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YOGA CONTINUITY....
Main article: Hatha yoga
Hatha yoga, also called hatha vidyā, is a kind of yoga focusing on physical and mental strength building exercises and postures described primarily in three texts of Hinduism:[49][50][51]
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Svātmārāma (15th century)
- Shiva Samhita, author unknown (1500[52] or late 17th century)
- Gheranda Samhita by Gheranda (late 17th century)
Many scholars also include the preceding Goraksha Samhita authored by Gorakshanath of the 11th century in the above list.[49] Gorakshanath is widely considered to have been responsible for popularizing hatha yoga as we know it today.[53][54][55]
Vajrayana Buddhism, founded by the Indian Mahasiddhas,[56] has a series of asanas and pranayamas, such as tummo(Sanskrit caṇḍālī)[57] and trul khor which parallel hatha yoga.
Shaivism;
]Jainism;
Main article: Jain meditation
Jain meditation has been the central practice of spirituality in Jainism along with theThree Jewels.[59] Meditation in Jainism aims at realizing the self, attain salvation, take the soul to complete freedom.[60] It aims to reach and to remain in the pure state of soul which is believed to be pure conscious, beyond any attachment or aversion. The practitioner strives to be just a knower-seer (Gyata-Drashta). Jain meditation can be broadly categorized to the auspicious Dharmya Dhyana andShukla Dhyana and inauspicious Artta and Raudra Dhyana.
Tantra;
Samuel states that Tantrism is a contested concept.[61] Tantra yoga may be described, according to Samuel, as practices in 9th to 10th century Buddhist and Hindu (Saiva, Shakti) texts, which included yogic practices with elaborate deity visualizations using geometrical arrays and drawings (mandala), fierce male and particularly female deities, transgressive life stage related rituals, extensive use ofchakras and mantras, and sexual techniques, all aimed to help one's health, long life and liberation.[61][62]
Modern health application;
Apart from the spiritual goals, the physical postures of yoga are used to alleviate health problems, reduce stress and make the spine supple in contemporary times. Yoga is also used as a complete exercise program and physical therapy routine.[63]
While the practice of yoga continues to rise in contemporary American culture, sufficient and adequate knowledge of the practice’s origins does not. According to Andrea R. Jain, Yoga is undoubtedly a Hindu movement for spiritual meditation, yet is now being marketed as a supplement to a cardio routine. This scope "dilutes its Hindu identity." Contemporaries of the Hindu faith argue that the more popular yoga gets, the less concerned people become about its origins in history. These same contemporaries do state that while anyone can practice yoga, only those who give Hinduism due credit for the practice will achieve the full benefit of the custom.[64]
In 2015 the Australian Government's Department of Health published the results of a review of alternative therapies that sought to determine if any were suitable for being covered by health insurance; Yoga was one of 17 practices evaluated for which no clear evidence of effectiveness was found.[65]
History;
The origins of yoga are a matter of debate.[66] There is no consensus on its chronology or specific origin other than that yoga developed in ancient India. Suggested origins are the Indus Valley Civilization (3300–1900 BCE)[67] and pre-VedicNortheast India,[68] the Vedic period (1500–500 BCE), and the śramaṇa movement.[69] According to Gavin Flood, continuities may exist between those various traditions:
Pre-philosophical speculations of yoga begin to emerge in the texts of c. 500–200 BCE. Between 200 BCE–500 CE philosophical schools of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism were taking form and a coherent philosophical system of yoga began to emerge.[72] The Middle Ages saw the development of many satellite traditions of yoga. Yoga came to the attention of an educated western public in the mid 19th century along with other topics of Indian philosophy.
