Yoga
General term for various spiritual disciplines in Hinduism. The word "yoga" implies "yoking" (as with oxen to the ox-cart) or "union," expressing the linking of man with divine reality. This union is a transcendental experience beyond the plane of words and ideas and has to be achieved by release from the limiting fields of physical, emotional, mental, and intellectual experience. This requires purification at all levels and according to Hindu belief might take many lifetimes, but sincere exertions in one birth should bear fruit in the next.
Yoga's widespread introduction to the West is thought to have begun with Swami Vivekananda's yoga presentation at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, 1893. Influential twentieth century yogis since then have included Ramana Maharshi, Indra Devi, Selvarajan Yesudian, Swami Sivananda, Sri Yogendra, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, of the Transcendental Meditation movement. In the 1960s and 1970s, Richard Hittleman and Lilias Folan (of Lilias, Yoga, and You) brought yoga to the American mainstream through television. Yoga's popularity is also due to endorsements from celebrities such as Sting and Madonna. Yoga's allure as a stress reliever has also helped the practice to gain popularity with Americans who try to regain control over their hectic lifestyles. It is estimated that more than two million people throughout the world practice some discipline of yoga.
The existence of many spiritual disciplines and practices in India allowed for a multitude of forms and beliefs. Most religious systems are aligned to one or more forms of yoga, though most commonly they will emphasize one of the traditional spiritual paths. Some would judge the adoption of a particular spiritual path to be linked to age, occupation, personality, or a particular interest in life.
The six principle branches of yoga are:
Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti yoga is the path of love and devotion. An individual with an emotional temperament can transform those emotions, to be absorbed in spiritual service instead of being attached to physical or sensory gratification. Love can be centered on a familiar form of God, a great saint, or some great task in life. In bhakti yoga, the whole universe, whether animate or inanimate, is seen as permeated by divinity. Bhakti (meaning loving devotion) is the practice of self-surrender for the purpose of identifying with the source of love, the higher self.
The Hare Krishna, which became notable in the West in the last generation, follow a form of Hinduism that emphasizes this type of yoga.
Hatha Yoga
Hatha yoga is known as the path of inner power. It is the science of physical exercises most familiar to Westerners. In hatha yoga the mind, body, and spirit are linked, and the purification of the body is intended to enhance mental and spiritual development, balance, and harmony. Good physical health, however, is an essential prerequisite to the strenuous disciplines of this yoga system.
Hatha yoga consists of a number of asanas, or physical postures, that develop flexibility in associated muscle groups throughout the body, and favorably affect the tone of veins and arteries. They are also believed to improve the function of the ductless glands through persistent gentle pressure. In Patanjali's system, asana was chiefly directed to the achievement of a firm cross-legged sitting position for meditation. Other yoga authorities, however, have elaborated the stages of Patanjali yoga to meet the requirements of different temperaments, so that they may be harmonized.
The asanas differ from Western gymnastics in that they feature static postures instead of active movements, though some asanas are linked sequentially. There are theoretically some 8,400,000 asanas, of which 84 are said to be the best and 32 the most useful for good health. These are named after animals, geometic structures, mountains, or plants. An asana is considered to be mastered when the yogi can maintain the position without strain for three hours. Asanas may be supplemented by special symbolic gestures and positions called mudras.
Various cleansing techniques, called kriyas, of the nasal passages, throat, stomach, and bowels can be practiced in conjunction with asanas. Pranayama, breathing exercises, are also employed to arouse kundalini or vital energy. Some systems focus upon the arousal of kundalini as the central spiritual discipline.
Hatha yoga had largely died out in India but was revived in the nineteenth century in Maharashtra, western India, from whence it radiated out into the world during the twentieth century.
Jnana or Sankya Yoga
Jnana yoga is the path of knowledge, science, and wisdom. This begins with fine distinctions that may be evolved from careful observation; study and experiment; combining knowledge with the ability to reflect, meditate, and develop intuition. It is the way of transcendent knowledge, and is geared for those prone to intellectual curiosity, reason, and analysis.
