The Yoga Tradition

by Georg Feuerstein

39. The Sanskrit text uses the poetic expression “waves” (taranga) for “multitudinous.”

  40. The six “modifications” (vikdra) of Nature (prakriti) may be the six bodies (pinda) referred to in the opening chapter of the text. The six bodies are the “transcendental” (para), the “beginningless” (anâdî), the “original” (ddi), the “great form-endowed” (mahâ-sakdra), the “natural” (prakriti), and the “uterine” (garbha) body. The last-mentioned is the physical body, and the preceding bodies are progressively more subtle.

  41. Written parâkâsha.

  42. The “yogic cloth” (yoga-patta) is the knee-band, a piece of cloth that is placed around the lower back and the knees in order to ease postural strain during meditation. A yoga-patta is also mentioned in the Agni-Purâna (90.10) as one of the paraphernalia of the newly-initiated practitioner and then again (204.11) as one of the utensils of the forest-dwelling ascetic (vdna-prastha). According to the Brihad-Yogi-Yâjnavalkya-Samhitd (7.39), the yogin may wear a yoga-patta over his other clothes while doing his ritual ablutions. The yoga-patta is to be distinguished from the yoga-pattaka referred to in Vâcaspati Mishra’s Tattva-Vaishâradî (2.46), which is a kind of armrest, also used in conjunction with meditation to help avoid back strain. A symbolic interpretation of the term yoga-patta is given in the Nirvâna-Upanishad (25), where it is equated with the “vision of the Absolute” (brahma-aloka). In the Shiva-Purâna (6.18.1 Iff.) the term again appears to refer to a complex ritual, which is said to lead to the state of a preceptor, yielding liberation.

  43. It is not clear what the six essences (rasa) are.

  44. The term vajrt is the feminine form of vajrâ and here presumably stands for “ordinary nature,” that is, the unenlightened body-mind. Another possible explanation is that it refers to the veiling power of the kundalinî-shakti. By awakening the shakti and achieving her union with the shiva dimension of existence, the yogin turns the potentially ruinous shakti to his advantage. Instead of ensnaring him in unenlightened existence, this great force dormant at the basal psychoenergetic center becomes the instrument of his liberation.

  Chapter 2: The Wheel of Yoga

  1. The Yoga-Râja-Upanishad (written Yogarajopanishad) is a work of only twenty-one stanzas and primarily describes the nine psychoenergetic centers (cakra) of the body.

  2. Swami Vivekânanda, Râja-Yoga or Conquering the Internal Nature (Calcutta: Advaita shrama, repr. 1962), p. 66.

  3. Ibid., p. 11.

  4. Bubba [Da] Free John, The Enlightenment of the Whole Body (Middletown, Calif.: Dawn Horse Press, 1978), p. 500.

  5. J. W. Hauer, Der Yoga (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag, 1958), p. 271.

  6. The phrase mac-citta or “Me-minded” is composed of mat (“me”) and citta (“mind”). For euphonic reasons, the mat is changed to mac.

  7. N. K. Brahma, Philosophy of Hindu Sâdhana (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1932), p. 137.

  8. Swami Satprakashânanda, Methods of Knowledge (London: Allen & Unwin, 1965), p. 204.

  9. In the Vedânta-Siddhânta-Darshana (190-192), which is a late medieval work, seven stages (bhûmi) of gnosis are mentioned:

  The great seers have spoken of seven stages of wisdom. Of these the first stage of wisdom is designated as “good will” (shub- ha-icchdy, the second is reflection (vicârana); the third is subtlety of mind (tanu-mdnasa) the fourth is the attainment of lucidity (sattva-apatti); the fifth is nonattachment (asamsakti); the sixth is the vanishing of all objects (paddrtha-abhâvant) [in the state of ecstasy]; and the seventh is entrance into the Fourth [i.e., the ultimate Reality beyond waking, dreaming, and sleeping].

  We will encounter these stages again in our discussion of the Yoga-Vâsishtha, which is exclusively devoted to Jnâna-Yoga.

  10. The full text of this prayer, which can be found in the Brihad-ranyaka-Upanishad (1.3.28), runs: Asato ma sad gamâyâ, tamaso ma jyotir gamâyâ, mrityor ma amritam gamâyâ, “From the unreal [or nonbeing] lead me to the Real [or Being]; from darkness lead me to light; from death lead me to immortality.” The phrase ma amritam is written mamritam.

  11. Written bhutâtman.

  12. The term pushkara can be met with already in the oldest Upanishads and is generally thought to be the name of the blue lotus flower. In the Maitrâyaniya-Upanishad (6.2), this lotus flower is identified as the lotus of the heart. In the present text it is equated with the Absolute. The word is derived from the roots push, meaning “to thrive, flourish,” and kri, meaning “to make.”

