Articles from General Knowledge Today

Yoga Philosophy
2013- 05- 22 20:05:05 GKToday

Yuj means "cont rol" and Yoga also mean t o "add". T his philosophy is very
close t o Samkhya and can be easily dist inguished as
Yoga= Samkhya + Divinit y.
T hus, yoga school accept s t he samkhya psychology and met aphysics, but is
more t heist ic t han t he samkhya, because it also includes the divine entity t o
t he samkhya's element s of realit y.
Pat anjali is widely regarded as t he compiler of t he f ormal yoga
philosophy. T he yoga phislosophy of Pat anjali is also known as Raja
Yoga. T he ot her branches include Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti
Yoga, and Hatha Yoga.
Raja Yoga is a syst em f or cont rol of t he mind. As per Pat anjali Yoga is def ined
as : - :, which means t hat Yoga is t he inhibition of the
modif ications of the mind. Swami Vivekananda t ranslat ed t he sut ra as
"Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff from taking various forms".
Hindu philosophy dist inguishes seven major branches of Yoga:
Rja Yoga (Classical Yoga), a syst em of yoga codif ied by Pat ajali and
classif ied as one of t he six st ika ("ort hodox") schools of Hindu
philosophy.
Jnana yoga, (buddhi-yoga) cent red on t he f acult y of discernment and
'virt ually ident ical wit h t he spirit ual pat h of Vednt a'.
Karma-yoga, in which t he world of everyday work becomes t he t ool by
which self is t ranscended.
Bhakti-Yoga t he pat h of devot ed service t o God.
Tantra-yoga f ocused on t he t echniques and psycho-physical t eachings
cont ained wit hin a body of t ext s called t ant ras.
Mantra-yoga, one of t he most ancient f orms of yoga in which t he
psycho-acoust ical propert ies of t he spoken word are used t o
concent rat e t he mind.
Hatha yoga, a syst em of physical purif icat ion designed t o reint egrat e
and re-balance t he mind and body in preparat ion f or Raja-yoga (f irst
described by Yogi Swat marama).
Ashtanga Yoga
T he Yogasut ras of Pat anjali lat er became t he basis of Ashtanga Yoga. T his
eight -limbed concept derived f rom Pat anajali's Yogasut ra is a core

charact erist ic of pract ically every Raja yoga variat ion t hat is pract iced t oday.
T hese eight limbs are as f ollows:
Five Yama: Yama ref ers t o t he f ive "abst ent ions". T hese abst ent ions
are
Ahimsa (non-violence)
Sat ya (T rut h, non-lying)
Ast eya (non-covet ousness)
Brahmacharya (non-sensualit y, celibacy)
Aparigraha (non-possessiveness).
Five Niyama: T he Niyama ref ers t o f ive "observances". T hese are
Shaucha(purit y)
Sant osha(cont ent ment )
T apas (aust erit y)
Svadhyaya (st udy of t he Vedic script ures t o know about God and
t he soul), and
Ishvara-Pranidhana (surrender t o God).
Asana: Asana means t o be seat ed. Pat anjali's Sut ras ref ers t o t he
seat ed posit ion used f or medit at ion.
Pranayama ("Suspending Breat h"): Prna, breat h, "yma", t o rest rain
or st op. Also int erpret ed as cont rol of t he lif e f orce.
Prat yahara ("Abst ract ion"): Wit hdrawal of t he mind or senses f rom an
object or event .
Dharana ("Concent rat ion"): Fixing t he at t ent ion on a single object .
Dhyana ("Medit at ion"): Int ense cont emplat ion of t he nat ure of t he object
of medit at ion.
Samadhi ("Liberat ion"): merging consciousness wit h t he object of
medit at ion.
Hathayoga Versus Rajayoga
T he Yogasut ras of Pat anjali which mainly post ulat e t he Raj Yoga, dat e back
t o Mauryan Period while Hat hayoga was int roduced by Yogi Swat marama. The
major difference between Raj Yoga and Hathayoga is that Raja Yoga aims at
controlling all thought-waves or mental modifications, while a Hatha Yogi starts his
Sadhana, or spiritual practice, with Asanas (postures) and Pranayama. So Raj
Yoga starts from Mind and Hathyoga starts from Body.