Yoga: From Pre-Aryan to Vedic and Post-Vedic Period

Like all other sciences, philosophies and cultures of the world, Yoga is the theory and
practice for understanding and realisation of the ultimate truth and reality concerning man,
the world and the relationship between them. Though the objectives of Yoga coincide with
the quest of other branches of knowledge, Yoga’s uniqueness lies in the fact that it has
typically Indian origin. According to Ramakrishna Puligandla it is a mistaken belief that
Yoga “sprang from the Vedic culture of the Aryans, its roots are to be found in the Dravidian
culture of pre-Aryan India”1. This conclusion is based on the discovery of a plastic prototype
icon of Lord Siva in the posture of a Yogin in the excavations in Mohenjo-Daro. Stuart
Piggot, an authority on pre-historic India, in his famous and by now regarded as the
authoritative book Prehistoric India2 describes the icon as that of ‘great god Shiva as Lord of
the Beasts and Prince of Yogis’. Taking a clue from Piggot, Mircea Eliade in his work Yoga:
Immortality and Freedom3 infers “the absence of the Yoga complex from other Indo-
European groups confirms the supposition that this technique is a creation of the Asian
continent, of the Indian soil”. However, the credit for integrating the Yoga philosophy and
practices to the Vedic wisdom goes to the Aryans.
The term ‘yoga’ is first mentioned in the Rig Veda. In the Rig Veda it is used “In
various senses such as yoking or harnessing, achieving the unachieved, connections and the
like”4. It is used in the same sense in Shatpatha Brahmana and Brihadranayak Upanishad.
The term is primarily used in the sense of yoking or harnessing as that of steeds but in
the yoga literature it is used in the sense of restraint of the senses. Though the rudimentary
methods of Yogic self-concentration are found in satipatthana sutra - the oldest Buddhist
canon, it is only in the Maitrayani Upanishad that we find its systematic account. Aitreya
Aranyaka too has a detailed analysis of Prana and the methods of its preservation. The
principles of Yoga are also found in Svetasvatar and Kathopanishad. A perusal of “such
Yoga Upanishads as Shandilya Yogatattava, Dhyanbindu, Hamsa, Amritananda, Vraha,
Mandella Brahmana, Nadabindu, and Yogakundali, shows that the Yoga practices had
undergone diverse changes in diverse schools . . . Yoga practices grew in accordance with the
doctrines of the Saivas and Shaktas and assumed a particular form as the Mantrayoga; they
grew in another direction as the Hathayoga. The practice of Hathayoga was supposed to
produce mystic and magical feats through constant practices of elaborate nervous exercises,
which were also associated with healing and other supernatural powers” 5. The supernatural
powers are ashta siddhis and nav nidhis. Lord Hanumana has gained all of them. According
to Kashmir Saivism the realisation that Shiva and Shakti are identical, one and the same is
itself Yoga. Pratibhigya philosophy believes that Yoga is the realisation that Shiva and
Ashok Vohra Yoga: From pre-Vedic to Vedic and Post Vedic Period

Atman are inseparable. Yogavasishtha describes yoga as “the technique of liberation from the
world”.
A completely systematic account of Yogic method, its theory and practice is found in
the Patanjali’s Yogasutra. Vyasa’s commentary on the Yogasutras is called Yoga Bhashya,
This commentary was in turn commented upon Vacaspati Misra. The commentary is called
Tattva-vaishardi. Bhojraja’s Yoga sutra vritti and Vijanabhikshu’s Yoga sara samgrah
represent other expositions and interpretations of Yoga. However, Patanjali according to the
famous commentators Vachaspati and Vijanabhikshu cannot be regarded as the propounder
or founder of yoga philosophy and practices; he can at the best be regarded as the compiler of
the material already available to him. He can at the most be regarded as an efficient editor, as
the one whose chief task is systematic organisation and classification of the available material
from different sources. This contention is also supported by the fact that the Yogasutras do
not start with a purvapaksha and there is no zeal as is found in the other schools and traditions
for critically examining and overthrowing the doctrines of other systems.
The term yoga in the Sanskrit language has varied usages. The Sanskrit lexicon lists
more than forty usages. For example, it is used in the sense of a command in the army to be
armed, be prepared for war (sannahan; Yogo yogah); it is also used to refer to a solution
(upaya); a vaidya’s (doctor’s) prescription is also called yoga (ityeko yoga; iti dwitiyo yogah)
that is yoga refers to a method of curing illness; it is also used to refer to dhyana (meditation);
in another common usage yoga refers to argument and logic. Nevertheless, the underlying
common factor in all these usages is sangam or sanyoga– the unification of two or more
things or qualities. For instance, a soldier’s unification or wearing the armour; the unification
of medicine and the disease; the unification of chitta – consciousness with its object etc.
Depending upon the nature of the objective there are different kinds of yoga one has
to practise. The nature of the objective determines the nature of the method one has to
choose. The means, therefore, for achieving the chosen end can be either mental or physical
or a combination of the two in proper proportion. To attain long and healthy life one has to
adopt the techniques prescribed by Hathayoga. To win over one’s wayward senses one has to
perform Rajayoga. Likewise one may choose other kinds of yoga like karmayoga,
Bhaktiyoga, Jnanayoga, Mantrayoga, Layayoga, Samkhyayoga, Kriyayoga, Dhyanayoga,
Brahmayoga, Mokshayoga, Vibhutiyoga, Purushottamyoga, Prakrit-Purushayoga,
Vijanayoga, Rajadhirajyoga et al. Rajyoga is regarded as the most superior of all kinds of
yogas as it helps one to control one’s mind and increase its prowess. Swami Vivekananda like
many other practicing yogis ragards Rajayoga as the superiormost kind of yoga. Its main
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Ashok Vohra Yoga: From pre-Vedic to Vedic and Post Vedic Period

