Tracing the Path of Yoga

The History and Philosophy of Indian Mind-Body Discipline

Stuart Ray Sarbacker

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781438481234
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

Clear, accessible, and meticulously annotated, Tracing the Path of Yoga offers a comprehensive survey of the history and philosophy of yoga that will be invaluable to both specialists and to nonspecialists seeking a deeper understanding of this fascinating subject. Stuart Ray Sarbacker argues that yoga can be understood first and foremost as a discipline of mind and body that is represented in its narrative and philosophical literature as resulting in both numinous and cessative accomplishments that correspond, respectively, to the attainment of this-worldly power and otherworldly liberation. Sarbacker demonstrates how the yogic quest for perfection as such is situated within the concrete realities of human life, intersecting with issues of politics, economics, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as reflecting larger Indic religious and philosophical ideals.

Chapter 1

Defining Yoga

The term “yoga” has a wide range of meanings, due to its use in a variety of religious and secular contexts over the course of its over two-thousand-year history and its wide geographical representation across the globe. In the context of Indian religion and philosophy, especially within the traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, the term “yoga” is used to signify both universal concepts and unique, contextual ones. Definitions of the term also vary within the range of modern nonsectarian and secular traditions of yoga that are distant from the cultural and religious moorings of the Indian traditions in which they originated. It might be suggested that beyond the simple fact that the term “yoga” is employed frequently by its various adherents, it is difficult to find a unitary thread that links the diversity of practices and ideas referred to as “yoga” together. In some cases, the religious roots of the traditions that gave rise to yogic practices have been left behind in a break from sectarian identity or have faded into the background in the process of modernization. In other cases, yoga is seen as a primarily, if not purely, spiritual or religious exercise that has been obscured, or even desacralized, by its adoption in modern secular contexts for the pursuit of physical fitness and beautification. Some scholars of religion have argued that yoga is the heart of the religions of India, while others have argued that yoga had been a relatively obscure, if not largely insignificant, facet of Indian religious life previous to the modern era.1

In order to negotiate such various interpretations and evaluations, this chapter will begin with a brief examination of various contextual uses of the term “yoga” derived from different phases of its historical development. Having done this, a tentative definition for the term will be provided, focusing on its primary and secondary usages. The goal is to provide a heuristic, or constructive and pragmatic, definition of yoga applicable to its various contexts, thereby facilitating greater understanding, even if such a definition is incomplete or lacking in some respects. Much like in other fields of inquiry, it is helpful to think of defining yoga in terms of “family resemblance,” or common features or elements, rather than in essentialist terms. This is sometimes referred to as a “polythetic” or “prototype” approach, one that recognizes common features while acknowledging the dynamic and variable nature of the object of study. Even within traditional sources, such as Patañjali’s Yogasūtra, yoga has been defined or framed in multiple ways. In addition, practitioners and scholars of yoga often apply chronologically later, and more systematic, conceptions of yoga retroactively—for example, applying systematic or “classical” definitions of yoga developed in the early centuries of the Common Era to practices found in earlier brāhmaṇa asceticism and śramaṇa traditions.2 The primary and generic sense of yoga that will be examined here, yoga as a “discipline,” points to a common semantic and conceptual thread in how yoga is understood and practiced across various traditional boundaries.3 The broader focus, however, will be on examining the various historical and philosophical themes that demonstrate both continuity and discontinuity in yoga’s theory and practice in its various contexts over time.

Yoga as “Discipline”

Archeological evidence from the Indus Valley Civilization (2500–1500 BCE), an ancient Indian civilization contemporaneous with Near Eastern civilization in Egypt and Mesopotamia, shows numerous figures in seated positions that appear similar to what would later be known as a form of seated yoga posture (āsana). This has suggested to some scholars that the origins of yoga might be tied to the rise of this ancient urban Indian civilization in the Indus valley.4 Though such archeological relics are intriguing, they are nonetheless of questionable authority in establishing the history of yoga in comparison to later and more clearly verifiable textual representations.5 At this point in time, the writing system of the Indus Valley Civilization has not been deciphered to such an extent as to provide clarity on these issues, so it is difficult to evaluate these claims satisfactorily.6 However, the Sanskrit term yoga does appear in Hindu Vedic (vaidika) literature (1500–500 BCE) frequently, providing a basis for understanding the semantic development of this concept in the early Vedic Sanskrit literature and later in the Classical Sanskrit literature. It also appears in Pāli Buddhist (Skt. bauddha) literature (500 BCE–100 CE) and in later Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit literature in ways that anticipate, parallel, and expand upon its meaning and usage in the Hindu Vedic ritual compilation (saṃhitā) texts and philosophical correspondence (upaniṣad) literature. Likewise, early Jain (Skt. jaina) literature (500–300 BCE), such as the Ācārāṅgasūtra, references ascetic principles and practices that parallel, if not anticipate, cognate developments in Hinduism and Buddhism.

