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| Home > Origin of Hatha Yoga > Yoga and Vedic Philosphy
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| | Yoga and Vedic Philosphy
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"The Yogic tradition is originally the Vedic tradition."
Veda means `knowledge` as `disclosure of truth`.  The four earliest existent compilations of Indian spiritual learning are collectively known as the Veda They are individually referred to as the Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva-Veda. This categorization has collectively formed the strong and ancient belief of "Santana-dharma" (Eternal Law), which may be described as `orthodox Hinduism`.
Vedas are known to be infallible revealed knowledge or shruti (directly intuited), conveyed orally rather than composed in texts by great rishis (seers) of the ancient past. According to this belief, no date can be placed upon the Vedas, for they are held to be timeless documents whose words embody eternal truth. These four mighty works--which, prior to being written down, are likely to have been transmitted in oral form from guru (spiritual preceptor) to Sishya (disciple) for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years constitute the very roots of spirituality, mythology, law ethics, art and science in India. They are recited in, and Later on, written in Sanskrit, which has evolved over time.
There are said to be four styles of literary expression in the Vedas.. They are rc, saman, yajus and chandas, the first three of which respectively give us the titles of the first three Vedas, while chandas is a general term indicating `metre`.
Rc (which, for reasons of euphony, becomes Rig when followed by Veda) denotes a `hymn` or sacred verse in praise of a deity, and thus the Rig-Veda is `the revelatory book of hymns`.
Saman refers to `a metrical hymn or song of praise,` Sama-Veda being `the Veda of chants."
Yajus is a form of prose intended to be recited in a ritual or sacrificial context, and hence the Yajur-Veda is `the sacrificial Veda`.
The fourth Veda the Atharva, does not take its name from any literary or oratorical style, but from Atharvan, the mythic son of the creator-god Brahma. In this Veda can be found the knowledge believed to have been breathed from the mouth of Brahma to his son, including many mantras for the healing of diseases and other purposes.
Each of the four Vedas can itself be divided into four parts or categories of material, namely:
Samhita (`collection` or `compilation`) comprises hymns, often to be recited as part of a ritual.
Brahmanas (`relating to or given by a brahmana`) includes technical treatises dealing with the performance of sacrificial rites and ceremonies.
Aranyakas (forest texts), which give accounts of the spiritual philosophy of renunciant forest-dwellers.
Upanisads (secret teachings), which form a broader category of cosmological and soteriological exposition.
The Samhitas alone constitute the true Veda, with the other three categories being later appendages, but all four varieties of text come under the heading of shruti.
In the later Shastras (doctrinal treatises) of Hinduism, a connection is made between the four textual divisions of shruti on the one hand and the four ashrams or `stages of life`.
The four ashrams are:
Brahmacharya (student): It is the earliest stage in life in which one of the chief duties of whom is to learn by rote many of the Vedic hymns.
Grahastha (householder): who should balance his duty of raising a family and following a suitable profession rightfully, at the same time following rituals and religious practices.
Vanaprastha (forest-dweller): who after having fulfilled familial responsibilities, retires to the forest or other secluded location for the purpose of spiritual contemplation.
Sanyasya (Renunciant): who gives up all possessions and, living as a wandering sage dedicates his remaining years to realising the truth declared in the Upanishads i.e. the identity of oneself (Atma) as the Absolute (Brahma).
The above-mentioned portions of shruti may be more broadly grouped into two categories: the Samhita and Brahmanas together form the karma-kanda (section on ritual action), while the aranyakas and Upanisads constitute the gyan kanda (section on knowledge). Alternative names for these two broad categories are Purva- and Uttara-Tamasa, meaning `early or prior investigation` and `later investigation`.
The profound significance of the Vedic hymns is lost because of its traditional but poor and unintelligent interpretations. At face value, much of the Vedic literature comprises devotional verses lauding the power of any of innumerable deities. It is because this literal surface has so rarely been penetrated that the real depth of Hinduism is lost. Beneath this surface, however, lies an esoteric i.e. an `inner`, `spiritual` or `psychological` meaning and it is through uncovering these deeper layers that the yogic nature of the Vedas is revealed.
The philosopher-yogi Sri Aurobindo points out that, as the ancient Rishis believed true self-knowledge to be sacred and liable to be misused if imparted to immature ears, they purposely clothed their profound utterances in the garb of ritual worship. Hence, when the Vedas are recited, (at least) two messages are conveyed:
One for the majority of hearers, who wish to worship the Divine in external concrete form, and another for the `elect`, who have been initiated into the inner teaching and who understand the deeper meaning underlying the words and forms.
