Brief History of Yoga

[Guest guest]

" A Brief History of Yoga, "

by Georg Feuerstein, PH.D.

 

Introduction to " The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga "

 

Reprinted without permission (please, nobody call the police :-) Error

correction done by Tim Gerchmez, all errors missed/overlooked are mine and

not the author's.

 

 

Yoga is one of the most remarkable accomplishments of human

ingenuity and surely one of the most fascinating creations of spiritual

aspiration. It is India's mature answer to the universal question

" Who am I? " --a question that, sooner or later, will impinge on any self-

inspecting individual. Our modern science-oriented civilization has all but

ousted spirituality and deeper existential questioning. Religion has to a

large

extent become synonymous with morality, and the mystical--or true spiri-

tual-impulse has been all but forgotten.

 

Hence in our century millions of sensitive Western men and women have

turned to the East for spiritual nourishment and guidance. In their quest,

many have discovered Yoga and been greatly enriched by that encounter. For

some, Yoga has strengthened their native faith, particularly among more

open-minded Christians. For others, it has led to a spirituality that tran-

scends ideological leanings, as far as that is possible. A few have taken the

plunge into the doctrinal structure of Hinduism.

 

Yoga, as understood here, is an esoteric tradition within the versatile reli-

gious culture of Hinduism. It is one of the world's oldest and most continu-

ous branches of spiritual inquiry and, second only to shamanism, the longest

and most intense experiment of the human spirit. The purpose of the yogic

experiment has been to explore not the behavior of matter but the properties

and very limits of consciousness. For the Indians realized that consciousness

has primacy over matter--a notion that is gradually being resuscitated

through new revelations in physics and parapsychology. What is more, the

yogic experiment is continuing even today. India's creeping secularization

notwithstanding, the adepts and schools of Yoga have so far held their own.

More importantly, Yoga has definitely arrived in the West and is undergoing

a promising revival at the hand of creative Western teachers of this ancient

discipline.

 

The history of Yoga encompasses some five thousand years, as compared

to two thousand years for Christianity and not quite three centuries of " mod-

ern " secular civilization. Its taproots lie in archaic shamanism, and its long

evolution is tied to the gradual unfolding of the plural cultures of India,

notably Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. As I have shown in my book

Yoga: The Technology of Ecstasy, which traces the history of the various

branches and schools of Yoga, the earliest protoyogic ideas and practices

are to be found in the sacred canon of Hinduism--the Vedas. Mystical and

psychocosmological speculations are present already in the Rig-Veda, a col-

lection of hymns " seen " by the rishis of yore. Until recently, the consensus

of scholarly opinion assigned this hymnody to the era of about 1200-1500

BCE. New research has revealed this date, which has always been rather arbi-

trary, to be far too late. There is now strong evidence for placing the Rig-

Veda into the third millennium BCE, With portions of it possibly going back

to the fourth millennium BCE and earlier still. Also, the subsequent

literature

(originally orally transmitted, like the four Vedic collections), which forms

an integral part of the Vedic canon, has been dated back by at least a whole

millennium. Thus the oldest Brahmanas, previously thought to have been

created between 900 BCE and 1200 BCE, are now considered to belong to the

early second millennium BCE, possibly even the late third millennium BCE.

This historical reevaluation, which is discussed in the entries Aryan invasion

theory and Rig-Veda, has also considerably extended the chronology of Yoga.

In addition to the Rig-Vedic references to Yoga, speculations and practices

of a protoyogic type can also be found in the Atharva-Veda. This hymnody

abounds in magical incantations but includes hymns of a metaphysical and

spiritual import as well. It is regarded as being slightly younger than the

Rig-Veda, though the beliefs and practices mirrored in the Atharva-Veda may be

as old as or even older than those of the Rig-Vedic hymns.

