introducing yoga

The Study and Practice of Yoga

•Conceptual foundations

•Praxis-orientations

•Soteriological frameworks

The very word ‘yoga’

•The act of yoking •Harnessing, team, restraint •Union, junction, combination

What is joined to what?

Dis-joined?

The classic definition

‘Yoga is the cessation of [the misidentification with] the modifications of the mind’

Yoga-Sutra I.2

destruction, annihilation, restraint

The broad and the specific senses

‘Any ascetic technique and any method of meditation’ – M. Eliade

Yoga and Samkhya

Yoga: self-transcendence, psycho-physical transformation recovery of one’s true nature

A Brief History of Religious Hinduism

a b c d

(c.1200 BCE) (c.800 BCE) << Buddha >> (c.400 CE) (800–1200 CE)

a – Vedasb – Upanishadsc – Bhagavad-Gita, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana d – Vedanta

Hindu Theology

The transcendental unity that underlies empirical differences

•The key question: who or what is this unity?

The Word ‘Veda’Root vid: to know

(Cognate with the Latin: video)

The centrality of Knowledge (vidya)

Vedic Ritual

The gods produced the world out of a cosmic sacrifice.

The world is not a ‘natural’ order: the world is ritually constructed.

Therefore, this sacrifice is to be repeated on earth.

Vedic Hymn Rig Veda (1.1)

I worship Agni, the Priest, God, minister of sacrifice,The priest who brings wealth.

Through Agni man obtains wealth, increasing day by day,Most rich in heroes, glorious.

Ruler of sacrifices, guardian of eternal Law, radiant One,Increasing in thine own abode.

Be to us easy of approach:Agni, be with us for our well-being.

Vedic Correspondences

Correspondence or ‘homology’ between the micro-cosmos and macro-cosmos

The struggle between order and chaos

Ritual sacrifice

Correspondences

An example of ‘homology’ from one of the earliest Upanishads:

The dawn is the head of the sacrificial horse.His eye is the sun.His vital breath is the wind.His limbs are the seasons.

Cosmic Mapping Rig Veda (10.29)

The Gods prepared the sacrifice with Purusha as their offering …

From that great general sacrifice the hymns were born:

From it were horses born, from it all cattle with two rows of teeth:From it were generated kine, from it the goats and sheep were born.

Analogy or Identity?

Homology – correspondence, correlation, or identity

bandhu – friendship

Vedic Order

•The different layers of reality are interconnected

•They are all grounded in the cosmic Person, the ordered Whole

•The cosmic ordering principle of Dharma

The inner and the outer Mandukya Upanisad OM (A-U-M-)

A stands for the waking stateU for dreamM for deep sleep

AUM in its totality corresponds to the transcendent state.

Mantra

Sacred chant that unlocks the power of hidden correspondences

Gayatri Mantra

Rig Veda (3.62)

Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the divine Light (Sun). May the Sun stimulate our understanding.

Vedic Theology

Atharva Veda (4.1.1)

Brahman is the origin of sat (the real) and asat (the unreal)

Prana is the breath of life in the individual and also the wind animating the universe

Upanisads

Interiorized quest for the true self – Atman

The ultimate reality – Brahman

How is Atman related to Brahman?

The word ‘upanisad’

Literally: upa + ni + verbal root sad

secret doctrine

Knowledge of the Self (atma-vidya)

Interrogation of the Vedic ritual

What is the true sacrifice?

One which is not ‘external’ but the ‘internal’ offering of the inner self in the ‘fires’ of enquiry

Who/what am I?

The Upanisads on the Vedas

The Vedas are the ‘lower’ knowledge, the Upanisads constitute the ‘higher’ knowledge that leads to the knowledge of Brahman.

Mundaka Upanisad 1.5

What’s missing?

Vedic rituals can at best accumulate finite karma

They cannot take an individual to the Eternal that is immutable

What is needed – Knowledge (vidya) of Brahman

The Great Equivalence

What is truly real?

Thoughts, emotions, cognitions, feelings, volitions

The ‘I’ = Atman

What is truly real?

