The Yoga Tradition

by Georg Feuerstein

  It was at age fifteen that Jnânadeva composed, in honor of his guru and brother Nivritti Nâtha, his famous poetic Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad-Gîtâ that has been treasured as much for the depth of its wisdom as its stylistic beauty. This extensive commentary of nearly nine thousand verses was delivered orally spontaneously by him chapter after chapter and was only subsequently written down. It has two titles: Bhâva-Artha-Dîpikâ (“Light on the Original Meaning,” written Bhâvârthadipikâ) and, more simply, Jnâneshvarî (from the words jnâna or “wisdom” and ishvari or “female ruler”). Jnânadeva’s friend and disciple Nâmadeva of Pandharpur, the author of many devotional works, spoke of the Jnâneshvarî as “a wave of brahmic bliss.”

  At the behest of his brother- guru, he also composed the Amrita-Anubhâva (“Experience of Immortality,” written Amritânu- bhâva), which has been called the greatest philosophical work in the Marathi language. Another work, the Changadeva- Pâsashthi, was composed as an instructional poem for the yogin Changadeva, who had been proud of his magical powers but had discovered humility when sitting at Jnânadeva’s feet. Additionally, there are about nine hundred devotional hymns (abhanga) attributed to Jnânadeva.

  Jnânadeva was not only a realized master and poetic genius but also a miracle worker, who, among other things, is said to have made a buffalo recite verses from the Rig-Veda and to have brought the saintly Saccidânanda Baba back to life. Yet, such feats meant nothing to him compared with his love for the Divine and his teacher. At only twenty-one years of age, he had himself buried alive to exit this world while immersed in deep meditation. His samâdhi site in Alandi continues to attract pilgrims.

  His Jnâneshvarî (6.192-317), among other things, includes a remarkable description of the kundalinî process as taught in early Nâthism. For him, the awakening of this formidable power locked in the human body was intimately connected with guru-yoga, the spiritual discipline of honoring the teacher as an embodiment of the Divine. He begins Chapter 15 with the following words:

  Now I shall place my guru’s feet on the altar of my heart. (1)

  Pouring my senses as flowers into the cupped hands of the experience of union with the Supreme, I offer a handful of these at his feet. (2)

  Jnânadeva’s philosophy was firmly rooted in his personal spiritual realization. He rejected Shankara’s mâyâ-vâda (which regards objective reality as illusory), and instead taught that the notion that the world’s appearance is due to ignorance (avidyâ) is itself illusory. Rather, he tells us, the world is1 divine play, and its cause is none other than the Supreme itself. Instead of being merely an illusion that deludes people, the universe is an expression of divine love. Similarly, the individuated psyche (jîva) is not, as Shankara insisted, “mere appearance” but a necessary manifestation of the ultimate Reality, which experiences its own delight in the mirror of creation. Consequently, for Jnânadeva, the purpose of human life is not liberation—in the sense of escaping from a merely illusory world—but moment-to-moment realization of the presence of the Divine in and as one’s body-mind.

  Another celebrated Maharashtrian saint is Eka Nâth (1533 or 1548-1599 C.E.), who was orphaned at an early age and brought up by his grandparents. At the age of twelve, following an inner voice, he secretly left his home to become a disciple of Janârdana Svâmin, with whom he lived for six years. Later he was married, but he maintained a rather formal relationship with his wife and insisted that one should keep a distance from all women other than one’s wife. He was a man of tremendous self-control and patience and had a keen sense of the equality of all people. He created a voluminous spiritual literature, including commentaries on the eleventh chapter of the Bhâgavata-Purâna and on the first forty- four chapters of the Râmâyana, as well as numerous devotional hymns.

  Eka Nâtha was a true bhakta who shed tears of joy in the state of ecstatic union with the Beloved. In one of his abhangas, he speaks of having discovered the “eye of the eye” and his entire body being endowed with vision. His love for the Divine was inseparable from his love for his guru, and in all his songs of praise he joins his own name to that of Janârdana to honor the eternal bond between them. For him, a God-realized sage, all distinction between worshiper and worshiped had ceased. There was only the One.

  In the seventeenth century, the Maharashtrian bhakti movement produced the saintly figure of Tukârâma (1598?-1650? C.E.), who was born into a poor family of fanners. He experienced every conceivable hardship, for which he was, however, grateful, as it kept him humble and open to the Divine. According to one traditional account, he ascended to heaven in Christlike fashion.

