It is well-known that yoga has become immensely popular all over the world since the middle of the twentieth century. Yoga is perhaps one of the most successful cultural exports of India.
It is also well known that many Western practitioners associate yoga mostly with postures (āsana) and breathing exercises (prāṇayāma). There are many varieties of postural yoga such as Iyengar Yoga, Aṣṭāṅga Vinyāsa of Pattabhi Jois, or the yoga emerging from Kaivalya Dham established by Swami Kuvalayananda (for more details on these and other similar yoga schools, see De Michelis 2005; Singleton 2010; Singleton and Goldberg 2014). Some may not have realised that Swami Vivekananda – whom most would regard as a teacher of modern Vedanta – actually taught yoga as well. After all, his best-known books bear the titles: Rāja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, Bhakti Yoga (respectively the royal yoga, the yoga of work, the yoga of wisdom, and the yoga of devotion). Even the famous Sri Aurobindo in his later life was a teacher of and writer on yoga. Nevertheless, neither Vivekananda nor Aurobindo were known to have extensively trained disciples in the intricacies of the postural aspects of yoga.
Where does yoga come from? It is not unusual for modern practitioners to assume that all yoga was formulated and systematised for the first time by the ancient sage bearing the name Patañjali (probably 3rd century CE, see Whicher 1998: 41-42). His text on yoga is called Yoga Sūtra, ‘Brief Guideline of Yoga (spiritual discipline)’. This text is extremely condensed. It numbers only 195 full sentences. And notwithstanding popular belief, it is not the foundational text on yoga. This is because yoga was practiced long before this text was composed. Rather, it turns out that Patañjali systematized various teachings on spiritual discipline which were current in his day and masterfully summarized them in his dense text that has since become a classic and the foundational text of a philosophical school (darśana).
Modern scholarship is gaining a better understanding of the background and the probable sources of Patañjali. These are, among others, Jainism, Buddhism and Samkhya. The latter being the most important and can be recognised in the Yoga Sūtra (Y.S.). The text had quite an immense success and spawned many indigenous Sanskrit (sub) commentaries until as late as the 18th century. What modern yoga practitioners value in Patañjali’s text are the eight limbs of yoga. We find them enumerated in the following verse:
यमनियमासनप्राणायामप्रत्याहारधारणाध्यानसमाधयोsष्टावङ्गानि।।
yama-niyamāsana-prāṇayāma-pratyāhāra-dhāraṇā-dhyāna-samādhayo ‘ṣṭāv aṅgāni (Y.S. 2.29)
‘The eight limbs are (1) moral rules, (2) specific rules, (3) sitting posture, (4) breath-control, (5) pulling back [of the senses from the objects of sense], (6) concentration, (7) meditation, (8) deep meditation’.
Posture and breathing exercises are limbs three and four of the list. Perhaps it is good to note that Patañjali’s term for posture (āsana) actually means ‘sitting’, or even a ‘seat’, not necessarily the present-day great variety of bodily postures that we know as Haṭha Yoga. These limbs are practiced widely nowadays and there is a lot written about them.
Let us look at the initial limb of the eight-fold yoga. The Yoga Sūtra describes it thus:
अहिंसासत्यास्तेयब्रह्मचर्यापरिग्रहाः
ahiṃsāsatyāsteyabrahmacaryāparigrahā yamāḥ (Y.S. 2.30)
‘The moral rules are (1) non-violence, (2) speaking the truth [or truthfulness], (3) not stealing, (4) celibacy [or no sexual misconduct], (5) not striving after acquiring material possessions [or non-possessiveness]’.
From other Sūtras, we know that in these kinds of lists, the most important or crucial aspects come first, and the rest follow. Here, in the Yoga Sūtra, we could assume that non-violence is the prime virtue or value of the aspirant yogi (or yogini, the female yogi), while the other four naturally follow from non-violence. If we look at the life of Mahatma Gandhi we already recognise the first two items: non-violence which was his motivating moral force, and holding on to the truth (satyāgraha) which was his technique to combat social and political injustice. Mahatma Gandhi writes in his Autobiography that he had studied the Yoga Sūtra with Theosophical friends in South Africa in 1903 (Autobiography, part IV: V ‘Result of Introspection’; or in other editions, chapter 82). Iyengar remarks how powerful these two virtues alone can be when someone like Mahatma Gandhi embodies them and practices them to the fullest (Iyengar 2013: 41).
