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A Bird's-Eye View of the History of Yoga
No one knows exactly when the Yoga tradition began. What is certain is that it was already considered ancient at the time of the Bhagavad-Gita (Lord’s Song), the most popular of all Yoga scriptures, composed some twenty-five hundred years ago. Evidence of yogic beliefs and practices can be seen in the archaic Rig-Veda (Knowledge of Praise), which is the fountainhead of the sacred heritage of Hinduism. The Rig-Veda, consisting of 1,028 hymns composed in archaic Sanskrit, has recently been dated back to the third millennium BCE and earlier, which makes it the oldest literary document in any Indo-European language.
The Vedic hymns—the word veda means “knowledge”—are the inspired creations of seer-poets (kavi), whose spiritual discipline enabled them to look beyond the ken of the five senses and the sense-bound mind. These hymns are the distillate of their visionary experiences, ecstasies, and mystical insights and are traditionally regarded as revealed wisdom. All subsequent sages and religious thinkers within the fold of Hinduism, to one degree or another, based themselves on the Vedic revelation (shruti). Those who did not, like Gautama the Buddha and Vardhamana Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, were considered to stand outside the pale of Hinduism. The Rig-Veda is one of four Vedic hymnodies, the other three being the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, and the Atharva-Veda. They are rich depositories of early Indian spirituality, which we may style a form of archaic Yoga.
A variety of yogic motifs are also depicted on the artifacts of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization, which flourished in northern India from around 2800 to 1900 B.C.E. A growing number of scholars believe that the culture reflected in the hymns of the Rig-Veda, the oldest of four Vedic hymnodies, is identical to or significantly overlaps with the Indus-Sarasvati civilization. My book In Search of the Cradle of Civilization, written with Subhash Kak and David Frawley, contains a review of the latest thinking on this important historical subject and chronicles the scholarly revolution that is under way. For a long time, it was thought that the Sanskrit-speaking Vedic people arrived in India no earlier than 1500 B.C.E and that they conquered the Dravidian-speaking natives as a result of their superior military power and skill. Upon discovery of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization—formerly called the Harappan or Indus civilization—in the early 1920s, scholars automatically assumed that invading Vedic Aryans were responsible for the destruction of that civilization. They simply moved the time of the invasion forward to around 1700 B.C.E.
The new evidence shows, however, that the Indus-Sarasvati civilization had undergone grave tribulations long before then. In particular, the great Sarasvati River, along which hundreds of villages and presumably also several large urban settlements were located, had ceased to exist by 1900 B.C.E. It is hard to imagine the human suffering caused by this tragedy, which was probably triggered by massive earthquakes and tectonic shifts. But the loss of what was once India's mightiest river did not spell the end of that civilization. Rather its center shifted from the Sarasvati River, whose dry bed now runs through the enormous Thar Desert, to the fertile banks of the Ganges. There a revival took place, which led to the familiar Hindu civilization, a direct offspring of the early Vedic civilization.
We can safely say that the earliest beginnings of the Yoga tradition can be found in the sacrificial ritualism of the Vedic people, who created both the impressive towns of the Indus and Sarasvati Rivers and also the beautiful and often enigmatic Vedic hymns. They practiced a spirituality that acknowledged the vital connection between the visible and the invisible realms. Through sacrificial rituals (yajna) they sought to establish, affirm, or strengthen the inner link with the heavenly powers, the gods and goddesses of the Vedic pantheon. The affairs of the world had to be conducted in the light of the divine order (rita) so that harmony, happiness, and prosperity could prevail.
In their quest for spiritual illumination, the Vedic Aryans fully understood that behind the multiplicity of worldly things, and behind the various deities, lies an irreducible unity, which they called the One (eka). The wise, declares one of the Rig-Vedic hymns (I.164.46), speak of it "in many ways"—a clear indication that they were no primitive polytheists but appreciated the language of relativity.
To reach that transcendental Singularity, the seer-bards, as another Rig-Vedic hymn (X.101.2) puts it, made their visions (dhi) harmonious and stretched them on the “loom” of cosmic existence. These inspired seers and hymn composers compared their sacred task to harnessing the plow (yuga)—a metaphor foreshadowing the later use of the term yoga to mean the harnessing or restraining of the senses and the mind so as to yield a quiet inner space. Tempted by the unruly senses, the mind, notes one Vedic bard, “flutters here and there like a bird” (Rig-Veda X.33.2). Only in the depth of the still heart can the liberating truth be found. For the heart is the seat of the Divine, the connecting point between the finite and the infinite. As the Rig-Veda states in mystical imagery:
The whole universe is stationed in your home within the ocean, within the heart, in life. May we gain your honeyed wave that is brought to the edge, the junction of the waters. (IV.58.l 1)
The “honeyed wave” is the secret name of the butter used in the Vedic oblation, which is offered into the fire not only from a ladle but also from the human heart in the form of prayers, songs of praise, and inspired aspirations. The archaic Yoga of the Vedas often bore the name tapas, which literally means “heat” or “flow” and is a reference to the inner heat or energy produced by asceticism.
Thus Yoga looks back upon a history of five millennia and more. However, as a full-fledged spiritual tradition going by the name yoga, it is approximately two and a half millennia old. More specifically, the Yoga tradition crystallized at the time of the Katha-Upanishad (Secret Teaching of the Kathas), the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Shvetashvatara-Upanishad (Secret Teaching of the Whitest Horse). In the Katha-Upanished, Yama, God of Death, presents the Yoga tradition in the following way:
Different indeed is the good (shreyas); different is the pleasant. Both to their various ends ensnare a person (purusha). Of these, it is well for one opting for the good. But he who chooses the pleasant falls short of the purpose [of life].
The good and the pleasant have human [relevance]. Considering both, the sage distinguishes [them carefully]. The sage chooses the good over the pleasant. The fool, [intent on] acquiring and keeping (yoga-kshema), chooses the pleasant.
After considering [this matter], you, O Naciketas, have rejected the pleasurable desires that appear pleasing. You have not followed the way of wealth, in which many humans sink [as into a quagmire].
Ignorance (avidya) and what is known as wisdom (vidya) are far apart and divergent. I deem Naciketas to be desirous of wisdom, for many [lesser] desires have not distracted you.
Fools, abiding in the midst of ignorance and deeming themselves wise and learned, go about deluded, like blind men led by a blind man.
The passage (samparaya) [beyond death and to the ultimate Reality] is not evident to the fool, who is careless and deluded by the glamor of wealth. Thinking "this world exists, there is no other," he falls again into my [Death's] power.
Many are not even able to hear [of the ultimate Reality, the Self] and many do not know, though they have heard of It. Wondrous is the teacher, skillful he who has attained It! Wondrous the knower instructed by the skillful [teacher who knows the Self].
Taught by an inferior man, He [the ultimate Being] cannot be properly understood, being thought of as manifold. Being inconceivable and more minute in size than the most minute, there is no access to Him unless one is taught by another [who truly knows Him].
Not by reasoning is this understanding attainable but, dearest, [only] when taught by another for deep knowledge. You have obtained it, steadfast to truth. May we find, Naciketas, an inquirer like you. (I.2.1-9)
The youth named Naciketas is a symbol for all serious aspirants tired of earthly goods and desiring to know the glorious Reality, the ultimate Being. Yama, God of Death, is a symbol for the spiritual teacher (guru), who spells the end of the aspirant's self-centeredness and ordinary perception of the world. But just as death is merely a transformation from one level of existence to another, so the Lord of Death and all spiritual teachers after him are gateways to a new understanding and a new, sacred mode of life.
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