Y O GA
Release - Relax - Refresh - Revitalize
"Focus on keeping your Spine straight.
it is the job of the spine to keep the Brain Alert."
Definition in classic Indian texts
The term Yoga has been defined in various ways in the many different Indian philosophical and religious traditions.
Source Text : Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Approx. Date : c. 4th century BCE
Definition of Yoga[33] : yogas chitta vritti nirodhah(1.2)
"Yoga is the calming down the fluctuations/patterns of consciousness"
Source Text : Katha Upanishad
Approx. Date : c. 5th century BCE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "When the five senses, along with the mind, remain still and the intellect is not active, that is known as the highest state. They consider yoga to be firm restraint of the senses. Then one becomes un-distracted for yoga is the arising and the passing away" (6.10-11)
Source Text : Bhagavad Gita
Approx. Date : c. 2nd century BCE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "Be equal minded in both success and failure. Such equanimity is called Yoga" (2.48)
"Yoga is skill in action" (2.50) "Know that which is called yoga to be separation from contact with suffering" (6.23).
Source Text : Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra (Sravakabhumi), a Mahayana Buddhist Yogacara work
Approx. Date : 4th century CE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "Yoga is fourfold: faith, aspiration, perseverance and means" (2.152)
Source Text : Vaisesika sutra
Approx. Date : c. 4th century BCE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "Pleasure and suffering arise as a result of the drawing together of the sense organs, the mind and objects. When that does not happen because the mind is in the self, there is no pleasure or suffering for one who is embodied. That is yoga" (5.2.15-16)
Source Text : Yogaśataka a Jain work by Haribhadra Suri
Approx. Date : 6th century CE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "With conviction, the lords of Yogins have in our doctrine defined yoga as the concurrence (sambandhah) of the three [correct knowledge (sajjñana), correct doctrine (saddarsana) and correct conduct (saccaritra)] beginning with correct knowledge, since [thereby arises] conjunction with liberation....In common usage this [term] yoga also [denotes the soul’s] contact with the causes of these [three], due to the common usage of the cause for the effect." (2, 4).[34]
Source Text : Kaundinya's Pancarthabhasya on the Pasupatasutra
Approx. Date : 4th century CE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "In this system, yoga is the union of the self and the Lord" (I.I.43)
Source Text : Linga Purana
Approx. Date : 7th-10th century CE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "By the word 'yoga' is meant nirvana, the condition of Shiva." (I.8.5a)
Source Text : Brahmasutra-bhasya of Adi Shankara
Approx. Date : c. 3rd century BCE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "It is said in the treatises on yoga: 'Yoga is the means of perceiving reality' (atha tattvadarsanabhyupāyo yogah)" (2.1.3)
Source Text : Mālinīvijayottara Tantra, one of the primary authorities in non-dual Kashmir Shaivism
Approx. Date : 6th-10th century CE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "Yoga is said to be the oneness of one entity with another." (MVUT 4.4–8)[35]
Source Text : Mrgendratantravrtti, of the Shaiva Siddhanta scholar Narayanakantha
Approx. Date : 6th-10th century CE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "To have self-mastery is to be a Yogin. The term Yogin means "one who is necessarily "conjoined with" the manifestation of his nature...the Siva-state (sivatvam)" (MrTaVr yp 2a)[35]
Source Text : Yogabija, a Hatha yoga work
Approx. Date : 14th century CE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "The union of apana and prana, one's own rajas and semen, the sun and moon, the individual soul and the supreme soul, and in the same way the union of all dualities, is called yoga. " (89)
Source Text : Śaradatilaka of Lakshmanadesikendra, a Shakta Tantra work
Approx. Date : 11th century CE
Definition of Yoga[33] : "Yogic experts state that yoga is the oneness of the individual soul (jiva) with the atman. Others understand it to be the ascertainment of Siva and the soul as non-different. The scholars of the Agamas say that it is a Knowledge which is of the nature of Siva’s Power. Other scholars say it is the knowledge of the primordial soul." (SaTil 25.1–3b)[36]
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali[138]
Pada (Chapter) : Samadhi Pada Sutras : 51
English meaning : On being absorbed in spirit
Pada (Chapter) : Sadhana Pada Sutras : 55
English meaning : On being immersed in spirit
Pada (Chapter) : Vibhuti Pada Sutras : 56
English meaning : On supernatural abilities and gifts
Pada (Chapter) : Kaivalya Pada Sutras : 34
English meaning : On absolute freedom