  13. VSsudeva can mean either “He who has the Vasus for deities” or “Bright God.” This is an epithet of Krishna or Nârâyana.

  14. Confessions 1.1.

  15. See Jiva Gosvâmin’s Shat-Sandarbha, Sanskrit edition (p. 541).

  16. The word dâsya comes from dâsa meaning both “servant” and “slave.”

  17. Written Bhaktirasâmritasindhû. For an English rendering, see Swami B. H. Bon Maharaj, Bhakti-Rasâmrta-Sindhûh, vol. 1 (Vrindâban, India: Institute of Oriental Studies, 1965).

  18. According to a cosmological theory that is upheld by all Yoga schools, Nature is a web woven by three fundamental forces or qualities, which are called sattva, rajas, and tamas. These stand respectively for the principles of lucidity, dynamism, and inertia. Their interaction is responsible for the immense variety of forms in the known universe, and they also underlie our different emotional dispositions. Thus, even our attitude toward the Divine is determined by the predominance of one or another of these three gunas.

  19. S. Dâsgupta, Hindu Mysticism (Chicago: Open Court Publishing, 1927), p. 126.

  20. The earliest history of the Pâncarâtra school or tradition is shrouded in darkness. Even the meaning of the name (“Five Nights”) is unclear. See S. Dâsgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy, vol. 3 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975), pp. 12-62.

  21. The term nirodha is borrowed from Patanjali’s Yoga-Sûtra (1.2) and is given here a new connotation.

  22. The references here are to the story of the foundling who is recognized as the long-lost son of a king, to the wayfarer who returns to his home, and to the hungry man eating his dinner who does not create some new satisfaction but merely appeases his hunger.

  23. In other words, sattva is qualitatively better than rajas, and rajas is better than tamas.

  24. In denouncing the conduct of women as setting a poor example for the devotee, Nârada follows the traditional Hindu stereotype about women. Today, he would perhaps be more specific in his condemnation of immoral or unworthy behavior.

  25. On the innovative teachings of the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, see G. Feuerstein, Wholeness or Transcendence? Ancient Lessons for the Emerging Global Civilization (Burdett, N.Y.: Larson Publications, 1992), pp. 210-230.

  26. E. Wood, Raja Yoga: The Occult Training of the Hindus (Sydney, Australia: Theosophical Publishing House, n.d.), pp. 10-11.

  27. For a fascinating speculative account of the soma plant used in the Vedic ritual, see R. Gordon Wasson, Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1968). Wasson’s identification of the soma plant (which is described in the Vedas as a creeper) with the fly agaric is unconvincing.

  28. J. Woodroffe, The Garland of Letters: Studies in the Mantra-Sastra (Madras, India: Ganesh, 6th ed., 1974), p. 228.

  29. See A. Bharati, The Tantric Tradition (London: Rider, 1965), p. 106.

  30. The Sanskrit edition by Ramkumar Rai misreads jaya for japâ. See S. Rai, editor and translator, Mantra-Yoga-Samhitâ (Varanasi, India: Chaukhambha Orientalia, 1982).

  31. Written aham brahmâsmi.

  32. Svastika-âsana and padma-âsana are respectively written svastikasam and padmâsana.

  33. Yaga is a synonym of yajna.

  34. S. S. Goswami, Layayoga (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980), p. 68.1 have simplified the transliteration of Sanskrit terms in this quote.

  35. Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, vol. 1 (Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, repr. 1977), pp. 23.

  36. Ibid., p
. 23.

  37. Ibid, p. 23. The verticalist approach was established prior to Buddhism, which is often wrongly blamed for introducing a life-negative orientation into India’s spiritual heritage. Buddhism, like Hinduism, includes verticalist and horizontalist, as well as integral currents.

  38. [Manibhai, ed.], A Practical Guide to Integral Yoga: Extracts Compiled from the Writings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother (Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, repr. 1976), p. 31.

  39. Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, vol. 1, p. 174.

  40. Sri Aurobindo, Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on The Mother (Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1953), pp. 154—155.

  41. H. Chaudhûri, “The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo,” in H. Chaudhûri and F. Spiegelberg, eds., The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo: A Commemorative Symposium (London: Allen & Unwin, 1960), p. 17.

  Chapter 3: Yoga and Other Hindu Traditions

  1. The word yajnopavita is composed of yajna (“sacrifice” or “sacrificial”) and upavita (“thread”). The cord consists of three threads made of nine twisted strands each. The materials are cotton, hemp, and wool for brahmins, kshatriyas, and vaishyas respectively.

