The terms yukta, yokta, yoj, yuj etc. denote the practise of Yoga in the Veda Samhitas. The issue is that few alone have bothered to translate the Vedic Sanskrit in the traditional Yogic light to reveal these. Manoyuja for example means to control / harness the mind, referring to the practise of Yoga for chitta vritti nirodha (stilling movements of mind). Keeping the body (or ratha - the chariot is used as a metaphor for body) still is often used in the Vedas and other terms such as dhi and dhiya for meditation are common themes in the Rig Veda. The Vedic Yogis were concerned about purifying the mind (Soma) with vata or vayu - the wind through Pranayama. Pavamana, a name for Soma who personifies the manas (mind) means to purify. They were also concerned with developing Ojas or vitality through rasayana formulas and brahmacharya as in later Yoga as mentioned in the Suktas. Yogis, Gurus and Swamis alike have taken pride in their saffron robes and lakhs of followers, but have often been blissfully ignorant of the true origin of Yoga in the Vedas as set forth by the Vedic Rishis. As a result, they have allowed Western scholars to conject the history of their Yoga traditions (and thus create their own mind-born distortions) - which they themselves should have known! Tradition has also given us reliable dates of events which modern pseudo-Yogis are embarrassed to use, as their Yogic insight is a bluff; their realisation fails them and they cannot see past the maya which blinds them from seeing the reality of traditional dating beyond the Christocentric sphere which taints them! Few also know that Bhishmacharya was a great Acharya at the time of Sri Krishna and in Mahabharata talks about the ancient discourses between Yogi Yajnavalkya and his chela, Raja Janaka. Sri Krishna as we know was himself a great Yogi and the (Krishna) Yajur Veda is a Shaivite Yoga text from which Yajnavalkya himself descended from before churning his own Shukla recession of the Yajur Veda and was one of Indias greatest Yogis before Krishna. All of this shows Patanjali as well out of the limelight with regards to the Yoga tradition. Even Parshvanatha of the Jains (800BCE), Buddha and Mahavira Jaina (600BCE) had their own Yoga traditions, well-developed long before Patanjali who merely simplified it for the lay people! -Ved Kovid, Durgadas
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 07:49:05 +0000
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