Autumn, sunshine, winters, snow, weather

The ‘Ultimate’ = Brahman

Upanisads and Contemplation–1

Katha Upanisad:3.12. 'That Self is hidden in all beings and does not shine forth, but it is seen by subtle seers through their sharp and subtle intellect.‘

(Self-enquiry as the entry into the spiritual life)

Upanisads and Contemplation–2Mundaka Upanisad

It is large, heavenly, of inconceivable form; yet it appears more minute than the minute. It is farther than the farthest, yet it is here at hand; It is right here within those who see, hidden within the cave. (3.1.7)

The Cave of the Heart

Upanisadic Metaphors

The Ultimate Reality = Brahman

Brahman is:

•The hub at the centre of the wheel•The ocean the rivers flow into•The sparks flying outwards from a fire

Enquiry into the Self

Take, for example, a hidden treasure of gold. People who do not know the terrain, even when they pass right over it time and again, would not discover it. In exactly the same way, all these creatures, even though they go there every day, do not discover this world of brahman, for they are led astray by the false.

Chandogya Upanisad 8.3.1–2

The Self as the Centre

This self is the Brahman – this soul that constitutes perception, mind, breath, sight, hearing, earth, water, wind, space, dharma and adharma – this self that constitutes everything.

Brhad-Aranyaka Upanisad 4.4.5

Knowledge of Self as Knowledge of Reality–1

From one lump of clay one understands the nature of anything that is made of clay – the modification being a name, a taking hold by speech, while the truth is that it just clay.

Chandogya Upanisad 6.1.4

Knowledge of Self as Knowledge of Reality–2

Bring me a fruit from the banyan tree. Here it is, Sir. Cut it up. I’ve cut it, Sir. What do you see? Tiny pieces. Cut one of them up. What do you see? Nothing. You cannot see the finest essence here, but it is because of that finest essence that this great Banyan tree stands.

Whatever is the finest essence, that is the identity of everything, that is authentic reality. That is the self. That you are’.

Chandogya Upanisad 6.12

Atman-Brahman as the Ontological Ground

This atma is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of this atma. This self is the lord and king of all beings.

As all the spokes are fastened to the hub and rim of a wheel, so to the soul are fastened all beings, all the gods, all the worlds, all the vital breaths, and all these people.

Brhad-Aranyaka Upanisad 2.5.14–5

The Upanisadic Picture Diagnosis of the human condition

samsara (round of rebirths)

karma (actions performed in a state of non-enlightenment)

avidya (ignorance)

Ultimate Goal

Attainment of Brahman

The questions of the Upanisads

•Who/what is the atman?

•Who/what is Brahman?

•What is liberation?

Knowledge of Self and Practices of the Self

Therefore, one should know the nature of that alone.

Such a one is at peace, in control, unperturbed, patient, and focussed for they see the self in themselves and see all things as the self.


Upanisads on Yoga–1

‘Realizing through yoga of the inner Self (adhyatma-yoga) that primal divinity that is difficult to be seen, deeply hidden, set in the cave of the heart, dwelling in the deep, the wise one leaves behind both joy and sorrow’.

Katha Upanisad I, 2, 12


‘This, they consider to be Yoga, the steady control of the senses. Then one becomes undistracted for Yoga comes and goes’.

Katha Upanisad II, 3, 11

Steadfastness, inner equilibrium, pacification

Upanisads on Yoga–3 ‘Those who followed the Yoga of meditation (dhyana) perceived the inner power of the divine concealed in its own qualities’.

Svetasvatara Upanisad I, 3


‘By making the body the lower friction stick and the syllable aum the upper friction stick, by practising (abhyasa) the drill of meditation one may see the divine that is hidden’.

Svetasvatara Upanisad I, 15


‘This is the rule for achieving this oneness, control of the breath, withdrawal of the senses, meditation, concentration, contemplative inquiry and absorption, this is said to be the six-fold yoga’.

pranayama, pratyahara, dhyana, dharana, tarka, samadhi

Maitri Upanisad VI, 18

The Parable of the Chariot ‘Know the Self as the lord of the chariot, and the body as verily the chariot. Know the intellect as the charioteer and the mind as verily the reins’.

‘The senses they say are the horses, the objects of sense the paths, the self associated with the body is the enjoyer’.