  2. See G. Feuerstein, S. Kak, andD. Frawley, In Search of the Cradle of Civilization: New Light on Ancient India (Wheaton, 111.: Quest Books, 1996).

  3. See N. S. Rajaram and D. Frawley, Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization: A Literary and Scientific Perspective (New Delhi: Voice of India, 1995).

  4. C. G. Jung, Psychology and the East (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1978), p. 57. First published 1938.

  5. C. G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul (New York: Harvest Books, 1933), pp. 215-216.

  6. An exception is the work of F. E. Pargiter, Ancient Indian Historical Tradition (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, repr. 1972). First published 1922.

  7. For a translation of hymn 10.129, see Chapter 4.

  8. M. S. Bhat, Vedic Tantrism: A Study of the Rgvidhàna ofSaunaka with Text and Translation (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987), places the Rig-Vidhàtia in the fifth century B.C.E., which may be too late. Shaunaka lived during the Vedic Age, and, unless we assume that the text is a late attribution, we must trace the original back to that early period. There is no question that the present version of the Rig-Vidhdna contains terms and ideas that do not belong to the Vedic Era, but there may well be an old nucleus on mantric magic that stems from that formative period.

  9. See T. S. Anantha Murthy, Maharaj: A Biography ofShriman Tapasviji Maharaj, a Mahatma Who Lived for 185 Years (San Rafael, Calif.: Dawn Horse Press, 1972). Foreword, entitled “Penance and Enlightenment,” by Georg Feuerstein.

  10. J. F. Sprockhoff, Samnyàsa: Quellenstudien zurAskese im Hinduismus. Vol. 1 : Untersuchungen iiber die Samnyàsa-Upanisads (Wiesbaden, Germany: Kommissionsverlag Franz Steiner, 1976), p. 2.

  11. See G. Feuerstein, Wholeness or Transcendence? Ancient Lessons for the Emerging Global Civilization (Burdett, N.Y.: Larson Publications, 1992).

  12. Mauna also means “silence.”

  13. S. Râdhâkrishnân, Indian Philosophy (New York: Macmillan; London: Allen & Unwin, 1951), vol. 2, p. 429.

  14. Some scholars date Shankara to c. 650 C.E., which seems very likely.

  15. M. Muller, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1916), p. 263.

  16. Self-actualization refers to the realization of our potential for such higher moral values as self-transcendence, love, compassion, integrity, creativity, and wholeness. See A. Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1971).

  17. D. Frawley, yurveda and the Mind (Twin Lakes, Wis.: Lotus Press, 1996), p. 5.

  18. Some modern yur-Vedic specialists object to translating the three humors as “wind,” “bile,” and “phlegm” respectively. They argue that these terms are misleading because vàia, pitta, and kapha refer to whole functional systems of the body-mind. Thus, vàta is responsible for all sensory and motor activities; pitta is responsible for all biochemical activities; and kapha underlies skeletal and anabolic processes. It is obvious that the three doshâs are related to the three gunas—sattva, rajas, and tamas.

  19. See R. E. Svoboda, yurveda: Life, Health and Longevity (New York: Arkana, 1992), p. 66.

  20. An herbal concoction taken via the nose.

  21. K. V. Zvelebil, The Poets of the Powers: Magic, Freedom, and Renewal (Lower Lake, Calif.: Integral Publishing, 1993), p. 123.

  22. Two excellent books on Ganesha are John A. Grimes, Ganapati: Song of the Self (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995) and Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Loving Ganesa: Hinduism’s Endearing Elephant-Faced God (Kapaa, Hawaii: Himalayan Academy, 1996).

  23. The Devì-Bhàgavata was very probably composed one or two centuries after the Bhàgavata-Puràna, which belongs to the tenth century C.E. An earlier text of Devî worship is the Devî-Mahàtmya, which is quoted in full in the Devî-Bhàgavata and has been tentatively dated to the sixth century C.E.

  PART TWO: PRE-CLASSICAL YOGA

  Chapter 4: Yoga in Ancient Times

  1. K. Jaspers, Way to Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy (New Haven, Ct./London: Yale University Press, 1954), p. 96.

  2. See K. Jaspers, Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte (Frankfurt: Fischer Bucherei, 1955).

  3. See J. Gebser, The Ever-Present Origin (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1986).

  4. See G. Feuerstein, Wholeness or Transcendence? Ancient Lessons for the Emerging Global Civilization (Burdett, N.Y.: Larson Publications, 1992).

