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" according to archaeologist Gregory Possehl. He
points to sixteen other specific "yogi glyptics"
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. The most widely known of
these images was named the "Pashupati seal"
by its discoverer, John Marshall, who believed that it represented
a "proto-Shiva" figure. Many modern authorities
discount the idea that this "Pashupati" (Lord of
Animals, Sanskrit pasupati) represents a Shiva
or Rudra figure.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. 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 and Indologist
Heinrich Zimmer. 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.
Literary sources :- Ascetic
practices (tapas) are referenced in the Brahma (900 BCE and
500 BCE), early commentaries on the vedas. In the Upanishads, an early
reference to meditation is made in Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad, 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).
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:
Karma yoga: The yoga of action
Bhakti yoga: The yoga
of devotion
Jnana yoga: The yoga of knowledge
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:- The
sage Patanjali is regarded as the founder
of the formal Yoga philosophy. 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.
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 Prana"): Prana,
life force, or vital energy, particularly,
the breath, "ayama", 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.
They are sometimes divided into the lower and the upper four limbs, the lower
ones being parallel to the lower limbs of Hatha Yoga, while the
upper ones being specific for the Raja yoga. The upper three
limbs practiced simultaneously constitute the Samyama.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika:- Hatha
Yoga is a particular system of Yoga described 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 Yoga but also differs
substantially from the Raja Yoga of Patanjali,
in that it focuses on shatkarma, the purification
of the physical as leading to the
purification of the mind (ha), and prana, or vital energy (tha). 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.
