| ________________________________________________________ HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF YOGA ________________________________________________________ The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘YUJ’ means ‘joining’ or ‘yoking’. It also means absorption (samadhi) & judicious control (samyama). ________________________________________________________ The different forms of this root can be traced in such words as the German “jock”, “anglosaxon”, “Geoc”, “Latin”; in gun etc. ________________________________________________________ The ultimate goal of yoga is the union of individual self (jiva-atman) with the supreme self (parama-atman). ________________________________________________________ Yoga is as old as civilization & it has a very long history. According to Indian mythology lord Shiva is the founder of yoga, who taught this sacred knowledge to goddess parvati. ________________________________________________________ The first archaeological evidence of existence of yoga is found in stone seals excavated from the Indus valley. The stone seals depict figures performing yoga pastures .yoga was a special feature of Indus valley civilization (300 B.C.). The phallic symbols seals & the idols of mother Goddess. Suggest a type of Tantra Yoga. ________________________________________________________ The world Yoga is frequently referred in all four Vedas e.g. Rigveda, yajurveda, Samveda, & Atharvaveda. ________________________________________________________ ‘Moksha’ is the ultimate goal of Yoga which is clearly explained in the Upanishads. The Upanishads have revealed the highest Yogic stat (Turiyavosta) of an individual. The imp. Upanishads are: Isha, Kata, Chandogya, Brhadaranyaka, svetasvatara & 20 other Yogoponishads. ________________________________________________________ The Buddha Yoga (Arya Astitangic Marge) of Buddhism, Saptanga Yoga of Jainism are also the pillars of yoga tradition & has been greatly contributed to the development of yoga. ________________________________________________________ The epics: Ramayana & Mahabharata have numerous refereners about yoga. The Bhagavad-Gita the quintessence of Mahabharata is considered as a classical treatise on Yoga. ________________________________________________________ Shad-darshanas are imp. Sources of Yoga. They are Nyaya, Vaisheahika, Sankhya, Yoga, and Mimamsa & Vedanta. The Sankhya of kapila has been the have for the Patanjali’s Yoga darshana. ________________________________________________________ Maharshi Patanjali (200 B.C) has codified the various scattered reference about Yoga in the form of sutras, his path of Yoga is known as Ashtanga Yoga’ & has become the source book to all the existing schools namely Shankar madhva & Ramanuja have also made notable contributions to the development of Yoga. ________________________________________________________ Tantra / Puranie age (500-1500 CE) witnessed the great cultural revolution of Tantrism.Tantra Yoga has contributed in its own way to the development of the system of yoga. ________________________________________________________ Natha cult had contributed a lot for the development of hatha yoga tradition. These traditions had developed extraordinary psycho-techniques, which evolved & integrated the highest metaphysical ideas with practical beliefs & practices. ________________________________________________________ Subsequently, The Hatha Yoga school of thought became dominant. The Hatha yoga has became more famous because of its efficacy in solving the day to day problems of health. The famous scriptures of Hatha Yoga are – Hatha yoga, Pradeepika, Gheranda Samhita, Hatha Ratnavali, Shiva samhita, Hatha Tatwa Kaumudi, Siddhanta Paddhati etc. ________________________________________________________ Great Gurus, Scholars & sages of bhakti yoga tradition have also contributed to the development of yoga during this period. ________________________________________________________ The advent of modern yoga can be traced back to the late 19th century & early 20th century & gurus such as Sri Ramakrishna paramhans Swami Vivekananda , Maharshi Aurbindo, Ramana Maharshi etc.,who evolved yoga for the comman & contributed to the development of yoga. Today Yoga is popular because of the sincere efforts & contributions of yoga gurus like Swami Shivananda, Arharya Rajneesh (osho), t. Krishnamacharya, Swami Kuvalyananda ,Sri Yogendraji, Swami Rama, Swami Gitananda giri, Swami Dhirendra Bhrahmahari,Swami Satyanand saraswati etc. in the 20th century. ________________________________________________________ The contemporary yoga experts like Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, Dr.B.K.S. fyeogar; Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Niranjananda Saraswati, Dr. Jayadeve Yogendra, Dr. H.R. Nagradra Swami Ramdev, etc. are also contributing to the development of Yoga. ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ |
