Yoga

Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciousness untouched by the mind ('' Chitta'') and mundane suffering (''Duḥkha''). There is a wide variety of schools of yoga, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism,Stuart Ray Sarbacker, ''Samādhi: The Numinous and Cessative in Indo-Tibetan Yoga''. SUNY Press, 2005, pp. 1–2.Tattvarthasutra .1 see Manu Doshi (2007) Translation of Tattvarthasutra, Ahmedabad: Shrut Ratnakar p. 102. and traditional and modern yoga is practiced worldwide.

Two general theories exist on the origins of yoga. The linear model holds that yoga originated in the Vedic period, as reflected in the Vedic textual corpus, and influenced Buddhism; according to author Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle, this model is mainly supported by Hindu scholars. According to the synthesis model, yoga is a synthesis of non-Vedic and Vedic elements; this model is favoured in Western scholarship.

Yoga-like practices are first mentioned in the ''Rigveda.'' Yoga is referred to in a number of the Upanishads.T. R. S. Ayyangar (1938)
The Yoga Upanishads
The Adyar Library, Madras The first known appearance of the word "yoga" with the same meaning as the modern term is in the ''Katha Upanishad'', which was probably composed between the fifth and third centuries BCE. Yoga continued to develop as a systematic study and practice during the fifth and sixth centuries BCE in ancient India's ascetic and Śramaṇa movements. The most comprehensive text on Yoga, the ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'', date to the early centuries of the Common Era; Yoga philosophy became known as one of the six orthodox philosophical schools ( ''Darśanas'') of Hinduism in the second half of the first millennium CE. Hatha yoga texts began to emerge between the ninth and 11th centuries, originating in tantra., "The techniques of hatha yoga are not taught in Sanskrit texts until the 11th century or thereabouts."

The term "yoga" in the Western world often denotes a modern form of Hatha yoga and a posture-based physical fitness, stress-relief and relaxation technique, consisting largely of asanas; this differs from traditional yoga, which focuses on meditation and release from worldly attachments. 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. Vivekananda introduced the ''Yoga Sutras'' to the West, and they became prominent after the 20th-century success of hatha yoga.

Etymology

The Sanskrit noun योग ' is derived from the root '' (युज्) '' "to attach, join, harness, yoke". ''Yoga'' is a cognate of the English word "yoke". 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".

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"). In the context of the ''Yoga Sutras'', the root ''yuj samādhau'' (to concentrate) is considered the correct etymology by traditional commentators.

In accordance with Pāṇini, Vyasa (who wrote the first commentary on the ''Yoga Sutras'') says that yoga means ''samadhi'' (concentration). In the ''Yoga Sutras'' (2.1), ''kriyāyoga'' is yoga's "practical" aspect: the "union with the supreme" in the performance of everyday duties. 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.

Definitions in classical texts

The term ''yoga'' has been defined in different ways in Indian philosophical and religious traditions.

Goals

The ultimate goals of yoga are stilling the mind and gaining insight, resting in detached awareness, and liberation (''Moksha'') from ''saṃsāra'' and ''duḥkha'': a process (or discipline) leading to unity (''Aikyam'') with the divine (''Brahman'') or with one's Self ('' Ātman''). This goal varies by philosophical or theological system. In the classical Astanga yoga system, the ultimate goal of yoga is to achieve ''samadhi'' and remain in that state as pure awareness.

According to Knut A. Jacobsen, yoga has five principal meanings:
# A disciplined method for attaining a goal
# Techniques of controlling the body and mind
# A name of a school or system of philosophy (')
# With prefixes such as "hatha-, mantra-, and laya-, traditions specialising in particular yoga techniques
# The goal of Yoga practice

