History of Yoga

Here we trace the history of yoga from its humble beginnings in the Indus Valley around 1500 B.C.E. to its current popularity throughout the West.

Yoga Beginnings

Though Yoga's Origin is shrouded, evidence links the earliest Yoga tradition back at least 5000 years to the beginning of human civilization. Scholars believe that Yoga grew out of Stone Age Shamanism, because of the cultural similarities between Modern Hinduism and Mehrgarh, a neolithic settlement (in what is now Afghanistan).  Early Yoga and archaic shamanism had much in common as both sought to transcend the human condition. The primary goal of shamanism was to heal members of the community and act as religious mediators. Archaic Yoga was also community oriented, as it attempted to discern the cosmic order through inner vision, then to apply that order to daily living.

The Vedus

The actual word "yoga" surfaced around 1500 B.C.E., just as the Harappan civilization began to decline. The Harrapans' rather rapid demise was helped along, some scholars believe, by an invasion of Aryan barbarians. These nomadic invaders had no use for the sophisticated urban civilization the Harappans had built and took little time destroying it. They brought with them Brahmanism, a complex religious tradition based on sacrifice and ritual that formed the basis of modern-day Hinduism, and introduced the concept of yoga. The sacred scriptures of Brahmanism, known as the Vedas, contain a mixture of incantations and instructions in both poetry and literature. The first three books, Rig Veda, Sama Veda, and Yajur Veda, were used exclusively by the priestly class of Brahmins; a later, fourth book called Atharva Veda provided the householders with spells and incantations for everyday living.

Scholars have a hard time pinpointing the inception of the Vedas, but they generally agree that the scriptures date back at least 3,500 years. The word yoga has its first mention in the Rig Veda, the oldest of the sacred texts. This Vedic book, a collection of hymns or mantras, defines yoga as "yoking" or "discipline," but offers no accompanying systematic practice. The term yoga turns up again in the Atharva Veda, most particularly in the fifteenth book (Vratya Kanda).  It refers only to a means of harnessing or yoking. But this time it's the breath that needs controlling. The Vratya Kanda introduces a group of men, the vratyas, quite possibly fertility priests, who worshipped Rudra, the god of the wind. Considered horrible outcasts by traditional Brahmins, these vratyas composed and performed songs and melodies. They found they could sing their songs a lot better—and probably hold the notes longer—if they practiced what they called pranayama, a type of breath control.

This, is the very beginning of yoga as we know it, the first mention of a physical action as part of a discipline or practice.It is roughly 800 years later before history yields more information on yoga's development.

Pre Classical Yoga

Sometime between 800 and 1500 B.C., Gnostic texts called the Upanishads appeared.  Just as the New Testament rests upon but furthers the Old Testament, so too, the Upanishads further expounds upon the scriptures of the Vedas. The teaching of the Upanishads dawned the era of Pre-classical Yoga.

 The word Upanishads combines the verb "shad," which means to sit, with "upa" meaning near, and "ni" meaning down, which suggests that the only way a student could learn the truths hidden in these revelations was to sit at the foot of his guru or teacher. The Upanishads contained little that we would call yoga asana practice. Instead, yoga referred in a more general way to a discipline used or path taken to achieve liberation from suffering. Two yoga disciplines in particular gained prominence during this time: karma yoga, the path of action or ritual, and jnana yoga, the path of knowledge or intense study of scripture. Both paths led to liberation or enlightenment.

The secret teachings of the Upanishads differ in important ways from their Vedic parent texts. The Vedas taught the fine art of sacrifice—external offerings to the gods in exchange for a peaceful and fruitful life. This form of karma yoga included specific rituals and sacrifices humans had to perform in order to appease the gods and be free from suffering. The Upanishads also believed sacrifice was a means to liberation, but chose an internal, more mystical expression of that sacrifice.Gurus taught that the Self or ego  must be sacrificed in order to attain liberation. The means to do that, these revelations showed, came not through action or ritual, but through knowledge and wisdom (jnana yoga).

The Upanishads, as a whole, concentrated on these basic truths:

• Your true essence (the Self with a capital "S") is the same as the essence of the universe, or brahman. That essence—what we might think of as the soul—is called Atman.
• Everyone is subject to birth, death, and rebirth.  Your actions in this lifetime determine the nature of your rebirth (the doctrine of karma). This understanding of karma says that if you perform good deeds throughout your life, you'll be reborn into the womb of a woman from a high caste; if you do evil, you're likely to find yourself in the lowly womb of a pig, or a dog, or, perhaps worse, an outcast.
• You can reverse the effects of bad karma through specific spiritual practices (i.e., internal sacrifices) like meditation and renunciation. Renunciation allows you to offer up the fruits of your actions and to renounce any actions fueled by desire or passion.