  He was greatly influenced by Jnânadeva but reflected more the emotional approach of Nâmadeva, which is expressed in his many popular abhangas. His inspired poetic creations were on everyone’s lips, but his success among the ordinary people filled the local intelligentsia with envy. One of his enemies went so far as to throw all his abhangas into the river. Distraught by this callous act, Tukârâma started a rigorous fast to learn directly from the Beloved whether he was to desist from composing further songs. After thirteen days of abstaining from both food and water, he was granted the assuring vision. His troubles in the village continued, however. One of his revilers even poured boiling water on him, which caused him great agony but did not deter him from practicing forgiveness and patience. As fate would have it, sometime later the same man suffered from a seemingly incurable and very painful illness. In the end, he had to ask for Tukârâma’s help, which was promptly given. The saint composed a special abhanga for the sinner, which immediately healed him.

  Tukârâma observed only two vows: to fast on ekâ-dashî day and to always sing God’s praise. Tukârâma, who lived during troubled times, exhorted his disciples to become heroic warriors on the spiritual battlefield. He had many disciples who were distinguished for their own spiritual realization and literary creativity.

  Another great Maharashtrian saint is Râmadâsa (1608-1681 C.E.), who practiced twelve years of severe austerities before he had his longed-for vision of Râma. He had numerous disciples, including King Shivajî, who carried the bhakti tradition into the eighteenth century.

  VII. THE MINSTREL-SAINTS OF MEDIEVAL BENGAL

  Ever since the time of the Buddha, Bengal has been a country of spiritual, intellectual, and artistic creativity. In medieval times, Bengal was an unparalleled melting pot for both Tantra—notably in the form of the Sahajîyâ mysticism—and the movement of devotionalism (bhakti-mârga). One of its great scions was Jayâdeva, the twelfth-century author of the Gîta-Govinda mentioned earlier. Two centuries later, it produced the ecstatic poet Candîdâs, who is considered the father of Bengali poetry. His love songs featuring Lord Krishna and his beloved Râdhâ are sung in the Bengali villages to this day.

  Candîdâs is also still famous for the scandal he caused when he, a brahmin by birth, fell head over heels in love with the low-born washer maid Râmî. It was this passionate human love that fueled Candîdâs’s spiritual poetry, making his poems masterworks of Bhakti-Yoga. He sings of Râdhâ’s overwhelming love for Krishna, who makes her tremble with excitement and whose divine flute produces such enchanting music that she cannot seal her ears or shield her heart from the notes. Râdhâ is, of course, a symbol of the poet’s own intense passion for the Divine.

  In the fifteenth century, Shrî Caitanya, who is counted among the five great preceptors of Vaishnavism, preached the gospel of ecstatic love throughout Bengal. His missionary travels even took him to the extreme South of the Indian peninsula. Though renowned as a Vedânta scholar, Caitanya left a mere eight verses of devotion and instruction to his followers—a composition known as the Shikshâ-Ashtaka. Caitanya’s teaching is the foundation for the contemporary Krishna Consciousness movement, which was established in America in 1965 by the then seventy- year-old Shrila Prabhupada, also known as A. C. Bhaktivedânta Swami (1896-1977).

  Shrila Prabhupada belonged to the Bengali Gaudîya lineage that traces its origin back to
Madhva and even to early Vedic times. After Madhva and Caitanya, who infused it with the lifeblood of spiritual realization, the greatest luminary of this lineage was his chief disciple, Jîva Gosvâmin. He authored the Shad- Sandarbha, which seeks to explain the Bhâgavata-Purâna from an esoteric point of view, and the Tattva- Sandarbha, which is a philosophical introduction to the former work, as well as twenty-three additional books. The Gaudîya lineage has produced many other works, all of which extol the ideal of bhakti.

