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Yoga can be pictured as a major branch of a gigantic tree whose roots are anchored deep in the neolithic age, with the highest branches of its canopy still growing in our own era. The base of its stem is formed by the Vedic culture, as we know it from the surviving four hymnodies—the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. Careful study of these works reveals that the seers (rishi) who composed them were steeped in Yoga, which they still called tapas, often rendered as “asceticism” (from the verbal root tap, “to glow”). Their Yoga was entirely a solar Yoga, with the Sun being the focus of their spiritual aspirations. Much later, in the Bhagavad-Gita (4.1), the Sun is remembered as the original teacher of Yoga.
The profound teachings of the Vedic seers, whose words of wisdom came to be regarded as “revelation” (shruti) by subsequent generations, were developed in the Brahmanas (ritual texts), Aranyakas (ritual texts for forest-dwelling ascetics), and the Upanishads (gnostic texts). The last-mentioned scriptures—which, like the other works, were transmitted orally for a long time before they were put in writing—embody the diversified teachings of Vedanta (meaning “Veda’s end”), which in essence are nondualist (advaita).
Shortly after the time of the Upanishads of the middle period (notably the Katha-Upanishad and Shvetashvatara-Upanishad), the trunk of our figurative tree split in three. The thick middle trunk continued the Vedic tradition leading to what came to be called Hinduism; the second trunk evolved the small but ramifying tradition of Jainism; and the third trunk unfolded the complex tradition of Buddhism.
The middle stem—that of Hinduism—gave rise to numerous branches, each with its own sub-branches and twigs. Apart from the metaphysical tradition of Vedanta, which is at the heart of Hinduism and which in due course came to be regarded as one of the six philosophical systems (shad-darshana), the most important branch is that of Samkhya-Yoga, which subsequently split into the philosophical systems of Samkhya and Yoga. (Yoga is spiritual discipline in general, but the name is also used to designate a particular philosophical system, namely that of Patanjali, the compiler of the Yoga-Sūtra.) The other major branches of the Hindu stem are made up of the philosophical traditions of Mimamsa (ritualism), Vaisheshika (natural philosophy), and Nyaya (logic).
Other major branches are the religious traditions of Shaivism (focusing on Shiva), Vaishnavism (focusing on Vishnu and his various incarnations, notably Rama and Krishna), and Shaktism (focusing on the feminine Divine in its numerous forms, especially Kali and Sundari).
When we look more closely at the Hindu Yoga branch of our figurative tree, we find that there are many sub-branches and twigs. Seven major sub-branches can be distinguished as follows: Raja-Yoga, Hatha-Yoga, Jnana-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga, Karma-Yoga, Mantra-Yoga, and Tantra- or Laya-Yoga.
Raja-Yoga
The designation raja-yoga, meaning “Royal Yoga,” is a comparatively late coinage that came in vogue in the sixteenth century CE. It refers specifically to the Yoga system of Patanjali, created in the second century CE, and is most commonly used to distinguish Patanjali’s eightfold path of meditative introversion from Hatha-Yoga. Raja-Yoga is also known as the Yoga-Darshana (view/system of Yoga) and Classical Yoga. Patanjali’s own name for his yogic path is Kriya-Yoga, the Yoga of transformative action. It is the high road of meditation, contemplation, and renunciation, consisting of the following eight limbs (ashta-anga), or categories of practice:
- yama—moral discipline comprising nonharming (ahimsa), nonstealing (asteya), truthfulness (satya), chastity (brahmacarya), and nongrasping or greedlessness (aparigraha)
- niyama—self-restraint comprising purity (shauca), contentment (samtosha), asceticism (tapas), self-study (svadhyaya), and devotion to the Lord (ishvara-pranidhana)
- asana—posture (specifically for meditation)
- pranayama—breath control
- pratyahara—sensory inhibition
- dharana—concentration
- dhyana—meditation, or sustained and deepening concentration
- samadhi—ecstasy, or merging in consciousness with the object of meditation
Together the eight limbs lead practitioners out of the maze of their own preconceptions and confusions to a sublime state of freedom. This is accomplished through the progressive control of the mind (citta). Beyond the highest ecstatic state lies the freedom of the transcendental Self, which is the pure Witness (sakshin) of all mental processes. For Patanjali, Self-realization is kaivalya, or the “isolation” or “aloneness” of that transcendental Witness. The many free Selves (purusha) all intersect in infinity and eternity. Enlightenment, or liberation, consists in simply waking up to our true nature, which is the transcendental Spirit, or Self.
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