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Re: ARTICLE : Hinduism and yoga
Prasad Gokhale (f0g1@unb.ca) wrote:
: Various modes of the yogic principle were developed for individuals come
: in an assortment of dispositions and capacities. Bhakti Yoga
: (unconditional and loving worship), Karma Yoga (good actions and
: non-hurtful behaviour) and Dnyana Yoga (knowledge) are the major
: categories. Dhyana (meditation) and Naama (chanting and concentrating on
: the Formless, or on an Image) are th minor ones.
: The well-known Patanjali Yogasutra provide an eight-step process,
: beginning with the conditioning of the body, then the mind, which finally
: leads to the state of Samaadhi. In the process, the body-mind-intellect go
: through definitive changes, become calm and still. This is when the Yogi
: (the practioner of Yoga) experiences and develops various "powers" or
: "siddhi", using which he/she can produce so-called "miracles", certain
: actions beyond the capacity of an ordinary human.
: Are these practices Hindu ? Yes, and no. The essential problem is the
: correct definition of what constitues Hinduism. From the western
: perspective of religion, it becomes very simple; one god, one book, one
: prophet. Even marxism and capitalism becomes religions. However, Hinduism
: is not an "ism" is the western sense, since the concept of religion does
: not exist in the Hindu context.
: Yoga is the product of the brilliant minds and untiring efforts of Hindu
: sages, including the Buddha, and over time in history, the yogic concepts
: are inseperably ingrained into the fabric of Hindu philosophy, so much so
: that all thought circle about the yogic principles: doctrines than
: question and answer the union of man with God. The Veda, the Geeta, the
: Puraan, all talk about Yoga directly or indirectly. The Veda date back to
: thousands of years, the Bhagavad Geeta to 5000 years: Yoga has a long
: history and is inextricably associated with Vedic culture.
Dear Prasadji:
Thank you for sharing your ideas on yoga. I however do not think that
yoga is man-made, just like the sanAtana dharma is not. In the SBG, God
Himself says that He is the original teacher of yoga, the first
student is vivasvan and He has been described as 'yogeshvara'. Sage
Patanjali did not invent the yogic methods, he simply compiled them.
I think that we need to use the suffix yoga very carefully. If I may say
so, the first paragraph you have written might be taken to mean that
there is no difference between karma and karmayoga, GYAna and GYAnayoga,
dhyAna and dhyAnayoga or bhakti and bhaktiyoga. There is a huge difference.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