  Many other devotional poets followed in the footsteps of Caitanya and his predecessors. Among them are the Bauls of modern Bengal, who consider themselves madmen (kshepa). The name Baul is said to derive from the Sanskrit term vâtula, meaning “madness.” The Bauls’ madness is of the ecstatic variety, and their only concern is to inwardly delight in the presence of the Divine and to outwardly give witness to their love-devotion through song and dance. The Bauls include women ecstatics, notably the twentieth-century “mothers” Anandamayi Ma, Arcanapuri Ma, Lakshmi Ma, and Yogeshvari Ma. The contemporary Western teacher Lee Lozowick also has modeled his lifestyle and teaching after the love-mad eccentric ways of the Bauls.7

  In India there is also a group of Moslem Bauls, who are known as Auls (from the Arabic word awliya, meaning “proximity” to God). The distinction between the Hindu and the Muslim Bauls (who are Sufis) is very fluid and is even denied altogether by some of them—a fitting demonstration of the essential truth of the bhakti movement that the Lord is one and exists for all people.

  VIII. POPULAR LOVE MYSTICISM OF THE NORTH

  A portrayal of the bhakti movement, however brief, would be incomplete without mentioning the North Indian saints Kabîr, Mîrâ Bâî, Tulsî Dâs, and Sur Dâs, who inspired many generations of pious Hindus with their mystical poetry.

  Kabîr, the son of a Muslim weaver, spent his youth in the sacred Hindu city of Benares (Varanasi). His date of birth and year of death are uncertain. Some scholars favor 1398 to 1448 C.E., while others espouse 1440 to 1518 C.E. or similar dates. Early on, Kabîr cherished recitation (japa) of the divine name of Râma, which angered both his fellow Muslims and his Hindu contemporaries. In time, however, Kabîr became a lasting symbol of tolerance. According to one tradition, Kabîr was a disciple of Râmânanda, who was a pupil of the famous South Indian master Râmânuja. It is clear from his poetry, however, that he also was greatly influenced by Sufism, which had taken firm root in India by the beginning of the thirteenth century C.E. This influence is best seen in Kabîr’s rejection of all religious images.

  Kabîr was a spirited spokesman for simple and direct devotion to the Divine who never failed to point out the inherent limitation of all external or conventional religious forms. He regarded himself as “Râma’s wife” or “God’s bride,” yet he was eager to emphasize that Râma (Hindi: Ram) was not an exclusively Hindu deity. Hence, he used many other names for the Divine in his poetry. For him God was undefinable and unknowable, beyond the reach of doctrines and dogmas. Kabîr insisted, however, that God could be realized within oneself when one knows how to “turn the key to the tenth door.” The “tenth door”—as opposed to the nine portals (openings) of the human body through which consciousness flows outward— is located in the middle of the head. This locus also is known as the “third eye.”

  Kabîr’s poetry, written in Hindi, is unsophisticated, yet powerful and penetrating. A large number of his poems and utterances were compiled in 1570 C.E. by one of his followers under the title Bîjak. Many of these creations were included in the di-Granth, the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, whose spirituality is briefly introduced in Chapter 16.

  Another great and much-loved poet-saint of that era is Mîrâ Bâî, a Rajput princess, who probably lived from 1498 to 1546 C.E. Her spiritual aspiration was awakened by the death of her parents and husband in short succession. It led her to adopt the itinerant life of a bhakti minstrel. Her chosen deity was Lord Krishna, in whom she put her faith completely. She pictures herself sporting with him in the mystical region of Vrindâvana as one of his shepherdesses (gopi). Rich in imagery and metaphor, Mîrâ Bâî’s songs of love-devotion are highly lyrical and designed to awaken in others the same intense longing for Krishna.

  A generation later, Tulsî Dâs (1532-1623 C.E.) sang the glory of God in the form of Râma. Followers of Râmânanda rescued him from the life of a street urchin, and he became a much-loved composer of many popular Hindu poems in honor of God Râma. He created a much-celebrated vernacular version of the Râmâyana epic, known as the Râma-Carita Mânasa (“Lake of Râma’s Life”).

  A contemporary of Tulsî Dâs and rivaling him in fame was Sur Dâs. Like the Greek Homer he was born blind, yet his love poetry dedicated to Krishna bespeaks his visionary genius. His poetic creations have been collected in the Sur Sâgar (“Sur’s Ocean”), a massive work containing over five thousand poems in one edition, though several thousand more bear his name. Tradition remembers Sur Dâs as a truly inspired and prolific poet, yet undoubtedly not all the poems ascribed to him are actually from his pen.

  Northern India has produced many other poet- saints representing the passionate path of Bhakti- Yoga revolving around the worship of God Vishnu in one of his manifestations—too many inspired poet-saints to mention here individually.