The most famous—and most beloved—of all yoga texts, the Bhagavad Gita ("The Lord's Song") The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between the young warrior prince, Arjuna and the Hindu Lord Krishna in which the ageless issuses of ethical living, moral dilemmas, selflessness and steadiness of the mind rasied.Lord Krishna instructed his pupil Arjuna on the ways of the world. The Gita advocated a three-pronged approach: karma yoga, the path of service; jnana yoga, the path of wisdom or knowledge; and bhakti yoga, the path of devotion.

Classical Yoga

In the second century C.E., Patanjali composed the Yoga-Sutras and defined Classical Yoga. The 195 aphorisms or sutras that comprise the Yoga Sutra, expound upon Raja-Yoga (the eightfold Yoga path). The Yoga Sutra is meant to be memorized as a means of internalizing its wisdom. The Eight Limbs of Yoga are: 1) yama, or restraint, 2) niyama, or observance of purity, tolerance and study, 3) Asana, or Physical Exercises, 4)Pranayama or Breathing  5) pratyahara, or preparation for Meditation 6) dharana, or concentration, 7) dhyana or Meditation and 8) samadhi or absorption in the sublime. Patanjali advocates studying the sacred scriptures as part of the Yoga practice, which becomes Classical Yoga's distinct feature.

Patanjali believed that separation of the matter (prakriti) and spirit (purusha) were necessary to cleanse the spirit to absolute purity. The teachings of Patanjali represent a departure from traditional non-dualistic Yoga and laid the groundwork for Postclassical Yoga. For centuries after Patanjali, the dualism of Yoga was predominant. Yogis focused almost exclusively on Meditation and neglected the Asanas. They were attempting to exit the mortal coil and merge with the ultimate reality through contemplation. But with the advent of alchemy, a precursor to chemistry, the Yoga masters rekindled their belief in the body as a temple.

Post Classical Yoga

The era of Postclassical Yoga gave rise to  the different branches of Yoga which includes the Hatha and the Tantra, and to many holistic schools for Yoga. Postclassical Yoga can best be defined as an appreciation of the present moment. Practitioners no longer aspired to liberation from this reality, rather to accept it and live for the moment. There are many Yoga Gurus who have given us their wisdom over the years including Swami Vivekanada, Vivekanada was a student of Ramakrishna, and was commissioned by his teacher to attend the Parliament of Religions in Chicago of 1893. Vivekanada was well accepted and later traveled all around the U.S. to spread the Yoga tradition. Another Yoga guru, who is perhaps the most popular, was Swami Paramashansa Yogananda, who founded the Self-Realization Fellowship. Yogananda wrote Autobiography of a Yogi and his teachings still enjoy immense popularity even today.

Yoga In Recent Times

One of the most prominent Yoga gurus is  Swami Sivananda. Swami Sivananda served as a doctor in Malaysia and opened schools in Europe and America  in the 1960s and 1970s. Among Sivanandi's work are the Five Principles of Yoga 1. proper relaxation (savasana); 2. proper exercise (Asanas); 3. proper breathing (pranayama); 4. proper diet (vegetarian), and; 5. positive thinking and Meditation (dhyana). He also wrote more than two hundred books about Yoga and Philosophy. Swami Sivananda is the founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres.

Swami Sivananda's  disciples include: Swami Satchitananda who introduced chanting and Yoga to Woodstock; Swami Sivananada Radha, the woman who explored the connection between psychology and Yoga, and; Yogi Bhajan who started teaching Kundalini Yoga in the 70's.  There was also the great Sri Krishnamacharya, who taught Viniyoga Hatha-Yoga.  Living Yoga masters today include Sathya Sai Baba who has millions of followers and Swami Satyananada, founder of the Bihar School of Yoga. 

Yoga is the most diversified spiritual practice in the world. Crossing over many cultures (including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and the West),  Yoga also extends over multiple languages such as Hindi, Tibetan, Bengali, Sanskrit, Tamil, Prakit, Marathi and Pali. The Yogic tradition continues through out the world today and is increasing  and spreading its message of peace.

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