  5. See M. Harner, The Way of the Shaman (New York: Harper & Row, 1980); J. Halifax, Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives (New York: Dutton, 1979).

  6. This psychohistorical movement from the mythical structure of consciousness toward the mental structure is explained in G. Feuerstein, Structures of Consciousness (Lower Lake, Calif.: Integral Publishing, 1987).

  7. Even the Buddhist ideal of the bodhisattva (“enlightenment being”), who vows to liberate all sentient beings, is not strictly speaking a social ideal. The bodhisattva is not a social-welfare worker but a spiritual aspirant or an adept whose only purpose is the spiritual welfare of others.

  8. M. Eliade, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973), p. 320. See also his Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1972).

  9. See F. Goodman, Where the Spirits Ride the Wind (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1990); see also B. Gore, Ecstatic Body Postures: An Alternate Reality Book (Santa Fe, N.M.: Bear & Co., 1995).

  10. R. Walsh, The Spirit of Shamanism (Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher, 1990), p. 10.

  11. See, e.g., T. McEvilley, “An Archaeology of Yoga,” Res, vol. 1 (spring 1981), pp. 44-77, for a review of yogic elements in the so-called Indus civilization. McEvilley, however, still employs the outdated dichotomy between intrusive Aryan and native Dravidian cultures.

  12. See G. Feuerstein, S. Kak, and D. Frawley, In Search of the Cradle of Civilization: New Light on Ancient India (Wheaton, 111.: Quest Books, 1995).

  13. See C. Renfrew, Archaeology & Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).

  14. See A. Seidenberg, “The Origin of Mathematics,” Archive for History of Exact Sciences, vol. 18 (1978), pp. 301-342.

  15. The Shulba-Sûtras are part of the Vedic Kalpa-Sûtra literature and deal with construction of sacrificial altars.

  16. S. Piggott, Prehistoric India (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1950), p. 138. See also B. Allchin and R. Allchin, The Birth of Indian Civilization: India and Pakistan Before 500 B.C. (Hannondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1968); J. Marshall, Mohenjo Daro and the Indus Civilization (London: Arthur Probsthain, 1931), 3 vols.; and R. E. Mortimer Wheeler, Civilizations of the Indus Valley and Beyond (London: Thames & Hudson, 1966).

  17. The words bhadra-âsana and goraksha-âsana are w
ritten bhadrâsana and gorakshâsana respectively.

  18. See S. N. Dâsgupta, Hindu Mysticism (Chicago, 111.: Open Court Publishing, 1927).

  19. J. Miller, The Vedas: Harmony, Meditation and Fulfilment (London: Rider, 1974), p. 132.

  20. Further references can be found in T. G. Mainkar, Mysticism in the Rgveda (Bombay: Popular Book Depot, 1961).

  21. V.S. Agrawala, The Thousand-Syllabled Speech. Vol. 1: Vision in Long Darkness (Varanasi, India: Vedaranyaka Ashram, 1963), p. i.

  22. See especially Sri Aurobindo, On the Veda (Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1956) and D. Frawley, Hymns from the Golden Age: Selected Hymns from the Rig Veda with Yogic Interpretation (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1986).

  23. J. Miller, op. cit., p. 45.

  24. Ibid., p. 49.

  25. Ibid., p. 97.

  26. See, e.g., D. Frawley, Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization (Salt Lake City, Utah: Passage Press, 1991), pp. 203ff.

  27. D. Frawley, Hymns from the Golden Age, p. 10.

  28. Ibid., p. 10.

  29. Sri Aurobindo, On the Veda, p. 384.

  30. See S. Kak, The Astronomical Code of the Rgveda (New Delhi: Aditya Prâkâshan, 1994).

  31. It is important to realize that the rishis included nonbrahmins such as the kshatriyas Manu and Pururavas Aila, as well as the vaishyas Bhalandana, Vatsa, and Sankila.

  32. The meaning of the word marmrishat is not clear. It is here translated as “most worthy.” The Sanskrit commentators think it refers to God Indra.

  33. The Sanskrit text is very obscure here, which is reflected in the translation.

  34. The name Vakreshvarf is derived from vakra (“crooked”) and ishvari, which is the feminine form of îshvara (“lord”).

  35. This last verse also is found in Rig-Veda 1.164.31. The inner meaning of the words sadhricih and vishucih is obscure, here rendered as “convergent [forces]” and “divergent [forces]” respectively. On one level, the sun-bird’s rays radiate downward in one direction—toward the earth—but also spread out to illuminate the entire space. On the spiritual level, undoubtedly a similar principle pertains, whereby the intuitive flashing-forth is both highly focused, and yet all-illuminating, since it affects the whole body-mind.