Spiritual practices from ancient India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yoga[a] (UK: /ˈjəʊɡə/, US: /ˈjoʊɡə/;[1] Sanskrit: योग 'yoga' [joːɡɐ] ⓘ; lit. 'yoke' or 'union') is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals,[2][3][4][b] as practiced in the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions.[5][6]
Yoga may have pre-Vedic origins,[c] but is first attested in the early first millennium BCE. It developed as various traditions in the eastern Ganges basin drew from a common body of practices, including Vedic elements.[7][8] Yoga-like practices are mentioned in the Rigveda[9] and a number of early Upanishads,[10][11][12][d] but systematic yoga concepts emerge during the fifth and sixth centuries BCE in ancient India's ascetic and Śramaṇa movements, including Jainism and Buddhism.[13] The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the classical text on Hindu yoga, samkhya-based but influenced by Buddhism, dates to the early centuries of the Common Era.[14][15][e] Hatha yoga texts began to emerge between the ninth and 11th centuries, originating in tantra.[f]
Yoga is practiced worldwide,[16] but "yoga" in the Western world often entails a modern form of Hatha yoga and a posture-based physical fitness, stress-relief and relaxation technique,[17] consisting largely of asanas;[18] this differs from traditional yoga, which focuses on meditation and release from worldly attachments.[19][17][20][a] It was introduced by gurus from India after the success of Swami Vivekananda's adaptation of yoga without asanas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[21] Vivekananda introduced the Yoga Sutras to the West, and they became prominent after the 20th-century success of hatha yoga.[22]
The Sanskrit noun योग yoga is derived from the root yuj (युज्) "to attach, join, harness, yoke".[23][24] According to Jones and Ryan, "The word yoga is derived from the root yuj, "to yoke", probably because the early practice concentrated on restraining or "yoking in" the senses. Later the name was also seen as a metaphor for "linking" or "yoking to" the divine."[24]
Buswell and Lopez translate "yoga" as "'bond', 'restraint', and by extension "spiritual discipline."[25] Flood refers to restraining the mind as yoking the mind.[26]
Yoga is a cognate of the English word "yoke," since both are derived from an Indo-European root.[27] According to Mikel Burley, the first use of the root of the word "yoga" is in hymn 5.81.1 of the Rigveda, a dedication to the rising Sun-god, where it has been interpreted as "yoke" or "control".[28][29][g]
Pāṇini (4th c. BCE) wrote that the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots: yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj samādhau ("to concentrate").[31] In the context of the Yoga Sutras, the root yuj samādhau (to concentrate) is considered the correct etymology by traditional commentators.[32] In accordance with Pāṇini, Vyasa (who wrote the first commentary on the Yoga Sutras)[33] says that yoga means samadhi (concentration).[34] Larson notes that in the Vyāsa Bhāsy the term "samadhi" refers to "all levels of mental life" (sārvabhauma), that is, "all possible states of awareness, whether ordinary or extraordinary".[35]
A person who practices yoga, or follows the yoga philosophy with a high level of commitment, is called a yogi; a female yogi may also be known as a yogini.[36]
The term "yoga" has been defined in different ways in Indian philosophical and religious traditions.
