Yoga Classification
Ramesh Krishnamurthy

The following was posted to the Advaitin Egroup in Oct. 2005.

A. In its earliest phase, Yoga was a generic term for spiritual practice or discipline (as opposed to "sAMkhya" which stood for "theory" or "knowledge"). It is in this sense that Yoga is used in the Bhagavad Gita, which refers to karma yoga, bhakti yoga, j~nAna yoga, saMnyAsa yoga, etc. Different schools of Hinduism interpret the Gita in different ways with varying viewpoints on these yoga-s. These different schools also have differing conceptions of Self, God, etc. It must also be clear that Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, etc. are NOT different "schools of Yoga". They are practices that were developed and emphasised differently by different schools of Hinduism.

B. In the second phase, both sAMkhya and Yoga came to refer to specific schools of Hinduism. The Yoga school was systematized by Maharshi (sage) Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra-s. There were 6 classical Hindu (Vedic) schools which recognized the authority of the Veda-s, with sAMkhya and Yoga being two of them. Vedanta, based on the Vedanta Sutra-s of VyAsa, is another of these 6 schools. Advaita Vedanta is the oldest sub-school of Vedanta. The sAMkhya and Yoga schools were closely related and often mentioned together.

sAMkhya refers to 25 elements (tattva-s), which include two primal ones, puruSha (spirit/the passive witness/self, etc) and prakRRiti (matter or materiality). The other 23 elements are essentially manifestations of prakRRiti. The dualism of puruSha and prakRRiti is the centrepiece of sAMkhya and this dualism is not accepted by Advaita Vedanta. The Yoga school accepts the tattva-s of sAMkhya but adds Ishvara (loosely translated as "God") as the 26th tattva. Hence the classical Yoga school is theistic, but please note that it is NOT non-dual. Maharshi Patanjali himself was a great devotee of Shiva, so there is absolutely no problem with worship. However, the classical Yoga school was dualistic.

C. In the 3rd phase, the Yoga school was effectively absorbed into Vedanta, especially Advaita Vedanta. The most important work on the Yoga school after the Yoga Sutra-s was the yogasutrabhAShya (commentary on the Yoga Sutra) by VyAsa, who was also the author of the Vedanta Sutra-s. After Adi Shankaracharya established the dashanAmi order of Advaita Vedantin monks, Yoga effectively ceased to exist as a separate school and was absorbed into Vedanta. Advaita Vedanta rejected Yogic dualism but accepted most other aspects of the Yoga school and developed them further. A seminal contribution in this regard was that of Vachaspati Mishra in his Tattvavaisharadi (10th cen). A 14th century Advaita text that lists various Hindu (as well as Buddhist/Jain) schools mentions the Yoga school as being the closest to Advaita Vedanta. Over the centuries, many Advaitin masters have also been great yogins. Many techniques of meditation, breath control, etc. have been developed within the Advaita Vedanta tradition. However, it must be noted that other Hindu schools have also developed such techniques.

So if you refer to "Yoga" in its Advaita Vedantic sense, you are talking non-dualism. At first glance, prayer seems to be opposed to non-dualism but it is not so. Bhakti, which includes worship, is an accepted means for chitta-shuddhi (purification of the mind) as it helps destroy the ego. At its highest, bhakti is synonymous with j~nAna, the knowledge of non-dualism. But the special importance of bhakti also comes from the fact that it has no pre-requisites and can be practised easily by anyone regardless of his/her spiritual advancement. On the other hand, j~nAna has rather demanding pre-requisites in the form of the 4-fold qualifications of (1) dispassion, (2) discrimination (between the real and the unreal), (3) the 6 'treasures' (calmness, sense control, concentration, etc) and (4) intense desire for liberation. So again, though worship is not strictly essential, it is highly recommended for everyone but the most advanced seekers.

Therefore, in modern usage, "Yoga" can have any of the following meanings:

1. The original sense of any spiritual practice (karma yoga, bhakti yoga, etc). Please note that these terms have specific meanings depending on the Hindu school being talked about.

2. The Yoga school of Patanjali - one of the 6 classical schools of Hinduism.

3. Generic usage for techniques of meditation, breath control, etc. These were historically developed by various Hindu sects/schools in very ancient times (references to such practices are found in many of the Upanishads, which have a tradition long predating the Yoga Sutra-s), but Patanjali's school was the first major school to systematize them. Again each Hindu school, especially Advaita Vedanta which absorbed the classical Yoga school, has its own techniques developed over the centuries. Different Buddhist and Jain schools also have their own methods and also use the term "Yoga" in this sense.

4. The modern "secularized" sense referring exclusively to postures & breath control which lumps it with the likes of aerobics and other forms of exercise. Frankly speaking, such usage, through very common nowadays, is absolutely demeaning to the spiritual ethos of Hinduism.

Buddhism is clearly a religion but Yoga is not even a sect except in the second sense used above (the Yoga school of Patanjali). But even the Yoga school of Patanjali is not an existing independent sect but one of the 6 classical Hindu schools that has since been absorbed into Vedanta. Incidentally, there is no concept of Self in Buddhism, though some Buddhist schools such as Vijnaanavada do come close.

Ramesh wishes to acknowledge the members of the Advaita-L Egroup, esp. Vidyasankar Sundaresan for help in clarifying his understanding on this topic.

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