Hello, my friend!
Welcome back to the third post in the “What is Yoga?” Series! I’m super excited to dive into this one because, with your broad understanding of both Yoga and its associated fundamental concepts, we’re ready for Yoga philosophy!
Before we dive in, I want to be really clear that everything I share in this series is through my research, reading, and learning! As a result, the more I learn, the more nuances and details I fill in. However, what I write now is the distilled "essentials" delivered through the lens of my understanding and perception of Yoga philosophy. Yoga, as we’ve discussed, is the state of union between individual and Universal selves, which is the highest state of spiritual enlightenment. Arising from Vedic philosophy, Yoga appears in many different Hindu texts throughout history, including different Upanishads dating back to between 800-500 BCE as well as the Bhagavad Gītā, one of the most important and well-known Hindu texts, dating back to between 400-200 BCE.
The Bhagavad Gītā, a part of the epic Mahābhārata, describes the discourse between Prince Arjuna, an Indian prince, and Lord Krishna, a Hindu god (as in one who was born knowing Yoga - not “God” from the Abrahamic lens) as well as Arjuna’s friend and advisor.
Their discourse takes place in the middle of a battlefield, right before the start of the Battle of Kurukshetra, the conclusion of a long war between cousins - the Pandavas (Arjuna and his brothers) and the Kauravas (their cousins) - after a series of misdeeds from the Kauravas finally brought members of the close and extended family to two sides of the same battlefield.
Hence, the Bhagavad Gītā captures a poignant moment in the Mahābhārata, a moment of deep sadness and loss as Arjuna looks across the field at his own relatives with the realization that he will have to kill his own family in order to win the war.
It is because of this chasm of loss and sadness that the message of the Gītā is delivered so profoundly and concisely. As Arjuna despairs to Krishna, trying to come to grips with his role in the looming battle, Krishna speaks with both conviction and precision to draw Arjuna out of his head and back into a state of action as the adrenaline of the battlefield pumps around them in a state of waiting.
It is in this discourse that Krishna outlines the core tenets of Hindu philosophy, which he describes to Arjuna in attempts to help him understand that the war, and Arjuna’s role in this war, is both necessary and right.
As a result, Yoga is discussed numerous times throughout the Gītā. It is in this text that the four (4) main paths of Yoga are established:
Karma Yoga: the path of action [without attachment to result]
Bhakti Yoga: the path of devotion [or unbreakable connection to/belief in the Universal Self] (oftentimes represented as deities or gods/goddesses)
Jnāna Yoga: the path of knowledge [derived directly from a connection with the Universal Self]
Dhyāna Yoga or Rāja Yoga: the path of meditation or complete cessation of though
Right about now, you might be thinking, “ummm, Shreya? How does asana fit into all this? How does modern yoga fit into these different paths?”
Great question!
Rāja Yoga, or the path of meditation, is the branch of Yoga which is associated with “yoga” in the modern sense of the word. However, any true follower of Vedic philosophy is also on a Yogic path.
While the link between meditation and Yoga as you know it may be unclear right now, the connection between the two is realized within Pātanjala-yoga-sūtra, or the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras make up the first known book to culminate and codify Yoga philosophy. While Yoga had been practiced for thousands of years by the time the sutras were composed, Sage Patanjali was the first to document the philosophy in a clear, centralized manner.
Written sometime between 200 BC-200 AD in ancient India, the Yoga Sutras detail Ashtānga Yoga (ashta = eight and anga = limbs), the Eight (8) Limbs of Yoga.
Rāja Yoga philosophy is equated to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras by many and is the foundation of other Yoga philosophies that are associated with “modern” Yoga (for example, Hatha Yoga).
While other approaches to Rāja Yoga develop in the years following Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the sutras teach the foundation of Yoga philosophy from which these other paths were born. As a result, Pātanjala-yoga-sūtra is one of the first books to be read and discussed by Yoga students and teachers around the world.
While the 8 limbs of Ashtānga Yoga vary in number or level of importance depending on the specific type of Rāja Yoga followed, the fundamental premise of the paths remain the same: to experience Yoga or samadhi, you must purify the body, learn to control the mind, and then shed this perception of “I” or ego to come to a state of ego-less, mind-less existence.
So, what are the 8 limbs of Ashtānga Yoga ?
Yama - Duties
Niyama - Observances
Āsana - Physical Purification Practice
Prāṇāyāma - Energetic Purification Practice
Pratyāhāra - Sensory Withdrawal Practice
Dhāranā - Practice of Controlling One’s Mind
Dhyāna - Practice of Maintaining Ego-lessness/Thoughtlessness
Samādhi - Absorption into the Universe, no sense of “I”
As you can see, there is a very distinct progression from the tangible (i.e. things we can actively do or think or live) to the intangible or subtle (i.e. practices of withdrawing inward and learning to still the mind). Hence, the practice of Yoga asana culminates in the practice of meditation (which is how asana and Rāja Yoga are related!).
Since modern Yoga includes various different mindsets on Ashtānga Yoga, I’ll be discussing Ashtānga Yoga in more detail in the next post and comparing two popular paths of Rāja Yoga (Hatha Yoga vs. Patanjali’s “Classical” Yoga or Rāja Yoga in its original form), so you have a sense of how Ashtānga Yoga has been applied in different ways yet still make up the foundation of different Yoga philosophies.
Since Rāja Yoga is the Yogic path I’ve chosen to base my personal journey on, this is the path I refer to throughout this series when I say “path to Yoga”, “Yogic path”, or refer to “Yoga philosophy”.
This is the focus of this “What is Yoga?” Series, so we're more focused on “What is Raja Yoga?”).For now, I think I’ll give your brain a break :) To be continued next time….
With love,
Shreya