Yoga
Jessica C. Taylor, 31 March 2003
Yoga, Patanjali, guru, moksha (keep in mind to avoid western popular yoga website who looking for information about yoga.)
Yoga is a system of physical and spiritual practices with the purpose of achieving moksha, a state of spiritual liberation. This liberation is freedom from samsara, the cycle of rebirth from the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions. Yoga is explained in the Yoga Sutra, which was written by Patanjali in the third century B.C. Yogic knowledge is achieved though training by a guru. Yoga does not have a centralized authority structure. There are some schools of yoga, but the transmission of yoga is usually from guru to disciple. Yoga has become popular in the West, especially Hatha Yoga. Yoga classes can be found in many health clubs and there are yoga schools all across America. This type of yoga practice is not always yoga in its true form. This paper gives a brief overview of the yogic tradition.
Yoga is a set of physical and spiritual disciplines. Yoga is prescribed in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. The Yoga Sutra is the oldest primary source strictly on yoga. Gurus and students of yoga translate and write commentaries on the Yoga Sutra to better explain it. The purpose of yoga is mental training to harness the mind. The claims of the practice are simple. Freedom from samsara, the cycle of rebirth set forth in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions, it the goal of yogic practice. Samsara is brought about by the human condition. Karma is the residue of one’s actions. Karma adheres to one’s soul like dirt and it collects there throughout one’s many lives until attaining inner liberation through yoga breaks the cycle. The practice of Yoga entails behavioral restrictions, meditation and ‘exercises’ to harness the breath and mind. Control of the Breath is the most important aspect of yogic practice. If one can control the breath, all of the other senses can be controlled because they are thought to be controlled by the breath.
Although yoga originated in India, it has now spread across the globe, especially in the later-developed Hatha Yoga version. Yoga has become a popular trend in the West and like most trends; it is not practiced in its proper form. It is often seen in the West as a set of relaxation techniques and exercises. Yoga is available to all sectors of society. The proper practice of yoga requires a guru. Any person who can find a guru to teach them can follow yoga.
a) Sources and Criteria of Valid Knowledge
The basic source of knowledge in the yogic tradition is the Yoga Sutra. The Yoga Sutra is believed to have been authored by Patanjali. Little is firmly known about him. There are references to him in the Upanishads. The Yoga Sutra has been translated and commented on many times since its inception. In his lecture, Dr. Gary Tubb referred to the commentaries on the Yoga Sutra as the “unpacking of the words of the Sutra”. A guru transmits knowledge to a disciple. There are many different versions of yoga, each with its respective texts, but these refer back to Patanjali’s sutra.
b) Methods of Inquiry
One acquires knowledge of Yoga by seeking out a guru. A person studied the Yoga Sutra and learns about the interpretation of it advocated by the guru. There are very specific practices associated with attaining freedom through Yoga. The “active performance of yoga” consists of “ascetic practice, study of sacred lore and dedication to the Lord of Yoga.”[i] The ascetic practices are outlined in Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga. Of these eight limbs, the first 5 comprise External Yoga and the remaining three comprise Internal Yoga. There is external Yoga and Internal Yoga. External Yoga deals with physical practices and behaviors. The practices associated with external yoga are: the Yamas are restriction, Niyamas are observances, Asana is a stable and easy posture, Pranayama is control of the breath and Pratyahara is withdrawal of senses from the outer world. Internal Yoga consists of Dharana--concentration on a single object, Dhyana--mediation on that object and finally, Samadi--the state in which the remaining mental activity is suppressed and the individual is completely self-conscious and unconscious of the physical world.
A “proof” of the validity of yoga is not readily available to a non-practitioner. Because yoga is such and internal practice, it is difficult to prove. Indian approaches to science are very different from western ones. They are very internal and more focused on personal control and mastery than on making precise observations. It has been said in commentaries on the Yoga Sutra that yogis can change the laws of nature if they so choose, but they choose not to.[ii] Yoga does not meet the standards of modern science. Yoga is not a science because its purpose is not to understand the mind, unlike the science of psychology. Yoga’s purpose is to control the mind so a state of Samadhi can be reached.
