Singleton Chapter 1: Indian Roots

Yoga in the Indian Tradition (Chapter 1)

• Controversy about the antiquity of yoga practice.
• Indus Valley Seals show little evidence (above-oldest evidence?)
• Harrapan & Mohenjo-Daro archeoligical sites
• Interpretation of seals featuring seated postures 4000 years old????

• Textual evidence (later)

There are two types of Hindu scriptures: 

Hindu religious texts and Hindu classical texts. Conventionally, Hindu literature is grouped into two categories: Shruti - that which is revealed and Smriti - that which is learned. The Vedas constituting shruti, are considered divinely revealed and are thus sacred scripture. All shruti scriptures are composed in Sanskrit.

Later texts, like the various shastras, itihaasas, and Puranas form smriti. 

There are four vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda) and each veda has four types of texts associated with it: Samhita (veda proper), Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. 

1.       The Vedas form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and are the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism.

According to the Rigveda, the Vedic Mantras were composed by various seers who had 'seen' (dṛś) them in deep meditation (dhī). However, to post-Vedic tradition, the Vedas are apaurusheyatva, "not human compositions," being supposedly directly revealed, and thus are called śruti ("what is heard").

Schools of Indian philosophy that cite the Vedas as their scriptural authority are classified as "orthodox" (āstika). Other Indian philosophies, such as Buddhism, Jainism, Yoga and materialism, did not accept the authority of the Vedas (but also did not deny the Vedas). In Indian philosophy these groups are referred to as "heterodox" or "non-Vedic" (nāstika) schools.

Various early different commentaries (Brahmanas) and instructions (Sutras) are associated with each Veda.

The Brāhmaṇas are liturgical manuals regarding the procedure of the Saṃhitās (Vedic Rituals). They may be further divided into Āraṇyakas (आरण्यक) and the Upaniṣhads (उपनिषद्), which mainly contain early philosophical and metaphysical texts about the nature of macrocosm (the gods and the universe), ritual (yajña) and microcosm (humans) as well as the relationship between the soul (ātman) and the universal Brahman. The Upanishads are often referred to collectively as Vedanta ("the end of the Vedas"), not only because they appear physically in the concluding sections of each Veda, but also because their teachings are traditionally seen as the culmination of all other Vedic knowledge.

2 The Upanishads

The Upanishads literally mean "sitting near, laying siege to a Teacher" to acquire knowledge. They are part of the shruti and primarily discuss early philosophy; they also contain accounts of various debates between contemporary priests and sages. There are more than 200 texts counted as Upanishads; however, only 13 are generally accepted as primary.

3 Post-Vedic Hindu scriptures

The texts that appeared afterwards were called smriti. Smriti literature includes Itihasas (epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata), Puranas, Agamas and Darshanas.

---The Dharmashastras (law books), though derivatives of earlier Vedic texts such as the Dharmasutras are traditionally considered as part of the Smriti. From time to time great law-givers (e.g. Manu, Yajnavalkya and Parashara) emerged, who collected existing customs and laws and to ensure that the then way of life was consistent with both the Vedic spirit and the changing times. However, Dharmashastras have been disregarded by many groups of Hindus, namely those following Vedanta, Bhakti, bhakti and Tantra streams of Hinduism, even if they practically speaking still follow the samskaras from birth to death. (Brahmanic Rule)

Unlike some of the deities of the Vedic Samhitas and the all-pervading and formless Brahman of the Upanishads, the avataras have more developed personalities as loving and righteous descents of the Supreme Being among mortals.

--The Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is a 700–verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. This scripture contains a conversation between Pandava prince Arjuna and his guide Krishna on a variety of philosophical issues. Commentators see the setting of the Gita in a battlefield as an allegory for the ethical and moral struggles of the human life. The Bhagavad Gita's call for selfless action inspired many leaders of the Indian independence movement including Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who referred to the Gita as his "spiritual dictionary".

Unlike some of the deities of the Vedic Samhitas and the all-pervading and formless Brahman of the Upanishads, the avataras have more developed personalities as loving and righteous descents of the Supreme Being among mortals.

