What is Meditation?
Yoga (in ‘Sanskrit' language means yoke' or 'union'), the name Yoga is derived from the word "attach, join, harness, yoke". It is a set of bodily, spiritual, and mystical applications and practices that originated in ancient India. The goal is to restrain the mind. The mind (Citta) is very agitated and difficult to control and the consequence is worldly sufferings and sorrows. There are a variety of schools of yoga, practice, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. There are practices of both traditional and present yoga available today in the world. More and more people are fascinated by these practices every day and they are getting benefits of physical health and stress relief.
Origin:
There are two general theories about the origin of yoga. The linear model states that yoga has a Vedic origin, reflected in the theological compilation of Vedic texts of Hinduism. This model is mainly supported by scholars of the Asian continent. According to the synthesis model, yoga is a fusion of indigenous, non-theological, and theological elements. This model is preferred outside of the Asian continent, especially in some Western intelligentsia. Yoga is first mentioned in the Rig Veda and in many Upanishads. The first known appearance of the word "yoga" is in the Katha Upanishad, which may have been written in the twentieth century BCE. During this period, yoga developed into a systematic study and practice in the ascetic and academic communities of ancient India. The broadest writing on yoga is the Yoga Sutras of Sage Patanjali, which dates back to the fifth century BCE.
There are six schools of Vedic philosophy in Hinduism and Yoga is one of them. Hatha Yoga texts began to emerge between the tenth and eleventh century of this era in Tantric philosophy (In Tantra, the human body is visualized as a microcosm of the universe). The term "yoga" in the Western world often refers to a modern form of Hatha yoga with postures (Asanas) based on bodily fitness, tension relief, and stress reduction. It is different from traditional yoga in that it focuses on meditation and contemplation and liberation from worldly attachments and possessions.
It was introduced by Yoga scholars from India in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Swami Vivekananda introduced yoga without postures (asana) to the western world. It was soon after he participated in the conference on the parliament of world religions in Chicago USA on 11th September 1893. Swami Vivekananda codified and modified the Yoga Sutras of Sage Patanjali after excluding postures (Asanas) to the Westerners named “Raja Yoga”. During the twentieth century, many monks from India started teaching Yoga to the western world starting from Swami Yogananda Paramahamsa, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi of the TM movement, and lately Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar.
Early Texts of Yoga:
The earliest use of the word "yoga" is in verse 5.81.1 of the Rig Veda, a dedication to the rising sun, where it is interpreted as "yoke" or "control." Written by Sanskrit Philologist and Grammarian Sage Panini (4th BCE), the word yoga is derived from one of two roots: yujir yoga (yoke) or yuj samadhau ("to concentrate"). In the context of the Yoga Sutras, the source Yuj Samadhau (concentration) is considered by traditional commentators to be the correct derivation. According to Panini, Sage Veda Vyasa (who wrote the first commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Sage Patanjali) says that yoga means Samadhi (Absorption). It is the "union of the self with the Supreme Self" or it can be said that individual consciousness is with the ultimate consciousness. A yogi is a person who practices yoga, or who follows the philosophy of yoga with high commitment.
The ultimate goals of yoga are calmness of the mind and gaining discernment, resting in detached consciousness, and deliverance (Moksha) from saṃsara (cycle of death and rebirth) and duḥkha (suffering). Furthermore, this process or discipline leads to unity ("Aikyam") with the divine (Brahman) or with one's self (atman). This aim varies by philosophical or mystical system. In the classical Ashtanga yoga system, the ultimate goal of yoga is to achieve Samadhi (Absorption) and remain in a state of pure consciousness.
A meditative means of discovering dysfunctional awareness and cognition, as well as overcoming it to release any misery, and discover inner harmony, and deliverance. It is also observed as a rising and elevation of consciousness. A path to omniscience and enlightened consciousness enables one to comprehend the impermanent, elusive, and elusive with permanent, true, and transcendent reality.
