This article is a comment to the article linked here:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-of-spiritual-narcissism/
You can buy a Porsche GT4 and drive it around your neighborhood, parking it in front of your favorite cafe and showing off. Annoying your fellow people with the loud exhaust and also making them jealous. Than, self-assured and self- satisfied, you take it back home in your garage. Feeling good about yourself. You can do that.
Or, you can take it to a race track or a lonely mountain road and drive it. Until your hands start sweating, your puls racing and you loose the ability to think because in order to drive this beast, you must focus. This is just-driving. And so, one could say, you are honoring the way how well engineers and car designers build this thing. That’s this cars purpose, you could say. But yeah, you can show off at the cafe with it too.
With spirituality, Yoga and meditation, even Buddhism, it has been the same for a while now: the path of Yoga as a whole, always included meditation. There is no true yoga without meditation. It’s not about your asanas and how well your body is build.
“Yoga is not a work-out, it is a work-in.” (source: Unknown).