Yoga and the Hindu Tradition

by Katy Rose (2017)

Yoga, the practice of uniting oneself with divine source originated before the Hindu culture of India. Yoga contains both the mystical and ascetic disciplines: meditation, devotional chanting and austere physical discipline. The goal of Yoga is self-realization, achieved by “calming the mind and focusing consciousness on the Self, the immortal, unchanging essence” (Frager, 2013). Yoga, as a philosophy, appears in the ancient Veda texts of India known to be our world’s first written literature.

The Bhagavad-Gita, a literary epic of Indian customs, religion, ethics and mythology, arose in the second century BC as the most celebrated work on Yoga (Frager, 2013). The poetic conversation in the stanzas occurs between Arjuna who represents the ego and Krishna, who represents the true self as an incarnation of God. Krishna, as the spiritual teacher teaches Arjuna, the human self, the duty of practice to refine oneself through the art of meditation, sacred chanting and personal discipline.

Yoga philosophy invites nature to be experienced in the three principle gunas: inertia, activity and clarity. They are known as the tamas, rajas and sattva, respectfully. All life contains cycles of these three principles with sattva being the most spiritual, therefore, by increasing sattvic awareness one can live in the sacredness of life among daily activity.

Consciousness represents all the thought processes of the mind in yoga, so to quiet the waves of consciousness through practice opens the Self in all its brilliance. One must become aware of their subconscious patterns in order to this, otherwise, the subconscious tendencies formed by previous experiences will attempt to actualize themselves. This is not clarity.

Seven major schools of yoga evolved to complement various personality types. They are: Karma-yoga, Jnana-yoga, Bhakti-yoga, Hatha-yoga, Mantra-yoga, Kundalini-yoga and Raja-yoga. Karma-yoga is about learning how to act in life with selflessness and basic goodness. Jnana-yoga works best for those of refined intellect as it involves rigorous self-analysis. Bhakti-yoga, one I practice, is simply the practice of loving kindness to oneself and the world and may be experienced as one voice in Kirtan, the devotional chanting of sacred Sanskrit words. Hatha-yoga helps prepare the physical body to receive more advanced control over the vital energies transmitted through our physical body, thus, one gains strength and control in physical, mental and spiritual activity. Mantra-yoga, another practice I enjoy, transforms consciousness through chanting of one particular sacred sound. Om is the most widely known mantra in Vedic truth. Kundalini-yoga awakened through practice transforms the individual physically, psychologically and spiritually. Raja-yoga is known as psychological yoga developed by Patanjali.

References

Frager, R., & Fadiman, J. (2013). Personality and personal growth. Boston, MA: Pearson.