream/myth i.e. soul is real.

Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya - Vivekachudamani

Soul is the real self, not the body which will be destroyed by death and so does the mind's temporary ego of current body with it. Hence, Aryans perform the shraddas for dead person's soul finding rest from its ego of current body and accepted Sanyass in old age. The entire spirituality, Vedas, Dharma, Moksha and religion are for the soul and from the soul. Soul/God is seeked by only those who can see and fear the unfailing death of body with their strong intellect(trait that differs man from animals) like ancient sages like King Parikshit, Markendaya, Gautam Buddha etc.,

Uttara Geeta Chapter 2

40. Although the cows may be of different colours,but the colour of their milk is one and the same; even so in the case of the Jîva, the bodies may look different, but the Atman is one and the same in all.
41. Food, sleep, fear, and sexual desire men have in common with brutes; it is the addition of knowledge (i.e., the faculty of knowledge of Buddhi) only that makes him a man; if, therefore, he is devoid of this he is but equal to a brute.
42. In the morning a man performs the necessities of life, in the middle of the day he fills his stomach with food, in the evening he satisfies the cravings of his sexual desire, and afterwards falls into the embraces of deep sleep- such is the case with the beasts also. 43 & 44. That hundred millions of Jîva and thousands of Nãda-Bindus are constantly destroyed and absorbed in that AllPurity, therefore the firm conviction that "I am Brahman" is known to be the only cause of Moksa for Great Souls (Mahãtma).
43. Two words bind and liberate the Jîvas respectively, the firm belief of "I" and "mine" (Mama) holds fast and binds the Jîva down, and the absence or want of the same (Nirmama) liberates him from all bondage.
44. When the Mind becomes free from all desires and passions, then only the idea of duality ceases. When there arises that state of Advaita feeling (al in One and One in all), there dwell the supreme Feet of the Brahman.

45. As an hungry person imply wastes his energy in vain when he strikes the air with blows for food, so also a reader of the Vedas and others Sãstras simply wastes his time and energy, if, notwithstanding his study, he fails to realize that "I am Brahman".

46. Sãstras are innumerable, and again it takes a long time to understand their real meaning (even if one succeeds in going through them); life is short, but the obstacles are many; therefore the intelligent should only take the real meaning of them as a Hamsa (swan) separates the milk only out of milk-mixed water.

47. The Purãnas, the Bhãrata, the Vedas, and various other Sãstras, wife, children, and family are simply so many obstacles on the path of Yoga-practice.

48. Dost thou desire to know all by thy own experience - that this is knowledge, and that is worth knowing, etc., - then thou shalt fail to know the end of the Sãstras even if thine age be over a thousand years.

49. Considering life to be very impermanent, try to know only the indestructible Sat, give up the unnecessary reading of books, and worship Truth.

50. Out of all the beautiful objects that exist in this world, most are intended either to please the tongue or give pleasures to sex: if you can relinquish the pleasures of both these,then where is the necessity of this world for you.

51. The sacred rivers after all are but waters and the idols worshipped are nothing but either stones,metals, or earth. Yogis go neither to the former nor worship the latter, because within themselves exist all sacred places and the synthesis of all idols.

52. Agni or Fire is the god of the twice-born who are given to sacrifice; the Munis call the Atman within them their god, the less intelligent portion worship the idols, but the Yogis see Brahman equally everywhere - both in the fire, within themselves, in idols, and all around.
53. As a blind man cannot see the sun although it lightens the whole world, so those blind of knowledge, or the spiritually blind, also cannot perceive the Omnipresent Eternal Peace that encompasses the whole universe.
54. Wherever the Mind (of a Tattvajnãnin) goes, it sees the Paramãtman there because all and everything is full with the One Brahman.
55. As the serene bright sky is observable with all its panorama of forms, names, and colours, so he who is able to realize the idea that "I am Brahman" - in spite of all forms, names, and colours - alone can see the eternal Paramãtman actually

Animals-insects lack intellect(long term memory) and dont have fear of death and dont worship God despite seeing death all around, so does majority people of Tamsik Kaliyuga, age of darkness rather they deny existence of God and barbarians worship their bodies as soul and preserve them in graves.

Bhaj Govindam by Adi Shankarcharya

mudha jahiihi dhanaagamatrishhnaam kuru sadbuddhim manasi vitrishhnaam yallabhase nijakarmopaattam vittam tena vinodaya chittam

O Mindless fool, discard thy greed for amassing lucre And turn thy mind on the real, devoid of passion Accept thy past karmic actions, as thy anchor And satiate thy mind , accepting Reality , free of rancor

nnaliniidalagata jalamatitaralam tadvajjiivitamatishayachapalam viddhi vyaadhyabhimaanagrastam lokam shokahatam cha samastam

Life is ever changing,transitory and uncertain As a dancing droplet on a lotus leaf Know, this world is prey to disease and conceit In constant sorrow and grief, so replete

yaavadvittopaarjana saktah staavannija parivaaro raktah pashchaajjiivati jarjara dehe vaartaam koapi na prichchhati gehe

While you earn and support your family's welfare You get their love and solicitous good wishes But when with old age and infirmity, your body withers your kin do not have for you, even a word to spare

yaavatpavano nivasati dehe taavatprichchhati kushalam gehe gatavati vaayau dehaapaaye bhaaryaa bibhyati tasminkaaye

While one lives, and contacts abound Solicitous kin, inquire to thy good health and well being But, when the soul departs, and death knells sound The sight of thy corpse, sees even your wife fleeing

baalastaavatkriidaasaktah tarunastaavattaruniisaktah vriddhastaavachchintaasaktah pare brahmani koapi na saktah The child is lost in the playground of childhood Youth is lost in the attachment of woman The old are in their own pasts enmeshed Alas, there are none left to be one with the Brahman

kaate kaantaa kaste putrah samsaaro.ayamatiiva vichitrah kasya tvam kah kuta aayaatah tattvam chintaya tadiha bhraatah

The real mysteries of life, need answers Who is thy wife, thy son, from whence didst thou arrive ? Delve into these questions as your salvation's anchors Through these endless cycles of birth and death, to derive

satsangatve nissngatvam nissangatve nirmohatvam nirmohatve nishchalatattvam nishcalatattve jiivanmuktih

From the bonding( Sat Sangha) of good friends Does one achieve enlightened detachment From this detachment comes freedom from delusion From this freedom comes self settled peace From this peace comes Jivan Mukti, the release of the soul

Asuras buddhis like Ravana and Hiranyakashyapa tried to make their material body immortal in ego but failed because matter is inert but the spirit is already immortal. The desire to become immortal, beautiful and Omnipotent in every individual comes from the God's soul in all but they work all their life on temporary body in ignorance failing to worship God, the cause of all. Only surrender of ego and Oneness/Yoga with Cosmic consciousness/Paramatma can lead to immortality, peace and real happiness.

asato ma sadgamaya tamaso ma jyotirgamayamrtyorma amrtam gamaya om shanti shanti shanti.

Lead me from the asat to the sat, Lead me from darkness to light.Lead me from death to immortality, Om Peace Peace Peace. (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad — I.iii.28)