The underlying purpose of all the different aspects of the practice of yoga is to reunite the individual self (jiva) with the Absolute or pure consciousness (Brahman) – in fact, the world yoga means literally “joining”. Union with this unchanging reality liberate the spirit from sense and separation , freeing it from the illusion of time , space and causation. It is only our own ignorance , our inability to discriminate between the real and unreal, that prevents us from realizing our true nature.