Yoga, in trendy world has emerge as a commodity and something of a announcement. Arguably India’s greatest cultural export, yoga has morphed into a mass tradition phenomenon. All our popular assumptions approximately this ancient technological know-how truly date back to the final a hundred -odd years. Yoga has been subjected to reinventions for hundreds of years. Yoga, today includes a complicated regimen of postures (asanas) – which are both held for a protracted duration of time or are accomplished in a speedy way – along side breath control (pranayamas). However, the historical Hindu texts, like Bhagvad Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali make no point out of body postures and breathe control. They have laid extra pressure at the theory and practice of meditation (dhyana).
So, what are we missing here? How did Yoga undergo this type of transformation for the reason that its use within the classical scriptures? To recognize this, allow us to have a brief study the history of yoga.
The phrase Yoga become first cited in the oldest sacred Hindu scriptures, The Vedas. The Vedas are a set of texts that describe rituals, hymns, mantras and songs to be used by Brahmans, or the Vedic clergymen. The first mention of the term yoga turned into located in a hymn to the Sun-God within the Rig Veda (1700-500 BCE). The Vedas were acknowledged to incorporate the oldest regarded Yogic teachings and these teachings located in the Vedas are known as Vedic Yoga. This is characterized by way of rituals and ceremonies that strive to surpass the limitations of the thoughts. During the period of Vedic Yoga, human beings practiced the ritualistic way of lifestyles. Various rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices have been considered as a method to connect to the non secular international.
Pre-classical duration 500-200 BCE:
The vedic monks or the Brahmanas, redefined and developed the yoga and that they then documented their beliefs and practices in the Upanishads. Upanishads are a huge work that consists of greater than 200 scriptures. Upanishads changed the idea of formality sacrifice of Vedas and taught the concepts of sacrificing the ego through a medium of self-information, motion (Karma yoga) and knowledge (Jnana yoga). Upanishads additionally delivered the acoustic spells, maximum outstanding amongst them being, ‘OM’, that is the spell of the Supreme Being.
Yoga also shares some traits with Buddhism. In the 6th century, Buddha started out teaching Buddhism, which laid strain on meditation and the technological know-how of asanas. It turned into throughout this period that some of standards of yoga concept and exercise had been formulated. Siddharth Gautam, changed into the primary Buddhist to exercise yoga and he have become the “Awakened” or “Enlightened” One (Buddha), and so became liberated from future rebirths, understanding the extinction of struggling (nirvana) on the cease of his lifestyles at the age of 35. Amongst the Indian spiritual corporations, the Jains were the closing ones to inculcate the lessons of Yoga. In 1200 BC, the awesome Jain teacher Rishaba, who turned into the exponent of the tradition of Jainism, emphasised at the standards defined by means of yoga, which involved efforts dedicated to the liberation of the spirit.
Later, round 500 BC, the Bhagvad Gita became scripted. Today, it is one of the oldest scriptures that outline the yoga. The Gita is mainly end result of the communique that takes vicinity between Prince Arjuna and Lord Krishna. The Gita particularly states that, our life need to be filled with moves, regardless of the rewards to be gained. Our movements need to free from the ego and be benign in nature. The Bhagvad Gita had reiterated the doctrines found inside the Upanishads. Gita states that, each guy have to observe Bhakti (devotion), Jnana (Knowledge) and Karma (selfless moves). Teachings within the Bhadvad Gita attempt to bring about unification among the Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Karma Yoga – stating that every is answerable for the opposite.
Classical Period (two hundred BCE-500 CE)
The classical period is specifically marked with the aid of the creation of the Yoga sutras By Sage Patanjali in the 2nd century. It consists of 195 aphorisms or sutras (from the Sanskrit phrase i.E., thread) that designate the Raja Yoga or the Classical yoga and its underlying principle, Patanjali’s Eightfold course of ‘Ashtanga Yoga’ (Eight Limbs of Classical Yoga). Patanjali’s sutras are the primary compilation of the yoga philosophy.
Sage Patanjali believed that every person is a composed of depend (prakriti) and spirit (purusha). He further believed that the 2 have to be separated with a purpose to cleanse the spirit – a stark contrast to Vedic and Pre-Classical Yoga that signify the union of body and spirit.
Post Classical Yoga (500-1500CE):
In this era, yogic principles underwent a sea-exchange. Here characteristics of philosophy yoga not tries to free up the character from reality but teaches someone to just accept the prevailing and stay in it. This length asserts the lessons of Vedanta (philosophical gadget primarily based at the teachings of the Upanishads), that there is essential harmony in the whole thing within the universe. In this era, yogis started to take advantage of the hidden energy of the human body. As a end result, yogic masters designed many new techniques that might result in healthful our bodies and prolong existence. Hatha Yoga was a fabricated from such teachings, which is now practiced extensively in the global.
Modern Yoga:
Yoga got here to the attention of an knowledgeable western public within the mid- 19th century in conjunction with different topics of Indian philosophy, when yoga masters began traveling to West and attracting interest and following. The first Hindu teacher to actively sell and broadcast numerous components of yoga to the western target audience turned into Swami Vivekananda. He had come to deliver a communicate in The Parliament of Religions, Chicago, in 1893. During his speak, Swami Vivekananda, a disciple of Saint Ramakrishna, addressed the gathering as, ‘Brothers and Sisters of America”. Through those phrases, he attracted many students to yoga.
In the early twenty first century, Hatha Yoga changed into strongly practiced and accompanied in India due to the works of T. Krishnamacharya, Swami Sivananda and other yogis working towards Hatha Yoga. In became at some point of Thirties and 40s, that Yoga gained more public acceptance due to its celebrity endorsement. In 1965, Shrila Prabhupada got here to the US and based the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON). He unfold a movement based totally on Bhakthi Yoga (yoga of devotion).
During this period, maximum of the huge Indian teachers propagating yoga had been from two households – one belonging to Sivananda Saraswati (1887-1963) and the alternative to Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888-1989). Many yoga masters which includes B.K.S. Iyengar (1918-2014), K. Pattabhi Jois (1915-2009), Swami Vishnudevananda (1927-1993), and Swami Satchidananda (1914-2002) had been actively coaching the philosophies of Hatha yoga.