For example, Agni stands not merely for the physical sacrificial fire, but for the inner fire of spiritual zeal (Tapas) or for Kundalini force, "the flame at the base of the spine." Soma is the immortal nectar or ananda in the head. Surya is not just the sun at the centre of our solar system, but the consciousness of the Self (atman) in the heart, and Indra is the awakened life force of perceiver who facilitates the practice of yoga.
Taking the example is the story that, when Indra slays the serpent Vrtra at the foot of Mount Arbuda, thereby releasing the `seven rivers`, this is not some historical event being described, but is a symbolic account of the struggle to overcome spiritual ignorance. Vrtra represents Kundalini force and that the seven rivers, whose waters are held captive by Vrtra, stands for seven chakras in the body. These chakras are deemed to be `opened` or `activated` as Kundalini force ascends through the central spinal chord (subtle channel)."
Vedas rarely mention the term yoga directly and even where it does appear, it is not always in the sense of spiritual discipline. Their verses are nevertheless full of symbolism that evokes the psychophysical practices associated with yoga. Beyond the ritualistic outer flesh, the inner core of Veda is "the proto-Yoga of the Rishis", which itself contains many elements characteristic of later Yoga:
Concentration and watchfulness
Austerities.
Regulation of the breath in connection with the recitation of sacred hymns during the ritual.
Painstakingly accurate recitation (foreshadowing the later Mantra-Yoga).
Visionary experience.
The idea of self-sacrifice (or surrender of the ego).
The encounter with a Reality larger than the ego-personality.
The notion of surrendering the ego-personality to a higher reality is symbolic of the Vedic fire sacrifice (homa or agni-hotra), in which food or ghee (clarified butter) is offered to the consuming flame. The potent employment of sound in Vedic ritual is emphasised by the words that:
"The practice of meditative absorption (Dhyana) as the crux of yoga goes back to Rig Vedic times when the rishis had already achieved mastery in the wielding of thought as an instrument of power and consequently the word {shabda} as a means of creative activity."
The Vedic bards were seers who saw the Veda and sang what they saw. With them vision and sound, seer ship and singing are intimately connected and this linking of the two sense functions forms the basis of Vedic prayer.
Amongst the subjects orated by the ancient rishis were the ones dealing with the subtle forces and structures beneath the gross exterior of the human bodily complex. Behind a web of geographical terminology it is possible to decipher references to the vital centres later known as chakras, and to the `streams` connecting them known as Nadis, both of which concepts are central to hatha-yoga.
A suitable illustration is the following passage from the Rig-Veda, in which the Sarasvat River to whom the hymn is dedicated can be seen to symbolize the Sushumna Nadi, into which it is the task of hatha-yogis to channel their vital energy:
"Whose infinite, unencompassed, brilliant and mobile flood impetuously continues to roar."
The `seven levels` in Veda are the seven vital centres, which are associated with levels of consciousness or self-identity; and the `three stations` may be understood as the three `knots` (granthis) situated at the base, heart and brow chakras respectively through which Kundalini must break. It is unclear what `the five births` may refer to five sensen. Taking into account such symbolism, now we can correctly interpret:
"She (Sushumna Nadi) take us beyond all opposition, beyond her other sisters and extend the days like the Sun. Who has filled the earthly realms and the broad atmospheric region, [Saraswati] should be adored. Who has three stations and seven levels, who increases the five births of men, in all encounters she should be worshipped."
Usage of symbolism to signify yogic processes and aspects of the subtle bodily matrix are the way to Vedas. Due to these texts` antiquity it takes a sharp and learned eye and mind to pinpoint particular references. Althogh Rig-Veda clearly states that `Seers of the vast illumined seer yogically {yunjante} control their minds and their intelligence`. It shows that `at least the seed of the entire Yoga teaching is contained in this most ancient Aryan text. However, the Vedic texts been subjected to simplistic and misleading interpretations by scholars unfamiliar with the intricacies of yoga practises and literary expression. This bias has also tended to be consolidated by a mistaken theory about ancient Indian history. The theory to which I refer establishes the aryans as having been, not indigenous inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent, but a tribe of foreign invaders who imposed Vedic culture upon the existent Dravidian civilization sometime between 1500 and 1000 B.C.E. Although widely and convincingly discredited, the `Aryan invasion` theory or some watered-down version of it still manages to pollute a considerable amount of the debate around Indian philosophy and culture. For this reason it is worth briefly outlining the main arguments against it.
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