History of Yoga - Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Main articles: Raja Yoga and Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
In Indian philosophy, Yoga is the name of one of the six orthodox philosophical schools.[32][33] The Yoga philosophical system is closely allied with the Samkhya school.[34] The Yoga school as expounded by Patanjali accepts the Samkhya psychology and metaphysics, but is more theistic than the Samkhya, as evidenced by the addition of a divine entity to the Samkhya's twenty-five elements of reality.[35][36] The parallels between Yoga and Samkhya were so close that Max Müller says that "the two philosophies were in popular parlance distinguished from each other as Samkhya with and Samkhya without a Lord...."[37] The intimate relationship between Samkhya and Yoga is explained by Heinrich Zimmer:
These two are regarded in India as twins, the two aspects of a single discipline. Sāṅkhya provides a basic theoretical exposition of human nature, enumerating and defining its elements, analyzing their manner of co-operation in a state of bondage (bandha), and describing their state of disentanglement or separation in release (mokṣa), while Yoga treats specifically of the dynamics of the process for the disentanglement, and outlines practical techniques for the gaining of release, or 'isolation-integration' (kaivalya).[38]
The sage Patanjali is regarded as the founder of the formal Yoga philosophy.[39] The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are ascribed to Patanjali, who, may have been, as Max Müller explains, "the author or representative of the Yoga-philosophy without being necessarily the author of the Sutras."[40] Indologist Axel Michaels is dismissive of claims that the work was written by Patanjali, characterizing it instead as a collection of fragments and traditions of texts stemming from the second or third century.[41] Gavin Flood cites a wider period of uncertainty for the composition, between 100 BCE and 500 CE.[42]
Patanjali's yoga is known as Raja yoga, which is a system for control of the mind.[43] Patanjali defines the word "yoga" in his second sutra, which is the definitional sutra for his entire work:
yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ- Yoga Sutras 1.2
This terse definition hinges on the meaning of three Sanskrit terms. I. K. Taimni translates it as "Yoga is the inhibition (nirodhaḥ) of the modifications (vṛtti) of the mind (citta)".[44] Swami Vivekananda translates the sutra as "Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Citta) from taking various forms (Vrittis)."[45] Gavin Flood translates the sutra as "yoga is the cessation of mental fluctuations".[46]

A sculpture of a Hindu yogi in the Birla Mandir, Delhi
Patanjali's writing also became the basis for a system referred to it as "Ashtanga Yoga" ("Eight-Limbed Yoga"). This eight-limbed concept derived from the 29th Sutra of the 2nd book became a feature of Raja yoga, and is a core characteristic of practically every Raja yoga variation taught today.[1]The Eight Limbs of yoga practice are:
(1) Yama (The five "abstentions"): nonviolence, truth, non-covetousness, chastity, and abstain from attachment to possessions.
(2) Niyama (The five "observances"): purity, contentment, austerities, study, and surrender to god
(3) Asana: Literally means "seat", and in Patanjali's Sutras refers to seated positions used for meditation. Later, with the rise of Hatha yoga, asana came to refer to all the "postures"
(4) Pranayama ("Lengthening Prāna"): Prāna, life force, or vital energy, particularly, the breath, "āyāma", to lengthen or extend
(5) Pratyahara ("Abstraction"): Withdrawal of the sense organs from external objects.
(6) Dharana ("Concentration"): Fixing the attention on a single object
(7) Dhyana ("Meditation"): Intense contemplation of the nature of the object of meditation
(8) Samadhi ("Liberation"): merging consciousness with the object of meditation
It details every aspect of the meditative process, and the preparation for it. The book is available in as many as 40 English translations, both in-print and on-line.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] [9]

History of Yoga - Bhagavad Gita

Main article: Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita ('Song of the Lord'), uses the term yoga extensively in a variety of senses. Of many possible meanings given to the term in the Gita, most emphasis is given to these three:[30]
Karma yoga: The yoga of action
Bhakti yoga: The yoga of devotion
Jnana yoga: The yoga of knowledge
The influential commentator Madhusudana Sarasvati (b. circa 1490) divided the Gita's eighteen chapters into three sections, each of six chapters. According to his method of division the first six chapters deal with Karma yoga, the middle six deal with Bhakti yoga, and the last six deal with Jnana (knowledge).[31] This interpretation has been adopted by some later commentators and rejected by others.

History of Yoga - Literary sources

Ascetic practices (tapas) are referenced in the Brāhmaṇas (900 BCE and 500 BCE),[28] early commentaries on the vedas. In the Upanishads, an early reference to meditation is made in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,[29] one of the earliest Upanishads (approx. 900 BCE). The main textual sources for the evolving concept of Yoga are the middle Upanishads, (ca. 400 BCE), the Mahabharata (5th c. BCE) including the Bhagavad Gita (ca. 200 BCE), and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (200 BCE-300 CE).

History of Yoga - Indus Valley seals

Several seals discovered at Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300–1700 BC) sites depict figures in a yoga or meditation like posture. There is considerable evidence to support the idea that the images show "a form of ritual discipline, suggesting a precursor of yoga"[13] according to archaeologist Gregory Possehl. He points to sixteen other specific "yogi glyptics"[14] in the corpus of Mature Harappan artifacts as pointing to Harappan devotion to "ritual discipline and concentration." These images show that the yoga pose "may have been used by deities and humans alike." Possehl suggests that yoga goes back to the Indus Valley Civilization.[15]
The most widely known of these images was named the "Pashupati seal"[16] by its discoverer, John Marshall, who believed that it represented a "proto-Shiva" figure.[17] Many modern authorities discount the idea that this "Pashupati" (Lord of Animals, Sanskrit paśupati)[18] represents a Shiva or Rudra figure.[19][20] Gavin Flood also characterizes these views as "speculative", saying that it is not clear from the 'Pashupati' seal that the figure is seated in a yoga posture, or that the shape is intended to represent a human figure.[21][22] Authorities who support the idea that the 'Pashupati' figure shows a figure in a yoga or meditation posture include Archaeologist Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, current Co-director of the Harappa Archaeological Research Project in Pakistan[23][24] and Indologist Heinrich Zimmer.[25]
In 2007, terracotta seals were discovered in the Cholistan Desert in Pakistan. Punjab University Archaeology Department Chairman Dr. Farzand Masih described one of the seals as similar to the previously discovered Mohenjodaro seals, with three pictographs on one side and a "yogi" on the other side.[26][27]

Etymology

The Sanskrit term yoga has a wide range of different meanings.[8] It is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, "to control", "to yoke", or "to unite".[9] Common meanings include "joining" or "uniting", and related ideas such as "union" and "conjunction".[10] Another conceptual definition is that of "mode, manner, means"[11] or "expedient, means in general".[12]

Yoga

Yoga (Sanskrit: योग Yoga, IPA: [joːgə]) is a group of ancient spiritual practices originating in India. As a general term in Hinduism^[1] it has been defined as referring to "technologies or disciplines of asceticism and meditation which are thought to lead to spiritual experience and profound understanding or insight into the nature of existence."^[2] Yoga is also intimately connected to the religious beliefs and practices of the other Indian religions.

Outside India, Yoga is mostly associated with the practice of asanas (postures) of Hatha Yoga or as a form of exercise, although it has influenced the entire Indian religions family and other spiritual practices throughout the world.^[3]

Hindu texts discussing different aspects of yoga include the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita, and many others.^[3][4]

Major branches of Yoga include: Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Raja Yoga. ^{[5] [6] [7]} Raja Yoga, known simply as Yoga in the context of Hindu philosophy, is one of the six orthodox (āstika) schools of thought, established by the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.