 

These early endeavors to explore the possibilities of the human spirit form

the nucleus for the diversified psychotechnology that has come to be associ-

ated with the name Yoga. Strictly speaking, though, they are characteristic of

the tradition of asceticism (tapas), which marks the dawn of religion and

spirituality in India. Like the shaman, the ascetic (tapasvin) aspires to gain

control over the powers (or deities/divine energies) animating the universe.

He makes himself endure all kinds of hardships to steel his will and generate

the inner energy or " heat " (tapas) necessary to control the hidden forces of

nature through the medium of magic.

 

By contrast, the yogin is primarily (and ideally) concerned with the tran-

scendence of the ego, the deities, and the world as a whole. His great guiding

ideal is liberation, variously styled moksha, mukti, kaivalya, apavarga, and

nirvana. What is liberation? There is no unanimity among the different

schools of esotericism. However, their answers are sufficiently similar to

pro-

vide us with a workable definition: Liberation is the condition of radical,

conscious freedom from the bonds of the conditional personality with its

ingrained habit patterns, relative unawareness, and fundamental lovelessness.

 

It is, at the same time, the condition of pure Consciousness, unaffected by

the fluctuations of the mind--one's ever-changing opinions and moods.

Fundamental to liberation is the shift from the ego identity to the Self

identity: The liberated adept (mukta-siddha) no longer experiences his or her

body-mind as an impenetrable boundary of awareness. Rather, standing

firmly in pure Consciousness (chit), the adept experiences the body-mind as

arising in that Consciousness. Regardless of the different metaphysical posi-

tions that have been elaborated in the course of the long evolution of Yoga,

this pure Consciousness--the transcendental witness (sakshin)--is the com-

mon denominator. It is called atman ( " Self " ) in the Sanskrit scriptures. It is

our innermost essence, just as it is the deepest foundation of the cosmos.

 

This Self cannot be experienced, since it is not an object but the ultimate

subject. It can, however, be realized. That is to say, a person can " awaken "

as that Self. Self-realization is widely held to be utterly blissful. But

this is only to say that it is the antithesis of the ordinary ego identity,

which, because of its inherent limitation in space and time, is inevitably

associated with the experience of pain and suffering. Self-realization is

not pleasurable, for pleasure--like pain--is something only the ego

personality can experience.

The Self does not get caught up in experiences. It simply notices ( " wit-

nesses " ) their occurrence in the body-mind, rather as the peak of a high

mountain abides forever above the good and bad weather of the lower re-

gions.

 

All this does not mean, however, that the Self-realized sage is an unfeeling

monstrosity. On the contrary, Patanjali, the founder of Classical Yoga, de-

scribes such a sage as being acutely sensitive, " like an eyeball. " The reason

for this sensitivity is best summed up in the words of the Latin poet: Home

sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto, " I am human; I consider nothing

human to be foreign to me. "

 

The Yoga adept arrives at Self-realization only after a long struggle with

the human condition. In the course of that personal ordeal, he or she has to

face all the numerous liabilities and weaknesses associated with being human.

Having transcended them by transcending the ego, the adept can now look

upon others with compassion, understanding that those who are still strug-

gling with themselves and with existence at large are also on a journey of

both self-discovery and Self-discovery. Even though others' pace may be slow

and hesitant, and they may not even be aware of their journey, they too are

already liberated, already free. Of course, the sage no longer exclaims, Home

sum, " I am human, " but rather, Aham brahma asmi, " I am the Absolute,

the transcendental Self. " Yet with the adept's transcendence of the human

condition comes the capacity to empathize with those who persist in identify-

ing with the body-mind rather than the Self.

 

Observing their confusion, uncertainty, and physical and mental suffer-

ing, the sage feels compelled to communicate the gospel of humanity's essen-

tial freedom. Alas, the noise of our technological civilization has deafened

our ears to the gentle but persuasive song of the bearers of wisdom of bygone

ages and of our own time.

