Raj

Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various soteriological goals as practiced in the Hindu, Jain, Sikh, and Buddhist traditions.

Yoga may have pre-Vedic origins,[c] but is first attested in the early first millennium BCE. It developed as various traditions in the eastern Ganges basin drew from a common body of practices, including Vedic elements.[8][9] Yoga-like practices are mentioned in the Rigveda[10] and a number of early Upanishads,[11][12][13][d] but systematic yoga concepts emerge during the fifth and sixth centuries BCE in ancient India's ascetic and Śramaṇa movements, including Jainism and Buddhism.[14] The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the classical text on Hindu yoga, samkhya-based but influenced by Buddhism, dates to the early centuries of the Common Era.[15][16][e] Hatha yoga texts began to emerge between the ninth and 11th centuries, originating in tantra.[f]

Yoga is practiced worldwide,[17] but "yoga" in the Western world often entails a modern form of Hatha yoga and a posture-based physical fitness, stress-relief and relaxation technique,[18] consisting largely of asanas;[19] this differs from traditional yoga, which focuses on meditation and release from worldly attachments.[20][18][21][a] It was introduced by gurus from India after the success of Swami Vivekananda's adaptation of yoga without asanas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[22] Vivekananda introduced the Yoga Sutras to the West, and they became prominent after the 20th-century success of hatha yoga.[23]

Etymology

Outdoor statue

A statue of Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, meditating in the lotus position

The Sanskrit noun योग yoga is derived from the root yuj (युज्) "to attach, join, harness, yoke".[24][25] According to Jones and Ryan, "The word yoga is derived from the root yuj, "to yoke", probably because the early practice concentrated on restraining or "yoking in" the senses. Later the name was also seen as a metaphor for "linking" or "yoking to" the divine."[25]

Buswell and Lopez translate "yoga" as "'bond', 'restraint', and by extension "spiritual discipline."[26] Flood refers to restraining the mind as yoking the mind.[27]

Yoga is a cognate of the English word "yoke," since both are derived from an Indo-European root.[28] According to Mikel Burley, the first use of the root of the word "yoga" is in hymn 5.81.1 of the Rigveda, a dedication to the rising Sun-god, where it has been interpreted as "yoke" or "control".[29][30][g]

Pāṇini (4th c. BCE) wrote that the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots: yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj samādhau ("to concentrate").[32] In the context of the Yoga Sutras, the root yuj samādhau (to concentrate) is considered the correct etymology by traditional commentators.[33] In accordance with Pāṇini, Vyasa (who wrote the first commentary on the Yoga Sutras)[34] says that yoga means samadhi (concentration).[35] Larson notes that in the Vyāsa Bhāsy the term "samadhi" refers to "all levels of mental life" (sārvabhauma), that is, "all possible states of awareness, whether ordinary or extraordinary".[36]

A person who practices yoga, or follows the yoga philosophy with a high level of commitment, is called a yogi; a female yogi may also be known as a yogini.[37]

Definition

Definitions in classical texts

The term "yoga" has been defined in different ways in Indian philosophical and religious traditions.

Source Text Approx. Date Definition of Yoga[38]

Maitrayaniya Upanishad c. 4th century BCE "Because in this manner he joins the Prana (breath), the Om, and this Universe in its manifold forms, or because they join themselves (to him), therefore this (process of meditation) is called Yoga (joining). The oneness of breath, mind, and senses, and then the surrendering of all conceptions, that is called Yoga"[39]

Vaisesika sutra c. 4th century BCE "Pleasure and suffering arise as a result of the drawing together of the sense organs, the mind and objects. When that does not happen because the mind is in the self, there is no pleasure or suffering for one who is embodied. That is yoga" (5.2.15–16)[40]

Katha Upanishad last centuries BCE "When the five senses, along with the mind, remain still and the intellect is not active, that is known as the highest state. They consider yoga to be firm restraint of the senses. Then one becomes un-distracted for yoga is the arising and the passing away" (6.10–11)[41]

Bhagavad Gita c. 2nd century BCE "Be equal minded in both success and failure. Such equanimity is called Yoga" (2.48)

"Yoga is skill in action" (2.50) "Know that which is called yoga to be separation from contact with suffering" (6.23)[42]

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali c. first centuries CE[15][43][e] 1.2. yogas chitta vritti nirodhah – "Yoga is the calming down the fluctuations/patterns of mind"

1.3. Then the Seer is established in his own essential and fundamental nature.

1.4. In other states there is assimilation (of the Seer) with the modifications (of the mind).[44]

Yogabhasya same as Yoga Sutras yoga samadhih - "samadhi is yoga,"[45] referring to ekagrata, one-pointedness, and niruddha, that is, contentless samadhi (asamprajnata-samadhi)[36]

Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra (Sravakabhumi), a Mahayana Buddhist Yogacara work 4th century CE "Yoga is fourfold: faith, aspiration, perseverance and means" (2.152)[46]

Kaundinya's Pancarthabhasya on the Pashupata-sutra 4th century CE "In this system, yoga is the union of the self and the Lord" (I.I.43)