Foundations of Yoga: Meaning, History, Aims, Schools and Philosophy
Foundations of Yoga
This domain tests the meaning, aims, history, schools and philosophical frame of yoga, especially Patanjali's Ashtanga and the Hatha tradition. Questions are largely direct recall: Sanskrit terms, authors and ordered lists.
Meaning and aims
- Yoga from Sanskrit yuj - to join, yoke, unite; union of individual and universal consciousness.
- Aims: self-realisation (kaivalya), mastery of the mind, physical health, emotional balance, ethical living.
- Swami Vivekananda (Raja Yoga, 1896) presented yoga to the West as a practical science of mind.
Patanjali and Ashtanga
- Yoga Sutras: four padas - Samadhi, Sadhana, Vibhuti, Kaivalya; about 196 sutras.
- Sutra 1.2: yogash chitta vritti nirodhah - yoga is the stilling of the mind-waves.
- Eight limbs in fixed order: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi.
- Five Yamas: ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha. Five Niyamas: shaucha, santosha, tapas, svadhyaya, ishvarapranidhana.
Schools and Hatha
- Four classical paths: Karma (action), Jnana (knowledge), Bhakti (devotion), Raja (meditation). The Gita gives yogah karmasu kaushalam - yoga is skill in action (2.50).
- Hatha = ha (sun) + tha (moon). Chief texts: Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Swatmarama), Gheranda Samhita, Shiva Samhita.
- 21 June is the International Day of Yoga (UN resolution 2014, first observed 2015).
Worked example
Question: A student holds Padmasana steadily for 30 minutes but still lies and hoards possessions. Under Ashtanga, which limb has he mastered? Reasoning: the limbs are sequential. Steadiness shows Asana, the third limb. Truthfulness (satya) and non-possessiveness (aparigraha) sit in Yama, the first limb. Answer: only Asana; Yama is not mastered.
Traps that cost marks
- Listing Dhyana before Dharana, or writing nine limbs.
- Confusing Ashtanga (Patanjali's eight limbs) with Ashtanga Vinyasa, a modern style.
- Mixing the Yama and Niyama lists; ahimsa is the first Yama.
- Naming Swatmarama as author of the Yoga Sutras.