The Yoga Tradition

by Georg Feuerstein

  The significance of the letter a is that [the avadhûta] abides eternally in “Bliss” (ânanda), freed from the fetters of hope and pure in the beginning, middle, and end.

  The significance of the syllable va is that he dwells [always] in the present and that his speech is blameless, [and it applies to him] who has conquered desire (vâsanâ).

  The significance of the syllable dhû is that he is relieved of [the practice of] concentration and meditation, that his limbs are gray with dust, that his mind is pure and he is free from disease.

  The significance of the syllable ta is that he is freed from [spiritual] darkness (tamas) and the I-sense (ahamkâra) and that he is devoid of thought and purpose, with his mind steadfast on Reality (tattva).34

  The whole text, which belongs perhaps to the fifteenth or sixteenth century C.E., is written from a lofty nondualist point of view. It is similar to the Ashtâvakra-Gîtâ (“Ashtâvakra’s Song”) which, significantly, is also known as Avadhûta-Anubhûti (“Realization of the Crazy Adept”) and which has been placed in the late fifteenth century C.E.35 Both scriptures are ecstatic outpourings, and both celebrate the highest form of nondualist realization.

  The Avadhûta-Gîtâ is ascribed to Dattâtreya, a semi-legendary spiritual master, who was elevated to the status of a deity.36 Sage Dattâtreya’s story is told in the Mârkandeya-Purâna (chapter 16), in a section that belongs perhaps to the fourth century C.E. It describes the miraculous birth of one of the great crazy-wisdom adepts of India.

  According to this account, a certain brahmin named Kaushika lived a profligate life, losing both wealth and health as a result of his infatuation with a courtesan. His wife, Shândilî, however, was utterly faithful to him. One night she even carried her sick husband to the courtesan’s house. On the way, with her husband riding on her shoulders, Shândilî accidentally stepped on Sage Mândavya, who was lying in the road barely alive. Mândavya, who was feared for his potent curses, promptly condemned the pair to die at sunrise. The chaste woman prayed with all her might, appealing to the sun not to rise at all so that her husband might live. Her pure-hearted prayer was answered. Now all the deities were in an uproar, and they enlisted the help of Anushuyâ, wife of the famous Sage Atri, to convince Shândilî to allow the universal order to be restored. Anushuyâ, herself a paragon of womanly virtue, won Shândilî over, on the condition that Kaushika’s life would be spared when the sun rose.

  In appreciation of her timely intercession, the gods granted Anushuyâ a boon. She asked for her husband’s and her own liberation and then for the principal deities—Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva—to be born as sons to her. After a period of time, while Anushuyâ was bowing to her husband, a light shone forth from Sage Atri’s eyes and served as the seed for the three divine sons Soma, Durvâsa, and Datta—partial incarnations of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu respectively.

  Other Purânas (popular encyclopedias) contain different narratives relating to Dattâtreya, but all involve the figure of Atri-hence the name Dattâtreya, “Datta, son of Atri.” It is clear from some of the incidents in Dattâtreya’s life that he was a rather unconventional figure. For instance, he is said to have immersed himself in a lake, from which he emerged after many years in the company of a maiden. Knowing of Dattâtreya’s perfect nonattachment, his disciples thought nothing of it. In order to test their faith in him, he began to consume wine with the maiden, but his devotees were not disturbed even by this.

  Then again, various Purânas, including the Mârkandeya-Purâna (chapters 30-40), say that Dattâtreya taught the eight-limbed Yoga (ashta-anga-yoga) of Patanjali, which favors an ascetic lifestyle. Thus, Dattâtreya is associated with both ascetical motifs and with situations involving sexuality and alcohol-the two great ingredients of the Tantric ritual.37

  Dattâtreya is the archetypal crazy adept. It is not clear how, from a quasi-Tantric sage, he was made into a full-blown deity. Nevertheless, both sage and deity are intimately connected with Avadhûtism. Even though mythology remembers Sage Dattâtreya as an incarnation of God Vishnu, his name is just as closely associated with the cultural sphere of Shiva, the Lord of yogins and ascetics. It would appear that this great spiritual hero served both the Vaishnava and the Shaiva tradition as a symbol of the God-realizer, whose state transcends all beliefs and customs.

  Hence, it is not surprising that Dattâtreya should also be credited with the authorship of the Jîvan-Mukti-Gîtâ (“Song of Living Liberation”), a short tract of twenty-three stanzas that extols the jîvan-mukta, the adept who is liberated while still in the embodied condition. Likewise, the Tripurâ-Rahasya (“Tripurâ’s Secret Teaching”) is attributed to Dattâtreya. Considering this scripture’s focus on the supreme mind-transcending disposition of enlightened spontaneity (sahaja), this attribution seems singularly appropriate.

  Crazy wisdom is found to varying degrees in most schools of Yoga, because the guru’s prescribed task is to undermine the disciple’s illusion of being an island unto himself or herself. Most teachers, especially if they are fully enlightened, will on occasion resort to unconventional behavior to penetrate the disciple’s protective armor. Few teachers, however, tend to teach in the full-fledged mode of crazy wisdom as did, for instance, Marpa and Drukpa Kunleg. Today, individuals maintain more carefully defined ego-boundaries than in the past, and so crazy-wisdom methods tend to be experienced as interfering with the personal integrity of the disciple. Hence, few teachers are willing to adopt a crazy-wisdom style of teaching. There also remains the broader question of whether this ancient way of teaching is still useful and morally justifiable today.38

  This brief review of the crazy-wisdom dimension of Hindu and Buddhist spirituality completes Chapter 1, which explains the fundamental categories involved in the spiritual process of Yoga. The next chapter outlines the major approaches or schools within the yogic tradition.

  SOURCE READING 2

  Siddha-Siddhânta-Paddhati (Selection)

  The Siddha-Siddhânta-Puddhati (“Tracks of ihe Doctrine of the Adepts”), considered to be one of the oldest scriptures of Nâthism, is a composition comprising six chapters. The concluding chapter is dedicated to defining and eulogizing the avadhûta, who is distinguished from the spiritual types peculiar to traditions other than the Nâtha order. Of particular interest are the first twenty-one verses, translated here. Like most Hatha-Yoga scriptures, the text is deliberately written in defective Sanskrit, which makes it at times difficult to ascertain the precise meaning of a verse. The following verses are excerpted from the sixth chapter.

  Now a description of the avadhûta-yogin is given. Tell me, then, who is this so-called avadhûta-yogin? The avadhûta is he who casts off all of Nature’s modifications (vikâra). A yogin is one for whom there is “union” (yoga). Dhûta is [derived from) dhû [denoting “to shake”], as in trembling, that is, it has the meaning of “trembling.” Trembling or shaking [occurs when] the mind is involved wilh the sense objects like bodies or bodily [states]. Having grasped [these sense objects 1 and then having withdrawn from them, the mind absorbed into the glory of its own “Domain” (dhâman) is devoid of phenomena and is free from the diverse “dwellings” (nidhâna) [i.e., the sense objects], which have a beginning, a middle, and an end. (1)

  The sound ya is the seed syllable (bîja) of the wind [element]; the sound ra is the seed syllable of the fire [element]. Indistinct from both is the sound om, which is praised as the form of Consciousness. (2)

  Thus he is clearly called; He who is shaven by cutting off the multitudinous39 bonds of suffering (klesha), who is released from all states—he is styled an avadhûta. (3)

  The yogin who. in his body, is adorned with the splendorous memory of the innate [Reality] and for whom [the serpent-power or kundalinî-shakti) has risen from the “support” [i.e., the mûlâ-dhâra-cakra at the base of the spine]—he is named an avadhûta. (4)

  [That yogin who] is firmly stationed in the center of the world, devoid of all “trembling” [i.e., free from all attachment to t
he sense objects], who has freedom from dejection (adainya) as his loincloth and bowl (kharpara)—he is named an avadhûta. (5)

  [That yogin] by whom the doctrine (siddhânta) is preserved like the convergence of the sounds sham [designating] joy and khani [symbolizing] the supreme Absolute in the word shamkha (meaning “conch”]—he is named an avadhûta. (6)

  Whose limit is [naught but] the supreme Consciousness, who has knowledge of the [ultimate] Object as his sandals, and the great vow as his antelope skin [upon which he is seated]—he is named an avadhûta. (7)

  Who has perpetual abstention (nivritti) as his belt, who has the very Essence (sva- svarûpa) as his matted seat, [and who practices] abstention from the six modifications 40 [of Nature]—he is named an avadhûta. (8)

  Who indeed has the Light of Consciousness and supreme Bliss as his pair of earrings and who has ceased recitation (japâ) with a rosary (mala)—he is named an avadhûta. (9)