Pre-Vedic India;
Main article: Indus Valley Civilization
Yoga may have pre-Vedic elements.[67][68] Some state yoga originated in the Indus Valley Civilization.[73] Marshall,[74]Eliade[9] and other scholars suggest that the Pashupati seal discovered in Indus Valley Civilization sites depict figures in positions resembling a common yoga or meditation pose. This interpretation is considered speculative and uncertain by more recent analysis of Srinivasan[9] and may be a case of projecting "later practices into archeological findings".[75]
Vedic period (1700–500 BCE);
Main article: Vedic period
According to Crangle, Indian researchers have generally favoured a linear theory, which attempts "to interpret the origin and early development of Indian contemplative practices as a sequential growth from an Aryan genesis",[76][note 7] just like traditional Hinduism regards the Vedas to be the source of all spiritual knowledge.[77][note 8]
Ascetic practices, concentration and bodily postures described in the Vedas may have been precursors to yoga.[80][81]According to Geoffrey Samuel, "Our best evidence to date suggests that [yogic] practices developed in the same ascetic circles as the early sramana movements (Buddhists, Jainas and Ajivikas), probably in around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE."[8]
According to Zimmer, Yoga philosophy is reckoned to be part of the non-Vedic system, which also includes the Samkhyaschool of Hindu philosophy, Jainism and Buddhism:[68] "[Jainism] does not derive from Brahman-Aryan sources, but reflects the cosmology and anthropology of a much older pre-Aryan upper class of northeastern India [Bihar] – being rooted in the same subsoil of archaic metaphysical speculation as Yoga, Sankhya, and Buddhism, the other non-Vedic Indian systems."[82][note 9]
Textual references;
The first use of the root of word "yoga" is in hymn 5.81.1 of the Rig Veda, a dedication to rising Sun-god in the morning (Savitri), where it has been interpreted as "yoke" or "yogically control".[85][86][note 10]
The earliest evidence of Yogis and Yoga tradition is found in the Kesin hymn 10.136 of the Rigveda, states Karel Werner.[7]
Rigveda, however, does not describe yoga and there is little evidence as to what the practices were.[7] Early references to practices that later became part of yoga, are made in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the earliest Hindu Upanishad.[note 11] For example, the practice of pranayama (consciously regulating breath) is mentioned in hymn 1.5.23 of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. ~ 900 BCE), and the practice of pratyahara (concentrating all of one's senses on self) is mentioned in hymn 8.15 of Chandogya Upanishad (c. ~ 800–700 BCE).[89][note 12]
Vedic ascetic practices;
Ascetic practices (tapas), concentration and bodily postures used by Vedic priests to conduct yajna (sacrifice), might have been precursors to yoga.[note 13] Vratya, a group of ascetics mentioned in the Atharvaveda, emphasized on bodily postures which may have evolved into yogic asanas.[80] Early Samhitas also contain references to other group ascetics such as munis, the keśin, and vratyas.[92] Techniques for controlling breath and vital energies are mentioned in the Brahmanas(texts of the Vedic corpus, c. 1000–800 BCE) and the Atharvaveda.[80][93] Nasadiya Sukta of the Rig Veda suggests the presence of an early contemplative tradition.[note 14]
Preclassical era (500–200 BCE);
Yoga concepts begin to emerge in the texts of c. 500–200 BCE such as the Pali Canon, the middle Upanishads, theBhagavad Gita and Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata.[96]
Upanishad;
The first known appearance of the word "yoga", with the same meaning as the modern term, is in the Katha Upanishad,[9][97] composed about fourth to third century BCE,[citation needed] where it is defined as the steady control of the senses, which along with cessation of mental activity, leading to a supreme state.[92][note 15] Katha Upanishad integrates the monism of early Upanishads with concepts of samkhya and yoga. It defines various levels of existence according to their proximity to the innermost being Ātman. Yoga is therefore seen as a process of interiorization or ascent of consciousness.[99][100] It is the earliest literary work that highlights the fundamentals of yoga. White states:
The hymns in Book 2 of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, another late first millennium BCE text, states a procedure in which the body is held in upright posture, the breath is restrained and mind is meditatively focussed, preferably inside a cave or a place that is simple, plain, of silence or gently flowing water, with no noises nor harsh winds.[102][100]
The Maitrayaniya Upanishad, likely composed in a later century than Katha and Shvetashvatara Upanishads but before Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, mentions sixfold yoga method – breath control (pranayama), introspective withdrawal of senses (pratyahara), meditation (dhyana), mind concentration (dharana), philosophical inquiry/creative reasoning (tarka), and absorption/intense spiritual union (samadhi).[9][100][103]
In addition to the Yoga discussion in above Principal Upanishads, twenty Yoga Upanishads as well as related texts such asYoga Vasistha, composed in 1st and 2nd millennium CE, discuss Yoga methods.[104][105]
Greek historical texts;
Alexander the Great reached India in the 4th century BCE. Along with his army, he took Greek academics with him who later wrote memoirs about geography, people and customs they saw. One of Alexander's companion was Onesicritus, quoted in Book 15, Sections 63–65 by Strabo, who describes yogins of India.[106] Onesicritus claims those Indian yogins (Mandanis ) practiced aloofness and "different postures – standing or sitting or lying naked – and motionless".[107]
Onesicritus also mentions his colleague Calanus trying to meet them, who is initially denied audience, but later invited because he was sent by a "king curious of wisdom and philosophy".[107] Onesicritus and Calanus learn that the yogins consider the best doctrine of life as "rid the spirit of not only pain, but also pleasure", that "man trains the body for toil in order that his opinions may be strengthened", that "there is no shame in life on frugal fare", and that "the best place to inhabit is one with scantiest equipment or outfit".[106][107] These principles are significant to the history of spiritual side of yoga.[106] These may reflect the ancient roots of "undisturbed calmness" and "mindfulness through balance" in later works of Hindu Patanjali and Buddhist Buddhaghosa respectively, states Charles Rockwell Lanman;[106] as well as the principle ofAparigraha (non-possessiveness, non-craving, simple living) and asceticism discussed in later Hinduism and Jainism.IT WIIL BE CONTINUER...
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