The Different Faces Of Yoga
For a large majority of people, including many Americans, yoga is a ritualistic series of body contorting movements done while being totally oblivious to any external facets of life. For others, an image of a wise old man sitting atop a mountain appears in their head. These people fail to grasp that these are just superficial aspects of the ancient Indian philosophy that dates back into the time before the existence of Christ.
Yoga is actually a religion that has its roots in Vedanta philosophy (Prabhavananda and Isherwood vii). It is also very similar to another Indian religion, Samkha (Eliade 519). However, the two religions differ in the fact that Samkha is atheistic, while there is ...
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misery, desire, or action and its results... He is the teacher of the ancient teachers" (Nikhilananda 680). The goal of the yogi, one who studies yoga, is to reach the state of pure intelligence, which is the soul's true essence, by suppressing all other mental activities (Nikhilananda 680). In order to reach this state, The yogi fixes himself in an immobile bodily position and fixes his mind on an inanimate object such as a spot on the floor or the tip of the nose. This intense concentration is the point of departure for the yogi (Eliade 520). Through constant meditation the yogi hopes to isolate his soul from his body, This is known as kaivalyam (Nikhilananda 680).
There are for main paths to achieve this enlightenment through yoga. These four branches are known as bhakti yoga (Path of Devotion), karma yoga (Path of Selfless Action), jnana yoga (Path of Transcendental Knowledge) and asthanga yoga (Path of Pantanjali). The fourth "path" derives its name from the teachings of ...
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B.C. and the yogi who lived in the 5th century A.D.
Patanjali did not write the foundations of yoga philosophy. Rather, he merely collected all of the teachings available to him at the time and edited them together (Eliade 519). All of the older pre- Patanjali texts have disappeared and now his are the earliest known writings on yoga. He did, however, organize the scattered teachings into a systematic religion. The Yoga Sutras is divided into four sections. They are entitled, "Concentration," "Practice," "Paranormal Powers," and "Isolation" (Crim 815). Two works that were commentaries on The Yoga Sutras also helped give order to this religion. The first commentary, Yagabhasya, by ...
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