Katha Upanisad I, 3, 3–4

The Bhagavad-Gita on Yoga–1 Inner Equilibrium

‘Fixed in yoga, do thy work (karma) … abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and failure, for evenness (sama-) of mind is called yoga’. II, 48

‘They whose self is harmonized by Yoga see the Self abiding in all beings and all being in the Self, everywhere they see the same (sama-)’. VI, 29

The Bhagavad-Gita on Yoga–2

Active Renunciation

‘There is not for me, O Arjuna, any work in the three worlds which has to be done nor anything to be obtained that has not been obtained; yet I am engaged in work’. III, 22

‘Not by abstention from work do people attain freedom from action, nor by mere renunciation do they attain to perfection’. III, 4

The Bhagavad-Gita on Yoga–2 Active Renunciation

‘Therefore, without attachment, perform always the work that has to be done, for they attain to the highest by doing work without attachment’. III, 19

‘They who see action in inaction, and action in inaction, they are wise, they are yogis, and they have accomplished all work’. IV, 18

The Bhagavad-Gita on Yoga–3 Steadfast Practice

‘As a lamp in a windless place does not flicker, such is the yogi of subdued thought (yata-cittasya) who practices union with the Self’. VI, 19

‘Having abandoned attachment to the fruit of works, ever content, without any kind of dependence, they do nothing though they are ever engaged in work’. IV, 20

The Bhagavad-Gita on Yoga–3 Steadfast Practice

‘They who are satisfied with whatever comes by chance, have passed beyond the dualities, and are free from jealousy, remains the same (sama) in success and failure, they are not bound even when they act’. IV, 22

‘Let the yogi try constantly to concentrate the mind, remaining in solitude and alone (ekaki), self-controlled, free from desires and longing for possessions’. VI, 10

The Bhagavad-Gita on Yoga–4 The Turbulence of the Emotions

‘They whose mind is untroubled in the midst of sorrows and is free from desire amidst pleasures, they from whom passion, fear, and rage (raga-bhaya-krodha-) have passed away, they are called a sage of settled intelligence’. II, 56 ‘They who draw away the senses from the objects of sense on every side as a tortoise draws in its limbs, their intelligence is firmly set’. II, 59

The Bhagavad-Gita on Yoga–5 The Turbulence of the Emotions

‘When the mind runs after the roving senses, it carries away the understanding, even as a wind carries away a ship on the waters’. II, 67

‘Whatsoever makes the wavering and unsteady mind wander away let them restrain and bring it back to the control of the Self alone’. VI, 202

The Bhagavad-Gita on Yoga–6Chains of psychological ‘necessity’

‘When they dwell in their minds on the objects of sense, attachment to them is produced. From attachment springs desire, from desire anger, from anger bewilderment, from bewilderment loss of memory, from loss of memory the destruction of intelligence (buddhi), and from the destruction of intelligence they perish’. II, 62–63


The Bhagavad-Gita on the Vedas

‘Some yogis offer all the works of their senses and the works of the vital force into the fire of the yoga of self-control, kindled by knowledge’. IV, 27


The Embodied Self

While all works are done by the modes (guna) of physical nature (prakrti), they whose self is bewildered by the ‘I-sense’ (aham-kara) think ‘I am the doer’. III, 27

The Mahabharata on Yoga–1 Self-restraint

‘Unfailing in his asceticism, restrained, self-controlled and wishing to conquer the unconquered, the silent sage should free himself from attachment to all objects’. XII, 189.14

‘The mind travels far and moves in various directions; its essence is desire and doubt. Those whose mind is well controlled experience bliss both in this world and in the world beyond’. XII, 194.35

The Mahabharata on Yoga–2 The three ‘constituents’

‘The people of the world should have a comprehensive knowledge of the sense faculties. The three states of darkness (tamas), passion (rajas), and purity (sattva) abide within the sense faculties’. XII, 194.15

‘In its transcendent condition, the faculty of intelligence (buddhi) abides with the mind (manas). But when passion is aroused the faculty impels all the sense faculties into operation … Purity is joy, passion is sorrow, and darkness is delusion’. XII, 194.25

The Mahabharata on Yoga–3 The wise sage

‘Just as a bird moves on the water but is not tainted by it, so does the wise sage move among living beings. Therefore wise people should abide in their own inherent state (sva-bhava) by means of intelligence (buddhi), not feeling sorrow or joy, but being equanimous and free from envy’. XII, 194.45

‘Presenting no danger to all living beings as they wander the earth, the silent sages are in turn not endangered by any living being wherever they go’. XII, 192.4

The Mahabharata on Yoga–4 The practice of yoga

‘The followers of yoga discipline themselves so that they become disciplined in meditation. These great seers are satisfied by gnosis (jnana), their minds established in Nirvana’. XII, 195.2

‘Beyond duality, always abiding in purity … they dwell in places conducive to mental peace, where there is neither attachment nor conflict’. XII, 195.4

The Mahabharata on Yoga–5 The practice of yoga

‘Resolute and self-controlled, they should certainly restrain the faculty of intelligence. They should restrain the mind through the faculty of intelligence, and keep sense objects away by means of the mind’. XII, 215.18

‘When the mind and sense faculties are integrated, brahman shines forth; when the senses settle into a state of purity, they are fit for the state of brahman’. XII, 215.20

The Mahabharata on Yoga–6‘In the first stage of meditation the wise sage should focus the mind within, for it moves hither and thither and has no foundation; with the five senses as its outlets, it is very unsteady’. XII, 195.9

‘On the path of meditation the mind remains focused (samahitam) for a few moments. But just like the wind it will be shaken, for the mind follows the path of the wind’. XII, 195.13

‘Without becoming despondent, anguished, lethargic or exhilarated, the person who understands the discipline of meditation (dhyana-yoga) should once again focus the mind by means of meditative practice’. XII, 195.14

The finite and the Infinite

The empirical world is transient, and, hence of suffering.

The ultimate Reality is eternal.

How does one move from the former to the latter?

The questions of the Upanisads

•Who/what is the atman?

•Who/what is Brahman?

•What is liberation?

Answer–1

Non-dualism (Advaita-Vedanta) or Trans-Personalism

•Brahman is the trans-personal, formless ultimate reality

•Atman is essentially this Brahman

•Liberation is the realization of this truth

Text suggesting answer 1–example

This self is the Brahman – this soul that constitutes perception, mind, breath, sight, hearing, earth, water, wind, space, dharma and adharma – this self that constitutes everything.


Answer–2

Personal Theism

•Brahman is the Personal reality (Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna)

•The atman is the finite self.

•Liberation can be attained through loving devotion (bhakti) of the atman towards Brahman.

Text suggesting Answer 2–example

This atman of yours, who is present within but is different from the earth, whom the earth does not know, whose body the earth is, and who controls the earth from within – the atman is the inner controller, the immortal one. . . .

Brhad-Aranyaka Upanisad 3.7

Pan-Hindu theology

Ignorance (avidya) of one’s true nature as spiritual (atman) and not physical.

This ignorance leads to unenlightened actions (karma) which perpetuate the cycle of re-embodiments (samsara).

To be liberated from the cycle one must attain Knowledge (vidya).

Two Scenarios

Beginning-less or Original Ignorance birth (in this lifetime) non-enlightened action re-birth (next lifetime) …

OR

Beginning-less Ignorance birth (in this lifetime) enlightened action liberation

Action (karma)

Every action has two aspects – it reinforces a certain tendency, and it leaves behind a certain residue.

This residue or ‘seed’ will bear ‘fruit’ sometime in the future, either in this lifetime or in a future lifetime.

The Karmic Chain

‘The soul is not destroyed when the body breaks up; it is ignorant people who claim falsely that it perishes. The self moves on and finds another body; a person’s death is simply the dissolution of the body. And so it is hidden within all living beings … But those who see the truth can perceive it by means of a refined, subtle intelligence’. Mahabharata XII, 187. 27–29

A Problem for the Hindu theological traditions

Samsara is without a beginning.

Therefore, we have all accumulated infinite karma from previous births.

So Problem = how is Liberation possible?

The Solution, according to Answer–1

Solution = actions performed with the realization of the truth that you are essentially not-different from Brahman do not accumulate any karmic residues.

The Solution, according to the Bhagavad-Gita–2

Solution = actions performed in a spirit of devotional love (bhakti) to the Lord Krishna or in a spirit of surrendering the ‘fruits’ of actions (karma) to the Lord do not ‘bind’ an individual to samsara.

