Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

encyclopedia

Ancient Concepts, Sciences & Systems

yoga is provided by a terracotta seal excavated at Mohenjo Daro in

Sind, depicting the Hindu God Shiva -

Yogeshwara

(the mytholo-

gical originator of yoga) and his wife Parvati sitting in various yogic

postures or asanas, practising meditation. These discoveries in-

dicate that yoga was practised in India even before the coming of

the Aryans.

As a systematised and co-ordinated science, yoga appears in

history for the first time between the second and the third century

B.C. A reputed sage

(muni

) called Patanjali moulded into shape all

the extant knowledge of yoga and compiled the

Yogasutra. Shiva

Samhita,

an undated fundamental work on yoga indicates that the

first yoga instructions emanated directly from the mouth of Lord

Shiva, regarded by Hindus as Mahayogi or the Supreme yogi. Its

opening verses contain the following:

"Now the Lord Shiva, bestower of deliverance upon all beings,

expoundeth for the benefit of His devotees the discipline of yoga so

that, forsaking the views of those who are inclined to disputations

resulting from wrong knowledge, they may gain the right knowl-

edge and an undistracted mind."

The knowledge of yoga, prevailed in India as early as the sev-

enth century B.C, a hundred years before the birth of Buddha. This

period bears proof of the practice of yoga by the mention of the

names of two yogis, Atarha Katama and Uddaka Ramaputta, who

are said to have taught yoga to the young Gautama. Thus Buddha

remains to this day one of the earliest and greatest of yogis. The

entire mass of Buddhist literature subsisting, today is sprinkled

with yogic terminology written in Pali and Prakrit languages. Thus

there are accounts of yogic disciplines observed by the Buddha

himself, and preached by him to his disciples, in books as

Buddha

Charita

(by Asvaghosha),

Lalita-Vistara, Nidana-Katha

and the

Majjhim - Nikaya.

But as a compact science, the birth of yoga is

attributed to Patanjali in the second or third century B.C.

TREATISES ON YOGA

The Vedas are regarded as the first yogic texts, for they illus-

trate, the essence of yoga. Many aspects of yoga such as

dharana

(concentration), dhyana (meditation), vayu (prana), chakras (en-

ergy centres), mantras (psychic syllables)

etc., are mentioned in

Vedic texts. Thus, the concept of yoga was known in Vedic times,

though the science of yoga was not properly formulated and sys-

tematised.

With the advent of the

Brahmanas

and

Upanishads,

yoga was

put on a firmer foundation. The essential message of the

Upan-

ishads

is that the self can only be known through union

(yoga

). The

early

Upanishads,

such as the

Kena

and

Isha,

began to develop the

precepts of karma yoga. They also laid down the basic rules of raja

yoga which was later systematised by Patanjali. Yoga Chudamani

covers a wide range of practical aspects of yoga ranging from

asanas and pranayama to psychic centres and self-realisation.

Yoga Vashishta,

another spiritual text, deals with spiritual in-

spiration, and explains all aspects of creation and links them ulti-

mately to consciousness.

The

Mahabharata

contains many passages directly relating to

yoga. The essence of its teachings is contained in the Bhagavad

Gita. It is a poem of seven hundred verses in which Arjuna, a great

warrior, is instructed in the practice of yoga by Krishna, incarnation

of God, who assumes the role of a charioteer during the main battle

of the epic. The Bhagavad Gita is a yogic scripture par excellence,

and is applicable to people throughout the world and in every walk

of life. It maps out the yogic paths of karma yoga (the path of

action), jnana yoga (the path of self enquiry) and bhakthi yoga (the

path of devotion) and raja yoga (the path of meditation), It is thus

considered as one of the supreme treatises on yoga.

The Bhagavad Gita urges everyone to start practising yoga and

not to consider it something to be practised on retirement from one's

responsibilities. Bhagavad Gita blends all different aspects of yoga

into a comprehensive whole.

The two Samhitas i.e., the

Shiva Samhita

and

Gheranda

Samhita,

together with the

Yogasutras

consist of all the essential

knowledge of yoga coming down from the earliest of times. There

are other equally important treatises like the

Brahma Samhita, As-

tavakra-Samhita,

Satacakra-Nirupanam,

Trisikha

Brahmana,

Dhyanabindu Upanishad

and the

Yogatatva Upanishad.

However,

the

Yogasutras

has attracted the most attention as it has been

translated, along with commentaries by eminent scholars and spiri-

tual luminaries like Swami Vivekananda into several Indian and

foreign languages.

The

Yogasutras

distinguishes itself by its deep analysis of

man's mind in all its aspects. The comprehensive knowledge of

mind revealed in this work would seem to anticipate much of modern

psychology. Patanjali discusses the varied state of mind, the

causes of modification of thoughts, the methods for their control and

observance of mental hygiene. The

Yogasutras

deal with the wid-

est range of natural science. It defines the character of matter, the

law of continuity ('nothing is abrupt in nature'), the law of evolution,

the law of

karma

etc., . In bringing all this knowledge within the

compass of a system, Patanjali's task was lightened by the preach-

ings and practical demonstrations of yoga by the Buddha, who had

preceded him by some three hundred years.

Many commentators interpreted and reinterpreted the tradi-

tional texts. Shankaracharya personally interpreted twelve differ-

ent Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita as well as writing many

original books on yoga such as

Vivekachudamani

(crest jewel of

wisdom) and the

Atmabodha

(knowledge of the self). Shankara-

charya practised yoga and analysed the significance of yoga through

personal experience.

Bhakti yoga was given a strong boost in the middle ages by

Kabir, Tulsidas, Nam Dev and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They gave

practical advice to follow the path of bhakti yoga.

The most well-known texts on hatha yoga are Hatha Yoga

Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita, the Gheranda Samhita and many

more. These texts elaborate on hatha yoga practices, asanas,

pranayama and techniques for performing bandhas, mudras etc.

Astavakra Gita

contains the utterances of yogis in advanced

states of meditation.

The

Anu Gita

of the

Mahabharata

is further explanation of the

Bhagavad Gita by Krishna to Arjuna, his disciple; the Brahma

Sutras attempt to consolidate in a condensed form the essence of

the Upanishads; the Vyasabhasya gives a masterly commentary on

Patanjali's Yogasutras; Narada's Bhakti Sutras give rules for prac-

tising bhakti yoga.

THE SYSTEM AND ITS PRACTICE

The principal yogic practices include

Kriyas, Asanas,

Pranayama, Bandha

and

Mudras.

These basic practices prepare an

individual for advanced techniques like Meditation.