What is Yoga?

Compiled from the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia...

Yoga is a family of ancient spiritual practices dating back more than 5000-years from India. Yoga is a means to both physiological and spiritual mastery. In the West Yoga has become primarily associated with the practice of asanas (postures) of Hatha Yoga.

The four main paths of Yoga are Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga. A committed practitioner of yoga is referred to as a yogi, yogin (masculine), or yogini (feminine).

The word "yoga" literally means to “yoke” or “unite” It is generally translated as "union of the individual atma, (loosely translated to mean soul) with Paramatma, the universal soul."… or the mind with the body.

Yoga Philosophy

In all branches of yoga, the ultimate goal is the attainment of liberation from worldly suffering and the cycle of birth and death (Samsara). Yoga entails mastery over the body, mind, and emotional self, and transcendence of desire. According to the followers, the Yogi eventually reaches the enlightened state (Moksha) where there is a cessation of thought and an experience of blissful union. This union may be of the individual soul (Atman) with the supreme Reality (Brahman), as in Advaita Vedanta; with a specific god or goddess, as in Dvaita or dualistic forms of Hinduism and some forms of Buddhism.

Common to most forms of yoga is the practice of concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana). Dharana, according to Patanjali's definition, is the "binding of consciousness to a single point." The awareness is concentrated on a fine point of sensation (such as that of the breath entering and leaving the nostrils). Sustained single-pointed concentration gradually leads to meditation (dhyana), in which the inner faculties are able to expand and merge with something vast. Meditators sometimes report feelings of peace, joy, and oneness.

The focus of meditation may differ from school to school, e.g. meditation on one of the chakras, such as the heart center (anahata) or the 'third eye' (ajna); or meditation on a particular deity, such as Krishna; or on a quality like peace. Non-dualist schools such as Advaita Vedanta may stress meditation on the Supreme with no form or qualities (Nirguna Brahman). This is in many ways analogous to Buddhist meditation on Emptiness.

Texts on Yoga

Yoga as a means of spiritual attainment is central to Hinduism and Vedanta, Buddhism and Jainism and has influenced other religious and spiritual practices throughout the world. Hindu texts establishing the basis for yoga include the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and many others.

Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita ('Song of the Lord'), thought to have been written some time between 400 and 100 BC, talks of four branches of yoga:

• Karma yoga: The yoga of action in the world
• Jnana yoga: The yoga of knowledge and intellectual endeavor
• Bhakti yoga: The yoga of devotion to a deity
• Raja yoga: The yoga of meditation

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are a book of 196 aphorisms compiled by the sage Patanjali sometime between 100 BC and 200 AD. Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras presents the goal of yoga as 'the cessation of mental fluctuations' (cittavrtti nirodha).

In reference to the Bhagavad Gita classifications, Patanjali's yoga is a form of Raja yoga, as it seeks meditiation as the path towards the ultimate goal. Patanjali himself referred to it as "Ashtanga Yoga" ("Eight-Limbed Yoga"), from the eight steps he set out as the practical path towards attainment of enlightenment. This eight-limbed concept became an authoritative feature of Raja yoga from that point forward, and is a core characteristic of practically every Raja yoga variation (including Hatha yoga) taught today.

Patanjali's Eight Limbs of yoga practice are:

1. Yama (The five "abstentions"): violence, lying, theft, (illicit) sex, and 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 ("Life Force Control"): Control of prāna, life force, or vital energy
5. Pratyahara ("Abstraction"): Reversal of the sense organs
6. Dharana ("Concentration"): Fixing the attention on a single object
7. Dhyana ("Meditation"): Intense contemplation of the true nature of reality

Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Hatha Yoga is a particular system of Yoga introduced by Yogi Swatmarama, a yogic sage of the 15th century in India, and compiler of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Hatha Yoga is a development of - but also differs substantially from - the Raja Yoga of Patanjali, in that it focuses on the purification of the physical as essential to the purification of the mind and prana, or vital energy . In contrast, the Raja Yoga posited by Patanjali begins with a purification of the mind (yamas) and spirit (niyamas), then comes to the body via asana (body postures) and pranayama (breath). Hatha yoga contains substantial tantric influence, and marks the first point at which chakras and kundalini were introduced into the yogic canon. Compared to the seated asanas of Patanjali's Raja yoga which were seen largely as a means of preparing for meditation, it also marks the development of asanas as full body 'postures' in the modern sense.

Other works

The sage Sri Nathamuni composed the Yoga-Rahasya in the 9th or 10th century CE. Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya received knowledge of this text in a vision. Krishnamacharya is also responsible for the only known translation of the Yogayajnavalikya Samhita, a dialogue between the great sage Yajnavalkya and his learned wife Maithreyi, to whom part of the Rig Veda is attributed. Like the Gheranda Samhita and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Yogayajnavalikya Samhita is generally considered a tantric yoga work.

Yoga In Other Traditions

The goals of yoga are expressed differently in different traditions. In Hinduism, with its variegated viewpoints and sects, Self-Realization and God-Realization are used interchangeably, with the underlying belief that the true nature of self (truth, consciousness, and bliss), revealed through the practice of yoga, has the same nature as the universal self, which may or may not be identified with a 'creator God' depending on the philosophical standpoint of the practitioner. In Buddhism, which does not postulate a creator-type god, yoga may help people deepen their wisdom, compassion, and insight. In Western nations, where there is a strong emphasis on individualism, yoga practice may be an extension of the search for meaning in self, and integration of the different aspects of being.

For the average person still far from enlightenment, yoga can be a way of increasing one's spiritual awareness, or cultivating compassion and insight. While the history of yoga strongly connects it with Hinduism, yoga is not a religion itself, but contains practical steps which can be found in the esoteric spiritual practices of all religions, as well as those who do not consider themselves religious.

From on-line Wikipedia.