Yoga Upanishads are a group of minor

Upanishad The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...

s of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

related to

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-consciou ...

. There are twenty Yoga Upanishads in the anthology of 108 Upanishads listed in the Muktika anthology.. The Yoga Upanishads, along with other minor Upanishads, are generally classified separate from the thirteen major

Principal Upanishads Principal Upanishads, also known as Mukhya Upanishads, are the most ancient and widely studied Upanishads of Hinduism. Composed between 800 BCE to the start of common era, these texts are connected to the Vedic tradition. Content The Principal ...

considered to be more ancient and from the Vedic tradition. The Yoga Upanishads deal with the theory and practice of

Yogic 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-consciou ...

techniques, with varied emphasis on methodology and meditation, but with some shared ideas. They contrast from other groups of minor Upanishads, such as the

Samanya Upanishads Samanya Upanishads or Samanya Vedanta Upanishads are minor Upanishads of Hinduism that are of a generic nature. They were composed later and are classified separate from the thirteen major Principal Upanishads considered to be more ancient and con ...

which are of a generic nature, the

Sannyasa Upanishads Sannyasa Upanishads are a group of minor Upanishads of Hinduism related to the renunciation, monastic practice and asceticism. There are 19 Sannyasa Upanishads in the Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads. They, along with other minor Upanishads, ...

which focus on the Hindu renunciation and monastic practice, the

Shaiva Upanishads The Shaiva Upanishads are minor Upanishads of Hinduism, specific to Shiva theology (Shaivism). There are 14 Shaiva Upanishads in the Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads. They, along with other minor Upanishads, are generally classified separate f ...

which highlight aspects of

Shaivism Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangi ...

, the

Vaishnava Upanishads The Vaishnava Upanishads are minor Upanishads of Hinduism, related to Vishnu theology (Vaishnavism). There are 14 Vaishnava Upanishads in the Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads. They, along with other minor Upanishads, are generally classified ...

which highlight

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as ...

, and the

Shakta Upanishads Shakta Upanishads are a group of minor Upanishads of Hinduism related to the Shaktism theology of a Goddess (Devi) as the Supreme Being. There are 8 Shakta Upanishads in the Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads. They, along with other minor Upanis ...

which highlight

Shaktism Shaktism ( sa, शाक्त, , ) is one of several major Hindu denominations, wherein the metaphysical reality is considered metaphorically a woman and Shakti ( Mahadevi) is regarded as the supreme godhead. It includes many goddesses, al ...

Date

The composition date of each Yoga Upanishad is unclear, and estimates on when they were composed vary among scholars. According to Mahony, they likely are dated between 100 BC and 1100 AD. However,

Gavin Flood __NOTOC__ Gavin Dennis Flood (born 1954) is a British scholar of comparative religion specialising in Shaivism and phenomenology, but with research interests that span South Asian traditions. From October 2005 through December 2015, he served ...

dates the Yoga Upanishads to the 100 BCE to 300 CE period. According to

James Mallinson James Mallinson (1943 – 24 August 2018) was a British record producer. He was the first winner of the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Classical category, and won a total of 16 Grammy Awards in his career. He won his first three Grammy a ...

, some Yoga Upanishads were revised in the eighteenth century to incorporate the Hatha Yoga ideas of the Hindu

Nath Nath, also called Natha, are a Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism and Yoga traditions in India.Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religiou ...

states that textual style, archaic language and the mention of some Yoga Upanishads in other Indian texts suggest the following Yoga Upanishads were likely composed in the same period as the didactic parts of the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...

and the chief

Sannyasa ''Sannyasa'' (Sanskrit: संन्यास; IAST: ), sometimes spelled Sanyasa (सन्न्यास) or Sanyasi (for the person), is life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as '' A ...

Upanishads: Brahmabindu (probably composed about the same time as

Maitri Upanishad The ''Maitrayaniya Upanishad'' ( sa, मैत्रायणीय उपनिषद्, ) is an ancient Sanskrit text that is embedded inside the Yajurveda.Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 3 ...

), Ksurika, Amritabindu,

Brahmavidya Brahmavidya is that branch of scriptural knowledge derived primarily through a study of the Upanishads, Brahma Sūtras and Bhagavad Gita. Derived from the sanskrit words brahma and vidyā, brahman is the neuter gender of the root word-form brih t ...

Tejobindu Upanishad The ''Tejobindu Upanishad'' (Sanskrit: तेजोबिन्दु उपनिषद्) is a minor Upanishad in the corpus of Upanishadic texts of Hinduism. It is one of the five ''Bindu Upanishads'', all attached to the Atharvaveda, and one ...

, Nadabindu, Yogashikha, Dhyanabindu and Yogatattva. Eliade's suggestion places these in the final BCE centuries or early CE centuries. All these, adds Eliade, likely were composed earlier than the ten or eleven later Yoga Upanishads such as the Yoga-kundalini,

Varaha Varaha ( sa, वराह, , "boar") is an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, in the form of a boar. Varaha is generally listed as third in the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu. Varaha is most commonly associated with the leg ...

and

Pashupatabrahma Upanishad The ''Pashupatabrahma Upanishad'' (पाशुपतिब्रह्म उपनिषत्), also called ''Pasupathabrahmopanishad'', is a minor Upanishadic text written in Sanskrit.Vedic Literature, Volume 1, , Government of Tamil Nadu, ...

s.Mircea Eliade (1970), Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, Princeton University Press, , pages 128–129

Scope

Yoga Upanishads discuss different aspects and kinds of Yoga, ranging from postures, breath exercises, meditation (''dhyana''), sound (''nada''), tantra (''kundalini'' anatomy) and others. Some of these topics are not covered in the

Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' ( ...

or Patanjali's

Yoga Sutras The ''Yoga Sutras of Patañjali'' is a collection of Sanskrit sutras ( aphorisms) on the theory and practice of yoga – 195 sutras (according to Vyāsa and Krishnamacharya) and 196 sutras (according to others, including BKS Iyengar). The ...

. Many texts describe Yoga as consisting of steps or members (''angas'') and according to

Paul Deussen Paul Jakob Deussen (; 7 January 1845 – 6 July 1919) was a German Indologist and professor of philosophy at University of Kiel. Strongly influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer, Deussen was a friend of Friedrich Nietzsche and Swami Vivekananda. In ...

, the important Yoga Upanishads which deal with these are the ''

'', '' Kshurika'', '' Culika'' (listed under the

), '' Nadabindu'', '' Brahmabindu'', '' Amritabindu'', '' Dhyanabindu'', '' Tejobindu'', '' Yogashika'', '' Yogatattva'', and ''

Hamsa The ''hamsa'' ( ar, خمسة, khamsa) is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout North Africa and in the Middle East and commonly used in jewellery and wall hangings.Bernasek et al., 2008p. 12Sonbol, 2005pp. 355–359 Depicting the open right h ...

''. These 11 Yoga Upanishads belong to the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

shakha A shakha (Sanskrit ', "branch" or "limb") is a Hindu theological school that specializes in learning certain Vedic texts, or else the traditional texts followed by such a school.V. S. Apte. A Practical Sanskrit Dictionary, p. 913, left column.Moni ...

(school) from the Vedantic point of view. They include discussion of ethics

yama_ Yama_(Devanagari:_यम)_or_Yamarāja_(यमराज),_is_a_deity_of_death,_dharma,_the_south_direction,_and_the_underworld_who_predominantly_features_in_Hindu_and_Buddhist_religion,_belonging_to_an_early_stratum_of__Rigvedic_Hindu_deities._...

,_(self_restraints_such_as_ahimsa.html" "title="Yamas.html" "title="Yamas">yama Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. ...

Date

Scope

List of 20 Yoga Upanishads

See also

References

Bibliography