David Gordon White writes that yoga's core principles were more or less in place in the 5th century CE, and variations of the principles developed over time:
# A meditative means of discovering dysfunctional perception and cognition, as well as overcoming it to release any suffering, find inner peace, and salvation. Illustration of this principle is found in Hindu texts such as the ''Bhagavad Gita'' and ''Yogasutras'', in a number of Buddhist Mahāyāna works, as well as Jain texts.
# The raising and expansion of consciousness from oneself to being coextensive with everyone and everything. These are discussed in sources such as in Hinduism Vedic literature and its epic ''Mahābhārata'', the Jain Praśamaratiprakarana, and Buddhist Nikaya texts.
# A path to omniscience and enlightened consciousness enabling one to comprehend the impermanent (illusive, delusive) and permanent (true, transcendent) reality. Examples of this are found in Hinduism Nyaya school texts as well as Buddhism Mādhyamaka texts, but in different ways.
# A technique for entering into other bodies, generating multiple bodies, and the attainment of other supernatural accomplishments. These are, states White, described in Tantric literature of Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as the Buddhist Sāmaññaphalasutta. James Mallinson, however, disagrees and suggests that such fringe practices are far removed from the mainstream Yoga's goal as meditation-driven means to liberation in Indian religions.

According to White, the last principle relates to legendary goals of yoga practice; it differs from yoga's practical goals in South Asian thought and practice since the beginning of the Common Era in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophical schools.

History

There is no consensus on yoga's chronology or origins other than its development in ancient India. There are two broad theories explaining the origins of yoga. The linear model holds that yoga has Vedic origins (as reflected in Vedic texts), and influenced Buddhism. This model is mainly supported by Hindu scholars. According to the synthesis model, yoga is a synthesis of indigenous, non-Vedic practices with Vedic elements. This model is favoured in Western scholarship.

Speculations about yoga began to emerge in the early Upanishads of the first half of the first millennium BCE, with expositions also appearing in Jain and Buddhist texts . Between 200 BCE and 500 CE, traditions of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophy were taking shape; teachings were collected as sutras, and a philosophical system of ''Patanjaliyogasastra'' began to emerge. The Middle Ages saw the development of a number of yoga satellite traditions. It and other aspects of Indian philosophy came to the attention of the educated Western public during the mid-19th century.

Origins

Linear model

According to Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle, Hindu researchers have favoured a linear theory which attempts "to interpret the origin and early development of Indian contemplative practices as a sequential growth from an Aryan genesis"; traditional Hinduism regards the Vedas as the source of all spiritual knowledge. Edwin Bryant wrote that authors who support Indigenous Aryanism also tend to support the linear model.

Synthesis model

Heinrich Zimmer was an exponent of the synthesis model, arguing for non-Vedic eastern states of India. According to Zimmer, Yoga is part of a non-Vedic system which includes the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy, Jainism and Buddhism: " ainismdoes not derive from Brahman-Aryan sources, but reflects the cosmology and anthropology of a much older pre-Aryan upper class of northeastern India ihar– being rooted in the same subsoil of archaic metaphysical speculation as Yoga, Sankhya, and Buddhism, the other non-Vedic Indian systems." Richard Gombrich and Geoffrey Samuel believe that the ''śramaṇa'' movement originated in non-Vedic Greater Magadha.

Thomas McEvilley favors a composite model in which a pre-Aryan yoga prototype existed in the pre-Vedic period and was refined during the Vedic period. According to Gavin D. Flood, the Upanishads differ fundamentally from the Vedic ritual tradition and indicate non-Vedic influences. However, the traditions may be connected:

The ascetic traditions of the eastern Ganges plain are thought to drew from a common body of practices and philosophies, with proto-samkhya concepts of ''purusha'' and ''prakriti'' as a common denominator.

Indus Valley Civilisation

The twentieth-century scholars Karel Werner, Thomas McEvilley, and Mircea Eliade believe that the central figure of the Pashupati seal is in a Mulabandhasana posture, and the roots of yoga are in the Indus Valley civilisation. This is rejected by more recent scholarship; for example, Geoffrey Samuel, Andrea R. Jain, and Wendy Doniger describe the identification as speculative; the meaning of the figure will remain unknown until Harappan script is deciphered, and the roots of yoga cannot be linked to the IVC.

Earliest references (1000–500 BCE)

The Vedas, the only texts preserved from the early Vedic period and codified between c. 1200 and 900 BCE, contain references to yogic practices primarily related to ascetics outside, or on the fringes of Brahmanism. The ''Rigveda'' Nasadiya Sukta suggests an early Brahmanic contemplative tradition. Techniques for controlling breath and vital energies are mentioned in the ''Atharvaveda'' and in the Brahmanas (the second layer of the Vedas, composed c. 1000–800 BCE).

According to Flood, "The Samhita