Samkhya–Yoga

•Samkya-karika (ca.400 CE)

•Yoga-sutra (ca. 300 CE)

Bhagavad-Gita: Yoga is karma-yoga, Samkhya is renunciation; however, renunciation is difficult without karma-yoga

The ‘dualism’ of Samkhya

•Purusa (Pure Spirit)

•Prakrti (Formless ‘matter’), composed of three ‘constituents’ (guna): sattva (purity), rajas (passion), and tamas (delusion)

•Pure Spirit, mind, and body •Pure Spirit is not the soul

The ‘evolution’ of Samkhya universe

1 Prakrti (avyakta)2 Mahat (buddhi)3–8 Aham-kara (I-maker) 5 tanmatra (the subtle senses) (t)

9–24 manas (s) 5 sense organs (s), 5 action organs (s), 5 gross elements (t)

The Yoga Cosmology Yoga-sutra II.19

1. The unmanifest (the unevolved prakrti)2. The designator or first manifestation – mahat 3. The five subtle elements (tanmatra) and asmita-matra or pure I-am-ness4. The five gross elements, the five conative senses, the five cognitive senses, and the mind

The ‘evolution’ in Yoga

Yoga-sutra II.19

Aham-kara as equivalent to asmita-matra: the principle of self-referencing through which the conflation of purusa and prakrti begins to refer to itself as a specific individual.

The Human Person in Yoga

The true spiritual centre of gravity is the purusaHowever, in the embodied state, our mental processes emerge from the inner organ (antah-karana):

1. The mind (manas)2. The I-maker (the principle of individuation)3. The intellect (buddhi)

Pure Spirit

Pure Spirit is self-luminous: purusa

The mind (citta) has derived luminosity: the light of the purusa is reflected on the mirror of the mind

The term citta is often used synonymously with buddhi, antah-karana and manas

The psychomental life

Samskaras: subtle impressions which propel people into action

Vasanas: personality traits or habit patterns

Vrtti: modifications

The multiplicity of selves

Samkhya-karika 18

Yoga-sutra II.22 (Problem: the purusa is always-already liberated; how do we ‘count’ a multiplicity? One solution: treat the multiplicity as epistemological, not ontological.)

The Paradox of Liberation

The embodied self is a conjunction (samyoga) of purusa and prakrti

You are always-already liberated

Conjunction: Superimposition

The Text

•Samadhi-pada: the chapter on Samadhi, 51 sutras•Sadhana-pada: the chapter on the practice of yoga, 55 sutras

•Vibhuti-pada: the chapter on the powers of yoga, 55 sutras

•Kaivalya-pada: the chapter on the liberated state, 34 sutras

Yoga-Sutras

•Return to the One, the inner spiritual unity •Re-unification, re-integration•Practices of the Self

Liberation

•Self-determination•The still point in a moving world•Contemplative tradition of self-enquiry

Accomplishing the Accomplished

An individual, being Brahman, goes to Brahman.

Brhad-Aranyaka Upanisad 4,4,6

The Mind

Citta

•Dispersal, fragmentation, scattering (surface of the ocean)

•Mind-stream•Mind-scape

Error

Avidya •Epistemic•Moral•Spiritual

Misplaced Identity

Through the conjunction between purusa and prakrti, the purusa mistakenly thinks it is of the nature of materiality

The purusa thinks it is of the nature of mind

Discriminative Awareness

Viveka

The mental discrimination between the eternal and the non-eternal

Praxis

Abhyasa

Generate ‘internal’ streams opposed to ‘external’ streams

Restrain the modifications or whirls (vrtti)

Intensification

Ekagra

Recovery of the purusa from scattered dispersal, as it were, in the temporal mind-stream

Correspondences

•The theory of causation

•Evolution and involution

•Psychology is mapped onto Cosmology

Yoga is the cessation (nirodha) of the fluctuations of consciousness (citta-vrtti-nirodha). I, 2

Then the seer (drastuh) abides in its essence (svarupa). I, 3

At other times there is conformity (sa-rupyam) of the seer with the fluctuations. I, 4

The fluctuations are five-fold, afflicted (klista) or non-afflicted (aklista). I, 5

klesa: motivational forces that causes of affliction

The restriction (nirodha) of these fluctuations is achieved through practice and dispassion (vairagya). I, 12