Illustration of this principle is found in many Hindu philosophical texts of Brahmasutra, Bhagavath Gita, Sage Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and Upanishads. There are about twenty Upanishads that explain Yoga. The Upanishads are Amrithabindu, Amrithanadhabindhu, Adhyayatharka, Brahmavidhya, Dhyanabindhu, Dharshana, Hamsa, Kshurika, Kathopanishad, Mahavakya, Mandalabrahmana, Nadhabindhu, Pashupadhabrahmana, Shandhilya, Thrishikibrahmana, Thejobindhu, Varaha, Yogashikha, Yogathathva, Yogakundalini, etc.
Definition of Yoga in classical text
The word Yoga is explained in many ways in Hindu religious and philosophical texts and manuscripts. Indian Philosophy is divided into orthodox (conservative) Systems and heterodox (reformed) Systems.
There are six schools of Orthodox Vedic Philosophy and they are Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, and Vedanta.
The heterodox (reformed) also known as Sramanic schools are Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajnana, and Charvaka.
Vaiseshikha Philosophy:
Pleasantness and sorrow arise as a consequence of the togetherness of the sense organs, the mind, and objects. When that does not occur because the mind is in the true self, there is no "Pleasantness or sorrow for a human being. This is yoga.
It is presented below,
It is presented below,
Sage Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras belong to Samkhya Philosophy
Chapter 1st verse 3rd says, Then the ‘seer’ rests in its own true and fundamental nature.
Chapters 1st and 4th say, In other states, there is the assimilation of the “Seer” with the fluctuations of the mind.
It is presented below,
In the Linga Purana, 'Yoga'
is nirvana, the supreme truth and the state of “Lord Shiva”
Brahma Sutra Bhyashya of Sage Adi Sankaracharya
In Brahma Sutra Bhyashya of Sage Adi
Sankaracharya, " The texts on yoga say that 'Yoga is the way to realize
the ultimate reality. (In the Sanskrit language “atha tattvadarsanabhyupayo
yogah”)
In the Malinivijayotthara Tantra, one of the
non-dualistic Kashmir Shaivism it is defined as “Yoga is about one essence being
one with another”.
In the Margendra Tantra Vritti, of the “Shaiva
Siddhanta’ system of Sage Narayana Kantha states,
To master oneself is to be a ‘yogin’. The word
‘yogin’ means one who is essentially "dark" with the manifestation of
his character. The Siva-state or ‘Shivathwam’.
Saradatilaka text of Sage Lakshmana Desikendra
The Saradatilaka text of Sage Lakshmana
Desikendra, which is a Shakta Tantra work, states that “Yoga is ‘Lord Shiva's
power’, and is the primaeval "self" knowledge”.
In the Yogabija, a Hatha Yoga manuscript, it is
stated as "Yoga calls the union of the Apana and the Prana, its own rajas
and semen, the sun and the moon, the individual and the supreme self, as well
as all the dualities."
It is presented below,
In the Kaundinya's Panchartha Bhashya on the Pashupatha Sutra, "Yoga is
the union of the self and the Lord".
It is presented below,
Yogashataka, a Jain Religious Text by Sage Harbhadhra Suri
In the Yogashataka, a Jain Religious Text by
Sage Harbhadhra Suri, it states that "With conviction, the lords of Yogins
(meditator) have in our doctrine defined yoga as the coincidence ("Samabandhah")
of the three precise understanding ("Sajjnana"), right principle ("Saddharshana")
and truthful behaviour ("Sackaritra"). Beginning with precise knowledge, thereby emerges coincidence with deliverance. In common usage, the term yoga
also denotes the Self's exchange with the causes of these three, due to the
common usage of the origin for the result."
In the Yogackarabhumi Sasthra (Sravakabhumi) a
Buddhist Mahayana Yogackara work, it stated as
"Yoga
is fourfold belief, desire, persistence, and ways".
It is presented below,
