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A soul unaffected by sorrow is a yogi! The reason for sorrow is the innumerable bad thoughts (sins) in the mind. If a person overcomes these bad thoughts his mind gets diverted towards the all-pervading Paramathma! By following a righteous and disciplined life one can have a clean mind; before the soul departs from our body one should lead a virtuous life to forego bad thoughts with right education and good practices. If a person follows righteousness throughout his life, he will be gifted to be united (yoga) with Paramatha forever.
What is the identity of a Yogi? Since his mind has already merged with Paramathma he will not want (to merge with) anything else.
Once a person merges his mind with Paramatma, his mind will not wander. Only when the mind stops wandering will we get off all the troubles that have been plaguing us. What should we do to achieve that state? The mind should go back to the origin where it came from. Once the mind merges with its root it dissolves then and there. It does not run anymore. This is when a person gets rid of all his problems.
The river is flowing, but which is the origin of the river? It is the ocean.
The water evaporates from the ocean and takes the form of a river at another place. This river takes a treacherous journey and flows and flows to finally reach the ocean which is its root. Once it reaches the ocean, does it have an identity of its own? Does it run anymore? No, it is now part of the ocean. Just like the ocean is the inception and consummation point for all rivers, is there something in nature that can control and unify our mind where we can merge with it? Yes, there is one. When experiencing a trance or liberated state – all gnanis and yogis dissolve their own mind thoughts and become unaware of the world. At that time, they are united with this one thing. Once reached the state of Samadhi, we assume a yogi must have reached the highest stage and does not need anything. However the relationship with that one thing (Paramathma) never cease to exist. Internally he will be feeling that experience constantly. Even though he may be conscious he does not desire for materialistic things like we do. If a person desires for something, however little it may, he is not a yogi nor has he merged with Paramathma.
We can identify a yogi in another way too i.e. if a yogi's mind is fixed on Paramatma however big a problem or sorrow arises he wouldn't be affected nor shaken by it one bit. Even if his mind gets affected little bit because of problems, he is not a yogi which means he hasn't merged Paramatma.
A yogi has to experience a lot of difficulties. The people and the society may assume it to be a dreadful issue but the yogi doesn't experience any pain. He will remain like a dead wood, but comparing him to dead wood is not correct either as it is a non-living thing. Yogi is a fully conscious living being. He is always blissful and has no desires at all. This state of happiness is Yogam!
By nature he will be very kind and will not have any anger or hatred towards anyone. The thought of not harming even the tiniest creatures will always be in his mind. When doing good things for the welfare of the society and people, a yogi will not be proud of himself nor will he think – "I am responsible for this". He will not be selfish and his work/karyam would project deep compassion!
At times externally things may look very harsh on us, but internally it is purely compassionate only for benefitting us. This is how Mahayogi Parameswara destructs us. We may feel it is very harsh, but each and every creature however sinful it may be gets an opportunity to be free from karmic cycle. That is the reason Parameswara kills so we can be free of this bondage and be merged with him for sometime.
On a daily basis, Parameswara blesses us with freedom by giving us leep to forget our joys and sorrows. Similarly, once the soul leaves the body he gives us rest for some time. This rest (sira pariharam) is like sleeping peacefully and once awake we get on with the rights and wrongs of life. Likewise once this body is gone and we are rested, the soul reaches another body. This is the cycle of birth and death (Punarapi Jananam, Punarapi Maranam) should be stopped.
Once we depart from a body we should reach the holy feet of Paramatma and not take another body for rebirth. We should whatever we have to do to attain this state.
Discipline, kindness, tapas, prayer, yajnam, and charity has to be followed to reach this stage. Right from childhood one should follow these practices. Only if this is practiced, if billions of people are tried to be uplifted, we rarely find a complete Yogi or a Gnani being born. That one Yogi or Gnani will benefit the entire mankind.