Karma Yoga
Karma yoga is the science of karma or selfless action. Karma yoga teaches the student that all actions have inescapable consequences, some producing immediate results, others delayed results, and some bearing fruit in future lives. Emphasis is placed on altruistic actions that purify the individual soul and release it from petty desires. In karma yoga, actions are spiritualized by dedicating them to selfless service and divine will. Karma yoga calls for union with God through right action, and service for service sake, without regard for accomplishment or glory or attribution.
Mantra Yoga
Mantra yoga is the path of sacred sound. It is the science of sound vibration, prayer, and hermetic utterance. According to Hindu mystical belief, the world evolved from the essence of sound, through the diversity and intricacy of vibration and utterance.
One of the most sacred mantra s is the three-syllabled OM or AUM, origin of the universe, comparable with the Hebrew Shemhamphorash and the creative Word of God in the Gospel of John. The reading of Hindu scriptures is both begun and ended with the sacred sound AUM.
Raja Yoga
Raja Yoga is the path of stillness, whose goal is to quiet the mind through meditation to create a state of focused, unbroken concentration. It is also known as the path of spiritual science, particularly suitable for those of a more abstract or metaphysical temperament. This path combines religious study with refinement of all levels of the individual, culminating in transcendental awareness. Raja yoga is the summation of all other yogas. Ancient textbooks of hatha yoga emphasize that it should only be practiced in conjunction with raja yoga.
Other yoga paths are usually derivatives of the principle six. They include:
Asparsha Yoga
This is the yoga of non-contact. A form of jnana yoga, asparsha seeks reintegration through non-touching, avoiding all forms of contact with others.
Astanga Yoga
Astanga yoga is often known as the path of Patanjali. The sage Patanjali (ca. 200 B.C.E.) taught a comprehensive yoga system that became a spiritual school unto itself. According to Patanjali, in order to experience true reality one must transcend the body and mind. In his Yoga Sutras he outlined the following special stages:
yama and niyama-ethical restraints and moral observations.
asana-physical postures.
pranayama-breathing exercises. This uses various cleansing techniques of the nasal passages, throat, stomach, and bowels; it is used to enhance the pranayama.
pratyahara-sense withdrawal.
dharana-concentration.
dhyana-meditation.
samadhi-superconsciousness.
Japa Yoga
A branch of mantra yoga, japa (meaning recitation) yoga emphasizes repetition of prayers, hymns and sacred syllables.
Kundalini Yoga
Utilizing hatha yoga and mantra yoga techniques to arouse kundalini, or divine creative energy. This path focuses on the arousal of kundalini as the central focus of spiritual exercise. Whether kundalini rising occurs because of the exercises or on its own accord remains a matter of debate.
Kriya Yoga
Based on teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi. Kriya yoga stresses the path to Eternal Tranquility, emphasizing the stillness of sensory input.
Laya Yoga
Laya yoga is the yoga of absorption. It underscores absorption in meditation, merging the mind and breath in the divine. In this practice the yogi immerses himself in the universe, becoming a part of the universal body.
Siddha Yoga
This path is based on the teachings of Swami Muktananda. Siddha (meaning guru) yoga emphasizes the intervention and guidance of a teacher to raise kundalini.
Tantric Yoga
A derivative of karma and bhakti yogas, tantric yoga is associated with arousal of sexual energy and its conversion into kundalini, or creative energy. It is the human reflection of the divine union between the male (shiva) and female (shakti) as aspects of the divine. It is concerned with techniques and disciplines intended to transform the sexual act into a kundalini-raising experience.
Tantric yoga has often been implicated as an arena for sexual abuses in the West. Less-than-enlightened yogis have been entangled in clandestine affairs with students, later forced to step down from the position of spiritual leader.
Yantra Yoga
Yantra yoga is a form of jnana yoga, in which meditation is accomplished through contemplation of a geometric figure.
No single pathway of yoga is regarded as an alternative to another, and many of the paths intertwine and intersect, as a means of purifying and harmonizing individual temperaments. An intellectual person might profitably concentrate on bhakti yoga or karma yoga; an emotional temperamented one might benefit from jnana yoga and hatha yoga. Likewise, the practice of hatha yoga without proper actions, devotion, and ethical codes might be harmful or result simply in gymnastics without spiritual development.
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