 

Despite its noblest discovery of the eternal Self beyond the vicissitudes of

the body-mind, the tradition of Yoga has retained many features of the ante-

cedent tradition of asceticism. Thus the yogin is typically celebrated as a

possessor not only of wisdom but also of paranormal powers (siddhi). To the

ordinary Indian, he is a knower and a miracle worker, or thaumaturgist. This

is in keeping with what we know of other spiritual traditions. Holiness and

power go hand in hand. Even the mature yogin who has not yet realized the

Self is thought to possess mysterious abilities beyond those of ordinary mor-

tals. But the practitioner of Yoga is frequently warned not to abuse these

powers, and sometimes even not to use them at all, lest they distract the

seeker from the spiritual goal.

 

The exercise of power of any kind is fraught with danger, since it is apt to

feed the ego and lure it away from the great ideal of liberation, which essen-

tially consists in ego transcendence. Once the Self is realized, powers of all

kinds are said to become spontaneously available, without endangering the

adept's hard-won freedom. The genuine yogin will always treat the paranor-

mal powers and power in general with great circumspection. The yogin's

prime motive is constantly to step beyond the self, until the Self is

realized.

When the Self is finally realized, there can be no misuse of power, just as

there can be no fall from grace. Self-realization, if true, is forever.

In most schools of Yoga, Self-realization means the realization of the sin-

gular Self (atman), the universal essence of Selfhood. This is a suprapersonal

event, for the Self exists beyond the particular configuration of one's

person-

ality. It is the same Self in all beings. This idea is fundamental to the

various schools of Advaita-Vedanta, or Hindu nondualism. In its formative

phase, Yoga was closely aligned with the ramifying metaphysical tradition

of Vedanta, as expounded in the Upanishads. The oldest scriptures of this

literary

genre, dating to about 1500-1000 BCE, teach a pantheism, or better, panen-

theism: There is only one Reality, which is experienced as the multiform

cosmos by unenlightened beings. Through proper initiation (diksha), renun-

ciation (samnyasa), and meditation (nididhyasana, dhyana), the spiritual as-

pirant can realize the prior singular Reality beyond the mind and the senses.

That Reality is not only the ultimate ground of objective existence or brah-

man; it is also a person's true identity, the transcendental Self or atman.

The idealist doctrine of the identity of the brahman with the atman is the

quintessential notion common to all Upanishadic or Vedantic thought. The

Yoga tradition evolved out of these metaphysical speculations and their at-

tendant spiritual disciplines.

 

Yoga was originally also most intimately associated with the Samkhya tra-

dition, which is marked by a realist philosophy with a strong cosmological

bent. Samkhya is concerned with defining the categories of existence, as they

emerge in hierarchic order out of the perennial world ground called prakriti

( " procreatrix " ). Beyond the world ground and its psychomaterial evolutes

stands the primal Self, the purusha, or pure Consciousness. Vedanta, Yoga,

and Samkhya together formed the intellectual milieu of Upanishadic times--

the milieu into which Gautama the Buddha and also Vardhamana Mahavira

were born.

 

The Buddha's teaching, which has sometimes been looked upon as a prag-

matic version of Yoga, is founded in a rejection of metaphysical speculation,

especially the notion of an eternal Self (atman). The Buddha emphasized

practical discipline--his noble eightfold path to liberation--to countermand

the ever-present tendency to theorize about spiritual life rather than to en-

gage it. As is clear from the schools of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism,

however, metaphysics proved ineradicable even within Buddhism, though it

has always been tested in the fire of actual practice.

 

A similar practice-oriented approach characterizes the teaching of Vardha-

mana Mahavira, the founder of historical Jainism. Vardhamana, an older

contemporary of the Buddha, is thought to be the last in a long line of fully

enlightened teachers. The Jaina path does indeed contain features that appear

to be very ancient. In later times, some Jaina masters even spoke of their

teachings as a form of Yoga.

 

Both Buddhism and Jainism had a strong influence on the further evolu-

tion of Yoga, particularly in its philosophical formulation under Patanjali,

who probably lived in the second century CE.