  Who has steadiness as his walking stick, the supreme Space (para-âkâsha)41 as his staff, and the innate power (nija-shakti) as his yogic armrest (yoga-patta)42-he is styled an avadhûta. (10)

  Who is himself difference and identity [of world and Divine], who has alms as his delight in ihe taste of the six essences (rasa),43 and who has ihe condition of being full of that [ultimate Reality] as his adultery—he is styled an avadhûta. (11)

  Who moves with his inner being into the Unthinkable, the remote Region within, who has that very Place as his undergarment-he is named an avadhûta. (12)

  Who [desires] to assimilate his own immortal body to the Infinite, the Immortal, who alone would drink this [draft of immortality]-he is named an avadhûta. (13)

  Who devours ihe vajrî44 abounding in defilements of desire and strong like a thunderbolt (vajrâ) [that is none other than] nescience (avidyâ)-he is named an avadhûta. (14)

  Who always turns around fully into the very center of himself and who views the world with equanimity (samatva)-he is named an avadhûta. (15)

  Who understands himself and who abides in his Self alone, who is fully established in effortlessness (anutthâna)-he is named an avadhûta. (16)

  Who is conversant with [the art of] supreme repose and endowed with the foundation of effortlessness (anutthâ), and who knows the principle formed of Consciousness and contentment (dhriti)-he is styled an avadhûta. (17)

  Who consumes the manifest (vyakta) and the unmanifest (avyakta) [realms of existence] and devours completely the entire manifestation (vyakta) [of Nature], while being [firmly established] in his inner being [and possessing] the Truth within-he is named an avadhûta. (18)

  Who is firmly established in his own luminosity, who is [that] luster of the nature of [absolute] Radiance (avahhâsa), who delights in the world through play (lîlâ)-he is named an avadhûta. (19)

  Who is sometimes an enjoyer, sometimes a renouncer, sometimes a nudist or like a demon, sometimes a king and sometimes a well-mannered [person]—he is named an avadhûta. (20)

  Who is of the essence of the Innermost [Self] when thus performing different roles (samketa) in public, who fully pierces through to the Real in his essential vision of all doctrinal views-he is named an avadhûta-yogin. He is a true teacher (sad-guru). Because in his essential vision of all views he creates a [grand] synthesis (samanvaya)-he is an avadhûta-yogin. (21)

  “In yoga … many may take one path as a key in order to experience self-realisation while others take another path, but I say that there is absolutely no difference between the various practices of yoga.”

  —B. K. S. Iyengar, The Tree of Yoga, p. 15

  I. OVERVIEW

  In its oldest known form, Yoga appears to have been the practice of disciplined introspection, or meditative focusing, in conjunction with sacrificial rituals. In this form we meet with Yoga in the four Vedas, the earliest and most treasured sacred scriptures of Hinduism. These four collections of hymns are thought to contain the revealed, or “superhuman” (atimânusha), knowledge of the archaic Sanskrit-speaking civilization of India, known as the Vedic civilization or, more recently, as the Indus-Sârasvatî civilization. The rites of the Vedic priests had to be performed with perfect exactitude, demanding the sacrificer’s utmost concentration, and thus the custodians of the sacred lore had to undergo rigorous mental training. This is one of the taproots of later Yoga, which two or more thousand years later led to the consciousness technology of the Upanishads, the esoteric teachings of those who made meditation their principal approach to enlightenment.

  Out of this Upanishadic Yoga evolved over many centuries an immense body of practices together with more or less elaborate explanations aimed at transcending the human condition. The heritage of Yoga was handed down from teacher to pupil by word of mouth. The Sanskrit term for this transmission of esoteric knowledge is paramparâ, which means literally “one after another” or “succession.” As time progressed, much was added and much was left out or changed. Soon numerous schools had sprung up that represented distinct traditions, within which new splits and reformations took place.

  Thus Yoga is by no means a homogeneous whole. Views and practices vary from school to school or teacher to teacher and sometimes cannot even be reconciled with each other. So, when we speak of Yoga we speak of a multitude of yogic paths and orientations with contrasting theoretical frameworks and occasionally even divergent goals, though all are means to liberation. For instance, the ideal of Râja-Yoga is to recover one’s true Identity as the transcendental Self (purusha) standing eternally apart from the round of Nature, whereas the proclaimed ideal of Hatha-Yoga is to create an immortal body for oneself that permits total mastery of Nature. To give another example, some schools favor the cultivation of paranormal powers (siddhi), whereas others consider them obstacles on the path and exhort practitioners to shun them altogether.

