Preksha Meditation & Human Health: 6.1 Historical Preview

In India, whose population combines to a staggering 1100 million, yoga is now becoming a part of daily life. It is common to see people performing Surya namaskara (a yogic set of asanas dedicated to Surya (Sun) and pranayama, in the morning or speaking about food, diets and body therapy entirely based on yoga or the Hindu healing system of Ayurveda. The age-old tradition of yoga has continued uninterrupted by the popularity in the west. For India's holy-men, yoga is as fundamental as life- hood. To see a man meditating at the steps of a temple, or even wondering contemplatively on the roadside, is not uncommon even to the more westernized crowds. Meaning union or yoking, yoga is indicative of a broad range of practices that aim to, through physical, mental and spiritual activities; focus the individual on the true essence of reality, to achieve Moksha or Samadhi, liberation and enlightenment. From thousands of years, the history of yoga becomes mystery to the philosophers. It is because that oral transmission of sacred texts and the secretive nature of its teachings. The early writings on yoga were transcribed on fragile palm leaves that were easily damaged, destroyed or lost. Even the written material is not available, but the real history of Yoga goes back to the early stages of the development of human civilization. The written material available is not more than 3,000 years ago. The word yoga was first mentioned in the oldest sacred texts, the Rig Veda. The Vedas were a collection of texts contained songs and rituals used by Brahmans, the Vedic priests. During this time, the Vedic people relied on rishis or dedicated Vedic yogis to teach them how to live in divine harmony. Rishis were also gifted with the ability to see the ultimate reality through their intensive spiritual practice. It was also during this time that yogis living in seclusion (in forests) were recorded. The Hiranyagarbha, Vasiatha, great Yogi Rama, Vishwamitra etc. were the great yogis of that time. Yoga was slowly refined and developed by Vedic priests, who documented their practices and beliefs in the Upanishads, a huge work containing over 200 scriptures. The most renowned of these yogic scriptures is the Bhagavad-Gita (2500 B.C). The Krishna, the Arjuna etc. were the great yogis of that time. The Upanishads took the idea of ritual sacrifice from the Vedas and internalized it, teaching the sacrifice of the ego through self-knowledge, action (Karma yoga) and wisdom (Jnana yoga). The first systematic presentation of yoga was Patanjali Yoga Sutra (600 B.C.). Written before Christ, this text describes the path of Raja Yoga, often called classical Yoga. Patanjali organized the practice of yoga into an eight limbed path containing the steps and stages towards obtaining Samadhi or enlightenment. Patanjali is often considered the father of yoga and his text still strongly influence all styles of modern yoga. A few centuries after Patanjali (100 B.C), yoga masters (Nath sampradayia) created a system of practices designed to rejuvenate the body and prolong life. They rejected the teachings of the ancient Vedas and embraced the physical body as the means to achieve enlightenment. They developed Tantra Yoga with mainly founder as Shiva long before, with radical techniques to cleanse the body and mind to break the knots that bind us to our physical existence. This exploration of these physical-spiritual connections and body center ed practices led to the creation of Hatha Yoga (500 A.D). Matsyendranatha, Swatamarama, Gharenda, Goraksha etc. were few of the great yogis of that time. In the late 18^th century and early 19^th century, yoga masters began to travel to the west, attracting attention and followers. First brought into America as early as in 1890 by the great yogi and disciple of Swami Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekanaiida, the Hindu representative in the Chicago Parliament of World Religions. Yoga has also been transported in the arms of many other great yogies and formed into stratified schools seeking to propagate yoga in its great spiritual context. But these teachers have made their, imprint in both India and America, and continue to serve as modern embodiments of yoga. Swami Rama Tirtha, who came from a deep yoga tradition in the Himalayas of India, was the founding spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute. He was the first yogi to come to America and be subjected to the scrutiny of modern science. Among other things, he stunned doctors by stopping the beat of his heart completely for several minutes. Many modern schools of Hatha yoga derive from the school of Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who taught in Mysore, India from 1931 until his death in 1993. Krishnamacharya traveled through India giving demonstrations of yoga poses and opened the first Hatha Yoga School. Krishnamacharya produced three dynamic students, B.K.S. Iyengar, Indera Devi and Pattabhi Jois, who have worked tirelessly to continue his legacy and increase the popularity of Hatha yoga. Sri Aurobindo, referred to as Aurobindo Ghosh by those who consider him as merely a philosopher rather than an Avatar, was not simply an intellectual genius born in West Bengal and educated in one of the best university in England. His masterful translations and interpretations of Hindu and yogic scriptures are mystic and esoteric; beyond this his personal life was a fascinating testimony of the life of a true yogi. After the goddess Sri entered his being, he became Sri Aurobindo. Besides his influence and scholarly writing on yoga, he also founded Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry that continues to propagate the practice of Integral Yoga, which is a Tantric synthesis of the four main yoga (Karma yoga, Jnana yoga, Bhakti yoga and Raja yoga). Swami Sivananda (born in Pattamadai, Tamil Nadu, India in 1887), one of the greatest yoga masters of 20th century has authored over 200 highly inspiring books on yoga. Sivananda has also established Sivananda Ashram at Rishikesh, India and is the founder of Divine Life Society. His disciple, Swami Satyananda (born in Almorah, U.P. India in 1923), has established International Yoga Fellowship Movement, Bihar School of Yoga and Bihar Yoga Bharati. At the same time Swami Madavadas traveled India to find good students of yoga and to propagate real yogic teaching throughout the world. Two of his students, Swami Kuvalyananda and Swami Yogindra, worked scientifically in addition to demonstrating yoga at different places. Kuvalyananda (1920) opened laboratory with modern sophisticated scientific instruments to investigate the scientific values of yoga in Lonavla (Pune) and Yogindra (1921) opened a yoga center as well as a scientific laboratory in Shanta Krunz, Mumbai.