The remaining three rules are also worth observing. Not stealing seems an obvious rule, but it is a rule that one needs to practice very diligently and with a lot of mindful attention. Stealing is not only grasping material things that do not belong to oneself but it is also in a more psychological sense imposing oneself on another person and thus robbing him or her of their own freedom and privacy. The fourth rule is like a specification of this psychological stealing. One should at all times abstain from sexual misconduct. Surely a rule that everyone can adhere to with profit. Mahatma Gandhi was very explicit about his experiments with abstaining from the sexual urge in order to grow spiritually. The last Yama is the absence of greed. This refers to the possessiveness that modern technological society has turned into an earning model for the world economy. And yet, excessive possessiveness destroys the environment. Mahatma Gandhi tried all his life to live as simply as possible and to be able to make do with the least material possessions. In spite of this, he had a huge influence on world history. It is known that Gandhi would not waste even the white margins of old newspapers and used them as writing pads.
The Yoga Sūtra adds a warning about these five Yamas or moral rules:
जातिदेशकालसमयानवच्छिन्नाः सार्वभौमा महाव्रतम्॥
Jātideśakālasamayānavacchinnāḥ sārvabhaumā mahāvratam (Y.S. 2.31)
‘These [five moral rules] are not limited by birth, place, time, and circumstances; they are [valid] at all levels [or: they are universal]; they are the great vow’.
This warning suggests that adhering to these five moral rules must be done always, under all circumstances, everywhere and by all who wish to follow the guidelines of Patañjali’s yoga. It is noteworthy that the five Yamas of Patañjali are also found in Jainism, a religion that goes back to Vardhamana Mahavira, a contemporary of the Buddha. One of the sources of Jain doctrine is the Tattvārtha Sūtra by Umāsvāti (probably 2nd century CE, see Tatia 2011: xvii). This work is a classical summary in Sanskrit of the doctrines of Jainism. The text is accepted as authoritative by all Jains. Chapter 7.1 of the Tattvārtha Sūtra states the five moral vows (vrata) of Jainism:
हिंसानृतस्तेयाब्रह्मपरिग्रहेभ्यो विरतिव्रतम् ॥
hiṃsā-nṛta-steyā-brahma-parigrahebhyo viratir vratam (Tattvārtha Sūtra 7.1)
‘Abstinence from violence, falsehood, stealing, carnality and possessiveness – these are the vows’ (translation Tatia 2011: 169).
Even though the formulation is slightly different, the idea is the same as in the Yoga Sūtra. The next sūtra (TS 7.2) distinguishes between small and great versions of the vows:
देशसवथताेsणु्हती ॥
Deśa-sarvato’ṇumahatī (Tattvārtha Sūtra 7.2) ‘Partial abstinence is a small vow and complete abstinence is a great vow’ (trans. Tatia 2011: 170).
Tatia adds in the commentary: ‘When the five vows given in the first sutra are accepted and partially practiced according to one’s capacity, then they are called small vows. When they are accepted and practiced completely and absolutely without relaxation, they are great vows’ (Tatia 2011: 170). We should of course not mix up the Yoga Sūtra with Jain texts and doctrines. But the similarity is striking enough. These vows, which in the Yoga Sūtra are called yamas, ‘moral rules’, are fundamental to the spiritual paths which one may wish to follow. I would invite Christians to look up in the texts: Bible Exodus 20: 13-17; Deuteronomy 5: 17-21; Matthew 19: 18; Mark 10: 19; Luke 18: 20, and compare these passages with what we saw in the Yoga Sūtra and the Tattvārtha Sūtra.
I think one would find that the similarities are striking. This might explain the universal appeal of yoga on the one hand, while on the other, the yamas warn us not to take yoga or the practice of spirituality lightly or as a mere hobby. One has to prepare oneself thoroughly and keep the five moral rules always in mind.
References
- De Michelis E.. 2005. A History of Modern Yoga: Patañjali and Western Esotericism. London: Continuum.
- Iyengar, B.K.S. 2013. The Tree of yoga. London: Harper Thorsons.
- Singleton, Mark. 2010. Yoga Body: The origins of modern posture practice. NY: Oxford University Press.
- Singleton, Mark and Ellen Goldberg. eds. 2014. Gurus of Modern Yoga. NY: Oxford University Press.
- Tatia, Nathmal. trs. 2011. Tattvārtha Sūtra: That Which Is. Umāsvāti/Umāsvāmī with the combined commentaries of Umāsvāti/Umāsvāmī, Pūjyapāda and Siddhasenagaṇi. Translated with an introduction. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
- Whicher, Ian. 1998. The Integrity of the Yoga Darśana: A Reconsideration of Classical Yoga. Albany: State University of NY Press.
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