  Despite the colorful diversity within the Yoga tradition, all approaches are agreed on the need for self-transcendence, for going beyond the ordinary personality with its predictable habit patterns. Yoga is indeed the technology of ecstatic transcendence. The differences relate more to the way in which this transcendence is accomplished and how it is conceptualized.

  Historically speaking, the most significant of all schools of Yoga is the classical system of Patanjali, which is also known as the “view of Yoga” (yoga-darshana). This system, which came to be equated with Râja-Yoga, is the formalized résumé of many generations of yogic experimentation and culture. Besides this philosophical school there are numerous nonsystematic Yogas, which are often interwoven with popular beliefs and practices. There also are Yogas within the Jaina and Buddhist spheres of teaching, which are discussed in Chapters 6 and 7.

  Within the realm of Hinduism, six major forms of Yoga have gained prominence. They are Râja-Yoga, Hatha-Yoga, Jnâna-Yoga, Bhakti- Yoga, Karma-Yoga, and Mantra-Yoga. To these must be added Laya-Yoga and Kundalînî-Yoga, which are closely associated with Hatha-Yoga but are often mentioned as independent approaches. These two are also subsumed under Tantra-Yoga.

  The Yoga tradition has not ceased to change and grow, adapting to new sociocultural conditions. This is borne out by Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga, a unique modern approach that is based on traditional Yoga but goes beyond it by favoring an evolutionary synthesis.

  Additionally, we find in the Sanskrit scriptures numerous compound words that end in -yoga. For the most part, these do not stand for independent schools. Rather the word yoga has here the more generic significance of “practice” or “disciplined application.” For instance, the compound buddhi-yoga means the “practice of discriminative knowledge,” and samnyâsa-yoga denotes “the practice of renunciation.” Other instances are dhyâna-yoga (“practice of meditation”), samâdhi- yoga (“practice of ecstasy”), and guru-yoga (“practice that has the spiritual teacher as its focus”). Other compounds represent a more specific orientation, such as nâda-yoga (“Yoga of the inner sound”), kriyâ-yoga (“Yoga of ritual action”), the Vedântic asparsha-yoga (“intangible Yog
a”), and so on. The last-mentioned Yoga, taught in the Mândûkya-Kârikâ, is so called because it consists in the direct contemplation of the intangible Absolute, which is the ever-present foundation of all existence.

  If we liken Yoga to a many-spoked wheel, then the spokes represent the diverse schools and movements of Yoga, the rim symbolizes the moral requirements shared by all types of Yoga, while the hub stands for the ecstatic experience by virtue of which the Yoga practitioner transcends not only his or her own limited consciousness but cosmic existence itself. All authentic forms of Yoga are ways to a single center, the transcendental Reality, which may be defined differently by the various schools.

  There also are yogins who aspire to the realization of states of consciousness that fall short of ultimate transcendence, or who seek to attain paranormal powers rather than enlightenment. Their orientation and teaching is magical rather than psychospiritual, as understood here. There is a strong magical component in the archaic tradition of asceticism (tapas) and also in Tantra, both of which are discussed later. The yogin has always been looked upon as a magus who is endowed with special faculties, notably the ability to bless and to curse effectively. Modern students are apt to dismiss the magical dimension of Yoga, but it is an integral aspect of yogic experience. Why else would Patanjali devote an entire chapter to paranormal powers (siddhi) in his Yoga-Sûtral It is important, though, that we remain sensitive to the distinction between magical purposes and the great work of spiritual transformation, which goes beyond the attainment of paranormal experiences and abilities, just as it goes beyond mere mystical states of consciousness. The goal of authentic spirituality is Self- or God-realization, founded in self-transcendence.

  II. RJA-YOGA-THE RESPLENDENT YOGA OF SPIRITUAL KINGS

  The designation râja-yoga, meaning “royal Yoga,” is a comparatively late coinage that came in vogue in the sixteenth century C.E. It refers specifically to the Yoga system of Patanjali, created in the second century C.E., and is most commonly used to distinguish Patanjali’s eightfold path of meditative introversion from Hatha- Yoga. According to the Yoga-Râja-Upanishad (1-2),1 a late work, there are four kinds of Yoga, namely Mantra- Yoga, Laya-Yoga, Hatha-Yoga, and Râja-Yoga. All are said to include the well-known practices of posture, breath control (here called prâna-samrodha), meditation, and ecstasy.