In its early literary contexts, such as in the Hindu Upaniṣads, including the Kaṭha Upaniṣad and Svetāśvatara Upaniṣad, and in the Buddhist Nikāya literature, notably in the Dhammapada, yoga is represented as a means of developing restraint of the body and senses and concentration of mind.7 Yoga is, in this respect, an aspect of asceticism, a discipline or method of cultivating self-control and enhancing the application of mind. The conception of yoga as an instrument of self-mastery expresses the literal meaning of yoga as a “yoking” or “harnessing,” in this case of physical and mental faculties. This notion of yoga as a means of obtaining control over one’s embodiment through self-discipline is tied into conceptions of the physical and mental structure of the human organism as much as it is tied into a unique sectarian tradition, philosophical position, theology, or metaphysics. This conception of yoga as a mode of mind-body discipline is arguably at the root of yoga’s adaptability to different Indian sectarian contexts and its success as a cosmopolitan practice in the modern era. As a set of techniques of physical and mental discipline, it is, in principle, not subservient to a particular philosophy or religious view beyond the understanding that mind and body can be fruitfully disciplined and brought under control. Where different traditions diverge, in part, is in their understanding of the fruits or benefits of such practice—whether they are understood in terms of worldly or otherworldly goals, for example. Traditions of yoga, from the most esoteric to the most mundane and secularized, place it within the domain of practice. Even traditions that view yoga as ultimately facilitating spiritual “union” with an inner self (ātman) or with a deity (devatā), for example, frame such union within the context of a spiritual discipline that prepares one for or precipitates the state. Though many modern traditions of yoga eschew formal sectarian religious identity, they implicitly, if not explicitly, value the disciplining of mind and body and contain an ethos regarding the benefits of performing yoga practice, even if they are simply mundane achievements such as relaxation, physical health, or beautification.

Though developing mastery of mind and body through practical discipline links the spectrum of yoga practices together, yoga traditions differ significantly with respect to relative emphasis on the mental and physical aspects of embodiment. This is particularly evident in the contrast between modern types of yoga that focus on meditation (dhyāna) and those that focus on physical posture (āsana). In the context of meditation-oriented conceptions of religious practice, such as the eight-limbed yoga (aṣṭāṅgayoga) of the Hindu Yoga Philosophy (yoga darśana), the practice of yoga is viewed as a means of establishing mastery of mind, especially the development of deep concentration. In these contexts, yoga is equated with meditation (dhyāna) or mental cultivation (bhāvanā) and the practice of contemplation (samādhi). In the Yogasūtra, for example, Patañjali refers to yoga as cittavṛttinirodha, “the cessation of fluctuations of mind,” a process of meditative isolation from the datum of ordinary experience through the achievement of mental stillness.8 The primary commentary on Patañjali’s work, the Yogabhāṣya, emphasizes this focus on mind by stating that yoga is, in essence, contemplation (samādhi).9 This is consistent with a technical and etymological definition of yoga as “concentration,” one that is advocat...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• To My Parents, John and Margaret Sarbacker
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Pronunciation Guide for Sanskrit Terms
• Introduction The History and Philosophy of Yoga
• Chapter 1 Defining Yoga
• Chapter 2 The Prehistory of Yoga: The Indus Civilization and the
• Chapter 3 Brāhmanical Asceticism and Śramana Traditions
• Chapter 4 The Classical Hindu Model of Yoga: Pātañjala Yoga and Astāngayoga
• Chapter 5 Hindu Epic, Purānic, and Scholastic Representations of Yoga
• Chapter 6 Classical Śramana Traditions of Yoga
• Chapter 7 The Medieval Transformation of Yoga: Bhakti, Tantra, and Hathayoga
• Chapter 8 Modern Yoga Traditions
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index
• Back Cover