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• Tapas practice of ascetics (muni, kesin or vratya) as early as the Vedic Brahmanas (oldest texts)
• Katha Upanishad (3^rd century BCE?) first occurrence of the word “yoga” where it is revealed by the god Yama as a way to overcome death (leave sorrow and joy behind) 2.12
• Svetasvatara Upanishad (3^rd cent BCE) outlines a system in which the body is in an upright position & brought under control by restraint of the breath (2.8-14)
• Maitri Upanishad (3rd c???) 6 fold yoga method
• Pranayama –breath control
• Pratyahara –sense withdrawal
• Dhyana –meditation
• Dharana –concentration on mind
• Tarka –philosophical inquiry
• Samadhi –absorbtion
• Bhagavad Gita (Mahabharata)
• three paths to yoga
• Karma yoga
• Jnana yoga
• Bhakti yoga
• and a range of practices undertaken by yogis of the day-these in
• internalization of vedic ritual (prana-apana)
• preparation in diet and lifestyle for yoga sadhana (practice)

• Yoga Sutra (Patanjali) (250 CE?) 195 brief aphorisms outlining diverse methods for attaining “yoga” where the goal id s Samadhi.
• Heavily influenced by the Samkhya philosophy, Buddhism & the sramana (renunciant ascetic traditions)
• Astanga yoga: eight limbs
• Yama
• Niyama
• Asana---ALMOST NOTHING! Stable seat!
• Pranayama
• Pratyahara
• Dharana
• Dhyana
• Samadhi
• Yoga Sutras Bhasya (Vyasa 500-600 CE) :earliest interpretation of Patanjalis sutra. Become popular among European Orientalists and later by Indian promoters of practical yoga like Vivekananda & HP Blavatsky (Theosophical Society)
• Saiva Tantras-detail techniques of yoga practice (Medieval)
• Vijnanabhairava (18^th cent CE)- union of aspirant with Shiva
• All require yogin to “traverse a path (adhvan) to a goal” (laksya)
• Still not much emphasis on physical practice
• Hatha Yoga (Forceful Yoga) 13^th -18^th Cent CE

WHAAAA???? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?????????????????????


• Forceful, but also union of sun (ha) and moon (tha) (Eliade) which symbolically indicates the goal of the system.
• Associated with the Nath Yogis (Gorakanath & Matsyendranath) although connected to other yogi lineages of the time.
• Naths recruited without reguard to caste or religion and took many muslims, sufi fakirs & dasnamyi into their fold.
• Texts:
• Goroka sataka
• Shiva Samita (15^th cent)
• Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15-16^th cent)
• Hatharatnavali (17^th cent)
• Gheranda Samita (18^th cent)
• Jogapradipika (18^th cent)
• Aroused much interest among the followers of Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta (when translated, reflected this bias-leaving out kekchari mudra for instance)
• Features:
• Concerned with transmutation of the bodyinto a vessel immune form mortal decay (everlasting life)
• GhS- body is "an uncooked earthenware pot which must be baked in the fires of yoga to purify it."
• Shat karmas: Preliminary six purifications (HYP & GS)- miraculous prevention of illness & old age
• Dhauti-swallowing cloth to cleanse the stomach
• Basti-colon cleaning with water & uddiyana bhanda
• Neti-cleaning nasal passages
• Trataka-staring at a small mark or candle until eyes water
• Nauli-circular massage of the abdomen
• Kapalabhati-forcefully expel air from nose with abdominal muscles
• Asana
• Asana (first anga-accessory)-attainment of steadiness, freedom from disease & lightness of the body (HYP)-15 identified
• (GhS) : asana after purifications- 32
• (SS) 84, but describes only 4 seated postures
• Pranayama is the mainstay of hatha yoga practice –
• Cleanising & balancing the subtle channels of the body (nadis) in combination with certain “locks” or “seals” (bhandas & mudras) forces the prana into the shushumna (central channel)-brahmanadi. This raises the kundalini energy which is visualized as a serpent sleeping at the base of the spine.
• Koshas: "layers of the gross and subtle body on which a yogi can experience the movement of life force energy (prana vidya) to reach transmutation and supreme conciousness
• anamaya kosha
• pranamaya kosha
• manomaya kosha
• vijnanamaya kosha
• anandamaya kosha
• Nadis  are networks or subtle channels of the body. (SS) 300,000, (HYP) 72,000. Entire enterprise is to purify and balance the nadis
• Ida (l) moon, female, mental &pingala (r) sun, male, vital &Sushumna (central) spiritual neutral–principle nadis
• Chakras (wheels)/padmas (lotuses)- 6 or 7 which lie at intervals along the spine where the nadis (energy voticies) converge. They are intersected by ida & pingala nadis
• Kundalini (prana shakti) rises up the spine, pierces the cakras & causes prana to become absorbed into voidness and the practitioner to attain Samadhi (HYP) which in turn leads to moksha (liberation)
• Transnational Hatha Yoga
• Primacy of asana as a system of health, fitness & well-being, and the relegation or elimination of other parts like shatkarmas & mudras and even pranayama.
• Tantric Philosophy also plays a minor role in modern yoga
• Deeply concerned with the subtle body, but limited to three principal nadis, the cakras and the role these play in the kundalini experience.
• Yoga that we see today does not arise directly out of the unbroken lineage of hatha yoga, but is instead the result of radical experimentation, adaptation to new discourses on the body that resulted from India’s encounter with modernity. (And American/Western counter cultural movements?)