purpose is to purge the mind (citta which is the complex conglomerate of buddhi, ahamkara
and manas) of all its inclinations to the worldly pleasures and objects and obtain liberation –
kaivalya. One whose citta is stable and unwavering is able to understand the subtlest of the
subjects and is able to achieve his goals. It is reached when one transgresses one’s ignorance
about the nature of self. When one realises that the ‘self is immortal, all-pervading and
absolutely independent’ of the clutches of Prakriti he becomes one with the absolute. The self
is itself purusa – the pure consciousness. Such knowledge is different from discursive
knowledge for example common sense and scientific knowledge or what is called aprama in
that it is not based on inference and/or testimony. Patanjali makes distinction between para
and apara vidya - knowledge thus: “the knowledge based on inference or testimony is
different from direct knowledge obtained in the higher states of consciousness because it (the
former) is confined to a particular object or aspect” (Yogasutras, I.49). According to him
para vidya is based on direct cognition (prajna) – intuition. Yogic knowledge is therefore
purely intuitive and non-conceptual. It is non-rational. However, being ‘non-rational’ does
not mean that it is irrational. While irrational means the kind of knowledge which is outside
the gamut or even opposed to reason and intellect; while being non-rational means the kind of
knowledge which is outside the province of reason and intellect. It is explained by
Wittgenstein by raising the question ‘Is a meter’s length one meter?’ So one can conclude
that yogic knowledge – or apara knowledge is radically different from conceptual, mediated
intellectual knowledge. It is not necessarily opposed to reason and intellect; it transcends
reason and intellect. It is to use Russelian term ‘knowledge by acquaintance’ and not
‘knowledge by description’.
According to Patanjali to obtain such a mindset and knowledge one has to follow
astanga yoga marg (eight fold path). The prescribed eight steps or angas for a practitioner
are: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayam, Pratyahar, Dharna, Dhyana and Samadhi. The
practice of the first two leads to the elimination of uncontrolled desires and passions. Asnas
and Pranayam help one to have a healthy and stable body which in turn results in elimination
of physical disorders and disturbances. The practice of Pratyahara helps one to detach one’s
senses from mind. This helps the mind to be cut off from the external world. Thus mind
becomes free from sense impressions. Freed from physical ailments and mental aversions the
yogi is free to enter the three stages of concentration viz. Dharna – “confining of the mind
within a limited mental area (object of concentration)” (Yogasutra, III.1), Dhyana –
uninterrupted contemplation towards the chosen object of meditation (Cf. Yogasutra III.2)
and Samadhi – “the consciousness only of the object of meditation and not himself”
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Ashok Vohra Yoga: From pre-Vedic to Vedic and Post Vedic Period

(Yogasutra III.3). These three stages are clubbed by Patanjali under the head Samyama. At
this stage one must make a distinction between Sushupti and Nirvikalapak Samadhi. In both
there is no consciousness of any object. In Sushupti there is no awareness of Brhaman or any
of its form; in Samadhi the antakarna or mind is conscious of the Brahman and its form but is
not aware of the vritti – fluctuation. In Sushupti the sitting or standing person falls down but
not so in Samadhi.
The practice of the eightfold path synthesised with Sraddha (absolute and complete
faith, devotion and confidence), Virya (strength of purpose and execution) and prajna
(wisdom) takes one to the stage of Kaivalya. The practice of the path yields quicker
concentration and meditation only when the practice of these angas becomes abhyasa – habit
with the practioner. It is worth noting that Maitrayana Upanishad the path consisted of six
angas viz., Pranayam, Pratyahar, Dharna, Dhyana, Tarka and Samadhi.
In Samadhi “the five instruments of knowledge stand still together with the mind” and
“the intellect does not move, that is called the highest state”. Once one achieves this stage for
him the modifications of the mind cease to be. There is complete “fusion or entire absorption
in one another of the cognisor, cognition, and cognised” (Yogasutra, I.41) . It is at this stage
that a yogi though agreeing with Kant that the intellectual, perceptual and conceptual
knowledge is that of phenomena only, disagrees with him in that man cannot know the
phenomena. Whereas Kant6 argues “Even if we could bring our intuition to the highest
degrees of clearness, we should thereby come any nearer to the constitution of objects in
themselves (noumena). We should still know only our mode of intuition, that is, our
sensibility”. A yogin rejects Kant’s view in its totality and claims that one can know the
noumena through yogic practices.
It is because of its pragmatic nature that Yoga is universally accepted by all those
orthodox and heterodox schools of Indian Philosophy which are concerned with the liberation
of mankind. Therefore, with the exception of Charvaka school all schools – Jainism,
Buddhism, Nayay, Vaisesika, Mimamsa and of course Samkhya - recommend the practice of
Yoga. Because of its practical approach to both the material (welfare of the body) and the
spiritual (liberation) matters one can conclude with the aphorism 1.67 of Yogashikha
Upanishad viz., Verily, there is no merit higher than Yoga, no good higher than yoga, No
subtlety higher than Yoga; there is nothing that is higher than yoga.

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1
Fundamentals of Indian Philosophy, DK Printworld, New Delhi, 1997, p. 145.
2
Penguin Books, Baltimore, 1950, p.202.
3
Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1971, p. 361.
4
SN Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy Vol. I, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 2006, p.226.
5
Ibid, p. 228-229.
6
Critique of Pure Reason, translated by NK Smith, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1965, p. 83.