 

Yoga is first clearly spoken of as a spiritual method in the Katha-Upani-

shad, which was probably composed in the sixth century BCE or earlier. This

work propounds what is called adhyatma-yoga, the " Yoga of the inmost self, "

by which the sage may come to know the great god hidden in the cave of the

heart. Then, in the fourth or fifth century BCE, the anonymous composer of

the Bhagavad-Gita--the New Testament of Hinduism--made a unique at-

tempt at integrating the various yogic approaches then current. Most impor-

tantly, the Gita introduced the ideal of devotion (bhakti) to the Divine as a

superperson (purusha-uttama), thus instituting the path of bhakti-yoga,

which quickly gained great popularity.

 

Nevertheless, it was Patanjali's Yoga-Sutra (Aphorisms of Yoga) that gave

Yoga its classical form as one of the six philosophical " viewpoints " (dar-

shana) of Hinduism. Patanjali's work was very influential, since it proffered

valuable definitions of the fundamental concepts of the yogic path; his meta-

physical dualism, however, was never looked upon favorably within main-

stream Hinduism. Although Patanjali's school came to be regarded as the

preeminent philosophy of Yoga, many other yogic schools continued to exist

and flourish alongside it.

 

These nonclassical schools of Yoga retained their Vedantic (nondualist)

foundations and over time led to the fascinating developments of Postclassi-

cal Yoga, which shows a marked Tantric influence. Tantrism (or Tantra),

which originated in the early common era and gathered momentum in the

sixth century CE, is a pan-Indian syncretistic movement that greatly trans-

formed Hinduism and Buddhism and to a lesser extent also Jainism. Because

of its enormous breadth, Tantrism is difficult to define. It is more a

cultural

style than a philosophy, and from the outset purported to be the teaching

for the dark age (kali-yuga), which supposedly commenced with the death of

Krishna (traditionally fixed at 3006 BCE).

 

In simplified terms, Tantrism translated the ancient panentheistic intuition

that the world arises in the all-encompassing Being into ritual action and a

deep philosophical understanding. It elevated the age-old popular belief in

the Divine as feminine power, or shakti, to a metaphysical principle of the

first order. This resulted in a certain reevaluation of the female gender in

society, but primarily it led to a reappraisal of the body as a

manifestation of the Divine and thus as a positive instrument for attaining

liberation.

 

An important tradition within Tantrism is the Siddha movement, dating

back to the sixth century CE. A siddha is a spiritual adept who has attained

perfection (siddhi) through a transubstantiated body endowed with all kinds

of paranormal powers (siddhi, vibhuti). Out of this tradition of " body culti-

vation " (kaya-sadhana) grew the various schools of the forceful Yoga (hatha-

yoga). The origins of hatha-yoga are quite obscure but are traditionally con-

nected to the name of Goraksha, a tenth-century master.

 

The teachers of hatha-yoga have created important manuals, some of

which are still extant. These show an astonishing arsenal of techniques for

manipulating the life force (prana) in the human body, primarily by means

of breath control and mental concentration. The underlying idea behind

these practices is that a strong and healthy body is needed to gain

liberation,

or enlightenment, and to manifest its paranormal effects. In the course of

time, not a few hatha-yogins lost sight of the spiritual goal of this

tradition

and focused more on its therapeutic and prophylactic aspects, or exploited it

as a means for cultivating paranormal abilities. Hence hatha-yoga fell into

disrepute especially among the more educated classes of the Hindu and Bud-

dhist societies, which tend to favor a more meditative and intellectual ap-

proach.

 

There are today several million people outside India who practice one or

the other form of Yoga--from the physical exercises of hatha-yoga to the

mental disciplines of raja-yoga; from the mysterious kundalini-yoga, which

seeks to control the vast psychospiritual energy of the body, to the seemingly

glamorous but difficult orientation of tantra-yoga, with its manipulation of

the sexual drive; and from the approach of the heart favored in bhakti-yoga

to the conscious execution of actions, which is the essence of karma-yoga.