Practice is the exertion of gaining stability in that state. I, 13

This practice is firmly grounded only when cultivated properly and for a long time uninterruptedly. I, 14

Dispassion is the knowledge of mastery of the yogi who is without thirst for seen and revealed objects. I, 15

Two types of samadhi. I, 16–17, 42–44

Cognitive and Supra-cognitive samadhi

The supra-cognitive samadhi has a residuum of samskaras. I, 18

Subtilization

And the subtle condition terminates in the undesignated (alinga). I, 45These are samadhi with seed. I, 46

The samskara from the gnostic insight obstructs other samskaras. I, 50

With even that restricted, everything is restricted and that is seedless samadhi. I, 51

The Lord (isvara) is a special self because untouched by the causes of affliction, action, its fruition and deposits of karma. I, 24

Distractions: 1, 30

The yogi should practice concentration on one principle to counteract these distractions. 1, 32

The cultivation of friendliness, compassion, gladness and equanimity towards objects bring about the pacification of consciousness. I, 33

Or restriction is achieved through expulsion and retention of breath. I, 34

Ascesis, self-study and devotion to the Lord constitute kriya-yoga. II, 1

This yoga has the purpose of cultivating samadhi and attenuating the causes of affliction. II, 2

The five causes of affliction are ignorance, I-am-ness, attachment, aversion and the will to live. II, 3

Ignorance is the seeing of what is eternal, pure, joyful and the Self in what is ephemeral, impure, sorrowful and the non-Self. II, 5

I-am-ness is the identification as it were (iva) of the powers of seeing with the Seer. II,6

These causes of affliction are to be overcome by the process of involution (prati-prasava). II, 10

The karma deposit, rooted in the klesa, may be experienced in this birth or a future one. II, 12

… klesa karma-deposit future births klesa …

The conjunction (samyoga) between the Seer and the seen is the cause to be overcome. II, 17

The Seer which is pure seeing, though pure, ‘perceives’ the presented ideas. II. 20

The cause of this conjunction is ignorance. II, 24

Although the seen has ceased for the yogi, it has not ceased to exist altogether, since it is common experience with other beings. II, 22

With the disappearance of ignorance, the conjunction also disappears; this is cessation, the aloneness (kaivalya) of pure seeing. II, 25

All-in-one

The means of cessation is the unceasing vision of discernment. II. 26

Through the performance of the members of yoga, and with the dwindling of impurity, there arises the radiance of gnosis (jnana) which develops up to the vision of discernment. II, 28

yama: non-harming, truthfulness, non-stealing niyama: purity, contentment, austerityasanapranayama pratyaharadharanadhyanasamadhi

For repelling unwholesome deliberations the yogi should cultivate the opposite. II, 33

The consequences of the first two limbs: II, 35–45

dharana: binding consciousness to a single spot. III, 1dhyana: the one-directionality of the presented ideas. III, 2

Through mastery of dharana, dhyana, and samadhi there flashes forth transcendental insight. III, 5

Its application is gradual. III, 6

With regard to the samskaras of emergence and restraint when that of emergence is overpowered, there follows a moment of restraint in the mind. III, 9

Powers: atomization, magnification, levitation, extension, freedom of will, control over the world. III. 45

The yogi who has the vision of the distinction between the Self and the sattva of consciousness gains supremacy over all states of existence. III. 49

Through dispassion towards even this vision, with the dwindling of the seeds of the defects, the yogi gains the power of aloneness (kaivalya). III, 50

The fabricating minds proceed from the primary I-am-ness. IV, 4

Because of the multiplicity of consciousness as opposed to the singleness of a perceived object, both belong to separate levels of existence. IV, 15

That consciousness (mind) has no self-luminosity because of its object character. IV, 19

For those who see the distinction between the Self and sattva there is the discontinuation of the projection of the sense of self. IV,25

Consciousness (mind) inclined towards discernment is taken towards aloneness. IV, 26

During the intervals of that involuting consciousness, other presented ideas may arise from the samskaras. IV, 27

The process of involution of the gunas, devoid of purpose for the Self, is what is called aloneness or the establishment of the power of awareness in its own form. IV, 34

introducing yoga

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