| Source Text | Approx. Date | Definition of Yoga[37] |
|---|---|---|
| Maitrayaniya Upanishad | c. 4th century BCE | "Because in this manner he joins the Prana (breath), the Om, and this Universe in its manifold forms, or because they join themselves (to him), therefore this (process of meditation) is called Yoga (joining). The oneness of breath, mind, and senses, and then the surrendering of all conceptions, that is called Yoga"[38] |
| Vaisesika sutra | c. 4th century BCE | "Pleasure and suffering arise as a result of the drawing together of the sense organs, the mind and objects. When that does not happen because the mind is in the self, there is no pleasure or suffering for one who is embodied. That is yoga" (5.2.15–16)[39] |
| Katha Upanishad | last centuries BCE | "When the five senses, along with the mind, remain still and the intellect is not active, that is known as the highest state. They consider yoga to be firm restraint of the senses. Then one becomes un-distracted for yoga is the arising and the passing away" (6.10–11)[40] |
| Bhagavad Gita | c. 2nd century BCE | "Be equal minded in both success and failure. Such equanimity is called Yoga" (2.48)
"Yoga is skill in action" (2.50) "Know that which is called yoga to be separation from contact with suffering" (6.23)[41] |
| Yoga Sutras of Patanjali | c. first centuries CE[14][42][e] | 1.2. yogas chitta vritti nirodhah – "Yoga is the calming down the fluctuations/patterns of mind" 1.3. Then the Seer is established in his own essential and fundamental nature. 1.4. In other states there is assimilation (of the Seer) with the modifications (of the mind).[43] |
| Yogabhasya | same as Yoga Sutras | yoga samadhih - "samadhi is yoga,"[44] referring to ekagrata, one-pointedness, and niruddha, that is, contentless samadhi (asamprajnata-samadhi)[35] |
| Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra (Sravakabhumi), a Mahayana Buddhist Yogacara work | 4th century CE | "Yoga is fourfold: faith, aspiration, perseverance and means" (2.152)[45] |
| Kaundinya's Pancarthabhasya on the Pashupata-sutra | 4th century CE | "In this system, yoga is the union of the self and the Lord" (I.I.43) |
| Yogaśataka a Jain work by Haribhadra Suri | 6th century CE | "With conviction, the lords of Yogins have in our doctrine defined yoga as the concurrence (sambandhah) of the three [correct knowledge (sajjñana), correct doctrine (saddarsana) and correct conduct (saccaritra)] beginning with correct knowledge, since [thereby arises] conjunction with liberation....In common usage this [term] yoga also [denotes the Self's] contact with the causes of these [three], due to the common usage of the cause for the effect." (2, 4).[46][47] |
| Linga Purana | 7th–10th century CE | "By the word 'yoga' is meant nirvana, the condition of Shiva." (I.8.5a)[48] |
| Brahmasutra-bhasya of Adi Shankara | c. 8th century CE | "It is said in the treatises on yoga: 'Yoga is the means of perceiving reality' (atha tattvadarsanabhyupāyo yogah)" (2.1.3)[49] |
| Mālinīvijayottara Tantra, one of the primary authorities in non-dual Kashmir Shaivism | 6th–10th century CE | "Yoga is said to be the oneness of one entity with another." (4.4–8)[50][51] |
| Mrgendratantravrtti, of the Shaiva Siddhanta scholar Narayanakantha | 6th–10th century CE | "To have self-mastery is to be a Yogin. The term Yogin means "one who is necessarily "conjoined with" the manifestation of his nature...the Siva-state (sivatvam)" (yp 2a)[52][51] |
| Śaradatilaka of Lakshmanadesikendra, a Shakta Tantra work | 11th century CE | "Yogic experts state that yoga is the oneness of the individual Self (jiva) with the atman. Others understand it to be the ascertainment of Siva and the Self as non-different. The scholars of the Agamas say that it is a Knowledge which is of the nature of Siva's Power. Other scholars say it is the knowledge of the primordial Self." (25.1–3b)[53][54] |
| Yogabija, a Hatha yoga work | 14th century CE | "The union of apana and prana, one's own rajas and semen, the sun and moon, the individual Self and the supreme Self, and in the same way the union of all dualities, is called yoga. " (89)[55] |
Due to its complicated historical development, and the broad array of definitions and usage in Indian religions, scholars have warned that yoga is hard, if not impossible, to define exactly.[56] David Gordon White notes that "'Yoga' has a wider range of meanings than nearly any other word in the entire Sanskrit lexicon."[56]
In its broadest sense, yoga is a generic term for techniques aimed at controlling body and mind and attaining a soteriological goal as specified by a specific tradition:
According to Knut A. Jacobsen, yoga has five principal meanings:[57]