  “One should fortify the Veda by means of the Itihâsas [popular story collections] and the Purânas, for the Veda shrinks back from the untutored who might damage it.”

  —Vayu-Purâna (1.201)

  I. THE NAKED ASCETIC

  One upon a time, God Shiva, in the youthful guise of the skull-carrying naked ascetic Kâlabhairava, was wandering in the Devadâru forest. He was accompanied by his spouse Sâtî and God Vishnu in human form. The forest was inhabited by many saints, seers, and sages and their families. Wherever Kâlabhairava went, the women became so infatuated with him that they ripped off their clothes, touched him, embraced him, and followed him around. The young men were similarly affected by him. The holy men, however, were infuriated by the stranger’s outrageous demeanor and his magical effect on their women and sons. They demanded that he cover his genitals and start doing real penance (tapas). Using their store of psychic power gathered over decades of fierce austerities, they repeatedly cursed Kâlabhairava. Yet their curses bounced back “like starlight falling upon the sun’s brightness,” without doing any damage whatsoever. Furious about their failure, they started to beat the naked ascetic with sticks, and he had to flee.

  Then Kâlabhairava and his entourage arrived at the hermitage of Sage Vashishtha, where he begged for alms. The sage’s wife, Arundhatî, approached the visitor with great reverence, wanting to feed him. But again Kâlabhairava was driven away by the holy men of the area. They shouted after him that he should tear out his penis so that it could not offend people any longer. Without hesitation, Kâlabhairava tore out his genitals—and instantly vanished. Suddenly the entire world was plunged into darkness, and the earth quaked.

  At last it dawned on the seers and sages that Kâlabhairava was none other than God Shiva himself, and they were overcome with shame and terror. Upon the advice of Brahma, the Creator of the universe, they sought Shiva’s forgiveness by worshiping his symbol (linga), the principle of creativity. In due course, Shiva returned to the forest and revealed to the penitent sages the secrets of the Yoga of the Lord of Beasts (pâshupâta-yoga).

  This story, which is told in the Kûrma-Purâna (chapter 2), is typical of the legendary materials with which the Purâna literature abounds. These stories were intended for the ears of the rural folk, and they never failed to entertain and edify, as well as to explain the sacred practices and ideas of those who had dedicated their lives to the pursuit of liberation or paranormal powers, as the case may be.

  II. YOGIC TEACHINGS IN THE PURANIC ENCYCLOPEDIAS

  The Purânas are popular encyclopedias in the rambling style of the Mahâbhârata epic, though they are somewhat more structured. The word purâna itself simply means “ancient” and here denotes an
age-old narrative; it refers to the contents of these narratives, which deal with the origins of things—from genealogies of royal families to the genealogy of the universe itself. The Purânas are a mixture of myth and history, tradition and innovation.

  The Purânic lore extends back to Vedic times, when the Purânas were still memorized and orally transmitted rather than written down. However, a reference in the Atharva-Veda (11.7.24) suggests that already at that early time there might have been written works going by the name of Purâna. They are sometimes regarded as a fifth Veda, which indicates the high esteem in which they were once held. Originally they were transmitted by storytellers (suta) outside the brahmanical orthodox circles, but over the centuries became increasingly the property of brahmin families specializing in their recitation. In some respects, the Purânas were to the general public what the Vedas and Brâhmanas were to the Vedic priestly families. Their mythology depended to some degree on Vedic mythology but followed its own course of evolution; and today, while traditional Hindus scarcely remember the myths and legends of the Veda, they are steeped in the richly imaginative world of the Purânic legends.

  None of the earliest compositions of this literary genre have survived, but very probably some of their ancient teachings are remembered in the eighteen great Purânas that are extant today. The oldest of these texts, however, appear to have been created only in the early centuries of the first millennium C.E. Some—like the important Bhâgavata-Purâna—are still later compositions. All of these works undoubtedly contain material from various periods, and all are traditionally said to have been authored by Sage Vyâsa (“Arranger”), who also is credited with having collected the four Vedic Samhitâs. According to the Vishnu-Purâna (3.6), Vyâsa compiled the so-called Purâna-Samhitâ from various ancient tales and then passed it on to his disciple Romaharshana. He, in turn, imparted it to his disciples Kashyapa, Sâvami, and Shâmsapâyana, each of whom created his own text.