[YOGA]
When a Yogi has
control on his 5
organs of action, 5
organs of
perception and mind
through the power
of Yoga, and in this
way when he does
meditation, then he
sees God.
Origin of Yoga and
its journey to America
Y
oga represents a
philosophy
comprehensive enough to
embrace the whole of
knowledge, everything that was, is and
must be. Yoga is the master of all
sciences. By integrating the material
and transcendental divine, yoga
enables one to lead a balanced life with
the optimum level of physical,
mental and spiritual well being. Yoga
is also the greatest and most difficult
of all the arts. It is the discipline in
life of coming in conscious contact
with the divine or ultimate
consciousness - The source. So, yoga
calls for self-conscious human beings
to understand mentally and
intellectually its philosophy, to
follow it as a path systematically, and
to experiment within life, and
experience the new level of
consciousness, that in the end results
in enlightenment.
24 · yogicherald.com · Aug/Sep 2017
History of Yoga in India
The birth of human civilization (oldest)
is known as Indus Valley Civilization,
or Sindhu-Saraswat tradition is as old as
5000 B.C. The oldest text Rig-Veda is
considered to be written prior to 1900
BC, around 3100 BC before Saraswati
river went dry in 1900 BC.
while Smriti are secondary texts. All
these texts prove the continuity of yoga
tradition during the period of over 8000
years.
A beautiful verse from Rig-Veda
explains all about Yoga: When a Yogi
has control on his 5 organs of action, 5
organs of perception and mind through
the power of Yoga, and in this way when
he does meditation, then he sees God
( Rig Veda Mantra I, Sukta 93 Mandal 9 ). The following Shruti Texts have many
references of philosophy and practices
of Yoga: The four Vedas, namely, Rig-
Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sam-Veda and
Atharva-Veda, Aryankas (texts written
perhaps in forests by masters), specially
Aiterya and Shankhayana (name of
texts), Brahman Granthas (name of
texts), Upanishads (32 out of 108
Upanishad texts essentially belong to
Yoga).
There are as many as 900 texts that were
written and available during the period
until 300 AD, in which references about
philosophy, practices of yoga are
explained in detail. These texts are
classified into two groups - Shruti and
Smriti. Shruti are authoritative texts, Following Smriti texts refer about Yoga
practices: Dharma Shastra (27 texts
which refers about Yoga), Mahakavyas
(the Epics; they include Mahabharata
and the Ramayana) — Bhagvad Gita —
the famous text is a part of
Mahabharata, has 30 million copies in