c) Institutions and Professional Structure of Yoga
Yoga does not have a very centralized system of teaching. Because it is an internal tradition, a large hierarchical group, standard-setting body or professional organization is not needed. To practice yoga one needs only to find a guru willing to train that person. Yoga has traditionally been transmitted from teacher to disciple.[iii] There are schools of yoga in which the teachings of a particular guru are used. Yoga is in nontraditional western forms has many different types of standard setting bodies and professional organizations. All one needs to do is enter “yoga certification” in any search engine and thousands of results are retrieved. There are many different organizations that teach yoga and teach people how to teach it. Most of these American “yoga schools” do not teach internal yoga. They mostly teach selected parts of external yoga and they advocate meditation as an additional relaxation technique. These schools do not have much control over the broader community of participants. Most health clubs offer yoga classes and yoga is not regulated by any group. The internal and personal nature of yoga makes it a practice in which connections with practitioners other than the guru are not necessary.
The Yoga Sutra’s origins are not very well known. It is attributed to Patanjali and some date the sutra to the third century B.C. because there was a Patanjali during that period that wrote other important Sanskrit texts.[iv] Yoga was not invented by Patanjali. He codified its basic doctrines in the Yoga Sutra. Yoga’s purpose is based in the Indian Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions. The concept of samsara is present in all of these traditions and yogic practice offers a method of release from the cycle. So, yoga can be practiced in conjunction with these other traditions. Forms of yoga are present in Buddhist teachings and in the Hindu epic poems, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad-Gita. The ideas set forth in the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are present in the Yoga Sutra.[v] Yoga is a practice that was born out of many different Indian traditions.
Because the Yoga Sutra is the only specific primary source for yoga, it has not become obsolete. It is especially still used today because its principles are validated by many other Indian traditions. The social position of Patanjali is also not very clearly defined. He is said to be the mythical incarnation of a serpent that took human form and wrote the Yoga Sutra to benefit mankind.[vi]
The truth or value of Yoga is not very clearly explained or defended. To truly pursue yoga, one must first believe that the cycle of samsara exists. So, one must believe in the concept of karma and its ability to cling to the soul. The existence of karma cannot be proved scientifically in any way. The effectiveness of yoga practice also cannot be proven in any way. The effectiveness of yoga on a person physical health can be measured but a state of Samadhi cannot be measured.
Yoga can be practiced in conjunction with other Indian traditions. One can be a Buddhist, Hindu or Jain and follow yoga because those traditions allow its practice. I think that it is very interesting that people do practice yoga along with another tradition. It would seem that if a person practiced yoga, one would not need any other practice to attain enlightenment. In the case of lower caste Hindus, historically, it would seem in their best interest spiritually to abandon Hinduism which places them in an inferior position and practice only yoga which allows enlightenment to be reached by any person who properly follows the path.
Scale of 1-10, with 1 being the least present in yoga and 10 being the most.
Emphasis on traditional authority………7...Emphasis on testimony of experience
Emphasis on centralization of authority……………..8…. Decentralization
Emphasis on invisible realities. 2……………..Emphasis on earthly realities
Mainly spiritual or moral objectives 1………………Emphasis on pragmatic aims
In the practice of yoga, there is more of an emphasis on personal experience. The traditional guru/disciple relationship is integral to yogic practice, so that is an emphasis on traditional authority. This emphasis on personal experience leads me to assign traditional authority an emphasis level of 3 and emphasis on testimony of experience a level of 8.There is no real centralization of authority in the practice of yoga. So I assigned it a level 1 and decentralization a 10. Yoga is almost completely based on invisible realities. So it receives a 10 while material realities receive a 1. Material and earthly realities are supposed to be eliminated by the practice of yoga until one had effectively turned the senses inward to observe only the self. The objectives of yoga are all spiritual, though there is the added benefit of good health and relaxation. So, spiritual objectives have a very high rating while pragmatic aims have a low one. (Except in western nontraditional practices of yoga where the objectives are different.)The agency in yoga resides completely with the individual. Yoga centers on individual discipline, so, I assigned agency reserved for diving beings a 1 and personal agency a 10.
I. Primary Sources
Miller, Barbara Stoler Yoga: Discipline of Freedom. Bantam Books, New York 1995.
Feuerstein, Georg The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
II. Secondary Sources
Miller, Richard New Light on the Yoga Tradition: An Interview With Georg Feuerstein. 1998.
Tubb, Gary Lecture “Yoga as Traditional Indian Science of the Mind” 24 February 2003.