 

Many Yoga practitioners are simply in search of health, beauty, longevity,

and a more meaningful life. Medical research on hatha-yoga has shown that

many of its techniques are remarkably potent therapeutic instruments. They

can not only restore health to an ailing body but also slow, to some extent,

the aging process and even reverse some of its baneful effects. Meditation is

demonstrably a wonderful tool for cultivating equanimity. Perhaps the best-

known approach is that of Transcendental Meditation , which was in-

troduced to the West by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the late 1960s. Behind

this designation lies an ancient method, the meditative recitation of sacred

sounds known as mantra-yoga. Research on TM practitioners has shown that

they derive many kinds of physical and mental benefits from this method.

Some of the findings and conclusions have possibly been somewhat exagger-

ated but, in substance, they have confirmed what yogins have claimed for

many centuries, namely, that Yoga is a powerful transformative approach.

 

Modern research on Yoga has also brought home the fact that the yogins

were first-class experimenters with a keen understanding of the interaction

between consciousness and the body. Many aspects of Yoga practice still

await open-minded scientific exploration, and undoubtedly many surprises

lie in store for researchers and practitioners alike.

 

In the meantime, Yoga has become part of the cultural kaleidoscope of the

Western world. This prompted C. G. Jung, among others, to caution against

any simplistic adoption of Eastern traditions. His warning is certainly valid,

because mere imitation cannot produce constructive and beneficial results.

Yet Jung's assessment was somewhat lopsided, springing from his own Euro-

pean bias. While there clearly are many differences between the Western

and the Indian cultures, and therefore between the underlying personality

structures, these differences are not radical. That is to say, there are no

insurmountable constitutional differences between Westerners and Indians. How-

ever variegated humanity may be, the same basic physical, emotional, intel-

lectual, and spiritual capacities are shared by all human beings.

 

It is true, however, that Western practitioners of Yoga are not always suffi-

ciently informed about the distinct cultural milieu that has given birth to

Yoga. Hence what we encounter as Yoga in the West is often merely one or

another unfortunate popularization that distorts the intention behind Yoga

and no doubt also diminishes the effectiveness of the original methods and

approaches. Beginning students are therefore advised to make every effort to

inform themselves about the authentic tradition of Yoga before embarking

on any approach or before choosing a teacher or instructor. My various

books and also the present work contain ample material for this kind of

preliminary study. In fact, I venture to suggest, they can serve even more

mature travelers on the yogic path as trustworthy companions.

 

An important question for the serious student of Eastern traditions is

whether the initiatory nature of authentic Yoga is a possibility for

Westerners. Traditional Yoga is typically transmitted by a qualified

teacher (guru). Can Westerners benefit from a practice involving a guru?

There is no way of answering this question briefly without running the risk

of inviting misunderstanding or reinforcing existing prejudices, whether

they be for or against the figure of the guru. I have addressed this

question in some depth--from a historical, psychological, and experiential

point of view--in my book Holy Madness. The only advice worth giving in

this context is to use good com-

mon sense and to trust one's bodily felt wisdom, and to continue to do so

throughout one's discipleship.

 

Yoga has survived for over five millennia, mainly through being skillfully

adapted to different historical and cultural contexts. There is every

indication that it will continue to be with us for a long time. It seems

desirable to try to understand it so we can benefit from the cumulative

wisdom of its practitioners in our modern quest for self-definition. This

encyclopedia is an attempt to make such a better understanding possible,

both for practitioners of Yoga and for others who care to comprehend this

tradition as part of the complexity of our pluralistic society.

 

 

-----

Visit The Core of the WWW at:

http://www.eskimo.com/~fewtch/ND/index.html

Music, Poetry, Writings on Nondual Spiritual Topics.